Pimp my Roku

[Perd Hapley]

So I have one of those new flat TV sets. It seems a co-worker's late father moved out of the old folks' home, into a very, very small apartment where he no longer has room for it. The TV being a rather small unit, it seems no one wanted it. It's perfect for our kitchen, which is slightly larger than a casket.

I finally got the TV hooked up to that "Roe-koo" box. Them new-fangley TVs, it turns out you got to tell it what's hooked up to it, or it don't even know! I eventally found the "Input" button on the RE-mote, and set 'er to get 'er marchin' orders from some new-fangled gizmo called an "HDM-eye cable" that Mr. Ben had been kind enough to supply, along with the Roe-koo hoozy-watzit. After that I had to go on the online, and find out from some page or another that I needed to set up a Roe-koo account. Something the instructions on the Roe-koo information super-highway website page neglected to mention!

I see all sorts of available channels, but most of it wants to reach into my pocket. I don't currently pay for any cable/Netflix/etc, and am hesitant to do so. What sort of content would I get from Amazon Prime? Or what other free or not-so-free services would be recommended?

Thanksomuch

[brimic]

I use one for netflix/amazon prime (actually my GF uses my old roku for amazon prime/netflix and I use my Xbox for the same). I don't have cable tv, just internetz and a digital antenna for local broadcast.
Honestly I don't use amazon prime much for movies, I only use it if I want to rent a specific movie.

I've never used anything else on roku except maybe hulu (not the subscription version).

The newer versions might allow you to stream YouTube, which would be pretty nice, the older versions would not because of licensing issues.

[Perd Hapley]

Ooh! I found the Italian Cooking channel!

[mtnbkr]

Ooh! I found the Italian Cooking channel!

They still cook eyetalians?

Chris

[Perd Hapley]

Eye guess so.

[Ben]

If you haven't done so yet, see if there are any firmware or software updates for the box. I can't remember which Roku does, but I probably never did any on that one, so that might add more channels for you.

I've never found many great free channels. There were some classic movies, some classic cartoons, a German news channel, and a couple of decent outdoor / shooting channels. Otherwise, it could be worth an investment in either Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu, depending on which service has more of what you like. 

I don't think Hulu does free anymore, and the first tier of pay still does commercials. I used it for a while and it drove me crazy. A few months ago, they started a second tier that's commercial free at $11/mo. They do have a free trial period, so you could always try that to see if it floats your boat.

If I could have only one service though, it would probably be either Netflix (more content bang for the buck) or Amazon Prime (decent content bang for the buck, but you get a ton more of other neato stuff with the Prime membership (worthwhile if you use said neato stuff)).

[Brad Johnson]

If you already have Prime you should be set. Decent selection of included movies, TV series, etc. Also, youtube. Amazing how deep some rabbit holes can go.

Brad

[Mannlicher]

Crackle and YouTube have a lot of free stuff.  I pay a total of $36 bucks a month (which covers both of my homes), for Netflix, Hulu+, Sling TV and HBOGo.
Virtually no end to what you can watch.

some tips for free stuff here:      http://mashtips.com/roku-free-movie-channels/

[charby]

I do the $7.99 a month Hulu and $20 a month Sling TV. With a external aerial for local network TV, seems to cover all of our TV needs. We used to spend $217 a month on direct TV and Internet, no we are down to $77.99 a month. Our internet is $50 a month for 10mbs, local provider (owner plus 1 fulltime employee) so the money stays where we live.