[ScoopLV]

No, you are forced to watch a PBS production of "I, Glutius" the entire time. Doesn't work like cable at all.

[EA]

Originally Posted by Danknee

Here is what I did, mostly because outside of HGTV we didn't watch any of the cable channels:

• $70/month Cox Internet Premier Speed 100 Mbps down- has a 300 gig cap, but they don't enforce (yet).
• $8 Netflix
• $70 a year Amazon Prime
• $46 Antenna and $24 signal booster in the attic, split at the home box where cable used to feed all TVs
• $193 Synology DiskStation Network Attached storage with 2 x $121 3 Terabyte Hard Drives (you can buy them from 1 TB to 6 TB a drive

At this point you have all broadcast stations on every TV and any video you have or can rip to the NAS accessible by any capable hardware (PS3, Roku, Fire TV, Android tablets, Ipads, phones, etc.). Many of these support Plex which is a popular solution to play, organize, and stream movies from.

Here is what I did:
$84 Amazon Fire TV boxes (1 per TV set) - I rooted these, blocked updates, and installed an XBMC build that uses XBMC as the "home" software, but can still access the Amazon Prime software. This way I stream all my content from the NAS to the Fire TV boxes; XBMC has many channels that you can use for searching content although I primarily use it for movies. My movies scrape info off of IMDB so the movie posters, youtube trailers, reviews, etc are all linked/sorted automatically. The Fire TV software has a Prime channel that has all the free shows you can watch.

The newly released easier method is to (instead of the Fire TV boxes) buy $99 Nexus Player boxes instead. Available November 9th. Won't need to block updates or install anything custom here, you can simply install XBMC for android right on the box and you are good to go. Has AC WIFI which is nice, but does not support being hardwired like the Amazon Fire Box, but the wired Ethernet to Fire boxes is spec limited to 100Mbps anyway.

Another method is to buy $28 Chromecast dongles and you can stream your movies to them from the NAS via your Android phone using a paid Android app called Bubble UPNP. The downside is that the chromecast doesn't support several movie formats, but everything I rip now is compatible. Also it only supports 5.1 surround in the newest Dolby Digital format, which is great as long as you have a newer receiver that supports that.

There are 100 different ways to do the same thing. Most tech non-savvy people I know prefer Plex. Plex transcodes (converts) your video files to formats that your specific players can handle. You can run this through a spare computer if you don't want to invest in the Network Storage option. I prefer Network storage because it costs me about $10 a year in electricity being on 24/7, my computer was roughly $18 a month in electricity costs. PS3 Media Server is another transcoding software solution and it's free. I have used it successfully in the past, but not recently.

I spend 40 a month on internet, and I can watch everything you watch.....

[yellowsnow]

Originally Posted by forestgump99

I've often wondered what is Ruko or Roko?

What exactly is it, nobody has ever said, what is Apple Tv?

What actual TV stations do you actually get?

Of course the over-the-air broadcast you get all the local TV stations...so what other stations?

When you do all this stuff, do you change the channel like on a regular tv as if you had cable?

I bought a digital antenna and couldn't get anything so I don't know about that.

ROKU is a little device that looks like a hockey puck and attaches to your TV with a HDMI cable. If you go to their website you can see what's available by browsing the channels. A lot are free and you just add the apps. Some have a one time fee and others charge monthly. Very easy to set up and use.

[AA702]

Originally Posted by EA

I spend 40 a month on internet, and I can watch everything you watch.....

This is true. If you know how to navigate the web you can get 99% of content out there. From movies that are not out in the theater to old TV shows that you grew up watching. When my sports teams are playing and they are not showing them on regular TV there are websites that stream them live.

[BBMW]

How do you get internet for $40/month, and what kind of throughput do you get?

Originally Posted by EA

I spend 40 a month on internet, and I can watch everything you watch.....

[swagger]

Originally Posted by AA702

This is true. If you know how to navigate the web you can get 99% of content out there. From movies that are not out in the theater to old TV shows that you grew up watching. When my sports teams are playing and they are not showing them on regular TV there are websites that stream them live.

What's your solution for people that don't want to break any laws?

[BBMW]

Get an OTA antenna.

Originally Posted by swagger

What's your solution for people that don't want to break any laws?

[AA702]

Originally Posted by swagger

What's your solution for people that don't want to break any laws?

I've been doing this for years. The old way was to download Divx or compressed files to your PC or MAC and play it off the hard drive. The new way is just to stream the content and not to download it to your hard drive. There are many websites and forums that will post links to live streams. I personally use a cheap linux box with a good video card and hook it up to my TV via HDMI and it looks great. I'm really not into movies as much now, but I do watch live sports from around the world.

[EA]

Originally Posted by BBMW

How do you get internet for $40/month, and what kind of throughput do you get?

I have the second level of internet they offer. I have several devices online, and no lag. I can download a 1080p movie in 5 minutes.

[kespen]

Originally Posted by LVAllen

Depends on whether you actually watch cable programming to begin with. We discovered that we didn't miss the dish when we disconnected it, as long as we still had the network channels. We did, in free HD. And we haven't looked back. If we miss a particular week's episode of whatever, typically it's legitimately available on the network's website after about a week. In less legitimate fashion, it's available within an hour of when it aired, regardless of the channel (network or otherwise) or country it originally aired in. (Thus, we've watched Downton Abbey through the first four episodes, despite it not airing in the US until January).

Would you be willing to provide the link you use to watch Downton? There are two I try but can't get beyond the ads to watch the show, and when I can find a link, it runs about a minute at a time, then pauses to buffer. I can download it to real player, but I'd rather not download it first.