Roku - my chance to go cableless?

Lindsay Lohan

I've been thinking alot lately about trying to ditch cable. My wife and I only watch about 3 shows weekly plus I watch the occasional Celtics game so it feels like $70 per month is a bit step all things considered. My son watches a fair amount of cartoons, but nothing that couldn't be supplemented elsewhere or replaced by other activities.

The Roku box seems like the most obvious choice now that they've added Hulu Plus. I figure we already pay for the 1 disc Netflix (we never swap discs, just use for the 360 streaming) - so the extra $8 would be nothing major. If there are shows that aren't on there (like cbs shows) I figured we could always just watch on a laptop together.

Has any one ever used the Roku box - is there a fair amount of free content as well that might be worthwhile? Is it simple enough that I won't get the complaints that it's too complicated to watch TV? Is the Hulu/Netflix interface complete so you don't have to add things to queues on a pc just to get them on the box?

strebalicious

I have no experience with Roku, but do uou have a 360 or PS3? I myself use Playon, and it seems fairly similar to Roku. It's got Hulu on there, Netflix, CBS, bunch of other stations that I can't watch due to country restrictions. Works pretty good, but there are bugs here and there, and fast-forward and rewinding is so much of a hassle it's not really worth it. But hey, I got the premium lifetime stuff because it was on sale since I had a previous copy of it. Free 14 day trial.

It just works like a tree'd menu thing. Like you select the CBS folder, then it brings up folders for Primetime, Daytime, Specials, etc, and then those bring up further menus for Full Episodes or Clips, and then you get the list of shows, and picking the show comes up with a list of the episodes you can watch.

DekuStick

If you're talking about the XDS, Tested threw up a review on it you can check out.

http://www.tested.com/roku-xds-media-streamer-review/47-193/

Fred Savage Power Glove

Sounds like, for your situation, you've got most of the bases pretty well covered.

If it weren't for live sports, I'd never have to have cable again.

Lindsay Lohan

I've thought about PlayOn but I don't really have a beefy enough PC to run it available. Our desktop is completely obselete, my Netbook probably wouldn't be a great option, and I don't want to kill performance on my wife's laptop.

Live Celtics is the one thing I'll miss - but $70 savings a month is pretty significant...