Getting YouTube on my Roku

I came across a code that will allow you to get YouTube on your Roku. Here's how to do it.

First, if you have a Roku box then you have a roku account. Go to Roku.com and log into your account.

Next Select Add Private Channel. Click that and put in the code: B8VVK

Now go fire up your Roku and go into the Channel Store. Once in the Channel Store just exit out. Anytime you enter the Channel Store it causes your Roku to update.

Now just scroll over to your channel list and you will find YouTube as a new channel.

Some pros & cons...

First, anything you can watch on Youtube online, you can get in your channel. However, if you want to search for something specific you will have to spell it out with the remote, it can take time. Second I've noticed some videos feed at lower resolution than they appear on your computer. I think I may know why. Some older videos may not be compatible with HD and the system is choosing the lower resolution file to stream to the Roku.

Many look just fine. You'll find all the newest uploads in a section along with "relevant" videos if you search. The latest uploads are available too.

If you go into Settings and enter your YouTube account name it will have all your favorites and friends videos there too. So if you are cruising Utube and you find a video you want to watch later on TV, just favorite it or subscribe to that persons channel. Then all their stuff will be available for you to watch on TV.

Is it better than hooking your TV to a computer and watching Youtube videos? Ultimately I think so. Searching can be a hassle but the ease of channel surfing via Roku is better than trying to read text and enlarging videos that may-or-may not play right.

Plus, no commercials! None of those pesky annotations people plaster over the videos either. It's clean video streaming. If the end user uploaded an HD mp4, then you will stream the best quality of it your Roku & bandwidth can handle.

You can't share & post stuff or get an embed code, you can just watch. But in a living room environment where you are not trying to do such things, it's just fine. You can favorite clips and add subscribe, then you have them there to watch anytime right from the Roku. Since this is a private channel it will not show up in your channel store.

It's pretty nifty, give it a try!

J.