Watching the TV on the Gaming Console?

[SharonDee]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

| PlayOn | Watch Hulu, CBS.com, MLB.tv, Netflix, and more on your TV with PlayOn!

Yeah, that's the one I tried. Didn't want to pay for it so I bailed.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

We set it up so we can easily hook up the laptop to it when we need it. The cables will live there permanently, and we will make a decent spot for it on the component rack if/when we ever get one.

La Boite Concept Unveils High Fidelity Speaker System For Laptops - Born Rich

[freemonkey]

glad to see this topic, we just got notice from Netflix that our cost for renting DVDs is going up so we need t find an alternative. They offer the streaming package for way less $$$. But we don't have a gaming system, and the laptop we have is several years old. Also, our TV is actually a big monitor and has no tuner in it.

That Roku dedicated streaming box looks good, does anyone here know anything about them?

[lisarea]

I don't use it myself because we have a PS3, but my brother has had the Roku for a while, and he loves it and recommends it to everyone all the time.

We aren't using the DVDs much lately, so we might go rent a few things that aren't available streaming, then downgrade to the streaming only some day. OTOH, it's only another $2 a month for the one at a time vs. streaming only, so I dunno.

[viscousmemories]

One of my co-workers swears by Boxee (software, he doesn't have the box), but I don't know much about it.

[freemonkey]

Yeah, so I ordered my Roku box yesterday and plan to downgrade my Netflix account just in time to read that Comcast wants to make it either impossible or very, very expensive for me to do this.

I fucking hate Comcast. Have I ever mentioned that before? I think our only other option for high speed internet would be satellite, but I have not kept up on any of this in recent years so maybe we've got some DSL available. Neither of our TV's have tuners in them, so would I still need to get some kind television package, or do they make external tuners?

[LadyShea]

OTOH, it's only another $2 a month for the one at a time vs. streaming only

We have the 10.00 package from Netflix, unlimited streaming and 1 DVD out at a time. It works pretty darn well and beats the crap out of driving 5 miles to the Redbox (stole my money once) or paying 5.00/movie at Blockbuster.

They amaze me how fast the mail time is for the one DVD too, I can still manage 2-3 DVDs a month easily they are so fast.

[lisarea]

It's not likely that this will directly affect you right now. The wrangling is all between Comcast and L(3), so they're very unlikely to charge you more individually. L(3) is a major backbone provider, so the cost would be spread out among all kinds of subscribers and services.

This is going to be where the first big public net neutrality showdown will happen, though.

[freemonkey]

I still hate Comcast. I also hate Qwest for not putting DSL in my neighborhood yet. They probably have a deal with Comcast.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by lisarea

This is going to be where the first big public net neutrality showdown will happen, though.

Sadly enough, this is probably true. Net neutrality was something that only uptight nerds cared about UNTIL THEY CAME FOR MY TEE VEE!

[lisarea]

I know it makes me a p. bad person, but I get a little bit about things like that sometimes. People need to listen to me the first time I tell them stuff, even if they think it is boring! ESPECIALLY IF IT IS BORING!

Easy streaming video--Netflix specifically--is a disruptive technology that's likely to change cable significantly if not eventually kill it, and the fact that the same companies often provide both the medium for the disruptive technology AND the technology being disrupted is going to make this blow up p. big p. soon.

The one good thing is that I think people will cry about it really hard, so they won't be able to get away with as much as they can when those same people think what they're doing is boring.

[LadyShea]

Well, I can't leggo the satellite because there is no Internet outlet, that I can find, for sports. Hubby was all whining about how selfish I am because all my and Kiddo's shows are available via Hulu and DVD and stuff but not his precious sports.

I am waiting to see what Google TV is all about anyway, I saw the Apple TV box at the Apple store already.

[Ensign Steve]

That's the main reason we still have satellite, too, is for live sports.

This season we learned that our provider has a deal with ESPN where we can stream games live online (and with our highly technical hook-the-laptop-to-the-tv rig, we can watch them on the big screen) which is awesome for games that are not shown in our area, like Steelers. But of course if we got rid of our satellite, we'd lose that deal, too, so not real helpful.

[lisarea]

Lack of sports does not affect me in a negative way, so I fail to see why that is a problem for anyone.

I'm OK with just Netflix streaming and the occasional DVD, but I also SHOULD be able to be streaming a bunch of other stuff through Clicker on the PS3, except that so far, the only thing I've gotten to work is TED talks lol. Everything else so far doesn't recognize the stupid PS browser.

Someone really needs to come fix that for me.

I'm actually thinking about just putting together a dedicated media box out of mostly junk for the time being, and then, if the proof of concept works OK, then I could make it fancier.

But really. Someone come over and make this stupid Playstation do what it's supposed to.

[PGTweed]

Get a PC to TV converter. If your PC or Laptop doesn't have TV out. Surprisingly, I can record Netflix movies on my DVD Recorder in acceptable quality. However, trying to record Netflix movies on the DVD Recorder using XBOX 360. The Macrovision won't allow recording and depending on the router to the XBOX 360, the Netflix movies can be interrupted very frequently. To record with the XBOX 360 you will need a Video Stabilizer or known by its illegal name a Macrovision Buster connected between the 360 and the Recorder. The PC to TV converter is great for watching youtube, hulu, guba, dailymotion, vimeo and any other video websites.

[freemonkey]

Got my Roku box today and set it up in about 5 minutes. So far, so good, with the exception that the wireless signal seems to get dropped depending on where the Roku box is. It took me a few minutes to figure that out because the screen just goes black, no "hey, you got too much shit between your router and me" warnings.

I think that was the problem, anyway.

[lisarea]

OK. I have decided I'm gonna mess around with a media center, but I'm still not sure which. XBMC, MythTV, or Boxee?

I'm not in any hurry, and it's probally gonna be a little while before I even get around to it, so this should give Adem time to set up and test all three and report back.

AdTHANXvance!

[freemonkey]

t also gives more time for more options to get on the market to make your decision even harder.

BTW, as it turns out, I found that it wasn't the wireless signal getting blocked. The HDMI cable starts to come out every time I move the Roku box.

[lisarea]

Yes hello.

There is a new version of XBMC out, which is what I am currently leaning toward, now even more than I was before.

Also, when I was getting the Xmas ornaments out yesterday, I found a Commodore Plus/4 under the box, so you guys should probably get started making me up some instructions for converting that to an HTPC. If it's too much work to write up the instructions, though, I guess I could mail it to you and you could just do the conversion then mail it back. I will pay for the postage, so it shouldn't be any trouble.

[ceptimus]

SYS 59468 is the command you need. The rest should be obvious.

[Ensign Steve]

We spent the weekend at some friends' and they have a Boxee so guess what we are probably going to have in the near future.

[Ymir's blood]

A monkey?

[Ensign Steve]

[Qingdai]

Two monkeys?

[Ensign Steve]

Now you're just being silly!