Anyone streaming TV from their PC?
 

Thinking about cutting the cord to high cabel bills and researching this topic and would like any input anyone has about using a roku and Hulu or Play on. Do you like it? any downsides?

I am watching this thread with you...I am so sick of AT&T Uverse and their ever-changing monthly bills I could scream! Seriously considering a set of rabbit ears again!

i'd love to get the basics with an antenna. right now, i'm on Comcast's basic tv... the weekends are just drivel if you are not a sports fan. so i watch old tv and movies on my DDs Netflix account.

i have directv. and it is very bad.we do not have a choice on tv here in the country.. directv is not in it for the customers..

I believe that no matter what media u use, cable, dish etc, they overcharge and under-deliver.

So agree! Considering how much we pay monthly we get less selection than when TV was free, unless you into kinky stuff... how sad is that?!

I watch TV on my computer, but don't pay for it. I just find programs I like that are streaming for free. Usually from the free version of HULU, Xfinity (Comcast), Project Free TV, or the Iwatch network. The primary downside for me is I am not alerted to new programs nor do I have a consistent current news source as the programming is usually delayed. But other than that, this method works well for me.

I'm curious as to what you don't like about directv?

Whoops. Meant to quote the other reply about directv.

We've only had Netflix for years

We were dish network customers for years- 250 channels - at the time it ran about $100/mo. We cut back to the top 100 to not just cut the cost but also because so many sports channels were part of the pkg and we watch no sports. So, we decreased to 100. Still not what we wanted so we cut it back to the $19.95/mo pkg. That was a complete joke- we were paying to have the opportunity to shop! QVC, HSN, etc so we finally bit the bullet and went cold turkey! We bought an $80 HD antenna at Walmart and started getting local channels, signed up for Netflix for $8/mo. That was 3 years ago. We have a roku attached to every tv in the house- love the simplicity of operation and can do Netflix, Hulu, prime, etc. all thru Roku. The only thing we miss with this entire change is no DVR.

we have had roku for 2 days I have not used it yet kids have they like it . We have 69 on air channels in our area.I can also watch hulu on the computer roku will give 2 months of hulu plus.

What exactly is roku and do you have to use your data time with it?

I am so glad you asked this question. I don't know what Roku is either and am sick of the high prices of cable.
So far I've learned something with the posts.

I cancelled cable a few months ago- I have the Roku, their are lots of channels beside Huluplus available, many are free and some you can pay nominal fees for- also have netflix( I use that less). Hulu plus is $7.99 a month- so much better than 80-150 for cable. Many current shows you can watch 3 days after airing. Going to have my son hook me up so I can hook up my laptop to tv- there are shows on hulu that you can watch on computer not tv- The only thing I occasionally miss is the news- although their are news channels where you can watch the 2minute segments of the broadcasts! Go for it.!

everything on ABC is available the next day free.... just go to ABC www.watchfullepisodes-abc

anything that you need to see right now is streamed live and there are alerts that you can have sent to your inbox

my tv stopped working someday a couple of years ago, have not missed it.....Laptop computer so it can be next to whatever sewing machine I am using at that minute.

also at 11a.m. and 4p.m. you can watch(on computer) the current news report at http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/livenow?id=7085158

what is really great to is you can tune in the roof camera at Laguna Beach and watch the surf roll in all day and the sound is terrific...although sometime the sea gulls get way to close to the camera

Alot of people at work do but I haven't so far. I did go down to just the basic TV though, local plus a few others. My TV part of my bill now is only $21 a month. I just bought the cables to hook up my TV to my pc so I want to explore that avenue. I would do away with the cable all together if it weren't for the reception part. Normally, I watch local shows, Create, HGTV and Food Network the most. I know that some of the cable shows can be viewed online. I watch Nancy Z on line alot already.

Roku is a box that you can use with wifi to stream to your television. It is set up with channels, some free and some subscription like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. It even has Pandora for music and a station with old silent movies. Gaming systems will do the same thing. We bought the roku because all the kids could watch in their rooms with Xbox, Wii and PS3, but we had nothing in our room. Unfortunately DH won't get rid of cable because of the programs he watches, but the kids watch Netflix more than cable. They tend to watch a whole series at a time.

we have local cable company.....there are only a few weekly programs that I watch...and since there are no more quilting programs on local pbs stations......the thing that amazes me is the offering of "free movies" that are offered....some of them are older than my children (and they are all adults)!!!!!! and the repetition of stations on the gazzillion channels offered!!!!! Just a bunch of clutter.....don't watch sports so who cares about that......news, I listen to that on the radio....yes, I have several of those......and listen daily and almost all day......talk shows....more interesting than most things on tv these days.
Like who is going to watch the Victoria Secret Fashion Show...trailer looks more like a burlesque show........

We have only had an antannea for years and years. We have a subscription to Netflix and watch tons of other things free on Hulu or the channel's own websites. It works for us.

We have pared our TV down to what is the least amount of service for us that we can stand and it took a long time to become accustomed to that. Occasionally we watch live TV on the computer but our computer is so small - 19"- there is little enjoyment in it. The TV is our main entertainment. We have a 46"screen and if I could I would have a 60". I don't need my glasses to watch the bigger screens, the detail is clearer, the colors are marvelous. The TV's are getting more and more like going to a movie theater. I can't imagine going back to the small screens we had when I was a child. Also, I like to watch the news as it is happening where ever in the world it is happening. That's one of the great advantages of living in our century.

You've got that right! We have Direct, too. We pay a ton of money for zip, and any interesting movies are another fee. I'm back to watching the Hallmark Channel. The others have way too much violence and sex, and I can watch the news to get those.

When the cost of cable TV became too great- I just gave up TV It has been 2 years now and I don't miss it at all. I get more entertainment by using the computer for games, news, E'mail and wonderful groups such as Quilting Board. I always tell my kids I lived the first 14 years of my life without TV and now I plan to use my last years the same way! (But before I leave this world, I need to finish up lots of quilts so they don't get left with a stash to throw away)

Lots of people I know just feel like paying for cable or dish is nuts as the rates just keep going up and there is so little worth watching. I know that you can stream shows and watch them on your TV with roku once you subscribe to Hulu or Playon. Right now just trying to get information from people using that system to see how it works for them, are there any glitches etc. You still need a good digital antenna to get local channels for local news etc. Seems like right now this is an economical way to go but then who knows how long until the fees for that go up and up like everything else. My daughter who is fed up with Comcast, which is the only thing she can get is going to purchase a roku and then go with Hulu. For sports in HD they will download an ap on Ipad that allows them to buy a sports package and then hopefully interface with the TV.

Not TV, but internet!! We live in the country and don't have much TV (only 3 channels, but 2 are public broadcasting) but my problem has been not being able to connect to the internet!!! But last week I got an early Christmas present from my daughter... an iphone 5. Yesterday she called and walked me through connecting it to the internet. Apparently, it picks up the internet, with no extra cost (? daughter gave us cell phones years ago as part of her "family plan" and we have no clue about what it costs). The whole family has left for South Africa and she told me we could watch one netflix while they were gone and it wouldn't hurt their monthly bill. What a difference the iphone 5 makes!!! Instant connection without that bunch of dots swirlling around for ever! I'm in electronic heaven!!! Yes, I have a wonderful daughter!

I did some research a few months ago and what I found is that Netflix gives a better selection for your money. We are doing the free trial runs to get a feel for each one. Netflix and Amazon Prime will give a one month free trial.

So far, we are only using Netflix $8 for instant streaming along with Hulu's free instant TV shows. With an additional $8 a month we can order the latests DVDs through the mail, but we find it easier to use a Redbox. Here's one of the sites that did a comparison on Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime: http://www.moneycrashers.com/netflix...on-comparison/

We are in our second month with Netflix and we have just started our first month with Amazon Prime. We agree Netflix is better.

We haven't watched network TV for2-3 years. After noting that most of the evening dramas were about who the main character was going to sleep with next, and how it completely went against our morals, we just stopped tuning in to everything. For the 1st year we mostly watched and rewatched the DVDs in our small (less than 50 )collection. Then we decided to try Netflix. We LOVE streaming one episode after another, and no commercials.

The down side is that the most recent seasons aren't available, and we've rented most of the new release movies from our local library (for $1 per week) before they are released on Netflix. We haven't looked into streaming from the computer the newest episodes of our favorite programs (Top Gear, American Loggers, ect) but there is so much to watch, we just go to the next thing in our instant queue and wait for the updates of new programs on our favorites.
I should mention that we do have local programming on our TV, so we can catch the news if we want, or check the weather, but we rarely do. Even the news isn't fit for young children.

I Have Hulu plus and Netflix instead of Comcast and I love the small bills, but does anyone know how to watch full episodes from TLC like 19 kids and counting , I can't seem to get anything but clips for shows on TLC

Disgusted with century link, upgraded 4 months ago to get faster speed for netflix, three weeks ago speed became a turtle and computer is running slower. Cl told me there is a problem and i need to take out their in house insurance as the problem may be inside. At six bucks more a month i am holding off, thinking about dropping netflix and renting $1.00 movies. Technology is out to break us.

I watch Netflix -Hulu free- and I go fox.com for Bones and CBS.com for NCIS the day after they broadcast and I can bring it up on computer shrink it and send it to the big TV with my mouse--but I still have basic cable and internet for $57 mo.and Vonage phone for $12 Cable bundle was $136.I have had Vonage for the last 6 yrs and love it-all my long distance calls are included. My son is after me to get rid of the cable completely and I'm almost convinced.

I'm going to start as soon as I get my new T.V. in a couple of weeks. I'm not going to get a roku box, though. I haven't had cable for over 5 years. Cable wasn't available when I moved into my house, so I got rabbit ears, then I had to get a converter box to switch the signal to digital, now my converter box is dead, so I need a new t.v. Yeah, technology is sometimes more expensive and more trouble.

I have netflix and love it, no commercials can watch what I want when I want. We run through our Wii and it is great. Added Hulu plus it works fine on the lap top but I don't like it on the Wii everything is so dark and hard to see. Just my opinion I like Netflix best.

What about sports? My husband & I both enjoy watching college sports a lot. That is our main source of entertainment.

I REALLY MISS CABLE!!!! I have Sat internet and Sat tv now and so miss my cable. I loved being able to stream TV and video. The price of country living...
brenda in MI

I agree. Over the last 10-12 years we have had Comcast, DirecTV and, currently, AT&T Uverse. We have 200 channels of absolutley nothing worth watching Unfortunately, we can't get even local channels or news without some type of cable or satellite since HD came into existence. I think we will cancel our service as soon as our contract runs out and just watch old TV shows and movies on DVD and get the news on the internet.

I always enjoyed the quilting/sewing shows on PBS on Saturday mornings, but went to watch them today and found they have taken them off again. So disappointing. I with the rest of you there are fewer and fewer decent shows to watch on TV anymore. Thank goodness for quilting.

My 2 daughters have Net Flix now and love it. It is only $8. A month

Hubby has Roku and his laptop connected to the TV 52" screen via a HDMI cable. He watches very little TV (we have cable tv). We also subscribe to Netflix. There are so many documentaries, movies, tv shows that are free. They add new channels all the time.

My problem with cable or satellite is that I pay them for service, then have to watch too many commercials that the advertisers pay, sounds like double dipping??

Of course he's the remote KING and he'd like to get rid of cable tv, but I don't like all that switching from the TV remote, cable remote, Roku remote, WII remote......he also uses the LOOP mouse, which I can not master, and add to that a remote control fan to keep him cool.....LOL

We love the advantage of ROKU and Netflix.

[QUOTE=AuntieD;5690317]I believe that no matter what media u use, cable, dish etc, they overcharge and under-deliver.[/QUOT

AMEN TO THAT ONE