I've made some minor changes to what I spend. Like I cancelled all but one of the movie channels since we get Netflix. I let magazine subscriptions lapse. I joined Amazon's Prime, which gives me free two day shipping on lots of stuff (I order many things from Amazon for use around the home) and now they have free streaming movies and television shows.
Earlier this year, Woot.com had a refurb Roku up for sale. Curious, I checked out what it was. And I was intrigued, so much so that I bought one. There's no ongoing subscription and I'd have access to lots of free streaming stuff as well as Netflix streaming (which I was doing on the Wii console, but the quality was ever so much better with the Roku) and Amazon streaming (the free stuff as well as the for rent stuff). I even subscribed to HuluPlus, but never used it. When I'd cancelled all but one (Showtime, gotta have me my Dexter), instead of $11 a month per movie channel, the price went up to $14 for just one. So, I cancelled the HuluPlus ($7.99) and resubscribed to HBO. Which was pretty much a wash. ($14+8=$22, $11+11=$22.)
When the Roku 2 came out a couple of months ago, I upgraded and one of my besties bought my old one.
Then Roku said "guess what? We're gonna carry HBO Go! If your cable provider says it's okay, you can view HBO Go using the Roku!" Whoa, how cool is that? I don't have to watch previous episodes of "Boardwalk Empire" on the computer, I can watch it on the television!
Yay!
But there was one problem. The wireless signal wasn't all that great and the streaming kept stopping to reload the stream. Argh!
So, with all of my spare time (we're getting audited on Monday, I'm supposed to be doing D&D paper work, but here I am, doing everything but), I searched for signal amplifiers/repeaters and found one over on Amazon that got great reviews. I ordered Tuesday. It got here yesterday (some two day shipping, eh?).
It's from http://www.ampedwireless.com/. I got the SR300 ($89.99 at Amazon, I had some gift card money, great way to use it). So last night I set it up.
Oh. Em. Gee.
Even though this is a fairly small house, the signal from the router in the office has to go through two walls and a double faux rock fireplace. I set the repeater up using my adorable laptop in the living room, changed the router name, changed the password, put it on a speaker in the living room, connected it to a power source, then headed into the family room and fired up the Roku. The Roku found the signal quickly. I changed the wireless connection on the Entourage Edge and the signal from the router was "good", the signal from the repeater was "excellent". I can handle excellent.
I checked some of the streaming shows on the Roku and the picture was clear, not a lot of artifacts, and smooth. No problems with HBO Go, we watched the original Star Trek movie last night, the one with Veeger.
I'm happy.I think it was a good purchase, one we'll benefit from for years to come.
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