Anybody got an Apple TV/Roku?

Just curious. Now that Apple TV (and Roku) will allow you to stream mlb.tv, I'm curious. How is the quality? Any issues?

Any thoughts on Apple TV vs. Roku? I love my MacBook and my iPhone, but would be open to either.

Just turning to the experts.

 

I bought a Roku XD last year. I love it. I have NHL Gamecenter instead of Center Ice, and the quality is decent. It's not HD even with a great connection, but close.

I also use Netflix and Hulu Plus and haven't had a problem. When I moved across the country, I can only get a 3 megabit DSL connection and I'm still getting four dots on Netflix, but not HD.

 

Apple TV has mlb.tv? Did that just get announced?

I have Apple TV and the Extra Innings package is about the last reason I still have cable. I was thinking about getting an iPad just to hook it up to my TV for mlb.tv.

I like the Apple TV it's great for movies. Netflix isn't as good as I expected. The don't have enough current movies and even when I search for an old one, they rarely have it. Though it's good for catching up on old TV shows. I had never watched an episode of 30 Rock, and now I've watched several on Aplle TV.

I do wish it had more content deals - with HULU for example. But, it's good and I expect it to get better.

What's Roku?

 

Roku is similar to Apple TV, except it doesn't offer content on its own. You add "channels" such as Netflix, Hulu, MLB, NHL and the NBA. There is a lot of independent content out there. A Roku is about $10 cheaper ($89 at my local RadioShack).

One cool thing about Roku is it has a USB slot and a channel to watch video, listen to music or view photos off of a thumbdrive. I download torrents occasionally it's nice to watch it on a big screen instead of my laptop.

 

YankeeFan,

Yep, Apple TV got MLB and NBA. Announced earlier this month. You can also watch the rest of the preseason (I know all of about 15 minutes) for free.

Here's a bit of 411.

http://www.wired.com/playbook/2011/03/mlb-nba-apple-tv/

 

I'd love to get rid of my cable tv.

Is it possible to watch MSNBC, FOXNews, and/or CNN without it?

If I could watch some combination of them, the Yankees and the networks, I would do it.

I suppose the final downside would be that there wouldn't be an easy way to DVR network shows without cable TV. (Unless there is?)

 

With a Roku, you could at least subscribe to Hulu Plus for ABC, FOX and NBC. There is a TV.com channel on Roku for some CBS shows.

You can't watch the news stations live with a Roku.

 

Just kind of resurrecting this thread because I am curious and wondering if anything has changed in the year since this thread has been commented on. I was interested in taking the plunge and ditching cable, and I had heard of the HD roku box having 300+ channels. Then I went to this link http://www.roku-channels.com/ and it mentions having ABC, CBS, NBC and many others, including news stations.
Anyway, does anyone have one currently and watch any of these? Where are the stations based out of . . . are they New York, do you have options for cities? Just looking for information from those who have it.

 

I looked at both and just decided to stick with an HDMI cord from my laptop to my TV for MLB.tv, NBA package, Netflix and the NBC Nightly News.

 

You have to pay for Hulu Plus to get any of the network shows and you can't get CBS shows yet.

The quality for Hulu and Netflix is good, but the sports channels leave something to be desired. The picture for sports isn't fluid as it is on cable and satellite, and it's softer than HD.

 

This is accurate. Don't think of the Roku "channels" as actual channels like you have on satellite or cable. It's select programming and not live. Netflix works great. If you're an HBO subscriber, you can stream HBO Go to your TV through the Roku, and I've found that works great too. Lots and lots of programming there -- every episode of many of their best shows, including The Wire, Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

I did NHL GameCenter Live through the Roku this season. It wasn't perfect, but I felt like I was getting a better picture there than I would have through Verizon Fios, which only has a couple games a night in HD as part of Center Ice. I plan to do MLB.tv on Roku this year too, as I was immensely disappointed with the lack of HD games on MLB Extra Innings. I used to have DirecTV, and every game on the out-of-market sports packages was in HD. Very frustrating that Verizon can't work things out to get more games in HD.

 

The MLB.tv channel on Roku will come in handy for baseball season as I switched from DirecTV to cable when I moved, and the small cable company doesn't carry any of the sports packages in HD.

As for Verizon FIOS TV not having sports packages in HD, the system is almost at capacity. That's why not many HD channels have been added lately.