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Getting rid of cable (HTPC Edition)
amateurhour
One day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
One day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
Alright, here's the deal.
We've had cable for about three years now, and it's pretty nice, we've always been able to get at least some of the movie channels and the full extended package and internet for around $100 USD.
Well recently Comcast decided that we weren't worthy of deals anymore and in a few months our bill is going to hit a ridiculous $170 a month, and that's the last straw.
I almost downgraded to just internet as-is, but Comcast wants to charge an extra $15 a month for an "internet but non cable tv user" fee, so fuck em'
I've got a deal worked out to get 6 meg DSL for 29.99 a month for a year with no contract or setup fee, plus $50 for the modem.
I did the homework, and between netflix, hulu plus, and boxee, pretty much 98% of the stuff the wife and I watch is available for free online (legally) and that's good enough for us since dsl, xbox live, hulu plus, and netflix will run about $60 vs $200 with Comcast.
So now I need a HTPC to run the show. I want something that's easy to navigate so the wife or visitors won't have problems using it, and it needs to use a logitech remote so it's got the feel of a cable box.
I'm considering the Dell Zino HD. It's a small little machine that looks like it will do everything I need it to for the affordable price of around $350 fully configured, maybe $400
I haven't really been able to find a place to source those parts or greater for that price.
So, my questions are as follows?
1) How good does the Zino look, is there a better option? (I don't want the Boxee box because the native Boxee OS is shit compared to the boxee installed app running on Windows 7)
2) What kind of hurdles will I be looking at going this route?
3) Anything I should be looking out for? Any remote recommendations? Any better TV viewing programs besides Boxee?
Thanks for the help guys.
We've had cable for about three years now, and it's pretty nice, we've always been able to get at least some of the movie channels and the full extended package and internet for around $100 USD.
Well recently Comcast decided that we weren't worthy of deals anymore and in a few months our bill is going to hit a ridiculous $170 a month, and that's the last straw.
I almost downgraded to just internet as-is, but Comcast wants to charge an extra $15 a month for an "internet but non cable tv user" fee, so fuck em'
I've got a deal worked out to get 6 meg DSL for 29.99 a month for a year with no contract or setup fee, plus $50 for the modem.
I did the homework, and between netflix, hulu plus, and boxee, pretty much 98% of the stuff the wife and I watch is available for free online (legally) and that's good enough for us since dsl, xbox live, hulu plus, and netflix will run about $60 vs $200 with Comcast.
So now I need a HTPC to run the show. I want something that's easy to navigate so the wife or visitors won't have problems using it, and it needs to use a logitech remote so it's got the feel of a cable box.
I'm considering the Dell Zino HD. It's a small little machine that looks like it will do everything I need it to for the affordable price of around $350 fully configured, maybe $400
I haven't really been able to find a place to source those parts or greater for that price.
So, my questions are as follows?
1) How good does the Zino look, is there a better option? (I don't want the Boxee box because the native Boxee OS is shit compared to the boxee installed app running on Windows 7)
2) What kind of hurdles will I be looking at going this route?
3) Anything I should be looking out for? Any remote recommendations? Any better TV viewing programs besides Boxee?
Thanks for the help guys.
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I know it's not going to be a cable box exactly. Boxee does a pretty damn good job though, and the wife isn't technology incompatible, but I need it to be as simple as possible. She's already fine with Netflix, so that's not the big concern.
I mean seriously, I can think of over 25 shows I watch in a given year, and so far like 22 of them are available next day streaming for free from their network's sites. There's no reason to have cable.
I'm just trying to find the easiest way to integrate everything, while staying legal.
Of course, if you can run everything through Windows Media Player, a remote would be awesome. But you may have to fiddle with torrents more for that, I'm not sure how it handles streaming.
Anyway, I built a very capable HTPC from scratch for ~$500, OS included. I feel like I wound up with a much better build than a pre built. AVSforum has a regulalry updated HTPC thread. Combining those recent builds with a months worth of deal hunting on NewEgg netted me a fine setup. Integrated video is awesomely powerful for video playback.
edit: Also
http://lifehacker.com/5515398/set-up-a-geeky-media-center-that-non+geeks-can-actually-use
http://lifehacker.com/5702309/build-or-buy-how-to-get-the-best-boxee-box-for-your-money