Buying a T.V and streaming service. Recommendations.

FOG2

FOG2

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An old guy who is a Techno Dummy needs your help buying. 32 inch T.V. and a streaming service.
I like to watch shows on Discovery,A&E and some other networks channels. I spent some time today looking at my friends Netflix and Hulu accounts..
It seems Hulu has more of what I watch and the price at 8 or 15 bux a month depending on commercials or no seems reasonable.
As for a Television I would like to keep the cost under $150.00.
Inexpensive is better for me.

So what service do you folks use or recommend?

Thanks!
 
Are you am Amazon Prime member? I ask because I am one and use amazon's streaming plus Hulu for my tv. You're right
$8.00 or $15.00 is a fair price for tv, prime is just an extra goody.
 
There are some inexpensive 32" flat screen TVs. I would suggest Walmart. I have a HD Samsung 32" that I bought on sale at Sam's Club in my office. It is pretty much on all the time and I mute the sound when I get business calls. One thing I noticed I needed is a bar type speaker (sound bar) to be added which is more money. The speakers on most TVs are really poor. I'm not talking big time theater type sound.... just good sound.
 
I'm not a prime member, I rarely order online as I like to touch, feel and see before buying.
 
Kim Komando (radio computer talk show host) recommends Sling, AT&T Watch TV, and Philo as the best low cost TV streaming services. She also mentioned that prices have been going up. Cable TV prices have been steadily going up as well. No matter what you do.... ya pay and continue to pay.
 
I appreciate the suggestions given.
Anyone else like to chime in?

I would love to hear why people have chosen whatever service it is you folks use.
 
Do you watch or have Cable/Sat TV service or will you be using streaming and maybe some OTA?

The Sharp and TLC Roku smart TVs have been well reviewed but mostly for their larger models closer to the 50" mark but Roku is often considered one of the best smart device platforms for TV/Entertainment.
 
No cable or Sat. I will be streaming from wi fi.
Someone has suggested that I don't need a smart tv if I use a fire stick.
Or chrome cast.
Kinda seems to me it would be best to just get a smart tv.
But I really don't know as this is my 1st foray into the streaming world.
 
If you are in the market for a new TV I would agree that a smart TV is the way to go but if you have a good TV with HDMI then a Fire Stick, Chromecast, or Roku will work fine also. I will again state my preference for the Roku for entertainment smart device :p
 
I learned last night that the Hulu $8.00 a month plan only gives me episodes a year or more old and that I have already seen of the shows I like.
Seems if I were to pay $40 a month for Hulu Live I would get this years seasons.
Can anyone confirm that? Or have other suggestions for a service that would get me this years episodes at less than the $40 per month?
 
I think the $8 and $12 Hulu options still have current shows, I think they aren't available until after it has aired on live TV, and IIRC they have commercials regardless of the plan chosen. Their new $40 plan is for live TV access and meant to be a cable TV replacement much like Sling. Who are you/will you be using for your internet? One of the reasons I am into Roku is that they have the Xfinitity(Comcast) app which will allow me to use the Roku as my cable box and allow me access to live TV, no DVR function, I currently pay for cable service while not using it because Comcast charges ~$15 more for internet w/o cable and basic cable is $15. If you don't get your internet through a TV service provider it won't matter but if you do it might be worth looking into weather or not they have an app available on any smart platforms that can work to stream live and on demand content.

My views on streaming services are AmazonPrime is a given as I personally get so much out of Prime that not having it just isn't an option. If you don't have other needs for Prime ie PrimePhoto, PrimeMusic, PrimeShipping, PrimePantry, etc then the streaming service alone is decent but may not be worth the monthly or annual costs.

Netflix certain is a well established service but you won't get new/current it will be behind a season on shows typically unless it is a Netflix original. Their original content is very hit and miss to me and much more miss than hit the number of hits isn't enough for me to keep Netflix year round. I usually get it for ~2 months and cancel then return after ~3-4 months gives me plenty to watch for a time and catch up on anything I actually liked.

Hulu I never paid for a subscription and haven't used it since they dropped their free version. I did love it under the free but at that time I was a heavier Netflix user so I didn't watch Hulu much. They no longer offer a free option however they have picked up a fair number of the shows I would watch on Netflix. I will probably try them out sometime soon and IIRC they have a deal with Criterion for their movies which is a plus for me. Given some things are never commercial free I am not sure I would consider beyond the basic plan.

I haven't really looked at anything beyond those 3 but I know they are a few other services out there and some that are more specialized. I think some networks now offer their own dedicated service and I believe those offer commercial free viewing for current content and I believe they offer simulcast, stream at the same time it is first aired/broadcast, which would be basically live.
 
One week or two week old shows don't bother me. One year old or more does bother me with the streaming services. I have pretty much given up buying movie CD's now as I believe the last four or five I never even watched. Now those movies are on regular TV. I sort of like the spontaneous aspect of regular TV options. I watch a lot of news, beyond that, it is hit or miss except of course for Gold Rush. Gold Rush began to get a bit "boring" last season. But I will stick with them.

A number of years ago, one of my brothers boasted about not owning a TV. The funny thing was he was visiting our parents at the time and he was glued to the TV for much of his visit.

Good luck on buying a TV and I would buy a smart TV now.
 
Im a bit of a Gold Rush addict to.
As well as a number of other shows.

My living situation changed and I no longer have access to cable TV.
Which is why I'm doing this research.
 
How about with a Dish? I believe AT&T owns them now. My wife's daughter seems to like it. I use a local cable provider which includes my internet connection. Once you get the TV, you can begin to experiment with services as most don't require a contract as I understand it.
 
If you aren't real tech savvy, the TLC Roku tv is great in my opinion, it's very user friendly. Both my and my wife's parents have them, and they are reasonably priced.

Sling is probably the best bang for the buck for live TV, paired with an antenna you'll have plenty to watch. I personally use those two...along with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu...and still pay less than the cable company was charging.
 
I recommend a smart TV. We bought an LG smart TV about 21 months ago and we have been very happy with it. Tons of apps are already installed on the TV including Netfilx and Hulu which are the two that we use the most. Just recently, we discovered a list of apps that are available on the TV. There must be 100 or more of them and many are free.

Before we got the LG we had an old tube type TV and we used a Roku box for Netflix and Hulu. It worked great but we bought the new TV because we wanted to also use a digital antenna and the old TV required a digital converter for that. We decided to upgrade instead of buying the converter.
 
Most guidess say brand doesn't matter for a mainstream TV. I think your choices are pretty constrained by your budget more than anything. Most of the streaming services have hiked their prices lately and are becoming more cable like. But at least there is more competition in the market. We used HULU before but I think we're done with them. They're cheap, but for the amount of TV we watch over the air PBS satisfies most of our demands. The local library offers online video which can be cast to our TV or via a wired connection from a phone or tablet. That's covered in my taxes so sort of freeish.

I say skip any subscription tv service. They're pretty low to no value.
 
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