lindsaybluth has it right, it’s definitely not OK to talk about any kind of illegal downloading here. SpartanDC, we’d really rather you hadn’t brought it up, but since nobody’s elaborated on it in the thread, we’ll leave it open for now. Everyone, please keep anything more about illicit downloading out of this thread, or it’ll be closed.
No warning issued.
I think by “Verizon Modem” otternell meant Verizon mobile broadband, the problem is Verizon (and all other US carriers) cap those cards at 5gb per month: makes them about worthless for any sort of web based video.
otternell: Can’t you get cable internet without cable TV, I know it was possible several years ago with Comcast, but things may have changed.
The leniency is appreciated. If you want to remove the “p word” from the thread title to dissuade further discussion of that, please do.
I found out yesterday that we’re under a contract with our cable company right now that makes dropping just cable somewhat cost prohibitive, but I’m looking at ways of canceling out the fee they’d charge or we could just wait until the contract expires and pursue this.
And I’m still going to keep the antenna, at least in the living room. The picture is noticeably better than the compressed cable signal. Still tinkering with the right setup though – after thinking I finally had everything just right, ABC started getting all blocky last night.
Since we have to keep cable, I think I’m just going to return BOTH antennas we got, and exchange them for one of the “nicer” (i.e. more expensive) ones at Best Buy. Maybe that’ll solve the living room reception issues. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we rent and just the configuration of our apartment, we can’t place an antenna near the ceiling or anything like that.
If you get TV and Internet from the same place, simply downgrade to only have the internet service. FYI, we’re doing this (today actually, since our bill cycle is over Monday) and it’s actually cheaper to have basic cable + internet than it is to just have internet, so be sure you ask “what would it be if I kept basic cable?” I have the shit-eating devil, known publicly as Comcast.
I think by “Verizon Modem” otternell meant Verizon mobile broadband, the problem is Verizon (and all other US carriers) cap those cards at 5gb per month: makes them about worthless for any sort of web based video.
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The MiFi with the $40/month plan is unlimited. There’s at least one more mobile card that is also unlimited.
That’s exactly what I tried to do. We have a “triple-play” bundle and the provisions of that mean we’re charged a $150 termination fee if we drop any component of the service. Like I said, I could mitigate that – I’m selling an extra TiVo box we have, for example – or just wait until march. We use the slightly-less-shit-eating devil known as RCN (actually, this is literally the only time I’ve had a problem with them, and a contract is a contract, so, yeah.)
It might have already been mentioned and I missed it, but the Wii can connect to and stream content from Netflix. I believe you need to contact Netflix and get a disc to set it all up. (I have a Wii, but don’t use Netflix. Sorry I can’t be of more information.)
It’s not 1040 HD, if that’s a concern to you. I believe it only comes in at 780. Me - I don’t think I’d care.
We cancelled our cable and never got around to doing anything with an antenna, so we don’t have any broadcast channels.
We have a DVD/Blu-ray player and a computer hooked up to the TV, which is extremely easy to do.
We also have Netflix - DVDs and through the computer Watch Instantly.
The vast majority of what we watch these days is on Watch Instantly. Now that new TV is back on I’ll watch some on Hulu. Anything we can’t get legally those ways, we get on DVD through Netflix or the library.
Total recurring cost: $18 a month for our Netflix plan, which could be cheaper if we didn’t want as many DVDs at a time.
I definitely am not the brightest bulb in the pack when it comes to this kind of stuff.
My verizon wireless is a usb modem (because we use it on multiple computers, including desktops) and it requires software to operate. I’m pretty sure its unlimited downloading though, so does this just mean that I need to connect my computer to the something (?) to the tv in order to make streaming work for me?
Its so confusing to me - I’m great at using computers at work, and in general, but when it comes to A/V stuff in conjunction I’m just lost. It would be so cool to start streaming netflix though - but not on the computer, that’s not where I want to watch shows.
ETA: and years ago, when we were remodeling that part of the house, we had them remove the cable box from the house, it was in the way and its complicated as to why, but it was also a big F-U to the provider. So no, regardless of the fact that we don’t have a cable subscription, I would rather walk on burning coals than let them put their crap back on my house.
Mmm that’s too bad. We basically pushed to quit our TV cable because of horrible, persistent tiling (where the picture gets blocky). 4 visits later and things have improved slightly but not to where it should be.
Otternell, so you have the MiFi possibility mentioned above, and you also have the Clear Spot 4g, which is only $100 for the device and $40/month, unlimited.
Also using a Roku box for $60-70 (cheaper than a Play Station 3, XBox 360, a Wii, or a blu-ray player) you can stream Netflix movies to your TV.
In theory, you might be able to set up your computer to share its connection and create an ad-hoc network that any of the devices mentioned in this thread could connect to. I’m not sure how well that would perform in the real world though.
I know there are such things as 3G routers, too, which look like a normal router but are connected to (in your case) Verizon’s network. From there, you can connect devices to it by either cable or Wi-Fi. But I don’t think that, even on the best day, that will work for watching online video. It would probably be good for streaming videos that are already stored on your computer to some other device (like an Apple TV).
I like the Roku box, especially the new models, but for reasons I cannot fathom, you can’t use it to stream files stored on your own computer. It’s like all these manufacturers are in some cabal where they agree to omit one key feature from each of their products so that no one product can dominate the market.
We got rid of it two years ago. Its coming back though - the Twins are in the playoffs and one thing that is frustrating is lack of sports - if you care. We don’t, with this one exception.
Most things we get through Netflix instant stream via Roku - so we are watching old TV shows a lot. Right now the kids are hooked on Futurama. It was Xena. I watch a few things over the internet - Daily Show clips and such. We have a Neuros box that has the TV work as an internet browser (has boxee on it), but the quality of the signal and buffering aren’t great on it, so it seldom gets used. It does have a large hard drive and that is where downloaded video goes. The kids were the TV watchers, and I couldn’t stand paying for hours of Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Those shows are now gone from our lives - we don’t load them up for the kids.
The Roku and a Netflix subscription are really the keys for us. And the fact that we don’t care about what is on in a current sense…five year old TV series and old movies are fine.
Look at the back of your TV and see what kind of connections you have. Then look at the back of the computer you want to use for it and see what kind of connections you have there. You’ll need to get one to the other, and it depends on what you’ve got. Since my boyfriend built our media computer for the purpose, we’ve got DVI out, which means we just run a cord from that output on the computer to the TV (it’s to the second HDMI slot, which also says “DVI”) and an audio cable from the jack on the computer to something on the TV. It’s actually very simple and we get a fantastic picture.
I care that the Twins are in the playoffs, but not in a good way – I’m a Tigers fan. 
As for sports, the stuff that isn’t on broadcast TV, I figure I can use ESPN3 streaming, friends and bars for that. Not living in the same market as the teams I root for means I’m pretty used to only seeing them on TV rarely. This is definitely something I gave a lot of thought to before we decided to pursue this course (and which we will continue to pursue once our contract expires.)
Thanks - I’ll get the husband involved (A/V is his department, computers are mine) and see if together we can get it done with 1 brain! 
If you don’t mind my asking, how much did it cost your boyfriend to build that? I’ve given some thought to this, but it’s never really been my thing. I’m fine endlessly tinkering with software and adapters to get two devices to work with one another, but actually building something from scratch seems like a lot to take on (and I worry how well such a device would play with the Macs in our household.)
Let me think - he had a couple parts he used from other computers (he does video production, he’s always fiddling with the computers and swapping parts around) but mostly we bought it all from newegg. Maybe a year ago, maybe two? We had had one before but were having problems with it. Cost us a couple hundred bucks, tops. I doubt as much as 300, and we could have spent less if we hadn’t wanted a case that would fit into our entertainment system.
Having a computer instead of a Wii or a Roku box or whatever does make it a lot more flexible - for example, when he wants to show me a commercial he’s made for a client we can pop in a flash drive, or whatever. And of course you can download things directly to it, in a completely legal manner. It was also very helpful when I went about installing Linux onto another computer, since my laptop is a Mac - it was just a little easier to burn the CDs I needed on the media computer.
It’s pretty self-contained - there’s never really a reason for it to talk to our other computers, so compatibility hasn’t been a problem.
We got rid of our cable a while back. We get broadcast (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and a few local stations). We have Netflix for $9/month, which gets us 1 DVD out at a time, plus all the Instant Watch stuff we can handle. We stream content from Netflix using our Wii.
We are currently watching “Parenthood” off of Hulu, and plug a laptop in to the TV when we want to watch Hulu.
I am putting together a Linux computer that will be used to stream the Hulu content, so my wife will be able to use the laptop when we watch Hulu. This project is going slowly, and I am using old/donated parts. I am running Open Suse Linux 11.2 on a Pentium III. A buddy gave me an AGP video card which works OK, except the picture is not as smooth as I would like. I only have 512 (2 @ 128 and 1 @ 256) MB of memory in the computer, and the same buddy is sending me a 512 MB memory card. The computer can take up to 1 GB of memory, so with his card I will probably have to buy another 512 and get rid of the 128s and 256.
I plan on buying a wireless keyboard with a rollerball built into it. I also had to buy a fan, sound card, and DVD drive (reader/burner) for the computer.
So far, I am out about $50 for the entire thing, but the wireless keyboard will be about $70. I may also get a wireless network card for it. I hope to spend less than $200 on the entire thing. If I get to the point where the basic idea works but is just too slow, I will probably buy a better motherboard and processor to get the speed up.
The only thing I have missed not seeing this season was “Deadliest Catch”. But, I will be able to catch it next year online.
Everything we have done is legal, without any piracy involved.
I don’t disagree that putting together a computer is a great idea, and is the most flexible option. But really, do you want to watch TV or do you want to fiddle with a computer?
I’m a computer nerd. Even so, I have computer time and I have TV time, they’re separate. TV time is passive, I just want to chill out. My Tivo and Roku box never fail me. Keeping a PC running is going to be harder than keeping a Tivo or especially Roku (no moving parts!) running, I guarantee it. When you sit down to watch a program, you don’t want to tinker with stuff, you just want it to work, and fast.
I had a couple AppleTV’s, and have replaced them with the Western Digital device. While the interface isn’t as slick, it plays nicer with my NAS where all the movies are stored. The Apple used to drive me nuts with iTunes always needing to be updated, and leaving a computer on all the time with iTunes running just to watch a movie. I tried the hacks for the AppleTV, but I didn’t find that Boxee or XBMC were any better since the NAS I have isn’t a server, but just a network drive So getting the path to the movies was a pain. I like the WD, hooks up without any issues, sees my network drives, plays just about any format I could wish for, cheap, and plays HD movie files. We have two of the WD Live players, which are networked enabled, and cost around $130 or so, and two of the straight WD players, which I picked up for $75, those need a USB drive hooked up as a media source, but they work great for the kids rooms, where I want to strictly control what they watch. 300 movies available for them, but nothing on there I don’t want them to see.
Oh, and Spectre of Pithecanthropus do ya’ll consider getting a digital copy of an over-the-air broadcast that someone has put online to be piracy? Not trying to cause trouble, but to me that’s an entirely different discussion than getting the latest movies that are still in theaters from online sources.
I have to agree with you on that. While I get enjoyment out of tinkering, my wife does not, and I’m guessing that for me, the novelty would wear off after awhile. I’m very hopeful for the Boxee Box – it can play local files, do Netflix streaming and aggregates the various web-based videos out there, including some of the TV networks. If they can get Hulu Plus and some sort of movie rental service on that thing (like Amazon VOD), then it’s a dream machine and possibly a cable-killer.