Cut The Cable? Connected Devices and Blu-ray Players Explained
I have long been a fan of the quality and content that the HD Guru posts and their detailed look at connected appliances are no different. I could replace my HTPC for the most part with Hulu plus and Netflix on my HTPC or even my PS3 for that matter.
However, I am not quite ready to cut the cord quite yet. I have yet to see how I can easily cut the cord without having to battle several different interfaces and having to drag out the keyboard and mouse. A PVR seems like a much simpler if not more expense way to catch the shows I want to watch. As well, we can’t forget about the visual quality delivered via cable as opposed to stream. However, if you are willing to brave the new-ish frontier, I am sure that this guide will help you out.
While digital media receivers have been around for a while, their functionality and popularity has really just taken off recently. Apple haters can hate all they want, but the Apple TVis a huge boon to the market. Priced at $99, it’s the only DMR that can access the iTunes Store and your entire iTunes library. It also has access to Netflix.
Apple TV… Why?
Why do I want to pay iTunes? Apple TV is worthless! (unless you run the patch for Boxee! But even Boxee sux now after Hulu has blocked it again!) Buy a Roku… Chaneru will share your precious iTunes library and if you really want to pay for content, you can use Amazon VOD. And if you’re extremely partial to giving the Evil Apple your money, you can just purchase from iTunes and it will show up on Chaneru… I’ll stick will my HTPC w/ win7! Nothing else has as much options!
I agree with scott, the best
I agree with scott, the best thing that I ever did was to “cut the cord” with itunes. I now use Zune, which I love. Seriously, the zune pass for $150 a year might be the best deal ever. As for content, I like AMazon VoD, netflix, etc. It will get better when Hulu plus will appear on Boxee and the like. But the main reason that I will never be able to cut the cord is sports. If I can’t have the Bulls, Sox and Hawks, I’m sticking with Comcast.
Cutting the Cable
Pretty good article but it seems like a few things are missing in the charts, like last FM, zune pass, ESPN. I cut the cable and so far I dont miss a thing, I use boxee, netflix, Hulu desktop (which is nothing special, but it works) and OTA all on my HTPC. I would really like to use my xbox for ESPN, but TW sucks. I will admit I do miss the turning on of the TV and watching discovery channel in HD, or the history channel. I am going to miss the new Brewing show with dogfish which is fine by me considering the cost savings.