Tuesday, September 28, 2010

TV via Internet

Recently I decided to save some money and not pay for cable/satellite TV.  This has also made me more alert of Internet alternatives like Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon VoD, etc...  These services continue to have an increasing amount of valuable content, which makes them very attractive.  One of the largest downfalls to these services is that there is not a good central location that you can go to access them.  This makes watching TV very cumbersome and requires users to be somewhat tech savvy.  

I have been paying attention to Apple TV, Google TV, Roku, and the PS3.  Each set-top box offers most of the above services, and some services are implemented better than others.  I have been most attracted to the Roku boxes because they are affordable and they offer Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and more.  The ONE service they are missing, that I want, is Hulu. Recently streamingmedia.com reported that Roku boxes will indeed be receiving a Hulu channel soon.  When and if this happens, it will make a Roku box #1 on my list of set-top boxes.  This would allow you to get practically everything you could possibly want for about $20/month (Netflix+Hulu Plus subscriptions).  If there is anything missing, you also have Amazon Video on Demand where you can purchase individual shows/seasons too.  The only thing that would make Roku the set-top box of set-top boxes would be the ability to play media from local network devices (There are reports this may be coming).

What are your thoughts, do you use a set-top box currently?  What do you use?  What features would you like that you don't have?

Zach

No comments: