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tjb1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 26, 2010
1,999
0
Pennsylvania, USA
Which has the biggest selection of free quality content? Looking for something to use instead of the crappy cable at college and these are all decently priced.
 
The best free content will always be through your computer. Otherwise, you pretty much need some paid streaming (netflix, hulu +, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) to make it worth while for the options you are considering.

What connections do you have on your TV ? I'm not too familiar with boxee but you need a newer TV (HDMI conections) for the ATV2 while the Roku supports composite and HDMI.

I got a Roku because of the composite support and I really like it. It also has a bunch of free channels but it's not worth it without some paid streaming (I have netflix).
 
I have a new tv that handles hdmi but boxee is pushing it on price... Can you access hulu free on jailbroken atv2 with xbmc or on a roku?
 
I have an Apple TV2 and the newest ROKU. Of the two I like Apple the best. I don't know enough about Boxee to give an opinion. I'm going to purchase an additional unit and I believe it will be another Apple. Good luck finding the right unit.
Bill
 
Roku 2 will offer you the most content, and the cheapest content (Amazon). Until iTunes becomes competitive with Amazon, ATV2 is a joke. Apple's idea of a sale is 30 dollars for an old season of Supernatural. Amazon's idea is 12-15 bucks.
 
Get the Boxee box I own the atv2 and it is blown away by Boxee. You will have access to some live tv Netflix any flash content on the web and the 3rd party apps are amazing such as Navi X and you can install them without a jailbreak or hack. Ignore most negative reviews most were left when the device was in beta and it was buggy but now with the latest updates I can't find any issues. Another thing I like about Boxee is the fact you can contact the main developers etc if you have a serious problem. I have never not found a movie or tv show I cannot stream in good quality on the Boxee box including some in theaters (not sure how legal that is though?). Also 99% of content is free!
 
Which has the biggest selection of free quality content? Looking for something to use instead of the crappy cable at college and these are all decently priced.

Go with the ATV2. Sure, you have to JB it in order to get it to do really fun stuff, but you college kids love that kind of challenge, I would guess. :)
 
Boxee vs AppleTV2? If you have lots of iOS devices like an iPad and an iPhone, definitely go for the AppleTV2. The Airplay is amazing, and if you subscribe to adult web sites, you'll be able to stream them to your TV using either your iPad or iPhone (as long as the airplay icon shows up)...

Now, if Airplay is not something you're interested in, I would go with the Boxee or Roku, they seem to stream a lot more content then AppleTV2 does without having to hack everything.
 
Boxee rules. It's automatic organizing is fantastic, and it plays every format under the sun, including videos inside sets of RAR files.
 
I use Netflix, Amazon and Apple so I have both ATV2 and Roku. ATV is a bit more elegant for Netflix but we'll see how the revised Roku2 stacks up to ATV.
 
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