Okay, LONG post coming up, but I wanted to update you (for those interested).
Well, I did it. My last cable bill suddenly went up $11 per month for no reason (other than greed and probably desperation with dwindling customers). They wanted $122 per month for a single TV with a "Bronze" level package and an HD upgrade. No premium channels, no Silver or Gold level cable package either. That's one TV.
It was the final straw for me.
After weighing many options and reading feedback here, and asking friends who have done the same thing, I decided to buy a Roku3 and subscribe to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and Warner Archives. I also registered with Vudu (no monthly premiums, everything is a la carte).
All of that combined is less than $40 per month. So my bill just dropped $82 per month.
And I'm loving it. As far as programming, I love the choices of films and TV shows on these combined channels, and dozens of other free channels (which most have ads or aren't as good quality in either programming or audio/video presentation).
Here's my "review" after one week of cutting the cord ...
The quality of picture and sound is good. It's better than I thought it would be. The signal is solid, and I even stream it via Wifi from two floors up. It's strong enough to take a high-quality HD signal without dropping picture or sound. So how do they rate to me?
Well, first things first. None of them are as good as Blu-ray, but one comes incredibly close. What they do succeed in doing is being as good or better than my cable signal. I was surprised to discover that.
Netflix - I don't like that the movies start in a rough SD signal for the first 30 seconds or so, then "ramp up" to HD. And even when the HD kicks in, the picture and sound are compressed. I would say it looks (on my 60" screen) like 720p. I haven't watched anything on Netfilx yet that looks like 1080p. The sound can be strong with good 5.1 separation, but it's still a bit compressed even on the best (and newest) films. They have a great choice of movies and TV shows, however. It was a bit overwhelming at first when I started adding things to my watch list. It helped me to "organize" a bit, though. I'm already watching many things I probably never would have seen otherwise.
Hulu Plus has a better HD signal overall than Netflix. I'm not sure it rises above 720p either, but it's very clear picture and sound. Their TV show selection is fantastic, and the fact that they have the entire Criterion collection available on demand, with most of the films in HD, is pure heaven.
Warner Archives has even better audio and video quality. This definitely looks like 1080p to me, and seeing older films, even rare titles, come through with such clarity is pretty stunning. I was blown away by how clear these oldies looked. I watched "Andy Hardy Meets a Debutante," "Travels With My Aunt," "Thank Your Lucky Stars," and several others with first-rate picture and sound. I didn't know those films could look that good now.
The best quality by far is Vudu. This nearly rivals the quality of Blu-ray video and audio. Again, there is no monthly premium, just pay-as-you-go. The catch? It's not cheap at all. Their rentals (when available) range from $2.99 to $5.99 for their "HDX" quality. The pricing actually tiers according to quality, You can often rent the same movie in SD or "regular" HD (probably 720p) for $1 to $2 less. But their HDX is the best streaming audio/video I've seen after playing around on many channels via the Roku 3.
One nice advantage about Vudu ... they link up to Ultraviolet and allow you to load in any Ultraviolet movies you already own. I never really considered it before, but many of the newer Blu-ray Discs come with an Ultraviolet pass code. You can go on line, enter the passcode into Vudu (you have to first register with Ultraviolet, but they don't charge any up-front fees either).
I grabbed a few titles I had already, like Les Miz, Hugo, The Woman in Black, E.T., The Matrix, the last 2 Harry Potter films, The Artist, Argo, etc., and I loaded in the Ultraviolet codes. Watching these films on Vudu, since I already own them on Blu-ray, it was very hard to tell the difference. It's that good. Also Vudu has a great, simple pop-up menu that includes subtitle options, chapters, and a few of these films come with the documentaries and other added content available on separate "tabs" for the film's main menu. It's as close an experience to watching a BD or DVD as I've seen via streaming. And it's definitely a game-changer. The advantage of Ultraviolet is that you can log in to any computer or any Vudu smart TV app and watch your movies that you have in your account. They also encourage you to "buy" films and TV shows, rather than rent them. You're not actually storing any content on a server, you're basically just getting access to stream your library anytime you want (in full HDX quality).
My only thought as to "ownership" is what if they suddenly go out of business? Or what if they suddenly decide to charge you a monthly access fee or a fee to "store" your library with them? I guess that's just the old-school in me, thinking you have to actually receive something tangible as proof you bought it or "own" it, rather than just a link to someone else's file on a website. But maybe in time, I'll get over that.
In any case, it's already changed my viewing habits in just one short week. And I haven't missed cable at all. There are a few shows and channels I wish would "get with the program." HGTV and the Food Network need to offer apps for viewing, just like the History Channel and Smithsonian Channel do now. The PBS channel needs to present their content in HD. It's all SD so far, and pretty washed out and compressed. You can watch many PBS programs via Amazon Prime and others, and the HD is okay. It's actually not as good as our PBS cable signal was, but that's (so far) true of Amazon Prime and Netflix, too.
And I wish Netflix wouldn't start every program in SD for 30 seconds to a minute before the HD kicks in. It's seriously annoying.
Still, the pluses far outweigh the minuses.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 5/10/14 at 10:16 PM
