Hi. New guy here. Question (x-post from the Lounge)

[OmahaBlueDog]

Blue Ray Enabled Blu-Ray, Roku, or Something Else?

If you could post as to why you chose what you chose, your input would be appreciated.

The TV in question is not currently hooked to cable.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. We just got a Wii for the Wii Fit purpose...and were delighted to find we could stream Netflix!

Not so concerned to superb sound or picture quality - and as we are already Netflix hard DVD subscribers, it is perfect. Works great with out wireless. We were going to go Roku, but now don't need to. (I am pretty new to this group as well!)

[elocs]

2. Welcome, I'm sure you will learn a lot here.

I posted over in the Lounge about how I feel about Roku. It's my top choice and I do not have cable or satellite either and don't need them.

Here's the Roku site: http://www.roku.com/ Learn all about it, watch the demo, read the reviews.

[OmahaBlueDog]

3. OK, talk to me like I'm a moron here

I looked at the Roku site. Interesting. Now, are you limited to what I see on the Roku site, or can I use that to stream other internet content, like You Tube or ESPN-U?

[elocs]

5. Not strictly limited to the Roku site. Check out this thread further down here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=441x178

Look at this thread for Roku private channels: http://www.roku-channels.com/ where you can add private channels by entering the code after you register the Roku box. I've added the YouTube channel myself along with others.

On the Roku Newscaster site that I mentioned earlier it contains ESPN and on that there are a lot of ESPN selections: Hockey Today, Football Today, NBA Today, Baseball Today, PTI, PTI Big Finish, ESPN Radio Daily, Sports Beat,Mike and Mike, The Scott Van Pelt Podcast, The Thundering Herd, Gridiron Recap Podcast, Around the Horn, Fantasy Focus Baseball, Fantasy Focus Football, Mayne Street, The Best of the Tony Kornheiser Show Podcast, Off-Mikes, ESPN On the Tee, The BS Report, The Melrose Line, and.......ESPN-U College Basketball, ESPN-U College Football.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. ..and thank you for the warm welcome

:hi:

[cbayer]

6. I bought the Samsung bluray player and, while very happy with the Netflix access, I

think I should have gotten the Roku device (in retrospect).

Roku seems to be way ahead of the curve in terms of adding new content, and that is the key here. Samsung appears to have contracts with Netflix, Blockbuster (dead), Vudu (not much there), MLB baseball (this could be fantastic, but we will see), Pandora, YouTube, but little else.

I would really enjoy the new channels that Roku is offering.

That being said, the device works very, very well even though my internet access is quite slow and I am hopeful that Samsung will start added more content soon.

The Apple box looks good and is, apparently , very user friendly, but I suspect they may have some major roadblocks to adding content.

[elocs]

7. Roku has MLB:

http://www.roku.com/mlb-partner

[Dappleganger]

8. Roku is definitely my favorite...

The PS3 also will stream Netflix and other things so if you have that you can get started. I like how Roku is small forum-factor (less energy) than the gaming consoles. BTW, Amazon has them on sale for $10 off (the XD). IMO the XDS is worth it to stream your movies from a USB drive (we may get that next for the main tv). It does .mkv files as well as .xvid, etc.

The Roku forum is also very helpful: http://forums.roku.com/viewforum.php?f=28

[Betty88]

9. Roku has more content

I have a blu-ray with netflix on one tv and the roku on another. The roku has access to much more content and adds channels all the time. The blu-ray has access to netflix but little else, I got it because my dvd player went out on my bedroom TV and I found a good deal on a referbed blu-ray with netflix access.

[jannyk]

10. Happy Roku (HD) owner here. More channel choices,

tiny box, ease of use and price all satisfied by Roku.