“would love to have one of you tech savy freepers right a simple tutorial on how to get roku, etc...”
I’ll second that! We have DirecTV and Netflix (”Longmire” returns in November!). We’d love to take advantage of Roku, Sling, etc., but don’t really understand how the alternatives work.
First of all, you must buy a Roku. Roku is not “channel” but rather a device that accesses the wifi stream and feeds it to the TV via the HDMI input. A smart TV does the same except it may not be able to access as many of the “channels” as Roku
A channel is a streaming service like NetFlix or Amazon or History channel or Smithsonian channel or You tube.
the Roku account can also be accessed through your computer. For me it is easier to find Roku channels on my computer and then add or dismiss. They then show up on the Roku on your tv screen. The amount of stuff is unreal. It can be overwhelming. My smart TV has some channels but paltry compared to what is available.
Alternatives to ROKU include Amazon Fire Stick and Apple TV. I don’t know how well they work compared to Roku.
Roku comes native out of the box with Netflix and Amazon and youtube so when you get it you can be up and running immediately and can search for more later.
I would drop cable today except I can not find a streaming source for H&G and the Food channel watched by my wife. On You tube I found several live streams for Fox News so that solved my cable cutting problem. I am in a period of intense study and expect to cut the cable cord soon