Finally purchased a Roku 3, Holycow!!!!

Just HDMI? The AppleTV at least has optical digital.

My old Phillips TV has digital coax out, so I could get at the audio that way at least. For analog, I have to take it into the AV receiver digitally, then get it from the receiver's preouts. Just bought this big old Marantz, just because it had preouts....
 
https://www.roku.com/products/compare

Looks like Roku 1 has the red/white/yellow outputs; Roku 3 has a headphone jack on the remote. Not the ultimate but you could probably feed that audio to your bedroom system.

Yeah, I saw they were still selling those; I'm using a couple older models from 4-5 yrs ago. Probly should order at least one ROKU 1.

You're right...no analog outs....neither does the Roku 3. You do have options. 1: HDMI from Amazon/Roku to TV, then (if TV allows) analog from TV to stereo.

OR

Digital to analog converter....around $15.00 on Amazon.

Jimmy

Yeah, that $15 seems okay, until you begin to read user reviews, then try to figure out which cheapie DAC to order. I ended up going with a Schitte Modi for my laptop to main system interface; sounds great, works flawlessly. I'm not about to carry it around the house from duty to duty, so that's a $100 more for ROKU 3 or Fire TV... probly should order a ROKU 1. Not that I think its DAC equals the Modi, but I know it works reliably as opposed to cheapie DACs.
 
Just got my Fire TV thing, Cat6 cable from the router, hdmi to the ht receiver and got logged in right away. Pretty cool interface and it lists all the cds that I bought from Amazon and give digi access to them. Pretty cool.

Will try out one of the movies tonight and see how that works as well as the voice search.

So far, it's pretty nice. Very cool little remote but I've been using the app from Apple for navigation on the iPad.

Murray
 
I just had the absurd thought of walking into a Comcast cable office with a Roku around my neck like a Crucifix to cancel my cable service. ;) An Apple TV is just a little to big, but ear rings made from Amazon Fire Sticks. :D
 
Last edited:
Don't you just wish all TV content was available ala carte? If I could get the four main networks, the Golf Channel, a news channel and ESPN I think I'd be pretty well set. Instead I have to pay for hundreds of channels that go unused. It just doesn't make sense. I understand why but never-the-less it is senseless.

cubdog
 
I finally listened to Andy Ihnatko from Macbreak Weekly on TWiT and purchased a Roku 3. I already have an Apple TV. What clinched it was NASA TV with is not found on the Apple TV. Why did I wait so long. Setup was easy. Afterwards there was adding channels. It is a real treat being able to add channels instead of Apple's take it or leave it approach. I like the Apple TV but I really didn't realize what Andy, Leo LaPort and company where saying about how much of a dinosaur the Apple TV is when compared to the Roku, now I know what they are talking about. Apple is rumored to have a new Apple TV coming out in a few months so we will see what Apple does. I am too deep into the Apple ecosystem so I will always have an Apple TV. But a Roku is a real charmer, I love the remote it has, the earbud in the remote is a very nice feature. :D
Andy Ihnatko complaints are pretty lame in this area considering that the AppleTV still works in the Apple ecosystem much better than Roku or any other device on the market. He has spent an unbelievable amount of time complaining about the tiny remote...has he ever heard of Harmony, the iPhone Remote app, or the ability to program any remote with it? I am a fan of Andy, but in this area, I think his complaints are stronger than they should be. The AppleTV can be used as a stand alone device or as a Airplay device and the combination is unique in the market place, but he seems to negate that fact.. but that could be because he switched to Android. (that isn't to say that I wouldn't appreciate a new version of the AppleTV though.)

Anyway, that is my rant on that subject. I have the Roku 2XS (or something like that). It is nice for Vudu, Plex, and Amazon, but I still rarely ever use it. I prefer the podcast app on the AppleTV to downloading a bunch of separate apps like Twit, Revision3, or whatever. The podcast app lets you save favorites so all of them are grouped together and you can pick up where you left off from another device. Leo complains about the lack of a Twit app, but I don't want to have to dig through a bunch of junk every time I want to watch a specific show (something you have to do with the Twit.tv app on Roku).

Personally, I use the Roomie Remote app or Harmony to control both devices and keep the Apple Remote nearby to take on trips out of town. It works fine for me.
 
Last edited:
I really like my HTPC with mouse and keyboard and game controller. I do have a phone app for the AV electronics, but keep the remotes handy. I do like the Roku for my autistic son. The remote is great for his hands and the gui is super simple. He also gets along very well with his iPad - I may throw him a curve and see if he can handle a Roku app, if one is available for his 1st generation iPad. I am very curious about the Fire Stick, but I already have a Chromecast and my wife looks at me like I am crazy when I want to try a new streaming device - oh well!
 
I really like my HTPC with mouse and keyboard and game controller. I do have a phone app for the AV electronics, but keep the remotes handy. I do like the Roku for my autistic son. The remote is great for his hands and the gui is super simple. He also gets along very well with his iPad - I may throw him a curve and see if he can handle a Roku app, if one is available for his 1st generation iPad. I am very curious about the Fire Stick, but I already have a Chromecast and my wife looks at me like I am crazy when I want to try a new streaming device - oh well!
Roku had an app you could use with the original iPad, so I would think you could still download the old version. The app was for the iPhone, so you might want to enlarge it. Also, you have to sign into your Roku account to use it, so you might want to have your password handy.:thmbsp:
 
TV streaming newbie here - once the initial device is decided on and purchased, is there a monthly subscription fee?

I understand that some channels are free and some you have to pay for, but is there a monthly fee regardless? :scratch2:
 
Some stuff is free. I subscribe to Netflix, around 8 dollars a month. We also use Amazon Prime to buy stuff and it includes a lot of streaming services for an annual fee of 90 dollars. I also stream Tidal, which is expensive at 20 dollars a month for lossless streaming quality. Amazon also has good audio streaming service included in Prime, but the quality isn't quite as good as Tidal. Streaming is a good alternative, but like anything, it can add up fast.
 
TV streaming newbie here - once the initial device is decided on and purchased, is there a monthly subscription fee?

I understand that some channels are free and some you have to pay for, but is there a monthly fee regardless? :scratch2:

Not sure whether get your point, as i know streaming TV box do charge you no bill monthly. Most of them have many free channel to watch, some of them even have Netflix and other apps preinstalled. I got myself a Tronfy MX4, which works very well so far.
 
TV streaming newbie here - once the initial device is decided on and purchased, is there a monthly subscription fee?

I understand that some channels are free and some you have to pay for, but is there a monthly fee regardless? :scratch2:

No fee to use the box. There are only fees for some channels.
 
I am running the lastest Roku app on my iPad and it is great. Very large control GUI's would be easy to operate.

As much as I like the Roku 3 there are many things I like about the Apple TV. They are supposed to have a new Apple TV in a few weeks and it is rumored to have an app store similar to the Roku. The Roku brags about having 2000 channels. This is true. But so many of them are really lame. There is one called the Kung Fu channel which shows old really campy flix's from the 1980's the picture quality is totally unexceptable, not only that but wide screen movies are compressed to fit a regular TV screen of the time. So you have a blurry picture of an evil "White beard" stretched out looking like the thinman. Many of the main stream channels require a subscription to a local cable feed to see them. But there is enough good stuff to make the cost of a Roku worth every dime. The Current Apple TV is priced at $69 dollars. The Apple Tv's channels are really high quality but it shares the Roku's need to have cable subscriptions to view these channels which if you have them on Dish Network counts for nothing.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom