getting rid of dish network for online streaming?

[Aylee]

So our two year contract on dish network is about to run out in the 11'th of next month. We were thinking of streaming shows off the internet (computer > hdmi > tv) Anyone have any experiences with it? Any good websites? icefilms kinda died on me scene megaupload went down.

If i decided to go this rout i would need a 20 foot cable to reach tv to pc. Found this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Anyone know if its good or of a cheaper one?

[Cephius]

Sites that aren't legit are going to have pretty crappy quality. Icefilms is as good as it gets, but it still leaves a bit to be desired. You might be better off getting a Netflix sub if all you want to do is stream shows.

[Aylee]

Quality isanta HUGE deal. Id like to be able to tell what is going on. I loved icefilms just their selection sucks now that all the megauploads got cut and rapidshare is horrible. would a cheep ass desktop be able to handle it? im talking $300 emachine from walmart. Would it hurt to run the pc 24/7?

[Senji]

I'm not sure what the specs are, but some cheap/hand me down pcs can not push 1080p.

[Kohan]

Quality isanta HUGE deal. Id like to be able to tell what is going on. I loved icefilms just their selection sucks now that all the megauploads got cut and rapidshare is horrible. would a cheep ass desktop be able to handle it? im talking $300 emachine from walmart. Would it hurt to run the pc 24/7?

Are you afraid of building your own? If you never have built a computer before, do you have any skills in another field related to putting sensitive components together to build a final result? Putting a PC together isn't too hard, and you could buy a more powerful one for your specific needs if you purchased parts separately. Since it won't be used for anything else (e.g., gaming), you can focus on what you want to use it for and build it around that. You won't even need to have a whole lot of storage on it if you set up a good network and can stream from other machines in it.

[Aylee]

I could build one no just figured it would be cheaper to buy a shitty one than build one. Also I don't expect to get 1080p while streaming

[Dantrag]

Quality isanta HUGE deal. Id like to be able to tell what is going on. I loved icefilms just their selection sucks now that all the megauploads got cut and rapidshare is horrible. would a cheep ass desktop be able to handle it? im talking $300 emachine from walmart. Would it hurt to run the pc 24/7?

You'd have to buy a better video card than what comes in an Emachine. You want something that will be able to push 1920x1080 without any kind of issues. Unless you odn't have a 1080P tv then I wouldn't worry about it. But something with DVI or HDMI outputs would be preferable.

[hey]

Also I don't expect to get 1080p while streaming

Torrents are great.

[Aylee]

Torrents are great.

streaming causes less hassle from my isp. :/

[hey]

streaming causes less hassle from my isp. :/

Use a private tracker?

[Salodin]

Yeah, for this its prett much torrents or bust atm. I can't think anything you could stream with decency that would be of an acceptable quality when watching it on the tele.

Private tracker/netflix will probably cover and easily replace dish network for you, assuming you don't enjoy channel surfing and finding that random to watch. Honestly, that's what I miss most about directv, I miss out on some shows I know id probably give a chance but don't cause I can't be hassled to torrent it when I have no idea what it is.

[Darus Grey]

Depends on what you like to watch, I feel like people forget about Hulu a lot, pretty much all new nbc/abc/mostfox shows are on there the day after airing.

[Aylee]

i thought about hulu but it seems like nothing is ever on there when i try to watch it... for free subscribers at least. Although I haven't really messed with for more than 5 minutes at a time. I had netflix but dropped them the second they did their price hike

[niwaar]

Yeah, for this its prett much torrents or bust atm. I can't think anything you could stream with decency that would be of an acceptable quality when watching it on the tele.

Private tracker/netflix will probably cover and easily replace dish network for you, assuming you don't enjoy channel surfing and finding that random to watch. Honestly, that's what I miss most about directv, I miss out on some shows I know id probably give a chance but don't cause I can't be hassled to torrent it when I have no idea what it is.

I agree... the streaming sites tend to be really low quality and when watching on a large monitor/screen they just aren't worth having them as your "only" option. Netflix on the other hand, really does not add enough on a weekly or monthly basis to really be worth the streaming cost in my opinion. I recently canceled mine because I had watched everything that I was interested in and I really can't be bothered with "new episodes" of some random British reality show or badly dubbed anime they just added. Bigger movies just dont get streamed until they are on basic cable so you are better off just going down to the grocery and Redboxing them for cheap or torrenting a decent version through a private tracker.

Depends on what you like to watch, I feel like people forget about Hulu a lot, pretty much all new nbc/abc/mostfox shows are on there the day after airing.

I recently tried Hulu+ and actually think its worth the money. Yes it has its flaws. You still get commercials even though you are paying for it. There are some shows that still are "web only" (I stream to my tv and not through a PC like you are going to.) Yet, NBC, ABC, Fox, CW and all their subsidiary cable net shows are there. ie ABCFam, Syfy, USA, Bravo, FX. I am still at a loss why a CBS owned net like CW signed a Hulu deal and CBS refuses, but thats beside the point. With an antennae you can watch CBS, with Hulu+ you can watch just about the rest of television (and some webshows).

[Darus Grey]

Yeah, imho hulu+ is pretty much a cable/satellite replacement, you miss out on some of the really niche content, but in exchange get some REALLY niche content..(mexican and korean dramas...access to the funimation catalog, etc).

[Aylee]

I might give hulu+ a shot then, ty for all the input how much is it a month btw?

[Kohan]

I could build one no just figured it would be cheaper to buy a shitty one than build one.

For what you want, you would probably be much happier if you built one.

I threw this together quickly enough, and it comes to under $400 (as I deliberately went a little higher than $300):

http://amzn.com/w/24BQLHAXE6LO2

It doesn't include an optical drive, but since you're mostly concerned with streaming, I didn't consider that important. However, DVD drives are less than $20, if you want one. Blu-ray drives are definitely more.

Naturally, if this was something I threw together quickly, you can go cheaper if you want. Note that this shopping cart is almost 100% Amazon-shipped items that qualify for Free Shipping, too. It should give you an idea of how easily you can accomplish this.

[hey]

That's definitely overkill for an HTPC. 4 gb of ram is far more than enough, let alone 8. With current hdd prices, you could also save a fair bit going with a smaller one, as long as you don't mind only being able to hold a year's worth of tv shows on it instead of two. Alternatively, skip the hdd entirely, run linux from a $10 usb drive, and store your downloads on a networked pc. You could also probably save $30-40 or so on the cpu, and still be able to handle 1080p 10 bit video with flac audio. You should have no trouble getting to/under $300.

[Kohan]

It is overkill, but I built it that way on purpose, as it emphasizes how you can cheaply build something so much more powerful than a pre-built rig. For under $400, that would handle absolutely anything you threw at it, and without a hitch.

As you mentioned, you can go smaller. A quad-core isn't even needed, for example. You could get an old and powerful dual core. On top of that, some HTPCs only have 2GB of RAM, if not less. You don't need to buy an operating system, as you can use a free offering, and the list of possible cuts goes on and on.

I wouldn't say that they should get anything less than that PSU, however. Unfortunately, you're not going to be able to save much on the HDD, either, as going smaller will only shave off $10 or so at the moment. I agree with the concept of streaming things over a network, as that was mentioned earlier, too, and if they do that, the USB drive OS option you've mentioned is perfectly viable.

[Aylee]

Wow didn't even realize. At this point I think ima use another desktop I already have and try it out for a bit and if I end up liking it I'll be back askin for of builds for a dedicated pc to stram from lol tyvm for the help