For your edification, here's why I returned the Roku 3 I just bought a few days ago. I'll be buying an Apple TV, but am considering holding out for the next gen.
I have an LG "smart" TV, which has some online functionality. Basically, it can stream Netflix. That's nice, but very limited. And the interface is horrible. So I wanted a box that would stream more content and have a friendlier interface.
I settled on the Roku 3 for several reasons:
- It supports Amazon Prime video
- It allows content searching across carriers
- The remote has a headphone jack
I got it, hooked it up, and returned it soon afterward. Here's why.
I never even watched any content on the Roku, but I did get to spend a couple of hours fighting it.
The first thing I had to do was connect it to a network. But no matter how carefully I checked every setting, it refused to talk to my AirPort. This becomes quite annoying, since I have a complex password, and that meant fiddling through many, many clicks of the remote to enter password characters via four little arrow buttons. Over and over again.
Finally, I gave up on the wifi and ran an ethernet cable to it to at least get it set up. That worked (though it's not even an option on earlier Roku's).
Then I had to set up a Roku account on my computer and associate it with the box. Fine. Now I can do the rest of my setup through my Mac, right? Wrong. Unbelievably, if I want to set up Netflix, I have to enter the email address and password with the stupid little four arrows of the remote. Why the heck couldn't I just use the computer's keyboard??
So somebody told me I could set up my iPhone as the remote for it and use that keyboard. Cool, that ought to help, right? And it did briefly, until the app stopped talking to the Roku. Then it just plum refused to ever find the Roku, even when I quit the app or rebooted the iPhone. So I went to manually enter the IP address of the Roku into the app, and the app won't accept numeric input. In other words, it was just horribly glitchy.
So that's three huge interface flaws in a row. And I'm going to commit to this device as a way to get a better interface? I don't think so.
The Apple TV can't stream Amazon, but it can AirPlay my Mac's screen to the TV, so that basically does the same thing. Plus the fact that it can AirPlay anything on my Mac is pretty cool.
I'm willing to forgo the other two "benefits" I had imagined the Roku would have in order to not have to put up with its awful glitches. Forget that.
So I'm happy to get an Apple TV instead. Except that the current rev is basically at the end of it's cycle. Since all iOS devices appear to be ready for a refresh, I figure the TV will get a bump with the rest of 'em. And I'll be very happy to have it instead of the allegedly "better" features of the Roku 3.
In other words, just as with phones -- just because a device has more/better features doesn't make it worth having. If the device drives you crazy, are those couple of features really worth the headaches?
I have an LG "smart" TV, which has some online functionality. Basically, it can stream Netflix. That's nice, but very limited. And the interface is horrible. So I wanted a box that would stream more content and have a friendlier interface.
I settled on the Roku 3 for several reasons:
- It supports Amazon Prime video
- It allows content searching across carriers
- The remote has a headphone jack
I got it, hooked it up, and returned it soon afterward. Here's why.
I never even watched any content on the Roku, but I did get to spend a couple of hours fighting it.
The first thing I had to do was connect it to a network. But no matter how carefully I checked every setting, it refused to talk to my AirPort. This becomes quite annoying, since I have a complex password, and that meant fiddling through many, many clicks of the remote to enter password characters via four little arrow buttons. Over and over again.
Finally, I gave up on the wifi and ran an ethernet cable to it to at least get it set up. That worked (though it's not even an option on earlier Roku's).
Then I had to set up a Roku account on my computer and associate it with the box. Fine. Now I can do the rest of my setup through my Mac, right? Wrong. Unbelievably, if I want to set up Netflix, I have to enter the email address and password with the stupid little four arrows of the remote. Why the heck couldn't I just use the computer's keyboard??
So somebody told me I could set up my iPhone as the remote for it and use that keyboard. Cool, that ought to help, right? And it did briefly, until the app stopped talking to the Roku. Then it just plum refused to ever find the Roku, even when I quit the app or rebooted the iPhone. So I went to manually enter the IP address of the Roku into the app, and the app won't accept numeric input. In other words, it was just horribly glitchy.
So that's three huge interface flaws in a row. And I'm going to commit to this device as a way to get a better interface? I don't think so.
The Apple TV can't stream Amazon, but it can AirPlay my Mac's screen to the TV, so that basically does the same thing. Plus the fact that it can AirPlay anything on my Mac is pretty cool.
I'm willing to forgo the other two "benefits" I had imagined the Roku would have in order to not have to put up with its awful glitches. Forget that.
So I'm happy to get an Apple TV instead. Except that the current rev is basically at the end of it's cycle. Since all iOS devices appear to be ready for a refresh, I figure the TV will get a bump with the rest of 'em. And I'll be very happy to have it instead of the allegedly "better" features of the Roku 3.
In other words, just as with phones -- just because a device has more/better features doesn't make it worth having. If the device drives you crazy, are those couple of features really worth the headaches?