Getting Started - Setup & How-to

[rdoney]

Hi, I am looking into getting some Roku devices for my parents to help cut down on cable. I cannot find an answer for this question anywhere. Lets say my parents want to watch different things in different rooms. I am talking about the free channels advertised, not Netflix or Hulu or whatever. Can they both be watching different things on different tvs?

A better example would be: Can one person be watching ESPN and another be watching the news, on different tvs, different Roku devices, but on the same Roku account? 

Sorry if this is somehow unclear. I understand limitations for Netflix and such, but lots of times my dad is in one room and my mom is doing her own thing in another room. Roku is a no go for me if I cant get this figured out.

[renojim]

Yes, they can watch different things.  The only caveat is that some streaming services will limit the number of simultaneous streams you can be watching.  So, for instance, if your mother was watching one movie on Netflix your father may not be able to watch another movie at the same time (not the best example since I believe Netflix always allows more than one, but I'm not sure).  If they're unrelated channels then they are completely independent of each other.

One other note:  the ability to watch multiple streams at the same time is limited by available bandwidth, so if they have a slow connection they may get buffering if they try to watch two things at once.