IGX

I have 3 tvs hooked to satellite. The family likes to watch network shows as well as some basic cable stuff. Wife also like the home improvement/cooking stations. We almost never watch stuff live, usually days later. With the exception of sports and an occasional awards show like the Oscars.

With netflix, hulu, fire tv, etc... there seems to be near a solution to giving up Dish altogether, but the 3 tv thing has me stymied.

Has anyone here used streaming/other services solely to provide tv entertainment throughout their house? How?

I don't watch enough TV to justify the price I'd have to pay to get the packages with the channels I would watch so I cut the cord almost three years ago.

I've got Netflix, Amazon Prime, mlb.tv, my parents' HBO Go and a friend's Hulu Plus account (H+ is terrible, don't pay for it) via a Roku 3 in the living room (55" LED) and PS3 in the 'office' (40" LED). I haven't bought a UFC PPV in six months but their ufc.tv app works great too. I don't need all the services, I really only watch an hour or two per week, but keep a tv on as background noise to retain my sanity when I'm working alone - but since I only actually pay for a couple...

Home improvement/cooking is a weak spot - Amazon just cancelled the contract for Prime with a big producer of those shows, there's relatively little on any of the services. Roku has a PBS channel for free that has some cooking shows, if your wife will watch classic Julia Child. This is a sticking point for me sometimes - I'm on a cooking show kick lately and there's not much on offer. For background noise, though, youtube readily fills in - entire series of cooking shows from Gordon Ramsay, Eric Ripert, etc..

At my previous place I had 50mbps Internet and could watch whatever I wanted while my girlfriend watched something in the bedroom and still torrent stuff at a good speed. At this one, I've only got 20mbps for now but I'll probably upgrade to 50 soon.

I don't watch TV anymore. My current TV sets are used as computer monitors exclusively. And I download all the TV shows (I follow a fuckton of them) and movies from the torrent sites. I haven't gone to the movies in more than a decade.

So, yes, you can live without cable.

I do the same as Subclaw.Strangely enought we talk and socialize a lot more without tv.....

We don't have cable, we use Hulu and Amazon prime through an Xbox 360 set up. We only have one tv. The only option I can think of is buying a Roku box or something similar for each tv you have.

Jezzy Bell wrote:We don't have cable, we use Hulu and Amazon prime through an Xbox 360 set up. We only have one tv. The only option I can think of is buying a Roku box or something similar for each tv you have.

I've been looking into that. I don't have a TV at the moment, just my MacBook and Internet. But when The Future Mrs. Herr Doktor moves in, we'll need a TV and some solution which'll allow her to watch her Lakers games.

I don't think I can get good basketball packages with a Roku box or Apple TV though.

Yeah, that's the only downside really. I'd like to be able to watch NFL games during the season.

buckethead wrote: Has anyone here used streaming/other services solely to provide tv entertainment throughout their house? How?

you just turn the volume up really loud

We have Dish but every tv either has an Xbox, ps4, wii, or desktop tower hooked to it. I am seriously considering dropping dish for strictly streaming content.

bucket,

with 3 tvs you're living the american dream

I primarily use DirectTV for AMC and HBO. Outside of that we have Netflix, Amazon Prime, and some anime stream. If I could get AMC and HBO on there I would cut it in a minute.

I went cable free for a year or so... I spent waaaaaaay more money at the bar watching the B's win the Stanley Cup than I would have if I could have just watched the games at home. I'm not sure how things have changed though.

p2p40u is OK for watching the occasional UFC event, but you can't have that as your only sports "network". Unless you don't give a fuck about sports.

Same as Milosz. Have access to HBOGo, Netflix, iTunes, etc. Will routinely download movies from The Pirate Bay, sync to my iPad, and play on the TV via the AppleTV device plugged into it (the chrome device may be better for this). A mild inconvenience to get AMC/Shotime/etc. within an hour or so of broadcast.

Dr. Agkistrodon wrote:I don't think I can get good basketball packages with a Roku box or Apple TV though.

I think the NHL and NBA are both offering their 'league pass' products over the Roku and other devices for $60-100/season. If they're like mlb.tv it's better than watching via cable/satellite for me - you can choose home or away broadcasts, start a game at the beginning if you come to it late, etc.. Your local team will be blacked out but that hasn't bothered me for baseball.

It's pretty much only the NFL that doesn't make it easy (AFAIK) because DirecTV throws so much money at them to keep their NFL Ticket exclusive.

milosz wrote:

Dr. Agkistrodon wrote:I don't think I can get good basketball packages with a Roku box or Apple TV though.

I think the NHL and NBA are both offering their 'league pass' products over the Roku and other devices for $60-100/season. If they're like mlb.tv it's better than watching via cable/satellite for me - you can choose home or away broadcasts, start a game at the beginning if you come to it late, etc.. Your local team will be blacked out but that hasn't bothered me for baseball.

It's pretty much only the NFL that doesn't make it easy (AFAIK) because DirecTV throws so much money at them to keep their NFL Ticket exclusive.

x's 10!!!

I will look into that right away!! That'll make TFMHD very happy!!!

milosz wrote:

Dr. Agkistrodon wrote:I don't think I can get good basketball packages with a Roku box or Apple TV though.

I think the NHL and NBA are both offering their 'league pass' products over the Roku and other devices for $60-100/season. If they're like mlb.tv it's better than watching via cable/satellite for me - you can choose home or away broadcasts, start a game at the beginning if you come to it late, etc.. Your local team will be blacked out but that hasn't bothered me for baseball.

It's pretty much only the NFL that doesn't make it easy (AFAIK) because DirecTV throws so much money at them to keep their NFL Ticket exclusive.

+1 on the mlb package. For baseball fans, one warning-- the coverage areas are pretty wide (ex. the Nationals blackout area includes NC even though no tv stations carry the games there.

I can't help with streaming to multiple devices, but we did get rid of cable a few years ago. We now have basic cable again because AT&T Uverse was shitty and unreliable. They might offer the same speeds, but their equipment is possesses by gremlins and I have never seen slower, less considerate customer service. I highly recommend your local cable monopoly over Uverse.

Also, if you are hooking cable or antenna to a computer, don't buy the cheapest tuner you can find.

Picked up an Amazon Fire TV last night and hooked it up:

Pros:
Showtime app if you can get a Showtime login from anyone and then you can watch all the softcore porn you desire
Voice control for switching apps and finding actors/movies on Amazon works great
Amazon Prime has a solid selection of TV and movies for free (if you're a Prime member - or maybe if you have one of these devices, too?)
Youtube app is great for background noise - I have a playlist up in a Chrome window on my MBP (Eric Ripert showing recipes), youtube is paired between my laptop and the Fire hooked up to the TV, so it's streaming effortlessly in HD to the TV.

Cons:
no HBO Go, no mlb.tv, no PBS channel - yet
everyone's complaining about the above but I'm sure Amazon will be extremely aggressive in getting new channels and content

Depending on where you live (rural, city, etc.) you could add an HD antenna to the mix and get all the local (regular) channels that way.

Here's something interesting. Anyone have any experience?

PlayOn is both browser and media server for your Windows PC which lets you magically stream your favorite shows, movies, even your personal media files from your PC to your TV, smartphone or tablet. To display videos on your TV, PlayOn relies on a friend such as a game console like the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, WiiU or another supported device like a Roku [or Chromecast]. PlayOn is now also available in HD so you can watch online videos in HD detail on your TV!

http://www.playon.tv/playon

Try the hola.org plugin on Chrome. I've only tried it for BBC and ITV stuff, but I think they offer a lot more, and allow your VPN location to be wherever you want. Use a UK postcode to register to view live content.

This might help some.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/getting- ... NewsSecond