ROKU, HBO GO

After spending over an hour in line yesterday to replace a brand new cable box, I took the additional time to inform the attendant behind the desk that I wanted to file a complaint about the Roku not allowing HBO Go from Comcast. He informed me that "Sure you can watch HBOGo through Roku!!" I rapidly told him to look it up, and sure enough, it is not allowed for Comcast customers. This is ridiculous to not allow it, but allow it on cell phone, tablets, laptops and computers, but not Roku? Isn't Roku nothing more that a computer inside of a small box?

Come on ... Really ... Help out the people and give us our ROKU ACCESS!!!

Don't forget Comcast also allows HBO Go on Apple TV and Xbox....so it makes absolutely no sense why it isn't available on Roku!!!!!!

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@FrozenSlime wrote:

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@BrianUbee wrote:

The problem with On Demand, is that it does NOT mirror program availability the way HBO Go does.

 HBO Go offers so much more than On Demand. Xfinity/Comcast subscribers should be able to attest to this.

 

I'm not going to buy an XBox to have that feature.  Granted I can hook up my laptop via HDMI and watch anything, having said that, laptops don't always display the format correctly on an HDTV set. If I fiddle with the settings on the laptop and tv, I can get it close to On Demand, but not precisely. 

 

The simplicity of a small Roku box and remote just make it easier...Take NetFlix for example, it is almost always flawless.

 

In addition Comcast/Xfinity's Cable Box OS platform is getting really old.  With On Demand, if you pause a program, it only holds the stream for a few minutes, not to mention the single speed fast forward/rewind issue, If I want to get to a specific scene, I have to wait forever!!

 

I am aware that they have a new OS and DVR with cloud storage, however swapping boxes results in a loss of everything I recorded over the past few years.

 

Sorry to carry on, but for the money Comcast/Xfinity can do better, since they make so much money on us.

 

Does anyone else feel this way?? Just curious

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I know it doesn't help, but you could buy an Apple TV to watch HBO-Go -- the only problem is that the Apple TV doesnt support Amazon Instant Video -- I had hoped the Roku would be the perfect solution, Netflix, Amazon & HBO Go -- and it is, as long as Comcast are not your Cable company...

 

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My point is that I ALREADY HAD the Roku and did not want to spend another $99  to get yet another device.

Nor should you have to imo..

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@BrianUbee wrote:

The problem with On Demand, is that it does NOT mirror program availability the way HBO Go does. . . Does anyone else feel this way?? Just curious

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To clarify, Comcast on Demand does not mirror HBO Go programming....other providers, such as Dish, (and I think Brighthouse) do. The on Demand limitations were another huge factor in my decision to leave Comcast and go back to Dish last year after 5 weeks. The fact that on Demand (and even watching recorded shows) used an available tuner to watch, so I could not record at the same time I was watching an on Demand program.  With Dish, on Demand and watching recorded shows do not use any of the 3 tuners on the Hopper....I can record 3 shows while watching different recorded or on Demand programming on 3 different televisions. The remote limitations nearly drove me insane, as you said, only the single speed FF and that 5 minute (instead of a 30 second) rewind....so if I missed what someone said, I had to go back 5 minutes instead of a quick "huh?" jump back hear it again.

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@DVUser wrote:

Yes. Interesting to note that some other major cable companies have supported playback on Roku devices, but Comcast and Time Warner are absent from the list. But this removes a dependency on Comcast equipment.

 

It seems Comcast would acknowledge there would be fewer issues supporting the (standalone, homogenous) Roku device than a broad range of PCs and configurations, but then, why should Comcast enable a potential disrupting competitor?

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Actually, Time Warner does allow you to stream HBO Go on Roku (at least according to their website).  Time Warner also allows customers to use Roku as their "cable box" if they are in the Time Warner serivce area.