[frposty]

I’ve always thought cable and satellite prices were too high. For one thing, channels with commercials should be essentially free just as they are over the air.

I am researching the little boxes you can buy to hook to your television to get video content over the internet. My main concern is that picture and sound quality must be compromised because of bandwidth restraints, but maybe I’m wrong.

Also, the companies that produce the various shows charge way too much, perhaps because they pay their talent way too much. I believe that you can have very compelling stories without expensive productions.

Does anyone have a box that they recommend, or any thoughts on TV and movies from the internet?

[sbMKE]

Look at googleTv. It’s a cable killer.

[TomGuy]

Does anyone have a box that they recommend, or any thoughts on TV and movies from the internet?

I have a ROKU box (roku.com) to stream Netflix. It will also stream Amazon VOD and a few others. The number of 'channels' is growing. I have HS Cable Internet, so bandwidth is not a problem. You need as a minimum about 1.5Mbps to stream video to your TV.

I have a WDTV (Western Digital TV) box that plays various video formats (AVI, WMA, MPEG) on my TV, via USB attached hard drives.

The newer Roku box is about $60. The newer WDTV is about $120.

There are several other boxes that are coming available. Google is working with Logitech to provide GoogleTV.

The big problem now, is that the networks see $$$ and are trying to play hardball even with decades-old content. They are jacking up the prices of their licensing. Thus, even the network cooperative, Hulu, is having problems sustaining content.

[Drew68]

I am researching the little boxes you can buy to hook to your television to get video content over the internet. My main concern is that picture and sound quality must be compromised because of bandwidth restraints, but maybe I’m wrong.

I purchased a console and subscribe to a service that allows my Ukrainian wife to watch 100+ Russian and Ukrainian TV channels streamed to our TV via my WiFi router. While not HD (yet) the picture and sound is as good as cable.

I recently bought two Sony PS3s specifically to watch Blu-Ray and stream Netflix to each of my HDTVs. The picture quality is perfect.

I'll be bidding adieu to my cable service very soon.