It's offical, I'm dumping pay TV.

v1ru5

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2008
1,690
67
48
Harrisburg PA.
I am dumping the cable TV part of my TWC service. I have had it with the reality shows and the terrible programming on almost ALL the channels. I am going to buy a HD video card for my laptop and get my TV fix from the net. I work nights and when I am home during the day there is absolutely NOTHING I want to see so from now on I'll do my own programming.
 
Nov 19, 2009
55
2
8
Ky
I did that back in september. Put an antenna up on the roof and bought a couple of the digital TV box's.

But after trying to get used to the limited choices on OTA TV and getting a hard to pass up offer to come back to cable we are now hooked up again.

This time around we have the cable box and I do like the free on demand offerings

:rolleyes:
 

v1ru5

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2008
1,690
67
48
Harrisburg PA.
I did that back in september. Put an antenna up on the roof and bought a couple of the digital TV box's.

But after trying to get used to the limited choices on OTA TV and getting a hard to pass up offer to come back to cable we are now hooked up again.

This time around we have the cable box and I do like the free on demand offerings

:rolleyes:
I find myself watching sites like HULU and fancast, also the network sites FOX, ABC,CBS and so on through my laptop via s-video connected to my tv. This is why all I need now is an HD video card.
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
15,259
5,279
168
I'll probably be doing the same thing in the not to distant future. I watch maybe a grand total of 6 shows, and I'm paying for something like 200+ channels on Dish Network. My sports interest anymore is limited to baseball, and I can get that online, too.
 

ProperModulation

Green Type of Tube
Oct 11, 2008
2,612
90
48
California
Get a tivo. I never have to watch anything that I don't care for. There's always a backlog of episodes of the shows I actually like, plus I can skip the commercials. The only rub is that I pay a lot of money per month for TV and only watch shows on a small percentage of the channels. oh well...
 

v1ru5

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2008
1,690
67
48
Harrisburg PA.
Get a tivo. I never have to watch anything that I don't care for. There's always a backlog of episodes of the shows I actually like, plus I can skip the commercials. The only rub is that I pay a lot of money per month for TV and only watch shows on a small percentage of the channels. oh well...
Isn't Tivo a subscription service?
 

geosync

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2008
2,471
500
118
Portland, Or
Did the same earlier this year. I catch some of the cable channels over ch 100 when over at my folks place. But, I haven't missed it.
 

Argji

Member
Oct 14, 2008
400
21
18
Oklahoma City, OK
Sometimes I wish we could dump our Dish subscription but I'm so addicted to our DVR it's unreal. All our shows get recorded so we can zip thru them. Before DVR about 5 years ago, I had two VCR's recording so we could zip thru the commericals. I think we watch more TV with a DVR since we can compress down the time to watch the shows. I watch too much TV!!!!
 

Calypso

Queen Calypso
Apr 29, 2009
3,085
118
63
carsandcombat.com
Sometimes I wish we could dump our Dish subscription but I'm so addicted to our DVR it's unreal. All our shows get recorded so we can zip thru them. Before DVR about 5 years ago, I had two VCR's recording so we could zip thru the commericals. I think we watch more TV with a DVR since we can compress down the time to watch the shows. I watch too much TV!!!!

Ditto!!!!lol
 
Oct 29, 2008
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Roku Digital Video Player | Watch Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand and MLB.TV on Roku Player - changes the whole movie watching experience. Thumbs up. Great device, bad direct customer service. Buy box from Amazon.

Boxee App in beta version. So be warned. Alpha worked great for me. Beta is very buggy. They are releasing a boxee box. I would just use a PC, or mac mini though hooked up to your TV from your graphics card.. Throw in a wireless mouse for PC or harmony universal remote with mini. You have a sweet set up.

Far superior then cable, and much cheaper. Two links make good combo. Don't ask me questions though as I hang out on this web site very little. You should do some research though. Both above sites have forums. It's my set up, and is great. Though I have basic analog cable as well. Very cheap with internet, phone , basic cable combined.

Good luck....:wave:
 
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v1ru5

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2008
1,690
67
48
Harrisburg PA.
Roku Digital Video Player | Watch Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand and MLB.TV on Roku Player - changes the whole movie watching experience. Thumbs up. Great device, bad direct customer service. Buy box from Amazon.

Boxee App in beta version. So be warned. Alpha worked great for me. Beta is very buggy. They are releasing a boxee box. I would just use a PC, or mac mini though hooked up to your TV from your graphics card.. Throw in a wireless mouse for PC or harmony universal remote with mini. You have a sweet set up.

Far superior then cable, and much cheaper. Two links make good combo. Don't ask me questions though as I hang out on this web site very little. You should do some research though. Both above sites have forums. It's my set up, and is great. Though I have basic analog cable as well. Very cheap with internet, phone , basic cable combined.

Good luck....:wave:
Thanks, that Boxee app is mad cool.
 

xan_user

Banned
Dec 16, 2008
3,234
74
48
Nor-Cal
Right on v1ru5!

If I didn't get dishnet for free i would cancel too. :D


btw- wii will be getting netflix soon too.(if you have that)
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
15,259
5,279
168
I'll probably get Apple TV next month, and we've already got a Wii so Netflix streaming will be coming to that in Spring (which isn't far off). I have paid my last $160 bill with Dish Network. :mad:
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
9,434
149
63
Louisiana
Apple TV is just too damn expensive because you have to pay for every bit of the programming. I considered it, but quickly passed on it because of how much TV series etc really cost. Even some of their new release movies they don't want to rent, but try to force you to buy. Screw that, I am not going to be forced to do anything. Apple could do so much better with their Apple TV service.

I've considered doing the TV on Hulu and others thing, but when push come to shove the experience overall is just crap. I am just not willing to settle for so much less and have to watch TV on a small ass computer screen.

One suggestion I have for many cable subscribers is call your cable company and tell them you are thinking about leaving and ask them what deal they can give you to stay. I did this and was surprised that I ended up getting the same services I was previously getting including HD for about half the price from before. They have deals and they also have the ability to do some sort of retention, but they aren't going to call you.
 

eth555

New Member
Nov 10, 2008
20
3
3
Also a subscription to Netflix (Way cheaper than Cable or Sat) it awesome. I use their instant streaming through my Xbox, it is awesome! Not a lot of newer stuff but plenty of content there, depends on how picky your are!
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
15,259
5,279
168
Apple TV is just too damn expensive because you have to pay for every bit of the programming. I considered it, but quickly passed on it because of how much TV series etc really cost. Even some of their new release movies they don't want to rent, but try to force you to buy. Screw that, I am not going to be forced to do anything. Apple could do so much better with their Apple TV service.

I've considered doing the TV on Hulu and others thing, but when push come to shove the experience overall is just crap. I am just not willing to settle for so much less and have to watch TV on a small ass computer screen.

One suggestion I have for many cable subscribers is call your cable company and tell them you are thinking about leaving and ask them what deal they can give you to stay. I did this and was surprised that I ended up getting the same services I was previously getting including HD for about half the price from before. They have deals and they also have the ability to do some sort of retention, but they aren't going to call you.

We do have over the air antenna for the network stuff, and of the cable stuff we watch maybe a half-dozen shows (Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, Deadliest Catch, Burn Notice off the top of my head). I had seen a feature on the news about a guy who did this same thing, with Tivo, Netflix and Apple TV, and he shaved about $50 a month of his TV bill. As it stands right now I'm paying DISH $100 a month for a bunch of shit I don't watch. I would rather pay a $110-150 dollar bill once a year (what I've determined it costs for the whole season for that many shows) and a few rental movies in HD, then to pay that much MONTHLY to Dish Network for a bunch of channels I don't want. Not to mention FREE HD Podcasts (a lot of which are very good) and my music collection plus iTunes internet radio on Apple TV.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
9,434
149
63
Louisiana
Good Luck with that Jon, just too damn limiting and you really get very little exposure to anything new. I think it is a better move to try to get the cable or sat bill more manageable. Clearly if you are paying $100 per month you aren't doing much in the way of trying to keep your cost down. I know people that are paying $29.99 a per month for sat TV. They are great about giving good deals when you try to cancel too.

Anyway.. different strokes for different folks! Apple TV is still too expensive in my book and to controlling to boot, that is one Apple I just can't bite. LOL