Roku Cable TV Box

[Parley]

I have two TV's that are being supplied by Spectrum cable boxes. They are costing me $10 a month each for a total of $20 a month. I was told to get Roku cable boxes as replacements. My problem is I do not know which Roku box to get. I am open to suggestions.

 

[David L]

I have not tried different Set-Tops on my Xfinity, but to my understanding, which either box you go with, it will need to be able to login to your service (Spectrum) for it to work. Roku allows you to load their App, Xfinity that is, assuming Spectrum too.

Roku

Roku provides the simplest way to stream entertainment to your TV. On your terms. With thousands of available channels to choose from.

www.roku.com

We have 3 Roku boxes, the Ultra boxes. From what I read prior to getting them, the other cheaper solutions Roku has can be much slower, plus they are WiFi, were as these are wired, think you can also WiFi with them. The wife uses them for almost all her watching.
The Ultra we watch a lot of movies through the USB port on a Flash Drive. Pretty much everything i throw at it plays.

HTH

Oh, FYI, we got our boxes for $50 on sale, just watch for sales. You don't have to have all Ultras like us, but be sure you have good WiFi signal if you use their other products.

 

[Mike A.]

I don't think they make "cable boxes" per se. They make a variety of streaming devices and have TVs with their OS built in. Pretty good I think for what they are but that's a completely different deal than a cable box. Some benefits/drawbacks either way but they don't really operate like a typical cable STB. But that's all kind of beyond your question.

Basically the way that their product lineup shakes out is that If not for a 4K TV, then you can go with one of the less expensive sticks without 4K. Then it moves up to the 4K sticks in a few different varieties. Then they have a couple of stand-alone boxes like the Ultra which is their best. Features/performance kind of follows their pricing. They also have sound bars that do the same in that format.

If you have a Kohls nearby might check there. They had the Ultra and some others on half price clearance within the last month or so. I've had a few different types over the years and picked up one of those recently.

 

[Parley]

Maybe not a Roku but a replacement cable TV box. I will have to check, but I think by TV is 4k.

 

[wittaj]

The biggest problem is you cannot key in numbers to go to channels, you need to get to the guide and then surf up and down, so it can take awhile. Or set up favorites that have a small number of channels in it.

For some that inconvenience is worth the savings. I tried to get my folks to go to a streaming stick, but not being able to key in numbers was a deal killer for them.

 

[David L]

I don't think they make "cable boxes" per se. They make a variety of streaming devices and have TVs with their OS built in. Pretty good I think for what they are but that's a completely different deal than a cable box. Some benefits/drawbacks either way but they don't really operate like a typical cable STB. But that's all kind of beyond your question.

Basically the way that their product lineup shakes out is that If not for a 4K TV, then you can go with one of the less expensive sticks without 4K. Then it moves up to the 4K sticks in a few different varieties. Then they have a couple of stand-alone boxes like the Ultra which is their best. Features/performance kind of follows their pricing. They also have sound bars that do the same in that format.

If you have a Kohls nearby might check there. They had the Ultra and some others on half price clearance within the last month or so. I've had a few different types over the years and picked up one of those recently.

Our daughter has had several of their sticks, when we got her the Ultra, she said it was night and Day faster and zero freezing up. We have had a good experience with them too. We still have Xfinity boxes but are under a old plan where we are not charged for them. If they every charge we will get a different Set-Top or use Roku...We have a family member who got rid of their Xfinity boxes and went Roku, it takes a little getting use to it but they said they found themselves using the Roku channels almost as much as the cable tv service

 

[wittaj]

Oh yeah and the spectrum app on these streaming sticks are only 1080p, so it is better to go to the actual channel app in many cases to get a better resolution.

 

[David L]

The biggest problem is you cannot key in numbers to go to channels, you need to get to the guide and then surf up and down, so it can take awhile. Or set up favorites that have a small number of channels in it.

For some that inconvenience is worth the savings. I tried to get my folks to go to a streaming stick, but not being able to key in numbers was a deal killer for them.

Maybe only the TCL Roku TVs can?

Re: Remotes with numeric pad?

Here is a surprise... I bought a TCL Roku 5 series 55 inch TV. My old/other tv's were Best Buy, Insignia. Out of habit I picked up my Insignia remote to change the channel on my TCL Roku.. Guess what..? It worked! In fact.. it works everything on my TV! Including the number pad! The only...

community.roku.com

 

[Mike A.]

Replacement STBs are a different matter. I'm not familiar with Spectrum and what's available. I replaced my FIOS router and have an old used FIOS router behind that I use as a MOCA bridge but I still need to use their STBs if I want their TV service. You could kill the TV service, just get Internet service, and save a bunch of money using Roku or other streaming devices, which I do for several TVs, but as @wittaj says that has some drawbacks too.

 

[wittaj]

Maybe only the TCL Roku TVs can?

Re: Remotes with numeric pad?

Here is a surprise... I bought a TCL Roku 5 series 55 inch TV. My old/other tv's were Best Buy, Insignia. Out of habit I picked up my Insignia remote to change the channel on my TCL Roku.. Guess what..? It worked! In fact.. it works everything on my TV! Including the number pad! The only...

community.roku.com

Wow I wonder if that works for the Spectrum app? Maybe he is on Pluto or some other app that has channels?

Take it with a grain of salt, but a Spectrum employee told me their app was designed on purpose to not accept a keypad to force some to stay with the box that liked that type of ability to change channels.

 

[OICU2]

I have a friend that killed his cable service and uses Roku TV's and Roku sticks to stream Youtube TV. Gets most all channels he got with cable, even local and it's cheaper.

 

[Mike A.]

Maybe only the TCL Roku TVs can?

I have one of those. I think maybe they're a little confused or not being clear in that post. On the main screen Roku has a selection for whatever input. Mine is on HDMI 1 and named STB. If I choose that, then I can use the remote for the STB as you normally would. All it's doing is changing the input and displaying whatever comes over it.

 

[David L]

I have a friend that killed his cable service and uses Roku TV's and Roku sticks to stream Youtube TV. Gets most all channels he got with cable, even local and it's cheaper.

Yeah, streaming services seems to be popular. One of our daughters, well they both do, has 5 or 6 services. Some are free with their mobile cell provider.

My wife wanted to watch the Hallmark channels for Christmas, well we have basic cable. I found frndly for her, we paid about $7 a month during the few months before the holidays. She was glued to all they had to offer.

There are a lot of different options out there, for my daughters and others I know it is still cheaper than cable tv, but all the streaming services can add up too.

 

[OICU2]

....My wife wanted to watch the Hallmark channels for Christmas......

Bless you. My wife is the same. The same movies over and over each year save maybe a few new ones. Does she also start listening to Christmas music the day after halloween? Lol. I digress.

 

[Sybertiger]

I use Roku streaming sticks. My WiFi gets me 330Mbps which is more than plenty. I have Spectrum service for internet only. I subscribe to YouTubeTV and have access to Hulu and Netflix. The days of cable boxes and channel numbers is near over. I don't have buffering or stutter ever with my streaming sticks.

My parents have Roku Ulta boxes with similar subscriptions but their ISP is Xfinity internet only.

 

[fenderman]

I have a friend that killed his cable service and uses Roku TV's and Roku sticks to stream Youtube TV. Gets most all channels he got with cable, even local and it's cheaper.

+1. I use amazon fire with Sling. Same concept. Sling is cheaper than youtube tv however it does have limitations. For example, with youtube TV you can setup six family accounts and stream up to 3 of them simultaneously. With sling there is a single account and you can either stream 1 or 3 depending if you have the orange or blue package. The youtube tv DVR is also much better. You can record unlimited and it stores it all for up to 9 months. Each account will have its own DVR and settings. With Sling you are limited to 200gb and you need to pay 5 bux extra to get that 200 vs the default 50.
Sling does carry newsmax (5 extra for that package of channels) - youtube tv does not. Channel selection varies. Youtube tv carries local channels while sling does not. Youtube tv is 65 monthly while sling blue with 200gb dvr costs me 45. 40 with 50gb.

 

[looney2ns]

Long time Roku user here.
If you have a wired Ethernet connection at your tv location, get the Ultra.
If not, then you can get the Roku Streaming Stick 4k.
In my opinion, a Roku is easier for most to use over the Fire Stick.
To me the Fire stick shoves too many ads in your face everytime you fire it up. Mostly related to Amazon stuff.
Lots of info here: Roku
Roku has the "Roku Channel" that offers many ad supported channels at no cost.

 

[looney2ns]

You can try out the Roku Channel on your computer here: Roku Channel

 

[David L]

Long time Roku user here.
If you have a wired Ethernet connection at your tv location, get the Ultra.
If not, then you can get the Roku Streaming Stick 4k.
In my opinion, a Roku is easier for most to use over the Fire Stick.
To me the Fire stick shoves too many ads in your face everytime you fire it up. Mostly related to Amazon stuff.
Lots of info here: Roku

My wife loves the Roku interface and remote. I loaded a bunch of channels for her. Christian channels, Cooking channels, etc. She loves Tubi for watching Faith based movies. Tubi has grown a lot since she first started watching a few years back.
With basic cable we mainly get local broadcasted channels, like you can get over an antenna. With Roku we can also get our local stations.

@Parley I would suggest you go to Roku's site and see what channels they have that you may watch, you may find, like most of us, you won't be so much using Spectrum's channels as much anymore. I know when I looked at Xfinity, from our family member, their App was nothing like the Xfinity cable box, that is it was a different interface. It may have changed from a few years ago though. Spectrum may be similar...

 

[prsmith777]

I just heard on the radio today that Roku is teaming up with Door Dash. You can order food from your TV and have it delivered. As if Americans aren't obese enough. I'm sure this will be a smashing success.

Roku and DoorDash Partner to Deliver Delight to Roku Users with Free DashPass and Access to On-Demand Delivery from their TVs | DoorDash

Roku (Nasdaq: ROKU), the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico*, and DoorDash (NYSE: DASH), the local commerce platform, today announced a multi-year partnership to build a better TV experience and unlock new ways for consumers to access their favorite restaurants and more.

doordash.news