Can a Roku streaming stick be used to get free TV stations?

Can a Roku streaming stick be used to get free TV stations?

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We are very low tech where I'm asking if I can get free TV with the low tech equipment that I have already at home.

I picked up two unopened Roku streaming sticks at a garage sale where the husband who worked for Roku had left the ex wife where he had a few cases of these things that the ex wife was selling for a buck each but she didn't know what they're good for - and neither do I.

The gray box is a Roku 3810R and the green one is a Roku 3800R.

Googling, everyone seems to already know what they do, where I can tell from the hits that they connect your TV to the Internet over your router so that you can use Netflix and stuff.

But we are really low tech so my question is how much free stuff can this Roku thing give me? All the articles assume you have Netflix, and they even assume you have cable, and they assume you have a TV, none of which I have.

I don't have a TV antenna to get over the air broadcast TV, and even if I did, I'm remote so I'd likely get one station or two at best.

THere is no cable service. Just electricity. Nothing else by way of services.

I'm on WISP. About 5 Mbps down and up. The router is an old WNDR Netgear N with the USB port unused.

The kids have a PS3 connected to an old Sony TV.

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The Sony TV is too old for HDMI.

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I know the Sony TV can do Netflix over the net through the PS3 which is wired to the router because we had a friend stay for a few days and her account worked where the kids set that up, but we don't have Netflix account.

We have Windows 10, one of which has an HDTV monitor.

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So that one kid's desktop is the only HDMI connection in the house.

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In our low-tech situation, with only my kid having an HDMI monitor, which nobody shows on the net, can the Roku streaming stick be used to get free TV stations?

Reply to
Amethyst
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You need a modern TV with a HDMI input.

Folks throw away such TVs these days for silly reasons.

Try asking on Freecycle (or your local equivalent).

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Adrian C
Reply to
Adrian Caspersz

I was afraid of needing a new TV but we have no plans to get a "modern TV".

I just realized though that it didn't even occur to me to look to see if the PS3 had HDMI!

I just looked, and the PS3 does have an unused HDMI port!

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So can the Roku be set up in this configuration which exists now, all by Ethernet cable?

WISP modem to Router to PS3 to TV where the PS3 has an unused HDMI port?

Reply to
Amethyst

I just noticed that the monitor is HDMI *IN*

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While the PS3 is HDMI *OUT*.

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Does the direction matter for my purpose if I want to put the Roku streaming stick into the PS3 to get the TV to be on the Roku Internet?

Reply to
Amethyst

There are quite a few free "channels" available on the Roku but they are not your local broadcast stations if that's the kind of thing you were thinking of.

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Reply to
Roger Blake

Amethyst

Please do not feed the troll.

Reply to
peterwieck33

Noted.

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Adrian C
Reply to
Adrian Caspersz

It seems that I need HDMI "IN" where the monitor to the desktop computer is the only device with HDMI "IN".

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The Sony Playstation 3 only has an unused HDMI "OUT".

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And the DVD player also has an unused HDMI "OUT".

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The desktop is connected to the router by WiFi and the playstation is connected to the router by Ethernet.

The playstation then goes directly to the back of the TV, as does the DVD player.

Given the monitor has multiple different connections, I can free up the HDMI "IN" of the monitor by using a different cable out of the back of the desktop tower.

That would free up the only HDMI "IN" that I have.

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So the only question remaining is whether the Roku streaming stick would work connected to that HDMI "IN" of the desktop computer monitor.

Reply to
Amethyst

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