pros/cons of dropping cable TV service

[GameOver]

I'm considering dropping my FIOS TV service in favor of a combination of over the air HD, Netflix and Hulu Plus. Last night I hooked up $10 rabbit ears to 1 TV & got ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox & PBS in HD.

Has anyone done this experiment? What are the pros/cons? I'm not a sports fan so no issues there. One concern is streaming a movie to my TV while playing an MMORPG...any bandwith considerations? Also dont believe two people could watch 2 different TV's and both use Netflix or Hulu at the same time?

Any feedback is appreciated!

[jrose78]

I have comcast and only pay for internet and the basic abc,nbc,cbs, fox (can't get over antenna. I am to far away) . The way comcast works this is if you don't get the basic channels then you are not bundling and internet will cost more. 

So I have:

Basic, Basic cable
Internet
obitalk 110 linked to google voice account
Hulu Plus on PS3
Netflix  Ps3
Amazon VOD Prime PS3

cable is like $62.00 with taxes and stuff
Hulu PLus like $8 or $9
Amazon Prime $6.59 or so a month
Netflix $8 or $9

and that's it...  Downside is that you use a lot of bandwidth and comcast allows 250 gigs a months . I have been as high as 180 or 200gigs.  A Netflix high def movie is a lot and vudu hdx is even more. Prob like 8 gigs a movie or something around that.  Hope this helps

Since you have fios I am not ever sure if you have a cap on your data? .If you stream a movie it will use at most 8 mbps and your connection is prob like 12-20 mbps so you should be fine.

P.S. Checked a netflix blog and it said "Currently, our top HD streams are about 4800 kilobits per second"  so even less than I thought

[CheffoJeffo]

Also dont believe two people could watch 2 different TV's and both use Netflix or Hulu at the same time?

We often run Netflix on 2 or 3 different devices at Casa Cheffo without problem.

[Mysterioii]

I am really close to dropping it, I love my TV in general but there is so much crap on now, it just pains me to pay what I'm paying.  I don't care much for sports at this point in my life, and I get my news from the web.  The few shows I tend to watch are on Hulu the next week.  BUT... the one thing that's kept me from dropping it is that my little girl loves PBS Sprout, and apparently that's a cable/satellite-only service (there is Sprout Online, but that just has little excerpts from the shows).  Yeah there is regular PBS over the air but many of the kids shows aren't the same.  I'd feel like a real dick dropping cable and getting rid of the one channel she loves, and most of the shows are educational so I think they're relatively good for her (well, as good as TV can be...)

[Trip]

The real downside to a lot of streaming services as providers figure out people are switching they have really begun to restrict what you can watch on devices like PS3 and Xbox, you almost need a comp connected to your TV to get everything good.  Hulu really restricts a lot of what I can watch on my Xbox and ipad vs my imac.

It's BS.

[Mysterioii]

Yeah I was going on the assumption that if a show was available on Hulu online for free then SURELY I'd be able to watch it on my internet-enabled TV or Roku box with a paid Hulu Plus subscription, only to find out recently that that's not the case...  I'm sure it's a big tangled mess of licensing agreements but it sucks that the PAID service lets you see less than the FREE service (just on more devices).

[ChrisK]

Streaming and gaming shouldn't be a problem if you've got a fast connection.  I forget if ours is 3mbit or 5mbit, but I have no problems.

Last time I checked you could stream more than one Netflix stream simultaneously, but they keep changing this (officially and unofficially) so test for yourself.  We dumped Netflix a couple months ago cause we don't use it much anymore.

We have a computer in our living room and use Hulu (not Plus) to watch shows.  We have a Roku too, but don't use it for Hulu because you need Plus.

My wife and I both have two computers at our desks, so we have no problem gaming and streaming simultaneously.  I wouldn't try a full-screen modern game with a stream on the second monitor, however.  It's not likely to work well.

I got a powered antenna for our upstairs TV.  Rabbit ears wouldn't cut it in the valley we live in, but this powered antenna works great: http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT1450BR-Multi-Directional-Amplified-Digital/dp/B001GE6T9A/ref=pd_cp_e_1

These days we watch a few shows on Hulu, but our TV use has declined DRAMATICALLY the past year as we, in quick succession, stopped watching car racing, had a baby, canceled cable, and canceled Netflix.  On the other hand we now do a LOT of SiriusXM streaming, but that fits with the whole baby thing a lot better than TV does anyway.  With music the kid dances.  With TV she turns into a slack-jawed zombie.

When/if my daughter gets old enough and hooked on specific TV shows I figure I can just BUY DVD box sets as needed, or get back into Netflix by mail.  $70/month cable can pay for a LOT.

We're both very happy we canceled cable.  $70/month saved and we watch a LOT less junk, but still see the things we want (except I DO miss ALMS and the Rolex series).  Then we canceled our phone landline for another $30/month, replacing it with a cool Panasonic phone handset that links to our cells via Bluetooth.  Then we canceled our Netflix for another $15/month and replaced it with Hulu and the occasional Redbox rental.

My only regret is that we didn't do it all sooner.  That's $115/month we're saving, and when I multiply that out over the past five years I feel kind of nauseous.  I could have commissioned God to build a MAME cab for me and deliver it in a solid gold Ferrari for what I've paid for this junk. 

(Caveat: this may all change in a year or three as the media companies get fed up with cable cutters and tighten the screws on streaming services.)

[Donkbaca]

We have a 60inch smart tv.  It rocks.  Cut cable a month ago when I realized that it was mostly on just to be on.  I have a NAS with a built in bittorrent client and my TV is networked, so I can pull media off it no problem.  I can remote in to my NAS and add torrents to it, and have it download stuff without my PC being in.  That makes getting content easy.

The TV has pandora, so now when we aren't watching tv and want background noise, we stream music. 

basic cable is included with our internet connection, so we get the local channels in HD for free, and get about 60 other channels in SD.

I am a big sports guy, baseball and football mostly.  Most football games are on the nework channels anyway, so I will still get that in HD. Every year we would get the MLB package from the cable company, the online package is CHEAPER and WAY better, all the games are in HD, my TV has a MLB app.  Plus, with the MLB.tv subscription, I can stream games from any connected device - My ipad, phone, pc.  Its great.  I like the UFC and you can get the PPV's on your PC now, or on the Xbox.  I am sure there are probably online basketball and hockey, maybe even racing apps to do the same.

We have Hulu+, I like it.  We also have netflix.  Seriously thinking about dropping netflix since their streaming selection is abysmal. The only reason I keep it around is for our girls, but I think I am going to rip some blu rays and DVD's to my network storage and have that stuff on demand locally for them, if I ever get around to it.  Though, we might just drop it and rent the occasional movie from Vudu.

My daughter loved sprout too, but for one: we don't let her watch much tv, and 2: I am not shelling out that money to put pre-school programming on my TV.

Really the only thing I miss is ESPN HD, and that's pretty much it.  Its almost liberating turning on the TV to specifically watch things, it seems like i have more time now to read and stuff like that.  I don't think I am ever going back to cable unless they FINALLY develop some sort of cheaper a-la-cart pricing like they have promising for the last decade

[GameOver]

Since you have fios I am not ever sure if you have a cap on your data? .If you stream a movie it will use at most 8 mbps and your connection is prob like 12-20 mbps so you should be fine.

I googled that  seems that FIOS doesn't have a usage cap at the moment. I will ask them to confirm.  BUT - since I would be a 'new' Comcast customer if I switch to their service I would only pay $30/mo first 6 months, then $45/mo. after.  I think the equivalent FIOS internet is $75/mo.  So...if I do this I may just go with Comcast to get the extra savings.

Also dont believe two people could watch 2 different TV's and both use Netflix or Hulu at the same time?

We often run Netflix on 2 or 3 different devices at Casa Cheffo without problem.

Good to know thanks!  I presme when you run Netflix on 2 or 3 different devices it's all using the same Netflix account?

I am really close to dropping it, I love my TV in general but there is so much crap on now, it just pains me to pay what I'm paying.

Exactly.

There's at least 50 threads about this here already.

Now there's 51!!!!

My only regret is that we didn't do it all sooner.  That's $115/month we're saving, and when I multiply that out over the past five years I feel kind of nauseous.  I could have commissioned God to build a MAME cab for me and deliver it in a solid gold Ferrari for what I've paid for this junk.  

AMEN!

Thanks to all for taking time to respond & share your experiences!

[ChrisK]

Good luck cutting the cable!  Feed yourself plenty of video rental methadone when you get withdrawal pains and you'll forget all about it quickly. 

[DaveMMR]

If I lived alone I'd cut cable in a second and just have a computer hooked up to the TV to stream Hulu Plus and Netflix.  But my girlfriend watches a bit of TV and enjoys the cable offerings so no dice there.

[Ginsu Victim]

We just dropped cable last week and went with Netflix and Hulu. (Don't forget Crackle, which is free)

We don't miss cable at all.

[jamesjones626]

I have comcast and only pay for internet and the basic abc,nbc,cbs, fox (can't get over antenna. I am to far away) . The way comcast works this is if you don't get the basic channels then you are not bundling and internet will cost more. 

So I have:

Basic, Basic cable
Internet
obitalk 110 linked to google voice account
Hulu Plus on PS3
Netflix  Ps3
Amazon VOD Prime PS3

cable is like $62.00 with taxes and stuff
Hulu PLus like $8 or $9
Amazon Prime $6.59 or so a month
Netflix $8 or $9

and that's it...  Downside is that you use a lot of bandwidth and comcast allows 250 gigs a months . I have been as high as 180 or 200gigs.  A Netflix high def movie is a lot and vudu hdx is even more. Prob like 8 gigs a movie or something around that.  Hope this helps

Since you have fios I am not ever sure if you have a cap on your data? .If you stream a movie it will use at most 8 mbps and your connection is prob like 12-20 mbps so you should be fine.

P.S. Checked a netflix blog and it said "Currently, our top HD streams are about 4800 kilobits per second"  so even less than I thought

where you at that you have a 250gig a month limit?  Ive been way over that every month for a while, i use torrent a lot and i have netflix that i watch all the time.

[GameOver]

Think I may try a 'dry run' before committing to this.  Just hook up a media streaming device to the TV I put the rabbit ears on.  Then do the Netflix & Hulu Plus free trial on it.  That won't cost me anything but time!  But the idea of cutting my monthly TV/internet bill from $165 to $57 is very appealing...

[jrose78]

where you at that you have a 250gig a month limit?  Ive been way over that every month for a while, i use torrent a lot and i have netflix that i watch all the time.

Comcast has a usage meter under your account page. I am not sure what happens after you go over the 250 gig limit but I am sure you don't win a prize if thats what your asking ;-)

[kahlid74]

Cable isn't actually that expensive when you don't do the HD/DVR boxes.

[GameOver]

Cable isn't actually that expensive when you don't do the HD/DVR boxes.

I agree - i pay @40/mo. Just for my 3 set top boxes. Whats the alternative?

[Samstag]

Cable isn't actually that expensive when you don't do the HD/DVR boxes.

I agree - i pay @40/mo. Just for my 3 set top boxes. Whats the alternative?

I get over 50 channels over the air and have HD and a DVR for $0 per month..

[ChrisK]

As an early Tivo adopter who hasn't watched live cable in a decade, a DVR is just part of the service to me.  It's like air conditioning to me; I could go without it, but if I lose it I'm going to do everything in my power to get it back!

HD stations are less important to me, but having switched to cable from DirecTV I was used to them.  For Charter in Wisconsin, DVR and HD and no pay channels adds up to $70/month after all the fees and garbage.  It's a far cry from the $31/month I used to pay for DTV with a genuine Tivo DVR back in the early 2000's!

But I digress.  $40/month ain't $70, but it's still almost $500/year.  Ditch cable, build a new PC for your cab!  

[Donkbaca]

Hulu is WAY better than a DVR, you don't have to remember to record anything, and you have less commercials.


Most of the stuff on cable is garbage. Seriously.  How many channels with fresh, original content do you actually watch?  Even when we had cable and there were certain shows I liked, there weren't many where I was like - Man I can't wait until the next episode!  Most of what was on TV was mindless filler stuff like Storage Wars.

[GameOver]

Cable isn't actually that expensive when you don't do the HD/DVR boxes.

I agree - i pay @40/mo. Just for my 3 set top boxes. Whats the alternative?

I get over 50 channels over the air and have HD and a DVR for $0 per month..

I get the ota antenna HD channels (only about 12 in my location). It seemed kahlid74 was implying he watched cable w/o paying for the set top boxes which for me adds $40 to my bill by itself (1 reg HD box, 2 HD dvr boxes). If i could drop the boxes somehow and still watch cable channels that would change the value proposition a bit!

@chrisk - sounds like you have a good deal! Right now i'm paying FIOS $165/mo for internet & tv. I'm considering switching to Comcast internet only for $40/mo. Plus either Netflix streaming ($9/mo) and/or Hulu Plus ($9/mo) so i'd be looking at $58/mo vs $165/mo and thats if i keep both netflix & hulu. So basically would save @100+/month or $1,200+/year. I could build 2 more cabs!

[ChrisK]

Well, the $40-something I still pay for 3Mbps Internet is cheaper than yours, and the $110 I was paying total is lower, but the service is awful.  The HD lineup is poor, the DVR was atrocious, and the service dropped out much more often than our DTV ever did, despite our frequent heavy rain and snow storms trying to fade our satellite signal.  The Internet is even worse, with more than one outage a month on average, and spotty reliability overall.  I'm about to pay $10/month more to switch to 5Mbps DSL, cause I'm really tired of Charter.  If I could get a high-end Internet connection (>10Mbps) I'd probably pay for it.

There are OTA DVRs but at least when I was looking into that a year or so ago they weren't all that hot.  You could get a Tivo, but then you have a monthly (or huge upfront) cost.  You can get fee-free DVRs but their guide data and featureset tends to be worse than most DVRs and they're generally expensive up front.  I could set up a PC with an antenna in but then I'm reliant upon PC DVR software.

Our compromise is an old Mac Mini in the living room plugged into our TV.  It's not a powerful computer but it streams off Hulu and various TV sites just fine, and it's more than happy to pull my ripped DVDs over the network.  On the rare occasion I need to watch something live (last was the Super Bowl) we use an antenna, and I go INSANE watching commercials. 

[Samstag]

Windows Media Center is a really good DVR if you've got a version of Windows that includes it.  It's been a couple of years since I had a Tivo but WMC has all the features I remember, with no fees for the channel listings.

[Green Giant]

Cable isn't actually that expensive when you don't do the HD/DVR boxes.

I agree - i pay @40/mo. Just for my 3 set top boxes. Whats the alternative?

I get over 50 channels over the air and have HD and a DVR for $0 per month..

I get the ota antenna HD channels (only about 12 in my location). It seemed kahlid74 was implying he watched cable w/o paying for the set top boxes which for me adds $40 to my bill by itself (1 reg HD box, 2 HD dvr boxes). If i could drop the boxes somehow and still watch cable channels that would change the value proposition a bit!

@chrisk - sounds like you have a good deal! Right now i'm paying FIOS $165/mo for internet & tv. I'm considering switching to Comcast internet only for $40/mo. Plus either Netflix streaming ($9/mo) and/or Hulu Plus ($9/mo) so i'd be looking at $58/mo vs $165/mo and thats if i keep both netflix & hulu. So basically would save @100+/month or $1,200+/year. I could build 2 more cabs!

Another option is to build yourself a HTPC and utilize an InfiniTV.  This little device fits in your PCI express slot and holds a cable card which you rent from your cable company.  The rental price is free, although you have to really scream at comcast to get that price.  They will try to rip you off.  I hate those guys.

The thing is, the InfiniTV interfaces perfectly with Windows Media Center.  It has 4 tuners built in which you can network to other computers with windows media center on your network.  Right now I have a HTPC with an infinitv in my living room hooked up to a comcast cablecard.  I have 3 tuners assigned to this tv allowing 3 different recordings at the same time.  I assigned the fourth tuner to my other computer in my mancave.  It pulls in HD and SD channels just fine.

Another nice thing is you can still watch the recorded shows on any computer you have that has windows media center.  I am still working on the final tweaks to my whole system, but it is coming along very very nicely.  I finally turned in my stupid HD/DVR box from comcast.


To give you an idea of my setup, right now on my living room PC I have:
-  An infinitv reading a comcast cablecard providing 4 tuners.
-  I pay for comcast prefered cable tv giving like 200 channels plus encore.  I have a few digital adapters on other tvs just to get the basic 1-150 channels.  They are free for 2 of them.
- 2 TB of movie storage all organized and cataloged with MediaCenterMaster.  Viewed through media browser.
- Another TB of TV show storage to hold entire series of shows also organized and auto downloaded through MCM.
- About 500 GB to store any shows I record from the cablecard.
- A wireless network offering up all of the above movies, tv shows, and recorded tvs shows to any windows PC.
- Hulu desktop(free) which interfaces to open from Windows Media Center.
- Netflix which I still keep around cause of the shows and I can stream it on my cellphone.

And my mancave computer is actually a mineral oil PC that can stream everything including live tv from my main HTPC in the living room.  The mineral oil is necessary, but it is fun having a computer in a fish tank filled with liquid.



I personally think my setup is the best of both worlds.  You get HD cable channels for instant viewing which I need and my wife would kill me if I stopped.  You get those HD channels at a far cheaper price than renting the TERRIBLE TERRIBLE comcast equipment.  You also get all of the free streaming sites that work seamlessly with the cable tv through windows media center.  I can also store and instantly watch TONS of **legally** acquired movies through a beautifully organized collection.

[Green Giant]

Well, the $40-something I still pay for 3Mbps Internet is cheaper than yours, and the $110 I was paying total is lower, but the service is awful.  The HD lineup is poor, the DVR was atrocious, and the service dropped out much more often than our DTV ever did, despite our frequent heavy rain and snow storms trying to fade our satellite signal.  The Internet is even worse, with more than one outage a month on average, and spotty reliability overall.  I'm about to pay $10/month more to switch to 5Mbps DSL, cause I'm really tired of Charter.  If I could get a high-end Internet connection (>10Mbps) I'd probably pay for it.

There are OTA DVRs but at least when I was looking into that a year or so ago they weren't all that hot.  You could get a Tivo, but then you have a monthly (or huge upfront) cost.  You can get fee-free DVRs but their guide data and featureset tends to be worse than most DVRs and they're generally expensive up front.  I could set up a PC with an antenna in but then I'm reliant upon PC DVR software.

Windows Media Center 7 is well.....amazing.  The DVR features are the best I have ever seen anywhere.  Completely destroys Tivo IMO.  Through infinitv or I think silicondust, you can interface with a cablecard just like Tivo does, only it is free (the dvr not the cable).

[Green Giant]

Personally, I just like flipping stuff on and having it work.  I don't want to leave PCs on 24/7 and I don't want to wait for them to boot up into buggy software.

A lower power 35-60 watt PC system will still use less power than the similar equipment from most cable companies.  I know comcast boxes are among the worst power whores out there just sucking the stuff up like it might run out.  On or off most cable company equipment always uses a ton of power.

[kahlid74]

Cable isn't actually that expensive when you don't do the HD/DVR boxes.

I agree - i pay @40/mo. Just for my 3 set top boxes. Whats the alternative?

I get over 50 channels over the air and have HD and a DVR for $0 per month..

I get the ota antenna HD channels (only about 12 in my location). It seemed kahlid74 was implying he watched cable w/o paying for the set top boxes which for me adds $40 to my bill by itself (1 reg HD box, 2 HD dvr boxes). If i could drop the boxes somehow and still watch cable channels that would change the value proposition a bit!

@chrisk - sounds like you have a good deal! Right now i'm paying FIOS $165/mo for internet & tv. I'm considering switching to Comcast internet only for $40/mo. Plus either Netflix streaming ($9/mo) and/or Hulu Plus ($9/mo) so i'd be looking at $58/mo vs $165/mo and thats if i keep both netflix & hulu. So basically would save @100+/month or $1,200+/year. I could build 2 more cabs!

Another option is to build yourself a HTPC and utilize an InfiniTV.  This little device fits in your PCI express slot and holds a cable card which you rent from your cable company.  The rental price is free, although you have to really scream at comcast to get that price.  They will try to rip you off.  I hate those guys.

The thing is, the InfiniTV interfaces perfectly with Windows Media Center.  It has 4 tuners built in which you can network to other computers with windows media center on your network.  Right now I have a HTPC with an infinitv in my living room hooked up to a comcast cablecard.  I have 3 tuners assigned to this tv allowing 3 different recordings at the same time.  I assigned the fourth tuner to my other computer in my mancave.  It pulls in HD and SD channels just fine.

Another nice thing is you can still watch the recorded shows on any computer you have that has windows media center.  I am still working on the final tweaks to my whole system, but it is coming along very very nicely.  I finally turned in my stupid HD/DVR box from comcast.


To give you an idea of my setup, right now on my living room PC I have:
-  An infinitv reading a comcast cablecard providing 4 tuners.
-  I pay for comcast prefered cable tv giving like 200 channels plus encore.  I have a few digital adapters on other tvs just to get the basic 1-150 channels.  They are free for 2 of them.
- 2 TB of movie storage all organized and cataloged with MediaCenterMaster.  Viewed through media browser.
- Another TB of TV show storage to hold entire series of shows also organized and auto downloaded through MCM.
- About 500 GB to store any shows I record from the cablecard.
- A wireless network offering up all of the above movies, tv shows, and recorded tvs shows to any windows PC.
- Hulu desktop(free) which interfaces to open from Windows Media Center.
- Netflix which I still keep around cause of the shows and I can stream it on my cellphone.

And my mancave computer is actually a mineral oil PC that can stream everything including live tv from my main HTPC in the living room.  The mineral oil is necessary, but it is fun having a computer in a fish tank filled with liquid.



I personally think my setup is the best of both worlds.  You get HD cable channels for instant viewing which I need and my wife would kill me if I stopped.  You get those HD channels at a far cheaper price than renting the TERRIBLE TERRIBLE comcast equipment.  You also get all of the free streaming sites that work seamlessly with the cable tv through windows media center.  I can also store and instantly watch TONS of **legally** acquired movies through a beautifully organized collection.

The InfiniTV adapters are the way to go but they do have a high upfront cost.

At the end of the day we don't own a DVR and we watch commercials and we're fine with it.  We also don't watch any shows period.  None.  When we watch we just turn the tv on and go through channels until we find something that grabs our attention.  TV shows just aren't worth it to us anymore.  I can't find one I'm remotely interested in.  Perhaps I have too many other things I do with my time but I haven't been a TV guy in 6 years?

[Samstag]

Personally, I just like flipping stuff on and having it work.  I don't want to leave PCs on 24/7 and I don't want to wait for them to boot up into buggy software.

When I turn on one of my xbox 360s they automatically turn on my PC if it isn't already.  It goes into standby if it isn't in use.

I don't have any buggy software on mine but you could probably load some if you're into that.

[Donkbaca]

TV shows just aren't worth it to us anymore.  I can't find one I'm remotely interested in.  Perhaps I have too many other things I do with my time but I haven't been a TV guy in 6 years?

I am on board with this, combined with this:

Personally, I just like flipping stuff on and having it work.  I don't want to leave PCs on 24/7 and I don't want to wait for them to boot up into buggy software.

At the end of the day its a headache to set up, especially if you have an uncooperative cable company.  A buddy of mine has a Tivo that uses a cable card, took him like 2 months to finally get on from the local cable company.  I am sure the media center stuff works fine, but I am with Jim in that I don't want to have to boot up a PC or deal with all that crap. 

That infinitv thing is like 200 bucks, then you have to load all the software, and configure a HTPC.  You still have to pay for the cable subscription. 

Get a Roku, they are under a hundred bucks, you can find a streaming blu ray for under 150, easy and that will give you blu ray playback.  If you have an xbox 360, you can access  all that online streaming stuff too. The only advantage the infinitv gives you is the ability to watch live tv - who cares?   99% of the stuff I watched when I had cable was recorded.  Hulu is SO much better, limited commercials, no need to set reminders to record.. . etc., etc. Plus with one of these other boxes its literally plug and play.

If you absolutely MUST watch the latest storage wars, right when it comes out, with all the commercials, then go the above route.  To me its just not worth it.

Yeah, there are a couple of shows you can't get on Hulu so you wait a couple of months and get the blu rays from amazon.  No big deal, its worth it to me.

[Green Giant]

TV shows just aren't worth it to us anymore.  I can't find one I'm remotely interested in.  Perhaps I have too many other things I do with my time but I haven't been a TV guy in 6 years?

I am on board with this, combined with this:

Personally, I just like flipping stuff on and having it work.  I don't want to leave PCs on 24/7 and I don't want to wait for them to boot up into buggy software.

At the end of the day its a headache to set up, especially if you have an uncooperative cable company.  A buddy of mine has a Tivo that uses a cable card, took him like 2 months to finally get on from the local cable company.  I am sure the media center stuff works fine, but I am with Jim in that I don't want to have to boot up a PC or deal with all that crap.  

That infinitv thing is like 200 bucks, then you have to load all the software, and configure a HTPC.  You still have to pay for the cable subscription.  

Get a Roku, they are under a hundred bucks, you can find a streaming blu ray for under 150, easy and that will give you blu ray playback.  If you have an xbox 360, you can access  all that online streaming stuff too. The only advantage the infinitv gives you is the ability to watch live tv - who cares?   99% of the stuff I watched when I had cable was recorded.  Hulu is SO much better, limited commercials, no need to set reminders to record.. . etc., etc. Plus with one of these other boxes its literally plug and play.

If you absolutely MUST watch the latest storage wars, right when it comes out, with all the commercials, then go the above route.  To me its just not worth it.

Yeah, there are a couple of shows you can't get on Hulu so you wait a couple of months and get the blu rays from amazon.  No big deal, its worth it to me.

I find it so funny that one of the downsides to my setup is the hastle with setting it all up.  I mean yeah it takes some time, but this is the BYOAC forum.  I thought that is what you guys are here to do.

I guess if you hate tv shows and sports, my setup would be very bad.  The wife loves all those stupid real housewives shows and I like to watch basketball and football, especially college.

One of the biggest advantages to the infinitv is how well it integrates with windows media center which has multiple other features it can do.  If all I wanted was live tv I would use the cable company equipment.

Like I said, there is far more my HTPC does.  For the tv shows that we like watching on a regular basis I automatically download them via torrents, then get episode information and neatly categorize it in my media library.  Sort of like what Hulu does only much faster with zero commercials.

In fact everything you mentioned I also have....except episodes of storage wars, never seen it.  My roku is in another room and my blu ray with streaming netflix capabilities is in my man cave.  I guess I just like electronics and tinkering with stuff.


But my main point was that there are options outside of renting cable company equipment, paying for a tivo subscription, and having to cancel tv altogether and use internet only.

[Gray_Area]

Also dont believe two people could watch 2 different TV's and both use Netflix or Hulu at the same time?

We often run Netflix on 2 or 3 different devices at Casa Cheffo without problem.

I was just discussing this the other night with someone, as we were wondering. I figure they put a cap on how many streams to a certain address, but maybe they don't, and it falls back on your bandwidth?

There's at least 50 threads about this here already.

Pro - you save a lot of money.

Con - every night a ghost that looks like pinballjim comes into your room and rapes you.

This is totally what I read these threads for.

If I lived alone I'd cut cable in a second and just have a computer hooked up to the TV to stream Hulu Plus and Netflix.  But my girlfriend watches a bit of TV and enjoys the cable offerings so no dice there.

Sure. As long as she pays for it.

[Gray_Area]

whoops, double post

[Green Giant]

I was just discussing this the other night with someone, as we were wondering. I figure they put a cap on how many streams to a certain address, but maybe they don't, and it falls back on your bandwidth?

I was always under the impression that streaming netflix was a much much bigger tax on your internet provider than netflix itself.

I am pretty sure they will only start wondering if 10-15 different IP addresses in different cities start using the same account.  Simply put don't share your account with to many people.

[Samstag]

That infinitv thing is like 200 bucks, then you have to load all the software, and configure a HTPC.  You still have to pay for the cable subscription. 

In my experience loading "all the software" consists of spending 2 minutes to download and install the latest device driver.  The rest is built in to windows and it configures itself in a few minutes.

It makes setting up a MAME system look like rocket science.

[GameOver]

Phase 1 of operation cable cut has been executed.

1) Remove FIOS set top box from TV
2) Connect rabbit ears!
3) Connect 'smart' bluray player with Netflix & Hulu Plus
4) Activate free trials of Netflix & Hulu Plus

That's all for now!  So far so good.  I'll make a decision after my free trials are up.  Hulu is only 1 week but that should be enough for me to know.

[GameOver]

What's your address?  The love wagon is gassed up.

Wow I save $100/mo. & get free lovin'!  Bonus!

First night of operation cable cut was pretty sweet.  I loaded up my Netflix & Hulu+ queues with stuff.  Then watched one of each.  Flawless & good quality I'm impresed.

I did discover the first con of Hulu+ - I CAN WATCH IT ON MY DROID! That's gonna be a problem at work...

[kahlid74]

What's your address?  The love wagon is gassed up.

[shmokes]

I didn't read the thread, but I can answer the question in one word: Sports.

Sports is the only thing you truly give up by cutting the cable. This is primarily because of the importance of seeing sports at the time they're taking place. Having to wait an extra hour or 24 to watch any other TV show doesn't reduce your enjoyment of it.

So just ask yourself if sports is worth $50+ per month. If the answer is no, or if you'd have more fun having a $50/mo sports bar budget, cut the cord and don't look back.*

[Vigo]

That's the thing that kept me lingering with my service for so long. I then realized that I get all the broadcast stations through antenna, and football is about all I avidly watch. I lose out on some ESPN, but I was jumping up and down in excitement when I found out I realized I didn't need cable to watch football. Sometimes I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch a game I didn't have, so it worked out for me.

[Donkbaca]

damn it, I posted a huge sports thing and it got trashed.  Anywhow, 2 cents

Sports are BETTER off cable.  I got the MLB package via broad internet vs via cable.  Its cheaper, has more HD games and way more features like instant, up to date stats, the ability to switch audio feeds, etc.

Most NFL games are over the air

The NHL and the NBA have similar season pass packages. The only downside is the local blackouts, but there are ways around that.