We became cable cutters a while ago. It was a little strange at first, but I would not go back.
We got a digital antenna (and then we started getting HD stations for free!). There is a catch. You probably are not going to get all the local stations you are used to. Test it out before you finally cut the cord.
Some shows / programs are only available in the gray areas of the streaming world. NFL/HBO/MSNBC (national FOX and CNN are cleanly available on some devices.). Also HBO has said that you will be able to directly subscribe to them without a cable service next year.
You are going to need fairly good and stable internet service. To stream a show to one device with good picture and sound quality assume a min of 2MB sec. So you will need say a 3MB download service to be safe. Increase your picture quality, up your service speed. (I do not think that we have every kicked it up over 4MB, not sure of the difference.)
We got a Samsung Smart TV. We loved it at first, but now it is just OK. The picture is great and the sound is better than most TVs but still only fair.
Hits:
• Great picture.
• Real easy to go from Air TV to streaming mode (one button).
• Nice Out/In put options (HDMI, USB, RGB, Video, Mic jack?, Network (wire and wireless) integration (I would recommend a wire hook up though) and I’m not sure what else).
• Good remote, nice that you can go back to just one remote (but see below)
• Very nice integration with Skype. (You easily set it up so that if someone calls you, you can jump right into the video session. I say easy, but I should say I haven’t gotten it to auto load yet. But the point is that it is a much more pleasant experience than Skype on a PC b/c everyone is not crowding around a laptop screen and mic. BTW, you will need a camera with a good mic. Get one with an easy to reach kill button).
• Can plug in a keyboard and mouse very easily.
Misses:
• There are only a few Smart Apps to choice from. The basic ones are there: Netflix, Hulu, Pandora , etc. At first when we got the TV (two years ago?) I thought well no problem, the Apps will grow. Not so. It has been a big disappointment.
• From time to time (every two months maybe?) you cannot get into the Smart Hub (where the streaming mode is) because Samsung is updating your device. Sometimes it can take while. But I thought well that is OK they are servicing the device. Good for them and what good luck for me. What they are updating though are the Ads and eye candy icons for pay services that they would like you to try out, for free, for two weeks, with a credit card on file. Yea!!
• I also love it when they re-arrange the Apps that you downloaded and use so that they can put one of their eye candy apps in its spot.
• I think we have had 2, maybe 3, instances of the central Samsung Mother Ship being down , which of course, because of how Samsung architected the service, means you are also down.
• When an App does not work, no real support. They have Apps out there that have been getting the same errors for 2 years….
• There is a web browser right up front. Really great idea. You got to wish that it was not a pig and that it worked about more than about half of the time. Also with the standard remote it is real a challenge to use.
• No Bluetooth. Turns out that this was important to us. See blow
• I’m going to list this as a miss and for us AND it could have been such a great hit. Samsung makes a great keyboard TV remote. Use it one way and it is a TV/Smart Device remote. Flip it around and you have a mini keyboard and mouse pad. I have been surprised as to how many times I have needed to key in text into an App. What I did not know at the time was that that keyboard only works with the next size up Samsung TVs b/c they support Bluetooth. And funny thing about it is that I was looking at the next size up but I went with the next size down even though the smaller TV cost $300 more b/c of its much better picture quality. (Sony makes a Keyboard TV Remote as well)
I will buy a Samsung TV again, but I will not buy a Samsung Smart TV again.
Last year we got a Roku.
https://www.roku.com/ Still in love with it.
Real quickly. We heard that google had low a App count and that the hardware kind of sucked. iTV is, well iTV. Heard a few good things about Fire (it is kind of newish), but when I used it I did not like the interface. Also I was not sure about the App selection (used one at my brother-in-law’s and he has the thing locked down a bit b/c they have small children, so I couldn’t really tell.) My brother-in-law got the Fire b/c of its PLEX integration. That was very important to him. I’ve seen PLEX on other devices, I just didn’t ask him why on Fire and not on what-ever? Also we have 360, works fine. I do not use it that much b/c the kids like to jump on it. I think, (wife knows not me) you need to get MS Live 360 subscription for something or other. It may do something to let you stream, really do not know or care. Nice thing about it though is that you have a CD/DVD player right there. It has been useful over time, if you can figure out how to use their bloody controls.
You can plug these things to plug into HDMI, USB or composite jacks. Check for what you need and what their devices offer. Also decide on what you would like/can use on resolution quality.
We actually have two Rokus in the house. A low end one ($30?) and their top of the line ($79~ on sale?). The cheaper one is fine, it is Wifi only (I think), it is a little slow (reminds me of a 110 baud modem) and the remote is a standard Roku remote. The top of the line one has wifi and LAN cable interfaces, good speed, the remote can be used like a wii for games (Yep you can load games), and you can plug headphones directly into the remote. (and yes it mutes the TV by re-directing audio data only to the remote). And I have to say, the remote is pretty good. Just a few buttons, but just what you need.
(BTW: There is a version of Roku that is integrated into some TVs. I know nothing about the TVs. BTW: the guys who made Roku are the same guys who built the Tivo under contract. BTW: you should also check out Tivo).
And the reason you get Roku is for the Apps. The official Roku site has about 1,500 channels. A lot of them are free. Pick your interest, and you have a handful of channels on an interest/topic. The Apps we pay for are Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. (Amazon came with Prime and we would not have it if it cost extra.)
My guess is that most of your wife’s shows are going to be on Hulu. Go to their site and look them up.
If you cannot find your program there perhaps check Crackle.
If not, you can go to the unofficial channel sites. There are maybe another 1,500 different channels on these sites. Some of the content is what you might guess, adult channels, but there are a lot of really interesting channels out there. And again, different web sites seem to carry somewhat different channels.
If you are still looking for your wife’s show, try NoWhereTv. There are a number of NoWhereXX channels out there, they all work.
The other thing to remember about the 1,500 official and unofficial channels is that a number of them are a collection of other channels. So you kind sometimes run into Russian eggs.
And remember you can set up any option you want alongside what you have now. It might cost you a little bit for the hardware, but most of the channels that do charge, give you a trail period. I think Hulu had a 3 month free trail, but we did not need it.
When you pick your viewing schedule things are different. It does not feel right at first and then you get spoiled. Yesterday I was watching the local news on Air and I missed something. So I picked up the remote and kept pressing the roll back button. What the hell is going on, I just changed the dam batteries last week!
Good Luck
PS. don’t forget to check sites like Cnet / PcMag / etc for latest news and recommendations.
