Next step was the near surgical removal of the DVR (“Sponge;” Slap. “Scalpel;” Slap. “Curses;” Slap.) Happily, the patient (elderly TV) lived and quickly recovered.
I really dreaded the next part – hooking up the Roku box. Silly me – worry is such a waste of time. Plugged it in – one wire to TV, one to an electrical outlet – and followed the easy on-screen and on-line directions. (When you’re ready to do this, I do recommend you sit where you can see the TV while typing on the computer. Otherwise, there is some annoying back-and-forth. But, if you value all exercise, go ahead and leave the computer in another room. Why not upstairs?)
Warning: A credit card is required (to be kept on file, in case you ever want to buy or rent shows/movies/music). And, there’s no way around that! Except . . . you could buy yourself a Visa Gift Card and declare it a credit card. I love this – for many reasons.
Hook-up took about 15 minutes. Then, I clicked “Video Mode” on our TV remote. Roku revealed itself on screen, a doorway into a whole ‘nother world. The Roku remote is small, lightweight and has very few buttons (YESS!). 
There are very few options on the first screen, but most important of these is the Channel Store – where the fun begins! It’s the go-to place for adding NBC News, TED, byutv, Amazon, Netflix, Pandora, Crackle, HuluPlus, XFactor, WeatherUnderground, AolHD, CNBC Real Time, WatchMoJo, Video Poker, Break, ComedyTime and an overwhelming amount of stuff we’d never heard of.
So far, we haven’t spent a dime online. Plenty of time for that, though . . . Later.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh weeeeeee – this looks very promising!!!!
Maybe not for everyone, but we’re having fun with it – and feeling oh so frugal!!
I’m very familiar with the screwing from the cable company and without benefit of foreplay. Slam, bam, thank you, ma’am! Moved, dumped the cable company and signed on with Dish satellite network where it seems the same type of highway robbery screwing is going to ensue. I’ve never heard of the Raku, but I know there are better ways to go. Alas, I am lazy and a technotard so I will just continue to piss and moan about it. Kudos to you!
Thanks, Jayne! I think it helps that I remember the few years we actually lived with NO kind of television, and how little we missed it. TV isn’t life’s blood, but icing on the cake. I really love icing – but I wouldn’t lay down for it.
Way to go!
Thanks, Bev!
You are waaaaay smart!!!
No waaaaay, Linda, but thanks! I’m just cheap and angry.
We have left Comcast, too. Who needs it with Netflix, anyway? Much more fun to binge-watch a good series or a movie than tune in to the mind-numbing “reality” (just another way to say “we don’t pay writers anymore”) TV that dominates cable. We finally just got tired of subsidizing the bad programming and the religious programming, and of the ever-increasing cost of doing so.
I have long wondered why we couldn’t just pay for and receive the channels we actually wanted, and I have asked Comcast numerous times if they had a “cafeteria style” plan. The answer was always no. I have also told them more than once over the years that I don’t want the religious programs. Their answer to that was, “You can just skip over those channels.”
More satisfying to just skip Comcast.
(she who shall not be named in case Comcast takes offense…)
What? Me? Paranoid?
Good for you, WM. It’s a whole different way to watch, isn’t it? I’m encouraged that you’re still having fun!!