Considering ditching cable...

[Kadarin]

I've been thinking about this lately, as I spend close to $100/mo on cable and I have noticed recently that I no longer watch nearly as many shows as I used to a few years ago. I'm thinking that it might well be a good investment to ditch cable and get the programs I want to see a la carte via the internet.

So I currently have a PS3 and a Tivo Series 3 (HD, with an extra 500GB drive hooked up via eSATA), and both of these devices can be used to access movie and tv content: PS3 via the PlayStation online store and as a media server to show content streamed from other PCs in the house, and the Tivo via Blockbuster, Netflix, and Amazon Video On Demand. It would be a trivial thing to do to get an AppleTV to get content from the iTunes ecosystem, but that strikes me as being mostly redundant unless there's content there not available from the other outlets.

So here are my questions:

Has anyone done this and been happy with the results?
How do you get free content (i.e. Hulu, etc.) to display fullscreen in high resolution?
Should I get a separate computer to connect to the tv? (i.e. a Mac Mini, or Dell Zino?)

For the most part I don't watch live sporting events, so that and local programming isn't an issue.

Thoughts?

 

[slackerinabox]

I tried to get rid of cable/satellite but there were too many work arounds... Hulu's fine and dandy (except for full screen HD flash causing hiccups on a 7mb/dsl connection) but I really started to miss just flipping through channels.. I suppose an OTA dvr would have made things easier, but I hated how watching TV became a chore.. Downloading torrents, unrarring things, troubleshooting networking issues.. UGH..

We pay $40 for satellite - it's worth $1.25 a day to just be able to turn the tv on and watch what we want.

 

[RedCOMET]

I lived with out cable TV for almost two. I ended up torrenting / hulu-ing / network tv sites / shady streaming sites to satisfy the craving of watching my network tv shows. I really missed watching news channels, history channel et al. and live sports. I watched most of my sports games in a sports bar with friends or over friends places but that gets old after while.

I also rented a heck of a lot of movies from my local block buster.

I would say increase yiour internet speed and ditch the cable tv. OTA might be an option to watch local stuff.

I also didn't / don't own a tv. I currently hav e a projector and desktop pc hooked up to it and a laptop. I watched most of the shows on either pc. Its not for everyone. THe one thing with paying for a set top box from a cable company / sat company is that stuff just works and if it doesn't they will give you new hardware to make it work. Having the pcs don't always make things easier.

 

[slackerinabox]

I lived with out cable TV for almost two. I ended up torrenting / hulu-ing / network tv sites / shady streaming sites to satisfy the craving of watching my network tv shows. I really missed watching news channels, history channel et al. and live sports. I watched most of my sports games in a sports bar with friends or over friends places but that gets old after while.

I also rented a heck of a lot of movies from my local block buster.

I would say increase yiour internet speed and ditch the cable tv. OTA might be an option to watch local stuff.

I also didn't / don't own a tv. I currently hav e a projector and desktop pc hooked up to it and a laptop. I watched most of the shows on either pc. Its not for everyone. THe one thing with paying for a set top box from a cable company / sat company is that stuff just works and if it doesn't they will give you new hardware to make it work. Having the pcs don't always make things easier.

Are you single? Because I could have dealt with all the shady/illegal/tricky torrenting.. My wife? She just wants to watch tv, not wait an hour to unRAR the latest episode of Gossip Girl. She was rightfully annoyed at all the jumping through hoops to save, what? less than 2 bucks a day.

 

[sivart]

For me, it is an HTPC with Hulu Desktop and Vista Media center with an OTA antenna. Only 'watch' about 3 shows a week, so no big deal.

The hulu auto-add to your queue and send an email to let you know is a nice feature.

 

[RedCOMET]

Are you single? Because I could have dealt with all the shady/illegal/tricky torrenting.. My wife? She just wants to watch tv, not wait an hour to unRAR the latest episode of Gossip Girl. She was rightfully annoyed at all the jumping through hoops to save, what? less than 2 bucks a day.

LOL... I actually have a girlfriend for last year and half. I actually gave her my old tv when I bought the projector. I'm also away from my apt for 14-20 days a month working in the gulf of mexico on an drill ship (oil rig). So when we hang out at my apt we watch movies that we rented, downloaded, or the internet via hulu or network websites... Or we just play videos games. But then again my apt was like a mini theater with the 100" 16:9 video image and speakers and such.

I will confess though, that I did just get FIOS internet and TV installed in my new apartment. I did miss having background noise (TV) while i worked around the place and I missed watching Live sports and the news. I still utilized the internet for shows, Hulu, Torrents, etc if the FIOS TV doesn't satisfy my needs or that damn DVR doesn't record the show. I'm the type of guy who also just likes watching shows and such on his laptop while sitting in bed. Especially with my GF next to me, its cozy, romantic and fun.

I know my gf would not be content with no tv if we moved in together. I would think she just wants something that works, and so that she doesn't have to scour the internet just to watch last weeks episode of say Top Chef. I do the torrents when Hulu/ network websites delay show by x days. But i try to keep the torrent downloading to a minimum now a days. When there are so many free, legal alternatives to watch shows, I try not to push my luck. (also i'm running out of HDD space for new stuff )

 

[fastcuda]

I ditched cable except now have dsl and cable internet, to satisfy my gaming/justintv urges. I don't miss tv at all except maybe watching national drag races, but those shows are all commercial and 10% content now anyway. In fact when you haven't watched tv for 6 months or so and turn it on its annoying, for me anyway, all the political nonsense and commercials I can live without completely. I only watch movies and game now really, news is so depressing.

 

[Kadarin]

those shows are all commercial and 10% content now anyway.

Interesting note on this: TNT or somebody will occasionally show James Bond movies, but they'd do so within a three hour time block. After getting annoyed by the sheer amount (and repetition) of commercials, I timed it: For every 8 minutes of movie, they would show 5 minutes of commercials. Yikes! It gets really painful and unwatchable after a while, even when fastforwarding through commercials with my Tivo.

That said, what I'm looking for is a good viewing experience for the few shows I do watch, and particularly for HD shows. I don't want to necessarily pirate anything, but just want to pay for what I watch rather than spend the money on a continual cable bill if I'm not really using it. If I can watch free content from online from Hulu and Youtube or wherever at reasonably high resolution, then that's an added bonus (i.e. shows like Colbert and John Stewart, Frontline, etc.)

 

[sdifox]

Never considered an antenna for OTA?

 

[mmntech]

Never considered an antenna for OTA?

This. It's a good option if you don't want to pay for cable. Just buy the $70 waffle iron antenna, slap it on your roof (it's your legal right in the US), and enjoy HDTV for nothing. They work pretty well provided you're in 50mi of the transmitter.

I have a friend in the US who doesn't own a TV and just watches everything online. Problem is that a lot of stuff isn't broadcast online. Namely sports and other live programming. She's a Mavs fan but has to listen to games on the radio.
Internet television is still largely in its infancy. Video quality isn't that great due to compression. Plus the bandwidth costs are often considerably more than just buying basic cable. It will take a few more years to mature content wise and become a viable alternative.

 

[Malak]

I have never paid for cable and never plan on it. Any TV shows that sound interesting I wait for seasons to come out on DVD and rent via Netflix, which I now get on-demand through my PS3. It is far cheaper to pay for Netflix than it is to pay for a plethora of channels I'll never watch.

Eventually broadcasting will be entirely on-demand, and at that point I may pay for a service that offers more than what Netflix has.

 

[Malak]

I have never paid for cable and never plan on it. Any TV shows that sound interesting I wait for seasons to come out on DVD and rent via Netflix, which I now get on-demand through my PS3. It is far cheaper to pay for Netflix than it is to pay for a plethora of channels I'll never watch.

Eventually broadcasting will be entirely on-demand, and at that point I may pay for a service that offers more than what Netflix has.

 

[Kadarin]

Never considered an antenna for OTA?

Not really, because I really don't care about local channels.

So that all said, what are the best ways of going about doing this? Buy a small form-factor PC, connect to the tv, and use it for Windows Media Center or XBMC or something, and use Hulu Desktop for free (ad-supported) content? Or get a media extender of some kind to use with WMC, and then not sure if Hulu Desktop supports this... Then use Netflix along with Amazon Video On Demand for paid content?

Or go Mac Mini with iTunes, which when coupled with the Hulu Desktop for Mac should cover everything?

Sources for online content appear to be: BitTorrent and other P2P apps, Amazon VoD, Netflix, iTunes, and ?

 

[coreyb]

I regret renewing my cable contract. I don't think I've actually watched normal tv for months now, everything is torrents for the most part.

 

[slackerinabox]

Not really, because I really don't care about local channels.

So that all said, what are the best ways of going about doing this? Buy a small form-factor PC, connect to the tv, and use it for Windows Media Center or XBMC or something, and use Hulu Desktop for free (ad-supported) content? Or get a media extender of some kind to use with WMC, and then not sure if Hulu Desktop supports this... Then use Netflix along with Amazon Video On Demand for paid content?

Or go Mac Mini with iTunes, which when coupled with the Hulu Desktop for Mac should cover everything?

Sources for online content appear to be: BitTorrent and other P2P apps, Amazon VoD, Netflix, iTunes, and ?

Good luck to you... Get prepared for the fucking awful head ache of trying to track down the latest episode of that esoteric show that you miss, or watching primetime shows in shitty HULU quality, that freezes every couple of minutes. You never know what show you're going to miss.."The Soup" did us in- it's a throw away show, a show you just want to watch when it's on, not set up an RSS torrent feed for to watch 2 days later... And Bridezilla... Awful show, but fun to watch while channel surfing.. Oh, and channel surfing.. God, I missed channel surfing!

Just do the math - I spent $600-800 gearing up to "ditch cable tv!" - small form factor pcs aren't exactly cheap. I went AMD because the 780g chipset motherboards have ati video that features HD accelaration. You also need a lot of storage and a multicore CPU... So let's say you get all this done for $600.. You're spending $600 to save.. What? $30 a month while having to plan all of your tv watching? It sucks, man. Unless you never watch tv.

A friend of mine came over one day and had a fair assessment of my HTPC rig - "So you spent a few hundred bucks to watch shitty youtube quality video on your 1080p 50" plasma tv, just to save $1 a day? AND you can never watch a live event, unless it's on one of the 4 local channels your rabbit ears picks up? Sounds like a wise investment there!"

I still use my HTPC to supplement my subscription DVR, but replacing it was a lame experiment.

 

[sdifox]

This. It's a good option if you don't want to pay for cable. Just buy the $70 waffle iron antenna, slap it on your roof (it's your legal right in the US), and enjoy HDTV for nothing. They work pretty well provided you're in 50mi of the transmitter.

I have a friend in the US who doesn't own a TV and just watches everything online. Problem is that a lot of stuff isn't broadcast online. Namely sports and other live programming. She's a Mavs fan but has to listen to games on the radio.
Internet television is still largely in its infancy. Video quality isn't that great due to compression. Plus the bandwidth costs are often considerably more than just buying basic cable. It will take a few more years to mature content wise and become a viable alternative.

Shit, I paid 20 bux for an antenna and I get stations from Buffalo. I am sure I'll get more if I go with the 40 dollar antenna.

http://www.fortunecomputer.com/

 

[sdifox]

Not really, because I really don't care about local channels.

So that all said, what are the best ways of going about doing this? Buy a small form-factor PC, connect to the tv, and use it for Windows Media Center or XBMC or something, and use Hulu Desktop for free (ad-supported) content? Or get a media extender of some kind to use with WMC, and then not sure if Hulu Desktop supports this... Then use Netflix along with Amazon Video On Demand for paid content?

Or go Mac Mini with iTunes, which when coupled with the Hulu Desktop for Mac should cover everything?

Sources for online content appear to be: BitTorrent and other P2P apps, Amazon VoD, Netflix, iTunes, and ?

Depending on your location, you can catch more than local channels. I am say for a one time small investment (I can get an 8 bay antenna for 40 bux) you have the option of watching local channels for sporting events with less compression than satellite or cable.

 

[tk149]

$100/month = $1200/year
That's about what cable costs around here for digital basic plus expanded, plus TIVO and HD. That's equal to a new PC, or a down payment on a car, or an extra mortgage payment. Screw that, I dropped cable two years ago.

Even when I had cable, I found that I watched maybe two series regularly, and rarely watched anything else. I'd channel surf every once in awhile, but would rarely find anything I wanted to watch. I also much preferred seeing movies in letterbox format, not pan and scan.

OTA + netflix + netflix streaming. I don't watch sports, so that's not a concern. Now the PS3 has netflix streaming available too. It's not a true HD feed, but local cable wasn't all that great (compressed) either.

 

[kalrith]

I was paying $80/month for DirecTV and found that 75% of what I watched was on local networks. I spent $500 on an OTA antenna and HTPC with a dual-tuner ATSC card. I get all the locals in HD with a perfect signal. When I hit Watch TV on my Harmony remote, it goes directly to MediaPortal, so it works very similarly to using my DirecTV DVR.

Other than networks, I either watch the shows on their website (like foodnetwork.com for my wife's cooking shows or espn360.com for sports) or torrent them. I don't miss satellite at all and could never see myself paying $960 per year for something so trivial. If I find myself lacking content, then I'll spend a few bucks a month for Netflix.

I canceled DirecTV in August, so my breakeven point will be around March 1. After that, I'll experience pure savings from having canceled satellite.

 

[slackerinabox]

$100/month = $1200/year
That's about what cable costs around here for digital basic plus expanded, plus TIVO and HD. That's equal to a new PC, or a down payment on a car, or an extra mortgage payment. Screw that, I dropped cable two years ago.

Even when I had cable, I found that I watched maybe two series regularly, and rarely watched anything else. I'd channel surf every once in awhile, but would rarely find anything I wanted to watch. I also much preferred seeing movies in letterbox format, not pan and scan.

OTA + netflix + netflix streaming. I don't watch sports, so that's not a concern. Now the PS3 has netflix streaming available too. It's not a true HD feed, but local cable wasn't all that great (compressed) either.

Cable tv can cost $20-$30 a month if you don't get the premiums.. Bundles with phone/internet/tv cost $100... I thought I'd save money but hardware cost + the cost of unbundling services (i.e. as part of the triple play cable modem access was $30, separated wit was $50) negated any savings..

 

[ZetaEpyon]

Is your internet connection via cable as well? If so, that may negate at least a part of the cost savings of dropping the TV service, since there's typically a discount for having two or more services.

When my 6-month intro pricing ran out, I was just going to drop the TV service entirely, as the only thing I think I'd miss is sports on the ESPN channels. However, the savings wasn't what I'd hoped for. After some wrangling, I managed to get them to give me just the local channels (super basic), as well as the HD tier. Net result, I've now got ESPN in HD, but not SD. :awe:

At least something to consider...

 

[slackerinabox]

Is your internet connection via cable as well? If so, that may negate at least a part of the cost savings of dropping the TV service, since there's typically a discount for having two or more services.

When my 6-month intro pricing ran out, I was just going to drop the TV service entirely, as the only thing I think I'd miss is sports on the ESPN channels. However, the savings wasn't what I'd hoped for. After some wrangling, I managed to get them to give me just the local channels (super basic), as well as the HD tier. Net result, I've now got ESPN in HD, but not SD. :awe:

At least something to consider...

+ the convenience of just flipping through channels and not wasting 10+ hours a week with torrents/unrarring/tracking down things not on torrents = priceless

How much tv do you watch? Do you only watch particular shows or do you like channel surfing?

 

[Blazer]

i dumped dish network along time ago, added cost here and added cost there, complete screwup from the installation that they would not fix, the value is not there !

went to ota digital, receiving hd on most all channels, also using vod, netflix streaming and bd subscription, amazon streaming, htpc for recording and latter viewing, cost under $20.00monthly, very happy!

 

[Kadarin]

i dumped dish network along time ago, added cost here and added cost there, complete screwup from the installation that they would not fix, the value is not there !

went to ota digital, receiving hd on most all channels, also using vod, netflix streaming and bd subscription, amazon streaming, htpc for recording and latter viewing, cost under $20.00monthly, very happy!

^^ What is "bd subscription"? Also, for your vod and netflix, are you doing this on the htpc, and if so, how's the resolution?

 

[Malak]

http://www.roku.com/