Family-Friendly ROKU! Warning, some will appeal to 20 year olds!

I had one of them, a kid, only she's a young adult now.  It wasn't that long ago where I had to pick and choose programming and you can choose which channels to put on your TV, as opposed to setting up parental controls and hoping they don't watch something confusing across the street.  I can only make recommendations of channels I have limited knowledge of, it is up to you to test the waters and if you don't like a channel, go to the asterisk on the remote, press it, and follow the prompts to remove it!  Movies on any of the channels may have material you don't choose, but it seems most or all of pornographic channels are private channels you in fact have to search to locate.  For my mini tour of Roku, see my first video blog at: http://tvwithoutcable.blogspot.com/2012/03/roku-mini-tour-tv-addiction.html

Firstly, look in the channel store.  There is a row of channels called "Kids & Family," but be prepared some of this entertainment will make twenty-somethings smile or the little kid in all of us.  First the freebies.  Disney has a video channel, with clips from TV shows, Kidlet has free TV episodes most or all of which are cartoon shows (limited time offer), Khan Academy has subject teaching videos, The Bazillions with animated music videos and live performances.  Now you know your kids are grown up and you are getting old when you don't recognize the next best entertainment for kids.  I had to "google" The Bazillions.  Iggy.tv described as family-friendly and not embarrassing to adults, blip.tv independent "home" content, Party Rockers reality tween scene dance shows from Delaware, and Kid Paint (reminds me of Mario Paint)!!  At minimal cost:  Sudoku Art, Nature Window TV, Superman Classics  (1940s cartoons), Baby FirstTV (higher end at $4.99/mo.), Timeless Toons (24/7 live from FlickStream from 30s to 90s), Pets.TV, Ameba, some of the "Science and Technology" choices, Netflix at $7.99/month as a channel has Anime and Children & Family movies categories with Phineas & Ferb, Teen Spirit, cartoon movies, Lemonade Mouth, Iron Giant (good for all ages), and more, plus Netflix has some ABC Family movies mixed in.  Nowhere TV has a Kids and Family area with podcasts from DragonflyTV, Cartoon Network, BabyShiz, Sprout, Sesame Street, Kid Videos, Inside the Magic:Disney, EarthTouch and more.  If memory serves, I think PlayOn had some kid friendly offerings, see my blog http://tvwithoutcable.blogspot.com/2012/03/more-roku-channels.html  Also, Spiritclips has the ultimate in family entertainment with many Hallmark Hall of Fame films for about $3.00 a month.  See you soon for more hints on how to have inexpensive or free TV and movies and cartoons! 

More Roku channels!

My last posting showed how to get free Nowhere TV.  Some additional TAPED material on Nowhere TV includes: daily taped Boston/New England area news and weather (channel 4, 7, Fox25) and WMUR (temporary issues), Lifetime (8 movies and some TV shows), taped sports and international news stations, kids and technology programming, taped broadcasts of Conan, Jimmy Fallon, archived old movies and television and more.  


CRACKLE is another free channel which is also available on the Internet.  It includes movies from 1980s to 2010 (21, Passengers and more), and TV shows from 1960s (All in The Family, Seinfeld, Married with Children, Archangel, Anime and more).  


I tried a free trial of HULU plus and was careful to cancel (done online) before my month expired (normally $7.95/mo.).  Regular Hulu offers free TV and movies online, HULU plus is streamed straight through the roku (and maybe Xbox 360) to TV.   This link claims a 2 month trial but does suggest double-checking--http://freebies2deals.com/2011/09/free-2-month-trial-to-hulu-plus.html .  I didn't have to involve Facebook as this offer mentions.  I have found a way to get local basic channels without roku or cable so most of the TV show offerings on Hulu plus didn't appeal to me.  


An alternative to Huluplus on TV for those with a very fast Internet speed and newer computer is Playon TV at http://www.playon.tv/content-channels .  I suggest not buying playon UNTIL you try it, and there is a 2 week free trial (may have to officially cancel)---going to download.  It includes: 
                                                             There are additional plug-ins too.  Playon streams through a middleman, the Internet, so speed is more critical.  My older computer and, or slower Internet speed (1.6mbps) had a delay in sync and, or in video motion speed despite lowering video speed.  If you like it, at the moment there is a roku plus cost offer for a license (read more of what that offers).   Follow along for more tips, channels, and how to reduce or cut the cable cord, keeping in mind cable versus satellite versus Internet costs (and whether contract and how long it is).
  

Weaning off cable and buying a Roku

I started my quest to pull the cable cord weeks ago.  I only owned a series of old analog TVs so I knew no cable initially meant no TV reception without a streaming device or a new HDTV with an indoor antenna.  I bought a Roku (available from www.roku.com or www.amazon.com) but PlayStation 3, XBox 360, Nintendo Wii, some Smart TVs, TiVo, and other devices can stream Netflix and some other channels too.  My first research was finding which device worked for me, and checking into Internet options.  I chose the roku because it had many channels and chose a wireless connection at a slow 1.6 Mbps which barely handles it and wouldn't work as well with a computer on at the same time.  I tested it before I locked in at the rate, and I know speeds of 3-10-12 Mbps would add to faster downloads, but I was trying to save money.  It sounds as though an Ethernet cable may be usable with some Roku models, but double-check on this.  For $49.99 (free shipping) I bought a Roku LT, knowing higher models come with other features and Angry Birds game.  There were no monthly fees, just the price of the Internet service and the box itself.  I connected my Roku through my computer with help from their customer service number--1-888-600-7658 available Monday to Sunday 8am-8pm.  The Roku is played on a game channel or channel below channel 2 so make sure older TVs have that.  You will also need a yellow, white, and red plug opening (or a yellow and white one) on an older analog TV or a HDMI opening (and cable) on a newer HDTV.

The Roku shows a screen like this, which after you pick some channels will be clicked into here.  To add channels you either go to the channel store on the list above or go to your roku.com account.  Many of the 300 or more channels are free, some have tiny or small yearly fees or one-time fees or larger monthly fees.  Some also offer a trial week or month to try them and there are also a significant number of private channels (some free) that can be added with an available code.  Here are 4 pages of private channel codes--
http://streamfree.tv/apps/rokuchannels.php.  After I felt I could imagine life without cable, I cut my service down to local channels first and later had the courage to give up my cable.  I will share more about some of the channel trials and specific channels when I blog next.  There are even many free movie channels!