Has anybody gone completely to the net for all TV Programming? How? How do you like it?

I’ve thought about it, most the free ones aren’t very good at all.

I don’t have cable or dish at all anymore. I watch my shows on Hulu or I download them on iTunes or torrents. As far as the news goes, I listen to my NPR podcasts every morning and I discovered that NBC Nightly News provides the whole show in a free podcast. So, I’m set.

@essieness Anything you miss? Do you watch a TV, or on a computer. If it’s a TV, how are you hooked up?

@pdworkin I generally just watch on my computer, but I recently learned how to burn DVD’s for some of my TV series that I’ve downloaded. I have yet to figure out how to connect my computer to my TV.

Hulu is great but shows expire, so it’s better for shows you’re already caught up and current on.

Edit: And no, I can’t think of anything I really miss. It’s interesting… once I got rid of the plethora of choices, I found that there are only a few shows that I’m really all that interested in. Now, rather than just watching a show just to occupy myself, I’m finding other things to do with my time. But I’m still enjoying the shows I’ve always liked.

we can’t get Hulu in canada, sigh

I don’t watch all TV on my PC but I do watch a lot. We have freeview and Sky but my wife generally takes control of that and watches shite constantly. I tend to watch things on BBC iPlayer, 4OD or download programs from sites like [ site removed by myself } and watch them at my leisure. Both our DVD players (living room and bedroom) play DivX files too so that makes putting programs onto disc easy and quick, not to mention I can generally fit a full 24 episode season of a TV show on one DVD

If you have no objections to downloading, try torrentz.com They have everything I have ever looked for (with the exception of a few very uncommon things). Many times I choose to download over hulu, just because the quality is better.
We watch everything on our computer, but I hear that it is fairly easy to hook your computer up to your TV.—I’ve been thinking of buying a computer projector, and using that on one of our larger walls.

We still haven’t hooked up our digital translator to our TV. I find TV to be too inconvenient. I can’t watch anything until after the kids have gone to bed, and there isn’t much on that late that I’d be interested in.

For entertainment we watch hulu and netflix. For news I watch NewsHour. It works much better for my wife and me.

I’d recommend boxee or xbmc.

Yep, that’s the darndest. Hulu only works in the states….

I built a cheap-ish computer several years ago, installed XP and added a TV-card. I used the free DVR program GBPVR to record shows, watch video files etc. Lately, I haven’t been recording too many shows, opting to download them as torrents instead. I like XBMC’s interface and I’ve been using it exclusively for several months now.

To get a computer hooked up to your TV is easy as pie. You just need a Video/Graphics card with a S-Video out-port. Most new TV’s still have a S-video in-port, so a S-video wire will connect the two. If you’re looking for a higher-quality feed, you might want to look into graphics cards with Component out-ports. Connecting sound is similar; you probably have low-fidelity sound output ports on your computer that correspond to sound in-ports on your HDTV. There are also high-quality sound cards available. To complete your homemade DVR, you just need to get a IR remote kit so that you can navigate from your couch. It should be noted that doing it my way is a little harder, but you get to control what kind of processor you have, how much hard drive space, etc. AppleTV limits your options but is a complete solution that requires little work on your part.

As for getting shows, I recently discovered ShowRSS. You choose which shows you want to follow and the site creates a custom RSS feed for you. You load this feed into your bittorrent client of choice and it will automatically download your shows for you. Last night’s episode of Stargate: Universe starting downloading to my computer automatically within just a few hours of airing.

The easiest option for getting downloading shows onto your HDTV is to get a DIVX-compatible DVD player with a USB port. This is also the cheapest option of all, as a DIVX-compatible DVD player with USB port can be purchased for $40—$65, and a large enough USB drive can be purchased for $10—$15. Just download your show, move it to your USB drive, then plug your USB drive into the DVD player. You already have a remote and if your DVD player is hooked up to your TV correctly, there is nothing else to setup.

@drdoombot my DVD (which plays DivX) has a 500GB Hard Drive and a USB port, the HD we use to record TV shows through the built in freeview but I’ve never used the USB port. Could I connect my external HD to the DVD player with the USB port and watch DivX files direct from that do you think, as opposed to putting them onto a DVD first?

I think it should work. It can’t hurt to try.

I’ll give it a go when my wife’s finished watching The X-Factor see what I have to put up with

I’m thumbing through the destruction manual now, it’s like reading Cantonese

@drdoombot just tried it, it would appear the USB port is only for playback or transfer of mp3 files

How about AppleTV? Anyone use it? Opinions? Reviews?

AppleTV is an elegant solution, but a bit under-powered and over-priced, in my opinion. In another generation or two, it might become a must-have device. See what Gizmodo says about it.

I go full digital.

All I watch is Fringe and they post the most recent couple of episodes a day after airing them, so that’s easy.

@aphilotus I’m watching Fringe right now!

@RareDenver ME TOO!

Great post from Gizmodo about cheapter alternatives to the Apple TV.