[TriLUG] cut the TV cable

[Dewey Hylton via TriLUG]

i cut the cable and went with appletv way back when, rooted it and installed my own stuff and used xbmc on it for a while, but quickly tired of the hassles incurred due to having rooted the thing. 

i then bought a roku on sale for next to nothing, installed plex on my computer and pointed it at a bunch of music and movies, and have never looked back. that was several years ago. i now have a machine dedicated to storing the videos/music (omnios with zfs and nfs/samba), and a virtual machine running plex on linux which is pointed at the nas. it's a fantastic setup for my needs.

i have a roku3 connected to the main stereo/tv, the roku stick plugged into the hdmi port of a small tv in the playroom for the kids, and my first (older) roku is at my parents' house for when the kids have over-nighters. the stick is dead simple, and streams everything via the plex client right over our wifi without a hiccup. when i drop the kids off with the parents i give them a usb thumb drive to plug into the side of the roku that contains their favorite movies/whatever that the roku can play with its built-in media player. i take the one from the living room with us when we travel and do the same - movies on thumb drives.

the netflix, amazon, pandora, youtube and other apps (all free) work great on the roku. but plex is what i use the most, because that's how i get to my movie/music collection.

i upgraded to the roku3 because of rare stuttering when the older roku played bluray rips. the roku3 handles high definition and passes dd/dts signals with ease. but possibly my favorite feature is the new remote - i can plug my headphones right into the remote, and watch a nice loud war movie at 2am without anyone even knowing. the roku is smart enough to send mix the audio down to stereo for your headphones and automatically mute the audio which would normally go to the tv/stereo.

for my money, roku (and plex!) is the way to go. 

----- On Jun 29, 2015, at 10:27 PM, Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion trilug at trilug.org wrote:

Your first step should be to buy a Roku and try it. It is a very low risk
and high reward purchase decision. Roku is very simple and just about zero
maintenance. You can buy one or maybe two Roku boxes for the price of a
month if cable.  It costs nothing thereafter. You would only pay for
channels like Netflix, which if you already have, then just plug in
username and password.

As you likely already know, Netflix has  many commercial free seasons of
good stuff to watch. Pandora is great for music and Amazon typically has
most things, for a price, that you might not find on Netflix, such as new
movies. The picture and sound quality has always been great with Roku for
us. We do have high speed internet though.

I tried a few other Roku channels, which seemed a waste of time. So I
deleted all the other Roku "suggested" channels to eliminate clutter.

If you are a huge sports fan, I don't have much advice for that. Maybe use
Twitter to keep track or go to local college events. I have a very athletic
Golden Retriever who provides outstanding ball fetching entertainment. Let
me know if you need a puppy :-)

We gave Chromecast a try but had bad experiences. Maybe we had a bad unit
that froze up a lot. Youtube on Roku is not a great experience either. You
must sign in to your Google account constantly and punch in a code using a
remote with only arrow keys.

I cut the Cable cord a long time ago and I don't miss it. Although, people
will ask, "hey did you see that commercial...?", it is awkward dealing with
people who want to carry on a conversation about commercials.

I only wish there were competitive ISPs in Apex. TWC will be a distant
memory for me when that day comes.

Jeremy Davis
trianglecareerdevelopment.com
On Jun 29, 2015 8:19 PM, "MR-pootr via TriLUG" <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:

> _Any comments or advisors come to mind for this soul?_
>
> "We have decided to "cut the cable" on Time Warner TV. Recommendations
> please
> for a home media specialist. I am seeking someone to help us define what we
> need and how to do it. We will keep the internet connection. We will stream
> and use Netflix and Pandora. We don't watch much commercial TV.
>
> "We are not interested in Apple TV. I envision a PC with a big hard drive
> and
> appropriate LAN and HDMI connections to support a TV and audio system. We
> have a LAN and wireless setup. Our portable devices are Androids.
> Requirements:
>
> "Support online services like Pandora and Netflix
> Support Internet access for streaming from sites like PBS.org
> Store and play music collection
> Interface with a 5.1 (or higher) audio/tuner system
> Play DVDs
> Play CDs
> Use tablet/phone as remote control, keyboard, touch, etc.
> Use a standard, well-supported software package
>
> "I am looking for someone who is not a salesperson, already having a bias
> towards his or her product line. "
>
> --
> Michael Rulison
>         919 782 9576 (landline with answering machine – preferred )
>         919 205 9168 (mobile phone)
>         3256 LEWIS FARM RD, RALEIGH  NC 27607-6723
>         SKYPE mver22 (but not active continuously)
>
> --
> This message was sent to: Jeremy Davis <jeremyhwllc at gmail.com>
> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to trilug-leave at trilug.org from that
> address.
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-- 
This message was sent to: Dewey Hylton <plug at hyltown.com>
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