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Roku has 108 news and weather channels, 87 channels for games, 34 international channels, 69 outdoors channels, 12 shopping channels, 68 travel channels and 120 music channels. And that's just for starters.
Starting our fourth decade: Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously online for 31 years
You can plug headphones or earbuds into the remote control -- a great feature, especially since the remote operates by Wi-Fi and doesn't need to be pointed at the Roku box.
Get more than 1,000 channels without cable using Roku
November 2, 2014
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2014, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2014, The Post-Standard
I'm sure Ron Popeil, the old pitchman of Ronco, Veg-O-Matic and dozens of other kitchen stuff, would be great as the spokesman for Roku. He'd sell you a Roku box with his famous pitch -- "And that's not all!"
Because what you see when you buy a Roku 3 streaming TV box -- $70-$90 or so at discount -- isn't all there is. The Roku works off your Internet connection, like the well known Apple TV, giving you Netflix, You Tube and dozens of other popular channels on your HDTV.
The best part of the Roku set-top box is the selection -- far greater than the 50 or so channels in Apple TV.
When you turn on your Roku for the first time, you'll quickly see that you can get all the important stuff, including movies, TV shows and radio stations, specialty channels for archery, fishing, shooting, cooking, travel and auto buffs, as well as fitness and religion channels, sci-fi and science shows and much more. Most of these channels are free, too.
Ron smiles into the camera. Eyes open a little wider.
"And that's not all!"
And that's not all, indeed. Listen up, America!
Roku has 253 channels just for movies and TV shows.
Roku has 14 comedy channels, 79 sports channels, 35 science and technology channels.
And 108 news and weather channels, 87 channels for games, 34 international channels, 69 outdoors channels, 12 shopping channels, 68 travel channels and 120 music channels.
Amazing, right?
And that's not all!
There are 14 comedy channels, 76 food and cooking channels, 37 photo channels, 74 kids channels. And dozens of channels that take advantage of apps to perform special functions. In all, 700 channels to choose from.
I can see Ron now. "If you act now, I'll throw in hundreds more!"
And that's just what Roku does. Unknown to most Roku owners, the little box has hundreds more private channels -- ones that are totally hidden from the menus on the screen.
That's close to 1,000 channels. Maybe more. I got tired of counting. (I found out after writing this column that the total is much more -- are you ready for this pitch, Ron? -- maybe 500 channels more. Or maybe even more than "more." Incredible.)
You add private channels -- many of them sort of semi-professional -- through a website. All you need is a Roku account.
I'll tell you how to find a list of private channels next week, when I look at the technical side of Roku and compare it directly to Apple TV.