RichC2

Could also always be a lemon unit, that happens with basically everything.

DVDMagic

Does anyone use the TWC app on the Roku?>

For some reason I'm having issues with the OnDemand feature with a couple of the shows. I'm trying to play some episodes of 'Orphan Black' and 'WayWard Pines' and get a message that says "Service Unavailable".

I tried a different show and had no issues watching back to back episodes of tat particular show

TheBigDave

Flashback 80's is awesome! It's just 80's music videos. Sometimes the video quality sucks. But for me, it's like going back to my teen years and watching early MTV. I love this channel.

https://www.roku.com/channels#!detai...ashback-80%27s

UPDATE - I had no idea Debi Mazar was in Madonna's music videos. True Blue just came on, and she's one of the backup dancers.

TheBigDave

This weekend, Roku users can get a 2-Month Free Trial to Hulu. The offer is limited to new customers, but in my experience you just need a new email address.

Also in July, they'll offer a 1-Month Free Trial to the new Showtime add-on.

Alan Smithee

Just tried that but said I wasn't eligible (and too lazy to do the new email address thing- I'd probably end up cancelling after a minute again anyway.) Would like to see how the Showtime thing works though, if they do that right it might be worth paying for. Looking for an alternative to Netflix as the new interface on the Roku Stick makes it unusable for me (my Roku 1 was having problems so they let me send it back, hopefully they'll send me a working one so I can still watch Netflix with no intrusions.)

bluetoast

I like this Seinfeld apartment background and it appears as a choice in the settings. Does that mean I can use it permanently, or is it just temporary?

TheBigDave

I didn't recognize it at first, and thought it was a promo for some horror thing. It's all bleak and dark grey and looks like something might jump out from the open door.

Anyways, these special themes usually appear in the settings, but then they disappear once the promo ends. I don't think there's any way to save them.

TheBigDave

Comedy Central was just added to the Roku Channel Store.

New episodes are added the day after they air. They have some full seasons, including the complete run of Chappelle's Show. There's also around 60+ stand-up specials. You'll need to sign-in with a TV provider to get most of the content.

https://www.roku.com/channels#!detai...comedy-central

Shannon Nutt

Yeah, I like it a lot too. I'll turn it on and just sit there and watch it for 30 to 60 minutes. It's like watching home movies from my childhood.

Texan26

I also tried the Flashback 80s station. It's cool but they seem to play like 4 to 5 Michael Jackson videos per hour. It's also not all 80s. They play a lot of early 90s stuff also. They obviously got their videos from YouTube as sometimes you can see the YouTube user name embedded on the videos. Not sure how this channel is legal.

Alan Smithee

It's likely one of those "we'll keep going til we get caught" channels, they'll just have to wait til the record companies notice and complain about it. Quality isn't perfect but I've seen some stuff in decent quality followed by others in crappy YouTube/VHS quality.

Vevo should have more "channels" of videos to watch- if you pick one video it'll then play others it thinks are like it, but you should be able to put in more variety like Pandora. And you know, they could have a cable channel that shows nothing but music videos, I might actually pay for that

Texan26

I just got my Roku last month and didn't realize there are many of these not so legal channels. I got the "HUB Kids" channel and can't believe they stream Disney movies like the Lion King and 101 Dalmatians for free.

parker63

Crackle- anyone else having trouble with this app on the Roku 3? It was recently "updated" and man...what a pain. First of all, it "autostarts" a movie or show that it chooses for you, and you have to keep hitting the back key to get it to stop. That was bad enough, and now (as of last night) it completely locks up when trying to menu out of "Sports Jeopardy." I only use Crackle to watch Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, so it's not that critical, but still...

Tried restarting the Roku 3 twice and relaunching the app, with the same problem. Maybe the freezing up is a temporary glitch, but it would be nice to disable the autoplay "feature" at startup.

RichC2

Did you try uninstalling / reinstalling?

parker63

Update on Crackle: Apparently was all a temporary glitch. Everything is working properly now. I still wish there was a way to keep media from auto playing when you start it up, but at least I can navigate around again to stop it and choose what I want.

TheBigDave

Shudder released their new Roku app. You don't have to be a subscriber to watch the Shudder.TV live stream. It's like a free 24-hour channel of horror movies.

https://www.roku.com/channels#!details/59997/shudder

If you hit the directional button on the remote, you can get the movie title, details, and time remaining. But I wish they gave you the daily schedule. Or at least what movie's coming up next.

Ky-Fi

So, Sling TV:

https://blog.roku.com/blog/2015/02/0...channel-store/

Is this really what it seems? A cable package equivalent for $20 a month? I cut my cable down to just local channels ($15 month) a couple years ago. I wasn't planning on upgrading, but if Sling is as advertised, it might be just what I'm looking for at the right price.

RichC2

I'm pretty happy with Sling TV. I recommend trying out the Trial since there are some limitations, but otherwise it has worked great for me.

bluetoast

Sling is good, although it used to glitch out during Mad Men which was quite annoying. Also, you can't pause on previously aired content (or at least, whenever I tried, it restarted the program).

Also if you watch ESPN you will be barraged with multiple This is Sportscenter ads, which may drive you insane.

islandclaws

Plex for Roku finally updated to the new look...

... and boy oh boy, do I hate it. Absolutely horrid from a functionality standpoint, hideous design layout. I guess the old version worked too well and was too user friendly? This looks terrible, with all these large and medium and small thumbnails.

I'd revert back right now if I could.

RichC2

It's a mixed bag for me. The big icons suck, but if you go through the folders it works much better (being able to jump over to a first letter helps immensely). But I've also been using it for months now.

islandclaws

What I really don't like are the arbitrary changes, like making "On Deck" such a major presence (I never put anything "on deck") as well as stuff like suggesting movies starring other actors in my collection. It's not like it picks a top actor, either, so I'm getting suggestions for "Other Movies Starring Z-list Celeb from the '80s".

I read on the Plex forums you can add the classic channel back on to Roku, so I'm going to do that. I'm all for updates and positive changes, but nothing about this update has improved functionality or design in my eyes.

kenbuzz

Just added it now. After a 30 second Samsung phone commercial I enjoyed Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House" followed by "Der Kommisar" by Falco (in German!).

Cool!

TheBigDave

When the commercial starts, hit the Back button and it should skip straight to the music videos. That works on my Roku 3. I don't know about other models.

There's another new channel called Old Skool Rap. Classic rap videos from the 80's and 90's. It's like Yo! MTV Raps.

I'm watching Biz Markie "Just A Friend".

https://channelstore.roku.com/detail.../old-skool-rap

Tabletopjoe

Old Skool Rap, sounds great. Thanks, for the heads up.