Starting from scratch...

[njmac]

I have been searching so please don't beat me up!

I have no TV service and I don't plan on subscribing any time soon but we do watch some DVD's on our old TV with a DVD player. My kids like to rent movies or TV shows (like Phineas and Ferb or Cars 2 etc.) from iTunes and watch them on my 13" MacBook.

I watch Dexter, Mad Men and a few other current shows from DVD. I have never seen a High Def TV or watched Blu Ray.

We have no Video Game system (yet) but in a year or two when my kids are about 10, I'm sure they'll really want one. We are a very out door oriented family and don't spend any time with video games or watching a lot of TV but we do enjoy it and it's time for an upgrade.

So to bring us up to the 21st Century: I'm thinking ATV2 with either thisLG 42" LED (will it even work with ATV?) or this LG 32" 720p 60Hz.

I plan to subscribe to Netflix so we can get streaming movies and TV shows and I watch some things on Hulu. We don't watch sports at all. Maybe the kids will in the future, I don't know.

Any recommendations for me? So ATV, LED, and netflix subscription, iTunes rentals should bring our technology up to date?

Anything I'm forgetting or not aware of?

Is a blue ray player something I should look into? I've seen them on Amazon and was curious. The kids get a few DVD's a year usually. The rest we rent.

Thank you for listening to my sad story!

 

[blevins321]

Either of those TV's would work. For now, the ATV2 only outputs 720p, so if that's all the TV is for, the 1080 would be overkill. I would suggest a blue ray player in case you decide to do the shipping Netflix option for the newest releases. Also in case you want to watch old DVDs in higher quality.

 

[PNutts]

You're just about describing where I'm at now.

I used to have high-def, all the channels, blah blah blah. It wasn't a good use of $$$. Now I have the lowest level of TV service (US$14 32 analog channels but PBS so good cartoons for the kids) from Comcast because if I get rid of the TV part my Internet fee goes up US$14. We have Netflix streaming only which the 6 and 8 year old watch a lot. For DVDs we visit a RedBox about four times a month or less. I have a blu-ray player because my DVD player broke and it's hard to find a dvd player that's not a blu-ray now. I've never rented a blu-ray disc and I've never rented anything from iTunes. I have an ATV2 and stream music and movies from iTunes/iPhones/iPads to a big ol' plasma TV.

In addition to the above, the Internet with iOS5 mirroring and Airplay and Home Sharing we don't miss out on much. Many networks have iOS apps (HGTV, PBS, Sprout, etc.) so we can catch shows we used to watch on cable.

You'll be fine.

 

[mac.jedi]

In lieu of a BD player, I'd suggest some sort of a DVR, perhaps TiVo, if you have over-the-air reception. There's a lot of great content that can be had for free. It makes a great supplement to iTunes and Netflix. If you've already got a DVD player, add the ATV2, a DVR and the Netflix shipping/streaming option you'll have access to pretty much everything.