So the channels that you get on the Roku - do they have set schedules of streaming or can you pick things. Or does it depend on the channel.

Plus if you were getting a new one which version would you get?

I gather it's some sort of Mack Bolan/Remo Williams-type guy?

I don't know who those are.

askye,

so admittedly the roku box comparison chart is not easy to suss out (at least this was true the last time I checked it on roku web page). But I think I have the XS which is the one where you can insert a USB drive. It also is the one that goes with HD TVs. So if your dad has an HDTV, I think you need to do the XS. Does your dad have wireless that is good? because that is kind of essential for a Roku. I can't get my parents one because they don't have wireless and can't get Ethernet over near the tv.

So, the channels I have on Roku are Netflix (I connected it to my Netflix account, so I stream Netflix from Roku), Amazon Instant (same thing), you can also connect Pandora channel. I also have a channel that allows me to stream content from the USB drive and a private channel that allows me to stream video and music from a Internet service.

Oooh, I'm jealous of Liese's newere version with the USB port option. Get that one!

They just added a bunch of channels on Plex like MTV (videos), and all of South Park and NPR.

Mostly I use it for playing my iTunes over the TV sound system in the living room, or playing things I've downloaded. For example, I just went to the Cartoon Network website and downloaded episodes of Adventure Time that we haven't seen.

But I'm not sure what it offers that you don't get from your Hulu/Amazon Prime/Netflix setup. That's where we do a large part of watching as well.

Originally Dad was trying to get this information for a friend of his who hates paying for cable. Or paying extra they live in a retirement community where they get basic cable and he pays extra. So Dad was asking me about this and started wondering if he'd like it.

I think he'd like most of it except not having access to college football.

Then it turned into , do I want one for Christmas. And I was looking at the channel offerings and some of them look interesting.

My lights haven't set the tree on fire, and they work!

Of course, seeing them lit up made me realize how I should have strung them, which is not how I did string them, and I suspect I will be outside fixing them as soon as it gets light out tomorrow, but that's okay.

My Christmas cactus has started to bloom! Last year it had buds, but they didn't mature and open, so I must have neglected the plant properly this year.

Seems we have another mostly-successful day in Suela Parentland. My brother and his wife & kid visited for a bit, and then the folks (unsolicited as far as I can tell) went to a movie in the building (first attendance at a building function!). I talked with them at 6 and aside from Mom starting off with "We're fed up with this place and we're going to move,"--which I derailed with a quick story about the dog show and all the pretty dogs we saw--they seemed fine.

Of course my dad, god help us, actually reminded my mother to tell me she was fed up. The man is seriously missing the point here. I suspect this would all be rather easier if we could reprogram him a bit.

Anyway, I'm off to a late birthday dinner with my sister & a friend, and tomorrow is a new week. Woot.

Burrell, I hope things get better for you. I can recommend heavy doses of animated movies, which seem to work better for me than alcohol does.

It sounds like it is improving 'suela - have you read the 36h day ? A number of my friends in similar situations reccomend it HIGHLY

askye, we really liked the roku. It was a great addition to our "entertainment array." Unfortunately, the one we got had no off button, so when we switched modes away from it to the dvr or the PS3 (for blu-ray), the roku stayed on all the time. After more than a year, it became unreliable. We replaced it with a Sony media player, which accomplishes the same tasks, but has an off switch. We like it as well as the roku--better actually, since it's been more dependable.

I know the roku has quality and price levels, and we had what was probably the lowest tier one. But the Sony was about the same price we paid for the roku.