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The Kitchen Table

If you have Apple TV/Roku/any other movie-streaming device

10 years ago

Just starting to research this stuff -- my list of 'want to watch movies/tv shows' suddenly seems longer, and my traditional sources (Redbox, my library) aren't carrying some older stuff I want to see.

What do you use, and why?

I have a MacBook and iPod, and I use iTunes for music and really like those 2 pieces of technology, but a lot of the sample movie titles I've searched for aren't in Apple's inventory. So I need to be able to access Netflix and Amazon for the 'see it now' stuff (I did a trial offer for Netflix a year or so ago for the mail-out DVDs; now it seems their trials are for instant downloads now, so I need to catch up with technology!).

Any advice?

I currently have DirecTV (may be switching the phone company's FiOs TV bundled pkg -- internet/phone/tv.)

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Comments (7)

sushipup1
10 years ago
We use a BluRay player that can do the streaming thing from Netflix ($8/month).
jae_tn2
10 years ago
I think you would be happy with Apple TV since it integrates with your other Apple products. I have it and an Ipad that my son configured to be able to watch stuff on the big Tv but I haven't done it yet. I have Netflix for $8/mo. and have found a lot of stuff there. I have also used Amazon for watching on my computer but I haven't tried it on the Tv either.
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I had considered buying one a year ago and ended up going with the roku instead. I wish I had gone with the apple tv. Any of the streaming devices will allow you to stream netflix, hulu plus and a number of other services to your tv. They vary in watch additional services they stream. Apple has its own library too-- last I knew, the library was very limited and the cost to rent was high. This may very well have changed. What apple tv offers that the others don't is Airplay which gives you the ability to throw what's on your other apple devices (ipad, iphone, macbook, mac air, etc) onto the tv screen. This includes games, movies, videos, whatever. I talked myself out of this .. "how often would I use it?" Well, I've wanted it more often than I thought. I use Amazon Instant Video more than Netflix or any other service and it isnt currently part of the Apple TV services, however, I can run Amazon movies on the ipad-- and then use Airplay to watch on the tv (with larger picture and surround sound). If I had it to do over again, I'd absolutely go with Apple TV. If you don't have any other apple devices, then I'd save the money and go with Roku.
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Jodi_SoCal
10 years ago
We have a Roku ... the company I work for has a wireless chip inside so a number of us at the office were given the Roku as a Christmas present a couple years ago.

The Roku is very, very easy to use. Setup probably took all of five minutes.

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Jodi-
oldgardener_2009
10 years ago
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alisande
10 years ago
I use Roku because my son-in-law gave it to me for Christmas 2010, along with a Netflix membership. I can't compare it to anything else, but it does everything I want. In addition to Netflix, I could subscribe to a bunch of other things through Roku, but I'm happy with streaming Netflix and listening to Pandora.
Pooh Bear
10 years ago
We just got a Roku 2 XS and we love it. We use it to stream
NetFlix movies and we can plug a flash drive into it to watch
videos from a flash drive. Using the remote for it is much
easier than using the computer we were using to stream movies.
We had a computer hooked up to the TV to stream movies and
watch videos. But pausing and rewinding were not easy that
way. It's really easy to use the Roku device to watch video.
The remote makes it so easy to pause, rewind or fast forward.
We are very happy with the Roku device. Cost ~$100.

Pooh Bear
chisue
10 years ago
I was all excited to set up a Blu-ray and start streaming from Netflix. Then I looked at the offerings. Meh. We've already seen the US and British TV series they offer -- and have seen more recent years than they offer, all from our library. (I'm beginning to think our library is some sort of a rare bird!)

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