Since I got such an overwhelming response to my AT&T U-Verse article, I thought I would do another television based article. This time around, I want to show you how to save money by watching TV in ways that you might not be aware of. I’m going to talk about Netflix and Hulu mostly, but there are other ways to watch tv online for free.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription based internet tv service with a large catalogue of television shows and movies. It costs 8 bucks a month for the online only, and you can watch it on your XBox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii. You can also watch it on a computer monitor or on a newer TV with built in web apps, like the Vizio or Samsung offerings. I’ve also seen other devices, like Roku, that let you watch TV through them and they connect directly to your TV. Newer Blu-Ray players also usually come with Netflix, if you can get them online.
Netflix is constantly getting new content and they’ve picked up a lot of great shows. Plus they don’t have commercials! This is my favorite way of watching TV online or on another device and I often dream of cancelling AT&T so that I can just go Netflix only and save a bunch of money. Matter fact, I’ve got a call to make, just a minute.
Hulu
Another growing service is Hulu. Hulu is free if you watch from a computer, but not a lot of people have computers attached to their TVs. You can use XBox 360 to watch Hulu, but this requires Hulu Plus, which costs $8/month also. The advantage of Hulu Plus is shows are more likely to be newer. They show the last episode of shows, that happened 24 hours ago, which I’ve not seen Netflix do. Hulu has commercials, which I don’t like, but they are only 1 minute long. They started as 30 seconds long, so I’m sure they’ll get to 2 minutes before too long.
Hulu Plus is the service I don’t really like, since it has commercials and costs money to watch on other devices, but it is a very good way to watch new content through only an internet connection. Hulu has also had some falling out with content providers, so they definitely aren’t doing as good as Netflix, which is gaining content by leaps and bounds. Hulu only works on XBox 360 to my knowledge, so Wii and PS3 owners are out of luck.
Conclusion
All of these services require an internet connection only, and probably a fast one. If you can get your internet to 6 megabits per second or quicker, then you can get high def images from Netflix and Hulu. These services require a device to connect to your TV, whether it be a gaming system, or another internet ready device. They require a router, unless you want your internet device to be the only device hooked up to the internet. Finally, they require accounts with Hulu or Netflix, which are around $8 per month. If you’re ready to cut the cord to the cable company and get tons of on-demand content for $16 bucks a month. Give me a call at 865-406-4015 or drop me an email at [email protected] and I’d be glad to come by and get you going! I’m always happy to help customers save money on recurring bills.
You can get Hulu Plus on the PS3 too. Would be nice if you could get on Wii but I can’t find any information that you can on that device. But I personally watch Hulu Plus on my PS3 pretty much daily.