Roku Streaming Stick or Google Chromecast: Why not Both?

Roku 3500R Streaming Stick

If you consider cable television’s combination of poor customer service, high prices and forced channel bundling; it’s no wonder many former cable customers have “cut the cord.” I did: tired after decades of paying a gigantic monthly bill for a channel bundle including more than 150 channels I didn’t watch, I bid AT&T’s Uverse farewell. I increased my internet speed, invested in antennas to capture over-the-air HD broadcasts and bought a pair of Google’s Chromecast sticks and two different Roku Streaming Players. 

Description and Installation of a Roku Streaming Stick

We installed a Roku 2 and a Chromecast on the television in our family room, a Chromecast in the master bedroom, and put a Roku 3500R Streaming Stick on the little TV in our exercise room. Roku’s stick can connect to any TV that has an HDMI port, which is different from a Roku 2 that can also connect with component inputs. It plugs directly into a female HDMI port on the television, drawing power either from the TV’s USB port or from a wall AC adapter.

Roku’s stick is similar in size to our Chromecast device. Both are about 3 inches long, an inch wide and a half-inch thick. Both have a male HDMI plug at one end and a female micro-USB port at the opposite end. Other than the Roku purple color and a company logo, The Roku Streaming Stick is otherwise featureless. The main physical difference from a Chromecast is that Roku’s stick is controlled with a remote or a mobile device and app.

Setup and Using a Roku Streaming Stick

Roku’s process for setup is, like Google’s for the Chromecast, quite simple: first, plug the stick into the TV and power it up, then walk through a series of setup menus on the screen. You’ll have to supply your wireless router’s name and password. Once you’ve finished, you must register the player with Roku with a code displayed on the screen and then you’re good to go. Like all Roku devices, the stick is 802.11 a/b/g/n compatible and supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 security protocols Each remote pairs to a specific player, although they occasionally un-pair randomly. Usually you can re-pair them by taking the batteries out of the remote and re-installing. The remote is pretty much bare bones, having only about eight operational buttons. A lot of people choose to use the free Android or iOS app to operate Roku devices. Although they have the same number of buttons, typing input for searches, etc., is much easier with the app than the remote.

Owning a Roku Streaming Stick 

Installation is merely a starting point: once you’ve registered the device, you have access to thousands of channels from on-screen menus. You’ll find familiar names such as Pandora, Netflix and Hulu; not to mention several thousand specialty channels for almost any interest – technology, religion, conservative politics, ultra-conservative politics, ultra-right-wing politics… Most channels are free, though worth what you pay for them (or less), including especially wearisome candidates in the categories of weather and news. Pay channels like Hulu are one or two button-pushes away, and the remote includes four dedicated buttons for Netflix, Amazon Prime, MGo and Blockbuster. Users can also play their own content from a computer by using an app like Plex.

A Roku Streaming Stick is fairly inexpensive at a list cost of $49 and you can subscribe to a selection of pay services (Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon Prime) for less than $30 per month. As of this writing, live sports aren’t available unless you’re already a cable subscriber, and much of the most popular programming tends to be available only on a pay-per-view basis. Since I’m someone who doesn’t plan my life around sports and the latest movies, my Roku Streaming Stick is a perfect reason to cut the cord.

Comparing the Roku Streaming Stick and the Google Chromecast

Cost: A Chromecast wins, $35 to $49 Control: A Roku Streaming Stick wins for its remote and app, the Chromecast is controlled by whatever you’re displaying – YouTube, a Chrome tab, etc. Content: A tie: Chromecast has apps specific to several favorite channels, and can cast any content at all from a tab on a Chrome browser. Roku has thousands of channels, but many of them are completely useless. Quality: A slight edge to Roku. Assuming you have a fast enough broadband connection, the two are more or less equal in video and audio quality. My experience with Chromecast is that it’s slightly more likely to stall and require buffering, but it’s not that big a difference. Extras: The Chromecast comes with a small HDMI "extension" for tight locations and places where the stick doesn't get the best signal. The Roku doesn't.