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Use the Internet to Build Your Home Theater

from: SelfHomeImprovement.com

While you're remodeling the room that your TV sits in, you might want to think about remodeling the way you watch television. A growing number of consumers have cut off their cable services in favor of free streaming video online, such as Hulu. At hulu.com you can watch full episodes of old and new shows from a variety of networks. Instead of paying for cable, many consumers are simply hooking up their computers to their TV sets and watching a variety of shows for free.

Benefits of Video Streaming

While you won't be able to get every show that is currently on your television line-up via video streaming, the choices are becoming broader, thanks to services such as hulu, which is free. In addition to saving money, you won't have to worry about what time shows come on as they are all "on demand," meaning you can watch them anytime you want to. Instead of paying for monthly service charges, you could invest in a quality television and enjoy streaming video for free.

Not everyone who watches streaming Internet video gets rid of their cable service but this is still good news for cable customers because it forces more competition. If the cable companies are afraid they are going to lose customers to hulu and other free websites that offer prime time TV shows, they will be more inclined to lower their prices and up their offerings. Everybody wins when there is competition.

Other Streaming Video Services

Hulu is not the only streaming video service but it is one of the more popular ones. Increasingly, networks are putting more and more of their shows on the web. Full episodes can be seen on the websites of CBS, NBC, TV Land, and others. In addition, CNN and other news channels have a wide variety of videos available for instant streaming.

Boxee is free and has over 200,000 subscribers. At present, it doesn't work on windows computers but that is in the testing phase. The service currently works on Apple and Linux computers and it integrates video from hulu and other sites and provides users with an easy to use interface so they can easily navigate from one site to another. Boxee will even allow you to integrate the Netflix subscription streaming video service so you will also have a wide range of movies to watch.

Disadvantages of Depending on Streaming Video

While it is still in its infancy, most consumers are not yet ready to depend entirely on streaming video for their television entertainment. While the menu of choices is growing all the time, avid TV watchers are not able to get all of their favorite shows over the Internet so while the cable companies are definitely paying attention, it is certainly not curtains for them as yet. Not all TVs and computers are set up for integration, although the cost is minimal if you do want to connect your computer to the television.

SelfHomeImprovement.com