Channels & viewing

[monophoto]

The new software was released, and PBS is now back.  Thanks to whoever made this possible.

And by the way - I had to manually download the new software.  It appears that ROKU is designed to check for software updates on a regular (weekly) basis, and in my case, that appears to happen on Fridays.  But it is possible to preempt that scheduled update to request a manual download by following the menu items:  Settings > System > Update System > Check for updates

STREGA said:  "The quality and choices are just amazing."

I respectfully disagree.  Yes, the range of choices is broad - almost overwhelming, but I'm not so sure that the quality had kept up with the technology.  Back in the 'good old days' that STREGA talked about (and I also remember those days),   My concern is that those three broadcast channels shared an obligation to serve the public who watched their programming.  Today, the only thing that the content creators and technology vendors share is an overwhelming desire to make as much money as they can.  The one bright light in that morass of mediocrity is PBS.

[Strega]

You know, you can watch a lot of that stuff from the good old days when they were "serving the public" on the Roku channel and many other cheap/free streaming services.  I have mixed feelings as to how much they were serving the public with: Petticoat Junction, My Mother the Car, TJ Hooker, The Dating Game, Manimal, Knight Rider, Baywatch, It's About Time, The Powers of Matthew Star etc.  Not that I'm saying they're awful and no one should watch them, but I think they were pretty much about making money and would get cancelled as soon as they didn't.  (Now there was something about serving the public when it came to news programming back then, but for fictional prime-time TV, I don't recall anything like that.)

But here's the thing:  Every time I think about some old movie or old TV show, I find, that unlike the good old days, I can frequently just go find it and watch it immediately.  And sometimes it's even in HD now!  A few months ago, a cheesy super-low-budget British SF movie popped into my mind for some reason.  So I entered it into Roku and it was available for free on "Beta Max TV".  So I added the channel and watched it immediately.  Back in the good old days my only option would have been to keep reading the TV guide and hope that in the next 10 years someone might put it on at 2AM. (Not likely.)

Last year during a lockdown I thought back to those fun MST3K Turkey Day Marathons.  Oh, what do you know, a few clicks on my Roku and there it is - commercial free no less - which was strangely UNlike the good old days.

And of course, like you say: PBS is one of the choices today as well.

[usjlop945]

I'm no longer buying the motive/excuse given. In any case it will be accurate to get streaming back seeing that I decided to get streaming in the first place to avoid looking on my pc (which I'm doing right now as you can read). Sorry to say you and Roku are playing with humans

[jandye7454]

We have one TV geared up with a ROKU - so no PBS for motives that are by no means defined. And we've got a second TV that the salesperson promised would be just remarkable - except its an LG and it's running machine isn't always compatible PBS, some thing I located most effective after many attempts to software it to get admission to PBS.

[RokuDanny-R]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the post.

For more information about that channel's features and functionality, you'll want to contact the channel provider support directly to inquire further. Many channels on Roku are developed and maintained by the channel provider themselves. 

Thanks,
Danny

[Strega]

@jandye7454  Most TVs have a bunch of inputs so you can add one or more streaming devices (such as Rokus) if the TV's built-in stuff doesn't do enough for you.

As for sales people, remember: there's a reason they call them sales people and not educators. 

[renojim]

@jandye7454is a bot

[Strega]

Good catch!  I see the original post, now.  It looks like the bot runs a post back for forth through a bad translator to "gibberish it up" a bit before reposting.

[Mjjt]

I still have this issue, did anyone see a fix date?

[emoze]

since last week, when i try to select pbs live, roku skips over it ... cannot select pbs live