ROKU Box? Netflix? Hulu? Oh My!

Xaquin

I'm going to be killing my cable as it is of poor quality and high expense. I'm debating getting a Roku Box with either Netflix or Hulu+

My problem is about a million conflicting reports/reviews of what is actually possible with either.

I'd like to keep watching the cooking channel, syfy, comedy, history and things like that. Which service would better suit my wants?

also, I'm on comcast and according to speedtest, my DL is 23mbs (which is complete bull as I've never had speeds over 2mbs and usually around 1mbs). Will I be able to stream from my wireless router through two/three walls and 20' of house to the Roku box on my TV?

I hear a lot about free channels and things on roku too, but haven't been able to find many things in concrete.

Any help is appreciated!

illig

i went the same route - Roku XDS with Netflix and Hulu + so i had to deal with the same questions. These answers refer to having both of the services - and honestly for $8 each / month, they're quite worth it.

Syfy, Comedy, History? only a few selected shows - and old seasons only (so no current seasons), and definitely not one off shows, specials, etc.

Food Network? Nope - there are some web based cooking shows on the Netflix channels but they're nowhere near as good, sorry.

Basically, the 'channels' you hear about on Roku are not equivalent to TV channels. They're basically an interface to a web based video streaming site/service/provider, etc. For example you get a CNN channel - but it's just a continuous live satellite feed, not the same thing you get on CNN on cable.

You can see the channels here - and there are lots of 'unadvertised' ones for porn, religion, etc.

http://www.roku.com/roku-channel-store

Keep in mind, like i said above, these are not equivalent to your cable TV channels.

Wireless? if you have a dedicated 801.11n channel on your wifi router, then yes... otherwise i'd suggest going with wired. Remember that you're pushing HD quality video here, so a reliable, wide pipe is needed. As an example, in my house, the Roku kept having to buffer when using 802.11g, which caused annoying interruptions in the middle of watching... but it's flawless on wired ethernet (10/100, not even gigabit).

Xaquin

how far away from your router is your Roku?

also, which would you choose if you had to drop netflix or hulu?

Esh

Xaquin wrote:

how far away from your router is your Roku?

also, which would you choose if you had to drop netflix or hulu?

That question really comes down to whether you need to watch more current shows or not. Honestly, they're both so cheap, why give up one? Do you have a PS3 or 360? Why not forget Roku and just use Hulu+ and Netflix through one of those?

Djeet

Yeah, I think they complement each other well. I watch a lot more Netflix (currently marathon-ing DS9), but I don't watch many current shows other than Daily Show or Colbert Report which are both available through their own websites, but their commercials in number and choice are far more annoying than watching them on Hulu or Hulu+, though you get higher bitrate on their respective websites than Hulu (no plus). My wife watches a lot of current shows through Hulu+ so she watches a lot more Hulu+.

I do miss the cooking shows, but not enough to really do anything about it.

Esh

Esh wrote:

Xaquin wrote:

how far away from your router is your Roku?

also, which would you choose if you had to drop netflix or hulu?

That question really comes down to whether you need to watch more current shows or not. Honestly, they're both so cheap, why give up one? Do you have a PS3 or 360? Why not forget Roku and just use Hulu+ and Netflix through one of those?

For some reason I thought the Roku was subscription based.

But yeah, I'd just get both, it's not that much and both have a TON of stuff the other doesn't (like Hulu+'s Criterion channel or Netflix for most other films).

Ego

Xaquin wrote:

also, I'm on comcast and according to speedtest, my DL is 23mbs (which is complete bull as I've never had speeds over 2mbs and usually around 1mbs). Will I be able to stream from my wireless router through two/three walls and 20' of house to the Roku box on my TV?

This isn't really helpful to your question, but likely the speed test is reporting in megabits per second, whereas you're thinking in megabytes per second (since software tends to report things in bytes rather than bits.) So 23 mbps is 2.8 MB/sec.

Xaquin

Esh wrote:

Xaquin wrote:

how far away from your router is your Roku?

also, which would you choose if you had to drop netflix or hulu?

That question really comes down to whether you need to watch more current shows or not. Honestly, they're both so cheap, why give up one? Do you have a PS3 or 360? Why not forget Roku and just use Hulu+ and Netflix through one of those?

I have a 360, but it's in the living room not the bedroom

and the reason I only want one is .... well, I'm fairly poor.

cutting cable will save about $50 a month and adding both netflix and hulu would be saving only $34. which sounds silly, but I'm really trying to cut costs and retain most of the TV

Xaquin

Ego wrote:

Xaquin wrote:

also, I'm on comcast and according to speedtest, my DL is 23mbs (which is complete bull as I've never had speeds over 2mbs and usually around 1mbs). Will I be able to stream from my wireless router through two/three walls and 20' of house to the Roku box on my TV?

This isn't really helpful to your question, but likely the speed test is reporting in megabits per second, whereas you're thinking in megabytes per second (since software tends to report things in bytes rather than bits.) So 23 mbps is 2.8 MB/sec.

that makes so much more sense

Killgrimage

A note about Hulu. It may not be everyones experience, but we had a terrible time with it. There was lots of problems, lots of loading/freezing lags, cutting off the end of the show (we watched a lot of 30 Rock and we would frequently miss the bit at the very end, after the credits), and lots of ads even when we paid for service. Worse, even when adblocker was activated (we were using Chrome), some of these ads (Home Depot, I'm looking at you) would open a new browser window. Since there were tons of ads every episode, there'd be a slew of extra windows open after we were done watching. Overall my experience was poor, we stuck with Netflix and have been very satisfied with it. Also the Roku box has been very easy to set up and use, we like ours a lot.

illig

Xaquin wrote:

how far away from your router is your Roku?

also, which would you choose if you had to drop netflix or hulu?

1. approx 15 feet - no walls. it's a strong wi-fi signal (we're using it constantly on two laptops, an ipad, an android tablet, etc.) but it just didn't do a good job with video.... my friend has a dual band router, and used the 5000mhz band solely for his Roku (and Boxee box) and it was much more stable, so YMMV of course

2. I watch netflix only honestly. My wife loves Hulu+ tho b/c it has newer shows, but i can't stand the ads - if you want to watch a few things in a row, it'll often play THE SAME DAMN COMMERCIAL over and over and over and over again... and if you want to rewind a bit? commercial!

Quid

If I were to pick between the two I'd go with Netflix. There are only a couple of shows I need Hulu to keep of with, but Netflix gives me access to a giant library of television and movies.

Crovaxan

We did the same thing your doing. We use the comp/ps3 on two TV's to get netflix and hulu+. You know what i watch on hulu+? Misfits and my wife watches Glee, oh and now i watch Grimm and Man Up. But most of the time me, my wife, and our kids are watching Netflix. Hulu+ just isn't as extensive in it's selection.

Xaquin

Looks like netflix for me

thanks all, I appreciate the replies

Peen

There is a decent amount of Food Network on Hulu, if that is a priority for you. We did the same thing you're thinking about except with a PS3 instead of a Roku and an antenna for broadcast shows and it's worked out well. The only thing I miss about cable is Top Chef and it's not worth the expense just for that.

HadjiQuest

Peen wrote:

There is a decent amount of Food Network on Hulu, if that is a priority for you. We did the same thing you're thinking about except with a PS3 instead of a Roku and an antenna for broadcast shows and it's worked out well. The only thing I miss about cable is Top Chef and it's not worth the expense just for that.

1. My parents and I have had rokus since they first came out, and we both love them.
2. I cannot stress how good of an investment a decent digital over-air receiver can be. Not only will you get the major networks in HD, allowing you to catch those shows live if you wish, but there are tons of free digital subchannels that are rarely advertised and carry all sorts of specialty and niche content. For example, PBS stations typically have an all-kids subchannel as well as a DIY subchannel full of cooking, home improvement, and art/crafting shows. Other ones I've seen in my travels include all music videos, all world news from independent sources, all retro TV series from the 50-70s, and all retro horror & sci-fi films. They are fucking cool.

Xaquin

HadjiQuest wrote:

Peen wrote:

There is a decent amount of Food Network on Hulu, if that is a priority for you. We did the same thing you're thinking about except with a PS3 instead of a Roku and an antenna for broadcast shows and it's worked out well. The only thing I miss about cable is Top Chef and it's not worth the expense just for that.

1. My parents and I have had rokus since they first came out, and we both love them.
2. I cannot stress how good of an investment a decent digital over-air receiver can be. Not only will you get the major networks in HD, allowing you to catch those shows live if you wish, but there are tons of free digital subchannels that are rarely advertised and carry all sorts of specialty and niche content. For example, PBS stations typically have an all-kids subchannel as well as a DIY subchannel full of cooking, home improvement, and art/crafting shows. Other ones I've seen in my travels include all music videos, all world news from independent sources, all retro TV series from the 50-70s, and all retro horror & sci-fi films. They are fucking cool.

can you recommend one?

Esh

Xaquin wrote:

HadjiQuest wrote:

Peen wrote:

There is a decent amount of Food Network on Hulu, if that is a priority for you. We did the same thing you're thinking about except with a PS3 instead of a Roku and an antenna for broadcast shows and it's worked out well. The only thing I miss about cable is Top Chef and it's not worth the expense just for that.

1. My parents and I have had rokus since they first came out, and we both love them.
2. I cannot stress how good of an investment a decent digital over-air receiver can be. Not only will you get the major networks in HD, allowing you to catch those shows live if you wish, but there are tons of free digital subchannels that are rarely advertised and carry all sorts of specialty and niche content. For example, PBS stations typically have an all-kids subchannel as well as a DIY subchannel full of cooking, home improvement, and art/crafting shows. Other ones I've seen in my travels include all music videos, all world news from independent sources, all retro TV series from the 50-70s, and all retro horror & sci-fi films. They are fucking cool.

can you recommend one?

http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Thin-Leaf-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B004QK7HI8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1328540560&sr=1-1

Peen

When you're picking an antenna it's important to know what your reception will look like. If you go here:

http://www.antennaweb.org/

you can see what the reception is like in your area and they give suggestions for what kind of antenna you might want to get based on your likely reception.