Do you Hulu? Moving from "traditional" television

[BradM]

For some reason, my Tivo did not pick up the last couple of episodes of House. So a friend had told me about Hulu. I watched the season premiere of House on my computer. Boy am I something?

Obviously I have been spoiled with my surround sound and big screen television. Other than that, it was not that bad on the computer-way less commercials.

So here is my discussion issue- what systems does everyone else run? "Traditional" being antenna, satellite, or cable television, and for the last two we pay big bucks. Does anyone watch TV on their computer? What about piping in computer retransmissions onto the computer? I have basic satellite, and it's costing around $80/month. I'm already paying for Internet service, so can I save a satellite TV bill?

Also, has anyone been using the "all in one" packages for TV, phone, computer? Any recommendations?

 

[AndyN]

Welcome to the tv revolution!

I've cut cable tv, wasted some money on those damn digital converter boxes (what a scam) and now have 1 channel with my hi-speed internet (Fox) and watch all other tv on my pc. I have paid a small subscription to a company so I can watch BBC and ITV by iPlayer too. It was less than the cost of 3 months of cable and none of those channels that no-one watches!

I love the quality of programming from the UK, the quick commercials on Hulu etc. Watch what I want, pretty much when I want. Very few technical issues, although I could get a better pc, I'm waiting to buy a Mac....

This is the future of tv......

 

[Pancho]

Haven't watched regular tv in years, but have watched a few shows online and occasionally download from iTunes.

Over a few weekends this summer I watched the 5 seasons of The Wire. Great show. Can't imagine maintaining interest if I had to wait a week for each episode, tho.

 

[Migre]

I hope this isn't off topic but do any of you know of a decent internet site where I can catch episodes of the current series (5) of 'Supernatural', which began in the US at the beginning of October? Have been addicted since the 1st episode and the show has always been shown on our ITV2 channel over here (which is part of our 'freeview' package here in the UK - i.e. the extra channels we get via digital for no extra payment). Now a channel called Living has acquired the rights (with a view to showing at the beginning of 2010), though Living is a channel available through a Sky (or equivalent) subscription only, just as I'm ready to ditch my Sky subscription as I think it's too expensive!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm missing my fix of supernatural shenanigans. Thanks!

 

[gar4guv]

I download my TV shows from the eztv bit-torrent site. Western Digital makes this great little player to watch the files on a regular tv. So i just put the files on a flash drive, plug the drive into the player, and viola...DVD quality shows on my big screen.

Works great for boxing videos too.

 

[BradM]

I'm sorry I let this thread go without responding.

Welcome to the tv revolution!

I've cut cable tv, wasted some money on those damn digital converter boxes (what a scam) and now have 1 channel with my hi-speed internet (Fox) and watch all other tv on my pc. I have paid a small subscription to a company so I can watch BBC and ITV by iPlayer too. It was less than the cost of 3 months of cable and none of those channels that no-one watches!

I love the quality of programming from the UK, the quick commercials on Hulu etc. Watch what I want, pretty much when I want. Very few technical issues, although I could get a better pc, I'm waiting to buy a Mac....

This is the future of tv......

So do you only watch TV on the computer? Is that what I understand by your 1 channel on the Internet?

You state you watch stuff on your iPlayer. Do you download them as Podcasts?

Haven't watched regular tv in years, but have watched a few shows online and occasionally download from iTunes.

Over a few weekends this summer I watched the 5 seasons of The Wire. Great show. Can't imagine maintaining interest if I had to wait a week for each episode, tho.

What avenue did you use to watch the 5 seasons? So you don't even turn your TV on?

I hope this isn't off topic but do any of you know of a decent internet site where I can catch episodes of the current series (5) of 'Supernatural', which began in the US at the beginning of October? Have been addicted since the 1st episode and the show has always been shown on our ITV2 channel over here (which is part of our 'freeview' package here in the UK - i.e. the extra channels we get via digital for no extra payment). Now a channel called Living has acquired the rights (with a view to showing at the beginning of 2010), though Living is a channel available through a Sky (or equivalent) subscription only, just as I'm ready to ditch my Sky subscription as I think it's too expensive!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm missing my fix of supernatural shenanigans. Thanks!

I didn't check, but I would start with Hulu. if not there, go to the site for the network; they may have it.

I download my TV shows from the eztv bit-torrent site. Western Digital makes this great little player to watch the files on a regular tv. So i just put the files on a flash drive, plug the drive into the player, and viola...DVD quality shows on my big screen.

Works great for boxing videos too.

I try to stay away from Bit-torrent. What do you mean by boxing videos?

 

[AndyN]

Reading my post I wasn't clear - in my enthusiasm for telling you about this tv revolution!!

I cut the cable tv service, but get cable internet. It comes with Fox 2 Detroit and WB20 I think. Better signal than with the terrestrial antennae.

I subscribe to 'Dualviewer' and have access to all BBC and ITV channels in the UK on my pc. These tv providers use an iPlayer so you can 'catch uup on passed tv shows and events. They can be downloaded too. I could stream too, but I have a crap pc so I don't bother - too much buffering going on.

My son (at home) and I watch Hulu for US tv shows - stuff we missed on Fox or other shows.

This really should be what cable tv is about - watching what you want to watch, channel by channel, show by show, without all the other useless channels that you never wanted but are bundled.

I can happily watch on my pc, since there's only me to keep happy. I do put shows like BBC's Top Gear through the lcd monitor I have so we can both watch.

I am thinking of getting Apple tv, but haven't researched it enough to know much about it yet, but it seems to be similar to what I'm doing with my pc.

 

[Pancho]

What avenue did you use to watch the 5 seasons? So you don't even turn your TV on?

About 1/3 of the shows on my iPhone and the rest on my lappie. And no, not even turn the tube on. We only have one in the house 'cause we got it as a gift, and its only on when we have xtended family over.

 

[Migre]

Damn - Hulu doesn't seem to like us pesky English types. Oh well - back to the drawing board...

 

[Peter West]

Migre

I find the best way to watch programs has been through Justin.tv on the laptop. Its not necessarily the best way to watch specific programs you may search for, but has a wide selection from films, series to sport. My housemates told me about a site nova- something. I will look into it tonight and come back to you tomorrow.