Media streaming

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate area for this question but here it goes. Do any of you exclusively stream for tv & movies? The sat/cable monthly bills are getting out of hand and I'm curious what options I might have in terms of netflix and/or hulu. How good are these services and how much do you end up paying monthly? What speed of internet is minimal for hd streaming? I dont have the highest download speed and upgrading would likely kill any savings from canceling the satellite providers.

What is your current speed? i believe I pay around $16 a month for netflix and hulu.

[quote name='Superstar']What is your current speed? i believe I pay around $16 a month for netflix and hulu.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your response. Speedtest.net just gave me 11.44 Mbps down and 1.16 Mbps up.

With your set up youre not getting newer releases right? How much more would it be to add 1 blu ray out from netflix?

How happy are you with hulu plus? We have been on cable/sat for years and I'm anxious about going for pure streaming.

Very unhappy with hulu plus.

If you have a redbox near you, you could try the new redbox instant.

[quote name='Althax']Thanks for your response. Speedtest.net just gave me 11.44 Mbps down and 1.16 Mbps up.

With your set up youre not getting newer releases right? How much more would it be to add 1 blu ray out from netflix?

How happy are you with hulu plus? We have been on cable/sat for years and I'm anxious about going for pure streaming.[/QUOTE]

You'll stream fine with that speed.

I believe netflix would cost you around $17 a month with unlimited streaming and 1 bluray\dvd out at a time.

I Just got into hulu plus about a month ago. It's okay. It depends on what kind of shows you watch. There are a few shows we like that we're going through right now. It has commercials but that never really bothered me since it's just like watching tv. The only thing that sucks is that sometimes the commercials lag and it makes them much longer.

I have a suggestion for you that helped me when I cut the cord. I purchased a HD antenna from walmart for about $30. I get around 10 local channels in full HD with mine, so I can watch sports\ the news and such. It really depends on your location. You may get more channels then I might. I would pick one up and if you don't get decent channels you could just return it.

Another suggestion I have is trying out the netflix \ hulu plus trials. This will be the easiest way to see if it's for you or not.

My wife and I were kind of forced to not have cable since our apartment location sucks, but we are doing well. A lot of major tv events (such as the superbowl) are streamed online these days, which makes it a lot easier. We have a laptop with an HDMI port that we stream things like that with and hook up to our TV so it's just like watching cable.

Sorry for the book! If you have any further questions feel free to ask.

[quote name='confoosious']Very unhappy with hulu plus.

If you have a redbox near you, you could try the new redbox instant.[/QUOTE]

We do have several redbox kiosks near us so I will look at that option. What is wrong with hulu plus?

We don't watch a ton of tv, mostly cartoons for the kids. The wife and I mostly watch shows like top chef, project runway, the office some scyfy... Thats about it besides movies.

Also, a good tip on the free trials. I'm definetly planning on trying before making any decisions.

Netflix streaming has a TON of cartoons and kids movies/tv shows, so you'd be all set there.

[quote name='pitfallharry219']Netflix streaming has a TON of cartoons and kids movies/tv shows, so you'd be all set there.[/QUOTE]

I figured that would be the case. And anything not on netflix would likely be on hulu. They watch a lot of Nick Jr and I'm pretty sure thats covered everywhere.

What devices do you use for the steaming? gaming console? Laptop? Or another type? I have the xbox w/live but also my blu ray player can access both hulu and netflix. Is there an advantage of one over another?

I never use my 360 for Netflix, so I can't remember if it has this option and I don't know if any other devices have it, but every time you start up Netflix on Wii, it gives you the option of choosing the regular Netflix or the Just for Kids section. The Just for Kids interface is nice because it just shows cartoons and kids shows, so you're not scrolling through a bunch of stuff kids have no business watching.

I use my xbox 360 and it has the kids option as well.

netflix has a whole section dedicated for kids right from the start screen for me.

A big reason your cable bills are going up are sports stations. Fees are going up everywhere, and these new sports deals won't help. LA residents alone are paying almost $60 a year just for Fox SportsNet, not including Prime Ticket, and those new deals with Time Warner, especially the new station just for the Dodgers, will drive up the costs even more.

Do those streaming devices like Roku get standard channels like ESPN, CN, etc.?

I love my WD TV Live box......it reads like almost all the formats that the Roku box can't so I can rip and stream from my PC or external hard drive.

[quote name='ITDEFX']I love my WD TV Live box......it reads like almost all the formats that the Roku box can't so I can rip and stream from my PC or external hard drive.[/QUOTE]
I second the WD TV Live device. I love that thing to death. It'll play anything that you toss at it. Literally. From avi to mkv to even iso's of dvds

[quote name='HumanSnatcher']I second the WD TV Live device. I love that thing to death. It'll play anything that you toss at it. Literally. From avi to mkv to even iso's of dvds[/QUOTE]

I have two WD TV boxes and love em aswell, the western digital store has 2 of them for $105 (I think) right now. Also I cut my sat bill 6 years ago and never looked back.

There is no such thing as an "HD" antenna, so don't pay any extra for the "HD". A regular antenna will work fine.

As for your question about the speed, your speed will allow you to stream from netflix and hulu in HD if my results are any indication. If you want to buy a tv tuner card you can turn your PC into a DVR and use your xbox 360 to stream what you record from an OTA antenna to your TV. I call it freevo.

Easier yet, skip antenna if you have cable modem. I have comcast internet (50Mbps) and two HDHomerun network tuners. I split the coax cable and sent one to modem and the other to tuners. Installed software on my Windows 7 home server running Windows media player and can record all QAM(mostly local) channels and watch live TV and recorded stuff on all my Xbox 360s. Been doing this for 6 years now.

I use Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant (free with Prime account), and rabbit ears for local HD TV content. The only thing I miss is live sports on ESPN/Fox soccer/etc. and even then there's usually a stream around I can get my fix from.

We'd cut the cable about 6 years ago. A year or so ago we tried Comcast for a month to see if we really were missing something. It was garbage. Garbage everywhere. We cancelled with a few weeks to go in our trial.

+1 on Netflix for kids. My daughter's favorite thing in the galaxy is the Netflix app on my tablet. Dora, Tinker Bell, Gabba.. she's in heaven.