Hey All,
We are looking to reduce our overhead. We have done away with our landline, and really do not miss it. We are about ready to cancel T-Mobile and go with Metro PCS. We are also interested in getting rid of cable and going with ROKU. We have a brand-new Xbox and will go with (Hulu Plus with Xbox Gold (Live - I might have transposed this). The thing is, my husband is a sports nut, and really, really likes watching sports news and your basic NFL, MLB and NBA-related stuff. My question is whether we can have this with ROKU or Hulu Plus Xbox Gold Live? For me, I'm an HGTV, National Geographic and History Channel watcher.
Paying DirectTV their $100 bucks a month is getting really, really tiresome. We're trying to be smart money managers and figured we'd start here.
Can you all tell me what you know and have experienced with ROKU?
Thanks,
E.
Ive had my roku since christmas and I'm still learning a lot about it. Most things are a few days to a few weeks old and a lot of archived movies and old tv shows. Lots of free programming but you can also pay for episodes as well. Either way it is still way less expensive than cable and a lot less commercials. I havent had any trouble with the streaming with my att router thus far.
You won't get any prime sports channels with the Roku.
You can get some great programming on Roku. They recently added A&E and Discovery I think to their line up, but it's mainly catalogued shows.
We ditched cable a little over a year ago. You're making a smart move.
We're in a similar situation, and one day, we may...just may.. invest in an outdoor antenna so that we can watch local TV (football on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox) on our TV through the antenna. Until then, we too are sort of stuck with Direct TV for football, hockey, tennis, etc.
But, if you can't figure out how to avoid them, at least call them and talk to their retention department. They'll offer you something to stay. Typically, they'll cut your bill by about $20/month with no change to your actual service whatsoever. But, it does usually lock you into a contract.. not more than a year, sometimes only 6 months, but it always ends when the discount ends... so when your bill goes up again, you know that contract period is up.
Wg love our roku and cable sucks - we ditched it in October and I'm so glad we did. But we don't care about sports, so he might be out of luck.
We dumped cable, netflix & blockbuster about 3 yrs ago & started saving $120.00 a month. We don't miss it. I bought a RCA HD digital antenna & put it on 1 of our tv's & my family can watch the local Chargers games--if they aren't blacked out & any other sports stuff they want that are on the National networks. We are actually getting more stations, from both Mexico & LA, than we ever did with the basic cable we had for yrs. And the picture is clearer, too.
We do have U-Verse internet/wifi service, so we watch a lot of FREE stuff that way & any cable shows (like True Blood, etc) that we want to watch, I get from the Library for free. My oldest is the most into tv, but she has learned how to find her anime through the wii or the blu-ray DVD player just fine, so she is happy. She will occasionally ask for netflix, Hulu or to get a roko for her birthday or Christmas, but I told her that until she has a job & can pay for it herself, we won't get it. Same with a Smart Phone.
We have a Roku. I do not use it, but my husband and kids do.
Personally I think it would be hard to go from cable/dish to the Roku because while you might be able to stream this show or that show, you are not going to be able to stream the full content of the premium channels, and your husband is not going to be able to watch the sporting events he is used to 'on demand'.
I guess you really need to weigh your TV habits and decide what your priorities are before you pull the plug on cable.
With a Roku you subscribe to whatever channels they offer. I love my Roku and I stream mostly Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and PBS. As I am not a sports fan I have no idea if there are sports channels available, but if you go to Roku.com, you can search around to see what channels they offer and if it will be enough to satisfy him. If you have a newer TV with a USB port in it, Google Play may also be an option for you. I have heard good things about it, but I don't have one, so I'm fuzzy on the details but I'm sure you could find out that information online as well.
We love our Roku and since I purchase the Netflix cards online form Ebay for less than the monthly fee it is a great money saver. If you don't watch sports and are willing to wait to watch certain shows then it is no problem.
I looked into this and was told that the premium channels for sports and such are not available via Roku or Xbox streaming. I am kind of in the same boat. My husband MUST have Azteca and Gol TV for the soccer games. I hate paying for them to watch TV.
