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If you don't have an Xbox, there are also a host of new devices that provide Wirless PC to TV connections. So, you can hook your laptop up to one receiver, your TV to the other, and you are streaming Hulu video and movies from the Internet to your television. They are discussed at www.WirelessPCtoTv.net. See

I wouldn't use a X-Box 360 anywhere near this setup until Microsoft finally fixes the red ring issues. I am on my fourth X-Box and it might be my last. I also have a PS3 and it has been with me thru nearly all of my 360 red ring problems.

I imagine there's a lot more folks who have PCs than game consoles. Using your PC, it's easy and affordable to connect the Internet to your TV: PCTVCables.com

I already stripped the digital services from Comcast. I watch the network shows in HD with basic cable, and I don't miss the rest. I have Netflix, and stream to Xbox 360 daily with no red ring. Everyone knows that Microsoft fixed the red ring over a year ago, but PS3 fans keep bringing it up.

Well, guess what will happen to your cable costs when you drop TV completely? Yes, the cable companies will get their money one way or another.. doesn't matter how smart you think you are.

Drwehn if you want to subsidize the Golf Channel you are free to do so. Basic Cable, Expanded Basic, Digital Cable (multiple levels), and Premium (multiple levels) channels all designed to extract maximum amounts of money from the customer. Studies show most people watch an average of 16 channels so they should pay over $100 for that service? I let the cable companies know they were pricing their services too high so what did they do? They sent another rate increase. I thought about this issue for a long time. The fact is Comcast immediately started calling after I dropped their extra services to give me another teaser rate for a few months. On top of that Comcast dropped the prices of two of their Digital packages $5 each so they are seeing the writing on the wall. One common way the personal finance experts recommend to lower expenses is to eliminate bundled services which include expensive add-on's that are rarely needed. I am still a Comcast customer for internet service and basic cable, but my cable bill is now 50% less. If Comcast wants to try to raise my rates more then the next step is to remove Comcast. That is market forces in action.
Message was edited by: smax013

The tv through your pc process is not ready for this level of hype. I tried it and all I did was waste the money. It didn't work I live in a mountainous area where the tv signal is weak or non-existent without cable. All I got was static. I canceled cable for a few months and relied on Fancast, Hulu, Fox on Demand, etc., But these web tv sites are subject to the whims of the networks, No Law and Order, no Mad Men. Definitely no Dr. Phil or Oprah! No American Idol or So you think you can dance. Often all they have are clips and interviews with the cast members.or blogs. Boring, annoying. For some shows, you can see only previous seasons. For the kids channels you see episodes of one or two shows; the rest is clips and teasers. I resent the cable companies as much as anybody, but the fact is that basic cable - which would mostly bring me all the tv shows I mentioned - costs around $15 a month, and 250 channels, including a&e, bravo, noggin, nickelodeon, oxygen, sports, every kind oif music station, etc. etc. cost $30 or $40. TV is for relaxation. Until the tv to pc process becomes a lot more reliable, I'm going back to cable, thank you.

Totally agree... I was paying for Cable and all of it's fun stuff (DVR and Phone) for $130 a month. I started using my Cell phone almost exclusively and wasn't watching as much tv as I thought, so I dropped everything but Internet. Next bill showed up at $62 for Internet that I was paying only $40 for previously. I still don't get $62 worth of internet performance though (I get 3-5mbs, and this is after they supposedly bumped us to 8mbs downstream).

One aspect not discussed here or elsewhere is image quality. HD streaming is starting to become the norm, but the definition for HD has a great deal of variation. For example, I can go to www.apple.com/trailers and watch movie trailers on my computer that look better than DVD or Blue-Ray movies on my TV. If go to the Bill Moyers Journal on YouTube.com and display the HD version on my TV the image quality is so low that it is uncomfortable to watch. The same applies to 60 Minutes and the Daily Show. This topic deserves a little clarity.

Time Warner has realized that their cable television service is slowly dying and have responded by attempting to set up tiered pricing to gouge all of us who are switching to Web TV programming. Expect more of this.

Nothing in this article makes sense unless American Internet users demand more than ten times more bandwidth at one quarter the price or less. That would put us on par with countries like Japan and South Korea. Even that level of increase just puts us on par. We should be demanding multigigabit bandwidth for free or at cost from a non-profit public utility that would replace current ISPs. We the technical community and the media to develop a vision of a super connected America. Otherwise, we will be leapfrogged again by the rest of the world while we watch fuzzy little TV pictures on our cobbled together PC/TVs.

The networks and cable companies are in control. Predictably they will fight to their last breath to keep tv to pc from working well. Whether it is picture quality or content availability, the options are still so often inferior or so inconvenient to get to that the process is not ready for primetime, and I'm reluctantly sticking with cable.

I have unplugged my cable. I use Netflix, especially instant viewing, Hulu and other software.

I bought PLayOn software to link my online resources to an xbox driving my best TV. This software simply SUCKS. It doesn't work, the authors KNOW it doesn't work. You can rewind a moving, pause it, or even start over again!

In fact, when you write to them, here is what they tell you to do AND IT STILL DOESN'T WORK:

"When this happens, try going to your PC browser at www.netflix.com and resetting that particular video to the beginning. Then try again through PlayOn."

The fact is, Microsoft media Extensions werve you far better on XBox than Playon Software. This is a warning: do not buy PlayOn. It will never work right, IMO.

tenney67, on 22 May 2009 - 05:41 PM, said:

The PS3 can also connect to PlayOn, IMHO. And it really is PlayOn that this article is talking about, isn't it? ROFL!

free2speak, on 24 May 2009 - 05:40 AM, said:

For what, Smax? Profanity? Personal information? Self-promotional links? Either way, I'd like to know.