HDTV Advice

[Michael P]

Yeah, between Hulu Plus and Netflix, my girlfriend can basically watch anything she wants for less than $20 a month.

Your budget may vary, of course.

[Winslow]

I signed up for Hulu Plus about a month after getting my Apple TV. And frankly, I find it to be worth the $8/month cost. Apart from the availability of other programming, there's also just the convenience factor of not having to hook the laptop up to the TV.

The combination of those two means that the system serves as a decent substitute for a DVR. And since I was more than happy to pay $5/month for a DVR back in the day, $8/month isn't so bad.

Now if only I could get my monthly internet bill down. (My one-year plan at $35/month just expired, and it's jumped to $51/month.)

Yeah, I need to stop being a freeloader and look into Hulu+ or Amazon Prime.

I received a sweet cable internet deal from RCN for $28 per month. Once I drop my old phone land line and old DSL intenret, it's no more money for a lot more possibilities with the internet.

[Matt Algren]

How did I miss this?

My Roku came in and as suggested in the thread, it was really easy to set up and works like a champ. The problem is, everything worth watching has a price tag attached. I thought I would get Hulu on the thing, but it only comes through Hulu + as Donald suggested (and I either forgot or missed when I ordered).

There is a lot of free stuff on their "Crackle" channel, but 99% of it is shit I don't want to watch. So I am a little disappointed, but it's mostly because I didn't read the online as well as posts in this thread carefully enough. Funny how when you're doing a new thing one can be blind. I will probably try hooking up my work laptop to stream Youtube and regular Hulu. Star Trek (original) 1966-1969 TV series is on Hulu and that's what prompted me to look into it in the first place.

Next question. What do you recommend, Amazon Prime or Netflix?

I only subscribe to Netflix, and it seems to have the content I want, with some glaring exceptions. (It's taking way too long for TV studios to get on the Netflix streaming bandwagon. No Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls, or Simpsons? Really?). One thing you can do is go to the Roku search screen and search for some general things you think you'll want to watch. It'll give you results by app, which might give you a general idea of which major service you should subscribe to. I tried Amazon Prime for a free month and hardly used it.

For Hulu (sans Plus), try PlayLater. A $40 lifetime subscription and Hulu (and YouTube, come to think of it) is yours. I didn't end up subscribing, but I've gotten pretty far away from watching a lot of episodic TV in my middle age.



Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, Roku has a billion church streaming apps. A BILLION. And they all suck.

[Winslow]

I only subscribe to Netflix, and it seems to have the content I want, with some glaring exceptions. (It's taking way too long for TV studios to get on the Netflix streaming bandwagon. No Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls, or Simpsons? Really?). One thing you can do is go to the Roku search screen and search for some general things you think you'll want to watch. It'll give you results by app, which might give you a general idea of which major service you should subscribe to. I tried Amazon Prime for a free month and hardly used it.

Yeah, I did that a little last night. I watched an episode of the old Brit Sc-Fi puppet show Thunderbirds last night. Pretty fun. I also noticed there is a ton of Japanese TV anime on Roku. So maybe I'll find some free entertainment after all.

For Hulu (sans Plus), try PlayLater. A $40 lifetime subscription and Hulu (and YouTube, come to think of it) is yours. I didn't end up subscribing, but I've gotten pretty far away from watching a lot of episodic TV in my middle age.

Interesting. I'll check it out.

Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, Roku has a billion church streaming apps. A BILLION. And they all suck.

Heh. Yeah, I noticed that as well.

[dupont2005]

I signed up for Hulu Plus about a month after getting my Apple TV. And frankly, I find it to be worth the $8/month cost. Apart from the availability of other programming, there's also just the convenience factor of not having to hook the laptop up to the TV.

The combination of those two means that the system serves as a decent substitute for a DVR. And since I was more than happy to pay $5/month for a DVR back in the day, $8/month isn't so bad.

Now if only I could get my monthly internet bill down. (My one-year plan at $35/month just expired, and it's jumped to $51/month.)

I subscribe to Hulu+ as well. I think the menus could use a little fine tuning, but I'm very happy with the service, and the content is enough for me for the most part. Things get slow in the off season, but that's when I just start watching vintage SNL or Alfred Hitchcock. Some of the Hulu exclusive shows look interesting, but I haven't watched any yet.