Anyone have a Roku or similar TV streaming box?
 

If so, is there any decent free content available, or do you have to join Hulu Plus or Netflix Streaming or something similar to find anything decent to watch?

The Roku boxes seem very cheap if there really is some free content available. tw's post about that space show on PBS made me wonder about this. I'd love to be able to watch free internet content on my TV from the comfort of my couch. Watching a PBS show on my PC at a desk or on my little laptop screen isn't so appealing.

I have found decent free content via some channels via my Rokus. But... you can get unlimited streaming for about $10/month from Netflix and that opens up a VAST library of content.

http://www.roku.com/channels/#!browse/most-watched

That takes you to a page with a circular menu of about twenty-five pages of categories of channels, some free, some paid. Each channel has a description and an indication of the cost. Some are like hulu, free and premium.

So you like your Rokus?

yes. I have two and I've given two away and I've directly influenced the purchase of a few more rokus by other dwellars and my reputation remains intact.

Here's another device that sounds cool, one I've considered purchasing.

http://www.favientertainment.com/v/v...tom/index.html

I have a roku also (one of the bigger, older ones, not the teensy HD box that is now available. I mainly use it for Netflix and amazon prime, but I also have downloaded a couple of the free movie channels like Crackle. I probably don't use it anywhere as often as I could, but my time availability to watch stuff is somewhat limited. I do like the flexibility of something cool being on whenever I turn on the TV, I'm not always at the mercy of infomercials and shopping channels.

That looks neat. I just saw some software that you can buy so you can do a very similar thing sending stuff to your Wii from your PC.

I don't understand my home's network. It was installed by Verizon, and I think it only broadcasts from the FIOS box to the various devices, and the different devices don't communicate with one another. I'm not so interested in setting up a media server from my PC. I'm more interested in just plugging something in and watching stuff right away.

Yeah, I got to look into this stuff before I buy a paperweight. Crackle sounds like it might have promise.

Naw man your devices can talk to each other, I'm certain of it. They talk *through* the router, but they can see each other.

It may that the PC has a firewall that prevents it from talking.

Advice on Roku.

I don't suppose anyone knows an easy way to get a Roku to work in a hotel, where you have to click a web page to enable internet for each device?

I do.

You need a travel router. You can enable the room's access to the internet via whatever you have with you, then use the travel router as an access point for the roku/computer/smartphone/whatthehellever.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-57528577-58/get-a-powerlink-travel-router-for-$19.99/

I'll have to try that next time I'm traveling.

I know you're looking for free, but I just wanted to second what V said here... Netflix is an absolute bargain for the amount of content you get.

We dropped Netflix streaming when they started to charge separately for that and the DVDs. Back then, the content on streaming was alright, but not close to what was available on DVD. Do you notice if that has changed? Maybe we should drop the DVDs and switch to streaming. I wouldn't want to pay for both.

I would guess there's no streaming HBO on Netflix, so if you don't have HBO GO, and you want to watch Game of Thrones, stick with DVD.

No, streaming is still mostly a subset of what's available on DVD. We just like the instant gratification of it.

For example, over the course of one day, I'll watch Shameless while I cook in the mid-morning, then the kids will come home and can skip around between 4 or 5 different programs they've watched a million times, then after they go to bed Mr. Clod and I will do a couple episodes of 30 Rock, a West Wing, and a Wilfred, and then I'll go to bed and Mr. Clod can try out an esoteric 70s British detective drama (and exit out after 10 minutes if it sucks,) then line up a couple hours of random anime or a few episodes of Lost while he does the dishes.

I guess we're just pretty fickle about what we're in the mood for. We both hate that feeling of, "Oh, we have to finish out this comedy DVD so we can send it back and wait for the drama we really wanted to watch tonight." I figure paying for both DVD and streaming is still way cheaper than most cable packages.