Web My Video

As I started poking around the net, using Google as my guide, I quickly ran into The Nowhere Man (http://www.thenowhereman.com/roku/). Here is a list of the channels he has listed on his Roku page. As you will see below, I have some work to do regarding rating the various channels on three criteria: how is the quality, is it easy to find stuff, and how much stuff is there? If you can pitch in your two cents via the comments, it would be welcomed.

PodTV (Channel code: H9DWC)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=H9DWC
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)
Not quite sure who runs this one, but it claims to have curated content. First look – I saw a bunch of “Good Morning America” type content. Quite honestly, it looked like the type of stuff you’d find all over Hulu or similar. More to come as I put some time into checking this one out.

Radio Reference (Channel code: ENGBH)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=ENGBH
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)
I only spent a few minutes on this one, but it is described as “a directory of live radio scanner feeds like police, fire, air traffic control, and amateur radio operators.” I drilled right down to the county I live in, but didn’t actually listen to anything. Once I do, I’ll report back.

Funny or Die (Channel code: IU1VY)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=IU1VY
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)
This is described as “a comedy video [channel] that combines user-generated content with original, exclusive content. The site is a place where celebrities, established and up-and-coming comedians and regular users can all put up stuff they think is funny. At the same time, the site hopes to eliminate all the junk that people have to pick through to find videos. That means around here you get to vote on what videos are funny and what videos deserve to die.”

CNN (Channel code: RBFA1)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=RBFA1
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)
On the Roku forum, it states that the content in the CNN channel is currently coming from their mobile library. I have a feeling this won’t look so good on a big ole HDTV. More to come on that.

Twitter (Channel Code: V8MRS)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=V8MRS
How can you rate text for quality? I’m going to assume this is WYSIWYG.

USB Media Browser (Channel Code: KGULU)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=KGULU
I haven’t tried this yet, but it sure looks cool. The idea is that you put a thumb drive into the Roku itself (limited to the Roku XR os Roku XD|S, according to The Nowhere Man). The images on the drive will be played out in a slideshow, with a music file (optional) playing in the background. Great for holidays and parties! From Nowhere Man’s site:

• The channel will play MP4 video, MP3 or AAC audio, and PNG or JPG photos
• You can arrange your media in any directory structure you like on your USB device, but it is best to keep the number of nested directories to a minimum
• If you drop some mp3 files in the same directory as some pictures, those mp3’s will be used as a soundtrack when in slideshow mode
• If you name an image file exactly the same as an mp3 file in the same directory (except for the extension), that image will be used as album art for that mp3
• If you name an image file exactly the same as a movie file in the same directory (except for the extension), that image will be used as cover art for that movie
• If you place an image named albumart.png or albumart.jpg in the same directory as some mp3 files, that image will be used as album art for all the mp3’s
• During a slideshow with a soundtrack, you can press the DOWN button on your remote to pause/resume the soundtrack

UStreamTV (Channel code: IN4DN)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=IN4DN
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)
UStream is famous for having a TON of live content, including an interesting mix of commercial and user-generated content. Today there is an add on UStream for the Adam Corolla show, live starting January 31 @ 8pm, and a video of a butterfly coming out of its cocoon. I haven’t had a chance to check out the quality for UStream, but I will hopefully report back soon.

NasaTV (Channel code: HIBMX)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=HIBMX
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)
I did take a look around here, and wasn’t overly impressed. I was hoping to see more colorful, high-res video of “space”. Before I hurt anyone’s feelings, I’m going to give it another shot and report back.

Archive.org (Channel code: NMJS5)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=NMJS5
Quality: Musical quality tends to be pretty good, though a bit inconsistent (which comes with the territory). Love the live music archive, though haven’t done much exploring on the video side.
Organization: First few run-through’s were not bad. I was able to quickly surf around the site, scan through thumbnails and descriptions, and find a couple nice concerts to listen to while we did our weekend “honey-do’s”. I have not been able to identify any way to build my own playlist on the Archive.org site. I created an account, which seems to allow me to upload files, but not organize stuff. If you find differently, please let me know.
Depth of Content: This is Archive.org – there is a ton of content here.

YouTube (Channel code: B8VVK)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=B8VVK
Quality: There is some very high quality video available, though depends on who submitted it.
Organization: Pretty sweet. I created a channel for every member of the family, easily displayed to our 5 year old as thumbnails she can surf through to find the most recent Taylor Swift tune.
Depth of Content: Are you kidding?

Band of Others

Other channels I found out there, but haven’t had a chance to install or check out yet. If you have any input, or find one of the codes doesn’t work, please let me know.

American Movie Classics (Channel code: 71B0Y)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=71B0Y
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Archive Classic Movies (Channel code: WSW1P)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=WSW1P
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Hubblecast HD (Channel code: 9OFXQ)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=9OFXQ
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Simple Weather (Channel code: IFUIN)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=IFUIN
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Sunimi TV (Channel code: SQANR)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=SQANR
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Terra (Channel code: F3SIG)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=F3SIG
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Traffic Cam (Channel code: 9MQBZ)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=9MQBZ
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Christian Video (Channel code: DKHAU)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=DKHAU
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

PUB-D-HUB Classic Films (Channel code: ZFJB5)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=ZFJB5
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

A1R Radio Network (Channel code: MNYVP)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=MNYVP
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

AnomaliesTV (Channel code: XM7EG)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=XM7EG
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

FilmOn (Channel code: FILMON)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=FILMON
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

HGTV (Channel code: HGTV)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=HGTV
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

JustinTV (Channel code: JUSTINTV)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=JUSTINTV
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Red Bull Sports (Channel code: REDBULLTV)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=REDBULLTV
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Whiskey Media (Channel code: WhiskeyMedia)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=WhiskeyMedia
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

TV.com (Channel code: TVCOM)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=TVCOM
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

1080p Showcase (Channel code: 1080p)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=1080p
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)

Food Network Nighttime (Channel code: FNNIGHT)

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=FNNIGHT
Quality: (TBD – review coming soon)
Organization: (TBD – review coming soon)
Depth of Content: (TBD – review coming soon)