It’s been six months since we cut cable, and I could not be happier. Sure, there have been times we wished we had a few channels, but we have been able to keep ourselves entertained with various free or inexpensive options (see: “What to Watch: Hulu” and “What to Watch: Netflix“)…and whenever we think about our old cable bill, we high five each other and think about the money we have saved.
But the biggest challenge has been actually finding stuff that we want to watch — our options are more limited, and since we don’t have a guide or listings menu anymore, we spend a lot of time just flipping through channels looking for something.
Until: MATCHA!
With Matcha, you sign in and then pick which platforms you want to include when searching for shows. (The company calls it a “DVR in the cloud” because you can save videos to watch later, without actually having a box.)
For example, I have Hulu and Netflix, but not Amazon Prime. I have over the air cable, as well. So I check the proper boxes and filter what type of content I’m looking for:
I can sort by genre, by different years — I can even filter out kids stuff!
And when I see what’s suggested for me, I can actually add the item to Matcha queue right from that page. I can like it, share it with my friends and more.
Now, it’s not ALL awesome. It syncs with Netflix, but not Hulu (so when I watch something on Hulu, my Matcha queue does not update) AND I find it a bit clunky trying to find recommendations on the web browser, but then watch through my Roku box and apps.
(You can, through your queue, watch videos right from Matcha, or watch via Hulu, Netflix or the free Xfinity service. You can also purchase episodes through Amazon — I might get Prime just for that, since I have an Amazon Prime app for the Roku.)
So, it’s not 100%…but I do think it’s a great guide for finding content that I might be interested in.
How do you find shows and movies to watch?
About Katy
very cool. i’m gonna check it out.
I’ve stuck with basic cable for now, because there are entirely too many shows I would miss out on if I were to go with anything else. I also use Netflix and Hulu (although not Hulu plus). But also YouTube! There’s a ton on there for free.
Amber K recently posted..Lazy Weekend
Interesting. I quit cable too, and I use Netflix (sans instant), Hulu (very rarely), and broadcast tv. I have a good antenna, so I get Fox, ABC, CBS, WB, and a few other crappy channels. The big channels all come in HD, which is amazing since it’s free. Even with those, I rarely find anything I want to watch! haha I only miss the Travel Channel and Comedy Central.
Tiff @ Love Sweat and Beers recently posted..I said *almost*…
We have cable, in part because we are HUGE sports people and live news folk (like MSNBC, CNN, etc). However, when we spent a week without cable, we got Netflix and found a slew of new shows to watch. We just finished watching the first season of the Canal + series “Borgia” and are now moving on to the Tudors, Downton Abbey and Portlandia (cannot wait to watch Portlandia!). I find shows and movies through friends, reviews online, and random netflixing!
Deva @ Deva by Definition recently posted..La Mexicana: A Review of some Tasty Food
This is Guy from Matcha.tv – Thanks Katy for the post! I just discovered it…
You have very good points here and thought I can clarify a couple:
- Netflix and Hulu integration: We import your Instant Queue from Netflix into your Matcha Queue and also synch it back if you add Movies/TV to your Matcha Queue. On Hulu we import your Favorites into your Matcha Queue and help you start/continue follow your Shows (keep track on new available episodes, mark where you ended up watching for easy resuming).
We will also import your Watch and Rating history from Netflix and Hulu to create better personalized recommendations.
I also agree that the best solution is finding and watching from the same place but until we’ll be available on all devices, in some cases, you’ll need to find and watch on different devices.
We are releasing within a few weeks an iPad app! Thanks again for writing about us!
Thank for you for the clarification — it’s a great product and sounds like it’s just going to get better!