Hello all,

I received a Roku LT from my parents for Christmas, but I'm not entirely sure it offers anything new for me. I am a graduate student who has internet but no cable, since prices for bundles are outrageous here with no competition in the area.

Myself and my roommate are gamers, so we have a Wii and an Xbox with a Gold subscription. We pay for Netflix already and stream that through the Wii. We do not pay for Hulu Plus or Amazon prime. But with the new Xbox features, we already have a way to stream Hulu Plus should we select it, and they have some free content. We don't intend to get any more subscription services at this time (Amazon, HBO) so based on the limited channel info available on the website, the only thing Roku offers us is the "free channels."

Are we talking decent stuff to watch on these? I'm looking at these lists and I'm seeing rotating channels full of movie trailers or one or two programs a day looping endlessly. I try to find more info about what the free stuff actually has and Roku keeps waving Netflix and Hulu in my face as the primary features so I'm just looking for an honest opinion by people who have the device as to if any of them are worth keeping the box for.

I think Roku is a great idea and I'll probably get one for my parents at some point, since they are becoming more and more interested in Netflix every time I bring my Wii home for a break and they don't have a use for a game system. But for an already gadget-heavy student, does it offer anything new?

Thanks in advance!

link your netflix account to your roku for the movies,then add justintv,nowheretv,and a host of private channels totally free.check out pandora,and mog for music and well,just check here.....

http://catastrophegirlsrokuchanneldata.blogspot.com/

catastrophegirl has grouped the channels by content---I think there are about 10 channels devoted to gaming alone and I am sure there is a channel or two devoted to subjects you are studying/discussing in graduate school these days.In a word it is "outstanding" the content you can get for free on a roku -- often imitated but never duplicated and getting better all the time.

Hi, I am not a gamer and don't know what all you can get on those devices. However, I do have Roku and it is great for me. We have Netflix and Hulu Plus, but whats cool about Roku is that there is a TON of free channels with free content. The free content may not be anything that your interested in, but its there for who is. Also, I only can remember a few weeks for when we haven't gotten a new channel or channels. So, there is always updates.

We don't have cable or satl.. We have about 30 channels. Those channels range from movies, tv shows, cooking and home, music, games, news, and weather. All that I have to pay is 16.00 for Netflix and Hulu.

Just try it for a couple of months and see what you think.

Click into these links to access various live and on demand channels

http://streamfree.tv/apps/roku-private-channels/

http://www.roku-channels.com/

If you use the Wii/360 a lot for your streaming needs, the best thing about using the roku is the electricity savings: ~2 watts usage for HD Streaming.

+1.
And if you're using an HDTV, I think the Roku would be able to give you a better PQ compared to that of the Wii.

It might make make sense to at least try it out since you already have it, although if most of your activity is online gaming and Netflix-watching, which you can do on your Wii and X-box, you probably won't spend as much time on your Roku as your parents would if you "re-gifted" it to them.

as knuckle said, i tagged the channels by content/theme, but i also tagged them by cost. so if you follow the link to my site that he posted, you can click the tag for free and it will show all the channels that have some or all of their content for free.
right now that's 347 channels with free content, public and private. sure there will be plenty of channels you aren't interested in but i'd be really surprised if you didn't find content that appeals to you.
if you like gaming check out some of the channels with content about gaming or aimed at gamers. FYI - the games tag is playable games, the gaming tag is more relevant to your interests. that's where you'll find giant bomb, major league gaming unofficial live, revision3 and more.
also - roku has porn. some of it is free. you probably don't want to tell your parents, but it may be of interest to you.