Roku has the latest and greatest films, the best of catch-up TV, live sports, music, news, weather, games, and more, all on demand. There is no monthly fee. Some premium channels charge a subscription, others make it easy to rent or buy. Better still, most of the 450+ channels are free. Use the Roku search to find your favourite movies.
Plugs discreetly right into the hdmi port, which works perfectly with wall-mounted tvs. 31000 movies available, and by far the most tv episodes, sports, news, music, kids' shows plus streaming player.
The remote can be used through closed cabinets and walls. Control roku with your smartphone on iOS or android. Use netflix and youtube to cast videos from your phone to your tv. Also send home-videos, photos and music from your phone to your tv.
1080p.
Video formats:
BBC iPlayer.
4oD.
Netflix.
YouTube.
Rent from the largest selection of HD movies.
Interfaces and connectivity:
HDMI port.
Wi-Fi enabled.
Top comments
fishmaster to Heat777
4 Dec 153#32
Kodi is a software media player which can have addons allowing 'illegal' streaming of content. Kodi can run on many devices with different operating systems. The reason people ask for Kodi so much is so they can use free addons to stream content, however free gets you a poorer experience than paying a subscription for an IPTV service.
NowTV is Sky's streaming service.
Roku is a hardware streaming TV and media player
Fire refers to the Fire range of hardware from Amazon which consists of tablets and media players
Pls DON'T PM me regarding any of this as I'm not a free on demand tech service, just a polite notice for those concerned.
Latest comments (52)
lugsy3
6 Dec 15#52
Hadnt really tried plex but just bought a new mini pc nettop for my media needs.
I had to replace my tv just after buying this due to old one going green screen, anyway i bought a smart tv and then set up plex on it. Amazing bit of kit with the software. Just select plex server via input and all my media on there. Watched 15 gig blu ray no problem whatsoever. All controlled by my tv remote.
Thanks for the heads up about plex guys.
maxmax
5 Dec 15#51
For people who have a Firestick check out i4atv works very good on the stick
just google or on youtube >> i4atv firestick :sunglasses:
maxmax
5 Dec 15#50
Its ok I don`t need help but Thank you anyways
Dwibs
5 Dec 15#49
Let me guess you ran Plex server on a dreadfully slow laptop using a poor wireless connection, expecting it to be amazing!! If your experience was bad then you didn't do it right. Simple.
Kodi is great but for local media it CAN NOT compare to Plex BUT it needs doing right.
I am actually trying to help you out. I'm not the one needing school, if you would like me to help you understand why it didn't work for you, i'll gladly help you understand where you went wrong.
kevsy
5 Dec 15#48
might look to get one of these or fire stick ......... be good for xmas !!
lacostalots
5 Dec 15#47
Don't forget the private channels too.... I have this as my bedroom TV, if you install Showbox on your phone via web search (as it isn't available on google play) then download Allcast too, you can stream lots of 'free' movies and TV series. Watched Antman last week, excellent picture.
maxmax
5 Dec 15#46
Lmap Joke of the Decade ^^^ go back to school kid.
PillowDefender
5 Dec 15#45
Hey all, looking to get this, just wondering the usb power, can I use an old android plug into the wire to the key? Cheers.
Rickardo
5 Dec 151#44
Make sure you look into how to have Kodi on the home page to make life easier for the father-in-law. It's a bit of a faff otherwise going through settings etc.
maxmax
4 Dec 151#10
Better buying a Firestick or Droid box than this
cannot install Kodi on Roku but they use Plex which is trash.
theshabster to maxmax
4 Dec 15#11
Can you install Kodi on the Firestick?
Slinger55 to maxmax
4 Dec 15#36
Plex isn't trash at all. Depends if you prefer local rather than remote content. Have you used it ?
Dwibs to maxmax
5 Dec 15#43
You haven't a clue have you. Kodi is ok, i've used it since the original XBOX (XMBC) but Plex is how LOCAL media should be used. Well organised & beautiful interfaces. I presume it didn't work well for you. Likely reason your network sucks or the PC you are running it on is underpowered. Nothing wrong with Plex. You are missing out big time.
An old Core 2 Duo should do nicely as a server. Dump 8Gb RAM on it and one big hard drive to keep it cheap. Install FREENAS on a USB stick, install Plex plugin. This install will take a little more research on your part but the system is amazing. On a windows machine the large amount of memory isn't so important. Connect it by a Gigabit cable. Job done.
I've tried Amazon Stick Kodi, Kodi runs well but if you already have media or want better quality then forget this route. Plex works great with Google Chromecast, fire stick is ok but the menu system is a little slow as the fire stick isn't a powerful machine. I prefer running Plex App on my mobile select then straight to the Chromecast. Perfect.
xmikebx
5 Dec 15#42
Thanks. I think I'm gonna stick with the black boxes for now but I do like the look of the layout on the official plex roku compared to plex classic, it looks like the older family members would get on better with that.
Very good advice! I know this isn't the place to be entering into discussions about different media devices but every one seems to turn into 'forget this get a firestick & kodi' I'm not knocking kodi, it's great, but the firestick isn't without issues and I personally find it irritating to use.
yawn...it's not trash. I have control over how my server runs and who connects to it, sure I can't watch free footy on plex blah blah blah, but what I do watch I have far less issues watching it.
If you're young, have some technical knowledge, patience, and want free 'stuff' regardless of how convoluted the process of getting it may be...then the firestick will be great for you, but that's not everybody...my mum would have nightmare's trying to use kodi on the firestick.
lugsy3
5 Dec 15#41
I helped my brother with this a while ago and the choice is vast eg fire stick, android box, apple tv etc all great but all have limits. In the end i persuaded him to do the same ss me and get a small pc , not limited at all, well does all what i need, kodi, streaming footy,catch up tv etc.
Before you jump in research and think what you need otherwise you just waste money as my brother would have done.
Voted hot by the way.
xmikebx
4 Dec 15#33
Can anyone who has this and the new plex app, and has used plex on the nowtv box, give me an idea how much of an improvement there would be with this? ease of use, navigation, loading speeds etc with the new app. This is a good price but its still 3x the price of a nowtv box :disappointed:
Wibblefish to xmikebx
5 Dec 151#40
Compared to the new black Nowtv boxes the speed and navigation is the same, the only real advantage is being able to have more then one app sideloaded like on the nowtv boxes. This has netflix/amazon/prime/nowtv channels plus all 4 on demand terrestrial channels.
Compared to the old white Nowtv box this and the black box is much faster navigation and loading, very noticable.
Amazon prime DOES work now in the UK, the roku prime video channel was released about 3 weeks ago by amazon with no publicity or fanfare.
Father Christmas
5 Dec 15#39
That's excellent cheers. Will try that. Just bought one recently. Was told originally that the sire was only for US. Might as well get a free extender than pay.
dossdes
5 Dec 15#38
Thanks for that useful information. What I want is one device that will give me access to my services. Is that too much to ask?
rafi105
4 Dec 15#37
I had errors the first time trying to submit the form so I just went into live chat and told them I was experiencing problems and that I think that would fix it so they asked for the same information through live chat and the cable arrived a week or two later.
Father Christmas
4 Dec 15#35
It's also same price in currys
rafi105
4 Dec 15#31
Make sure to fill this out to get a free extension cable, it actually helped to pick up a stronger signal as I was able to adjust the angle https://www.roku.com/support-hdmi
Father Christmas to rafi105
4 Dec 15#34
I was told this was for US customers only
Heat777
4 Dec 15#28
I'd love if someone could link an idiots guide or youtube video explaning all of this new-fangled tv tech - kodi, roku, nowtv, fire, ect! TIA!
fishmaster to Heat777
4 Dec 153#32
Kodi is a software media player which can have addons allowing 'illegal' streaming of content. Kodi can run on many devices with different operating systems. The reason people ask for Kodi so much is so they can use free addons to stream content, however free gets you a poorer experience than paying a subscription for an IPTV service.
NowTV is Sky's streaming service.
Roku is a hardware streaming TV and media player
Fire refers to the Fire range of hardware from Amazon which consists of tablets and media players
Pls DON'T PM me regarding any of this as I'm not a free on demand tech service, just a polite notice for those concerned.
nataliebx1
4 Dec 15#30
Got myself a bargain in tesco last Friday I paid £24 for this
lfd88
4 Dec 15#29
We used the roku to stream Netflix, but it comes with some good music / radio apps and yoy can also download an app to your phone or table which enables you to stream anything you have downloaded too, very handy, and well worth the money.
shrek
4 Dec 15#23
I have two of these they great only let down is the remote in constant goes on standby within a minute or so of inactivity, then takes 10 secs or more to come back from hibernation, its a blooming pain in backside.Sometimes I have to use the button inside remote to resync I tried the roku app for android but despite putting in correct ip address of roku stick (shown in setting of the roku stick (192.168.1.100)I cant get that to work either
We use ours mainly for netflix and nowtv. You cant get kodi on these but plex works.
mc11 to shrek
4 Dec 15#27
We never use the remote for roku now., as the remote was a pain. We use our phones for the remote. Works well with windows (8.1) phone and an Android (4.something, s5 mini). If amazon works on it now that would be great as its one of the reasons I cancelled my membership.
Gormond
4 Dec 15#26
Great video, I will use that method to install Kodi for people in the future :laughing:
Tarquin8484
4 Dec 15#25
Can this output 50Hz? If not it's a joke.
michaelsmith
4 Dec 15#24
Amazon app works fantastic.It is the only device that provides all major services..
Coffee100
4 Dec 15#22
Great links, thanks.
I have now tv, but have read so many comments raving about Kodi, so hoping to learn about it and then get the fire stick when/if it goes down to £25 again.
dossdes
4 Dec 15#20
Just wondered if this has the now tv channel available? If so its getting purchased as I have been looking for a cheap way to stream now tv, Amazon prime and Netflix on one device
Elevation to dossdes
4 Dec 151#21
If you have money to waste on both of those every single month why would you need the cheap way?
moodamoo55
4 Dec 15#19
The Amazon video app is up and running as I have it on mine. no kodi though but plex can be installed x
maxmax
4 Dec 15#18
Yes I understand what you mean :wink:
What I do and you can do is add the best apps to favorites for him and also install iVue tv guide which is very good & easy to use, scroll the channels click & play simple.
if its set up right it will make it a lot easy for folks to use.
theshabster
4 Dec 15#17
Thanks for the offer, but hopefully I won't need to trouble you. I'm fairly confident with technology having rooted Android devices before, so hopefully this will be straight forward enough. What worries me most is how easy it will be to use for him once all set up - From initial impressions it looks a little clunky in terms of how you access Kodi once installed, but it's probably just me judging it before I've given it a go.
maxmax
4 Dec 15#16
What ever you get just set it up for him and then apps update themselves each time,
If you need help with it just give me a shout or send a private message and i`ll do my best to help out ok
theshabster
4 Dec 15#15
Great stuff - Really appreciate that.
I need to look into what Kodi is, so I'll have a Google. All I know is that a lot of people rave about it being good for accessing free content. As this is for the father-in-law I want to check that I can help him set it up once we've given it to him as a gift.
maxmax
4 Dec 15#14
You are welcome
check out the second video link ( Kodi on FireStick with No PC >>)
theshabster
4 Dec 151#13
Thanks :smiley:
maxmax
4 Dec 151#12
On a Amazon firestick? Yes you can install it on that and any Home computer or Android mobile phone.
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
Plugs discreetly right into the hdmi port, which works perfectly with wall-mounted tvs. 31000 movies available, and by far the most tv episodes, sports, news, music, kids' shows plus streaming player.
The remote can be used through closed cabinets and walls. Control roku with your smartphone on iOS or android. Use netflix and youtube to cast videos from your phone to your tv. Also send home-videos, photos and music from your phone to your tv.
1080p.
Video formats:
BBC iPlayer.
4oD.
Netflix.
YouTube.
Rent from the largest selection of HD movies.
Interfaces and connectivity:
HDMI port.
Wi-Fi enabled.
Top comments
NowTV is Sky's streaming service.
Roku is a hardware streaming TV and media player
Fire refers to the Fire range of hardware from Amazon which consists of tablets and media players
Pls DON'T PM me regarding any of this as I'm not a free on demand tech service, just a polite notice for those concerned.
Latest comments (52)
I had to replace my tv just after buying this due to old one going green screen, anyway i bought a smart tv and then set up plex on it. Amazing bit of kit with the software. Just select plex server via input and all my media on there. Watched 15 gig blu ray no problem whatsoever. All controlled by my tv remote.
Thanks for the heads up about plex guys.
just google or on youtube >> i4atv firestick :sunglasses:
Kodi is great but for local media it CAN NOT compare to Plex BUT it needs doing right.
I am actually trying to help you out. I'm not the one needing school, if you would like me to help you understand why it didn't work for you, i'll gladly help you understand where you went wrong.
cannot install Kodi on Roku but they use Plex which is trash.
An old Core 2 Duo should do nicely as a server. Dump 8Gb RAM on it and one big hard drive to keep it cheap. Install FREENAS on a USB stick, install Plex plugin. This install will take a little more research on your part but the system is amazing. On a windows machine the large amount of memory isn't so important. Connect it by a Gigabit cable. Job done.
I've tried Amazon Stick Kodi, Kodi runs well but if you already have media or want better quality then forget this route. Plex works great with Google Chromecast, fire stick is ok but the menu system is a little slow as the fire stick isn't a powerful machine. I prefer running Plex App on my mobile select then straight to the Chromecast. Perfect.
Very good advice! I know this isn't the place to be entering into discussions about different media devices but every one seems to turn into 'forget this get a firestick & kodi' I'm not knocking kodi, it's great, but the firestick isn't without issues and I personally find it irritating to use.
yawn...it's not trash. I have control over how my server runs and who connects to it, sure I can't watch free footy on plex blah blah blah, but what I do watch I have far less issues watching it.
If you're young, have some technical knowledge, patience, and want free 'stuff' regardless of how convoluted the process of getting it may be...then the firestick will be great for you, but that's not everybody...my mum would have nightmare's trying to use kodi on the firestick.
Before you jump in research and think what you need otherwise you just waste money as my brother would have done.
Voted hot by the way.
Compared to the old white Nowtv box this and the black box is much faster navigation and loading, very noticable.
Amazon prime DOES work now in the UK, the roku prime video channel was released about 3 weeks ago by amazon with no publicity or fanfare.
NowTV is Sky's streaming service.
Roku is a hardware streaming TV and media player
Fire refers to the Fire range of hardware from Amazon which consists of tablets and media players
Pls DON'T PM me regarding any of this as I'm not a free on demand tech service, just a polite notice for those concerned.
We use ours mainly for netflix and nowtv. You cant get kodi on these but plex works.
I have now tv, but have read so many comments raving about Kodi, so hoping to learn about it and then get the fire stick when/if it goes down to £25 again.
What I do and you can do is add the best apps to favorites for him and also install iVue tv guide which is very good & easy to use, scroll the channels click & play simple.
if its set up right it will make it a lot easy for folks to use.
If you need help with it just give me a shout or send a private message and i`ll do my best to help out ok
I need to look into what Kodi is, so I'll have a Google. All I know is that a lot of people rave about it being good for accessing free content. As this is for the father-in-law I want to check that I can help him set it up once we've given it to him as a gift.
check out the second video link ( Kodi on FireStick with No PC >>)
Install Kodi on the Amazon Fire Stick or Fire TV
also Kodi on FireStick with No PC >>
Kodi on FireStick with No PC
If Amazon does work, then are any major smart tv apps missing - it looks like it has everything!