Kevin's Watch

I'm looking to cut my cable bill. I've read (in either Wired or Popular Science, can't remember) that it's possible to cut you cable bill in half and have better content by going the Internet route. It takes more effort up front, but the cost savings are worth it.

I understand you can get a standalone box to stream movies, but we already have an Xbox 360 and a Wii. Unfortunately, the Xbox is going away this fall when my oldest goes to college. That leaves the Wii, which looks like it can't stream HD video. I know that newer Blu-ray players can do this, but mine is older (I need to check for a firmware update, now that I think about it ...).

Anyway, just interested to see if anyone has taken this plunge yet.

I personally have not (still using Comcast to serve my media needs), but my buddy is using his PS3 to stream NetFlix movies, and he and his wife are very happy with it.
The only thing I have heard him mention as a negative is the slight annoyance w the fact that PS3 does not allow him to add/remove from his queue, only to watch what is already in it.
It is merely an annoyance, however, because queue can be managed very easily from a PC or laptop.
As long as your internet connection does not suffer from latency or fits and starts, I think you will be happy with streaming movies.
I know others who love using Hulu to watch content from a Laptop or PC connected via HDMI to their TV.

dw

Well, the Air Force is.
Ok, only kinda, if you stretch the point a lot.
But I just loved this.


www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-air-playst ... puter.html

I stream Netflix through my PS3 and my other Blu Ray player (it's a Sony, can't remember what model, but it also does Hulu and a bunch of other services).

The PS3 also allows you to watch stuff you've got in your WMP. Unfortunately I'm a Mac guy, and there's no way I know of to stream iTunes stuff through the PlayStation.

We finally dropped cable after moving into a more expensive place 3 months ago. My cable bill went from $180+ (phone, internet, cable) to $88 (taxes and fees incl.). We now stream Netflicks with an Xbox, and we're really happy with the change. Instead of never having anything to watch, we have the opposite problem now: more than we'll ever watch in our lifetime! Jesus, there's a lot of choices. And I'm only paying $8/month for unlimited streaming. What a deal!

The picture quality could be better, and I'm sure we could have that for an additional $10/month for doubling our Internet speed. It's tempting ... but right now we're just trying to see how much we can reduce our bills.

I really like science, nature, Discovery, etc. kind of shows. The only problem was that the really good ones only seemed to come on a couple times a week, if that. I'd have to program the DVR to record it for me, or remember when it was coming on. Pain in the ass. Now I can watch all the Hubble telescope, Appalacian Trail, history documentaries, etc. that I want, anytime, without having to set the DVR. And I don't waste a second of time watching cable news anymore. I feel liberated.

Good for you for dropping cable. I did it years ago and have never looked back.

We bought a mac mini and run ourstereo and tv through it with a program called Plex. There are many free content or minimal fee content streams you can run through it. It also acts as a library for all your musics, movies, pictures and so. Americans can run hulu and all that through plex, too. Regional laws wont run it here though, unless you use an ip mask thingie.
www.plexapp.com/
You dont have to use a mac mini though they are very cheap (like 5 or 600 usd, I think), are totally silent and take up a very tiny space. And the little mac remote is all you need, or you can use an app on your ipad.

Anyway, we have cable as well, but rarely watch it since the choices are so much more with streamed content as you say.