Please explain Roku

[alexsmommy]

I am NOT a techie. At all.
I'd never heard of Roku until I saw it on here.
We have Netflix, only on the playroom tv via the wii. I'm thinking, if my limited understanding of what it is and how it works, it'd be a nice addition to the upstairs tv. My parents also only have basic cable and I think they would like this and would expand what the boys can watch while over there. They do have wireless internet.
Please, Roku for Dummies... anyone?

[elliput]

Basically, it works the same way as your Wii does to stream Netflix over Wifi. You can also stream Hulu, Amazon Streaming Video, Pandora, and more. http://www.roku.com/

[alexsmommy]

Basically, it works the same way as your Wii does to stream Netflix over Wifi. You can also stream Hulu, Amazon Streaming Video, Pandora, and more. http://www.roku.com/

Thanks! If it's that simple, then it's probably worth it at the right price for us. I have Amazon Prime, use Pandora on my iphone all of the time and we obviously have Netflix....

How much programming is free? That will be key for my parents.

[hoodlims]

I would look at Netflix.com and look at how many things are under "Instant Watch". Those are free streaming. Then look at Amazon and see how many things you can stream there too, since you are a Prime member.

[hoodlims]

Oh, and things that are a series, like Mad Men, Desperate Housewives, etc, have all seasons under one "screenshot". So you can click on one DVD and see 5 seasons worth of episodes.

[elbenn]

I just saw a deal on SD for if you buy 2 Rokus. Since you might buy 2 of them, you should definitely do a search for Roku on SD. Rokus are great for netflix because you can surf netflix shows right on the Roku instead of having to put them in your queue on your computer.

[roobee]

and as far as free content goes - you can use either 5 or 6 devices per Netflix account, so you could share that with your parents for free.