internet TV

[Thom]

Thanks !!! I am going to busy for a while .

[MiCarl]

The point about data caps got me wondering about mine.

 

ATT caps DSL at 150GB/month. They say they will notify at 65% and I've never received a notice. Their tracking tools seem nonexistent so I can't see what I actually use.

 

I did find something interesting though. HD Netflix streams at 5Mbps, using about 2GB/hour. So 75 hours would max me out at HD. I think I watch about 60 hours/month + our other data usage.

 

Here is the kicker though, I only have a 1.5Mbps connection, so I'm not getting Hi Def. At 1.5Mbps I'd have to watch 500 hours/month to hit the cap.

 

Now, I could send more money to ATT for a faster connection to get better quality but I'd use more data and the cap is still 150GB. As I said before, I'm very satisfied with the quality I get so I don't send extra $$ to ATT. Now I realize that by paying more money I might actually get LESS TV enjoyment.

 

BTW, I found something else. Netflix lists 1.5Mbps as the minimum bandwidth, 3Mbps for DVD quality and 5Mbps for HD.

[DanOh]

FIOS does not have monthly usage cap. We eliminated cable years ago and get all our TV content from online. With 7 of us in the house, we use a heck of a lot of bandwidth per month. In total, we have 18 internet connected devices. Often times there will be several people streaming TV\Movies at the same time. You can stream 2 different shows on different devices from Netflix at the same time.

 

 

Was just mentioning to the wife that we may have an internet addicted family when she told me it is much worse than I thought. Apparently I missed a bunch of things (like hand held Nintendo WiFi enabled units) and our total is really 30 devices. Think I need to go the library and check out an old fashioned book.

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

Was just mentioning to the wife that we may have an internet addicted family when she told me it is much worse than I thought. Apparently I missed a bunch of things (like hand held Nintendo WiFi enabled units) and our total is really 30 devices. Think I need to go the library and check out an old fashioned book.

 

Naaaa down load it from Kobo in about a second and a half.... think of the good of the earth... green house gasses to drive there and back, if you drive the street lights have to work, the parking patrols have to drive around hunting for you. Much better for the world to just down load it.

 

I have "smart TV" a blue ray with wifi, Shaw, our cable company If you managed to hit their limit and I do know one fellow that has managed to do it, his hobby is downloading, which is legal in Canada..... up loading is not, all they do is send you a note and say hey pay us more and keep enjoying our service.

We admit we do need more Lessons from our kids on how to make all this stuff work... Nothing is free. We pay about $125.00 a month for internet and TV service from Shaw.

[playboy]

.

We admit we do need more Lessons from our kids on how to make all this stuff work... Nothing is free. We pay about $125.00 a month for internet and TV service from Shaw.

 

 

Well I have been paying almost $70 a month for a land line that's hardly used and DSL. Almost $80 to dish network for years until we dropped to the basic package 2 weeks ago. So I could potentially save enough money in 2 months by dropping dish network completely to pay for a new blue ray and a new antenna ( for local channels and news ) and finally get my moneys worth out of the phone company for internet and be able to watch what I want when I want that's almost priceless.

 

 

 

da HOPPER

[friesman]

I got the Apple tv box for Christmas and so far I like it (shhh dont tell anyone I said that! as I dont usually like most things Apple because of how the company operates)

Its easy to connect, runs on my wireless quite quickly and seamlessly and gives a good selection of content providers to choose entertainment from. It has NetFlix, Apple tv similar in content to netflix, NBA, NHL, You tube, Vimeo, and a couple of other things like music etc. But a lot of content is pay as you go, there isnt very much free content on the Apple tv, even network programs have to be paid for usually whether you check NetFlix or Apple tv.

The thing I like a lot is it also synchs with itunes on my 2 computers so I can share content from my laptop seamlessly.

The apple tv box retails for about 80 bucks and is a nice small compact size with a remote.

 

Brian

Edited January 6, 2013 by friesman

[bongobobny]

We're bundled with Time Warner and TV, internet, and unlimited phone runs me around $145/mo. Pricey but it does provide us with unlimited entertainment and convenience...

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Almost exactly a year ago, we covered some of this in a thread I started about my conversion to AT&T U-Verse.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66254&highlight=roku

 

I use a Roku, the cheapest one, to stream Netflix, Amazon Prime, and a few other networks like Twit.tv, plus listen to radio programs, weather, and news.

 

I currently have a 6 mbps connection, and its more than adequate for watching movies while surfing with the computer.

 

But its just myself, no large family there, and I'm not home for more than 2 weeks out of every month, so the monthly data usage caps on AT&T (at 250 gig) have never been an issue.

 

Those of us who have booted cable to the curb, or tossed our dish to the wind: We are called 'cord-cutters'...and the cable companies dont like us much.

 

http://gigaom.com/video/the-2012-cord-cutters-gift-guide-for-cable-free-holidays-video/

 

But its a great time to be a consumer!

 

Edited January 6, 2013 by tx2sturgis

[leo3wheel]

Just received our HD ROKU box. Works great! Thanks folks for this tip! Now I can surf the forums and watch movies at the same time.

[KIC]

So this is an older thread. I just left my daughter's house and they just dumped their cable and went with Hulu. trying to decide if I should do it too. We pay a fortune for cable tv and figured we might be able to save $120+ a month. Any updates from people who have been using HULU or ROKU ?

 

I am really inept to this stuff. My son-in-law said he purchased a better wireless modem/router and is using an X-Box. He said they will give me back the Wei system we gave them a while back that has wireless in it.

 

It will take some getting use to it , but I am wondering if we should go with HULU plus or ROKU.

 

Any updated information I could use to make my decision ??

[1joeranger]

Have not had cable for almost a decade now, well since ER and NYPD were on. Due to travel these days I do get all the channels while staying at a hotel. Confirms that I am not missing anything, so boring! Thought I would miss sports but really don't know the players anymore. Cannot stand the news! So sensational! Unfortunately the Weather channel is now the same as the news!! Finally put up an antenna so the wife can watch some tv from time to time. We do enjoy the dancing shows but for that we catch it on the computer!

[MiCarl]

KIC,

 

It's not a matter of HULU or ROKU, they are different things. To over simplify: Roku is a device that attaches your TV to the internet. HULU is an internet TV service. You can use a ROKU to watch HULU programming on your TV.

 

There are a number of internet TV services. The biggies are Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Vudu etc. There are also several ways to connect the television to the internet. In addition to the ROKU you can use a game system, some DVD players do it and Smart TVs have it built in.

 

You won't save the whole $120. You'll need to pay one or more of the services for their programming. We have Netflix, which is about $10/month.

[XV1100SE]

I recently picked up an Android tv box (brand name "Mygica" that streams from the Internet. Cost me $150 and runx XBMC (also called Kodi).

 

I upgraded from DSL to cable and have 60mbps download speed and 320GB a month data package. I'll be keeping an eye on how much data we use to see what the impact is.

 

With XBMC, it is a free download that you can install on Android boxes, pc's, XBox.... then you install an "add-on" that is set up to different streaming sites. Best one I've found so far is called Genesis and you can watch movies or tv shows. Various add-on's for sports, old movies, classic tv shows, music....pretty much anything. Even movies that are just released to the theaters are available.

 

We used to use an FTA satellite receiver that gave us Dish and Expressvu for free but once the satellite companies went to a more advanced encryption the programming for the FTA receiver was no longer available. I'd have to say XBMC has the FTA system beat. You can choose what you want to watch and when you want to watch it. Current movies and tv shows, live tv, even old movies from the 20's. Classic tv shows like Emergency, Chips...all available.