it all began when i wanted to change from comcast to a satellite because i wasn’t happy with our reception, customer service, or expenses. next thing i knew, i was letting dan pick out a ridiculously expensive flat screen HD tv. it WAS my idea however.
and the IDEA was… ….to cancel tv but keep internet with comcast. we would purchase a tv that had DLNA compatibility and use it to stream tv shows, movies, and internet applications from our computer. we would get an HD antennae for basic cable in real time. then we could watch our favorite shows whenever we want with playon, a server that lets us tap into many things including our free hulu account. movies from our netflix account would stream instantly.
it literally made more sense financially to get the expensive tv than to NOT. because i could take the monthly payment to comcast and put it toward paying off the tv. in a few months after it is paid off, we would be paying only for the internet and never for tv again. additional start up expense? antennae, ethernet cable, trial membership with playon (otherwise $40/year or $80/life).
so we said goodbye to our seventy five pound rca that dan bought while we were newlyweds for $200 at walmart. and we said hello to sony bravia. isn’t she pretty?
it SHOULD have been a happy ending, but, it has yet, to be. we have had a few snafus.
1.) playon is temperamental. it has a few kinks to work out, i’m sure, given it is new and growing. but we have to start/stop a few times before the tv picks it up and then we have to make sure the computer doesn’t go into sleep mode so that the show doesn’t drop dead 2.) when we download shows from binsearch (for shows we like that we can’t get on hulu, like mad men, true blood, or chelsea lately) the stream is choppy. 3.) a week later, hulu stopped working. there seems to be some problems with playon/hulu and until they get worked out, we are going to pay 9.99 a month for hulu plus, which will stream to sony bravia tvs soon. “soon” being the operative word. the technology isn’t there yet. “coming soon fall 2010” is all we get.
IN THE MEANTIME. it is a gorgeous tv. watching the bears play the seahawks last sunday was amazing (and would have been even greater if they had actually won). we have been streaming hilarious stuff from youtube, dexter episodes off of netflix, and all of the movies we already have downloaded to our external hard drive.
so i’m happy with the change but i’m anxious to have things running more smoothly.
i’m curious what adventures everyone else has had with set ups like ours?
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