A Video Bleg
August 20th, 2011 - 3:24 pm
Melissa and I have been checking out the available lineup on Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime Streaming, both of which you can stream on a $99 Roku box. Between those and my considerable library of ripped content we stream via Apple TV, we’re left wondering:
Is it time to ditch the dish and say goodbye to DirecTV?
If anyone has any practical experience, we’d like to know if internet streaming is up to the job.
Streaming is the greatest. Thought there would be a lot of interruptions when I first got the roku. Figured you’d be watching a movie, then it would stop as it loaded some more. That doesn’t happen. Watched Fletch last night from Amazon. Beautiful picture, uninterrupted all the way through. And in high-def too. Amazon just added one of my favorite series too, Frasier, free for Prime customers. They have added a lot lately.
We have a laptop, a new iPad, an Apple TV, a XBox, and a Wii in the house that all can use Netflix(*) and other video streaming. The kids don’t miss cable. Between an antenna for the locals and Netflix, we had at least one show to watch each evening for 2 or 3 years.
I am lucky: our ISP does get ESPN3, so I can catch the cable UK Wildcat games on the computer or Xbox if needed.
I have considered getting Amazon Prime, but the only device I have that can get it is the laptop, and I don’t want to use it for watching TV much.
(*) Technically, the iPad can get Netflix, but I haven’t made it work yet. Haven’t focused on finding out why yet.
All you should need to make Netflix work on your iPad or Apple TV is your Netflix logon info. Oh, and you have to add Unlimited Streaming to your account, which I believe it a whopping $7.99 a month.
That is it. Everybody in the stream wants to make some extra cake. You already pay for bandwidth from your ISP. Then you pay for one the the premium content providers and someone wants to put an extra charge on top?
It will be moves like that by Apple which will make Android a viable alternative not necessarily any technological edgae or compatibility issues.
Apple makes a beautiful line of products and then screw it up by double dipping and triple dipping sometimes in the revenue stream. They said Micro-Soft was evil, well maybe but Apple is greedy no doubt.
I read your comment three times to figure out, to put it bluntly, what the he’ll you’re talking about.
What extrta charge are you talking about? Want to buy a movie from Apple. Buy it. Or rent a TV show? You can do. That, too. I find their movies to be a little too pricy for what you get (720p isn’t acceptable for a movie purchase), so I don’t buy their movies. Buck-a-show TV rentals seems right, although I haven’t done that yet. If we ditch the dish, though, I. Just might.
So I repeat: What the he’ll are you talking about with this double, triple, dipping nonsense?
No direct experience, but a good friend of mine has done it (ditching Comcast) and swears by it. My mother’s considering the same thing. I’m tasked with working out the technical aspects. I’m leaning toward the mid-range roku box. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
I have 3 kids (7,8,14), and we ditched cable about 4 months ago. There was a 2 day period of extreme whining, but after that, TV faded a bit from their lives. They still watch some Disney stuff on netflix (through the xbox), and a movie a week on “movie night”, but mostly they play minecraft now.
We got a Roku box for our bedroom, and I already had PlayOn, so I can watch anything that can be stored on a computer.
Hulu Plus is OK, but their interface, as well as their “Web Only” shows, makes it a second choice.
Saved $60 a month. Miss football sometimes. That’s it.
I’ve been cable/dish free for 3 years now. No complaints. If you can deal without sports, you’ll be fine.
I have two kids and we ditched DirectTV (HD) over a year ago. We use Netflix over the Xbox 360 and the occasional Blue-ray.
We went from $100+ a month to $15. The deciding factor: I was looking at the old DirectTV HD DVR and saw that had over TWO YEARS worth of shows we queued up to watch at a later date. At the time I looked, 95% of it was already out on DVDs that I could get from Netflix or even stream from Netflix.
Whoa whoa, what’s all this about being able to ditch DirecTV? Really? This may be a very dumb question, but how do you watch cable news?
Purely personal preference, but I’d rather read news than watch it – I can absorb the content at least 10 times faster. Also, most news networks stream their programming through their web sites.
Hmm, well. So much still “happens” on t.v., though. Sean Hannity did a full-hour special report on Operation Fast and Furious on Friday, not available in its entirety for streaming. I considered it a big deal. (My theory is that Op F&F, not the economy, is the thing that will destroy the Obama administration and the Democrat party for years to come in a devil of a conflagration.) But — totally unsupported theory, I admit — the story won’t take off until it’s televised. So having television is a political thing, not just a technology and entertainment thing.
We ditched cable a year and a half ago. We got an antenna for local channels, TiVo for the DVR features, and Netflix mostly for the kids. They like not having commercials for their Disney & Nickelodeon shows. Netflix is also good for us in the summer when everything is in reruns. We’re watching previously overlooked shows such as Mad Men now.
The downsides: no cable news, limited sports, and we can’t watch some of our old favorite cable shows such as The Closer.
But, we get all the cable news highlights off blogs, subscribed to MLB.TV, found new favorites, and saved enough money in a year to buy a big LED tv that doesn’t have to be mounted near the cable.
No regrets yet.
I’ve always considered lack of cable news to be a pro, not a con. Your mileage may vary.
Depends a lot on your viewing preferences. I haven’t had cable in a decade, but I don’t watch all that much TV, so DVDs and online sources are sufficient for me. If I’ve heard good things about a show I torrent it, and watch by the season, and if I like it I get the DVDs – other than Game of Thrones(where I’m a huge fan of the books, and watched mostly to see how the adaptation was), I haven’t watched any regularly scheduled TV since West Wing went off the air.
On the other hand, my parents would be lost if the cable went out for an evening, because they prefer watching all kinds of shows that don’t really fit into the streaming model very well(channel-flipping bad-movie roulette, wacky housewife TV, and a lot of baseball).
Try going cable-free for a week, see how well it goes. If you don’t notice, cut the cord. If you feel like you’re cut off from the shows you like, keep paying.
I stick one of my old gaming PCs behind the HDTV. I watch DVDs on its two DVD players, download and watch bittorrents, and watch steaming from Netflix, etc.
I’m also typing this from it. So you get the benefits of a PC on a huge monitor as well.
Oh, and we got rid of cable years ago. I don’t miss it in the least. There’s so much on Netflix watch instantly now anyway.
Sports is the kicker. I’d get rid of the cable box if I could still get ESPN and the Fox Sports channels. I’d gladly give ESPN $10 a month to stream from them.
I cut the cord 5 years ago and never looked back. Though rather than Roku, I use a Mac Mini attached to several terabytes of storage. For streaming I have Netflix and use regular Hulu to watch new shows. Havent seen much interesting on Hulu Plus and don’t bother w/ Amazon Prime unless you really like the BBC. But, the purchase/rental streaming stuff from Amazon is very good. Only downside of cutting the cord is watching sports and breaking news.
Also recommend a full-blown computer over a Roku. W a computer and web browser you’ll have acces to a number of streaming services that don’t have deals w/ set top manufacturers. For a remote, use an app a called AirMouse and bingo! you’re iPhone is a TV remote working w/ the Mini.
Roku is good. I use it for streaming Netflix and Amazon pay-per-view (Fringe is awesome, and season 1&2 are available on Netflix DVD’s, but season 3 is only pay-per-view on Amazon — 1.99/episode, SD, 2.99 HD).
If you get Roku make sure you get the box that is best suited for your needs.
I ditched cable in favor of Roku a couple months ago and rarely regret it. By leaving the cable wire plugged in, we still get a dozen channels with cable reception (TBS, two PBS, all the CSPANs plus the various network channels and assorted local off-brand). On Roku, we spend most of our time watching Netflix. There are a handful of free channels but the search functions are too primitive. One free service I enjoy (maybe just for the novelty, but still) is Facebook. You can see your and your friends stuff on your TV. Another good freebie is news streams from around the world.
HuluPlus is not yet ready for primetime–nothing you want to see and the search is not very good. They’re particularly hampered by the fact that the free computer service is better than the TV pay service–until they bring Plus up to speed, IMO they have a lot of nerve charging. And charging as much as Netflix for a service that is seriously inferior? Strategy-wise, I think they’ve made a big mistake.
Depends on your threshold for hiccups and desire for quality. I would say that were one satisfied with SD or 720p with occasional hiccups, you could get away with it.
If you’re an audio/video-phile, it’s tougher. Even with a ridiculously fast connection (20+ Mbit) and bandwidth QoS, it is still very difficult to successfully stream 1080p, due largely to capacity and latency issues at the host streaming site, and you can forget about more than two channels of decent audio over most current transports.
I watch a lot more streaming video than I did last year, but my DTV will still be around for the foreseeable future for things I really care to see.
A big shift for me has been to HBO GO on the iPad– one of the best implementations to date, even though the web site sucks for its rife dependance on flash.
I think the streaming experience is variable, depending on your ISP and neighborhood. Some people complain, but we get 1080P with no problems whatsoever – I was actually quite shocked at how good our picture is. My main gripe with NetFlix streaming is that they tend to butcher the surround sound a bit (or megabit). BluRay is still far better for loud action movies and a must for music concerts.
Absolutely get rid of your DirecTV. Save money and get great content on your Roku. I use my PS3 in the front room and my Roku in the bedroom and between both I don’t miss DirecTV in the slightest. Hulu Plus, Netflix, Crackle (Roku), Vudu and several indie streaming networks and the family’s happy. You won’t regret the decision.
We ditched cable almost a year ago. At the time we were paying ~$130 / month (excluding broadband) and most of the time there was “nothing on.” IMHO, the only reason to have cable is if part of your social life revolves around discussing the latest TV show episodes and sporting events. For us, that’s pretty much nonexistent – it really doesn’t matter at all if we watch a season of Dexter a year or two after it’s released. If we want to watch a sporting event, we go to a friend’s house or to a bar (or to the game). This has become a great habit – it’s far more fun to do these things with friends (or fellow fans).
Now we have NetFlix (streamed through our PS3) with 3 discs + BluRay. After the recent “draconian” price increases, it’s just under $30 a month and we enjoy the content far more than the cable package we were paying over four times as much for.
I’ve been using Roku for Netflix and other things for two years. Works Perfect. No complaints.
I tried it, and went back to Direct TV after a month.
IF you have a good local over the air signal, and/or a cheap cable offering (and IF you don’t watch much live sports, as others have said), it might work OK.
And, um, maybe I’m being selfish here, but I think this would be a bottleneck with live drunk blogging!
(I’ve been away for awhile. Nothing personal.)
One more source, Stephen: IMDbPro. Free streams of selected shows. I haven’t checked it out in depth, but just to let you know.
I haven’t had dish or cable in about 7 years or so, opting instead for Netflix for the bulk of that time. I have, unfortunately, run out of things to watch on Netflix and have cancelled. I’ve found the instant watch selection of Netflix to be lacking. Amazon has all the things I want to watch instantly that Netflix does not but at a bit of a premium. Whether this works out for you is a matter of personal taste, I’d rather have the option of paying $2 per episode of a show I want to watch than to NOT be able to see it at all.
I imagine you could have the 3-disc at a time plan with Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus for far less than what you’re paying for dish, though I don’t actually know for sure.
Streaming is the only way to go! I gave up cable TV over two years ago and couldn’t be happier. The streaming content library and options only increase.
I currently run Hulu Plus and Netflix through my PS3 (which nicely plays my Blu-Rays and DVDs when I so require). Works like a charm.