Cutting the cords

[leehljp]

QUESTION ON: Netflix streaming and Roku

Does this just stream to the computer or does these stream to the TV sets?
IF they stream to the computer, how do you get them to stream to the TV or can you? Does the streaming from a computer to the TV cause a degredation due to screen size change i.e. 15 in computer screen to a 47" TV screen?



PORTING NUMBERS OVER: One thing I heard (and you probably know) is to let the company that you are moving TO - do the porting. Do not say anything to the current company, or they can or will accidently or conveniently lose your number.

[Cochese]

QUESTION ON: Netflix streaming and Roku

Does this just stream to the computer or does these stream to the TV sets?
IF they stream to the computer, how do you get them to stream to the TV or can you? Does the streaming from a computer to the TV cause a degredation due to screen size change i.e. 15 in computer screen to a 47" TV screen?



PORTING NUMBERS OVER: One thing I heard (and you probably know) is to let the company that you are moving TO - do the porting. Do not say anything to the current company, or they can or will accidently or conveniently lose your number.

Roku (and Apple TV and a few others) are self-contained set-top boxes. You hook them directly up to your TV and then connect to your wired or wireless internet. You don't even have to have a computer, although there is some amount of registration required that involves either a computer or a smartphone. After that though, it all depends on your internet speed, not processing power or capability of any computer you have. A G/N wireless speed would be required for steady playback.

Basically, it's just like a cable or satellite box you currently have, but instead of a cable running to the street or the dish, the content comes through your modem and router via air or wire straight to the little box. And I do mean little.

Roger on the porting. If you cancel your phone before you port the number is gone.

[BigguyZ]

Basically, it's just like a cable or satellite box you currently have, but instead of a cable running to the street or the dish, the content comes through your modem and router via air or wire straight to the little box. And I do mean little.

I just got my parents a Roku for my Dad's birthday. The thing is so small it can attach to the rear of a flat panel TV. So if you have it mounted or don't have the room for the box, it can be virtually invisible.

Also, there's the Chrome Cast now. $30, and it plugs directly into the HDMI port of your TV like a USB thumb drive. IT does need a power cord, but talk about small!

I have Amazon Prime and Netflix both, but I still would hate to get rid of my DTV. I love their DVR and it's just too convenient.

[Black wallnut]

Those that have gone the Roku route what does it cost and what do you get? I'm looking for a way to ditch my cable tv without going satelite. I detest long term contracts like dish has.

[capncarl]

As of this past Sunday the cost was the cost of equipment. Roku units are from $50 to $100 depending on several offerings, with or without a cable etc. I bought mine on clearance Sunday for $44. It has a neat, simple menu with a "store" where you pick which services you want on "your" menu. Some of the offerings like Netflix have a charge but there is an awful lot that there is no charge for. If interested I'd recomend googling Roku and give it a looks see. I really hoped it was a viable replacement for dish but am not sure because of dsl speed.

[atgcpaul]

We've had the Roku for probably 3 years now. The only additional cost has been our monthly Netflix subscription. Remember, too, that many Blu-Ray players and gaming systems also have the Netflix app installed or it can be installed. So if all you want is to stream Netflix and you have a Netflix enabled player, you don't need Roku.

There is much more development being done for the Roku, though, so new "channels" are constantly being added whereas your apps on your Blu-Ray player may stagnate.

On the Roku you can also connect to Amazon's streaming site. If you have Amazon Prime, you probably don't need Netflix. Their movie libraries are very similar. When MadMen is running, we actually do pay Amazon the $1.99/episode to watch it the next night. We figure, we aren't paying for cable, we aren't going to wait and pay for the DVDs or wait for it to be streamed on Netflix (which they are), but we will pay $26 to see it the next night.

Finally, not only do you need a good internet connection, you need a good connection to your router. Our Roku is far enough away from the router that we get spotty WiFi. I ran Cat5E cable from my router to my living room by way of the basement. Perfect connection every time. Currently, only the high end $99 Roku has a LAN connection.

We ditched the landline 2 months ago and I upgraded the Internet connection to a 50Mb one. Security system connects to the security company using radio frequency. We do pay an extra $7/month for it, but we don't pay $30/month for phone.

[atgcpaul]

there is an awful lot that there is no charge for.

I don't like the YouTube app on the Roku, but I do like that I can watch YouTube on my Roku on my TV. It's nice to be able to watch DIY type shows on it.

[Ed62]

We quit paying for DirecTv 3or4months ago. Not sorry in the least! We are Amazon prime customers, and that costs $79.00 per year. But that includes so much "quality" TV, it'd take a very long time to watch it all. There are also a lot of programs you have to pay for, but we haven't found a need to do that. Probably never will.

If you go to the channels store, you can get several channels (like Amazon or Netflicks) for no cost whatsoever. Free movies and TV, although much more limited, from what I've seen.

We have the Roku, and we use it wirelessly because of out setup. Occasionally it will pause momentarily to get the signal, but that doesn't happen often. I doubt that you'd be sorry if you ditch the satellite or cable. We also use an antenna for over the air local programming.

Ed

[Cochese]

Those that have gone the Roku route what does it cost and what do you get? I'm looking for a way to ditch my cable tv without going satelite. I detest long term contracts like dish has.

Roku has a nice little comparison on their site that compares the models to each other. Basically, the difference in price brings different features on the models themselves, not what content you can get. Better quality, dual-channel wireless, wired ethernet, a neat controller on the latest revision, etc. All models stream exactly the same content. I bought the Roku 2 HD ($50) for the bedroom, and the Roku 3 ($100) for the living room. I splurged because this one has a USB port that I should be able to put anything on a stick or a drive and play local content without setting up a Plex server. Handy for travelling.

Once you buy the box, you're essentially free to spend no more. Hulu has a free tier, and there are other free channels with varying levels of quality programming. As stated, the PBS channel carries Underhill.

I will say the Netflix channel on Roku is pretty poor, based mainly on the fact that the parental controls are non-existent. The Amazon Prime channel is far and away superior when it comes to parental controls and a watchlist that you can setup for kids. That's my only complaint thus far.

[JimD]

I have a wired phone with unlimited long distance, reasonable speed internet, and dish TV for about $125 and it stays the same as long as we live here and want this service. I don't think this is great but I don't think it's bad either. I get a few less channels so I added Netflix, both streaming and one blue ray at a time. We've streamed to more than one TV at a time and we also stream to tablets. I've done it in an airport over their crummy wifi. There were occasional pauses and the picture wasn't as good but it was a nice way to kill time. Normally, Netflix streaming is better than a DVD but not quite as good as a Blu ray. It looks good on our 40+ inch TVs and the sound is also good.

We stream 2 TVs using blu ray players and one on a game system. Tablets all you do is download the netflix app. I think Netflix is a much better TV deal than other things we have tried.

Jim

[RAV2]

Sit back, grab a drink (I’ve got a Jack Daniels) and read on if you have the time…

TV:

We haven’t had cable here ever – over 21 years.

I live about 30 miles out of Boston and get great over the air reception.
I have a 120”, over 20 year old, antenna on the roof peak; with ‘home’ runs of good cable to 3 primary TVs and two more (media center PC and basement (gym) TV).

I get about 35 actual channels (including sub channels) and 18 of those are stations I watch on a regular basis. They recently added two movie channels in Boston – MOVIES! (a Fox sub channel) and COZI (as well as a new Bounce channel I haven’t got a good line on) - so there may be 19 key channels.

We’ve got You-do-it electronics here and they have everything an electronics aficionado could want. I bought a Harbor Freight cable tool and use it to terminate all my coaxial runs from the antenna. I also have a Zero Loss Splitter in the attic that splits the signal into non-degraded runs to all my TVs.

If you want to test your area’s reception, check TVfool.com or Antennaweb.org to start. Want to see something amazing, stick a piece of thin wire into the back of a modern TV (30 ga. bare buss wire for the technically competent), run the antenna scan, and see what you get for free with little effort – you’ll be amazed!

In summary, I get better – non-compressed Dolby 5.1 signals than many of my pals – ask them about the superbowl party we had with 3 OTA TVs running the same hi-def signals with surround sound in my house!

MOVIES/STREAMING:

We have had Netflix for years – since it’s inception. (I’ve also participated in early Roku beta testing but have backed off on this effort now). I’ve got Roku, Blueray players, PC’s, tablets, IPods, and smartphones on my Netflix account. All provide flawless performance. Could not find a better deal for $8 a month. I am not using my other $8 for disks as much as I should but the variety is endless.

Do you know that my kids watched every Adam-12 episode and loved them. Also Buffy, Emergency, Dragnet, and Hawaii 5 0.

I’m also a frequent Redbox renter at $1.56 per day for a blueray – for new releases.

PHONE:

There are 4 of us here, two teens, and we have 4 cell phones.
2 years ago, we dropped the land line. Notified the town and got our cell #’s on their systems (reverse 911) and I get all of the messages often before my landline neighbors.

Having 4 cell phones in the house, and 5 on my plan, I did not see a need for a land line. Similar to changing a phone #, you do some initial leg work and then the rest is ‘gravy’. I took a two phase approach.

My family is not so tolerant of bad cell reception (or other technical hiccups). I have a Verizon Femtocell in my house. My first one was purchased used (I checked with Verizon prior and they said no problem) and my second one (when I got some trouble) was $150 (down from $250 after negotiations). This ‘cell tower in my home’ is restricted to only the lines I assign to it and provides excellent reception that is shipped over my internet connection.

FYI – I have FIOS fiber to the home (15/5) and my internet meets the needs of the 4 of us – with lots of streaming – without issues.

Adding a XLink Bluetooth hub, allows me to have my cell phone connected to all of the wired lines in my home. Pick up a cordless phone in my house, and any of 3 Cell phones is connected. An almost perfect solution that provides a dial tone in the middle of the night. (See Amazon for reviews).

The best part of this is that no matter where I am, I have my phone, netflix, and often TV that I need. If you have a solid internet connection, you are ‘golden’. If not, then Redbox and limited cell use meet most of our needs.

[Cochese]

Just provisioned my own router for Comcast, so there's an instant $7 a month back.

Since my plan is to use Ooma eventually for VOIP, I'll need access to a phone jack so that where the phone actually is rings (across the house). This is an older house, with add-on jacks near the baseboard (and very sloppily done, I might add). There is one a few feet away, but in my quest for aesthetics I want to move it to my keystone plate with all the other connections.

I'll have to go under the house to see if they ran it down there. Or would it be ran up through the attic? I have zero experience with phone wiring, although it doesn't look like much.

[atgcpaul]

Like others here, our cordless handsets are Bluetooth enabled. Our 2 mobiles automatically connect to the base station, and when someone calls them, all the handsets ring with their own unique ringtone.

I have an old phone I'm thinking about permanently tethering to these handsets with Google Voice.

Someone here mentioned registering your cell phones with the police station to get access to reverse 911. Is that necessary every where? I didn't do anything special when I got my phone and I get text message alerts if there is something happening in my area--usually weather related. Is that the same thing? The tornado warning was a surprise.

[Cochese]

Someone here mentioned registering your cell phones with the police station to get access to reverse 911. Is that necessary every where? I didn't do anything special when I got my phone and I get text message alerts if there is something happening in my area--usually weather related. Is that the same thing? The tornado warning was a surprise.

It's not even an option some places, which is why we haven't cut the phone line earlier. I would have put this number on a third cell line ages ago if you could register it here.

[RAV2]

My Verizon Wireless Network Extender- http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/s...=gotoFemtocell - has built in GPS and provides the location info for 911 calls.