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Hulu a viable alternative to DirecTV?

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Sonikku

Sonikku

Lifer
My mother is going through some financial hardship and needs to cut back so I was looking into ways to save her some money. She lives solely on her SSI that only gives her $850 a month and it goes fast. She was paying over $100 a month for Hughes net to provide her crappy satellite internet and phone service, I talked her into a $15 a month landline service Verizon offers to low income households and $15 a month internet from Time Warner that would probably ironically have lower latency and have no caps compared to the Hughes net. (I'm going to buy her the modem to spare her the awful $8 lease fee)

But she's also spending like over $100 a month for DirecTV just for the standard package and DVR. No HBO, Starz, anything fancy. This seems crazy to me as she mostly watches ABC, CBS and sometimes food network. But I can't talk her into just going with basic cable or OTA or giving up the dvr. She can't go back to not being able to rewind or record television. So now I'm looking at netflix/roku/Hulu all kinds of stuff to see if I can find something to fill the gap for less than a Benjamin a month. But the thing is I don't know ANYTHING about this stuff other than it's streaming and they do shows and movies and what not. I have googled some of the broader details, but I don't know any of the quirks or pitfalls or other things to bear in mind when seriously considering a service like this.

Any suggestions?
 
Well, the internet plan she is going to get is pretty slow, so, not sure how good streaming will be.
In this case, it would be better to do OTA, and maybe Amazon for their shows. I think that would be about the cheapest way to go, but again, not sure about the quality of the stream, and you won't be able to record stuff (OTA) without a device as well.
 
Hulu alone may not do it for her depending on how much she watch's TV. I have Netflix & Prime plus OTA. I really don't care much about TV anymore and sometime even I can't find anything I want to see.
 
I have Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon. I find myself using Crackle (free) more often than Hulu. Hulu sucks - it's packed full of crap. I need to cancel it.
 
Without knowing the speed of the TW service is tentatively say Netflix is the option here. If it's a 5mb connection she should be good. 3mb and she'll see some buffering and loading for HD shows. Should still work pretty well though.
 
Have you checked the obvious to see how much the base package from TW would cost given that she is getting internet service from them? I have to think it would be cheaper than having DTV for TV and TW for internet. I have FIOS internet and DTV and could save myself a nice chunk of change to go all in with Verizon but sadly DTV locked up the NFL package for the foreseeable future.
 
What about combining OTA with a DVR to record stuff? TWC might offer a basic cable package with DVR too, with the internet, it'll all be cheaper than the DTV alone.

From what it sounds like, you wouldn't be able to just go with Hulu. She'd still want access to what would be seen OTA. But a DVR + OTA tv and a Roku with a Netflix or Hulu subscription would probably work out well.
 
Brainonska511 said:
What about combining OTA with a DVR to record stuff? TWC might offer a basic cable package with DVR too, with the internet, it'll all be cheaper than the DTV alone.

From what it sounds like, you wouldn't be able to just go with Hulu. She'd still want access to what would be seen OTA. But a DVR + OTA tv and a Roku with a Netflix or Hulu subscription would probably work out well.
Click to expand...

This sounds like it's getting really complicated. She's an old woman almost in her 70's who some Hughes net rep had her convinced their satellite internet was just the bargain of the century over a landline. I am trying to keep it (reletively) simple for her. I can look into just getting her a time warner tv package too. I'm wary of them mostly because they seem really excited about loading up the fees. If not that, is there any wiggle room in negotiating with diretv on lowering her bill?
 
What you need is a used TiVO with lifetime subscription from Amazon.

Not sure if this is the right model:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000RZDBM2/ref=olp_page_2?ie=UTF8&startIndex=10

But there is a used one there with lifetime subscription for roughly $125 shipped. Anyone should be able to operate a Tivo, and she can simply record shows from local networks with an antenna.

Add in Netflix for other viewing, and she'd easily save $90 a month ($100 minus the roughly $10 for Netflix). Throw in Amazon for more content.

If she is low income, any sort of cable package is going to be a waste IMO. Just internet and OTA programming is really all you need to stay entertained.
 
Sonikku said:
This sounds like it's getting really complicated. She's an old woman almost in her 70's who some Hughes net rep had her convinced their satellite internet was just the bargain of the century over a landline. I am trying to keep it (reletively) simple for her. I can look into just getting her a time warner tv package too. I'm wary of them mostly because they seem really excited about loading up the fees. If not that, is there any wiggle room in negotiating with diretv on lowering her bill?
Click to expand...
That's why I suggested the basic cable and dvr option. She'd get internet and have a simplish device to watch TV with (I personally have this type of setup with RCN). Roku and internet things could work, but that may be complicated for her. Only you can decide what level of complexity she can handle.
 
OTA antenna in the attic, + SlingTV ($20 a month)

Sling has a free trial period, so she can try it out and see if her internet connection is good enough
 
NuclearNed said:
OTA antenna in the attic, + SlingTV ($20 a month)

Sling has a free trial period, so she can try it out and see if her internet connection is good enough
Click to expand...

FWIW, I have used Sling... not worth the cost. No DVR like function for current shows. Re-airs of old shows could be worth it to some. Seems like their speed is weak. I have no issues streaming Netflix/Amazon, but get buffering frequently with SlingTV.
 
mvbighead said:
What you need is a used TiVO with lifetime subscription from Amazon.

Not sure if this is the right model:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000RZDBM2/ref=olp_page_2?ie=UTF8&startIndex=10

But there is a used one there with lifetime subscription for roughly $125 shipped. Anyone should be able to operate a Tivo, and she can simply record shows from local networks with an antenna.

Add in Netflix for other viewing, and she'd easily save $90 a month ($100 minus the roughly $10 for Netflix). Throw in Amazon for more content.

If she is low income, any sort of cable package is going to be a waste IMO. Just internet and OTA programming is really all you need to stay entertained.
Click to expand...

Fry's has a new one for $50 on sale today only for 38. Would this do the job, or is there a wide disparity between models?
 
Don't father monthly fee. That's why he suggested used with a lifetime sub. The service is tied to the box in this case.
 
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