lannguyen.me

au revoir cable tv, part deux

It’s been exactly a month since we’ve cut loose from time warner cable and by no means are we going back…

Some tweaks:

Moved cable box and router closer to tv and connected roku directly to box.  I did try streaming wirelessly and though it did run fairly smoothly, why not maximize what you have (10mbps download) and connect via ethernet cable if you can.

Subscribed to hulu plus.  I knew from the get go that i would be heavily dependent on hulu to get all my current running tv shows.  Hulu channel on roku a little awkward to maneuver, it requires lots of arrowing over/scrolling which can get a little tedious.  It does help to queue or subscribe to the shows you watch on your hulu plus via your computer first.  Search feature on hulu roku channel is not there yet.  One sad face for certain shows that are only available on the web (ie 30 rock, american pickers).  There are a few 30 second commercials while streaming, though oddly enough i do not find them annoying.

Angry birds game which came free with the roku 2 xs is okay. Fun to play for a bit, but not at all addicting.  I think it has to do something with the touch hand held size of playing it on an iphone.

Sports, still have not resolved this, well specifically watching basketball.  I was all set to pay for NBA league pass until after reading the fine print which states you’ll get blacked out of the games that are broadcasted locally and nationally.  So since I am in LA, NBA league pass won’t have the Lakers which was the whole point for wanting to get it.

I did look into Playon as another option to get more channels, but it requires running software from a windows computer which is not so helpful in a household full of macs.

Which leads me to something I never thought I would say… ANTENNA! dun-dun dun

to be continued…

cutting the cord: goodbye cable tv

The thought of disengaging myself from traditional cable started sometime last year though nothing really happened until now only because I was worried I wouldn’t find a suitable replacement.  After weighing everything and the lovely fact that time warner cable is evil… i’ve cut the cord.

Roku vs. AppleTV

On paper it was so easy to see the roku would be the best fit, but my loyalty to Apple and all their well designed products did make me pause or take several pauses. Currently AppleTV does not have the ability to stream media from hulu plus which is one of the places i planned to get the majority of my shows.  AppleTV does allow streaming movies, shows, music, and other media from networked computers which is great, but i’ve never invested in purchasing movies or shows from itunes.  That part never made sense to me… the pricing for episodes did not equate to the value.  After I see it, I most likely will not watch it again.  Roku seems to be more “open” in terms of the variety of channels it has available.  More options = more content!

Roku vs. Blu Ray player w/wifi+streaming

I do own a lot of dvds, but I haven’t really delved into blu ray.  The way things are going though, streaming seems to be the way to go and maybe blu ray is already obsolete? Plus I have a great dvd player on loan (almost 3 yrs) from a friend who might have forgotten about it by now :)

What about the sports?!?

Being a big NBA fan, the ability to watch my games are also important.  I don’t know if this is the solution as it has not been tested yet, but NBA League Pass Broadband is available for the roku.  League Pass has a couple of different price packages which i don’t mind buying because in the end… i’m still going to save money compared to my current setup.

Savings: $97.00/month, $1,164.00/year 

Saving money and only watch the content I want; getting rid of the things I don’t have time for?  It’s so logical, I just don’t know what to do… perhaps I’ll purchase 1,164 balloons and gleefully exclaim to all across the land that i’ve defeated the time warner dragon.

note: one-time cost of roku 2 xs+hdmi cable: $130.00. Net projected year one savings: $1,034.00