When I Hook Up Roku To My Tv What Do I Get For Free
- When I Hook Up Roku To My Tv What Do I Get For Free On The Internet
- When I Hook Up Roku To My Tv What Do I Get For Free Tv
- Watch Tv On My Computer For Free
The trend of cord-cutting and turning to streaming services is on the constant rise. Streaming platforms such as Roku and Chromecast are rapidly replacing regular cable TV.
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With on-demand content and a database that’s constantly growing, you may see much more of Roku and similar platforms featured on household TVs.
However, a new question arises when you try to use the same platform on a computer? How to watch Roku on another device besides your TV? Is it possible? Well, technically it is – and this article will explain how.
How Come the Laptop Doesn’t Recognize Roku’s HDMI?
Regardless of if you’re using Roku’s dongle or the set-top-box device, there will be an HDMI output that you’ll need to connect to a particular port on your TV. As soon as you plug that HDMI in and switch to the HDMI output, your TV will display the Roku home screen.
However, if you try to plug the HDMI to a similar port on your computer, nothing will happen. But why is that? Well, although the majority of today’s laptops have an HDMI port resembling the one that you have on your smart TV, they don’t serve the same purpose.
The HDMI port on your laptop is output-only, meaning that you can use an HDMI cable only to transfer the laptop’s screen to your TV, and not vice-versa. It’s much more difficult to cast another screen to your computer using the HDMI port, whether you intend to transfer the TV screen or a streaming service such as Roku or Chromecast.
But there might be a chance to watch Roku on your computer, and the following section will explain how.
Watch Roku via the Roku Channel
If you’re a US-based citizen – you’re in luck. Since recently, a free streaming service app called ‘The Roku Channel’ became available in this country. This app brings the Roku content to your smartphone, tablet, or PC. Of course, it isn’t as featured as a regular Roku streaming stick or set-top-box device, but it’s completely free and available to anyone living in the States.
The channel consists of various music and video content supported by ads (allowing it to remain free). Most of the content is provided by some of the major players in the entertainment industry, such as Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony Pictures and others.
If you want to set up the Roku Channel, you can do it for free by visiting The Roku Channel website. Here, you can sign-in to your existing Roku account and download the app, or set up a new account before you do so. Then, just follow the on-screen instructions and you’ll be streaming top-quality content on your PC in no time.
On the other hand, if you get a screen saying that ‘Roku Channel currently isn’t available in [Your country]’, then you’ll have to be patient. In the past few months, Roku launched The Roku Channel in Canada, with plans to further expand.
Use Alternative Ways to Stream Content
Only the users from the U.S. and Canada can easily watch The Roku Channel on their computer. Therefore, you may find it difficult to find an alternative method if you live abroad.
One of the most viable alternatives would be to set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and try to hook to a US-based server. This way you may be able to bypass the regional restriction and manage to sign in and launch the app.
You can check the offers of VPN services such as NordVPN, ProtoVPN, or ExpressVPN. They all offer affordable prices as well as free trials so you can check if their servers can work around the limitations. Thanks to these services, you’ll be able to watch The Roku Channel from any location in the world.
However, considering the bandwidth you’d use to stream from The Roku Channel, you should think twice before you decide. Since most VPN services require a premium subscription for unlimited bandwidth, you must weigh up whether the game is worth the candle.
In most cases, it would be easier just to subscribe to a streaming service that’s available in your country, as it would probably take you less time to set it up and you’ll even end up saving money. But if you want to watch The Roku Channel specifically – the VPN is the way to go.
No Roku? Access Channels Directly
Even if your Roku can gather all the channels and subscriptions in one place, you should know that you can freely access most of those channels without Roku, too.
If you want to stream Netflix, Hulu, or another streaming service, you don’t need to stream it through the Roku device. You can connect to any channel that you’re subscribed to using your web browser on their particular website and stream content from there. However, if you want to stream specifically from Roku, you can use the methods mentioned in this article.
Why do you want to connect your Roku to the computer? What channels do you want to watch? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
“My smart TV already has some apps built in like Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, etc., so why would I need Roku, or any other streaming product for that matter?”
Well, the reality is that while your “smart” TV does come equipped with some video streaming, music, and game apps, it simply falls short when compared to a video streaming product like Roku.
Do I need Roku if I have a smart TV?
While you don’t need Roku if you have a smart TV, when compared to a standard smart TV, Roku has: more content options, an easier menu to navigate and manage, a better remote, faster and smoother load times, more frequent updates, and less garbage or “throwaway” apps!
So, even if you already have a smart TV, you should still consider buying a Roku streaming device.
What is Roku?
Roku allows you to access free and paid TV shows and movies, all within a single interface. It acts as home base for all your entertainment needs.
In a lot of ways you can think of it like an iPhone. It provides you access to all the TV and movie apps out there and you can pick and choose which ones you want and then organize them accordingly.
And it’s incredibly easy to setup and to use.
As a result, most smart TVs have tried to emulate Roku’s success but Roku continues to outshine them in almost every way…
Roku Express | Roku Premiere | Roku Streaming Stick | Roku Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy to use with a simple setup | Easy way to 4K & HDR streaming | High-performance portability | Best streaming experience |
| Great for a gift | Great for 4K & HDR TVs | Great for 4K & HDR TVs | Great for cutting cable |
| Includes High Speed HDMI® Cable | Includes Premium High Speed HDMI® Cable | Up to 4x the wireless range | Fast channel launch & lost remote finder |
Content is king
It wasn’t all that long ago that your TV options were quite limited – you either had cable, or you didn’t.
When I Hook Up Roku To My Tv What Do I Get For Free On The Internet
Then came premium channels like HBO, Showtime and Starz. You had to pay extra for access to this “premium” content but it was, in large part, drastically better than cable television.
This model, of premium, streamable content really started to take off in the 2000s with companies like Netflix blazing the trail.
Not long after the success of Netflix, the Hulus, Amazon Primes and Disney Pluses of the world starting popping up, and the consumer’s access to great content expanded exponentially.
The TV watching world underwent a dramatic shift from a foundation built on cable, to a foundation built on streaming apps.
Unsurprisingly, that’s when “smart” TVs started to come about.
The TV manufactures realized that folks wanted easy access to their existing streaming subscriptions, so they started working with these companies to build their apps directly into their TVs.
Which was great in some ways (you had access right from your TV), and crap in others.
The crap part was/is that TV brands have to fight for contracts with these streaming services in order to put them on their TVs, and even worse, sometimes these deals become “exclusive“.
All of this is to say – your smart TV doesn’t have access to all the streaming apps out there.
That’s were Roku comes in.
Because Roku has built such a massive user-base (the current market leader for streaming services), streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu and others want to be on the Roku platform, because that’s were the consumer is.
As a result Roku has the most streaming apps out there. If you have a subscription to a streaming service, chances are extremely high that you can access it with Roku.
That’s just not the case with your stand alone smart TV.
User experience matters
TV manufactures originally got into the business of building and selling TVs (hardware), not software. And it shows.
As the trend towards smart TVs emerged, companies like LG, Vizio and Sony scrambled to assemble teams of engineers, developers and designers to build the app interface you ultimately interact with to find and launch Netflix, for example.
These “smart” features were seen more or less as “add-ons” to the TV and as a result the interfaces these companies came up with simply aren’t user-friendly or intuitive.
It can be down right painful just trying to find a streaming app on a lot of these TVs.
Roku, on the other hand, was born along side these streaming apps. Actually, interestingly enough Roku used to be owned by Netflix.
Consequently, from the onset Roku had the end-user, you, in mind when it built its software. The design is simple and easy to use and you can organize and rearrange the menu/apps as you see fit
If you can use an iPhone, you can use Roku.
Remote controls are still a thing
Another underrated aspect of Roku is the remote you get with it.
In my experience, the “smart” TV remote you get when you buy a TV is usually oversized and has 50+ buttons on it.
It’s confusing to use.
Roku’s remotes are delightfully simple (noticing a theme here?). Depending on which remote you get, there are usually less than 20 buttons, and they all serve a purpose.
Aside from basic functionality like controlling the TVs volume and changing channels, it also has “quick-launch” buttons for popular streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
These allow you to launch those apps with a single click of a button. Not bad.
You can also use the remote to organize your home page of apps and move your favorite apps to the top.
In addition to the actual remote, Roku built a “Roku remote app” that you can download to your smart phone.
This is really handy for me since I often lose remotes but rarely lose my iPhone.
Speed makes a difference
When I Hook Up Roku To My Tv What Do I Get For Free Tv
Smart TVs drop the ball on speed in two main ways.
The first is on the hardware side.
The majority of smart TVs have fairly weak processors built into them that have a hard time keeping up with the demands of streaming apps like Netflix.
I’ve personally experienced a ton of lag time when trying to use streaming apps through the smart TV interface.
The second speed constraint comes from the software side.
Streaming apps focus their time and energy developing and building their app to be compatible with the platforms that reach the greatest number of consumers. Right now there are really four major players: Roku, Apple, Amazon and Google.
So if you’re not one of those four companies, odds are the app built for your product didn’t get built with the same level of care and attention to detail.
That’s why it’s slow and buggy and occasionally just outright freezes on you.
Software changes often, updates are necessary
For the same reason identified above (major streaming apps just not focusing a lot of their time and resources building their app for anyone other than the Big Four) has an impact on software updates.
Watch Tv On My Computer For Free
Software is never “done”. It is always changing and (hopefully) improving.
As new changes, features and fixes are implemented they are released and made available as an update to the existing software version.
These updates and fixes happen faster and more often on Roku than they do for any smart TV version.
Again, it’s all about the consumer and the majority of consumers are on Roku. It just makes sense that Roku would focus their energy there.
Throw away the trash
A big annoyance of smart TV interfaces is the junk they add that you can’t get rid of.
There are always obscure streaming apps that make a deal with the TV manufacturer to be included in their interface that you then have to look at every day and never use.
This doesn’t happen with Roku because you have 100% control over your app menu.
See an app you don’t use? No problem, delete it.
Can’t see an app you have a subscription with?
Worry not, just search for it and download it, and then rearrange your menu so it shows up at the top.
Again, simple concepts Roku has mastered that smart TVs have not.
Exceptions
There are certain situations were buying Roku or another streaming service just isn’t necessary.
The first would be if you aren’t using the “smart” aspect of your smart TV.
For example, if you just watch cable and don’t have subscriptions with any streaming apps than obviously don’t buy Roku.
And yes, a smart TV will work without an internet connection.
In addition, if you have a gaming system like XBox One or Playstation 4, these devices have streaming services built into them that work pretty well.
I’d explore these first and see if you like them before buying Roku.
And finally, you can avoid buying an additional device altogether by just buying a smart TV with Roku built in!
Several different TV manufactures have gone this route, including TCL and Sharp.
Conclusion
So, do you need Roku if you already have a smart TV? Regardless of whether or not you already have a smart TV, you should consider buying a Roku streaming device because Roku has:
- more content
- a better interface
- a simpler remote
- faster loading time
- more frequent updates
- less “throwaway” apps
That said, if you only watch cable on your smart TV, or if you have an Xbox One or Playstation 4, you don’t really need Roku since these devices already have robust streaming interfaces built in.
Roku Express | Roku Premiere | Roku Streaming Stick | Roku Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy to use with a simple setup | Easy way to 4K & HDR streaming | High-performance portability | Best streaming experience |
| Great for a gift | Great for 4K & HDR TVs | Great for 4K & HDR TVs | Great for cutting cable |
| Includes High Speed HDMI® Cable | Includes Premium High Speed HDMI® Cable | Up to 4x the wireless range | Fast channel launch & lost remote finder |