Virgin Media Community

[idkwia]

I am not 100% sure what Roku Express is but it has been suggested to me that I can just buy it for about £30 and I no longer need to pay for Virgin Media although I of course I realise that I would need to pay for broadband. Does anyone here have any views on this, what would I miss out on if I got rid of VM and just had Roku Express? When answering please assume that I have very little idea what Roku Express or streaming TV is.

[Ernie_C]

... seems well explained on its website:

https://www.roku.com/en-gb/products/roku-express

[apcyberax]

you wouldn't have any of the channels. just the on demand services that are free or you pay for

[Roger_Gooner · Accepted solution]

Streaming sticks such as Roku smarten up dumb TVs by enabling you to watch services such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime. You plug the Roku into your TV's HDMI port and you need a decent WiFi connection to stream content to it. I bought a Roku last year but returned it as live US Open Tennis was not supported, so I got a competing Amazon Fire TV stick which did work.

The remote was fairly basic but worked well. All in all it's a good stick. Note that if you still want TV you can get Freeview but an external aerial is needed for guaranteed good reception, or there are other options such as a YouView box from BT, TalkTalk and Plusnet.

[idkwia]

Thanks Roger_Gooner for your helpful answer.

You say that I can get Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime with Roku, but I can get them already with Virgin Media?

US Open Tennis is something I would be interested in, so with the Amazon Fire Stick, did you have to pay extra to see the tennis?

Also, I don't have Sky Sports at the moment, am I right in thinking that with a streaming stick I can sign up for say a day or a week to Sky Sports and only pay for that short period?

[Roger_Gooner · Accepted solution]

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@idkwia wrote:

Thanks Roger_Gooner for your helpful answer.

You say that I can get Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime with Roku, but I can get them already with Virgin Media?

Yes, but it costs a lot for a VM subscription.

US Open Tennis is something I would be interested in, so with the Amazon Fire Stick, did you have to pay extra to see the tennis?

You need to subscribe to Amazon Prime membership (cost £79pa I think) which does give you access to a whole load of other stuff.

Also, I don't have Sky Sports at the moment, am I right in thinking that with a streaming stick I can sign up for say a day or a week to Sky Sports and only pay for that short period?

The only Sky Sports passes I know about are those from Now TV, you can get a Now TV stick from retailers such as Argos.

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