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Making the Switch, suggestions needed. [Internet TV]
Stale
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I cancelled my Dish and I'm making the switch over to internet tv.
I have zero funds to build an HTPC, but I'm lucky enough that one of my laptops has an HDMI out.
Where do I go from here? I need some of you digital young-ins to tell me the best way to enjoy the shit I enjoy without giving Directv 160 bucks a month.
I already have a hulu-plus and a netflix account. What else do I need? Where do I go from here?
I have zero funds to build an HTPC, but I'm lucky enough that one of my laptops has an HDMI out.
Where do I go from here? I need some of you digital young-ins to tell me the best way to enjoy the shit I enjoy without giving Directv 160 bucks a month.
I already have a hulu-plus and a netflix account. What else do I need? Where do I go from here?
Stale on
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It depends on what shows you want to watch.
the "Internet TV" trend is picking up enough steam that it's actually possible to check out releases from the company making the show you want to watch that basically say "you can watch our shit online in this fashion, on this date". You'd be surprised how frequently new shit appears on Hulu or instant Netflix within weeks, days, or even hours from airing.
I am curious how that works, as well.
Amazon Video and iTunes both have up-to-date TV shows. I think Amazon has the better service, personally. Those will play through the laptop, though I think an xbox would be an easier option if it's available.
In the living room I have an HDTV hooked up to a PS3. In the Bedroom I have an HDTV hooked up to a 360.
I'd like, with as minimal CPU interaction as possible, to view TV shows. What I DO NOT want to do is cycle through endless bullshit menus, and sub-menus just to reach a loading screen that cycles forever and invariably shits out halfway through a viewing because my wireless momentarily dipped half a percent (looking at YOU netflix).
I also don't want to have to walk someone through a 30 minute tutorial every time they sit on my couch on how to watch TV. I just want it to work.
Yes, I realize I want a lot, but this should not be unreasonable.
It's also not a huge ordeal if I have to move it between rooms for now until I can build a dedicated box for the living room.
Boxee is a great little media program that you can use to organise and view back videos, but also has a ton of apps that integrate into it and if you get yourself a media centre remote for your laptop you'll be able to control it from the couch. Or, if you've got an Android / iOS device there's an app that works over wifi as a remote which is really useful when it comes to typing.
You can also get a Firefox plugin that adds videos you find on the web to your queue to view at home, which is fun.
It's a fork of XBMC, if you've had any familiarity with it before, Stale.
I've got a Boxee Box, which I've been pretty happy with, aside from a very weird Win7 related bug where if you have a couple of Windows Live features installed the Boxee Box can't see Samba shares. They're working on a fix, though, and plan to have Netflix and Hulu on it soon.
There's also PlayON which is a sort of streamer client thing that you can set up to stream Hulu, Netflix, local video, etc to your 360, not sure about the PS3
http://www.playon.tv/playon
Don't expect to stream anything 1080p using it though.
We bought an antenna, put it on our balcony and pointed it at DC. That way I still see some sports and all that.
But basically the key thing that's happened since we dropped cable was that we watch a shitton less television. It's not that we don't watch the quality stuff, we still have "our shows", but we don't fill the free time with garbage any more.
This doesn't really help you at all, I'm just nervous so I'm rambling.
Likes:
Works with damn near any video format. .mkv, .avi, etc. Handles HD with no trouble
Works well with my surround sound setup so I can pipe Pandora (through it's Boxee app) and it works like a charm; works great for 5.1 SS movies & shows, too.
Remote/Keyboard is much better than hunt-and-peck typing with, say AppleTV
Dislikes:
Currently unable to connect to wifi, so I'm using an Ethernet connection. May be because I'm using Tomato on my router, but others have also reported having connection issues.
If a video has subtitles built-in to the .mkv container it can be tough to turn them off
Constantly holding 'wrong end' of remote [just a minor issue, just have to get used to feeling for the little embossed Boxee logo=bottom of remote]
Keyboard side of remote isn't backlit, so if you need to type something in, better have a flashlight, etc.
As I mentioned earlier, due to some weird bug in how Samba fileshares are set up in Win7, have to uninstall/disable Windows Live Sign-In Helper application thing to get shares working.
Webkit-based browser leave much to be desired
It's locked up a couple times and needed a reboot. No way to reboot from keyboard (like, maybe through a combination of holding remote buttons or something)
Bonus:
Boxee app for iPhone/iPod works with it over wifi
Things They're Planning To Fix:
Make local content take priority over web-based video, if there's a choice
Wifi bug fixes
Fileshare bug fixes
UI updates
Better options for IDing videos
edit: double-checking the boxee support forums, there is a known bug when using certain combinations of wifi security settings that they're planning to fix in the next week or so
I'd heard it was a dud.
My Belkin has been a solid trooper for 5 years. Time to put him out to pasture.
I ended up buying a new version of the linksys we had before.
I love me some linksys routers.
It was creme-de-la-creme
tryout Play-on. It is a service that runs on your pc, and allows your xbox 360 to connect to it to view any online content hosted by sites or hulu. So for example i paid 39 for a year subscription. the process runs in the background and broadcasts over my wireless network. I than log into my 360 go to video library and you will see your pc-"name" available to select.
It's what I use on my dedicated HTPC, but I use it mostly with a TV tuner card and DVB-T digital television for PVR functionality rather than internet TV (no access to Hulu or Netflix here).
I've got a universal remote that's configured up and I've customised some of the look and feel to make a menu page that my wife (or her friends) can use.
That said, running an HTPC can be pretty painful as I'm constantly wrestling with updates breaking interactions between three or four components. Driver and codec wrestling can eat up entire weekends, but I think that's HTPCs in general.
Boxee released a firmware update on Thanksgiving, fixed all the issues I've been having with my BBox. Wifi works like a charm, videos with a low frame-rate are running fine, and I'm able to turn off the subs on hard-coded video. Netflix will be out by the end of the year for it and it will be perfect.