Roku 1 or 2 Streaming Media Players

Hey! Y’all should go buy my Haiku shirts!

I picked up a factory reconditioned Roku 2 on Woot a few weeks ago. It’s in great shape, set it up, and it’s been working like a charm in my bedroom for the past two weeks. It does have a little lag when loading apps or movies, but overall, it’s not painfully slow by any means, and I am a pretty impatient person. I do think I will wait for the Roku 3 for my living room only because it will get more use and is closer to the router for an Ethernet cord, but the Roku 2 is a great deal at the price and works well.

The only downside is I learned the hard way that Comcast doesn’t support HBO Go or Showtime Anytime on the Roku. But that’s on Comcast.

Really love the remote headphone jack on the Roku 2 at night. Also, I have a couple of older TV’s at my cabin, and the composite interface allows be to hook up. Not paying for cable saves me $69 a month there.

Not the first time this has happened at Woot - I convinced myself to buy this, and when I click to select the Roku 2, and then the buy it button, it resets to ‘select which one’ and won’t let me buy. This has happened before when I was trying to make a purchase, and woot lost that business, too. I may try again in a while, but this is a glitch that should be fixed.

I picked up a Roku 2 a while back and have really enjoyed it.

I have a PLEX media server running as part of my living room HTPC, and I have no issues streaming HD content from that rig to the Roku which has a floor and several walls acting as interference. My wireless router is a WNDR4500 and the Roku maintains a strong connection to the wifi.

Another reason I got the Roku was because my local cable provider is Time Warner and I have a Digital Cable subscription through them. TWC has an app for the Roku that allows you to stream live TV from a number of the cable channels to your Roku as long as you are using it on your TWC network. This is quite helpful if you have an old house that is not wired for cable and you don’t feel like installing new connections.

Aside from PLEX and the TWC app, I use my Roku 2 with Pandora fairly often, and occasionally I’ll see if anything interesting is available on Crackle. But there really are a lot of apps/channels available at this point, so it really is a pretty versatile device whether you’re looking to be a cord-cutter or just add to your library of media gadgets!

Don’t forget to download the official Roku app onto your phone. It not only makes your phone a remote control for the Roku, but also allows you to quickly see what channels are available (there are lots) and it is much easier to add channels from the app than it is on the TV.

Thanks for the info.

I’d like the functionality of direct USB thumb drive streaming because I often want to use my computer while I’m watching my video content (hey, what can I say, I’m a multitasker, just look at my name).

I’m surprised more streaming media players don’t offer this.

Stuff n things

I can’t buy these because the blockbuster button bums me out.

I MISS YOU BLOCKBUSTER

We picked up one of the Roku 1 awhile back and overall it has been a pretty good device. Ours gets too hot if left plugged in all the time when not in use, but hasn’t been a problem. For the price, it’s hard to beat unless you prefer a Chromecast which does offer HBO Go. We have both in our house as YouTube Apps do not support live streaming.

I second this. I always know where my phone is but i can never find the tiny tiny roku remote. The app really come in handy for when you just don’t have the energy to go elbow deep in the couch cushion to find the remote

I have 3 Roku 1s in my home. One of them was bought off the last Woot deal. I simply love them. I use them primarily for Netflix, Amazon, Slacker, Pandora, and NHL Gamecenter. I need to look at the Plex app so I can stream videos and music from my NAS when I get a chance. But for the price, you can’t go wrong with this. And if you still do have cable, then you can get a ton of on-demand material from other channels like Disney, ABC, NBC, etc.

More like SloKu…Level UP!

Roku works nice with Harmony remotes. I use a blue button for Pandora + tv off (sound through Receiver).

Never Forget

Bought one of the Roku 1’s for my mother for basic Netflix use and nothing else. She seems to enjoy it.

Debating buying another for my sister so she can stop stealing my Xbox…

Roku 3 has the USB that and it works great! (I have one) Also you can use the Plex channel/app and set up to stream your media wirelessly from your computer. Rokus are really awesome, I love mine.

I third that, the Roku app is super easy to use and you can play your own music and media from it, and cast from YouTube, Netflix and some others I don’t really use.

I currently have a Rocku XR. What do the new ones do that the XR does not? i.e., what will be different about my experience using it?

I do not care about headphones or games…

Pretty decent