replacing cable TV with internet... how? [modified]
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i really hate paying Time Warner $150/mo for cable + internet, so i'd like to drop my cable (keep the internet) and get as much TV from internet sources as I can. but, what's the easiest way to do that? i have an AV receiver, and a BluRay player which can connect to Netflix and Vudu, but not to Hulu or Amazon. i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up. and i can hook a laptop up to the AVR, via HDMI. so, lot's of inputs. but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way... anyone ?
image processing toolkits | batch image processing
modified on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:31 PM
You'll probably end up paying as much for online tv viewing as you would for cable because of bandwidth excess usage charges.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997 -
i really hate paying Time Warner $150/mo for cable + internet, so i'd like to drop my cable (keep the internet) and get as much TV from internet sources as I can. but, what's the easiest way to do that? i have an AV receiver, and a BluRay player which can connect to Netflix and Vudu, but not to Hulu or Amazon. i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up. and i can hook a laptop up to the AVR, via HDMI. so, lot's of inputs. but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way... anyone ?
image processing toolkits | batch image processing
modified on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:31 PM
I had Time Warner for a long time, paying around $100/month for cable. My HD channels constantly stuttered and froze and overall quality was pretty poor. I switched to DirecTV about two months ago and am very happy with the capabilities of the system and the price, which after the 2 year introductory offer ends will be about the same as TW, but with a much higher Qos. One of the coolest things I found out with the DTV service is the ability to search youtube for content. Now, if I can just figure out how to get it to join homegroup and play content from my music library, it would be perfect.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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i really hate paying Time Warner $150/mo for cable + internet, so i'd like to drop my cable (keep the internet) and get as much TV from internet sources as I can. but, what's the easiest way to do that? i have an AV receiver, and a BluRay player which can connect to Netflix and Vudu, but not to Hulu or Amazon. i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up. and i can hook a laptop up to the AVR, via HDMI. so, lot's of inputs. but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way... anyone ?
image processing toolkits | batch image processing
modified on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:31 PM
I dropped my cable tv about 5-7 years ago but I kept the internet. Now I don't have a tv but I can still watch local stations (e.g. local abc, nbc, cbs, and etc.) on my pc. I bought one of the SiliconDust - HDHomeRun box and connected to the cable line and hook it up to my router. Now I watch tv on my laptop. This way you can save some bandwidth, if you are not on the unlimited plan. I think many people do not know this, but you probably still can get local hd and standard channel through the cable line that is servicing the internet. As I recalled, the FCC does not allow the cable company to encrypt local stations. Also, since you want to access other viewing sources, I'd suggest that you look into building a HTPC. Just search HTPC. This way you should be able to have the local stations, and Hulu and other internet sources. My $0.02
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i really hate paying Time Warner $150/mo for cable + internet, so i'd like to drop my cable (keep the internet) and get as much TV from internet sources as I can. but, what's the easiest way to do that? i have an AV receiver, and a BluRay player which can connect to Netflix and Vudu, but not to Hulu or Amazon. i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up. and i can hook a laptop up to the AVR, via HDMI. so, lot's of inputs. but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way... anyone ?
image processing toolkits | batch image processing
modified on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:31 PM
Just do Netflix with DVDs. The online offerings are paltry. Hulu has my favorite shows, but only for computer viewing, so I haven't bothered subscribing with them.
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i really hate paying Time Warner $150/mo for cable + internet, so i'd like to drop my cable (keep the internet) and get as much TV from internet sources as I can. but, what's the easiest way to do that? i have an AV receiver, and a BluRay player which can connect to Netflix and Vudu, but not to Hulu or Amazon. i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up. and i can hook a laptop up to the AVR, via HDMI. so, lot's of inputs. but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way... anyone ?
image processing toolkits | batch image processing
modified on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:31 PM
I dropped cable a few months ago. Here's a bit of what we're doing and what I've learned via research. Caveat: we don't watch much regular TV programming to start with. If you have expectations of keeping up with current shows you're going to make a lot more work for yourself. We have an Apple TV 2, jailbroken and running Plex. This allows us to view downloaded video in formats not directly supported by iTunes/ATV. We also use the built-in iTunes app to rent movies and the Netflix app to watch streaming movies/TV shows. If you like baseball, I've heard that the MLB.TV app is very good. There are a few other apps built in. Check out Apple's site. Plex supports a few online streaming sources including Vimeo, but I don't use them so can't comment further. I know a few people who use a Mac Mini + Plex or similar software for a web-enabled video experience. So you'd get everything ATV offers plus anything from the web + better codec support. You could presumably do the same with with Windows Media Center or Linux equivalent. Some folks swear by the Boxee box. No experience with it. In the US, local stations are required to broadcast free over the air. Antenna and decoders are widely available. Our biggest problem is reliable streaming from Netflix. My research suggests you'll need a minimum of 5Mbps for HD streaming, and depending on time of day even that won't be enough due to congestion. We have 15Mbps and still have freezes during the evening. We also kept our Netflix DVD account. All up, even renting/buying the occasional movie, we still come in well under the nearly $200 a phone+internet+cable plan would have cost. YMMV
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i really hate paying Time Warner $150/mo for cable + internet, so i'd like to drop my cable (keep the internet) and get as much TV from internet sources as I can. but, what's the easiest way to do that? i have an AV receiver, and a BluRay player which can connect to Netflix and Vudu, but not to Hulu or Amazon. i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up. and i can hook a laptop up to the AVR, via HDMI. so, lot's of inputs. but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way... anyone ?
image processing toolkits | batch image processing
modified on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:31 PM
whats this directtv thing i see? B
MCAD --- To paraphrase Fred Dagg - the views expressed in this post are bloody good ones. --
Our kids books :The Snot Goblin, and Book 2 - the Snotgoblin and Fluff The Snotgoblin for the Ipad -
whats this directtv thing i see? B
MCAD --- To paraphrase Fred Dagg - the views expressed in this post are bloody good ones. --
Our kids books :The Snot Goblin, and Book 2 - the Snotgoblin and Fluff The Snotgoblin for the Ipadyou mean the thing that makes up 1/4 of the spam i get? i'll get right on that just after i buy an aluminum wallet and check my credit ratings with Experian.
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you mean the thing that makes up 1/4 of the spam i get? i'll get right on that just after i buy an aluminum wallet and check my credit ratings with Experian.
well i watch a bit of rugby online (*coughforfree*) and i see that some of the errr streamers use directtv.... bryce
MCAD --- To paraphrase Fred Dagg - the views expressed in this post are bloody good ones. --
Our kids books :The Snot Goblin, and Book 2 - the Snotgoblin and Fluff The Snotgoblin for the Ipad -
i really hate paying Time Warner $150/mo for cable + internet, so i'd like to drop my cable (keep the internet) and get as much TV from internet sources as I can. but, what's the easiest way to do that? i have an AV receiver, and a BluRay player which can connect to Netflix and Vudu, but not to Hulu or Amazon. i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up. and i can hook a laptop up to the AVR, via HDMI. so, lot's of inputs. but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way... anyone ?
image processing toolkits | batch image processing
modified on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:31 PM
I bought one of these[^] recently (as did DaveAuld). It works well, plugs into the network and you can scan your network drives for media, including music and pics. There's a built in browser, so you can browse to any TV stations site that allows you to stream shows from there. I can't say anything about Netflix/Hulu/Vudu as I haven't tried any of these yet. The boxee comes loaded with apps, but I've only tried a couple that stream the local radio stations.
Pete
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i really hate paying Time Warner $150/mo for cable + internet, so i'd like to drop my cable (keep the internet) and get as much TV from internet sources as I can. but, what's the easiest way to do that? i have an AV receiver, and a BluRay player which can connect to Netflix and Vudu, but not to Hulu or Amazon. i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up. and i can hook a laptop up to the AVR, via HDMI. so, lot's of inputs. but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way... anyone ?
image processing toolkits | batch image processing
modified on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:31 PM
Chris Losinger wrote:
i have a Roku box which can connect to Hulu (don't know about Hulu's premium service), but which isn't hooked up.
Most of the devices only connect to the Hulu+ service. Very few if any will connect to the free content as they don't have licensing for the free stuff to devices. I had one series I was watching that I could watch the entire series from Hulu's website, but only the current Hulu+ season on my PS3.
Chris Losinger wrote:
but that's three devices, one of which doesn't have a remote (laptop), so that will be a PITA as far as changing channels, etc.. there must be a simpler way...
Mrs. Flynn and I are shutting off our satellite at the end of the month. Other than the occasional sports broadcast and local news broadcast, we get most of our stuff through Hulu+ and Amazon anyway. I hooked my desktop up to the TV in our bedroom and we use Hulu Desktop for Hulu+ and IE for Amazon. Honestly, we'd love it if Hulu+ and Amazon were available in Windows Media Center. so we'd have everything in one place and we could use the media remote. But a wireless keyboard and mouse work pretty well. I'd use the laptop with a wireless keyboard for the internet stuff, and the Blu-Ray player for movies. :) Expect TW to really hard-sell you on taking a lower package instead of cutting the cable completely off. The rep I talked to at the satellite company was having a hard time accepting we wanted to shut things off instead of taking their $30 per month package. Not worth it in our case. :) Flynn
