New Media at my House
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December 28, 2010 By: Cheryl Oakes
Dec
28
Written by:
12/28/2010 10:43 AM
cross-posted at cheryloakes.com
In October, with my
son Nathan’s prompting, I posted about new ways to view media and new ways to
communicate. This update is an additional post about the new media added in our home.
Thanks to Vicki Davis’ tweet about her use of Roku, I have added some
new technology to our home theater unit.
One of my criteria for
adding a new technology module was that it needed to be a plug and play
unit, which the Roku is. Also, since I use Netflix already, this unit
was compatible with my Netflix account, something I am already familiar
with. (It is also compatible with Amazon Video.)
Why add a Roku? We do
not have any TV station reception and no cable TV. The Roku is an
alternative that offers several options to a media hungry family. You
must have internet access in your home in order for this to work. It
even works with a wireless internet modem. Our internet comes into our
home through the telephone service, TDS . ( I know you are
thinking that this cannot possibly be fast enough to stream Netflix,
stream archived news, stream radio, etc! There are disbelievers in my
family too. But not anymore.)
In about 1 hour, I was able to plug in the
Roku, register for an account on my laptop, then begin adding FREE
channels to my account. The first show we watched through the paid
Netflix account was Mystery Theater 3000, Santa Claus. I did add the
Hulu Plus subscription account which has allowed us to watch Law and
Order, Three Stooges, MediaFly, Face the Nation and more. Shortly after,
my son added Pandora to the list of channels and now we are streaming
personalized music. Life is Good.
The Roku is a plug and play unit. It did enhance the media offerings for my
family. It is very easy to follow the prompts during set up. Be sure to
order the additional plugs/cords so you have everything you need to set
the Roku up without another trip to the store or waiting for a package
to arrive from your online shopping center.
Resources:
CoolCatTeacher http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
netflix.com
Hulutv.com
http://www.hulu.com/tv