Ditching cable TV idea....

So it seems that I may be able to rid myself of a hefty cable bill each month. I have Netflix 1 at a time unlimited plan, but if I upgrade to the next level I can get unlimited streaming movies online. I have a Mac Mini hooked up to my projector (my TV) and already watch all my DVDs through it. I also watch a lot of TV shows on their respective studio's website. Add to that Hulu.com and surfthechannel.com and I have a huge swatch of entertainment available, all via my cable modem. Add to that the new digital TV converter boxes that are coming on the market for the new TV broadcast standards. I can plumb that in where my cable box was in my home theater cabinet, and then I'll have broadcast TV in digital (though probably not HD). Even better, I could get an ElGato EyeTV and not have to deal with the TV box at all, just a USB peripheral.

Does this plan sound nuts? Comcast is nicking me every few months for a few dollars more in "fees" and I'm just tired of it. Anyone else had this idea?

It's summer.....

the TV is rarely on til winter.

Not nuts at all. I'm currently using my Xbox to watch streaming video from my server on the second floor of my house. It works great. I pop in DVD's to it as well. Cable isn't really on that much for me anymore.

We don't have cable, and honestly, the only things that I miss are ESPN, which I get at work anyways, Comedy Central, History Channel (PBS is a decent substitute), and CMT (so I listen to the radio). I only watch about 5 hours of tv a week Mostly I just watch Top Gear anyways.

My dad got pissed when they raised the bill $2 a month, arguing that it was a 10% increase, and he didn't get a 10% salary increase. We got the digital box about 3 years before everyone else, and now have 4 worship channels, and a bunch of channels between the channels. It really isn't bad.

From what I've read, the Netflix online movies are pretty limited. I think it's an awesome service, but the limited titles kind of kills the convenience factor for me. We go back and forth with and without cable. I rarely miss it, but with the DVR it is pretty convenient. We sign on for promotional 6-12 month deals, when the deal ends if the cable company won't extend/match the promotional deal, we just cancel and wait for the next promotion. One of these days the cable company will figure out that if they just set their prices at a happy medium (between stupid-cheap promotions and bend-you-over "standard" pricing) they wouldn't have to come hook up and unhook my cable all the time.

It's getting to the point that pretty soon there won't be much that you want to see that you can't get online. I give it two more years and I'd be surprised if "cable" is the same thing we know of where you turn the tv on and watch whatever there is available (rather than on-demand type viewing).

Bryce

Our hose has 2 DR boxes (one for regular stuff and one for HD stuff). My wife watches a TON of TV while she's on her exercise bike.

We're also all about buzzing through shows. I watch WAY more TV than I'd care to admit.

Between high-speed internet and the cable bill, it's pretty damn excessive. :whatthe:

Not nuts at all. I'm planing to do the same when my contract is up with DirecTV in July. I have 3x 4ft stacks of DVD's I have purchased in the last 3 years and have not been able to watch because of the 3 or so hours a night I watch on the Tivo. I am also subscribed to a bunch of Video podcasts that I am not able to keep up with now. I don't think I will have any problems finding stuff to entertain myself with.

I canceled my cable. Turned in my boxes etc..

no cable for me.

My quality of life improved when I got rid of the brainwashing box. Alot more time to wrench when I'm not hypnotised by the tube.

we where in limbo while moving... we where in a place for a month with no tv... just what we had stashed in our DVR (mostly kiddie stuff)...

we've been stayin with family for the last month or so (paying rent to live in the basment is a lot cheaper then having our own place)... while we had cable (thanks sis) it was just this last week that we had our dish turned back on... we where paying for it anyway and was free setup (had ot keep it on or pay some retarded big cancelation bill... we rarely watched anything... no DVR makes watching TV suck... the weird part was that i realy didn't miss it... we had our netflix and that was plenty, when oru contract is up in a few months we'll ditch the dish me thinks... seems like we got a lot more done with no TV.... the TVlesness has made it so we watch less now...

one thing we don't need is more freakin TV...

Well my plan has hit a snag for the moment. Seems that Netflix doesn't support Mac yet for instant movies. I have to install Bootcamp, then install XP, then use IE to watch movies. I've been planning on installing Bootcamp anyway just to play games (Orange Box!). I got the ok from the wife to tell Comcast to shove it.

There is VirtualBox as well, might be worth a shot instead of paying for BootCamp (not that there is anything wrong with it, it is a great product)

Oh and I'm weening myself off of the TV slowly but surely. When I was temporarily unemployed, we dropped the cable to the basic stuff, just to keep the free high-speed internet upgrade, turned in all of the boxes and have been grumbling about only having 13 channels. Eventually I decided to just stop watching unless I'm taking a break from doing something and I've gotten so much more done since then.

Case in point: My CSX which hasn't run in 7 years is nearly ready to run tomorrow after a few weeks worth of work, plus it has better suspension and brakes than it has ever had. At this rate, by the winter I might have 2/3rds of my project cars running with the last one being fairly close.

I think if the girlfriend wants to continue watching TV (she does have a demanding and physical job, opposed to me sitting on my arse all day) that I'll buy some workout machines and move the TV into the spare room with the machines so that at least I might not here her complain about being "fat" anymore or at least that she's gained weight. This way the living room can stay a living room and the TV can not be the center of attention for the house.

Last time I moved, we ditched cable, being a student at the time I thought it would translate into more time to do interesting stuff.

Instead it translated into more time berkleying around on the interent. :grin:

I don't miss it though, or the bill, or the annual increase in the bill.

The shows that I like are generally availble either to stream or via DVD (I use netflix too) It is much much much better to be able to watch a tv series without missing episodes or being interuped by commerials

If cable weren't part of the HOA fees (and "full basic" is $24.50 of that), I wouldn't have it. Now, 3 years ago, we only had one broadcast station in town, now we have the 4 majors. I could do just fine with rabbit ears.

I haven't had cable for 2yrs and I don't miss it one bit. Part of the reason was the discovery of the library. I just go down the street and check out DVD's for FREE! They actually have quite a good selection including TV series and weirdo Sundance films.

I haven't had cable for 2yrs and I don't miss it one bit. Part of the reason was the discovery of the library. I just go down the street and check out DVD's for FREE! They actually have quite a good selection including TV series and weirdo Sundance films.

Holy quadruple post!

I read three of those four posts before I realized I had already read it. I'm tired.

Cable is built into rent whether we want it or not. We don't watch anything other than what we DVR, which for me is Top Gear and The Soup.

woops, my bad!

And speaking of the library, I've been getting into Vonnegut lately. The name Mr. Trout sounds oddly familiar...

Internet and DVDs are all I need, But at my house we have a Sat/phone/DSL combo pack that works out nicely. When me and my fiance get our own place in about a year, we wont have cable, just internet

I'm ditching the satellite TV too. Fur or five bills a year for 24/7 comercials and 20 year old movies is just too much. So, I got this extra Emachine laying around... What do I need to turn it into a net TV? It only has VGA output, and it has an empty AGP graphics slot, so I figger I need a AGP card that has NTSC video out or that S video stuff that know nothing about. What is a AGP graphics card I can use for this that isn't too expensive? If it digitized also, that would be cool too, I guess. I think some of them will. What software do I need to "channel surf"? I already have a wireless mouse and keyboard, so that's not a problem. A friend of mine found some place selling $40 software that supposedly let you look at thousands of "channels" so I figure that there must be a free version out there too.

For me TV has never been a huge thing. We even went a summer without it when my wife ran a daycare. :twisted: The kids were outside most of the time anyway.

Right now my kids could do with out it, and so could I. My wife likes it as she works overnights and the monitor for the computer is pretty tiny.

I also know that the last people in my house didnt disconnect the cable so all I would need to do is find the cable post and take off the filter and presto all the channels we need.

Mike K

MitchellC wrote: And speaking of the library, I've been getting into Vonnegut lately. The name Mr. Trout sounds oddly familiar...

Yeah, I was reading Breakfast of Champions when I pooped out this username. He's one of my favs for sure.

Carson wrote: I read three of those four posts before I realized I had already read it. I'm tired. Cable is built into rent whether we want it or not. We don't watch anything other than what we DVR, which for me is Top Gear and The Soup.

Ooooh, someone else watches the Soup. I thought it was just my wife and I...