Watching TV for free online

[MiikeB]

As of today if you have an xbox 360 and netflix you can put all there instant stream content on your TV directly through your 360. I am watching National Treasure 2 in HD right now and it is pretty nice. Requires you (or your kid) to have Live Gold and any netflix plan other than 1 at a time 2 a month.

[tripods68]

ssshhh...don't tell my boss. But from time to tome, I tune in hulu.com to watch my favorite TV show "House" i missed the night before.

[kork13]

haha 'House'... definitely one of the few TV shows I really like... lol

[CrazShop]

I know this topic has come up before, but I just wanted to mention it again.

We love the ABC show Pushing Daisies. Last night, we were all out and none of us thought to record it. So tonight, I just set up the laptop in our sitting room, dimmed the lights, went to abc.com and watched the episode. It was free. It had just a few short commercial breaks. It was on our schedule and the picture and sound were perfect, which isn't always true on the TV, even with cable.

Since our sitting room stays warmer than our family room, I think we may be doing more of that this winter when we want to watch something together.

Another nice option is that when we are traveling, since most hotels provide free internet access today, we can watch a show or movie of our choosing when we are in the room, rather than being limited to what might be on TV at the time.

If you are looking for free TV options, check fancast.com, hulu.com and the websites of the individual networks (abc, cbs, nbc, etc.). Also, if you have a Netflix membership, you can also go to their site and they have a whole library of shows and movies that you can watch instantly on your computer.

I agree to a degree...the computer will never replace the TV as far as I am concerned. Lets gather around the computer isn't as convenient and also TV screens have better pictures with the advent of HDTV's and just the size of the screens. I don't know many computers that go upwards of 50 inches plus. I do watch shows on hulu only when i forget to tivo the show. the picture quality is a step down from a broadcast...i disagree with you there cable pictures are not that unreliable. also the sound of the computer's fan cooling itself after an hour episode is annoying. the ability to watch anytime is nice but most cable providers have on demand shows for showtime shows, hbo and such. for the others most boxes today have the capability for dvr so i see you point to a degree but its not like the other option is archaic.

[disneysteve]

I agree to a degree...the computer will never replace the TV as far as I am concerned. Lets gather around the computer isn't as convenient and also TV screens have better pictures with the advent of HDTV's and just the size of the screens. I don't know many computers that go upwards of 50 inches plus. I do watch shows on hulu only when i forget to tivo the show. the picture quality is a step down from a broadcast...i disagree with you there cable pictures are not that unreliable. also the sound of the computer's fan cooling itself after an hour episode is annoying. the ability to watch anytime is nice but most cable providers have on demand shows for showtime shows, hbo and such. for the others most boxes today have the capability for dvr so i see you point to a degree but its not like the other option is archaic.

I know numerous people who have given up cable and now watch TV only online. My niece is one of them. I think if you interview a bunch of 20-somethings, you'd find it more common than you might think.

This being a saving site, you can't beat the cost - free. We don't have a large screen. We don't have HDTV. We don't have premium digital on-demand cable. We don't have a DVR. We don't believe in spending money for all of that stuff.

As for picture quality, we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. We have a very nice Toshiba Satellite laptop and it definitely has a better quality picture than our TV. Some sites, like ABC, even offer their shows in high def now, though I haven't tried that. Our internet connection isn't fast enough and I don't really see the point anyway.

The computer's fan is a non-issue. We haven't noticed or been bothered by it at all. My partner's Dell has a very loud fan, though, so depending on the computer, I could see that being a problem.

I don't think the usual way is archaic and I don't think it is going away. I just think the online method is a very good one. In fact, I just read something in Business Week that gave the growth in users for Hulu.com. I don't remember the exact figure, but it was quite large.

[KB24]

thanks for sharing. this is great!

[SavingGuru]

sounds like a really good idea - might give it a try myself!

[brianj]

I didn't even know a person could do this. Thanks

[Inkstain82]

I didn't even know a person could do this. Thanks

If you need any tips, just ask.

If you want to go purely legal, hulu.com and the various networks' sites should give you a ton of stuff to watch.

I keep up with House, 30 Rock and The Simpsons on Hulu, plus you find some real hidden gems from the past (Dilbert cartoon series!).

I watch Pushing Daisies from the ABC.com web site.

[Christophercarl]

Hulu.com is great. Definitely my personal favorite

[disneysteve]

Maybe someone here can solve a problem I'm having. We have a Netflix membership so we can do the "watch instantly" stuff at home. When I try to do it, though, I get an error message that our video driver isn't up to date, or something to that effect. I've got Windows XP and Windows Media Player 11, which I believe is the current version. I don't know what else I need to do to make it work. I've done it on my office computer (which is older) and it works fine. Any computer gurus here who can suggest a fix?

[noppenbd]

Maybe someone here can solve a problem I'm having. We have a Netflix membership so we can do the "watch instantly" stuff at home. When I try to do it, though, I get an error message that our video driver isn't up to date, or something to that effect. I've got Windows XP and Windows Media Player 11, which I believe is the current version. I don't know what else I need to do to make it work. I've done it on my office computer (which is older) and it works fine. Any computer gurus here who can suggest a fix?

Try this (make sure you are connected to the internet first):

1) Right click on a blank area of your desktop, and select Properties.
2) On the "Adapter" tab, click "Properties".
3) On the "Driver" tab, note the name of your Video card and manufacturer, and click "Update Driver".
4) Click "Next". If the Wizard finds an update, follow the prompts to install it. If not, select "Cancel". You can also go to the manufacturer's website, go to the Support section and look for a driver for your specific card. Let me know if this is required and I can help you look.

[disneysteve]

Try this (make sure you are connected to the internet first):

1) Right click on a blank area of your desktop, and select Properties.
2) On the "Adapter" tab, click "Properties".
3) On the "Driver" tab, note the name of your Video card and manufacturer, and click "Update Driver".
4) Click "Next". If the Wizard finds an update, follow the prompts to install it. If not, select "Cancel". You can also go to the manufacturer's website, go to the Support section and look for a driver for your specific card. Let me know if this is required and I can help you look.

I tried the initial steps last week with no luck. I just got around to taking the next step and going to Intel's site today and DID get a new driver downloaded and installed and IT WORKS!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I thank you and my family thanks you. Now we another choice of things to watch on the computer and we can catch up on some TV stuff we've missed.

The free TV sites (fancast, hulu) are great, but tend to only have the most recent 3 or 4 episodes of shows. Netflix often has them all.

[noppenbd]

I tried the initial steps last week with no luck. I just got around to taking the next step and going to Intel's site today and DID get a new driver downloaded and installed and IT WORKS!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I thank you and my family thanks you. Now we another choice of things to watch on the computer and we can catch up on some TV stuff we've missed.

The free TV sites (fancast, hulu) are great, but tend to only have the most recent 3 or 4 episodes of shows. Netflix often has them all.

Glad I could help!

[feh]

When we ditched satellite TV earlier this year, we really missed having a DVR. So, I bought a tuner that feeds video to a Media Center PC, which is hooked up to our HD TV. In other words, one of the video sources for the TV is a PC. Think of it as having your regular PC desktop displayed on your TV.

I did this not just for the DVR functionality, but the writing seems to be on the wall that more and more content will be delivered over the internet in the future. The PC also has internet access, so any content available on the web can be viewed on our TV (in high def, if available).

It works really well. hulu.com is really handy, and more and more live streams are available every month. I watched the election results on the MSNBC feed, without having to pay for satellite or cable.