Roku has more than 130 different channels, but these are some of our favorites that extend beyond the Amazon/Hulu/Netflix game.
Pandora -- Stream Pandora on your TV with this channel.
Flickr and SmugMug -- Both photo sharing services have free Roku channel offerings.
Crackle -- Sony's Crackle.com is now on Roku, and users can access original series and mini-episode clips from classic hits.
MOG -- Subscribers to the streaming music service can access their on-demand tunes.
MP3tunes -- MP3tunes lets users sync their iTunes library with the cloud. Roku owners get 10GB of space for free and can stream music from their MP3tunes lockers directly from the Roku.
Vimeo -- The Vimeo channel lets users not only access their own content, but also content they mark to watch later while browsing the Vimeo website.
The Joy of Private Channels
Beyond Roku's official channel offerings, there are some interesting private Roku channels that users can add to their boxes to extend Roku even more.
Private channels are third-party channels that are either experimental or that aren't necessarily a good fit for the Roku channels store. Still, these channels can add a lot of functionality to the Roku device.
NewTeeVee has a solid write-up on how to use private channels, as well as some channels you might want to enable.
To access these channels -- which include gems like YouTube -- go to Roku.com and log in to your account. If you don't have an account, take the time to set one up and register your Roku. Once logged in, you can use the "Add Private Channel" option to enter in a special code that will add that channel to your device.
Here are some places to find private channels:
Roku-Channels.com -- This site keeps an eye on what channels are being added to Roku, officially and via third parties.
Roku Users Group -- The Roku Digital Video Player user's group on Yahoo Groups is a great place to find private channels.
Roku Forums -- The official Roku forums also offer a great way to get private channels, which include things like TV.com.
Get on the Wireless N Train
Because Roku is a streaming service, content quality is determined by the speed and strength of your Internet connection.
Roku units come with a wired Ethernet cable -- which can be a great way to ensure a sustained connection, but unless your house is wired with cat5e or cat6 cables, or you just happen to have a router near your television set, most users are probably going to be using a wireless data connection.
The Roku XD, XDS and older Roku HD XR all support Wireless N connections, with the XDS and HD XR supporting dual-band Wireless N. If you don't already have a Wireless N router (we're fans of this Netgear model), the Roku might just be enough to push you to an upgrade.
Wireless N -- even if you are just using single band -- can make a huge difference when streaming HD content, especially high-quality stuff from Netflix or Hulu Plus. Content that might sputter or drift between quality settings on an 802.11g connection will play seamlessly on a faster Wireless N connection. This also means that it will take less time to load channels and content.
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