Cutting the Cord - TV via Internet?

All you people love your Roku's - I must be doing something wrong with mine.

First - it wouldn't sync to my wireless router. After an hour of google research, Roku happens to "like" channel 6 for wifi better than the others.

Second - they won't let you use the thing until you provide a credit card number to the roku account. I have a problem with this - I don't want to accidentally buy something when it is supposedly full of free channels! Back to google, then a call to customer service, and they made an account that skipped the credit card for me.

Third - OK, I finally have it working - except "Crackle". It will play 30 minutes to an hour of a movie, then it jumps out of the picture and says "please wait" with the spinny wheel thing. I haven't solved this yet. We connect the laptop to the TV and go to crackle.com to watch the movies - and that works flawlessly.

I'm going to vote for a custom HTPC over an appliance like Roku. My Roku was a gift, so I'll be keeping it and playing with it, but I'm treating it as a toy not something to rely on for my primary television requirements.

And for HBO, not just any provider but rather just these eight (which does not include my provider.)
http://www.hbogo.com/activate/#affiliate_grid

I've been downloading torrents onto my refurbed desktop from Ebay for a couple of years. Being on the west coast allows me to download and watch almost all shows before they even air in my region. I'll occasionally stream from Hulu or the network sites, but torrents are my primary source for TV/Movies.

I also bought an $80 outdoor antenna (looks like a square dish network dish). Not only do I get all my local broadcast stations, I also get a bunch of stations from Los Angeles. The quality of over-the-air HD is superior than any cable/dish network...and it's free.

I tried the streaming Netflix and didn't like it at all. Very few movies worth watching and the TV shows sucked for the most part. We ended up dropping them completely. If I could figure out how to get History, A&E, Discovery, and the Military Channel, I'd be able to dump the stinkin' cable again.

we cut the cable some months back... stream netflix and hulu plus via the xbox 360... also am able to easy stream from my computer to the xbox with tversity so if I DL something I can watch it...

sometimes it's a little finicky for the streaming from computer bit (FFing just isn't an option many times)

intend to build a HTPC or turn our old laptop into one... using win7 and media center it's nice n pretty and very HTPC friendly... add the plugin for netflix and huluplus and it's good to go...

also around here a decent outdoor antenna $50 or so) should pull in 10-15 channels... tested with a super cheapo and pulled in about 7 or so... add a TV tuner to your HTPC and suddenly it becomes a DVR as well...

minimac wrote: I tried the streaming Netflix and didn't like it at all. Very few movies worth watching and the TV shows sucked for the most part. We ended up dropping them completely. If I could figure out how to get History, A&E, Discovery, and the Military Channel, I'd be able to dump the stinkin' cable again.

yes... this would complete the package... those where my background noise channels when I had cable... miss them from time to time.

There are some of those shows on Hulu, but not enough to make it worthwhile to pay for the + service.

History of War and American Science Frontiers are two that stand out on Hulu.

For me, I find I miss the old version of those channels. The current versions are generally full of crappy reality shows and many aren't actually related to the channel they are shown on.

If you have a favorite show, I find that many times I have to visit the show's website to see if they have the shows available to watch online, otherwise its on to ThePirateBay to hopefully download the episodes (or buy them online if they are available at a reasonable price) That is one of the reasons I didn't bother with one of the streaming appliances and built my own PC to do the streaming since I can still launch a normal browser and get to some of the content that I otherwise might not be able to (ALMS and LeMans for example)

It is up to content providers to make their stuff available through Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, etc. You can buy past seasons of shows on Amazon, if the studio is willing to have past shows streamed. Top Gear is on amazon and part of the prime membership library. Having a young child, we like the fact there are no commericals with netflix or amazon. unlike the on demand service from the cable company.

as for the roku, I have found a wired connection works best to keep buffering to a minimum. At least that's best we can do inside the house. Cable companies are notorious for having too many people on each data loop (looking at you Cablevision). standard definition streams the easiest. and checking the intarweb, http://www.roku-channels.com/ looks like a user driven channel guide. and, of course, from corporate: http://www.roku.com/roku-channel-store. I don't know what HBO stuff is available, but they have a channel. MLB has a channel.

Not having to piece together a htpc nor trying to find torrents are two big pluses in roku favor. and the price. and a remote. and it's the size of a hockey puck (WAF is very high vs pc tower case),

if you don't mind torrents but don't want to spend on a HTPC I'd look at the WD TV live plus... runs $60 used on amazon (ad $10 for a wireless USB stick)... its hard coded for most every video format... so you can plug in an external HDD or USB stick with your torrents and read the file natively... or just stream it from a folder on your computer that you networked...

we cut cable at our house a year ago (bill was $250+ including some dvrs and premium channels)... just dropped to cable internet ($60 a month) and bought three rokus and I already had a PS3. We've got the cheapest netflix plan and the free hulu along with amazon prime ($80 a year and includes free shipping on anything you order) and we're NEVER at a loss for something to watch.

donalson wrote:

minimac wrote: I tried the streaming Netflix and didn't like it at all. Very few movies worth watching and the TV shows sucked for the most part. We ended up dropping them completely. If I could figure out how to get History, A&E, Discovery, and the Military Channel, I'd be able to dump the stinkin' cable again.

yes... this would complete the package... those where my background noise channels when I had cable... miss them from time to time.

Just go to history.com, discovery.com, etc 24 hours after the episode was broadcasted

I hate to ride the pious train, but since getting rid of TV, I am a ton more productive. When I catch a TV on (I don't have one at my house), everything just seems so dumb. Lowest common denominator dumb. If only I could kick this internet habit...

I watch most of my TV streamed from a link site like Blinkx.

It allows me to watch Dr. Who the day after as opposed to months after it aired in the UK.

Also no commercials. It does have its limitations though like how much you can watch before you have to take a time out. But if you do it right you can watch pretty much uninterrupted for a few hours.

Nerd solution: Easynews subscription ($10/month) Over the air HD antenna ($40 on amazon) Download sickbeard Download sabnzbd Stream to Xbox360 via windows media center

All my shows are downloaded, labeled, organized, and ready to stream. So far I've had the xbox disconnect occasionally, but it's running wireless across the house

MitchellC wrote: I hate to ride the pious train, but since getting rid of TV, I am a ton more productive. When I catch a TV on (I don't have one at my house), everything just seems so dumb. Lowest common denominator dumb. If only I could kick this internet habit...

DVR does the same thing. It allows you to watch TV at your convenience and your schedule. You don't have to work around any schedule but your own.

MitchellC wrote: I hate to ride the pious train, but since getting rid of TV, I am a ton more productive. When I catch a TV on (I don't have one at my house), everything just seems so dumb. Lowest common denominator dumb. If only I could kick this internet habit...

That's me.

Even when I do have the TV on, it's rare that I can find something I want to watch.

Update: the deed is done.
We were having another couple over to the house on New Years Eve. The plan was to rent some dvd's. Heading out at 6pm it was going to be questionable as to what would still be available at the store and even more questionable as to what the other couple would want to see, so... pull the trigger. Drop $58 at the local Walmart for the simple Roku LT. and rent ALL the movies.

Setup was easy but did require a call to India to talk to "Linda" and clear up some confusion.
Moments later on the laptop and I had the free 30 day Netflix set up.
We searched for the movie "Hangover2" - not available through nextflix streaming. Hangover 1 also not an option. Did settle on "No Strings Attached" which pleased everyone since Natalie Portman is smoking hot.

As for the Roku, it is smaller than I thought. I expected it to have a footprint about the size of a CD case. It is actually more the size of a 3.5" floppy disk. Easy to set up and easy to use. The remote has very few buttons and maybe even too few buttons but easy.

The netflix is good. We have watched a few movies. I caught Senna (very good as y'all said.) I have started the second season of Top Gear UK (they do not have the first season) as well as shows I never watched but heard were good like Breaking Bad and Weeds. Oh, how I do love the no commercials which makes it all well worth it to watch old (but new to me) TV

Congrats! You know what they say, once you go cheap, you never go back.

carguy123 wrote:

carguy123 wrote: Is there a way to get the Showtime and HBO series in near real time?

Is there?

There are ways but they aren't exactly kosher.

I dumped cable TV almost a year ago in favor of the Apple TV.

Netflix streaming for $8 a month is more than good enough for me. Tons of great shows on there. And whatever isn't on Netflix is usually available through iTunes.

I've currently been watching Star Trek TNG a lot. Already in to season 3.

I have been using my Wii for Netflix, a laptop with an S-video out for online channels and then I have an antenna for local NBC, ABC, CBS, etc channels.

I spend $18 for Netflix everything else is free and I have no complaints from myself or my significant other. We have been doing this for over 2 years.

Oh there are ways to get HBO but you have to know someone that pays for cable and has a service provider that is available with HBO GO.

Check antennaweb and see what you could get with a nice outdoor antenna. You may be surprised. Even here in podunk Gainesville I get all the networks plus some bonus secondary channels with a $40 HBU-22 antenna on an old piece of fence pole.

Yeah there seems to be a lot of hate for Netflix that I don't understand, it offers a lot of value for under $16 a month. I have more stuff in both of my streaming and disc ques than I could ever watch and it seems to fill back up as fast as I watch. I use Hulu for most of my first run network stuff because I am at work in the evening and can never watch live, another $8 a month. My partner watches network stuff on the antenna and I use it on the weekend sometimes. So for $24 a month I am drowning in content and there is not much I cant see. Satellite or cable would easily cost me $60-$80 a month due to the need to have a DVR.

It depends on what you watch, if you watch sports, or HBO then no its not going to work too well probably.