TIA

For local channels I just used a little $10 round TV antenna placed in the attic.

My home network was upstairs so I used the Roku wirelessly downstairs and it connected via my Linksys E4200 wireless router.

An X Box can't do even a one hundredth of what an Roku can do. Everybody wants thier stuff on the Roku Format because it is the most organized out there. No one else even comes close at between 39 and 99 bucks a pop i find it funny that people who spend all that money on games are so frivilous about such a small amount. I have had at least one roku for almost three years. It is the best invention since the VCR..

the experts out there all seem to agree... the xbox and roku are incredibly similar but the roku targets an old audience...

xbox will have their own cable tv platform within the next year... by then Roku will still be letting you watch the weather in St. Paul...

There are some things on it that you can pay for (like HBO channels) and others you don't (like crackle and some games).

This is what I was wondering about. We have netflix streaming, hulu plus and amazon prime already and we watch them on a dozen different devices (computer, xbox, wifi blu-ray player, ipod/ipad, shoot - I catch up on DrWho episodes with netflix on my phone while I'm waiting for my princess at dance class.) Those three really aren't enough to dump basic cable (so far) though. Stuff like HBO on the roku was intriguing, but if I'm reading correctly, you have to have a cable subscription to HBO already, to see it on the Roku? If you have to have cable to get a channel on a roku, why do you need the roku at all? Am I reading the HBO site wrong? TBS sounded the same. I've been seriously looking at a Roku box as a family gift this year, but I don't want to spend money on a repeat of what we already have when I could use it for something ELSE for the family.

In general, the industry is moving this direction, but it's not their yet, so don't expect it to be as easy as flipping channels on a cable box (if you can call flipping through 2000 channels easy). Cable providers are losing subscribers like never before, and they keep raising prices to maintain their bottom line, which pushes more customers out. The content providers are setting themselves up to jump ship, so short of cable completely changing their structure (a la carte model), pressure will continue to build towards these little devices.

The system that works for us is to just buy season passes for shows that we want to watch, and watch them via iTunes or Amazon VOD. We also have Amazon Prime for older stuff, and rent movies straight from the devices when we want to watch those. It is still cheaper than cable and you get to watch stuff with no commercials. Local channels via antenna works great and everything is HD.

Premium channels like HBO and ESPN are tricky.

what are you watching on espn? try this maybe:

http://www.wiziwig.tv/competition.php?part=sports&competitionid=37&discipline=americanfootball 

and

http://broadcastengineering.com/blog/streaming-tv-battle-roku-3-vs-apple-tv-vs-xbox-one 

DQB, this may help you out.