[Jeffhs]

The Roku streaming video player arrived here earlier this week; it was very simple to install (just an HDMI cable and the included AC power adapter, plus a simple online activation procedure), and I was watching programs within ten minutes (literally) of removing the player from its shipping box.

It has an application that will allow me to see Time Warner Cable TV programming via streaming video, although I don't know if that app will continue to work once the cable company goes all-digital in about four months or so. Even when they do, I am not concerned about it anymore, as my Roku box will receive many free TV channels, quite a few of which are stations I watch semi-regularly. I tried to activate the National Geographic Channel (Roku refers to it as NatGeoTV) and, while I was able to activate the channel with no problems on my computer, I kept getting a message on my TV screen that I am not authorized to view their content at this time.

I puzzled over this for awhile (why I was able to activate the channel on the computer but I could not watch it on my TV), then it dawned on me--I do not get NGC on my present level of cable service (Standard TV), so it follows I would not have access to this channel on my Roku player either. (This is the case with several other cable channels as well.)

No problem. I like to watch nature shows, and the PBS affiliate in Cleveland, plus one other PBS station about 60 miles from here, has plenty of those; one titled simply "Nature", and several others the titles of which escape me as I write this. PBS also shows National Geographic specials every now and then, so I can see these programs as well, on average about once a month or so.

I will not cancel my cable service just yet, as Roku does not stream local TV channels and some cable networks. I will keep the cable for now, as it is part of a bundle of services from Time Warner Cable (cable television, home phone and Internet); downgrading or canceling any of those services before my contract with TW expires will almost certainly result in a hefty early termination fee, which I cannot afford since I live on a fixed income.

All in all, I am very pleased with the Roku streaming video player. Between cable, the Roku box, and my own sizable collection of DVDs and VHS videos, I am getting more TV programming than ever before, certainly much, much more than we were getting (three major networks plus PBS, then known as National Educational TV or NET, and three independents) when I was growing up in a Cleveland suburb in the '70s.