IGX

Anyone have any experience with it? I want to get away from a cable/satelite bill.

TIA

If you use Hulu, look into an HTPC. Hulu will view it as any other computer and give you access to their "web only" content.

tough old man wrote:Anyone have any experience with it? I want to get away from a cable/satelite bill.

TIA

I have no personal experience with it, but I have a friend that uses it, streaming content from his laptop and an HD antenna (for local channels). He loves the combination for a small fraction of the cost of his cable bill.

I've got a Roku 3 and I dig it - I run (or have in the past) Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO Go, MLB.tv and UFC.tv through it. It also has a Plex client available, so I set up a Plex server on my desktop and run less-than-legal media through the Roku to my big-screen - pretty much anyone can do this, installation and setup is trivial.

Wound up ditching Hulu Plus, I only used it for Criterion Collection content. I'd rather just restart Netflix discs or pirate than put up with their shitty service and ads.

Roku is the cat's ass. I've had it for a couple of years. Netflix, Amazon. All movies I want.

You have to consider it: you probably want local TV news. Where do you get it? Also, you might need certain sports, like NFL, NBL, NHL.

MLB.tv is great, but if you're in the broadcast territory of your favorite team, you can't watch their games live.

Yeah, I'm lucky to be a Giants and Red Sox fan in Texas. When Darvish is pitching and I want to watch, I use mlb.tv on my laptop via VPN, but it's not a great solution.

milosz wrote:I set up a Plex server on my desktop and run less-than-legal media through the Roku to my big-screen - pretty much anyone can do this, installation and setup is trivial.

Are you accessing the less-than-legal content through the VPN you mentioned in another post? If so, which one are you using? I've thought about setting up a VPN on our HTPC for a few reasons, but I haven't even gotten around to researching my options at this point.

Usually, yes, especially with public trackers. I use Private Internet Access - ~$25/year, installable versions for Windows/OS X/Linux if you don't want to go through the networking settings yourself. Speeds are very good for US servers - I can't quite saturate my 50mbps connection but almost.

Overseas nodes aren't nearly that fast but still pretty good - I can watch UFC events via ufc.tv using the German connection at 480kbps without buffering, I've watched some BBC/ITV/Chan4 stuff using UK connections.

Since you're using it on a HTPC, there's the added bonus of being able to get the Netflix libraries from the UK or Canada (if your connection speed gives you high enough quality for a TV).

The alternative to VPN for acquiring the less than legal stuff is a seedbox (such as whatbox.ca) - more expensive but you download things super fast, then you connect to your seedbox and download the files directly over a secure connection. No VPN needed, will still keep you from any legal issues.

Some folks with more tech knowledge than me use seedboxes for streaming - essentially their own mini-Netflixes. I prefer to just put files on a 2TB HD in my desktop.

I have a Roku and an Apple TV. Apple TV is generally an improvement since it hooks up to iTunes as well as any iOS device.

Hooked it up today. Pretty damn cool.

A little late, but google just released its chromecast. getting good reviews. cheap and easy to use.

I did consider it but Roku was rated significantly better