TV or not TV, that is the question

[irmanator]

Well, I plan to try to survive without cable as I embark on a new life as a single dad (using Netflix).

That being said, I will make a consumer political statement. I think Comcast needs some competition in the form of a company where you would pay $1/month/channel.

So, I would get:

NBC
ABC
FOX
CBS
Science Channel
History
Encore Drama ($2.00 for these)
Comedy
Weather Channel
Food Channel
Disney Channel
Nickalodean
Spike
AMC
PBS
TBS
Comedy

So, that's $17.00/month.

When the Eagles played on ESPN, I could go to the local watering hole.

(Well, you get the idea - you could price channels differently and not have a stupid 900 channel selection)

Why in this day and age can I not customize my damn TV?

I agree!! (why can't we click "like" like on facebook? lol)

[Katharina]

Personally, I would not upgrade. Watching less TV is a good thing. Since you have Netflix, you may not feel like you are missing out on much.

[Redraidernurse]

We choose to not have a television in our home. It not only saves us on cable, electric, video games systems and video games, but it encourages us to find other practical ways to entertain ourselves. If we want to watch a show or movie(rarely) we have a computer with a large enough screen and use Hulu. I feel extremely happy not having a television and saving that extra money is always nice.

[cicy33]

I think cable is a personal choice. for us it is important. but then we don't go out to the clubs, we don't go to the movies on a regular basis, maybe 1 or 2 a year. I generally only buy at walmart what we need. when I got my new job this year I went to goodwill for clothes. I personally can't stand the amount of money clothes cost. but for others this might be an acceptable expense. I generally yard sale the majority of my stuff. so, it all boils down to what your family considers important.

[wincrasher]

I too wish we had 'a-la-carte' cable, but it's never gonna happen. Wish I could drop the cult and shopping channels! Faux News would be another I like to see go.

Here is my setup: I generally only watch HD, so the 60 or so "lower" or SD channels are unused. So my $60 a month - I only get about 20 watchable channels. But they are all awesome.

I have an HD Tivo box. Love,love,love the Tivo. I'm in charge of my watching schedule, and not Charter. A shaved monkey can figure out how to work it too. Also, if I record something I want to keep, I can dump it to my computer. Charter's DVR is crap, you can't keep any recordings or do anything with the box.

To supplement my cable "habit", I run Boxee software on a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini, while not cheap, has lots of performance to make it essentially future proof, and it has a HDMI output - so you have a one cable video and audio solution to your TV or home theater gear. The boxee software is basically a front end that lets you view movies stored on your network, or from the internet, like netflix, much like you would with a Tivo. Mostly I watch movies on this thing from my network in all their 1080p glory on my big flatscreen.

There are lots of options out there to watch Netflix type streaming more cheaply than my Mac Mini setup. Dlink makes a Boxee box for $200 that works the same - I have one in my gameroom - and it works quite well. Roku is another option that is less than $100 and can be had with analog hookups - it's limited though to streaming services - not stuff stored on your network. My brother ran Netflix on his Wii. The implementation I would describe as "poor" compared to everything else.

[disneysteve]

My brother ran Netflix on his Wii.

That's what we do. It is great, especially since they made it so you don't need the special disc. Just turn on the Wii and click on Netflix and it is ready to go. We watch stuff that way at least a couple of times each week.

[Hector]

Recently we moved to new apartment. Since we are already using comcast for internet, cable would cost us $60/month (cheapest package including ESPN and TNT - I watch TV mainly to watch sports and DW doesn't care about cable). $60/month is a lot and we decided not to have cable. Right now, I am using internet to watch sports and we use hulu to watch TV shows online and we dont miss cable that much.

[feh]

We are an OTA-only family. I realize this is a broad generalization, but most of what's available for viewing is a mind-numbing waste of time. Restricting what's available will lead family members to read or partake in a hobby.

[tripods68]

Eliminate Comcast paying $62.00 altogether. Instead run a HDMI cable with your laptop to TV (if you have the newer HDTV). Sign up with HULA.COM Plus premium for $10 a month (wathing favorite shows NBC, CBS, FOX like GLEE, The OFFICE, etc..) plus your Netflix account you have plenty of viewing that includes antenna receptions for more channels.

[cicy33]

We are an OTA-only family. I realize this is a broad generalization, but most of what's available for viewing is a mind-numbing waste of time. Restricting what's available will lead family members to read or partake in a hobby.

What is OTA?

[feh]

What is OTA?

Over The Air - we just get local stations via antenna.

[zakity]

We go back to the cable discussion every once in a while. DH wants/wanted it badly. I refuse to have it. When I am around cable and get to watch it, there is nothing on all 500 channels because they repeat with the same thing over and over again. When you need it when you have insomnia in the middle of the night, everything is infomercials. And, I swear there are more commercials than regular tv.

So, we compromised. We do have Netflix and stream it through the Wii. We have gotten so spoiled. There aren't any commercials. The guys love Buck Rogers and a lot of the older shows. We are also able to see a bunch of the British shows that we all love. Right now, I have one working through all the Dr Who shows/movies, one working through Robin Hood, and I am working through Torchwood (holy cow, Captain Jack is HOT!!). It is working out well also because there is a ton of educational shows. It is also nice because the boys have been subjected to some old classics/shows.