Can a Roku streaming stick be used to get free TV stations?

Can a Roku streaming stick be used to get free TV stations?

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We are very low tech where I'm asking if I can get free TV with the low tech equipment that I have already at home.

I picked up two unopened Roku streaming sticks at a garage sale where the husband who worked for Roku had left the ex wife where he had a few cases of these things that the ex wife was selling for a buck each but she didn't know what they're good for - and neither do I.

The gray box is a Roku 3810R and the green one is a Roku 3800R.

Googling, everyone seems to already know what they do, where I can tell from the hits that they connect your TV to the Internet over your router so that you can use Netflix and stuff.

But we are really low tech so my question is how much free stuff can this Roku thing give me? All the articles assume you have Netflix, and they even assume you have cable, and they assume you have a TV, none of which I have.

I don't have a TV antenna to get over the air broadcast TV, and even if I did, I'm remote so I'd likely get one station or two at best.

THere is no cable service. Just electricity. Nothing else by way of services.

I'm on WISP. About 5 Mbps down and up. The router is an old WNDR Netgear N with the USB port unused.

The kids have a PS3 connected to an old Sony TV.

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The Sony TV is too old for HDMI.

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I know the Sony TV can do Netflix over the net through the PS3 which is wired to the router because we had a friend stay for a few days and her account worked where the kids set that up, but we don't have Netflix account.

We have Windows 10, one of which has an HDTV monitor.

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So that one kid's desktop is the only HDMI connection in the house.

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In our low-tech situation, with only my kid having an HDMI monitor, which nobody shows on the net, can the Roku streaming stick be used to get free TV stations?

Reply to
Amethyst
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Best I know is that a Roku device only makes a dumb TV into a smart TV and only free TV available is what is on the internet like this stuff:

ttps://

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But you say you do not even have a TV.

Reply to
Frank

port on a TV set , but it MIGHT work in the USB port of your son's computer . You'll find the free stuff on roku is riddled with some very annoying commercials , if you can tolerate them thren go for it . Otherwise , netflix can be as cheap as around 10 bucks , CBS all access is around the same . Prime is OK , but a bit more expensive at 14 a month - but you get free shipping and a ton of commercial-free programming .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Does your TV have a USB port?

I am a novice to smart TV, but from what I have read 5 Mbps is about the minimum for low resolution moves, but that would probably be acceptable for TV shows.

If you can get Netflix through the play station, you may be able to access the net and get to the several free, or nominal cost sites.

I don't know about your area but I have found there are quite a lot of material available on the local Public TV website.

As for Broadcast TV, you may wish to check this site:

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This will give you an idea of the station available in your area. Many broadcast TV station have one primary and several secondary channels. I consider them point channels as the are 5.0, 5.2; 17.1, 17.2, 17.3,

17.4; etc. In my area there are five primary channel, and with the secondary channel there are a total of about 16 channels to choose from.

You may also consider and amplified antenna. Use the information from the above site to determine the amplification you need for your area.

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Reply to
Keith Nuttle

No. The router has a USB port. The Playstation 3 has USB ports. The Windows 10 desktop computer has USB ports.

The TV is just these ports which are not USB or HDMI.

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The TV is just connected to the PlayStation 3 and DVD player.

The only device with HDMI is the one desktop computer and monitor.

We had a friend over who used her Netflix account somehow on the PlayStation 3 to play to the Sony TV where the Playstation 3 is connected to the router by wire, so the TV has Internet only that way (through the PS3).

The TV is a very old model.

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The Internet comes in to the WISP modem and then goes to the router and then goes to the PS3 and then to the TV.

That is the kind of advice I was hoping to get! It didn't even occur to me that the PS3 had HDMI!

I just looked, and the PS3 does have an unused HDMI port!

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I was hoping that the Roku "came with" some free channels. We don't have any right now, so anything is better than nothing.

We don't really need TV, so we don't want to go the "broadcast" TV method which will require an antenna from the roof to the bottom floor which is just too much work, really, for crummy channels.

What you told me that I didn't know is that the PS3 has that unused HDMI port!

Can the Roku be connected to that PS3?

Reply to
Amethyst

I just noticed that the monitor is HDMI *IN*

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While the PS3 is HDMI *OUT*.

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Does the direction matter for my purpose if I want to put the Roku streaming stick into the PS3 to get the TV to be on the Roku Internet?

Reply to
Amethyst

On Mon, 26 Mar 2018 18:58:10 -0500, Terry Coombs scribbled:

Prime's $99 a year with a one-time payment ($8.25 a month). Decent free movies and TV, Prime movies and originals (some quite good). Free access to a couple million songs and thousands of playlists. Free two day shipping on eligible items. Unlimited could storage of images. One free eBook book a month before release. Free lending library of eBooks. Well worth the cost of a fast food meal a month.

Reply to
-= Hawk =-

Several? :-) See below.

As of a year go, there were reportedly 4500+ Roku channels, including both free and non-free channels. Those are only the Roku-approved channels available through the Roku Channel Store, however. If you include the private channels, there's about 2000 more. All of the thousands of free channels "come with" any Roku purchase.

I'd recommend that you start by visiting the Roku site:

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I have 3 Roku devices in the house and love them. At least half a dozen folks that I know of have purchased their own after playing with mine.

Reply to
Char Jackson

Yes, the direction matters. Perhaps the monitor has an additional HDMI input? You could connect the Roku there.

Alternatively, you can use a device that has 2 or more HDMI inputs and a single HDMI output. It's sort of like a KVM, but for HDMI video/audio instead of keyboard & mouse. I use this one, available online for about $10 or at Walmart for just under $15.

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Fosmon 3 Port HDMI Switch/Switcher 3 x 1 Auto Switch 3-In 1-Out with Pigtail Cable

You'd connect the PS3 and the Roku to inputs, and the single output goes to your monitor.

Reply to
Char Jackson

Not a USB, it connect into an HDMI port. I have one.

Short answer to OP is yes, there are some free channels of varying degrees of value. Better channels need subscription or some cable tv package, but like me no cable access here. Works on my slow DLS < 3mbs.

Reply to
Jonathan N. Little

To convert HDMI to YPrPb for the back of the TV, should have been easy.

However, one of the reasons that the digital standards exist for monitor cabling, is so DRM can be applied to them.

The Roku claims HDMI 2.0a and likely comes with some

2 series HDCP content protection as well. Generally content protection is applied to 1920x1080 @ 60p. (I can't provide a cite as to what regulation might or might not define "pirate ready" interface limits.) A resolution below 1920x1080, like 1280x720, might not need protection. The Roku may be programmable, or perhaps an HDMI adapter can "reflect back" the user choice of resolution back to the Roku stick so it does the right thing.

Now, the description of this seems unbelievable. It actually claims to work with HDMI, and produces Component out. It claims to support HDCP. I thought this was an "illegal" combination, but what do I know.

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Support HDCP1.2, support analogue video output up to UXGA and 1080P with 10-bit DAC.

HDMI video input format: 480i/576i/480p/576p/720p/1080i/1080P YPbPr video output format: 480i/576i/480p/576p/720p/1080i/1080P

it doesn't actually output pixel for pixel. It's probably down-sizing a bit, to stay below the 1920 analog limit. Which is perfectly fine. For example, if it reduced the resolution of the output to 1280x720 (which is 720p), you'd probably still be pleased with the picture on the TV set.

You *might* be able to use it with the TV set, like this. But because these products live in the "crap zone" of DRM, we have no control over what happens at all... So be warned, the money may not be well spent. This is how you get to the TV set with the Roku HDMI version. (An older Roku had YPbPr, but that version would also have old firmware and not stream smoothly.)

Router Wifi \ HDMI YPbPr +> ROKU ---------- Converter --------- TV (YPrPb+Laudio+Raudio) | | 5 coax cables w. connectors | 5V @ 1A | 5V | | USB power Barrel power wall adapter wall adapter

The converter is not likely to come with the five coax cables needed to connect to the TV set.

YPbPr cable with RCA/Cinch on the ends.

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You'd also need an LAudio/RAudio with RCA/Cinch on the ends for the audio connection, for a total of five coax.

The cables seem to come in thin and thick coax types, and since you really only need a minimal length of cable, the thin stuff is probably fine.

HTH, Paul

Reply to
Paul

The roku sticks you have can ONLY be connected to a viewing device that has an HDMI in port. For your TV with the RCA ports, you need Roku Express

3910RW or an older version of same.
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No Roku will let you view off the air TV stations via your TV in a normal manner..

No Roku "comes with" channels. One must access their channel store - either via the Roku device or internet - and create an account. You can then select whatever channels you want to add to the device; that will install the bit of code necessary on the device for that particular channel. Channels can be added or deleted at any time, the limit being only the capacity of the Roku device. I have no idea what that capacity is, most we have ever had is 30-40 of which we actually watch 6-8.

There are many free channels, most all will pump out a deluge of ads; one needs a high threshold of pain to watch them.. The better channels such as Netfliix, Amazon, et al all require a small monthy fee.

You can browse the channel store here...

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Reply to
dadiOH

All the networks, over the air TV, are fueled by ads but a more tolerable quantity. When one receives them via a cable type service, those services add even more. IOW, all suck.

Reply to
dadiOH

Terry-

Perhaps your Roku stick is made to plug into a USB port or fits a USB port, but my Roku stick fits into and requires a HDMI port on a TV. The two plug/socket configurations may look very similar, but they have different dimensions and wiring. The OP will require an HDMI port to use the Roku stick.

Reply to
Peter

Get one of the indoor type that is very small, usually a box about 10" square, and 1 inch thick. They are usually under 30 bucks at a Walmart (type) store. If it doesn't acquire you any channels, return it.

Reply to
83LowRider

you're right , they do look a lot alike . We have 2 Roku's , both plug in with an HDMI cable . Sounds like the OP needs to buy a new TV ...

Reply to
Terry Coombs

That's my opinion. Its been about 2 years since I bought a 30 inch Samsung smart TV for only $239. I've got bigger none smart sets but this one considered small was for a spot in my den.

Also think I would opt for higher download speed which may be needed for streaming.

Also wanted to mention when it comes to Netflix you can put it on all of your devices which means that the devices do not even need to be in your house. Restriction is that you can not have more than two or three viewers at once. One of my friends here had a son living out of state that offered him access to his account at no cost to him. I like a lot of the Netflix series and they might put on 10-12 one hour shows per season but when the next season comes out they put out the whole series so you can binge.

Reply to
Frank

Nothing prevents an ISP from throttling Netflix, even if you buy Gigabit service. That's the beauty of net neutrality or the lack thereof.

This is one reason that people cannot see Netflix in HD, because the connection to Netflix is throttled, no matter what grade of service you thought that you'd bought.

The ISP could have been cut out of the picture, by the usage of a VPN to "hide" the traffic, except Netflix has anti-VPN provisions to prevent people from other countries from subscribing to US Netflix service (by using a US billing address).

Netflix has a lot of nuances. One size bandaid doesn't fit all.

Paul

Reply to
Paul

I just want to say that all the articles assume you'll pay for Netflix, which isn't the question here.

I don't want to pay for anything since I think it's foolish to pay for what you can get for free, if you can get it for free.

That's why I asked what comes with the Roku sticks. It seems, from the answers, "stuff" comes for free, so that's good.

Now all I need is to figure out if the Roku can plug into the HDMI "IN" of the monitor (with a Y adapter) or if the Roku can plug into the HDMI "OUT" of the Sony Playstation 3.

If the Roku can plug into the HDMO "OUT" of the Sony PS3, that would be perfect because the Sony PS3 already has cables that go into the old but rather large (48 inch?) Sony TV (maybe through the DVD player?).

Come to think of it, I didn't look at the back of the DVD player yet.

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The DVD player also has an HDMI "OUT" that I ask if I can plug the Roku stick into?

Reply to
Amethyst

Thank you for confirming there are "some" free channels, which is all that I care about since the goal is free TV, where all this talk of commercials isn't the point at all since you all have a completely different setup (eg cable, which we don't have) and most of you likely have Netflix (which we don't have and don't want to pay for).

It seems from the other discussions that the kids and I need HDMI "IN" where the monitor to the desktop computer is the only device with HDMI "IN".

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The Sony Playstation 3 only has an unused HDMI "OUT".

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And the DVD player also has an unused HDMI "OUT".

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The desktop is connected to the router by WiFi and the playstation is connected to the router by Ethernet.

The playstation then goes directly to the back of the TV, as does the DVD player.

Given the monitor has multiple different connections, I can free up the HDMI "IN" of the monitor by using a different cable out of the back of the desktop tower.

That would free up the only HDMI "IN" that I have.

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So the only question remaining is whether the Roku streaming stick would work connected to that HDMI "IN" of the desktop computer monitor.

Reply to
Amethyst

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