Cable Alternatives

[TJ Brew]

Hey all,

My fiance and I are looking for alternatives for cable, the two we are currently looking at are Apple TV or Boxee. Anyone have any comments/recommendations/suggestions?

We are tired of paying through the nose for cable to watch reruns.

Trevor

[RubberToe]

I cancelled my cable last year. Haven't looked back.. there's nothing on and it's a waste of money for me since I don't watch a lot of TV.

I was using an apple tv, jailbroken and running XBMC to play music and video from my network shares.

Last night I got a Sony google tv box and I like it better but I'm a developer and an Android guy. Both devices also run Netflix and you don't have to hack the google tv box to stream media from your network. You can also access the play store.

Sent from the brew timer.

[GAM]

OTA

Sandy

[derek]

I cancelled my cable last year. Haven't looked back.. there's nothing on and it's a waste of money for me since I don't watch a lot of TV.

I was using an apple tv, jailbroken and running XBMC to play music and video from my network shares.

Last night I got a Sony google tv box and I like it better but I'm a developer and an Android guy. Both devices also run Netflix and you don't have to hack the google tv box to stream media from your network. You can also access the play store.

Is there a difference between Boxee and an AppleTV running XBMC?

Like Rob, I'd prefer the Android option, but I couldn't find one when I was shopping, so I bought Nash's AppleTV and like it (with XBMC - the actual AppleTV part is shit and I boot straight into XBMC...)

I don't think I actually should have to hack the AppleTV to stream media, but for the life of me I haven't been able to make my Linux UPnP or AirPlay implementation talk to Apple's versions. That's OK. as I'm not that interested in streaming - it's directly connected to a NAS where I store the media.

[Graham.C]

I use my PS3 for mostly everything. Netflix and connecting to my media. Plus it's a blurray player.

My girlfriends folks have apple TV, can't say I care for it too much. Kinda slow on the movie rental downloads.

[RubberToe]

I also used a ps3 too and it was pretty good with netflix and streaming from my upnp server. Then it died and I keep neglecting to RMA it.

Sent from the brew timer.

[erslar00]

(not saying the this is the best option) I bought a WDTV Live and stream downloaded movies and shows from my PC to my TV and also have Netflix. Also, with OTA HDTV antenna I get Global, CTV and CBC... that's my local content. I do have Netflix for my boy.. since he's only 4 it helps having all the kids shows.. but it's only 7.99 a month.. I can handle that. Also, Shaw Direct lets you have 2 vacation stops twice a year free and since I work for an airline I just tell them I'll be out of the country for 6 months of the year and they let me have cable for 6 months of the year (during football season so I can watch NCAA football). You're right though.. paying 60 o 70 a month + is redonkulous!!

[jeffsmith]

We have two Apple TV's here. We're an all Apple household so all of our video is in iTunes on my iMac in my office. Gets streamed throughout the house from there. I've had a number of different setups running throughout the years, XBMC, etc. but this has been by far the easiest for me.

I run Sickbeard, CouchPotato, and SabNZBd on the iMac to grab video for me automatically and have a bunch of scripts that I've built to automatically convert, tag and import into iTunes. Another script notifies me on my phone when a new video has been downloaded and is ready to watch. /nerd

[Jimmy]

We have two Apple TV's here. We're an all Apple household so all of our video is in iTunes on my iMac in my office. Gets streamed throughout the house from there. I've had a number of different setups running throughout the years, XBMC, etc. but this has been by far the easiest for me.

I run Sickbeard, CouchPotato, and SabNZBd on the iMac to grab video for me automatically and have a bunch of scripts that I've built to automatically convert, tag and import into iTunes. Another script notifies me on my phone when a new video has been downloaded and is ready to watch. /nerd

Want to come set my place up for that? I've failed miserably at setting up automatic downloads of TV shows and continue to grab them manually on a daily basis.

[RubberToe]

Been meaning to try sickbeard. Right now I grab torrents as I want them and use transmission on my linux server.

Sent from the brew timer.

[jeffsmith]

Been meaning to try sickbeard. Right now I grab torrents as I want them and use transmission on my linux server.

Sent from the brew timer.

I got fed up with Torrents when I was living in Alberta and Shaw throttled your speed when downloading via a torrent. Switched to Usenet only, so much faster.

Sickbeard is an excellent app. I'd be lost without now. Better than a DVR for sure.

[jeffsmith]

Want to come set my place up for that? I've failed miserably at setting up automatic downloads of TV shows and continue to grab them manually on a daily basis.

If you're running a Mac I could likely send you a how-to. I've set it up quite a few times now.

[sleepyjamie]

you can use american DNS and hulu plus which allows decent tv programs.

i havent tried it with hulu but i have with appletv and netflix

[Jimmy]

you can use american DNS and hulu plus which allows decent tv programs.

i havent tried it with hulu but i have with appletv and netflix

How do you set up a hulu plus account in Canada? I've already got an American DNS, but when you register for a hulu plus account it only accepts an American billing address.

I've also been a non cable subscriber for close to a year now. For the most part I don't miss it, though I wish I could streamline my acquisition of new episodes for my frequently watched tv series. I currently use Netflix for the older stuff, and documentaries, and I either watch downloaded content via usb plugged into the tv, or stream over the network directly to my tv.

[sleepyjamie]

you can use american DNS and hulu plus which allows decent tv programs.

i havent tried it with hulu but i have with appletv and netflix

How do you set up a hulu plus account in Canada? I've already got an American DNS, but when you register for a hulu plus account it only accepts an American billing address.

I've also been a non cable subscriber for close to a year now. For the most part I don't miss it, though I wish I could streamline my acquisition of new episodes for my frequently watched tv series. I currently use Netflix for the older stuff, and documentaries, and I either watch downloaded content via usb plugged into the tv, or stream over the network directly to my tv.

ive never used hulu plus, only the regular hulu with american DNS. i didnt realize they restrict the billing addy.

[RubberToe]

I am writing this post with my Google TV device on tapatalk.

Sent from my NSZ-GS7/GX70 using Tapatalk 2

[TJ Brew]

I keep forgetting how many nerds there are on this site...
I am not THAT computer savvy (e.g. I have not written script to automatically fetch new episodes for me, although that would be pretty awesome).
Jeff, I do run Macs in the house but I don't know what most of the acronyms or apps are that you are talking about are or do.
Sandy, what is OTA? Other than Over-the-air and Ontario Tennis Association (google told me that...) Are we talking bunny ears? Isn't that being phased out?

Thank you for all of you input so far, now I will go to the google to learn about all this new fandangled stuff.

Trevor

[GAM]

Over the Air. It is now a digital signal and you need a "box" Digital/Analog converter.

We have 2 kids 16 & 13 and 1 TV 3 channels and Netflicks. The kids and wife do some streeming but I can't be bothered.

Sandy

[jeffsmith]

I keep forgetting how many nerds there are on this site...
I am not THAT computer savvy (e.g. I have not written script to automatically fetch new episodes for me, although that would be pretty awesome).
Jeff, I do run Macs in the house but I don't know what most of the acronyms or apps are that you are talking about are or do.
Sandy, what is OTA? Other than Over-the-air and Ontario Tennis Association (google told me that...) Are we talking bunny ears? Isn't that being phased out?

Thank you for all of you input so far, now I will go to the google to learn about all this new fandangled stuff.

Trevor

For anyone interested, here's a pretty good guide for setting up Sickbeard, etc.

http://www.totalhtpc.com/the-complete-g ... eadphones/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's very comprehensive and shows how to set things up on Mac, PC, and Linux.

[TJ Brew]

I keep forgetting how many nerds there are on this site...
I am not THAT computer savvy (e.g. I have not written script to automatically fetch new episodes for me, although that would be pretty awesome).
Jeff, I do run Macs in the house but I don't know what most of the acronyms or apps are that you are talking about are or do.
Sandy, what is OTA? Other than Over-the-air and Ontario Tennis Association (google told me that...) Are we talking bunny ears? Isn't that being phased out?

Thank you for all of you input so far, now I will go to the google to learn about all this new fandangled stuff.

Trevor

For anyone interested, here's a pretty good guide for setting up Sickbeard, etc.

http://www.totalhtpc.com/the-complete-g ... eadphones/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's very comprehensive and shows how to set things up on Mac, PC, and Linux.

Excellent, Thank you!

[TJ Brew]

Over the Air. It is now a digital signal and you need a "box" Digital/Analog converter.

We have 2 kids 16 & 13 and 1 TV 3 channels and Netflicks. The kids and wife do some streeming but I can't be bothered.

Sandy

Great. Where do you get the "box" from?

[GAM]

Over the Air. It is now a digital signal and you need a "box" Digital/Analog converter.

We have 2 kids 16 & 13 and 1 TV 3 channels and Netflicks. The kids and wife do some streeming but I can't be bothered.

Sandy

Great. Where do you get the "box" from?

A little electronics shop in Burnside. Radio Shack sells them and likly the other big shops.

Sandy

[TJ Brew]

For anyone interested, here's a pretty good guide for setting up Sickbeard, etc.

http://www.totalhtpc.com/the-complete-g ... eadphones/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's very comprehensive and shows how to set things up on Mac, PC, and Linux.

This is a great article, very well done! Even I can follow this.

[know1]

We cut our cable last month and so far so good. Right now I just have a laptop to dl or stream to the tv and its working out ok. All the information and knowledge in this thread is very inspiring.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

I use OTA (over-the-air) for my 3 basic channels and I bought my conversion box at bestbuy for $50 (I actually have 3 of them). The OTA digital tv is minimum 720p and is awesome, no more snow. I bit-torrent everything else as far as tv and movies are concerned. My daughter is only 17 months so we'll get netflix when she's older, but not yet as she doesn't watch any tv at the moment.

I built myself a hi-gain Grey-Hovermann UHF-VHF antenna after spending a lot of time on this forum: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; There's tons of info about tv in Canada on that site. I used the plans found here: http://www.wuala.com/300ohm/Documents/S ... DF?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I had a commercial antenna and it was only picking up about 40% signal at my house - I'm in a forested area and on the wrong side of a large hill that blocks signal from the three broadcast towers that are in Clayton Park. I built this antenna and instantly got 100% signal on all 3 channels even with the antenna in my attic (same spot as the commercial one was). Cost about $80 in parts all found around town.

If you do go the antenna route, let me know, there are a lot of really helpful resources on that forum for building, mounting and aiming the antenna properly to get maximum signal strength all based on your specific location (using the lat and long of your house plus elevation)