Setting up a dedicated computer for streaming TV and online entertainment

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ivan Seeking
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Age Home
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
Sign up Log in
54 replies · 10K views
Monique said:
:biggrin: try lying on the couch with several pillows to support you and a laptop on your lap, it's very relaxing.

I tried that, but with Tsu lying on top of me trying to see the screen, it got pretty uncomfortable. :biggrin:
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I'm fine with them deciding to upgrade their service, just not with them charging more for it. :wink: Plus, with digital, if I want to watch on more than one room in the house, I need to get more digital converter boxes. So, I just have it in one room and the regular channels in the bedroom (I don't have room next to the TV in the bedroom to add the ginormous converter box...the original boxes when cable first came out weren't this big!)
 
TheStatutoryApe said:
A side question, only slightly off topic.

I found a page online for Time Warner Cable with a phone number to call to get set up. When I called it I found that the people I talked to are not in fact the Time Warner customer service department with whom I need to set up my connection and pay the money for the service. Apparently this guy was going to give me a code to give to them and charge me ten dollars for giving me this code. Is this some sort of scam or do I really have to go through these people and pay them first?
That would be a scam. Don't do it.
 
Monique said:
:biggrin: try lying on the couch with several pillows to support you and a laptop on your lap, it's very relaxing.

I had to run out of here and wanted to get my little joke in before I did.

Watching online is okay for a time, provided of course that I am the only one trying to see the screen. Obviously this becomes an issue if more than one person wants to watch. I do seem to experience eye strain when watching a computer screen for extended periods of time. Also, as is probably true of most people these days, I have my face in a computer for a good percentage of the day, so I find it to be a nice [relaxing] break to watch a big screen.

I should also mention that I got scammed by one of those "watch over 1000 channels" services online. It appeared to be legit at first, but $30 later I realized that I should have done my homework. And it may actually be legit but just too primitive and unreliable to be practical at this time. The distinctive element of this was that one could see the service changing satellite services. It would often go through a tuning process of some kind.
 
i usually have no time for tv.. with all the studying i do so i just watch all my episode of my tv series online ... cucirca.com is a really good site.. and for movies... i usually go out for really good movies that i want to watch if its an alright movie just stream it online
 
tamir102 said:
i usually have no time for tv.. with all the studying i do so i just watch all my episode of my tv series online ... cucirca.com is a really good site.. and for movies... i usually go out for really good movies that i want to watch if its an alright movie just stream it online

Hey, that looks pretty good! I have had a few people prompting me to watch the Big Bang Theory. Since I never seem to be able to watch when it aires, I have tried to find it online, but until now I could only find clips. Netflix has it on DVD but it appears to be backlogged. Full episodes of this are available at your link.

Since I don't use firefox, I have to download the episodes and watch on Real Player. Episode one from season one is downloading right now.

Cool!
 
Monique said:
Now we just need to wait for a platform that is like a television library: where all content is categorized and stored and available on demand. The only thing I'm afraid of is that with internet television that practically anyone can make content, so it would create a jungle of broadcasts. At some point in the future there will be no television broadcasting anymore and everything will be on demand, I do hope that stations such as NGC and Discovery Channel would continue to exist in such an environment.

This is why I am absolutely thrilled to see regular commercials in online programming. The commercials are what made free TV possible, and they hopefully will do the same for the internet. With all of the nonsense out there, hopefully, the money will find its way and tend to concentrate around the quality programs.

The fact is that Hollywood has been dictating the terms of entertainment for decades. In the end, people watch what is on, and not necessarily what they would really like to watch. From the geek side of things, I can say that there have been some excellent low-budget sci-fi films put out lately - far better than 99% of what I see in the theaters. Movies like Primer [$7000 budget], The Man from Earth, and The Sleep Dealer [considered to be a cyberpunk film], prove that quality is not dependent on the size of the budget.
 
Last edited:
Eh, cucirca.com has issues. Just while trying to download a few episodes of TBBT, I was redirected to cheesy links many times, and then cut off. Apparently there is a 72 min limit per day. After that you are directed to a pay site.

There are no commercials. Hulu [commercials] can run continously.
 
With online TV, will parents still take pictures like this one my father took?

http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/TV/images/TV-1960.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Over the last few weeks I have made a point to ask people about online TV and movies. It seems that quite a few people are beginning to connect their computers to their TV sets. In fact, today a woman told me that she was cancelling her Dish TV service and going online only [she was standing in line at UPS - shipping back the dish]. Like us, she too is tired of paying for 90% garbage. In partcular she felt that online TV offers better on-demand viewing options for the kids.
 
I have had my media center hooked to my TV for about a year now. I've noticed that once we get over 3mbps that HD streams without buffering noticeably. I would recommend the Hulu Desktop application that they are experimenting with. It has the same accessibility and makes navigation a little easier as you don't have to load the player every time you switch feeds. Its still experimental, but I find it works just fine. I haven't had any need for cable since I set up this Media Center. I'm glad it worked for you, I know it can be frustrating to set up initially.
 
NEW YORK - Movie Gallery Inc., owner of the Hollywood Video movie rental chain, has filed for Chapter 11 protection and plans to close 805 stores — about a third of its total.

Its the second trip through bankruptcy court in just three years for Movie Gallery. The company is struggling with competition as more people choose to stream videos online from Netflix Inc. and other services or pick up $1-per-night rentals at Redbox kiosks...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35222092/ns/business-us_business/
 
jtbell said:
I think I read somewhere that Hulu is looking at moving to a fee-based model.

It's here now [I just saw it advertised for the first time]. They call it Hulu Plus
 
Ivan Seeking said:
It's here now [I just saw it advertised for the first time]. They call it Hulu Plus
Plus is mainly for mobile devices and they throw in some extra reruns, regular Hulu is still free.
 
Evo said:
Plus is mainly for mobile devices and they throw in some extra reruns, regular Hulu is still free.

Don't you get all episodes with Plus?
 
Evo said:
Plus is mainly for mobile devices and they throw in some extra reruns, regular Hulu is still free.

No competition for Netflix, eh? For the moment, I am a dedicated Netflix fan. We get more than our twelve bucks a month worth in DVDs alone. All of the streaming content is just icing on the cake, and that's what we use the most.

I have only glanced at their ad page.
http://www.hulu.com/plus

I am finding more and more shows immediately available online, all the time. SNL use to be all but impossible to watch online, even the very old reruns, but no more.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Greg Bernhardt said:
Don't you get all episodes with Plus?
You get all of the current season episodes from ABC, NBC & FOX, plus some seasons of some older shows.

http://www.hulu.com/plus
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Evo said:
You get all of the current season episodes from ABC, NBC & FOX, ...
And knowing your location, you can get them for free in HD with just a cheap indoor antenna. Bought that TV yet? :wink:
 
Do they have commercials on Hulu plus programming?
 
I just found out that we should be able to get service to at least 10Mbs, and possibly 30Mbs! He [a friend who has it] wasn't sure of the top end, but it appears that we are a little over 1 mile from a repeater. Until now we were limited to 1.88 on DSL.

Yeah, no more buffering!
 
I think I'm going to join this, the savings on shipping alone pays the annual fee, the free videos are gravy.

Amazon offers free online movies to Prime members

The Prime membership, which costs $79 per year, entitles people to free two-day shipping and low-cost next-day shipping. Now, subscribers can also watch roughly 5,000 movies and television shows through Amazon.com Inc.'s on-demand video service.
more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_techbit_amazon_movie_streaming;_ylt=AsA5dJJXRR0ZtGcxU5EOBS9H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTNsN29rdGt0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMjIyL3VzX3RlY190ZWNoYml0X2FtYXpvbl9tb3ZpZV9zdHJlYW1pbmcEY2NvZGUDcmFuZG9tBGNwb3MDNQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2FtYXpvbm9mZmVycw--
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Evo said:
I think I'm going to join this, the savings on shipping alone pays the annual fee, the free videos are gravy.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_techbit_amazon_movie_streaming;_ylt=AsA5dJJXRR0ZtGcxU5EOBS9H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTNsN29rdGt0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMjIyL3VzX3RlY190ZWNoYml0X2FtYXpvbl9tb3ZpZV9zdHJlYW1pbmcEY2NvZGUDcmFuZG9tBGNwb3MDNQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2FtYXpvbm9mZmVycw--

Dang High Speed Internet People. :cry:

BTW Isn't Obama trying to get high speed for us rural folks? How do you think he'll accomplish this? I'm not holding my breath.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Evo said:
I think I'm going to join this, the savings on shipping alone pays the annual fee, the free videos are gravy.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_techbit_amazon_movie_streaming;_ylt=AsA5dJJXRR0ZtGcxU5EOBS9H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTNsN29rdGt0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMjIyL3VzX3RlY190ZWNoYml0X2FtYXpvbl9tb3ZpZV9zdHJlYW1pbmcEY2NvZGUDcmFuZG9tBGNwb3MDNQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2FtYXpvbm9mZmVycw--

SWEET NEWS! I have been with Amazon Prime for 3 years or so. I love it. Books, books, books. All in 2 days. Plus, when we fly home for Christmas, I do all my shopping for nieces and nephews on Amazon and have it shipped right to my parents house. Easily covers the $80/year.

I am a huge fan of Netflix instant also. Being able to put in a quick Dora or Diego show for my kids when needed.

So now I am torn... which one will I use. Probably both.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I tried Netflix, but Silverlight and my PC don't get along. Amazon's offer looks delicious!
 
Hulu Plus still has the same number of ads. That fact made it a total wash for me. Still using the free content.

On a side note, If they try and pull any pay model like they are implementing in Canada you better all call your congressmen.