Hulu Plus Users

[RugbyMuffin]

Any of you revolutionaries using strictly Hulu as your means of "TV" ?

If so, how has it gone ?

TV providers (whom are in a tough spot, IMO, thus can't blame them) are cutting costs left and right and thus the product is far worse than in time's past, and I am thinking of cancelling my TV service and streaming when I want to watch TV.

It would be financially beneficial as well.

Cancelled my cell phone, and have a work around solution saved me $100.00. Getting rid of DirecTV would save me on average another $200.00 a month.

If I could get my wife to get rid of her cell phone that would be another $100.00 a month.

Thus I could save $400.00 a month by not having a access to a 4G network of any sort, and getting rid of my TV service.

That $4,800.00 a year....nothing to ignore, IMO.

 

[BigRedRage]

Any of you revolutionaries using strictly Hulu as your means of "TV" ?

If so, how has it gone ?

TV providers (whom are in a tough spot, IMO, thus can't blame them) are cutting costs left and right and thus the product is far worse than in time's past, and I am thinking of cancelling my TV service and streaming when I want to watch TV.

It would be financially beneficial as well.

Cancelled my cell phone, and have a work around solution saved me $100.00. Getting rid of DirecTV would save me on average another $200.00 a month.

If I could get my wife to get rid of her cell phone that would be another $100.00 a month.

Thus I could save $400.00 a month by not having a access to a 4G network of any sort, and getting rid of my TV service.

That $4,800.00 a year....nothing to ignore, IMO.

I cut cable years ago. Have rokus or xboxs in each room and subscribe to netflix and hulu.

I havent seena single suns game all year but I get all the cardinals games and get to watch the majority of shows I want to watch.

Dont regret it one bit.

You can find rokus on deal websites for about $40-$50 typically. So for one direct tv bill, you could buy 4 rokus and go down to 16 a month between netflix and hulu.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I cut cable years ago. Have rokus or xboxs in each room and subscribe to netflix and hulu.

I havent seena single suns game all year but I get all the cardinals games and get to watch the majority of shows I want to watch.

Dont regret it one bit.

You can find rokus on deal websites for about $40-$50 typically. So for one direct tv bill, you could buy 4 rokus and go down to 16 a month between netflix and hulu.

Thanks.

Will look into it.

 

[JS22]

If you want to get geeky you could build a very cheap HTPC and use XBMC. The amount of plugins available is insane. "Free Cable" being one of the best. And it's legit, since it pulls the shows from the network sites if I recall.

There are, of course, plenty of "questionable" plugins too. But those are up to you.

 

[puckhead]

I haven't seen any mention of picture quality differences between the services. Would anyone like to speak to that?

Like, used to watch show X on cable/satellite and now watch on Hulu and looks the same in HD or doesn't.

I've only used Netflix on occasion and for sitcom/drama type stuff it was fine, but action movies and such were blocky messes. The other issue I noticed was the lack of surround sound. Dolby stereo was the max I saw at the time on Netflix.

 

[BigRedRage]

I haven't seen any mention of picture quality differences between the services. Would anyone like to speak to that?

Like, used to watch show X on cable/satellite and now watch on Hulu and looks the same in HD or doesn't.

I've only used Netflix on occasion and for sitcom/drama type stuff it was fine, but action movies and such were blocky messes. The other issue I noticed was the lack of surround sound. Dolby stereo was the max I saw at the time on Netflix.

I dont have cable or sattelite to compare to but they seem to come in pure HD for me.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I cut cable years ago. Have rokus or xboxs in each room and subscribe to netflix and hulu.

I havent seena single suns game all year but I get all the cardinals games and get to watch the majority of shows I want to watch.

Dont regret it one bit.

You can find rokus on deal websites for about $40-$50 typically. So for one direct tv bill, you could buy 4 rokus and go down to 16 a month between netflix and hulu.

My situation is similar. No cable, but I have an AppleTV, a Roku, and Amazon Prime. The AppleTV is best for my MLB.tv subscription, but the Roku is good because you can add channels to it (you can look at their website to see what is available). You are pretty much stuck with whatever Apple decides to offer you. I think Amazon's new device is similar in that you can't add channels.

As for sports, it's a little weird in that the only local team I can watch for free is the Cardinals because all the other teams are on exclusive contracts with cable. But if you really want to find a game online, you can do it.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I haven't seen any mention of picture quality differences between the services. Would anyone like to speak to that?

Like, used to watch show X on cable/satellite and now watch on Hulu and looks the same in HD or doesn't.

I've only used Netflix on occasion and for sitcom/drama type stuff it was fine, but action movies and such were blocky messes. The other issue I noticed was the lack of surround sound. Dolby stereo was the max I saw at the time on Netflix.

I don't watch many movies, but all the tv shows I watch come through fine. The only time I have quality issues is with some of the live sports games and that tends to happen mostly when everybody is getting home from work and hopping online.

 

[BigRedRage]

My situation is similar. No cable, but I have an AppleTV, a Roku, and Amazon Prime. The AppleTV is best for my MLB.tv subscription, but the Roku is good because you can add channels to it (you can look at their website to see what is available). You are pretty much stuck with whatever Apple decides to offer you. I think Amazon's new device is similar in that you can't add channels.

As for sports, it's a little weird in that the only local team I can watch for free is the Cardinals because all the other teams are on exclusive contracts with cable. But if you really want to find a game online, you can do it.

I wish the suns would still be on UPN

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I wish the suns would still be on UPN

Hopefully if enough people drop cable, the leagues will have to think twice about showing their games only on cable or really expensive subscription packages.

 

[Chaplin]

The truth is if you find a show that doesn't show ads, one of two things are happening: 1) They've run out of stock -- the contracts these companies have with advertisers dictate a limited number of times an ad can run. If that number is reached, no more ads will run -- or 2) there is a problem with Hulu. I tend to gravitate toward #2.

The problem now with Hulu is not only are they showing as many as 4 ads per break now, they tend to show the SAME ads over and over. I'm no ad executive, but there's a point where over-saturation could become a problem.

 

[BigRedRage]

The truth is if you find a show that doesn't show ads, one of two things are happening: 1) They've run out of stock -- the contracts these companies have with advertisers dictate a limited number of times an ad can run. If that number is reached, no more ads will run -- or 2) there is a problem with Hulu. I tend to gravitate toward #2.

The problem now with Hulu is not only are they showing as many as 4 ads per break now, they tend to show the SAME ads over and over. I'm no ad executive, but there's a point where over-saturation could become a problem.

different shows have different amounts of ads.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Any of you revolutionaries using strictly Hulu as your means of "TV" ?

If so, how has it gone ?

TV providers (whom are in a tough spot, IMO, thus can't blame them) are cutting costs left and right and thus the product is far worse than in time's past, and I am thinking of cancelling my TV service and streaming when I want to watch TV.

It would be financially beneficial as well.

Cancelled my cell phone, and have a work around solution saved me $100.00. Getting rid of DirecTV would save me on average another $200.00 a month.

If I could get my wife to get rid of her cell phone that would be another $100.00 a month.

Thus I could save $400.00 a month by not having a access to a 4G network of any sort, and getting rid of my TV service.

That $4,800.00 a year....nothing to ignore, IMO.

I also cut the cable about 2.5 years ago and will never go back. I use Netflix, Hulu Plus and just signed up for Amazon Prime as well. The $23 a month that I spend or so is so worth it. There is so much TV to watch, or that I can queue that I can't justify ever paying for cable.

If you want to get geeky you could build a very cheap HTPC and use XBMC. The amount of plugins available is insane. "Free Cable" being one of the best. And it's legit, since it pulls the shows from the network sites if I recall.

There are, of course, plenty of "questionable" plugins too. But those are up to you.

I have a HTPC with XBMC. I haven't checked out Free Cable or any of the other plugins. I probably should.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I haven't seen any mention of picture quality differences between the services. Would anyone like to speak to that?

Like, used to watch show X on cable/satellite and now watch on Hulu and looks the same in HD or doesn't.

I've only used Netflix on occasion and for sitcom/drama type stuff it was fine, but action movies and such were blocky messes. The other issue I noticed was the lack of surround sound. Dolby stereo was the max I saw at the time on Netflix.

The picture quality IMO is negligible. It has much more to do with your internet connection than the differences between the services.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Thanks for the responses on the ad's situation I will still probably purchase huluplus just cause they always have good stuff to watch when alone or when having company over always a show someone likes. I like justin tv a lot to that is a good site if anyone hasn't check it out yet be sure to . They have movie channels, tv shows like king of the hill, simpsons etc plus cool chat feature to chat with fans. lol the only time I really watch basic cable at my condo is when the suns or cardinals are on occasionally I will watch the dbacks.

 

[Catlover]

I also cut the cable about 2.5 years ago and will never go back. I use Netflix, Hulu Plus and just signed up for Amazon Prime as well. The $23 a month that I spend or so is so worth it. There is so much TV to watch, or that I can queue that I can't justify ever paying for cable.

I agree. The only thing keeping us on Direct TV is sports and my husband is finally willing to hang it up over his frustration with the Pac-12/Direct TV battle. He's gone two seasons now without his favorite college teams so he has first hand proof that he can live without it. We have Apple, Roku and we just purchased the Amazon Fire streaming device. We have plenty of free time (I'm semi-retired, my husband's fully retired) and Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus and Netflix give us all the choices we could possibly hope for.

 

[JS22]

I agree. The only thing keeping us on Direct TV is sports and my husband is finally willing to hang it up over his frustration with the Pac-12/Direct TV battle. He's gone two seasons now without his favorite college teams so he has first hand proof that he can live without it. We have Apple, Roku and we just purchased the Amazon Fire streaming device. We have plenty of free time (I'm semi-retired, my husband's fully retired) and Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus and Netflix give us all the choices we could possibly hope for.

There are plenty of ways to find the Pac 12 games online if you're OK with going down that route. Same with all sports, really.

Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, XBMC, etc, take care of the rest.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

There are plenty of ways to find the Pac 12 games online if you're OK with going down that route. Same with all sports, really.

Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, XBMC, etc, take care of the rest.

Anyone that has guilt about "illegally" streaming sports, should not feel that way.

We are sold the B.S. that we have a capitalist free market, yet in the same breath you cannot pay to get certain things in said market.

I never asked if a price was too high to pay for a service, I only asked why I am not offered it at all, is what I usually say to companies that have to deal with this madness.

I wanna watch Penguins vs. Flyers, and they want to black it out with no option to pay to watch it ? Fine. I will adapt to the situation and watch it anyway. I would be more than happy to pay for it, but I am not even given an option, so they can enjoy trying to enforce their own madness.

As granny smith says, "That big talk is worth diddly poop."

And in the vast minority of a chance you get called on it, just go court with cash in your pocket and say "You see this money ? [whip out the money] I have it, and I will give it to someone if they afford me the opportunity to purchase it legally."

 

[Chaplin]

different shows have different amounts of ads.

The shows don't dictate the ads. The remaining stock in the "pods" determine how many ads get played.

 

[Catlover]

Anyone that has guilt about "illegally" streaming sports, should not feel that way.

We are sold the B.S. that we have a capitalist free market, yet in the same breath you cannot pay to get certain things in said market.

I never asked if a price was too high to pay for a service, I only asked why I am not offered it at all, is what I usually say to companies that have to deal with this madness.

I wanna watch Penguins vs. Flyers, and they want to black it out with no option to pay to watch it ? Fine. I will adapt to the situation and watch it anyway. I would be more than happy to pay for it, but I am not even given an option, so they can enjoy trying to enforce their own madness.

As granny smith says, "That big talk is worth diddly poop."

And in the vast minority of a chance you get called on it, just go court with cash in your pocket and say "You see this money ? [whip out the money] I have it, and I will give it to someone if they afford me the opportunity to purchase it legally."

I don't think I have the right to take what doesn't belong to me. Where does that rationalization stop? Is it only with the non-physical items such as on-line viewing or do you feel you have the right to help yourself to anything you want if the owner won't provide it to you at a reasonable price? I don't question anyone's judgement on this for themselves but I definitely take issue that we should all jump in, guilt free.

 

[BigRedRage]

The shows don't dictate the ads. The remaining stock in the "pods" determine how many ads get played.

It seems to me that the older the show is, the less ads it shows where when I watch a show that just aired 2 days ago it has 3-4 per break

 

[BigRedRage]

I don't think I have the right to take what doesn't belong to me. Where does that rationalization stop? Is it only with the non-physical items such as on-line viewing or do you feel you have the right to help yourself to anything you want if the owner won't provide it to you at a reasonable price? I don't question anyone's judgement on this for themselves but I definitely take issue that we should all jump in, guilt free.

I dont like to watch tv on my computer, navigate shady sites or etc so I just watch what is provided over the air or on my subscription services.

 

[JS22]

Anyone that has guilt about "illegally" streaming sports, should not feel that way.

We are sold the B.S. that we have a capitalist free market, yet in the same breath you cannot pay to get certain things in said market.

I never asked if a price was too high to pay for a service, I only asked why I am not offered it at all, is what I usually say to companies that have to deal with this madness.

I wanna watch Penguins vs. Flyers, and they want to black it out with no option to pay to watch it ? Fine. I will adapt to the situation and watch it anyway. I would be more than happy to pay for it, but I am not even given an option, so they can enjoy trying to enforce their own madness.

As granny smith says, "That big talk is worth diddly poop."

And in the vast minority of a chance you get called on it, just go court with cash in your pocket and say "You see this money ? [whip out the money] I have it, and I will give it to someone if they afford me the opportunity to purchase it legally."

I'm just adding the "decide if you want to go that route" line as a disclaimer, really. I'm not going to directly post any links but there are sites that have HD quality streams of the Pac 12 Network, as well as others. WITHOUT the barrage of ads and attempted malware installations.

Myself? I get my sports fix by hooking up a Slingbox and renting an additional cable box @ my parents house. If anyone has family members that aren't cutting the cord and don't mind an extra cable box being hooked up, it's an option. As strange as it seems.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I don't think I have the right to take what doesn't belong to me. Where does that rationalization stop? Is it only with the non-physical items such as on-line viewing or do you feel you have the right to help yourself to anything you want if the owner won't provide it to you at a reasonable price?

.....first, Good question, great topic. I will get on my soapbox, but please that is all it is. Nothing directed at you.



When did I say reasonable price ?

I will take the offer at ANY price. That is the point. If I am not even given the option to pay then why should I feel guilt ?

Case in point, DirecTV says it is too expensive to carry a channel, I say, that is not for DTV to decide. Tell me the price, and I will decide if I want to pay it. At that point, if I really want to watch said game, then I pay said price, and how "reasonable" it is, is relative to my want. All I ask for is the option.

I don't question anyone's judgement on this for themselves but I definitely take issue that we should all jump in, guilt free.

Good point.

It is not at every opportunity that I would even personally condone said actions, they are actually few and far between.


#1 - Where I agree is in music, movies, etc. I don't illegally jack movies, and music. Because if I don't pay for it, then no more new music and TV stuffs can be made.


#2 - Where I don't is, when saying fair and reasonable, that is relative (and this goes beyond my knowledge and understanding of pricing goods, BTW). When a company gouges people for money knowing they have leverage is that good or bad ? Is it any worse than when the leverage switches from the manufacturer to said consumer and they then take advantage of it ?

I don't know, but an average person is going to take advantages of opportunities, regardless. Personally, sometimes I do, but most times I don't

What I do know is that Hockey Center Ice, and the NFL ticket are VERY expensive and I pay for those because that is the product I want, thus have no problem pay for it.

I still buy DVD/Blue Ray for a movie, and music, again WHEN AVAILABLE, I pay for, ALWAYS. There have been times with music where the album is just not available and the only way to get it is jack it off the web. Rare, very rare, and I hate doing it but it is in fact, the case.

Thus the games I jack from the internet are always the ones that I have no other option for. Furthermore, to say that is "stealing" is not exactly true. How can I steal something that I am wiling to pay for but is not offered to me in any way, shape or form ? Is it stealing, or is it providing myself with a service that no company wants to provide for me otherwise.

If none the bread makers won't make and sell me bread, am I am bad person from making my own ?

It is a question of ethics, and as you said it is relative to situations, and if some people want to abuse the availability I am not going to judge. But there are repercussions from taking things for free that require money to produce.

And I could even go on and on and on, and on from there, when talking about ethics since there are very little left in the world, especially when talking about money, but I think I made some kind of point in there.....at least I tried to.

 

[Catlover]

.....first, Good question, great topic. I will get on my soapbox, but please that is all it is. Nothing directed at you.

When did I say reasonable price ?

I will take the offer at ANY price. That is the point. If I am not even given the option to pay then why should I feel guilt ?

Case in point, DirecTV says it is too expensive to carry a channel, I say, that is not for DTV to decide. Tell me the price, and I will decide if I want to pay it. At that point, if I really want to watch said game, then I pay said price, and how "reasonable" it is, is relative to my want. All I ask for is the option.

And if Direct TV says great we'll offer every channel we can get our hands on but in return we'd like you to run your business the way we want... BTW, you do have the option if you truly mean at any price. Just buy Direct TV.