Just bought a SmartTV...???

[nick__45]

First of, I never owned a TV or home phone and rely exclusively on computer and cellphone to save money. But the time as come for me to own a TV because of advancement in technology to allow me to be entertained for much lower cost. So I got a very nice TV but have no plan to get Disk Network or cable. Therefore, I am here to ask what people get for their TV entertainment for cheap.

1) Anyone use Netflix stream? How good is it as far as using it from a SmartTV with built-in WiFi capability?
2) What about Hulu Plus?
3) Anything else out there to watch via TV using my high-speed internet for free or cheap? I heard about these free HD TV channels that are free but I never had a TV so I have no clue what/where they are.

Thanks.

[MonkeyMama]

Our TV does not have wifi, and we have been using a roku box to get more functionality - two rokus; newer one is wifi. (I don't think we could stream all of the following to our TV without a roku box, but maybe you can. We only streamed youtube and netflix directly to our TV, before we bought roku boxes).

1 - Netlfix streaming is phenomenal. My spouse is uber picky about his TV quality (will watch nothing less than Blu Ray), but he has no complaints about it. We do have fiber optic/super high speed internet, which probably helps. It's no blue ray quality, but the fact that he is okay with it speaks volumes about the quality. Netflix streaming is the primary reason I finally got my spouse to cut cable.

2 - We just picked up the following antenna for over the air waves (network TV, public television): Amazon.com: RCA ANT1500 Superior Flat Antenna (White): Electronics
You may need an antenna of some type, but they are really small and inexpensive, if you can get reception with them. Older antennas will not get all the HD channels - will want to make sure it gets both UHF and VHF. (We had to replace our old antenna).

3 - Hulu Plus has some issues. I am least impressed with Hulu - out of everything mentioned here. It does not work well with the roku, though it seems to work fine on our tablet and computers. It freezes up all the time and rarely saves your spot. The catch is that you can not watch free internet Hulu programming on a TV unless you pay for a separate add on. It was $3 or $4 a month - we paid $40 for one year. Just more hassle for the *free* content. You get stuck watching commercials on Hulu - way less than network TV, but I don't remember the last time I watched a commercial - maybe 1999. So all around Hulu has a lot of issues. But, worth it for a very few shows we can only get through Hulu (i.e. Daily Show - things you want to watch a little more currently). Shows become available within a few hours of original airing. I think in some instances we have gotten shows before they even aired!

4 - Amazon streaming - we just dropped cable, and Amazon kind of fills in the blanks for what we can not get on Hulu or netflix. If you a buy a season in non-HD it is something like $1.89 per episode. I think it is $2.89 for HD content? Of course, for the long run we will probably get all this stuff on Netflix. We were just in the middle of a couple of great shows when we dropped cable, so have been able to watch the seasons/series through. I believe Amazon has some streaming services as well. When you buy their content, like we have, you KEEP it. & it becomes available a few hours after original airing. The streaming was just not for us (nothing we wanted or couldn't get elsewhere). But you can also buy their streaming service.

There are other free channels, but the content and quality is not that impressive. There is nothing we have found that we would watch.

We literally dropped cable about 2 months ago, so this has been our experience. We bought a TV with internet connection last year and so got a free trial of Netflix, and it was way more impressive than we imagined it would be. Definitely start with a free trial and see how it works for you.

[nick__45]

Our TV does not have wifi, and we have been using a roku box to get more functionality - two rokus; newer one is wifi. (I don't think we could stream all of the following to our TV without a roku box, but maybe you can. We only streamed youtube and netflix directly to our TV, before we bought roku boxes).

1 - Netlfix streaming is phenomenal. My spouse is uber picky about his TV quality (will watch nothing less than Blu Ray), but he has no complaints about it. We do have fiber optic/super high speed internet, which probably helps. It's no blue ray quality, but the fact that he is okay with it speaks volumes about the quality. Netflix streaming is the primary reason I finally got my spouse to cut cable.

2 - We just picked up the following antenna for over the air waves (network TV, public television): Amazon.com: RCA ANT1500 Superior Flat Antenna (White): Electronics
You may need an antenna of some type, but they are really small and inexpensive, if you can get reception with them. Older antennas will not get all the HD channels - will want to make sure it gets both UHF and VHF. (We had to replace our old antenna).

3 - Hulu Plus has some issues. I am least impressed with Hulu - out of everything mentioned here. It does not work well with the roku, though it seems to work fine on our tablet and computers. It freezes up all the time and rarely saves your spot. The catch is that you can not watch free internet Hulu programming on a TV unless you pay for a separate add on. It was $3 or $4 a month - we paid $40 for one year. Just more hassle for the *free* content. You get stuck watching commercials on Hulu - way less than network TV, but I don't remember the last time I watched a commercial - maybe 1999. So all around Hulu has a lot of issues. But, worth it for a very few shows we can only get through Hulu (i.e. Daily Show - things you want to watch a little more currently). Shows become available within a few hours of original airing. I think in some instances we have gotten shows before they even aired!

4 - Amazon streaming - we just dropped cable, and Amazon kind of fills in the blanks for what we can not get on Hulu or netflix. If you a buy a season in non-HD it is something like $1.89 per episode. I think it is $2.89 for HD content? Of course, for the long run we will probably get all this stuff on Netflix. We were just in the middle of a couple of great shows when we dropped cable, so have been able to watch the seasons/series through. I believe Amazon has some streaming services as well. When you buy their content, like we have, you KEEP it. & it becomes available a few hours after original airing. The streaming was just not for us (nothing we wanted or couldn't get elsewhere). But you can also buy their streaming service.

There are other free channels, but the content and quality is not that impressive. There is nothing we have found that we would watch.

We literally dropped cable about 2 months ago, so this has been our experience. We bought a TV with internet connection last year and so got a free trial of Netflix, and it was way more impressive than we imagined it would be. Definitely start with a free trial and see how it works for you.

Big thanks MM. We're watching youtube streaming now. It is so great to be able to just plug the TV with just the power cable and stream stuffs; a lot of which aren't free though. I am going to shop for a good wireless keyboard soon to do searching and stuffs. I can't figure out
where or what browser(s) are available with the TV to do web searching with the TV instead of laptop. This TV is a great investment.

[LuckyRobin]

We do Netflix streaming onto our TV through our Wii and the quality is excellent. Not quite the same thing as you are asking, but it sounds more like you want to know how the picture quality is, so yeah, it's great.

[DRILLINDK]

I've contemplated ending my cable service. What has prevented me from doing so has been that I'm a HUGE news buff..Fox news, CNBC, Bloomberg, sometimes even MSNBC. I think I would struggle with not being able to just channel surf either.

Although, I may give it a try soon.

[disneysteve]

We stream Netflix through our Wii and find the quality to be perfectly fine. I have yet to hook up a computer to the new TV but I plan to do that so we can watch internet stuff on the TV.