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Review on πŸ“Ί Roku 3 Streaming Media Player (2014 model): Stream Your Favorite Content Effortlessly by James Edwards

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Great product - buy!

I've been using my Roku for a week now and I love it! This is one of the best entertainment products I have ever bought. Here's why: 1) Very easy setup with clear instructions. But first you need to have the right infrastructure. You'll need a digital TV with an available HDMI port, a good quality HDMI cable to connect your TV to your Roku, and a fast internet connection. If you have a wireless network, Roku will find it and disable the wireless network. Just enter your network passcode when prompted by Roku setup. (You can connect your Roku to an internet router with an Ethernet cable if you don't have WiFi.) 2) Roku comes with everything you need to set it up EXCEPT an HDMI cable. I bought Roku's Revain Basic cable and it works fine. 3) There are many software services available on the Roku home screen that you can subscribe to for a small monthly fee. Roku refers to these channels as "channels". I'm a Revain Prime member so there are many good movies and TV shows that I can access for free as part of my membership. something like "Orange Is the New Black" and "Breaking Bad". For these you need to subscribe to another service. I recommend Netflix. For $7.99 a month you get a lot of good series, documentaries and first movies. Some people also like Hulu, but I didn't find it necessary to subscribe to anything other than Prime and Netflix. 5) I pay Time Warner almost $300 a month for cable and broadband internet access and I have Roku to test streaming services. . At the moment it looks like I can go without cable TV but still have a fast internet connection. This will significantly reduce my bill for Time Warner. 6) If you plan to ditch the cable, you should also buy a good digital antenna and hook it up to your TV so you can catch regular over-the-air channels like ABC, CBS. etc. I have a decent directional antenna that sits on top of my TV cabinet and is only about 12 inches tall. There is no need to install an antenna or dish on the roof. A decent antenna costs about $50.7). As a result, between the on-air and Roku channels, I have a lot more quality content to watch than I'll ever have time to watch. And if you want to watch CNN, HBO, PBS, etc., you can either get them through Roku or watch them online on your computer screen. 8) There are also many good music services like Pandora available through Roku, some for free so I canceled my satellite radio subscription as well 9) My home wireless network is fast but nothing special. I use a simple router from an ISP. Roku connects to my network with no problems and streams content with no issues. Verdict: For less than a third of the cost of my monthly cable TV bill, this Roku gives me great, top-notch TV shows, lots of good movies, and music. However, keep in mind that you need a good internet connection and multiple subscription services to get the most out of the product. However, you can break free from cable TV and end up paying around $100 a year to watch TV.

Pros
  • Easy to Use
Cons
  • Quick Start Guide