Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 3)

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Aloha fellow Islanders!

Well it is time for dessert here on "No-Pay-TV" Island!  Welcome back to Cut the Cord Survivor!  If you have just arrived, you can start at Episode 1 here.  Our challenge for today:

Episode #3 - Enjoying dessert:  premium streaming TV and rentals

In the previous two episodes we have combined both broadcast TV and free internet TV to try and "kick" our pay-TV habit.  While the two together may make a nearly complete entertainment "meal", we can't skip what I consider the best part.  I'm referring to watching premium movies and streaming TV.  I don't know about you, but I really enjoy movies.  In fact, I probably watch movies more than broadcast TV or anything else.  Movies are my dessert and I love dessert!

So, what kind of Movies are available to cord cutters?  While you can certainly find quite a few among the free sources we just went over, it is a pretty slim selection.  In this episode we open up our pocketbooks a bit and consider some pay services that deliver movies and premium TV.

Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 2)

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Aloha fellow Islanders!

It is so nice to see so many eager faces here on "No-Pay-TV" Island!  Welcome back to Cut the Cord Survivor!  You can find the previous Episode 1 here.  Our challenge for today:

Episode 2:  Foraging for free Internet TV

For those of you who just joined us, we are on this Island to isolate us from the evil temptations of Pay TV. Over the past week we have learned to survive on a simple, yet nutritious diet of free broadcast TV.  It literally is in the air all around us.  Contrary to your fears, we have not starved!  We have discovered high quality television, news and sports (all for free).  Hopefully we now appreciate that we were paying for content that was simply repackaged by the Cable and Satellite Companies.  Getting mad yet?  Good!

But wait, I see some unhappy faces in the growing crowd.  I'll bet some of you are tired of the same meal every day.   Ready for a little more variety?  Great!, the challenge for today is to find free Internet TV.  Why free?  We'll get to pay Internet services soon enough.  You've paid for Cable bills for years; now it is time to see what is available for free (you've earned it).

A couple of announcements first.  First, our Island is in the US territories, so you'll find mostly US content reviewed below.   Hopefully our International visitors will hang in there until sharing content cross borders is no longer a problem (read more about that problem here).  Second, we are looking for free content, not illegal content.

We'll also be skipping Kids and Sports content for now.  Each of those easily deserves their own dedicated Episode.  All you need is broadband and a computer to start the hunt!

Now let's head off the beach and let's see what our Island offers!

Amazon Video On Demand - Another resource to cut the cord!

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Amazon has been offering movie rentals for download and purchase for some time now.  Originally branded as Amazon unboxed, it is now called Amazon Video on Demand.

One of the major concerns people have when cutting the cord is getting access to the content that they want to watch.  Amazon has quite a substantial library of Movies and TV shows to choose from and even offers them in HD (for specific players).

Being a Netflix subscriber, naturally I am really interested in comparing the two services.  One nice thing about Amazon is that they occasionally offer promotions and freebies.  As part of my project with 3-D and my Media PC, I ordered Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs BluRay 3D, about a week later Amazon sent me a $4 Video on Demand credit.  I completely missed the "Special Offers" section below my order (next time I'll look more carefully for these gems!).

Cool, a chance to play with Amazon VOD for free!  I was actually surprised by what I found and think it is yet another great resource for people who want to cut the cord.

I'll go over what I found and some of the nice features (as well as the problems).

What is your favorite media player on your Media PC?

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When it comes to building a Media PC, one of the choices you will need to make is what software you use to play back your video files.  One nice thing about Windows 7 is that there are a number of excellent ones available.  However, you should be aware that there are lots of differences between players.  More importantly, there are very good reasons why you might select one particular player over another.  Some of these include:

• Format compatibility (ability to play BluRay, handle high-definition audio, or provide ISO support)
• Integration with your Media PC software (e.g. Windows Media Center)
• Compatibility with your IR remote (making playback couch friendly)
• Ability to switch TV modes (so videos look good full screen)
• Flawless play back (no dropped frames, or stuttering audio)
• Special playback features (e.g. subtitles, easy menu navigation, etc)
• Video enhancements (upscaling, deinterlacing, etc.)
• Cost

If you want to dive into the technical details of video players (e.g. formats, codecs, post-processing and hardware acceleration) this is an area of literally endless tweaking and experimentation.  There are great resources on the web that can help you (avsforum, guru3d, etc), but this is a tough road to travel.  If you have time to kill, you've found the right hobby.

However, for most of us, all we want to do is play our videos!.   If this is you, I'll share my secrets to getting things to work with a minimum of fuss.

Media PC - Setting up place-shifting and remote access

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I just got back from a vacation, and one of the things that I should have done before leaving is write this article.  Had I done so, I would have had full access to my Media PC while we were out of town.  Nevertheless, we did still enjoy Netflix (as long as we were in the US).   Now that I'm back, I'll share with you how you can enable place-shifting and remote access for your Windows 7 based Media PC.

While a DVR allows you to time-shift, place-shifting is the term coined for enjoying your recording programs (or live TV) in another location.   You might want this ability if your Media PC is in one room and want to watch it's content somewhere else (like in another room or even across the Internet).  Also, you probably want to be able to change your recording schedule from a remote location as well.

I used to have a Slingbox for our Cable DVR that allowed us to watch and control it when away from home (or even from another room).  This came in handy for vacations or watching TV in bedrooms.  Now that I've cut the cord, I want that functionality back.   Unfortunately, this isn't included in Windows Media Center, so I needed some add on programs.

I've been playing with Remote Potato (for remote access), and Orb (for place-shifting and Live TV streaming) and really like them.  There are also other ways you can do this (like remote desktop that I'll cover briefly).  I'll also touch on what you can do if your Media PC happens to be sleeping when you need to access it.

How do you cut the cord - outside the US?

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I think that the combination of broadcast TV (with the recent US conversion to digital TV), and the growing availability Internet video (Netflix, Hulu, etc), makes cutting the cord a really viable prospect for many people.  However, I live in the US and realize that cutting the cord might be an entirely different experience in other countries.

I've been meaning to look into (and write about) this for some time, but this issue became personal on our recent vacation to our east coast.  Netflix and Hulu are great sources of entertainment when you are staying in hotels and don't want to deal with the limited TV programming.  This worked perfectly for us until we crossed the border into Canada.   All of a sudden (as shown above), Netflix wouldn't work anymore.  I knew about this issue, but nevertheless it still came as a rude surprise.

Netflix streaming - watch out for the differences!

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Since one of the main ways I watch content after I cut the cord is via Netflix streaming, it is worth reviewing the different ways to do this.

First of all, there are now lots of different devices (and multiple ways) you can watch streaming Netflix content (more seem to be showing up every day).  For the latest supported devices, check out Netflix's list here.

The surprising thing is that each device offers a slightly (or significantly) different UI and set of features.  This is important because choosing the wrong device could leave you disappointed with what is really an outstanding service.

I happen to have a few devices on hand to compare that highlight some of these differences:

1. Windows 7 Media Center on my Media PC
2. FireFox browser
3. Nintendo Wii
4. Boxee's Netflix app
5. Samsung BD-P1600 (and LG BD300) BluRay Disc players
6. Sony PlayStation 3

Let's take a look, starting with what I think is currently the best, all around couch friendly interface.

Note that you can have multiple simultaneous streaming devices in your home depending upon your Netflix plan (up to a limit of 6 activated devices).  HackingNetflix provides some helpful info here.  This is a fantastic feature and one that helps solve the problem of having "TV" in multiple locations in the house.

I'll go over each device/method and list the pros and cons that I've found.