People who "cut the cord"- Do you regret it?

[z1ggy]

..nope, I meant Netflix. I can neither confirm nor deny the 64TB RAID6 array in my media server and/or the existance of AnyDVD HD + MakeMKV + PS3Media server. And since it's all on a 64-bit entropy non-boot mounted TrueCrypt container, neither can anyone else.

DVD comes in, DVD goes out - how does it work?

1 PS3 and 3 Roku's in the house with 3 LED panels and a 120" Diagonal projector screen in the basement with reclining home theater seating and 2500w of 7.2 awesome.

Amazon Prime + HBOGo + Netflix + internet connection is all I will realistically ever need.

I'm hard sir.

 

[Virge_]

I'm hard sir.

Even better is they're all AV-GP drives so they don't have the TLER timeout (error correction) and can simultaneously stream up to 8 concurrent streams @ 180mb/s. Entire house is wired for Ethernet and patched into a 24-port gigabit dell managed PoE switch, so I ended up selling my NVR and using the media server for the PoE IP cameras, also..

My basement server room has a few beasts in it, including an untangled UTM device. I've had quite a few people visit my house and realize they weren't being fed ads on their phones/laptops and I had to explain to them how the UTM device handles that on the router-side. I haven't had to install adblock in years!

 

[purbeast0]

no way i could ever "cut the cord". i watch too much stuff on cable channels like nat geo, animal planet, discovery, a&e, tru tv, espn, fx, csn, tnt, comedy central. the dvr just makes it much easier to watch all of it too so i can set it and forget it then watch at my leisure.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Never heard of FireTV.

I would want to be able to playback files I torrent, and have the ability to go on fox.com and play shows that they have up from nights before. I just checked Tv Fool to see what stations I could get OTA. With just a regular indoor ant. I'd probably only get 3 maybe 4 channels. I'd need to get something beefier if I want others. So.. Not sure if I want to go that route or not.

I've generally been okay with going on comedycentral or fox's website to catch old episodes I've missed. Yes I generally have to watch the commercials and BS too, but it's free.

XBMC is the best local file playback GUI on the market, and depending on the shows you watch I bet you can find a plugin to make the entire streaming experience you do now become remote driven.

 

[SAWYER]

No regrets other than wish I did it sooner

XBMC plus video add ons=no need for cable/satellite

I have ZERO interest in flipping channels. I watch certain shows and that is it

 

[Printer Bandit]

Anyone have a raspberry PI home theater setup?

 

[evident]

i live in philly area, and it's totally not worth it to cut the cord if you NEED high speed internet AND a land line. from both comcast and fios, i would only end up saving about $15 bucks a month, and spend a lot of hassle trying to find pirate feeds of sports events and downloading basic cable shows. my cable bill is cut to the core. basic tv with only a cable card ( i have a hd home run prime) and i pay about $79 a month.

 

[squarecut1]

I am thinking of getting Fire Tv just for Xbmc. Not sure if the add ons work alright on it though.

 

[smackababy]

no way i could ever "cut the cord". i watch too much stuff on cable channels like nat geo, animal planet, discovery, a&e, tru tv, espn, fx, csn, tnt, comedy central. the dvr just makes it much easier to watch all of it too so i can set it and forget it then watch at my leisure.

Pretty much this. Even if I was okay pirating everything I want, it is just not convenient enough. I'm sure I could set up some kind of script service that monitors the big named pirate groups and automatically start any torrent they release from certain shows, but why bother? I am going to have to pay for cable internet anyway, so I am not saving a ton of money.

 

[shortylickens]

I swapped it for FIOS.
Not unhappy at all.

 

[z1ggy]

Okay I'll read up on XBMC more today.

Kind of an embarassing question to ask but.. How can I tell if a mini-ITX mobo I'm looking for comes with wireless onboard? I don't want to have to buy a separate PCI card so I can use wireless internet with it.

 

[Virge_]

Okay I'll read up on XBMC more today.

Kind of an embarassing question to ask but.. How can I tell if a mini-ITX mobo I'm looking for comes with wireless onboard? I don't want to have to buy a separate PCI card so I can use wireless internet with it.

Wireless networking will be very specifically stated in the specifications.

If it's not there, it's not there.

 

[smackababy]

Okay I'll read up on XBMC more today.

Kind of an embarassing question to ask but.. How can I tell if a mini-ITX mobo I'm looking for comes with wireless onboard? I don't want to have to buy a separate PCI card so I can use wireless internet with it.

Should be listed in the specs of the MB.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Haven't had TV service since 2007.

I have internet-$50

I use nutflix, roku 2 and amazon prime. I'm thinking of checking out the chromecast.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Okay I'll read up on XBMC more today.

Kind of an embarassing question to ask but.. How can I tell if a mini-ITX mobo I'm looking for comes with wireless onboard? I don't want to have to buy a separate PCI card so I can use wireless internet with it.

If you want to go the XBMC route the best cheap option is a Chromebox, unless you have extra mini ITX parts laying around. I build my HTPCs but that is my hobby. Otherwise a Chromebox has cheaper parts.

Best thing is put XBMC on another system and try it with the best plugins:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1P-4iW_WU

 

[stormkroe]

Ouya, xbmc, hubwizard. $99 of heaven.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I am thinking of getting Fire Tv just for Xbmc. Not sure if the add ons work alright on it though.

Some have issues, maximum compatibility is on x86.

 

[z1ggy]

Should be listed in the specs of the MB.

Ah yes I see that now. Only see two mini-ITX boards with built in wireless. Must not be common?

Could I just plug one of these into a USB port of my HTPC to get wireless? Or would I need a dedicated PCI card like this?

If you want to go the XBMC route the best cheap option is a Chromebox, unless you have extra mini ITX parts laying around. I build my HTPCs but that is my hobby. Otherwise a Chromebox has cheaper parts.

Best thing is put XBMC on another system and try it with the best plugins:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1P-4iW_WU

Yeah I plan on downloading it to my main desktop tonight and play around with it. Can it downloaded & run from Playstation network or anything?

 

[SAWYER]

As soon as I can confirm the add ons I use work on Fire TV xbmc I am buying one and selling my jailbroke atv2

 

[HendrixFan]

I love the casual sports watchers chiming in. "Oh, you can watch the game OTA or go to a bar!" Sorry, but I watch every game. Even if I only watched one per airing, that is Thursday night, Sunday morning, mid day, night, and Monday night. Sure, let me just head on over to the local bar for 12 hours. Plus, even if I go to a bar, if the Bears aren't playing the Cowboys, I miss the Cowboys. They always have the local teams on.

Basketball? Yeah. Enjoy spending every night of the week at the bar if you want to watch the playoffs.

I haven't had cable in a decade but I've gotten the NBA league pass broadband package. I don't miss any games ever, and I can replay any of them throughout the season. I don't even have to be home to catch a game.

 

[ponyo]

Chromebox is the way to go for cheap XBMC. $179 and you can dualboot ChromeOS and OpenELEC. And all the video plugins work. I use PS3 Bluetooth remote to control XBMC. Highly recommended. I'm selling all three of my jailbroken AppleTV2. Chromebox does it all.

 

[squarecut1]

I have not been able to find any decent quality live sports add ons for xbmc. The ones that I have come across are very bad quality

 

[smackababy]

I haven't had cable in a decade but I've gotten the NBA league pass broadband package. I don't miss any games ever, and I can replay any of them throughout the season. I don't even have to be home to catch a game.

As far as I know, NBA League Pass and the accompanying other sports packages are only available through a cable provider in the US.

There is really no alternative to NFL Redzone if you're not a subscriber to a TV service.

 

[preslove]

XBMC is the best local file playback GUI on the market, and depending on the shows you watch I bet you can find a plugin to make the entire streaming experience you do now become remote driven.

This is my remote

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wirel.../dp/B00ENZRP0G

 

[z1ggy]

Chromebox is the way to go for cheap XBMC. $179 and you can dualboot ChromeOS and OpenELEC. And all the video plugins work. I use PS3 Bluetooth remote to control XBMC. Highly recommended. I'm selling all three of my jailbroken AppleTV2. Chromebox does it all.

I've been thinking about this, too. I'm totally new to this though, can you elaborate?

Edit: And I'd assume I'd plug in chromecast into my Onkyo receiver, and not my TV right? Otherwise, I won't get my nice 5.1 audio output.