Live Streaming TV Help

[RedKingGold]

Hey all,

Of course my ABC affiliate is either blacked out or knocked out due to weather during the PSU-OSU game.

Anyone know of a site I can watch the PSU-OSU game streaming live for free?

[Lathum]

channelsurfing.net

[gstelmack]

Aha, there was an old thread for this. I'd like to expand on this quite a bit.

I'm getting ready to dump Time Warner for TV and not replace them with anyone else (U-Verse, DirecTV, etc). Our kids are mostly watching movies on DVD when they watch TV, and my wife and I are down to maybe an hour when we're heading for bed. We'll be losing some of the sitcoms (like How I Met Your Mother), Mythbusters, and some Food Network shows, but not enough to be worth nearly $100/month for digital cables + DVR on two TVs.

We'd like to replace it with a combination of Blu-Ray + streaming, which should be much cheaper and get us most of what we want. We're already subscribed to Netflix to try it out, and have watched on movie we received and streamed one over the 360. The living room seems pretty covered. For the bedroom we're looking to get a Blu-Ray player that has streaming capabilities. I already ran a network cable upstairs this past weekend, which was interesting and not that hard aside from drilling through the framing behind the wall to get downstairs and getting the snake through, but the actual cable was easier than I expected and works great.

Netflix seems good for movies - Blu-Ray for most stuff, streaming won't hold up to action movies but seems reasonable for slower-paced and older movies (we streamed Timeline which held up fairly well for the bandwidth). Netflix will also get us older TV show series, while we're probably looking at Amazon and paying per episode or per season for current TV such as Mythbusters and some of the sitcoms (and still saving a ton of cash over what cable wants). It does look like we're out of luck on Food Network, as they don't seem to want anybody to watch more than a single demonstration unless it's over the actual channel, but again for the price we'll live without.

Any other recommendations for sources for streaming shows without paying an arm and a leg? Researching the Blu-Ray players keeps mentioning Pandora, which is a service I need to look into. PlayOn seems to be a $40 license to watch lots of stuff on your 360, PS3, or other box you buy, but I'm not sure that's worth it.

On the Blu-Ray players, I know Sony has 3 new models coming out over the next month or so: the 370 (replaces the 360, which is what I have downstairs), the 470, and the 570, and all will have streaming capabilities. As far as I can tell the only real difference is the 470 and 570 will have 3D Blu-Ray capabilities, which I frankly could not care less about, and maybe the 570 has WiFi built-in while the other two need an adapter, and again I have wired ethernet to the correct places so could not care less about. Anyone know if there are any other differences? I'm happy with the 360, so I may just get a 370 upstairs to handle the streaming chores as well as Blu-Ray playback, but I also don't want to cheap out if the others are faster.

I'll also listen to recommendations on other hardware that might distribute shows from a computer, if it offers advantages over getting the Blu-Ray player and streaming Netflix + Amazon (+ Pandora?).

It's going to feel so good to walk into TWC's offices in a couple of weeks, drop both boxes off, and give them the litany of issues making me do this (cost, "Channel is unavailable", "OnDemand is unavailable", requiring three attempts to get an OnDemand charge reversed when I was charged but the show wouldn't play, etc).

[aleykat]

I'm using Windows 7 media center + 2 Xbox 360s wired with cat 6 for most of my media needs and meets the Wife Acceptance Factor. It can stream everything I have including 1080p content. Depending on your internet speed, netflix will stream a very respectable image (720p) to the 360 as well. 4 bars on HD matches anything I could get on the Dish Network HD channels in terms of picture qualiity. This was basically a free option for me since I had all the parts, other than one deeply discounted 360 arcade for the bedroom.

Tversity is a good option for streaming content from a computer to a 360, though somewhat limited in terms of formats. Yes it transcodes, but that causes other problems in addition to loss of quality. I use it as a backup, but have switched almost entirely to media center due to interface and format support.

Playon is great for the 360. It does a decent job with Hulu and the like. There are some issues every once in a while though. I'm happy with the purchase though.Be sure to check out playonplugins.com for additional content options.

The harder problem is live TV. Depending on location, an antenna might serve you well. Justin.tv and channelsurfing.net are also options, but neither will stream to any devices I know of.

Which brings me to the last part of my cable free existence, a laptop with hdmi out. It's a lifesaver when I want to watch a game on espn360 or one of the less legal streaming sites.

Ultimately I think most families would have a hard time going totally cable-less at this time if they insist on using 100 percent legal methods, especially if there are sports fans involved.

[k0ruptr]

I'm still hooked up to basic of the basic basic cable package. 90% of my media watching is online/streamed through the 360 to my hdtv. I'm thinking of canceling my cable as well, but the only thing that bugs me is the quality of live sports is a significant downgrade. that's the only reason I'm keeping it right now.

[k0ruptr]

dola, I have no problem of the morality or ethics of downloading sports programs in HD after they happen. pirating movies and what not I do not download. but I guess I don't see the harm in downloading sporting events after the fact. seems different to me... what are others thoughts on this?

[gstelmack]

FWIW, I'll be going 100% legit, and know I'll be giving up some things. Live football has been greatly reduced already anyway thanks to a combo of questionable ads / kids in the house, and that plus the Food Network shows we'll miss just aren't worth the money. But if I'm not willing to pay the asking price, I'll do without rather than steal it.

If everyone downloaded a sporting event in HD after it happened, who would watch it in person / live on TV, and how would the sport survive? I think that answers your question.

[wade moore]

Yeah - the morality for a sporting event is no different than a sitcom or whatever imo.

[k0ruptr]

I still watch it live every single time. have you ever watched the big sporting event a couple days later, it just doesnt feel the same knowing that everyone else has seen it already.

[k0ruptr]

Dola, maybe its just me tho, I dunno. even if it was entirely legal to download sports after and watch em, I still feel sports are made to be watched live and I would. hmm...

[stevew]

Why not just buy a roku. Gets you basically what you want. Plus if you subscribe to mlb.TV it will get you those games.

[k0ruptr]

And also if a sitcom is good enough more then likely they will release a season or a few on dvds later on, If I want to buy game 97 of the regular season for the white sox on dvd, good luck finding that lol. maybe on Itunes now in this age, but not on DVD or Blu ray.

[k0ruptr]

Originally Posted by stevew

Why not just buy a roku. Gets you basically what you want. Plus if you subscribe to mlb.TV it will get you those games.

yea, thats a good way to go for people that are looking for this kind of thing!

[gstelmack]

What does a Roku do that a network-ready Blu-Ray player with streaming won't? Obviously the Roku won't play Blu-Rays, but what is the advantage? I can get Netflix, Amazon, and Pandora via most of the streaming Blu-Ray players.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Aha, there was an old thread for this. I'd like to expand on this quite a bit.

I'm getting ready to dump Time Warner for TV and not replace them with anyone else (U-Verse, DirecTV, etc). Our kids are mostly watching movies on DVD when they watch TV, and my wife and I are down to maybe an hour when we're heading for bed. We'll be losing some of the sitcoms (like How I Met Your Mother), Mythbusters, and some Food Network shows, but not enough to be worth nearly $100/month for digital cables + DVR on two TVs.

We'd like to replace it with a combination of Blu-Ray + streaming, which should be much cheaper and get us most of what we want. We're already subscribed to Netflix to try it out, and have watched on movie we received and streamed one over the 360. The living room seems pretty covered. For the bedroom we're looking to get a Blu-Ray player that has streaming capabilities. I already ran a network cable upstairs this past weekend, which was interesting and not that hard aside from drilling through the framing behind the wall to get downstairs and getting the snake through, but the actual cable was easier than I expected and works great.

Netflix seems good for movies - Blu-Ray for most stuff, streaming won't hold up to action movies but seems reasonable for slower-paced and older movies (we streamed Timeline which held up fairly well for the bandwidth). Netflix will also get us older TV show series, while we're probably looking at Amazon and paying per episode or per season for current TV such as Mythbusters and some of the sitcoms (and still saving a ton of cash over what cable wants). It does look like we're out of luck on Food Network, as they don't seem to want anybody to watch more than a single demonstration unless it's over the actual channel, but again for the price we'll live without.

Any other recommendations for sources for streaming shows without paying an arm and a leg? Researching the Blu-Ray players keeps mentioning Pandora, which is a service I need to look into. PlayOn seems to be a $40 license to watch lots of stuff on your 360, PS3, or other box you buy, but I'm not sure that's worth it.

On the Blu-Ray players, I know Sony has 3 new models coming out over the next month or so: the 370 (replaces the 360, which is what I have downstairs), the 470, and the 570, and all will have streaming capabilities. As far as I can tell the only real difference is the 470 and 570 will have 3D Blu-Ray capabilities, which I frankly could not care less about, and maybe the 570 has WiFi built-in while the other two need an adapter, and again I have wired ethernet to the correct places so could not care less about. Anyone know if there are any other differences? I'm happy with the 360, so I may just get a 370 upstairs to handle the streaming chores as well as Blu-Ray playback, but I also don't want to cheap out if the others are faster.

I'll also listen to recommendations on other hardware that might distribute shows from a computer, if it offers advantages over getting the Blu-Ray player and streaming Netflix + Amazon (+ Pandora?).

It's going to feel so good to walk into TWC's offices in a couple of weeks, drop both boxes off, and give them the litany of issues making me do this (cost, "Channel is unavailable", "OnDemand is unavailable", requiring three attempts to get an OnDemand charge reversed when I was charged but the show wouldn't play, etc).

Been there, done that.

Here's my feeling about getting a blu-ray player with streaming capability. Unless you plan to buy a lot of blu-rays that you plan to re-watch, I wouldn't go with that option for the other room. You can either rent them or buy them and always have them available to watch from Amazon or you can even download them and save it to your hard disk.

PlayOn has some advantages. One of them it is one of the few that allows you to watch Hulu. The other is that it also allow you to stream content from your PC (in beta right now).

The disadvantages of PlayOn is that it has poor rewinding/fast-forwarding. You shouldn't even really risk it. Pause is just fine, but the other two options will leave you frustrated. The only other disadvantage is that you still need a computer to use it and you need one that is wired to your router (can't be wireless, which makes sense for streaming).

Now if you want to connect a laptop or desktop to your TV, you have a couple of options. Since Hulu Desktop is available you can watch your favorite shows in pretty good quality. And if you want to view/hear any video/audio podcasts, you can use Miro to download and watch them in glorious HD (if they are provided in that quality). Plus Miro will update your shows when they are available and allow you to download YouTube or Google videos.

Originally Posted by gstelmack

What does a Roku do that a network-ready Blu-Ray player with streaming won't? Obviously the Roku won't play Blu-Rays, but what is the advantage? I can get Netflix, Amazon, and Pandora via most of the streaming Blu-Ray players.

Roku has a Channel Store that is currently adding a number of other options for your viewing enjoyment. Revision3, TwitTV and nerdtastic channels. They have added a social networking channel such as MobileTribe that will grant you access YouTube, Yahoo, Facebook, flickr, Picasa and more. MLB.tv is awesome since it is also in HD. On top on that, more channels are still being added.

The negatives is that Mediafly channel sucks. That one of the channels that allow you to add some video and audio podcast feeds. However, streaming that channel is very hit and miss. And no Hulu which seems to have the corner on having most of the network TV shows. It is most people's hope that Hulu get a channel there, but there hasn't even been a rumor of that now. And that primarily why we purchased PlayOn.

[Antmeister]

By the way, we got rid of Time Warner Cable TV as well. Sticking strictly with their Turbo-Powered internet.

[stevew]

I'm very tempted to put up an antenna and just do without cable as well. I never watch it. The majority of the stuff my wife watches is on regular TV.

I think the kids would make do. They watch too much TV anyways.

[stevew]

I'm very tempted to put up an antenna and just do without cable as well. I never watch it. The majority of the stuff my wife watches is on regular TV.

I think the kids would make do. They watch too much TV anyways.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

Here's my feeling about getting a blu-ray player with streaming capability. Unless you plan to buy a lot of blu-rays that you plan to re-watch, I wouldn't go with that option for the other room. You can either rent them or buy them and always have them available to watch from Amazon or you can even download them and save it to your hard disk.

We will probably watch a lot of Blu-Rays / DVDs. My feeling on streaming is quality is okay for slow stuff, but until I've got a 25 Mbps pipe and the content providers are willing to fill it, there are too many movies I want to see that I'll HAVE to watch on Blu-Ray. Netflix seems a good option for those we may want to watch once or preview before buying, but we'll probably still out-and-out buy 2 or 3 / month. And the difference between a Blu-Ray with streaming and one without is only like $20 ($180 for Sony 370, $200 for the 470).

So Blu-Ray is a must here, getting the streaming included is a cheap way to go.

Originally Posted by Antmeister

PlayOn has some advantages. One of them it is one of the few that allows you to watch Hulu. The other is that it also allow you to stream content from your PC (in beta right now).

The disadvantages of PlayOn is that it has poor rewinding/fast-forwarding. You shouldn't even really risk it. Pause is just fine, but the other two options will leave you frustrated. The only other disadvantage is that you still need a computer to use it and you need one that is wired to your router (can't be wireless, which makes sense for streaming).

Good info, if I can figure out how to get PlayOn up into that second room. Easy for the living room (I have a 360), but I'm trying to avoid spending TOO much over the Blu-Ray player upstairs. It does seem a great option for getting sitcoms, etc without paying extra or waiting for the DVDs via Netflix.

Originally Posted by Antmeister

Now if you want to connect a laptop or desktop to your TV

This is unlikely. Desktops are all networked downstairs in the den, and we're too busy upgrading them for a laptop.

Originally Posted by Antmeister

Roku has a Channel Store that is currently adding a number of other options for your viewing enjoyment. Revision3, TwitTV and nerdtastic channels. They have added a social networking channel such as MobileTribe that will grant you access YouTube, Yahoo, Facebook, flickr, Picasa and more. MLB.tv is awesome since it is also in HD. On top on that, more channels are still being added.

None of those hold any interest for me.

This is all good info and helping me solidify the final decision. The big question here may well be how to get PlayOn upstairs without spending another multi-hundred-dollar chunk beyond the Blu-Ray player.

[gstelmack]

Oh, and on the antenna front, I actually have one, but our location is horrible for transmission signals. Trees around and sitting between two small hills that go higher than the house. I get very poor cell reception here, and I need a professional installer to come out and throw up a taller pole if I want to get the antenna working reliably.

[gstelmack]

Oooo: Supported Devices Compatible with PlayOn | PlayOn

Looks like it mostly works with DLNA devices, and all the new Sony players have DLNA (no, I'm not MBBF, but I do happen to like Sony electronics, that's why I'm big on them for my Blu-Ray playback, sorry if it seems like I'm shilling them). Maybe PlayOn will be worth a crack after all. Need to try the 14-day trial with the Xbox downstairs and see how it goes.

[Dodgerchick]

Originally Posted by stevew

I'm very tempted to put up an antenna and just do without cable as well. I never watch it. The majority of the stuff my wife watches is on regular TV.

I think the kids would make do. They watch too much TV anyways.

Yeah I think your kids will be alright. The shows our kiddos watch are on Netflix anyway, so it's a matter of putting them in the Q and they're good to go. The Roku has been a real life saver for us.

[Antmeister]

Oh and another option I have been keeping my eye on is VUDU. It has been around for a while and offer HD quality streams (1080p in their HDX format or 720p in their HD format). Right now the LG is the only one that has a Blu-Ray player with VUDU. But it appears Mistubishi, SANYO, Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba and Vizio are going to have either blu-ray player or TV with VUDU included later this year. And the LG also appears to be DLNA compliant which could theoretically allow you to watch PlayOn on that device as well.

[MizzouRah]

This is my favorite site for sports that are blacked out, especially Blues games that Dish isn't showing.

ATDHE.Net - Watch Free Live Sports TV

[gstelmack]

Tested PlayOn yesterday and today with my 360. HD video quality via HULU seems reasonable, at least for the show I tested (Castle on ABC). The CBS feed for How I Met Your Mother was crap: blocky, hitchy, messy. I'll have to get used to stereo downstairs instead of 5.1, but at least some of what I want to watch is reasonable. Not as good as broadcast HD, but definitely watchable.

[stevew]

Have you antennaweb/tvfool your location? One of them has hypothetical antenna heights/as to what you can get.

There's a dish network TVpal brand DVR you can get for antenna(300ish).

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by stevew

Have you antennaweb/tvfool your location? One of them has hypothetical antenna heights/as to what you can get.

There's a dish network TVpal brand DVR you can get for antenna(300ish).

I actually have an antenna from a while back with DirecTV before they had my locals in HD. My problem is I'm on the bottom of a "hill" (the top of my roof is even with the top of the "hill"), with a wooded creek behind the house, and yet another taller wooded hill behind. I get crappy wireless anything: antenna reception, cell phones, etc for being in this little depression. If I found a pro installer he might be able to get the antenna high enough as we actually have really good broadcast in this area, but it's VERY difficult to find a pro antenna installer these days.

An option is obviously keeping basic cable and getting HD networks that way via QAM, but that's still $20+/month right now. We may just change our viewing habits by dropping the 2 CBS sitcoms.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Looks like it mostly works with DLNA devices, and all the new Sony players have DLNA (no, I'm not MBBF, but I do happen to like Sony electronics, that's why I'm big on them for my Blu-Ray playback, sorry if it seems like I'm shilling them).

FWIW, despite advertising the feature all over the SonyStyle site, the new Sony Blu-Ray players (the 370/470/570) do NOT have DLNA support out of the box. Folks over at AVS Forum are trying to contact Sony to find out what the deal is here and find out if the site is wrong (in which case lots of folks, including me who bought mine today, will be pretty ticked at them), or if it's coming in a later firmware (believed to be the case, but the only future confirmed firmware is for 3D for the 470/570).

[gstelmack]

Turned in the cable boxes yesterday. Mostly using Netflix, Amazon VOD, and purchased Blu-Rays. We may add PlayOn back in when the firmware for DLNA for the Sonly Blu-Ray players comes out (scheduled for July). We'll see how this goes.