I just got the wife to agree to cancel cable TV!

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I don't really watch TV except for football and the occasional show on History or Discovery that I can't catch most of the time. Because of this I've been trying to talk the wife into canceling our cable and just going with internet. Well, that just wasn't working, so I figured I'd sweeten the deal.

I talked her into it and we canceled our cable subscription (which was $60/month) and boosted our internet service. Originally we were paying $30/month for basic Cable internet, now we have a faster option for $50/Month. $8/month for Netflix and $5/month for XBOX live and we've saved almost half off our cable bill and got faster internet. I'm stoked!


Down with cable TV!
 
I've been without cable for 2 years now. Between antenna/internet/netflix I think I spend more time in-front of the screen than before...
 
If you're not into tv than that is all fine and dandy, but me personally...I wouldn't give up the 20+ shows I watch on prime time during the year. Sure you can download, but its a lot of hassle to save $100 a month. I figure if I didn't have tv i'd be out spending a lot more than that trying to keep myself entertained. Up with cable tv :D
 
I'm in the same boat. For me, cable was just wasted money. The few shows I like, I can watch online. Movies can be purchased or downloaded. I can't live without internet, but don't miss cable in the slightest.
 
I don't watch TV (except for Red Wings games when I can!) so I'm always amazed at how much people pay for TV. I was going to get satellite TV a while back, because I thought it'd be fun in the winter to watch some TV and it was advertised at $24 a month with "local" channels. (Where we live NOTHING is local, but at least it's local-ish).

I balked at that! Seriously?!? $30 (with tax) a month to watch TV?!?! I told the guy that was insane. He actually laughed out loud and told me that some people get packages and pay $80 a month for TV programming.

I have a TV at the main house. I don't even have a TV at our cottage. I don't really see the appeal.

A couple of weeks ago, I was on Facebook and my sister-in-law, who lives in Casa Grande, posted "Wendy finally went home! It's about time! She was WAY overdue to go home.". I was thinking one of our relatives must have overstayed a visit in warm AZ, so I said, "Who's Wendy? Is she related to Tony (a cousin)?" My daughter, to save me embarassment, said something like, "Mom, it's a TV show about fat people. You wouldn't understand."
 
the only reason I keep it is football and baseball.

i really like watching the brewers after work, and with 2 little kids I don't really have the option of stopping at a bar. which would be more expensive anyway.
 
There is 6 people in my family. I feel I am ripping the cable company off with all the tv being watched at any given time. I really should send them an extra $20.00 a month, just to keep it fair.
 
Yooper said:
He actually laughed out loud and told me that some people get packages and pay $80 a month for TV programming.
Click to expand...

Guilty. :eek:

I haven't watched a network show since The West Wing died. I don't watch anything religiously and I have nine HBO channels that are watched occasionally.

But I watch a ****load of sports and thanks to my job, I get to write the DirecTV off as a business expense on my taxes. :D
 
I'm with the OP...wife and I agreed to get rid of cable a couple of years ago. Don't miss it at all...in fact it never occurs to us anymore to even turn on the tv unless we're watching a movie on Netflix. But that's just us...everyone has different likes and dislikes. To each his or her own! :)
 
Randar said:
Yoop, you have to understand that not everyone has found the endless entertainment that is HBT. :D
Click to expand...

Oh, I understand that. But to think that "Dancing with Fake Celebrities" or "American Pop Singers" or "Fat people who want to lose weight" equals entertainment is worse off than I am! :D
 
Randar said:
Yoop, you have to understand that not everyone has found the endless entertainment that is TR. :D
Click to expand...

Fixed. :D

shecky said:
But I watch a ****load of sports and thanks to my job, I get to write the DirecTV off as a business expense on my taxes. :D
Click to expand...

Wait, so the $100 "discount" you're getting from DTV isn't really helping you? :p

And, can I right it off because of the Autumn Wind? :D
 
i wanted to do this two months ago, our cable kept going in and out( comcast) I called to cancel and they told me the typical: what can we do to keep you? I said I wanted to cancel anyway-we were paying 120 per month with cable and internet. They said how about 60 bucks a month for both for 6 months, I said sure. The plan when I was first going to cancel it was to get BOXEE, check it out as an alternative to cable. no subscription and you can build your own for free. plus I T-o-rre-nt lots of goodies so anything can be found.

I figure when the 6 months is up i tell them I want to cancel again, if they don't maintain the price I will just get a boxee and be done with it. All we watch are cooking shows and history/discovery/amc.
 
We canceled and got netflix. I found other ways to watch what I wanted before we even had cable to begin with...

My wife spends about the same about of time ont he TV and I spend less on the computer. I'll call that a win!
 
The last time I had cable was at the college house where we split it 4 ways so it was only $10-15 a month. Lots of Daily Show and Adult Swim, but now I can't imagine paying it all myself.

I mainly watch sports and almost all football is on basic TV and hockey is easily found on the internet. WOOO Sharks!!!
 
We're trying to get out of debt, aside from the house we are hoping to close on in early June. The first sacrifice is our $80 satellite bill. By February, we should be clear, but I hope we realize that TV still isn't worth it. My shows are Dexter, Big Bang Theory, and House. I'm pretty sure i'll still get them between netflix and internet.
 
I have an antenna up in the attic & get 22 digital channels off-air at a cost of Zero dollars each month. I am always surprised how many people think they stopped broadcasting TV over the air.
 
XXguy said:
I have an antenna up in the attic & get 22 digital channels off-air at a cost of Zero dollars each month. I am always surprised how many people think they stopped broadcasting TV over the air.
Click to expand...

i ditched the satellite a few months ago and get most of my tv over the air now. Have to stream Sabres games, but that only seems to be a problem unitl early april most years :mad:.
 
rosier9 said:
I've been without cable for 2 years now. Between antenna/internet/netflix I think I spend more time in-front of the screen than before...
Click to expand...

We cut the cable too, and until east bound and down, true blood, and boardwalk empire come on, I'll be happy about it (I do like those shows, but oh well). We went with an HD antenna and netflix and couldn't be happier about the savings. Its amazing how much history channel/discovery I watched soley because it was on, NOT because I genuinely looked forward to watching it.

F cable.
 
We are making the move too. My bundled phone, internet, and cable bill last month was $220! And that was after they raised their fees by $20.

Ordered a Roku XDS and I am waiting for it to ship. About all we watch is local crap and cartoon for the kids. I figure I'll give the Roku a try and see if it can still provide some of what we had and I'll put an antenna up in attic for local programming.

And cut the cable coord.

Then I'll attack the phone. Looks like I can cut my phone bill in half by going with VOIP. Wife makes a LOT of calls International and it looks like we can do that VOIP for no LD charges above the flat service of $25 a month.

After that, all that is left is Internet service. The only question is whether or not the switch to internet based everything will cause us to go over our metered bandwidth and force us into a higher bandwidth tier to avoid overage charges. Yes, Cox treates bandwidth like minutes on a cell phone. You get so much per month and if you go over, they rape you.
 
I look at video programming as another entertainment outlet that I'm willing to pay for. While over the air is robust in my area, I also need easy DVR capability without rigging up a computer or 3rd party box to do it. The program guides and easy recording scheduling has the wife (and myself admittedly) spoiled. We probably go out to a movie theater once a year and we don't eat out more than once a month. The key to keeping the prices down is ABC or ABC.

Always Be Canceling. If you like your current service but the introductory rate ran out. Call them and tell them you want to turn off service on the following Monday. If they don't forward you to the retention department immediately, they'll call you in a day or so and offer a discount for the next 3-6 months.

Always Be Changing. The best deals are intro deals. Be willing to switch back and forth from Dishnetwork, Cable, DirecTV, and your telecom TV service if you have access. Having your coax all home run to a patch panel makes this cake. By the time you run out of game from a given provider, the 3rd or 4th one will already be considering you a new customer.
 
I love my Dish. I don't watch a ton, but come on, where else am I going to be able to watch the Red Wings in HD??

I could probably steal some shows from the internet, and truth be told, we could probably hold off on watching shows until they are put up for legal streaming, but the video quality isn't as good, usually, until Netflix gets them.

Sometimes I think we'd be better off without the TV running at night, but then I find Futurama and It's Always Sunny on the DVR and I'm hooked again.
 
We canceled our $100/month satellite bill about 6 months ago. I set up a Windows 7 pc with Windows Media Center to the tv to get programming. Between the antenna pulling in the networks (and DVR'ing them on WMC), Hulu, and the show's websites, we have not had to give up a single show that we watch. We don't even have netflix either. The only exception is that I love some stuff on Discovery (Deadliest Catch right now). I download it from Amazon for $2/episode.
 
I cancelled my cable about 6 months ago, and haven't really missed it.

The only thing I regret is not being able to watch live soccer at home, unless I can find a good feed online.
 
ajwillys said:
... I set up a Windows 7 pc with Windows Media Center to the tv to get programming. Between the antenna pulling in the networks (and DVR'ing them on WMC), Hulu, and the show's websites, we have not had to give up a single show that we watch.
Click to expand...

How well does that work for Live HD broadcasts like sports? Can you do Pause/Replay without stuttering/pixelating? I played around with a Media Center XP on a Home Theatre PC back @ 2008 & just could never get it to work well with either live HD or even recording HD.
 
ajwillys said:
I set up a Windows 7 pc with Windows Media Center to the tv to get programming. Between the antenna pulling in the networks (and DVR'ing them on WMC), Hulu, and the show's websites, we have not had to give up a single show that we watch.
Click to expand...

XXguy said:
How well does that work for Live HD broadcasts like sports? Can you do Pause/Replay without stuttering/pixelating? I played around with a Media Center XP on a Home Theatre PC back @ 2008 & just could never get it to work well with either live HD or even recording HD.
Click to expand...

I had not even considered this. I wonder if WMC is configurable to record streams?

It would be nice to be able to record a program for transfer to DVD media for use in a car entertainment system. At least until those catch up to the point where you can just load a jumpdrive and plug-it into the side of the monitor.
 
XXguy said:
How well does that work for Live HD broadcasts like sports? Can you do Pause/Replay without stuttering/pixelating? I played around with a Media Center XP on a Home Theatre PC back @ 2008 & just could never get it to work well with either live HD or even recording HD.
Click to expand...

It works fantastic. I've been very impressed/suprised. I think it depends alot on the hardware. I'm running a Core i5 Quad Core desktop, 6 GB RAM with a mid level HDMI graphics card. I'm using an HD HomeRun for the tuner and we have a 2 TB drive dedicated for the dvr. You don't want to use your main hard drive as the dvr as it puts alot of stress on it and will cause it to fail sooner. Also, you'll need something big. Most of the OTA programming comes in 1080i and the connection to the tv is 1080p. It's every bit as good as cable/satellite and much better than "internet tv" (hulu, netflix, etc..) We're using the same pc for normal browsing, etc... as the tv uses but looking back, even if I had to drop $500 in hardware for it, I wouldn't hesitate.

One other thing, make sure you get a HTPC remote. I think mine was around $20 on amazon. Trying to use a mouse/keyboard while sitting on the couch will quickly sour the family on the whole idea.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
As would mine. Turns out you can still get a lot of HGTV programming over internet. Might not be real time current but, once they've added it to their list of streams it's yours.
Click to expand...
I stuck a 26" Asus monitor in the cabinet over the microwave and ran an HDMI cable to the DVR/Cable box in the living room. I don’t think I could get her to fiddle with the PC. As soon as she walks into the kitchen, she opens the cabinet and turns HGTV on. Even when she’s not watching, she likes it as background noise and looks up if something sounds interesting. It’s a small price to pay in return for the benefit from her cooking skills.

KitchenTV_lr.jpg
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
PlayOn.com $4.99 a month, $19.00 a year, or $79 Lifetime and has 3rd party plug-in for Discovery.
Click to expand...

Wait a minute, what exactly is this? I see on the site they have all these channels but this isn't their full programming is it? I'm thinking its maybe the clips that they provide for free on their website? If not, I'm signing up immediately. For life.

EDIT: I see they have a free trial. Going to have to try it out.
 
ajwillys said:
It works fantastic. I've been very impressed/suprised. I think it depends alot on the hardware. I'm running a Core i5 Quad Core desktop, 6 GB RAM with a mid level HDMI graphics card. I'm using an HD HomeRun for the tuner and we have a 2 TB drive dedicated for the dvr. You don't want to use your main hard drive as the dvr as it puts alot of stress on it and will cause it to fail sooner. Also, you'll need something big. Most of the OTA programming comes in 1080i and the connection to the tv is 1080p. It's every bit as good as cable/satellite and much better than "internet tv" (hulu, netflix, etc..) We're using the same pc for normal browsing, etc... as the tv uses but looking back, even if I had to drop $500 in hardware for it, I wouldn't hesitate.

One other thing, make sure you get a HTPC remote. I think mine was around $20 on amazon. Trying to use a mouse/keyboard while sitting on the couch will quickly sour the family on the whole idea.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the HDHomeRun stream could be fed out wirelessly for access from
a Roku? This could prove to be very appealing to me.
 
must be my area (high cost of living), but I had to LOL at Yoopers $30 a month comment. I was paying ~$140 a month for HDDVR and internet from Comcast (no HBO or anything, just regular channels + HD), they just kept raising the price until I finally snapped. In one week I cancelled my home phone line (we both have cellphones) and cancelled my Comcast. I signed up for DirecTV and AT&T high speed internet. I'm paying $50 total for both for the first year. It'll double after that when the intro rates are over, but still saves $50 a month.
 
I have cable TV and Internet bundled for about $120 a month and really want to get rid of the cable. My Internet is about $40/month right now, but if I drop the TV service, the Internet-only cost jumps closer to $60.

If I have to add in Netflix and/or the full Hulu service to keep the GF happy, that's another $15/month.

And I really like watching sports, and haven't found a decent way to view live broadcasts (especially Twins baseball) since MLBtv blocks them in my market.

If I could get all of those things figured out, and still save a decent amount of money, I'd DEFINITELY get rid of the cable TV service ...
 
On the topic of HTPC, I set one up a few years ago using an HDHomeRun. No windows 7 at the time, it wasn't stable enough to be a reliable DVR. I was going to dual-boot mythbuntu (linux) as that would be super stable, but when it came down to it I just didn't get enough stations to make it worth it. Now that I have directv, I can't even get the normal channels as they don't have any unencrypted stuff coming through the cable. I'd have to get a separate antenna to do it.
 
AnOldUR said:
I stuck a 26" Asus monitor in the cabinet over the microwave and ran an HDMI cable to the DVR/Cable box in the living room. I don’t think I could get her to fiddle with the PC. As soon as she walks into the kitchen, she opens the cabinet and turns HGTV on. Even when she’s not watching, she likes it as background noise and looks up if something sounds interesting. It’s a small price to pay in return for the benefit from her cooking skills.
Click to expand...

Well, I am talking mostly from word of mouth and tounge in cheek. the set-up I am going to is via a Roku XDS. The PlayOn server would run in teh background on the PC and the Roku would serve as the streams browser via a plug-in. From what I have been told and from what I see, it all operates like choosing a video On-Demand from the TV screen.

So, you choose the HGTV channel, pick the stream you want to watch, and push play. All from the Remote.
 

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