I agree. We set up a dedicated PC attached to our living room TV, and have been saving about $1,200 a year quite happily. We invested a bit more up front and installed a Hauppage video card and had an antenna put on the roof. With Windows Media Center, we can DVR anything from the broadcast channels. And of course we can watch through Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and iTunes, and anything else on the web.
There are some shows we will pay to watch during the current season, but then there’s a middle ground of stuff we’re interested in, but can wait for. Lately we’ve been watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Warehouse 13, and The Tudors on Netflix, and it’s fun watching them commercial free and all in a row. I also have the early seasons of Breaking Bad waiting for me whenever I want!
This comic is the voice of an entire generation.
True, true…but on the other hand, post #9. HBO says: you want to watch our show, buy our service. Nothing immoral or unscrupulous about that. I just don’t wanna.
so to wrap up this thread for you.
legally: impossible
Which is so freaking irritating - if you’re trying to catch up on a show, you can’t do in in the week or so between DVD release and season premiere unless you totally gorge on the disc set. We’ve had to record two or three episodes of a new season before we could start watching it. It’s not just HBO, either - FX and AMC do the same thing.
I can’t quite picture what marketing decision goes into releasing a product at what might be the most useless point in its lifespan - people buying it to catch up don’t have time, and fans who already saw the season aren’t likely to watch it with any haste while the new season is out. I understand (I think) that they think the synergy of the disc release and the premiere catch limited attention spans, but after about the third or fourth show we were trying to catch up on just as the new season started… well, that led to the decision to dump cable altogether.
We’ve had a dedicated media PC for some time, but besides being somewhat of a hassle to use compared to a dedicated appliance, it seemed to get used just episodically enough that when we wanted to watch something, it needed an hour to update the OS and video apps. The Roku is just a killer solution, even for a nuts and bolts techhead like me.
So if I got the concept - it’s basically like dedicating a computer, plugged into your TV, that picks up any internet-based TV content providers?
most pirated show of last year. you think HBO would want to rake in more of those bucks and make the show purchasable some legal way, on Hulu, iTunes, etc
so this:
Basically. It’s not as versatile or general-purpose (e.g. it has no web browser), but it Just Works for every major internet streaming service (except itunes).
Boy, is my face red. I checked Netflix and they have 3 seasons listed as in our queue. Unfortunately, I should have looked more closely. They do have the first season available on DVD and will allow you to put the next two seasons in the saved section of your queue.
Sorry 
so websites like “let me watch this” are illegal pirated versions of the tv shows and movies?
Exactly, but as an appliance, it is hassle free. As lazybratsche says, it’s not as versatile as a computer, but at the price of one computer component and with ten-button remote simplicity, it’s hard to beat for streaming.
Thanks for the advice–but the OP was asking how to watch Game of Thrones.
You also mentioned watching Downton Abbey tonight. I’m tuning in mostly to snark–but PBS is broadcast TV. Don’t you even watch the local news & weather on that newfangled digital broadcast thingie?
Worse - they’re usually scams and/or malware hosts.
Reasonable thread drift, IMVHO.
No. I have even less interest in local TV than in any cable channels. We’d also need about a 50 foot antenna mast.
I have been watching this particular one for a couple of years and other than some dumb pop up ads I have not had a problem. I delete the pop ups and then watch the programs. I watched the entire two seasons of Game of thrones in the last month or so.
Relevent article about HBO’s new 10-year deal with Universal to keep their movies out of Netflix’s hands.
HBO makes more money off cable subsciptions than it would selling the episodes of the show. After all, most of HBO’s advertizing isn’t spent by HBO itself, but the cable companies that want you to sign up with them. That’s a massive savings. And all that subscription fees allow HBO to spend the amount of money they do on shows like Game of Thrones or Deadwood or Rome.
While a lot of folks may pirate, plenty will simply “play by the rules” and subscribe giving HBO more money than simply offering up episodes for purchase.
*bang bang bang *Goes another nail in Netflix’s coffin. And we’re all the losers - what we’re seeing is a turf war for the center of the streaming universe.
Netflix could have held it, but made one wrong decision after another and now is too weak a player to hold on. Grab a comfy seat for another several years of erratic availability, overlapping costs, high prices and general hassle. Don’t bet on any winners right now. I would bet on an as-yet-unknown that may not even exist yet.