Thought there was already a thread on this but my search turned up nothing. We are not going to completely cut the cord but just looking to go basic with most everything. The only channels we want real time are the 3 main NBC, CBS, ABC and AMC, FX and FOX available in a decent enough timeframe after on air. Most shows we don't watch until at least 24 hrs after airing but trying to get an idea of which of the Hulu Plus, Roku3, etc. have the best selection and turn around time. Appreciate any help
Same here..... Roku 3 is awesome. I still get cable (for free because of my high speed) but I only get about 25 channels.
Appreciate it, I figured I would do something similar to start, just a few basic channels through cable but subscribe to a couple of other services to fill in the rest.
Most of my time watching tv is original programming on HBO and Showtime. Don't see myself cutting the cod any time soon. Today is Sunday. I have 5 shows to watch that air tonight. Plus Bourdain on CNN
Hulu Plus is great for watching basic network tv shows the day after they air, like NBC and ABC and FOX. I do not think they have CBS shows. Monthly fee service. A minus, you still get commercials during the viewing of these new shows. Less commercials than TV, but still it is commercials. What I would check is if through basic cable you get On Demand services. If you do, Hulu Plus might not be beneficial although they give you a back catalog I believe. Neflix is great for movies and tv shows. It's better for TV shows that have completely their run since you have all the seasons and episodes at your fingertips. For tv shows on air, sometimes you have to wait a year for the previous season to come out. For example, Mad Men season 7 started this year. Season 6 of Mad Men was not added until recently. That's a minus if you want to keep up to date with a current running show. HBO and Showtime shows are not available on Netflix. Monthly fee service, no commercials. Amazon Instant Video through Prime I have not fully researched. It looks like it can be great, but navigating it can be a bit tough. They are getting older HBO shows, so that can be a positive if you want shows you cannot get through Netflix or Hulu Plus. Depending on the show, through Prime you can have the back catalog of a show but the current season you would have to buy on a per episode basis. I'm not positive about this though, I need to research more. The plus is of course Amazon Prime gives you shipping benefits too on top of all the streaming stuff. From my understanding, Roku3 is a device to organize all these services onto a device that can then stream to your TV. Similar devices are the Amazon Fire and Apple TV. I don't have experience with these so I can't really help you there. Hope this helps a bit!
Sorry Waterboy. I apologize for hijacking your thread. But I didn't want a separate thread. Finally, after 10 years in USA, I got HBO, Starz and Showtime. In my defense, I am not a huge TV guy. I barely watch TV. But lately, I do have some free time in my hands after like 8:30 PM. Would like to catch up on some old shows I have missed. Now that I do have access to On Demand content of premium channels, I want to watch the good stuff this summer when my kids are in Turkey for vacation. What are some of the good shows you can recommend?
HBO: The Wire. The Sopranos. Both of the above are highly considered by critics and routinely in the "best show ever" lists online. Veep: Elaine from Seinfeld is the vice president, hilarious comedy. On season 3 currently. Game of Thrones: One of the most popular TV shows right now. Boardwalk Empire: A slower show than Game of Thrones for example, but incredible stories. Takes place in prohibition America. Visually great show too. Slow for some. Curb Your Enthusiasm: 30 minute comedy made by Larry David, creator of Seinfeld. Think of it as adult Seinfled Deadwood, Rome, and Six Feet Under are highly rated but I have never watched so cannot expand. Also, there are a lot more shows on HBO that are great I haven't seen yet. I personally think HBO has the greatest collection of TV shows so I would focus on here. Also, be careful googling or looking up things about the show! A lot of spoilers on the internet! Showtime: Shameless: An over top, crude, mature comedy/drama. Awesome show in my opinion. House of Lies: A fun 30 minute show about consulting and making an spending money. Homeland: Season 1 is some of the best TV I've ever seen. A show about homeland security and the CIA. Dexter and Californication are recent big time Showtime shows that I haven't watched but have heard mostly positively things about. (at least the first few seasons of each show)
Thanks I wish I could triple like your post. Will start with HBO shows you mentioned. Sopranos and The Wire first.
No problem. And as always, everyone has a different opinion. If a show doesn't click with you, it doesn't click. For me, I've found HBO shows usually lead me to watching 3-5 in one sitting haha
The one thing I will say is a knock on Roku is once you get past the basic channels like A&E, Netflix, ESPN and History (I can't even get A&E or History thanks to Cox) there really is a lot of garbage especially religious crap. It seems every single church in America has their own channel on there. To be fair I downloaded BYUTV just so I can watch their sports especially basketball.
My favorite shows are as follows: Game of Thrones The Sopranos Shameless House of Cards Homeland The Newsroom Lost Breaking Bad American Horror Story True Detective Almost all of which I can stream on the Roku.
I just got my wife Amazon TV for her birthday. I'm hoping that is the final push to get her to cut the cord. I thought about getting the Roku, but we have Prime, and this will allow us to finally start taking advantage of it. We'll look into Netflix (more likely, "borrowing" my brothers password) and Hulu Plus. I think right now the only thing we'll have difficulty watching is AMC, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
The Roku is a streaming device. If you have prime, you link it with the Roku, as you do with Netflix and Hulu. It's all linked in one place and it's all at the click of a button. I have my Netflix, Prime, HBO Go, Showtime, Hulu, Pandora, YouTube, etc. all linked in Roku. Makes streaming anything a breeze
Is something like the Roku or even Apple TV worth it if I already have an Xbox One? I feel like all those apps are already on the Xbox so it would be a waste.
Appreciate the replies, my contract with Directv is up on June 21st so just laying out the options. You are getting all the current shows without subscribing to cable? The one thing my wife was complaining about was not getting her shows that are on HBO and Showtime.
Cutting the cord may be the way to go... Comcast buying TWC, DirecTV buying Dish, AT&T buying DirecTV.
Nope. If you have an Xbox One or PS4 it's a waste of money to buy a roku. Same exact thing without the gaming, although with the Roku you can play minor games.
How much are you paying for those premium channels ala a cart? And sports? Where can you get YES, ESPN, NFL, Golf? I'm never cutting the cord......
