....right after the NBA playoffs. I figure, as long as I have internet, I can stream to my heart's content from places like Hulu and Netflix. Combine that with Free-to-air satellite and local HD over-air channels, I don't need the rip-off that is the cable/satellite company. Anyone else doing this already? Any ingenious ideas? How do you do it?
though about it, but i refuse to give up live sports, among other things. I guess I could run a dedicated machine and buy NBA, MLB, and NFL all online, but then you gotta factor in the cost of the computer. I guess after a few months it will have paid for itself. But I just like being able to flip to some random movie while I'm doing something else on my laptop or in my apartment. Maybe I'm just used to it and wouldn't miss it at all if I did what you're saying. If I was strapped for cash, I might be going for it..
hmm, I have a PS3, too. Haven't really tried to deal with the streaming cause it hasn't been necessary yet. Can you install applications and stuff? MLB.tv and NFL SuperCast are both standalone apps, and NBA involved some of their own ActiveX stuff I think.
I've thought about doing this, but there's too much crap I enjoy watching on it. I want a reasonably-priced a la cart system of channels. I hardly ever watch ABC, CBS, or NBC or most of the other bajillion channels I have...
But streaming on the web is lower quality, right? So you don't get HD when doing that, or am I wrong? DD
I've been thinking about doing the same thing when my lease runs up. The only live TV I really care about is sports, and I figure any major games I can either: 1) go to a sports bar, or 2) go to a friend's house that also wants to watch the game. It really depends on how much internet alone would be compared to an internet + cable package though.
well the people who pay rent or monthly HOA alot of times have cable included anyways in the monthly bill
Living out in the mountains, I get no OTA. I i don't have cable TV, but I do have cable internet. I can get all the OTA channels through cable. Everything else I get off of torrent sites or netflix. Through torrents, you can get 720p, so you can always route your video from your PC to your TV. I can't justify paying $70 a month for only a couple hours of tv a week. If i can only find someone to let me put a DirecTV receiver on their account
Cable television is dying, and the cable providers who are also ISPs know this. Why else would they be imposing 200 GB caps? Internet Television will easily push you over 200GB once you are watching HD tv. There is no money for cable companies in internet TV. Can I be a karma w**** for a moment and ask for someone to give me a rep up so I am not perpetually gray?
I got rid of television altogether. I can find just about any game online, and even though it isn't the best quality, it works. Plus, I don't waste nearly as much time as I used to surfing or just sitting and staring. To make it better, I guarded against changing my mind by setting up my bank account to do a direct deposit to a charity of my choice every month for the exact amount I was paying for TV. Anytime I think about it, I can't morally justify pulling that money away from a worthy charity just so I could watch 30 Rock live or whatever. It's worked extremely well.
They should offer A La Carte cable TV. All of us would skip the crap channels and gladly pay for NBA, NFL MLB stations. If the crappy stations die, so be it.
i havent had cable/satellite since mid 2004 not because i don't want it, but because it was something i had to avoid our broadband system isn't capable of streaming HD quality picture to 60 million homes, so the days of streaming high quality stuff is still years away, but i was blown away by the justintv stream of the rox game last night, very good compared to the regular season picture
IIRC, the "smaller" cable channels and the cable industry are dead set against this and it won't happen unless congress forces them. This issue boiled up to the surface 3-4 years ago. I'm with you that most cable channels just need to die because hardly anybody watches them. I guess over a long period of time the internet will solve this. To kaleidosky: I watch 100% of my television on my PC. It isn't as bad as you might think. hulu.com and other online sources are great.
That's the biggest question- since I can handle any technical issues that arise. About two years ago, I had a modded XBOX with XBMC, and I streamed DIVX shows to my HD tv, which looked near-HD quality. I don't do that any more since I swore off...uh....other forms of downloading. Tell you guys what- my XPS M1730 has HDMI out. I'll go plug into my Samsung plasma right now and try out some streaming.
Hey - guess what... If you have internet and cable tv from Comcast, and decide to get rid of cable tv and just get internet access, they jack up your internet rates.
Wow, I watched a bit of 24 in HD on Hulu and 480i looks WAY better than I anticipated. SD looks better than analog TV. Drox- a) I have Time-Warner (way worse than Comcast). They were the straw that broke the camel's back. b) Feel free to blame -me- when your internet rates go up.
The bits are virtually free. They are just an oligopoly that is able to control what should essentially be a public good.
I had a question for NBA League Pass Broadband users. If i was to depend on this service to watch Rockets games next year, what percentage can I expect to get? Also, will I be subjected to blackout restrictions if I get the online only service?
