Can't have satellite in our mini-house - surrounded by mountains. Neighbor suggested Hulu Plus and we don't know anything about it. We have fast internet and a wire/wireless router. Many questions... Can we get our favorite channels- Westerns for DH, HGTV, Food, History, PBS etc.? Can we tape shows to watch later? Will we be overwhelmed by ads?
Will appreciate any comments.
The Bear II said
10:18 AM Aug 24, 2015
It's getting to the point where you can get almost any TV station, TV show, Sporting Event, Movies, Music & other entertainment as long as you have internet speed.
There are devices you can buy that either connect to your TV or Computer that provide access to streaming media like Hulu, Vudu, Netflix, Sony, and lots more. Google Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire, Sony Media....etc Here's an article: www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/best-tv-streaming-devices/
Most of the broadcast stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX..etc) have added content to their website which allow you to access programs over the internet. Many of the streaming media like Hulu, Vudu, Netflix also have the TV programs available.
The bottom line.... with the right combination of devices you can get most of what you want to watch. You'll need to research which devices and streaming services provide the content you want. Then the fun begins because it's not just as simple as changing channels, you may need to change devices, move from one website to another or login with a username and password to go from program to program, Movie to Movie.
You have lots of options, the Technomedia couple that post on RV-Dreams is a good source to help you decide what you need.
BiggarView said
10:42 AM Aug 24, 2015
Adding to Larry's comments... the difference in available options is changing so fast, who knows what will be available in just a very short time span. Don't get locked into one technology. Sooner rather than later it will all work seemlessly together.
Brian
NWescapee said
04:28 PM Aug 25, 2015
We use Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime for streaming some shows / movies, works well when we're in an area with good Internet connectivity. You stream the shows, not tape them to play later with the various Internet options.
Where we tend to get overwhelmed with commercials and sometimes causes the bandwidth to appear to run really slow is when we stream shows from the actual networks, such as CBS.com. It seems like all the graphics used in commercials slows down the feed much more than just a regular TV show.
The drawback to those options is you won't get local channels, so no good way of watching the local news unless you are streaming from a local channel.
Terry and Jo said
07:22 PM Aug 27, 2015
If these systems are using data on your internet plan, you may find yourself needing a high data amount. Otherwise, if you go over your data plan's limits, it could become expensive with streaming.
Terry
BiggarView said
07:05 AM Aug 28, 2015
At first we thought we would need satellite for our TV viewing needs once we hit the road, but as time goes by we are getting comfortable with using some or all of those (satellite TV) budget funds to buy additional internet bandwidth instead. Our rationale is threefold, one , the price of internet bandwidth is dropping like a stone, two, the internet providers' coverage is getting stronger with each passing day, and three, there just isn't enough good content on TV these days to justify buying the whole package. Plus we have Amazon Prime so most of our TV shows can streamed from them for free, essentially, albeit waaaaaay after the fact... we can live with that. If we are out in the boonies somewhere I can't imagine TV being a priority anyway, so if we can't find a source... be it OTA, satellite or streamed via the internet....meh. There's always AM radio. It ain't TV, but it is free. We also have Josie TV... always entertaining
Can't have satellite in our mini-house - surrounded by mountains. Neighbor suggested Hulu Plus and we don't know anything about it. We have fast internet and a wire/wireless router. Many questions... Can we get our favorite channels- Westerns for DH, HGTV, Food, History, PBS etc.? Can we tape shows to watch later? Will we be overwhelmed by ads?
Will appreciate any comments.
There are devices you can buy that either connect to your TV or Computer that provide access to streaming media like Hulu, Vudu, Netflix, Sony, and lots more. Google Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire, Sony Media....etc Here's an article: www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/best-tv-streaming-devices/
Most of the broadcast stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX..etc) have added content to their website which allow you to access programs over the internet. Many of the streaming media like Hulu, Vudu, Netflix also have the TV programs available.
The bottom line.... with the right combination of devices you can get most of what you want to watch. You'll need to research which devices and streaming services provide the content you want. Then the fun begins because it's not just as simple as changing channels, you may need to change devices, move from one website to another or login with a username and password to go from program to program, Movie to Movie.
You have lots of options, the Technomedia couple that post on RV-Dreams is a good source to help you decide what you need.
Adding to Larry's comments... the difference in available options is changing so fast, who knows what will be available in just a very short time span. Don't get locked into one technology. Sooner rather than later it will all work seemlessly together.
Brian
Where we tend to get overwhelmed with commercials and sometimes causes the bandwidth to appear to run really slow is when we stream shows from the actual networks, such as CBS.com. It seems like all the graphics used in commercials slows down the feed much more than just a regular TV show.
The drawback to those options is you won't get local channels, so no good way of watching the local news unless you are streaming from a local channel.
If these systems are using data on your internet plan, you may find yourself needing a high data amount. Otherwise, if you go over your data plan's limits, it could become expensive with streaming.
Terry
At first we thought we would need satellite for our TV viewing needs once we hit the road, but as time goes by we are getting comfortable with using some or all of those (satellite TV) budget funds to buy additional internet bandwidth instead. Our rationale is threefold, one , the price of internet bandwidth is dropping like a stone, two, the internet providers' coverage is getting stronger with each passing day, and three, there just isn't enough good content on TV these days to justify buying the whole package. Plus we have Amazon Prime so most of our TV shows can streamed from them for free, essentially, albeit waaaaaay after the fact... we can live with that. If we are out in the boonies somewhere I can't imagine TV being a priority anyway, so if we can't find a source... be it OTA, satellite or streamed via the internet....meh. There's always AM radio.
It ain't TV, but it is free. We also have Josie TV... always entertaining
FWIW, Brian