Effectively DITCHING cable (roku, playon, etc.)

Roku looks interesting, Playon has a free trial I will start tonight.

I have a wii and Netflix streaming is freaking awesome.

Anyone have opinions on Roku and Playon?

If any 2 of these work out I am ecstatic.

anything else I should know about?

 

IIRC, you have pretty ecclectic taste when it comes to TV so, my .02, get the Roku take it for a spin but keep your receipt.

I have 3 Roku and they are all nothing more than Netflix receivers. Everything else I have tried to watch has been crap.

I've been using mine off and on as media server endpoint receivers with limited success (applications for such are limited).

TBH, I'd rather have every TV networked by Ethernet and HDMI and just stream direct to them from a local PC.

As for PlayOn, I cannot say. I tried it a year ago and gave up on it because most of the channel plug-ins were either broken or required a subscription.

That said, I have been cable/satt free for well over a year now using Roku, Media Server PC, Netflix, and OTA.

 

I have Playon and it is decent if you have a good computer to use as the Hub and fast internet. Unfortunately I have an older computer and don't have the 5 gig minimum space requirement and my CPU speed is low to...but PlayOn still works on my PS3 just not the greatest picture quality or if trying to watch something live like something on ESPN 3...get a lot of buffering and freezing.

 

download the watchseries plugin for playon! some streams are hit & miss.. I like gorillavid, videoweed, vreel & veehd for steady streams.. also look at the % reliable..

 

Playon says you can play it on a wii. How fast could the wii be?

 

Early morning wii or late nite wii?

FTR, another member on HBT tried PlayOn with Wii and complained that resolution was seriously limited through that platform.

 

Thanks gila

 

There is a god, and it's name is IceFilms.............

You'll want a PC with wireless mouse/keyboard though.

 

PlayOn can be added to Roku as a channel and can work as a rough media server too. Problem is, Roku is VERY limited on media formats so you find yourself having to transcode everything to meet it's needs.

 

Long story, but I am operating with a Droid, a Wii, a TV, and wireless internet.

Even with a computer not sure I could transcode anything.

 

Just want to say all I use is Roku (Netflix) and DVD. No cable. I don't need anymore than that. I am not a huge TV guy in the first place, but It is good to have for music, movies and news. Very inexpensive.

 

Ahh. Not a problem. No need to transcode anytyhing if you don't have a media server you are trying to stream from.

I've dumped my entire DVD collection onto HDD for access from any TV in teh house via media server. It's nice but it's takes a lot of front end time to get it there.

 

I ditched cable about two years ago now. I kept a mediocre speed cable internet, got a TiVo HD hooked up to antenna and stream Netflix, watch Amazon purchases ect on it. It's not cheap but its a nice box and the dropped expense of cable paid for it a long time ago.

 

That is bad ass.

I too am physical media free. No CD's no dvd's.(do have a book or 30)

I stream almost everything.....(not books)

I am already cable free, sad to say but the real motivator here is college football and basketball looming. Otherwise Netflix keeps me well entertained.

 

playon will serve ISO containers and uses vlc to transcode mpeg-4.. havn't got into blueray yet on media playing off the server..

 

Thanks!

I have 2 carnivorous turtles and several very stressed out little fish, a toaster and a vacuum.......

 

I picked up a TIVO Premiere which allows me to watch OTA with a $30.00 antenna, Netflix, HULU Plus, Amazon Instant Video, YouTube, etc. It has a DVR built in so I can program it to record OTA sports or whatever.

It does cost $15.00 a month for access to the guide but I really feel it is worth it. HULU Plus is also worth the $9.00 a month for me. I can watch a lot of the shows from the cable channels with just a 24 hour delay. They have some great content from Great Britain and Asia that Netflix doesn't.

 

lol.. thats funny sh!t right there!!
was just saying i did the same as gila and ripped all my dvds as they are in a image.. so all extra content, games and such.. i use the playon server to watch the main movies over dlna to any tv

 

I have netflix and a channel master (dvr for free over the air channels), and a laptop to stream stuff. Life is good without cable.

 

Has the PlayOn server improved over the years? When I tried to use it I was turned off by the lag between PO and Roku and the lack of screen bling.

Since then I've found other alternatives to the bling but none of them do on the fly transcodes and take way too much time to preparte files for service. Have been wanting a rip-n-run type set-up. WMP does a good job with PlayTo but I only have 1 ethernet ready TV. The others require a STB like a Roku.

Now, I don't care about the bling. I just want my tv like I want my woman. Easy, and always ready.

 

Worth some thought. Thanks.

 

I am sensing a theme here. i may have to look at PlayOn again for it's media hub function.

I just wish VLC could do it without PlayOn as the shell.

 

+1 for ditching cable!

We started out with no cable after we bought our house a 1000 miles from no where. Since then, we buy movies for the kids about once or twice a month(20 or 40 bucks), stream Netflix, and watch TV on the standard ABC, NBC, Fox, and Alaska Public TV. We're out of the house more, the house is cleaner, both my boys could read before kindergarten and my little 3-year-old already reads individual words.

I would also bet money that you'll never see my kids on the news during an obese children news story...

Only time I really miss it is when Bama plays on something other than ABC or CBS...but that's what I have in laws for...

It'll hurt, at first, when you can't watch Top Gear and UFC and all that but you'll be better off!!

 

IMHO they have improved tons within the last 2 years.. they do have on the fly transcode for audo and video.. some files i have to wait and it boots me out and select again and it plays fine.. but the new thing is the playlater (DVR) that you can set up what streams you want and it records a copy to the HD and then ff/rw works.. it is a extra price though but thought i would give it a try and found i use it alot more and preset what series i want to watch.. oh, and you can do the big no no and record anything from hulu and netflix..

 

I'll give it another try then. While PlayOn was still young i got the lifetime subscription and also got the free PlayLater for being a lifer so early.

Was just on the PlayOn website. You can get PlayOn and a Roku LT for $70 or a Roku XD for $90.

 

Ayup. Only time my boys are watching TV is when it's too dark or too hot to be outside and there is nothing else to do.

 

Oh man, sounding like a winner.

Android and wii setup of playon requires a PC.

Roku appears to be freestanding setup.

 

yeah, i was going to mention that.. also playon has a app for ios and android and it work fairly well.. its nice getting all your content from the home computer on your phone and tablet to show friends and family because it does pictures from my files plugin also

 

I have Roku. Actually I have 4 of them. I bought reconditioned units for < $50 each. The whole thing is smaller than a pack of cigarettes. I even take it with me on vacation. All I need is a wireless signal.

I watch Netflix and Amazon Prime. In my opinion Amazon Prime is the better service. I pay $80 per year, get free 2nd day shipping on all my Amazon purchases, plus full access to Amazon's online video library. They also have pay-per-view rentals (including new releases) for $3.99/24 hour rental. Between the 2 services I can generally find anything I'm interested in.

Roku also supports HBO GO, but not if you have DirecTV. That's kind of a pain. They also support HuluPlus. I don't pay for that one, so I can't comment on it. The rest of the offerings are junk. There are a few movie channels that get really annoying. They have the same commercial randomly popping up in the middle of the movie over and over again. But it is free.

 

I thought you still had to have a PC to install the server to. Edit: Yes, you still have to have a PC to run the PlayOn server app.

 

+1.. did i miss that? forgot cheezy doesnt have a pc.

 

Like I said, long story. I will get a computer soon, but it will be a mac.

 

My contract is up with DirecTV in October. I would love to drop it but I need my football.

 

Love the Roku! I've been a "cord cutter" for almost three years and love it. Here's a hint.... Get the Nowhere channel on Roku for some "BrewingTV" goodness.

I also use an older TivoHD box for OTA HD timeshifting. Unfortunately the newer TiVo models don't support OTA.

 

Just looked at the My Media function again. It has seriously matured. It was still in beta when I used it last. Didn't have any metadata scraping or anything.

This may be a game changer for me. Ripping .iso to HDD is a snap, I've just been very limited on what devices I could play an .iso to and have had to transcode everything for the Roku to display them.

 

you should put together a pos dualcore for just playon.. i see one in my classifieds for $50..lol

 

Yeah. Sorry cheesy, that will be a deal breaker for you. Cannot run PlayOn without a PC to run the server on. Not even with Roku.

With teh Roku, as long as the server on teh pc is running you need not have any other interaction with the PC in that Roku can call it all up. But without the server PlayOn Roku is a brick.

 

The roku set-up doesn't mention a PC. Most things can be done on the droid browser that can be done on PC.

You still think I need one for a roku?

 

lol.. i play my iso's on my directv recever even with the small buffer ability it doesnt skip.. i remember when first xbmc hack came out trying to get even a avi file not to skip on the xbox.. that was funny