Streaming Media...anyone do it?

• justincredible

  

  I bought my mom a roku and a 6-month subscription to Hulu+ for Christmas. She loves it for Hulu+ and Netflix and a few other random channels. I think she just added crackle. Our DirecTV contract runs out in August or September and we'll be getting rid of it and not switching to any other cable or dish provider. We should be good with our OTA antenna and netflix/hulu+.
• WebFire

  justincredible;764046 wrote:I bought my mom a roku and a 6-month subscription to Hulu+ for Christmas. She loves it for Hulu+ and Netflix and a few other random channels. I think she just added crackle. Our DirecTV contract runs out in August or September and we'll be getting rid of it and not switching to any other cable or dish provider. We should be good with our OTA antenna and netflix/hulu+.

  
  I just need to figure how to get ESPN and ESPN2 live streams and I will do this.
• WebFire

  What about kids cartoons? Anyone have experience? Does hulu have Disney, Cartoon Network, etc?
• JerseyBuck

  

  justincredible;764046 wrote:I bought my mom a roku and a 6-month subscription to Hulu+ for Christmas. She loves it for Hulu+ and Netflix and a few other random channels. I think she just added crackle. Our DirecTV contract runs out in August or September and we'll be getting rid of it and not switching to any other cable or dish provider. We should be good with our OTA antenna and netflix/hulu+.

  
  My wife and I did the same a year ago. We live in an apartment currently so I can't go putting any antenna's up but what we have is a small indoor/outdoor HD antenna I bought for $20 on monoprice and it works great. I get HD channels from up to 40 miles away. Couple that with Hulu+ and Netflix and we're saving nearly a grand a year.
• McFly1955

  

  justincredible;764046 wrote:I bought my mom a roku and a 6-month subscription to Hulu+ for Christmas. She loves it for Hulu+ and Netflix and a few other random channels. I think she just added crackle. Our DirecTV contract runs out in August or September and we'll be getting rid of it and not switching to any other cable or dish provider. We should be good with our OTA antenna and netflix/hulu+.

  
  
  My wife and I are strictly basic cable ($15 for like 15 channels, ABC, NBC, etc all in HD) and roku.
  
  My parents and my brother both have cable bills over $100, which I think is crazy.
  
  You'll want to look into "playon". It's a sweet little program that runs on Roku, PS3, Xbox 360. For a 1 time fee, you can have Hulu (not Hulu plus, which isn't all that great yet, in my opinion), spike, and a bunch of other channels play on the roku or other device. People are constantly developing new plugins as well.
  
  So we pay $15 a month for basic cable, and $19 a month for Netflix (streaming plus 2 blu rays out). We actually watch like 7-10 new release blu rays per month, so the additional cost is worth it to us to have 2 out at a time.
  
  http://www.playon.tv/playon
• birddog23

  Does PlayOn get HD channels or just standard def?
• McFly1955

  

  birddog23;764319 wrote:Does PlayOn get HD channels or just standard def?

  Not HD for sure......What it basically does is play videos on your TV that you would normally only be able to see on web sites....
  
  For example, you can watch the "auction hunters" using the "spike tv" channel on playon, which basically lets you play the episodes that you would find on spiketv.com, but in full screen on your TV, rather than on a PC.
  
  Netflix and Hulu+ quality > playon, but playon is definitely acceptable quality for what it is.
  
  There is a free trial of playon to see if you like it.
• BR1986FB

  Bumping this since, as usual, I'm late to the party. Seems interesting. I'm about ready to put a shoe through my plasma due to TWC. Not to be nosy but with the Hulu/Netflix, etc how much are people looking at, monthly?
• wes_mantooth

  

  Netflix is only 8 bucks a month for streaming only. Hulu is free, but I think there is a charge for hulu plus. Amazon also has a service for 80 dollars a year, but I was not impressed with its selection at all.
• Pick6

  

  basic netflix..streaming only i believe is $8 a month.
  
  if you already have a ps3 or 360, why buy the box?
• I Wear Pants

  Netflix is $10 a month for a one dvd out at a time plan with streaming for netflix. I believe Hulu Plus is also $10 a month.
• Ytowngirlinfla

  

  I want to do this when I get back from deployment. I have COX cable and internet and it costs me $130 a month. Totally crazy price for just a box(no dvr) and hbo. I just want to make sure that an OTA attenna will work as I live on the 16th floor.
• BR1986FB

  Pick6;799595 wrote:
  if you already have a ps3 or 360, why buy the box?

  
  What do you mean by this? My girlfriend's kid has an Xbox 360.
• Pick6

  

  BR1986FB;799638 wrote:What do you mean by this? My girlfriend's kid has an Xbox 360.

  
  well i believe they are talking about purchasing a hd box to hook up to the internet to watch netflix and hulu. My question is why buy the box when you can already use netflix and hulu on the xbox or ps3.
• I Wear Pants

  He means that both the Xbox and PS3 are excellent media streamers. Xbox has Netflix and Hulu as well as Media Center Extender functionality (so you can watch all the stuff you recorded off tv if you have a media center pc) or stream most video and audio files from a computer as well. PS3 can do most of that as well though I don't know if it does Hulu.
• BR1986FB

  Going to definitely look into this. So I'd just need a HD antenna to be able to pick up Browns games on Sunday? I'm more than 50 miles from Cleveland.
• Pick6

  

  BR1986FB;799687 wrote:Going to definitely look into this. So I'd just need a HD antenna to be able to pick up Browns games on Sunday? I'm more than 50 miles from Cleveland.

  
  yep.
• BR1986FB

  Yeah, I think TWC can kiss my arse. Going to research this heavily. No sense paying $110 a month for service & dvr boxes that blow out every 2 weeks.
• WebFire

  Only thing holding me back is ESPN and ESPN, for college football.
• Pick6

  

  WebFire;800263 wrote:Only thing holding me back is ESPN and ESPN, for college football.

  
  Just get very basic cable maybe?
• tuskytuffguy

  I stream porn, does that count?
• BR1986FB

  Just purchased 2 of the Roku boxes and have one hooked up with Netflix & Hulu Plus. TWC will be getting a call tomorrow to downgrade to basic.
• I Wear Pants

  Which Roku did you go with?
• BR1986FB

  Roku XD...already having buyers remorse. My girlfriend is already freaking out because Netflix & Hulu Plus doesn't have her shows. Fortunately basic cable has these shows.
• I Wear Pants

  What shows do those two not have? Tell her to quit being a dumb bitch.