Well, now we will look at a recent technology purchase I made. But, first a little history…. A few months back, I told 5th and the kids that I want to get away from cable and satellite television. I want to get all of our video entertaining from the internet. That piece of news was met with an enthusiastic GROAN! With so much enthusiasm, I took it as total unbridled support! So, last week I ordered a Roku player. What is a Roku player you ask? Ah, it is ONLY the best internet video streamer on the market!!
With a Roku player, you can stream movies from Netflix, or Amazon. Roku inc., is also working on expanding its channels to include such video sites as YouTube and Hulu. (Don’t know what Hulu is? Wow! Do you have a lot to learn! – Check it out at Hulu.com… you’ll love it!).
We have a Netflix subscription and have been using it for only watching DVDs. Well, Netflix has this amazing video streaming feature included for as part of the subscription fee! So, with the Roku player, you can watch these videos on your television!
So, I get the Roku player in the mail yesterday. I assemble it in less than a minute. Every thing is very simple. I connected it to our television, still very simple. But, I thought, no one makes it easy to connect wirelessly to the internet. Especially ours – I use WPA2 encryption! I’m thinking to myself -- “self, this will take an exceptionally long time to connect.” The set up screen comes on. Simple enough! Everything is easy – maybe, too easy! Well, fortunately that was not the case.
The Roku player connected to the internet and played movies almost perfectly. I couldn’t believe it. A device that may live up to its hype! So far, I have found only a few minor flaws:
1) No OFF switch. It is meant to be kept on all the time.
2) With limited bandwidth (everyone using the internet at the same time) the movie sometimes pauses to re-buffer.
3) My son cannot watch a movie through to the end! With so much selection, he’ll start watching one movie then switch to another! ARRRG!!
Other than that, I love it and can’t wait for the expanded channels! What are your thoughts? Have you already tried the Roku player? Or, maybe you are a Boxee type of person (that’s another story!)… Well if you’ve used this device or not, let me know what you think. Do you think my family can EXIST without cable or satellite service??? Do you think I’m a bad husband and father for depriving my family from that slice of heaven called Food Network or American IDOL?
Oh well, tell me what do YOU think!
This is Mr. Sister, once again signing off. Over to you 5th…
2 comments:
We LOVE Hulu! I have never heard of the Roku Player, it sounds pretty cool! We are going into year 2 without cable or satellite :) It's not to bad :)
I must admit...I am hopelessly devoted to cable...for both television and internet. I don't know what I would do without it. Don't see a Roku in our future anytime soon...lol! I am curious to see how it works out for you guys, though!!! Keep us posted!!!
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