Just bought a roku 3 for one of my TVs. Also have an Apple TV3 in my bedroom. I'm very impressed with the Roku 3. Only thing missing that would make it perfect is youtube and airplay. It has 700 channels. a lot of the channles are free. The speed is also impressive. Apple needs to open up the appleTV to more channels..
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Roku 3
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Should be on www.roku.com. I'm very Impressed by the roku 3. I have Netflix and I'm a amazon prim member. Amazon has some great movies and Apple TV does not do amazon instant videos. Also I use pandora a lot and that is missing from Apple TV. In my opinion you can find some food stuff on those free channels. I cut cable and put an antenna on my roof. I think this plus the antenna is perfect. AppleTV would be in second but for the same price roku just has so many more options and that's coming from an apple fan.
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1) Install Plex on your computer.
2) Make a free Plex account on your computer with your email address and a password.
3) Add the YouTube channel to your Plex server.
4) Download the Plex channel on your Roku.
5) Go to the Plex channel on your Roku.
6) Enter your email address and Plex password on the Roku.
7) Watch YouTube through your Roku.
Note - Your computer has to be on and the Plex server running on your computer (it's in the background) in order to stream YouTube to your Roku.
I also use Plex to view YouTube on my iPod Touch since it will display all video including flash based video.
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You get what you pay for
. The pay channels (Netflix, etc.) are excellent while the free channels are somewhat mediocre (In my opinion, not really worth watching).http://www.roku.com/channels#!now-playing
a lot of the channels are religious. Several churches have their own channels where they will show services.
as have been said most of the best options are tied in with a pay site.
netflix, amazon prime, vudu, hbo go, hulu plus.
but most of them also give you access elsewhere.
Plex is also very handy
the only thing you loose is airplay, and access to videos rented or purchased from the iTunes store.
I personally like the interface on the aTV better, but i haven't seen the new interface yet, as it doesn't roll out to my roku till later this month.
I think Airplay is better for music because you have the controller in your hand and do not even need to have your TV on if you have an iOS device. MOG is built right into the ROKU interface, but it does not have the radio slider (it allows you to listen to one artist or blend in more similar artists as you slide it to the right on an iOS device).
Amazon and Plex are the main reasons to buy a Roku. However, you can jailbreak an AppleTV2 and install XBMC for these features. I have a Roku and jailbroken AppleTV2s and use the AppleTV2s quite a bit more (even before adding XBMC). The podcast feature that allows you to save favorites is really a nice feature on the AppleTV and you don't need a computer to be on to stream Youtube.
If you don't own a recent iOS device or a Mac with mirroring, I think the Roku is a better device. However, if you own a recent iOS device, I prefer AppleTV.
As I mentioned in another thread, I had issues with Plex on Roku, so I am reinstalling it on my computer tonight and will reinstall the app on my Roku this weekend. On the Roku, I was unable to play ALAC files the last time around. I am not sure if this is a shortcoming of the Roku app or Plex or if it was an issue with my setup, but it was a major downfall for listening to my music.
The upside is that my Roku does 1080p and my AppleTV2 is 720p. However, once my receiver scales the signal up, it looks very similar to the 1080p signal from the Roku. I do look forward to the update to Roku's interface. It is very tedious to have everything on one line.
Amazon and Plex are the main reasons to buy a Roku. However, you can jailbreak an AppleTV2 and install XBMC for these features. I have a Roku and jailbroken AppleTV2s and use the AppleTV2s quite a bit more (even before adding XBMC). The podcast feature that allows you to save favorites is really a nice feature on the AppleTV and you don't need a computer to be on to stream Youtube.
If you don't own a recent iOS device or a Mac with mirroring, I think the Roku is a better device. However, if you own a recent iOS device, I prefer AppleTV.
As I mentioned in another thread, I had issues with Plex on Roku, so I am reinstalling it on my computer tonight and will reinstall the app on my Roku this weekend. On the Roku, I was unable to play ALAC files the last time around. I am not sure if this is a shortcoming of the Roku app or Plex or if it was an issue with my setup, but it was a major downfall for listening to my music.
The upside is that my Roku does 1080p and my AppleTV2 is 720p. However, once my receiver scales the signal up, it looks very similar to the 1080p signal from the Roku. I do look forward to the update to Roku's interface. It is very tedious to have everything on one line.
Use the TuneinRadio channel (highly recommended).
Note - I'm assuming you meant local radio when you referred to local music.
Download the Twonky app and you can stream your iPad to the Roku.
Just like Cable/Dish you get 650 channels of crap, but then 50 channels that are pretty great - and if I am not mistaken, that is 50 more channels than the AppleTV
pretty much, I use mine to watch videos from Amazon, and Twit TV ,and trailers of Movies. same as I do on ATV. For what ever reason, Amazon movies are 1080i and ATV are not as clear
pretty much, I use mine to watch videos from Amazon, and Twit TV ,and trailers of Movies. same as I do on ATV. For what ever reason, Amazon movies are 1080i and ATV are not as clear
I don't get this: ATV are not as clear (?)
update: I was able to reinstall Plex on my computer and now I have everything up and running again. I believe Plex can handle ALAC files via Roku, too. There must have been an issue with the initial install. It ran fine on my Mac mini, but there was apparently some issue.
I have not seen 50 pretty great apps on Roku, but I would love to see a list of the very best 20 apps. Plex, amazon, and vudu seem to be the best that aren't available on AppleTV (without a jailbreak). However, I may be missing something. It seems like some of the apps are hidden and require codes to show up.
I have not seen 50 pretty great apps on Roku, but I would love to see a list of the very best 20 apps. Plex, amazon, and vudu seem to be the best that aren't available on AppleTV (without a jailbreak). However, I may be missing something. It seems like some of the apps are hidden and require codes to show up.
Ive been wanting to get a Roku 3 since it does so much more than the AppleTV. The problem is that Plex Media Server has never been able to see my iTunes organized media library properly. If I add the iTunes Sharing channel then it grabs all the files but puts all my TV Shows in a single "movies" list that is unorganized and confusing, and if I manually add the TV Shows folders then all the content doesnt show up for some reason.
So in the end I still ordered a Roku 3 but I have to stick with AppleTV just for its simplicity. Hopefully I can figure out Plex because (for now) i do feel its a good additioin to a home theater.
So in the end I still ordered a Roku 3 but I have to stick with AppleTV just for its simplicity. Hopefully I can figure out Plex because (for now) i do feel its a good additioin to a home theater.
Buy an app like identify to properly tag your files and plex will work much better. You can batch tag and properly name files really quickly.
Wouldnt that break my iTunes management then?
I used iFlicks to do all the proper tagging for my entire library (700GB TV/600GB Movies) and it all works fine in iTunes and with our 3 Apple TV's. So if forced to choose Roku vs AppleTV then I'd go with the aTV, but the problem is that I dont want to choose. I have a Mac Mini server that should be perfectly capable of distributing media to either device so I just have to figure out why plex is so picky with my files.
You do know that Amazon is only 720p, while iTunes is 1080p? iTunes will definitely be "clearer".
Don't use the iTunes sharing channel. You need to add the sections and direct them to each folder location (i.e. Movies, TV Shows). Plex will do the lookups and organize everything properly without touching the files so it won't affect the Apple TV. I have this setup and works just fine. I have 2 Apple TV 3s and a Roku 2 XS + Roku 3.
Blaquespell - quick question. If you watch something on an Apple TV, it doesn't show up as watched in Plex, correct? I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong.
That's correct. Apple TV and Plex will be totally separate from each other as far as watched/unwatched even though they use the same files.