Quote:
Originally Posted by scottmandue
You opened an interesting can of worms.
Why not just get high speed Internet and watch streaming video?
Here is the catch, I run all my video through my home theater receiver... can I get 1080p and 5.1 sound via the Internet? (yes I'm a video snob  )
Just get a computer with a kick a$$ video card and hook it up?
Or if I want all that should I stick with U-verse? The DVR is appealing.
AT&T website says I can't get it in my neighborhood... however my neighbor told me she got Internet with AT&T (and their website told her it couldn't be done) so she said to go to the store and talk to a person. |
I built a kick ass home theater PC for about $600.00. Got a good video card, 8 gigs of RAM, and a cool, silent, and super thin case. The system, with it's 4 terabyte hard drive, provides me with a DVR that's impossible for me to fill!
I get my broadcast TV "over the air" using a cheap set of rabbit ears although I will invest in a roof antenna this year. Once you see how good HD looks straight from the networks you'll never go back to the compressed crap the cable, dish, phone companies give you! As far as Internet TV goes, Hulu is 720p but Netflix can be 1080p, but currently only through the PS3 (I hope that changes soon) and yes, you can get 5.1 from them.
As far as the software I'm using, I currently run Windows Media Center as my front end with Boxee and Hulu Desktop accessible from it. I may try Plex one of these days now that Boxee is no longer supporting software only versions. I still use a web browser to get Amazon's video store when I want to do some "pay per view" so I think I might get a 99 dollar Roku box.
It just occurred to me that a Roku might be the perfect thing for you to start with! Here's the info:
Amazon.com: Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player: Electronics
Good luck!
-Michael