Roku Questions

[intarsiabox]

We are think of getting rid of our Telus Optik TV and going the Roku route. My question is how available are current shows in Canada on this device. My kids like watching The Family Channel and YTV and wife likes watching the new episodes of Bones, Criminal Minds, The Originals and Grey's Anatomy. Are these channels/shows available or do you have to wait months down the road to watch them? Thanks!

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

I have AppleTV and ZaapTV
Using XBMC and usually within 24 hr updates,My wife and I watch Criminal minds, NYPD, criminal justice I believe and the news with no issues.
We havent used a any of the available companies for TV for years so I cannot compare but you spend up to a minute to find what you want and not scroll by channel #.Hope that helps.

[halwake]

We dropped Telus about six months ago. I have subscribed to Netflix first then got signed us with "Unblock us". This makes it look like you have an American IP address. Then I subscribed to Hulu plus. We have more tv series, current and old along with tons of movies and kids stuff than we could ever need. I signed up with VUDU for online movie rentals as well. All together I am paying under $25 per month. It is great. Roku box is great but you will need to subscribe to unblock us to unlock all the American stuff like Hulu plus and American Netflix. Unblock us has very good instructions and support to change a couple router settings, then any device in the house that has wifi can log into Hulu plus and Netflix without any problems. If you want more info let me know. I just need to figure out how to get HBO.

Hal

[halwake]

All the current show you listed are on Hulu plus. Usually an hour after they are aired and you can select different episodes and watch them whenever you want.

[Seriak]

Have to watch unblockus as the android netflix app is having issues with unblockus. There is a workaround, but it would seem they don't like us getting American programming.

[intarsiabox]

Thank-you for all the replies. I was looking at something like unblockus as the only real complaint about the Roku and other such boxes is the Canadian content. I also read that you can obtain a US credit card and use that to pay for the subscriptions to get the US content. I'll have to look into this a little more though as I'm not sure if my IP address would still cause problems or not. I was thinking of getting Hulu Plus and Netflix US and also dropping Telus as my ISP and going with Teksavvy instead.

[intarsiabox]

Halwake, how do you pay for your Hulu Plus subscription? Do you just use the 3 numbers in your postal code plus 00, 01, etc until you get a valid ZIP code and then use your regular credit card?

[halwake]

Ha, ha, new that was the next question. Changed my location for my apple ID account first, put Grande Prairie, California, then the postal code trick you mentioned take the letters out and only use the digits, then ad 00 to the end. Example 87800 was mine. Linked my current Canadian VISA to the Apple ID account, did same thing with the address and postal code. Once your location for your apple ID account is changed you can access the american ap store and finally download Hulu plus app to your phone, I pad or whatever, then signed up for Hulu Plus using my apple ID, and a week later started getting ITunes bill from Hulu plus. I then signed up with unblock us, changed router settings at home so any device logged onto my wifi looks like its from the states, had to change location on my smart TV to US to get the American programming options. This is how I did it with the apple stuff. The first time I did it I just plunked in my Canadian card on Hulu Plus, put my town, California, postal code trick and I did see Hulu plus show up on my Visa for pre approval on my visa statement. I cancelled the subscription because I was not subscribed to unblock us first and it would not allow that Hulu programming in my location, but my Hulu account was active. They could tell I was in Canada until I subscribed to unblock us. Either way worked, just subscribe to unblock us and make sure if there is a location selection for the Roku box to select somewhere in the states to get there programming icons show up. It looked over whelming until I actually started working on it. Start with the unblock us subscription first, change your router setting then go from there. It was a lot easier than it sounds. Let me know if you need more help, I think I over complicated it for you.

[intarsiabox]

Thanks Hal! I got the Roku, set up Unblockus before signing up a Roku account. Entered my card with a US city, state and zip and I now have a US Roku running. Hulu Plus was already on the channel list and only asked for my Roku pin number for activation. I had to use my wifes name and email for Netflix though as I had it set up years ago and apparently remembers that I live in Canada, after that no issues.

[halwake]

Great to hear, way more options, way cheaper as well, you will be very happy you made the switch, we were, no regrets at all. I had a canadian Netflix account, when we were in the states this summer I logged into my Netflix and had access to the American Netflix line up. Once I subscribed to unblock us, Netflix automatically gave us the American titles. If you figure out how to get HBO let me know he, he. preferably before new season of game of thrones comes out.

Enjoy your new set up,
Hal