Cutting the cable: Hulu Plus on our TV set

Posted by Cory Bergman on January 12, 2011

A few months ago, we cut our cable service, but kept our Comcast internet connection. We’ve been experimenting with different ways to replace our traditional viewing on the TV set, and yesterday we added the Samsung BD-C6900 Blu-ray player ($244 on Amazon).

That model number is important, because it’s the only Samsung player with Hulu Plus built into its app store. (The other models have the Samsung apps, but oddly not the Hulu Plus app — a painful fact we learned when we bought the wrong one. There are actually quite a few Samsung customers who are not happy about this.) Of course, many new Samsung TVs have the full app experience, including Hulu Plus.

Hulu Plus ($7.99/month) on TV is tremendously cool. We’ve been watching Netflix via Xbox 360, catching up on shows from previous seasons (Netflix posts episodes after the entire season has aired.) But most shows appear on Hulu Plus the next day. And the Samsung interface is rather slick, and the video looks (and acts) like it’s fresh off a DVR.

And one of our favorite features is the commercial countdown — how many spots remain, and now much time is left. (This would be a great feature on regular TV.) And when you stop watching a show but open the Hulu Plus app later, it asks you if you want to resume watching. Nice touch.

With the addition of Hulu Plus on TV, we’re close to matching all of our cable TV programming needs. We watch live sports via over-the-air broadcast and ESPN3, which covers all but a few college games (Fox Sports) and Monday Night Football. Comedy Central may be returning to Hulu soon, so our only big gap is in-season episodes of HBO shows. But we’ll just catch up after the season on Netflix.

(By the way, Roku has Hulu Plus, too, and Hulu will come to Xbox this spring.)

Filed Under Cutting the Cable, Hulu, new networks, Samsung

Joe G!

Very helpful. Thanks.
Anonymous

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Anonymous

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Anonymous

Thanks for the update Cory. Any fix for live tv news (local or network)? I know that somewhat goes against the spirit of LR, but I believe it still commands a niche audience. I’ve found one or two websites that illegally stream the major networks, but what about a legit way to access CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC?
Anonymous

Thanks for the update Cory. Any fix for live tv news (local or network)? I know that somewhat goes against the spirit of LR, but I believe it still commands a niche audience. I’ve found one or two websites that illegally stream the major networks, but what about a legit way to access CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC?
The Unknown Known

I have a DSL that costs too much and is all I can afford for high-speed service and 25 signals OTA that are free. I am happy with that. Everytime I have resumed cable TV I have tired of the cost and the eventuality of just flipping channels mindlessly. I see nothing new vs, cable here.

It’s the same content being pursued in an even more expensive way. It’s yours to push but makes zero sense if you can’t afford to drive and live on a fixed income searching for nice junk to fix.

Ultimately the cable crutch is one all but the financially savvy will have to stick with, if they can at all. Extra service is not a basic requirement of living and if you are that tied to it aren’t you missing 99.9% of the reason to live in NW Washington?

Anyplace, for that matter.
http://www.brainwads.net/drewhawkins Drew Hawkins

Once Hulu comes to Wii, I will be one happy camper
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Once Hulu comes to Wii, I will be one happy camper
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6M4VSA2XCO4X3QVMVWWGASFF7E JamesL

PS3 has Hulu Plus as well. I tried to cut the cable last year. It worked for a while when we lived in our house and I had more control of our antenna. Since then we sold the house and moved back to Dallas, into an apartment, indoor antenna was problematic so we decided to go with Cable again. Having a kid makes it tough to find quality shows OTA or Streamed. Plus cable-less I had to do much of the finding ways to watch certain things as my wife isn’t as technically inclined.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6M4VSA2XCO4X3QVMVWWGASFF7E JamesL

PS3 has Hulu Plus as well. I tried to cut the cable last year. It worked for a while when we lived in our house and I had more control of our antenna. Since then we sold the house and moved back to Dallas, into an apartment, indoor antenna was problematic so we decided to go with Cable again. Having a kid makes it tough to find quality shows OTA or Streamed. Plus cable-less I had to do much of the finding ways to watch certain things as my wife isn’t as technically inclined.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6M4VSA2XCO4X3QVMVWWGASFF7E JamesL

PS3 has Hulu Plus as well. I tried to cut the cable last year. It worked for a while when we lived in our house and I had more control of our antenna. Since then we sold the house and moved back to Dallas, into an apartment, indoor antenna was problematic so we decided to go with Cable again. Having a kid makes it tough to find quality shows OTA or Streamed. Plus cable-less I had to do much of the finding ways to watch certain things as my wife isn’t as technically inclined.
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Great post. We just cut cable and have been considering signing up for Hulu Plus, so your post is timely in our decision making process.
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