Customer reviews from roku.com
Roku - 3 Streaming Player - Black
Average customer rating
4.5
(25,979 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 25,979 reviews
5 Stars
16,895
4 Stars
6,203
3 Stars
1,513
2 Stars
668
1 Star
700
93%of customers recommend this product.
(
23,564 out of
25,460)
Customer Reviews for Roku - 3 Streaming Player - Black
Customer Rating
4
easy to use and setup
on August 13, 2014
Posted by: kipe2
from Burlington, NJ, United States
Gender:Male
Great product. I'd give it 5 stars if some of the games were free and it had some more major channels.
Written by a customer while visiting roku.com
Customer Rating
4
Content is an issue, still
on August 13, 2014
Posted by: kennwort
from California, United States
Gender:Male
This is now the second Roku I have purchased (the first generation model seemed to have some trouble with high-def streams and suffered from crashing and lag when attempting to view higher-bandwidth channels) and the performance issues of my first one are largely gone. My continued difficulty with this device - which is my only television device as I have cut out cable altogether - is not the Roku itself but the ridiculous and difficult content licenses and unavailability of the various channels. I repeatedly am locked out of hockey games (having paid nearly $150 for NHL Gamecenter) because that are on the NHL network but preempted for a local game in my area. Those channels that have content that I want to watch all charge a monthly fee and are very inconsistent in quality and availability of the programs I want to see. I am willing to pay for content and do subscribe to Hulu, Netflix, Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime Video and the aforementioned NHL Gamecenter but I cannot say I am truly happy with any of these paid channels (Netflix is the best out of all of them). Surprisingly large swathes of content are restricted only to people who also pay for cable television and these restrictions, blackouts, and occasional bandwidth throttling all limit the usefulness of the Roku device.
As a streaming box the Roku works great, with few hiccups and needing only occasional restarts. The headphone jack on the remote is wonderfully convenient for the small space I live in (though it does burn through batteries - I'd like a rechargable remote on a later model), though the sound does start breaking up for me once I get about 15-20 feet away.
I use the Roku 3 as my primary (nearly only) device for watching TV and movies, but the current model of content licensing, blackouts, and the new push from a whole bunch of cable channels to restrict content to those who pay for cable television (FX is recently the most egregious of these recently, having pulled much of their first run content from Hulu in favor of their own service) makes it somewhat frustrating if you keep up with currently airing television.
If you want to watch sports, don't expect your equivalent to NHL Gamecenter to have even a substantial portion of the games you want to see. I live in California and follow a Pennsylvania team: I was able to watch fewer than half of the 81 games live (again, having spent about $150 for the subscription), and none of the playoffs nor any of the good rivalry matchups.
The fact is, no matter how good Roku makes the streaming box, it still is not an especially good solution for watching television because of the way channels manage their content. For shows that I really want to see I still find myself thinking piracy is the only reliable way to access the content, which is a grave disappointment.
Things might get better, but for now its not the best if you have any interest in first-run or live streaming content at all. Its not the fault of the device, just the nature of the business.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting roku.com
Customer Rating
3
Disapointing.
on August 13, 2014
Posted by: Nelson24
from Rio Vista, CA, United States
Gender:Male
It has a major flaw. You CANNOT get the sound to go through the Home Theater System. You can hear it through the TV. But that defeats the purpose and therefore does not take advantage of the surround sound feature of the HTS.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting roku.com
Customer Rating
5
So glad I booted my cable company and got a Roku!
on August 13, 2014
Posted by: Venesa
from TN
Gender:Female
I was really annoyed with my cable company and their constant increases in prices. I knew I wanted to quite cable, but I wasn't sure that I could give up TV all together. I borrowed a few different streaming boxes from a friend just to see if it was for me. I cancelled my cable the next day and ordered a Roku for each TV. (I compared three different boxes, but the Roku fit my needs the best.)
This has been a huge money saver and I enjoy watching it so much more than cable. There's always something on b/c I can easily save the shows that I want to watch depending on the service I'm using. Also love that there are many options for "On Demand" like movies, some more current, some not, but I can still watch what I want, when I want. My hubby watches YouTube a lot when he's exercising. We signed on with Netflix and Hulu and we use Target Ticket to "rent" movies.
We tried an antenna to watch local TV stations, but we live in the mountains and couldn't get reception. Most people I know are able to get local channels with their antenna. Even with the loss of local TV I can still get the current shows I watch with Hulu and we get our news online, but I probably use Netflix the most.
So glad that we tried this out. It was super easy to set up and I went online to see what each service on the Roku offered. My hubby uses it now and he's never been great at using "new" technology, but he's a pro now.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting roku.com
Customer Rating
4
Have one in every room!
on August 13, 2014
Posted by: sharkoslinux
from Covington, LA
Gender:Male
I have 3 Roku devices connected up in my home. I really like the flexibility of watching TV shows and internet content on-demand. I've been a long time subscriber of Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, and I prefer the Roku device to the embedded versions built into my TV(s). I purchased ROKU SD, one of the early models, and have upgraded to Roku 2 & Roku 3 subsequently. The 3 has the best interface yet. My only complaint is a lack of Multi-User & Parental Control features.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting roku.com
Customer Rating
4
really really good streaming box
on August 13, 2014
Posted by: megarameno
from Los Angeles, CA, United States
Gender:Male
It's the best streaming box on the market. I love the audio through the headphones connected to the remote control.
There are just two small-ish cons:
Ok This is definitively subjective:
the native UI in video apps (channels) like amazon prime video is just plain ugly borderline gross. Like what is up with that comic book like bubble. Yuck
Ok This is definitively subjective:
the native UI in video apps (channels) like amazon prime video is just plain ugly borderline gross. Like what is up with that comic book like bubble. Yuck
The audio through the remote is an amazing feature but it's eating the batteries like it's no-body's business. I you binge watch a season of something with the headphones-remote-audio, better have a pack of batteries ready.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting roku.com
Customer Rating
5
Cut the Cable ! Roku is terrific
on August 13, 2014
Posted by: twoshoes
from Burlington VT
Gender:Male
We cut our cable a few years ago after my family realized we only watched one channel at a time and we were paying professional athletes obscene salaries via our cable bill and supporting right wing "religious charlatans" on 25% of our channles.
Cutting the cord is great we dont waste time watching cable drivel and choose our content. Netflix and Amazon prime along with some of the other roku channels allow us most everything we need.
Cutting the cord is great we dont waste time watching cable drivel and choose our content. Netflix and Amazon prime along with some of the other roku channels allow us most everything we need.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting roku.com
Customer Rating
2
Not as good as it was
on August 13, 2014
Posted by: davidd
from Dallas, TX, United States
Gender:Male
I've purchased every version of the Roku since the first model and each subsequent model has gone down hill in terms of quality and dependability. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate new features, and additions like the headphone jack on the remote are amazingly useful (even the ability to play games with the remote is cool, although not utilized nearly enough). But with each subsequent evolution, the player has become more and more unstable. My original Roku 1 never had any problem, was always on and always working - in that case, there really was no need for a power button. But Roku 2 and especially Roku 3 tend to freeze and reboot constantly. The only problem is that you can't turn them off, even if the unit is frozen, your only option is to unplug it. In addition, the switch to make the remote work on wi-fi can be a headache as well - pairing the device and the remote is often difficult and there are times when the remote freezes - a real pain when you're trying to pause something to answer the phone or the door etc. I've given away my Roku 2 for these reasons and still rely on my original for one of my televisions.
Written by a customer while visiting roku.com