We are considering eliminating all paid TV programming at our house. Here is our plan: Eliminate our $75-$85/month Direct TV service Put up a quality aerial antenna to receive all of the local channels. Increase our internet service to a faster speed. We have the slowest level of DSL at home right now. Attempt to use the internet to watch the few shows that we do watch that are not broadcast “over the air” (OTA). Our computer has an output for a HDMI cable so I should be able to just plug and go. I know how to do 1-3. I don’t know very much at all about #4. Who has done this? How does it work? What are the problems associated with watching TV over the internet? Can you see all or most shows now over the internet? Other than HULU where do you find these shows on-line? How does Netflix fit into all of this? Would their service @ $7.00/month help me at all? (We do not watch many movies) How fast of an internet connection speed do I need to do this properly? Start with the basics because I’m very new to this. How does ESPN 3 work for watching football games on-line? We don’t watch a ton of TV and I am just having a trouble justifying paid TV service these days. If the TV is on, it is typically kids shows like Thomas the Train or whatever. I’m sure we can find those on-line or even rent DVD’s. It is still cheaper than the Direct TV or cable by a long shot the way I see it. So, is this doable in today’s age yet or am I dreaming?
What computer do you have? I have macbook but its pretty simple. Put Hdmi cable into computer and tv port. If the display doesn't pop up on tv(make sure you have it on correct hd channel) go to settings or system preferences, find the display setting, and should be something to click on to display to tv.
You have to have a tv account to watch football on espn3, I think. Not sure if you can pay a small fee and have those games or not.
You can find most shows online now a days. Some channels release shows the next day, some the next week. Outside of Hulu you can also find shows on the channel's website, i.e. History, F/X, etc. You can also find places to pay for episodes like Apple's iTunes. ESPN 3 is good for games, however they do not carry all games AND "local" games could get blacked out as well.
In your opionion Phillip, is this a viable solution that actually works well considering what we want to do? Will I need to get Netflix? I also have read that getting an Xbox 360 might really help me out to use that for TV watching.
I use netflix on my tv and computer. I have a wii that pulls the wireless internet signal to the tv and of course the laptop has no problem pulling up netflix directly. Go browse around on Netflix and see if you can live with the selection. There's a bunch of kids stuff. Tons of foreign movies that you would never watch if you had to pay for the individual movie. We like to watch obscure kung fu stuff. I've hunted all over to find live streaming Fox News with no luck. That's probably the only thing I kind of miss. We never watched much sports and almost never watched regular network tv so it was pretty easy for us to get rid of cable service.
Do they have any regular mainstream shows on Netflix Christine? Like House, pawnstars, doomsday preppers, etc?
Is there a way to bundle your TV and Internet/ phone and save via that route rather then drop the service?
I've looked into that and it has not turned out to be any cheaper. It seems you need you take their higher end packages to get any significant discounts. Also they seem to only give you a decent discount if you are a new customer.
If you don't watch a lot of TV, I don't think it is too bad of an idea. I would bet you could find a majority of what you want to watch online. Netflix I'm not sure about. I do not personally use it. My cousin does and enjoys it, but I've just never gone that route.
They have most of the seasons on Netflix, the newest our on the history channel website. I dropped Directv 3 months ago bought a laptop for $400.00 with an hdmi cable and watch everything on that, except the local channels. I'm not missing out on much other then the $90.00 a month bill. You can get a free trial of it and try it out. You will be out nothing.
Netflix isn't that great for new shows. They have a decent variety, but not everything. IMO if you're going to ditch the satellite and go streaming-only, you're better off with a Roku. The device itself is less than $100 and you don't have to deal with plugging and unplugging the laoptop if you want to surf the net or bring it somewhere. It handles both Netflix and Hulu Plus as well as Amazon Prime and a lot of other channels as well. IMO Hulu Plus is the best deal for those who want to watch a lot of TV programming. Check out what they have to offer here - http://www.hulu.com/plus/content Compare Roku devices here - http://shop.roku.com/
What about the Roku vs. the Xbox 360? I was leaning heavily towards the Xbox 360 so the laptop would not be in use all the time in our house. Otherwise, how the heck am I going to check BHC if my wife is watching the Opra network?
With the XBox you're looking at just over twice the cost, and a $60/year fee for a "Gold Live" account before you can stream anything. IMO you're not really gaining anything with the XBox that you can't get on the Roku, except for their Search function, which I'll admit is pretty nice. Seeing as I already have a PS3 and Google TV in my living room, I opted for the Roku in my bedroom simply due to the cheaper price. Oh, and because Bowhunt or Die is on Roku. :D
Gotcha. One nice thing about the Xbox is the games that can be played since we were thinking about buying a gaming system for the family in the near future anyway. That is how I justified the additional cost of the Xbox.
Unless it has changed (I'm not a gamer), I believe you have to pay for an Xbox Gold membership to stream media (an extra $30 or $50/yr). The xbox is, essentially, a condensed HTPC, so it will be a bit more noisey than a dedicated streaming box like the Roku. If you don't game, I don't see a need to go with and Xbox. Crap...didn't see Justin's post.
We got rid of cable in our house about a year ago. Put up a nice amplified antenna in our garage rafters, then I run all of our cable jacks off that one antenna feed (via a splitter in the basement). I'm actually able to pull in some of the main network affiliates channels from the next area to the south (40-60 miles) - sometimes nice because they will have different things on (one Sunday last year, our local Fox affiliate had a different NFL game on then the one to the South - so was able to pick up the another game). Love the one antenna setup for the whole house - has worked great for us... Then as you are talking about, we hooked up an HDMI cable from a computer to our main TV in our living room. We have fairly basic internet services (1.5 MB) but that's good enough to get shows around 360P from Hulu without much of any interruption of service. Been thinking about bumping it up but the next step us is like a 50% increase in cost. One thing I have noticed is that the quality of your 'feed' (because of our lower end internet speed) varies a lot depending on how good the 'site' does it's buffering. Tons of free programming on Hulu - always a halfway decent show or movie to watch if your in the mood... Have considered NetFlix, but just have never been overly impressed with their online options/selections. Keep expecting the numbers of available shows/movies to just balloon like crazy and grow exponentially - just hasn't happened so far (IMO). ESPN3 is a decent option for some programming, but seems like they often don't have the really high demand stuff (like Monday night football)... That site doesn't seem to buffer as well for us, so it gets kinda choppy for me at times. My cable provider has an agreement with them so I just go to the espn3 site and they can determine my ISP and let me right in to watch whatever I want... So maybe see if your internet provider includes or has a espn3 subscription for it's customers. I will say they did a good job with the college bowl games - most of those were on espn3. Learned a lot over the last year about best places to get programming, what antennas to use, etc. If you have any specific questions, shoot me a PM....
