Internet TVs

[Billy's Little Trip]

Late to the party. I bought a Sharp Aquas 1080p HD LED 60" wireless about 4 months ago. I moved my 50" plasma to my bedroom where it's easier to cut the light down. Although the plasma looks great and the dark colors so rich, I really like the LED for the no glare and brightness.

BUT, Sharp doesn't have a YouTube app. I didn't think to ask when I got it. I just assumed any wireless could get youtube. But I also needed a blu-ray player, so I got a Sony wireless just for the YouTube app. Like someone said here, if you buy enough wireless components, you are going to get everything you need.

Also Ken, I am too bummed that cable can only deliver 720p. It's better than 1080i, but still can't match 1080p when watching a blu-ray movie. I just don't want to do the dish now that I'm in a condo because they can only go on your patio. And yes, cable needs to cut their prices.

A question to anyone here. I have netflix which can only stream at 720p. But I like to rent movies from VUDU because they get every movie to stream as they become available for rent where netflix is so limited with streaming. VUDU has 3 options. Standard for $3, HD for $4 and HDX (1080p) for $5. I keep renting the HDX because I SWEAR it looks way better than HD. But I'm getting my wireless feed from my router hooked to cable, which is only capable of 720p max. Am I fooling myself and just wasting a buck?

[fluffy]

Cable isn't limited to 720p, that's just all that your cable provider is providing for their digital signal, because they suck. The thing is that Internet-based movie delivery has nothing to do with cable's own delivery options; if Vudu has 1080p streams and you have enough bandwidth to support them (which you will, with cable) then you will get it in 1080p.

Basically, cable TV is on a different "pipe" than your Internet connection (even though it's on the same cable). Point-to-point Internet services don't have the same bandwidth restrictions as wide-distribution broadcast services.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Thanks fluff. See, I knew I wasn't imagining it. Plus, VUDU has a test feature to see if the signal is capable of 1080p and the test said it is. But in the back of my head, I thought they could just be trying to get the extra buck out of me, lol.
But yes, that makes sense now. Odd that Netflix doesn't offer HDX. Maybe because of cost? But they should have the option at least.

[ken]

Funny, I've been too cheap to pay the extra $1 for HDX myself. Do you really think it is worth it?

[fluffy]

I've never heard the term "HDX" before. That's probably a trademarked thing that's specific to Vudu.

Most VoD providers only provide 720p because it looks good enough for most people and takes something like a third of the bandwidth of 1080p, and bandwidth is pretty expensive. That's probably why Vudu charges an extra $1, and why the all-you-can-eat services (Hulu, Amazon prime, Netflix, etc.) stick to 720p.

Honestly, even as a videophile I'm fine with 720p. I mean I can tell the difference between 720 and 1080, but it doesn't really affect my enjoyment of the movie.

[roymond]

Early impressions of the SONY 32" Internet (Google) TV:

- Nice screen
- fucking remote has like a godzillion buttons!
- it doesn't come ready to go...took ~ 4 hours to set up (download system updates, etc.). They have a lot to learn from Apple...still!
- Apple TV looks GREAT on it
- So far it's set up to use my cable set top box rather than the internal tuner (still need TIVO which is a first generation).
- has no video out, so it's one way into the TV
- YouTube (NOVA, TED Talks, POMPLEMOOSE!) looks pretty fucking awesome
- sound is quite good out of the built in speakers

So far, it's nice

[Billy's Little Trip]

Funny, I've been too cheap to pay the extra $1 for HDX myself. Do you really think it is worth it?

It's as good as blu-ray, so I think so. But I'm cheap too, so at 5 bux a pop, I only watch movies that benefit from HDX. Like high action, CG stuff. Transformer, yes on HDX. Midnight In Paris, no HDX.

And I agree, fluf. 720p does look really good. But I haven't seen Planet of the Apes yet because I'm waiting for it on blu-ray and stupid netflix keep pushing it back. If I don't get it by Fri, I'm going to redbox or ponying up 5 bux for VUDU.

[roymond]

Irony?
Watching YouTube through Chrome on the Google TV actually works. The YouTube app...not.

Loving the HD videos of the Police live.

Irony? Stevie Wonder singing "put on the red light" backing Sting.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Roymond, check out Palladia for live music. It's only in the HD. I really love it. Some times during the day it is stuff I don't love. But you can check schedules and DVR the good stuff. They do full concerts in HD and 5.1 surround sound.

For instance, Young The Giant unplugged is at 2am on today's schedule. I'll be DVRing it.

[roymond]

Roymond, check out Palladia for live music. It's only in the HD. I really love it. Some times during the day it is stuff I don't love. But you can check schedules and DVR the good stuff. They do full concerts in HD and 5.1 surround sound.

For instance, Young The Giant unplugged is at 2am on today's schedule. I'll be DVRing it.

OK< this looks cool, but how the fuck do you actually watch the shows? There's no explanation whatsoever on the site, no links, no player, and no apologies aimed at aging technologists who are hungry for the hip.

Other than that...awesome!

[fluffy]

I can't figure it out either. Is this an Internet TV channel or are you confusing cable TV with Internet again, BLT?

[roymond]

Yup, looks like a premium cable channel in my leg of the world

[Billy's Little Trip]

are you confusing cable TV with Internet again, BLT?

Yes, this. Sorry.

[roymond]

So, this morning some nice men from TWCable installed their wideband router and now I get 30Mbps down, 5Mbps up.

Google TV's YouTube app works and streams 1080p video beautifully. Holy crap there's no need to ever leave.

[jb]

So, this morning some nice men from TWCable installed their wideband router and now I get 30Mbps down, 5Mbps up.

Google TV's YouTube app works and streams 1080p video beautifully. Holy crap there's no need to ever leave.

Dude on a 23" TV you don't need anything bigger than 720p. You can't tell the diff.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I still have questions about this internet way of watching tv. It's sounding more and more appealing. I'd love to get my cable bill lower, but I'd hate to lose my fav channels and shows. I may try getting rid of cable tv when the new shows season ends. Just to experiment if I can live without it.

It sounds like I need to have hulu to do this whole watching tv via broadband, is this correct? How do I acquire it? I don't have an app in my tv for it.

What I have:
A Sharp Aquas 1080p wireless tv
cable
linksy wireless router

I know I am connecting just fine because I stream netflix, Vudu, etc.

Now what?

[roymond]

So, this morning some nice men from TWCable installed their wideband router and now I get 30Mbps down, 5Mbps up.

Google TV's YouTube app works and streams 1080p video beautifully. Holy crap there's no need to ever leave.

Dude on a 23" TV you don't need anything bigger than 720p. You can't tell the diff.

I know (and you meant 32"...I know that, too) but the fact that it streams is way cool. Plus, in the app you can't choose the speed once you select a video. There's a rock playlist of 1080p videos that pretty awesome.

[fluffy]

If you ware watching Netflix and Vudu then you are already doing the Internet way of watching TV. "Internet TV" just means getting your video from an online service instead of from your cable box (or antenna).

If there is a particular Internet TV service that isn't available on your TV, you can get another device that adds that in. Hulu Plus ($10/month-ish) and Amazon Internet Video (included in Prime, which is $79/year, although some premium content costs more) are the two that I use the most, and both are supported directly by the Sony Bravia Internet Link, which you can also add onto any system by getting a Sony Blu-Ray player. But there are better ways of getting those, even with other Sony devices (for example, the PS3 has the best Hulu Plus experience IMO, although there's no Amazon Internet Video yet, but that could happen at some point).

A lot of people like Roku boxes for these purposes, although I've never used one myself and I don't know which services they support right now.

[roymond]

AppleTV, GoogleTV, Boxee, Roku, various SONY items...these give you things like youtube, NetFlix, etc. Some play better than others. If you can get your favorites on NetFlix, Hulu or iTunes, then you're set. They won't be live though...at least not yet, unless you get HBOgo, which gives members live online access.

If you're lucky, you can grab uncompressed HD over the air with a good antenna (if you're really lucky, a crappy antenna will do). That would give you all the networks, and possibly many additional digital channels (each "old" channel now supports up to 4 digital channels, so there's 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 instead of just channel 4).

The Google TV also has Chrome browser built in, so surfing other sites and videos, etc. is actually quite painless.

[fluffy]

If you're lucky, you can grab uncompressed HD over the air with a good antenna (if you're really lucky, a crappy antenna will do). That would give you all the networks, and possibly many additional digital channels (each "old" channel now supports up to 4 digital channels, so there's 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 instead of just channel 4).

OTA HD is still compressed, it's just not compressed as much as cable.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I do have a wireless Sony blu-ray. So that gives me more.

A lot of people are getting the Apple box. One time charge of $99. I just don't know how that would help me since I have two wireless devices that pretty much cover everything.

[roymond]

If you're lucky, you can grab uncompressed HD over the air with a good antenna (if you're really lucky, a crappy antenna will do). That would give you all the networks, and possibly many additional digital channels (each "old" channel now supports up to 4 digital channels, so there's 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 instead of just channel 4).

OTA HD is still compressed, it's just not compressed as much as cable.

Correct, but it's not compressed for transmission purposes. details, details...