Bought a PS3 to save money

[Vigo]

This is one of the rare incidences where my man-logic worked with the wife. I'm still in shock over it.

We pay through the nose for tv, almost $90 a month after the recent price hike = $1000/year. I frankly can live without tv, except I need football, but my wife is a TV buff, and needs plenty of shows to watch. So we have been chained to our TV service for a while now.

My only current gen system is a Wii. I wanted a new console, but we are cutting back on our spending. Yesterday, I simply pointed out that we could cut the cost we pay for tv in half by cancelling our service and buying a new game console and a subscription to netflix and/or hulu plus, and just download the couple tv shows we watch that cant get on there. A few hours later, we were in the store buying a PS3. I can't believe that actually worked.  

We got a deal from Kmart of all places - 160GB Call of Duty Black Ops Bundle with $50 Kmart/Sears gift card, Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 for $300. Throw in a year of both netflix and Hulu plus, and it still comes in under $500/year.


I some questions though:

Does anyone know if Hulu Plus is actually worth it? I used to have netflix, and the tv show selection was still a bit lame. Is it worth getting both Hulu and netflix at the same time? I see there is a module for Netflix on my PS3, but I don't see anything for Hulu, can that be added?

Also, I need (american) football, I will go to sports bars if needed, but is there any online service to watch NFL games? Also, since i will probably get a HD antenna for my tv for local stations, is there a website that tells what local channels I can expect to get via antenna? My search-fu is lacking on finding anything.

I never used the media center before, if we download videos on the computer, we can just play them on the PS3 through our wireless network, is that correct?

What is the hackability of a brand new fully updated PS3? I want to know if it is worth hacking.

[HaRuMaN]

Meh... Hulu plus is pretty lame, but you can get current TV shows, and see past episodes, where with regular Hulu, they expire.  Still have to watch the commercials with Hulu plus. 

I'm currently using the free trial because I missed an episode of House.  I plan on cancelling before my trial ends.

[Hoopz]

Streaming Netflix doesn't have the largest selection of TV shows so you may want to search on Hulu Plus's sight to see if the shows she likes are on there.  If not, you may need to acquire them from other sources.  

For local channels, whoever your local affiliates are for the big 4 will be what you can try and get via a HD antenna.  

Since your in Minnesota and you don't have a QB worth a damn and your RB fumbles as if his bonus structure pays off the highest for his fumbles, I wouldn't worry about the NFL.  Congrats on coming in 4th place in the NFC North btw.  

[HaRuMaN]

Also, I need (american) football, I will go to sports bars if needed, but is there any online service to watch NFL games? Also, since i will probably get a HD antenna for my tv for local stations, is there a website that tells what local channels I can expect to get via antenna? My search-fu is lacking on finding anything.

Put in your address here:

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

[SNAAKE]

you can always "obtain" 720p HD tv shows. use mkv2vob to convert them for ps3. looks great in HD and you get surround sound. most video formats play on ps3. you can stream standard definition stuff on wireless but HD stuff should be on wired connection. get ps3 media server for your computer. your ps3 picks up the media server when its on the same network as your computer.

netflix is good enough. hulu sucks to be honest.

as for hacking. your ps3 has to be 3.55 firmware or lower. otherwise wait for a new custom firmware. I am sure something will be out soon.

[Vigo]

I'll have to set up the free trial and see what I can end up getting. I was confused about what is actually available and what is not. For example, if I search for NCIS, it directs me to the CBS website to watch it. I'm not sure if that means that I wouldn't be able to see it with Hulu plus on a PS3. No matter what, I have no problem using my other sources for the shows I need. 

Since your in Minnesota and you don't have a QB worth a damn and your RB fumbles as if his bonus structure pays off the highest for his fumbles, I wouldn't worry about the NFL.  Congrats on coming in 4th place in the NFC North btw. 

Haha, I may be in Minnesota, but I am actually a Packer Fan, we drop our quarterbacks once they become elderly, not recruit from the retirement home.

[HaRuMaN]

I have that exact antenna, PBJ, and it works GREAT.  My wife found it at WalMart on clearance for $20, and brought it home.  Beats the hell out of the rabbit ears we were using.

I took down my DirecTV dish, and put this antenna in its place, and used the wiring DTV had set up...  

[Vigo]

Also, I need (american) football, I will go to sports bars if needed, but is there any online service to watch NFL games? Also, since i will probably get a HD antenna for my tv for local stations, is there a website that tells what local channels I can expect to get via antenna? My search-fu is lacking on finding anything.

Put in your address here:

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

Thanks for that link, I knew it existed,  just couldn't find it.

[Vigo]

Don't bother with Hulu.  Get an HD antenna and a usenet subscription and just download the shows you have to have.  Pay the $9/month for NetFlix for the random 'just need some background noise' movies.

Got this antenna recently, and while it lacks the charm of coathangers and modified satellite dishes, the performance is excellent:

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=210882550

You can usually find Monday Night Football and other basic cable nonsense on justin.tv.  

Finally had to cancel my service with Clear Wireless, and went with AT&T DSL.  $20/month and no contract.  Works for me.

 

Thanks, Jim! At risk of sounding like a dumbass, what the heck is usenet?

[HaRuMaN]

what the heck is usenet?

[Vigo]

Thanks, sounds cool, I'll have to give it a go. I am a bit of a torrent junkie.

[Vigo]

you can always "obtain" 720p HD tv shows. use mkv2vob to convert them for ps3. looks great in HD and you get surround sound. most video formats play on ps3. you can stream standard definition stuff on wireless but HD stuff should be on wired connection. get ps3 media server for your computer. your ps3 picks up the media server when its on the same network as your computer.

netflix is good enough. hulu sucks to be honest.

as for hacking. your ps3 has to be 3.55 firmware or lower. otherwise wait for a new custom firmware. I am sure something will be out soon.

Thanks for clearing all that up. I'll have to set up media server. Damn, I'm getting a PS3 education here!

[Rando]

My only current gen system is a Wii. I wanted a new console, but we are cutting back on our spending. Yesterday, I simply pointed out that we could cut the cost we pay for tv in half by cancelling our service and buying a new game console and a subscription to netflix and/or hulu plus, and just download the couple tv shows we watch that cant get on there. A few hours later, we were in the store buying a PS3. I can't believe that actually worked.  

Sooo,
It would be a bad idea for me to tell your wife that you can return the PS3 and just setup your Wii as the Netflix box instead??

http://www.netflix.com/NRD/Wii

[HaRuMaN]

My only current gen system is a Wii. I wanted a new console, but we are cutting back on our spending. Yesterday, I simply pointed out that we could cut the cost we pay for tv in half by cancelling our service and buying a new game console and a subscription to netflix and/or hulu plus, and just download the couple tv shows we watch that cant get on there. A few hours later, we were in the store buying a PS3. I can't believe that actually worked.  

Sooo,
It would be a bad idea for me to tell your wife that you can return the PS3 and just setup your Wii as the Netflix box instead??

http://www.netflix.com/NRD/Wii

Wii only does 480P 

[Blanka]

90$ a month just for TV.... Geeze. We pay that for 100mbit symmetrical fiber connection, with digital TV and unlimited landline phone calls.

[drventure]

@Blanka. Yeah, that seemed steep to me too.

I ended up ditching the cable company dvr and upgrading my Tivo to Premier with a lifetime subscription and a 2tb hardrive.

It can record gobs of video, stream audio from the network, and stream video from Hulu, Netflix, Blockbuster, and amazon as well as whatever I rip and put on my NAS.

Tivos don't play games, but then I picked up mine for 40$, plus I sold my Old Tivo for 50$, my old Wireless G dongle for 30$ (the new tivo has a ethernet port, so you can use any bridge you want with it), and got the 2TB drive for only 69$.

And I don't have to rent the dang cable box anymore.


But I did see Dirt3 on a PS3 at Frys today. I may have to hasten my plans of building a driving cab 

[Vigo]

Yeah, we are looking for a little Hi Def goodness. So Wii is a no go. Not to mention our wireless randomly bugs out, so I like having the option of a wired connection. The blu ray player tipped things to my advantage when pushing for a PS3.


TV cost is ridiculous here. We used to have cable, but only got a good deal during their introductory "rope you in" prices, and we didn't want to bundle since we don't need a landline. We then switched to a Qwest/Direct TV bundle. The 2 year contract expired and our prices skyrocketed. We have a price lock on our qwest internet, even if we now ditch direct TV. The price of direct tv went through the roof to almost $85 after the contract ended. We just got another small price hike last month bringing it to almost 90.

We are on the Second tier Direct TV package. We can downgrade the smallest package, but we would mostly only get a some local channels and about 17 home shopping channels. A buddy of mine tried the basic package hated it from day 1. I might as well get the HD antenna for free because it looks like I will get about half the channels from the basic package, and they would be the good channels as well.

[Vigo]

Well, I am aware that there are more effective methods to saving money and getting TV. Which is exactly why my logic doesn't usually work so well with the wife. 

Funny thing was, I was only shooting for a used xbox. Then when I started telling her about things like early console RROD problems and non-jasper consoles, she got freaked out. As soon as I uttered the words "Xbox towel method", she pushed me to get a new PS3.

[Donkbaca]

Should have gotten a 360.  I don't think they have hulu for the ps3.  The xbox has espn, you can get UFC pay per views on it and it integrates seamlessly with Media Center on your PC.  Yeah, you can probably find work arounds for this stuff on the PS3, but you probably want a plug and play, easy to use solution considering the wife situation.

Blu ray is so overrated.  We have a blu ray player that just collects dust.  Streaming is so much better.

[Dervacumen]

I pay just under $90/mo for TV here too.  I thought everyone with Directv paid about that.  HD recorder, 1 regular recorder and a regular box.   
Nice job on the PS3 gig tho.  I can't imagine that working here.  Plus I'd be the one that has to manage getting everyone's shows.  Ugh.

[AtomSmasher]

Should have gotten a 360.  I don't think they have hulu for the ps3.  The xbox has espn, you can get UFC pay per views on it and it integrates seamlessly with Media Center on your PC.  Yeah, you can probably find work arounds for this stuff on the PS3, but you probably want a plug and play, easy to use solution considering the wife situation.

Blu ray is so overrated.  We have a blu ray player that just collects dust.  Streaming is so much better.

Then you also have to add in $50/year for the cost of XBox Live gold membership.

[Vigo]

Should have gotten a 360.  I don't think they have hulu for the ps3.  The xbox has espn, you can get UFC pay per views on it and it integrates seamlessly with Media Center on your PC.  Yeah, you can probably find work arounds for this stuff on the PS3, but you probably want a plug and play, easy to use solution considering the wife situation.

Blu ray is so overrated.  We have a blu ray player that just collects dust.  Streaming is so much better.

Then you also have to add in $50/year for the cost of XBox Live gold membership.

Yep, that was the dealmaker on the PS3. I tossed out the idea of a brand new xbox, but the live made the cost not as different. I still might make a plea for one of those $99 refurbs that Donkbaca was talking about. Gotta have TV in 2 rooms, ya know.

[Donkbaca]

Yeah, but xbox live silver is free, you only need to pay for gold, and I think the only thing gold does is let you play against other people on line, so....

Plus the xbox has hulu, has the ESPN sports stuff for free, UFC, and the media center integration with windows.  All of those are big pluses for me, plus you can get in on one for 99 bucks.  Butt do what you want, let us know it works out for you

[AtomSmasher]

Yeah, but xbox live silver is free, you only need to pay for gold, and I think the only thing gold does is let you play against other people on line, so....

Plus the xbox has hulu, has the ESPN sports stuff for free, UFC, and the media center integration with windows.  All of those are big pluses for me, plus you can get in on one for 99 bucks.  Butt do what you want, let us know it works out for you

Netflix and ESPN are for Gold members only, or at least thats how it was the last time I checked.  (I have a 360 with silver membership and have never been able to do netflix on it).

[hypernova]

Ugh, I'm violating rules 1 and 2, but here you go:

(deleted pbj's URL in case one of the mods decides to delete his URL.  Just making their job easier if need be.)

That link was reading pretty swell until this section:

Sorry! Usenet isn't a peer-to-peer service, so you've got to pay someone, somewhere for all that bandwidth and storage. The good news is, you can get away with spending about $15 a month for unlimited

[SavannahLion]

Usenet rocked but file transfers have always been difficult for me. My ISP crippled their Usenet so I switched and that one switched to a pay-per-use system. Switched again and I got locked out because I didn't "log" in enough. 

[Mikezilla]

I wish I could be of help here, but sadly Im just a regular old PS3 owner who still pays for cable. 

[Vigo]

I'm pretty pumped to only have one more tv service bill on the way. I think I'll miss mindless channel surfing though.

I set up PS3 media server last night. Works slick. I was watching some 720 quality shows with only a slight lag in the beginning. I think I will lay doen't some ethernet cable in my house and see if I can get it running even smoother yet. Now I just need to play with mkv2vob.

I think I'll take a look at what is in the local stores for digital antennas, see if I can snag a deal.  Otherwise I will probably pick up the one mentioned earlier from buy.com. It's good to know I can just use the direct tv cable - thanks for that tip, Haruman.


I also started playing Uncharted 2...I have to say I am enjoying the game quite a bit.

[upprc04]

You could try to build an antenna yourself.  I built one similar to this (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/) and it does a good job of picking up all of the local channels.  I am pretty close to the antennas though, so depending on your location it may not work.  I just moved to a new apartment and dropped cable.  I have this antenna hiding in my laundry room and going to all the cable outlets, so that I don't have to have bunny ears sitting by the TV.

I also just built a HTPC and am happy with Windows Media Center.  I'm tempted to get a XBOX 360 to use as an extender (already have a PS3). 

[Donkbaca]

You can get an XB 360 for the cost of one months cable:

http://www.gamestop.com/gs/landing/huge-xbox-savings/default.aspx

yeah its a refurb, but its an MS refurb, so you get the full waranty.  Have mine coming because the RROD one I fixed and put in my cab took a big ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- on me.

[Vigo]

You can get an XB 360 for the cost of one months cable:

http://www.gamestop.com/gs/landing/huge-xbox-savings/default.aspx

yeah its a refurb, but its an MS refurb, so you get the full waranty.  Have mine coming because the RROD one I fixed and put in my cab took a big ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- on me.

Yeah, so far I'm convinced that the cut the cable, get a console for a media player route is the way to go to save some money. This deal is a tad bit of a crap shoot on what model you get, but an xbox with a 20gb hard drive for $100 is nothing to sneeze at.

You could try to build an antenna yourself.  I built one similar to this (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/) and it does a good job of picking up all of the local channels.  I am pretty close to the antennas though, so depending on your location it may not work.  I just moved to a new apartment and dropped cable.  I have this antenna hiding in my laundry room and going to all the cable outlets, so that I don't have to have bunny ears sitting by the TV.

Thanks for this! I might give it a go. I love cheap DIY projects and this fits the bill. There is actually some pretty cool science behind it as well. 

[TopJimmyCooks]

Tivo HD here for current shows and haven't watched a commercial for 10 years unless I wanted to.
Time warner cable and RR (no usenet  ) but the other method works great for missed or old shows, transferred to the tivo with PyTivo and re encoded on the fly if required.
Netflix for Hollywood
No landline phone.

I am really screwed and can't cut the cable because I am addicted to formula one racing (Speed channel).  It can be torrented but only the next day and it's BBC's coverage. I prefer Speed's version because it's 2.5 hours v/s 4 hours, and of course it's live if I want to get up early enough.  If I posted the previous sentence on certain formula one boards I would be burned as a heretic.  I really like WRC too but now that's torrent only these days -- welcome to America!!!!

[Mikezilla]

I also started playing Uncharted 2...I have to say I am enjoying the game quite a bit.

That is one of the greatest games you will ever play. I cannot WAIT for the third one.

[SNAAKE]

I also started playing Uncharted 2...I have to say I am enjoying the game quite a bit.

That is one of the greatest games you will ever play. I cannot WAIT for the third one.

got a major headace from playing UC2 ended up selling it..

they really need to fix the motion sickeness issues for all non-fps games. I dont have any problem with capcom games like resident evil 4/5 but I cant play deadspace/gears of war. FIX THIS CRAP.

[DaveMMR]

Yeah, but xbox live silver is free, you only need to pay for gold, and I think the only thing gold does is let you play against other people on line, so....

Plus the xbox has hulu, has the ESPN sports stuff for free, UFC, and the media center integration with windows.  All of those are big pluses for me, plus you can get in on one for 99 bucks.  Butt do what you want, let us know it works out for you

Just to clarify, PS3 does have Hulu.  It's just not any good (the service, not Sony's implementation).  I think it's still in it's infancy as a lot of the content providers are a little tight on opening up their content to anything but the PC.

But I tell you, if it wasn't for my girlfriend's love of channel surfing, I'd ditch cable in a heartbeat. 

[Necroticart]

Just to clarify, PS3 does have Hulu.  It's just not any good (the service, not Sony's implementation).  I think it's still in it's infancy as a lot of the content providers are a little tight on opening up their content to anything but the PC.

But I tell you, if it wasn't for my girlfriend's love of channel surfing, I'd ditch cable in a heartbeat. 

Yeah same here I almost never watch TV anymore I would rather watch a blu ray movie. plus the quality of tv shows has dropped substantially and i'm not really into the reality shows.  the only thing I like any more is BBC since they have DR. Who and Torchwood at least the Brits know what real sci fi is.

[kaspar]

Don't bother with HULU, I think it sux.
Netflix in the other hand is pretty good, but I wish they would expand their
online library.

[sharpfork]

Don't bother with Hulu.  Get an HD antenna and a usenet subscription and just download the shows you have to have.  Pay the $9/month for NetFlix for the random 'just need some background noise' movies.
 

This + see if you can pick up one of these: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1099071

I put a bigger drive in mine and it takes care of most of my wife's TV needs with the other things noted above.  Wii + old xbox1 / xbmc4xbox do the trick for my older 720 HD TVs.

[Vigo]

Just an update to what I did for my TV situation.

1) Got PS3 and set up media server. I love it except for the fact that I have to have my computer on to use media server.

2) I then purchased a pogoplug so I could have my computer off more. I just plug in my external hard drives into it and it puts them on my internal network.  It's nice, but it doesn't read all of the video formats that media server can read. Namely MKV and ISO. On the flip side, it will host my external hard drive on a cloud drive that I can access from anywhere.

2) Use demonoid for tv shows. I have found about every show I want...from Gilligan's Island to Game of Thrones, I have been finding it, and new episodes are available the day after.

3) I bought a roof antenna. I was skeptical of antenna tv since I grew up on it, and it sucked, but HD tv over the air is not bad at all, at least in the city. I just mounted an antenna mast and outdoor antenna to the old dish mount, and used the coax from the dish, and it worked without any problems. About 25 channels, and I get the football games in HD. I'm happy.

4) If Amazon prime streaming ever gets native PS3 support, I will be getting that. I have not bothered with Netflix or Hulu. I have a amazon prime parent account that expires at the end of the year. The fact that Prime combines free shipping and tv/movie streaming is incentive enough for me to go that route. I am hoping for some PS3 support in early next year....not holding my breath, but since Netflix has been digging a grave for itself, it would be a good time for amazon to jump in the game on a more serious level.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

I don't watch football, so I don't know if this is a great thing or not (and it looks to be prohibitively expensive, in your case) but the PS3 also now has access to that "NFL Sunday Ticket" thing that DirectTV offers.  Looks like it had some growing pains:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20104886-1/nfl-sunday-ticket-on-playstation-3-early-fumble/

but I imagine once they iron that out it'd be pretty good?

Amazon Prime native access on PS3 would be spectacular, for sure, but don't others here already have a PC (if not their main PC) hooked up to their televisions via HDMI? Surely, I can't be the only one... ?