Replacing cable...

[snoogins]

Currently I pay over 100$ for internet and tv (hd tv.. blah) and was curious.

If I went hulu/netflix, what will I still be missing? Commercials don't bother me, but my gf wants all her shows. Shows she wants are glee/bones/30rock/bigbang/weeds/dexter... can I get all of those shows with a subscription to netflix and hulu+?

Is hulu+ worth the monies?

Would love to have all of these shows on our lcd tv through the 360/wii.. is that possible? People always talk about how they got rid of their cable tv (I want to badly) but I have not seen any direct replacements from anyone.

Anyone have some ideas for me? The 70$ for 300 channels is getting expensive, especially since we only watch 20 of them.

 

[rwpritchett]

I don't have all of your answers, but I can give you some insight.

We "cut the cord" 3 years ago. I have an HTPC with 4 tuners that pulls in the bulk of our TV watching content in HD from over-the-air. That's a simple purchase of a TV tuner for a computer you already have. I use Hulu (non-plus) and Netflix to catch episodes of shows that are not broadcast OTA. If it's not available on Hulu, we purchase season passes on iTunes. For example, my wife loves Mad Men and we can only get it by paying for it. I don't mind paying á la carte for good shows that are worth it. It beats paying $70-100/month for 200 channels I don't watch. If I remember right, a season pass is like $18 for a show like Mad Men.

BTW, you can stream recorded TV shows from an HTPC to your 360.

The biggest thing that I miss is live sports. Again, broadcast sports (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) are not a problem, but TNT, FSN, ESPN, etc are a huge gap. ESPN3 will let you stream live for free from their website, but you are limited to... well ESPN3. As a result, we tend to visit family or go to a sports friendly restauraunt on nights with sporting events that we want to watch. NBA has a live streaming service, but I haven't signed up for it yet... I think maybe next year I will. It's pricey ($120) which doesn't sound too bad, but they blackout games that are being broadcast on popular sports networks. For example, if the game you want to watch is being broadcast by your local cable company on FSN, then NBA.com won't stream the live game in your area.

Anyways, if you truly decide to cut the cord I think you will find that your TV habits will adjust. For example, my wife used to watch Food Network constantly, and those stupid cleaning shows on TLC. She missed them at first, but I asked her recently if she missed them now and she doesn't. It's like getting off an addiction and you learn to like what is available.

 

[hang-the-9]

You won't find current season shows on Netflix, and not all seasons of all shows are available. For Hulu, just go to www.hulu.com and look there. You will also find netflix and hulu streaming info on their web sites. There is no reason to retype what they offer in here as you can get all the info from the company's web pages in detail.

 

[snoogins]

Best answer selected by snoogins.