thinking of cutting the cord. anyone done it?

BDx13 - 4-16-2010 at 11:57 AM

i'm thinking of dropping cable entirely.
anyone here do it? how'd it go?

we don't watch that much tv anyway, and the price keeps going up. we dropped premium channels a year ago and haven't missed em. current plan is the one just above basic cable (for the kids channels) plus hd and it costs $86/month.

they just doubled the price of the hd converter to $10/month. are you fucking kidding? it's not like i'm getting a new piece of equipment, but i'm paying twice as much for the same piece of hardware that's been sitting here for two years? i do love hd, but fuck off.

we've got a ps3 blu-ray player, netflix and free dvds from the library.
if we cut the cord, what am i missing? local news?

JawnDiablo - 4-16-2010 at 12:23 PM

sheesh upon first glance at the title to this thread i thought you were talking about a vascectomy!!!!

JawnDiablo - 4-16-2010 at 12:26 PM

mine just went up too.
what sucks for me is I can only get RCN in my apartment development.
Comcast has way better stuff and Verizon is pretty much everywhere too.
So being there is no free market for me, there's nothing to keep them from gouging the price, being I can't get another provider.
at this point I am paying $122 a month to cover HD cable and an internet connection.
No thrills no pay channels.
Shit I don't even get all the Phillies games becasue of this new CTN channel Comcast has.

BDx13 - 4-16-2010 at 12:42 PM

We got promotional rates for cable and internet for years.
Internet is still promotional until nov.
They're not offering discounted cable rates right now.
So our monthly total is $129; $86 for cable, $35 for internet, plus taxes and fees.

Limited basic cable, which is basically 20 local channels, is like $20.
Seriously considering it.

newbreedbrian - 4-16-2010 at 12:57 PM

Haven't had cable in years. An internet connection is your friend.

lifeisabitch - 4-16-2010 at 01:32 PM

internet and netflix is all you need
there are enough kids shows on netflix to keep them happy without commercials
and everything that comes out is out on dvd in a few months anyhow

clevohardcore - 4-16-2010 at 01:42 PM

We switched to DISH and I hate it. When we go back to cable I will be following suit like you and getting just the freaking basics. No need to sit around and watch the tv that much/.

XnMeX - 4-16-2010 at 02:24 PM

WHat sucks about dish? I have cable and was thinking of switching to it...

DaveMoral - 4-16-2010 at 03:42 PM

don't forget, you can download just about everything ever now too. So between Netflix, the library and torrents... what could you possibly miss on tv? And hulu and now fancast.com

clevohardcore - 4-16-2010 at 04:18 PM

Dish sucks.

1. When you order a movie you only can watch it 1 time and you have to wait till the exact time it starts. With cable you get it 24 hours and it starts when you order it.

2. The deals sound good but when they are done they are done and will not give you another deal like cable will.

3. It's more expensive. We thought it was't because the deals but they lack more channels than our cable and that alone is grounds to change again.

4. With cable whenever you have a service issue they never charge to come out. With Dish they charge no matter the issue. Even if its there fault.

BDx13 - 4-16-2010 at 04:32 PM

damn, clevo. never knew all that about the dish.

dave, there is definitely a complexity threshold in this house that needs to be kept in mind. it needs to be simple enough to run with a remote. that's the beauty of apple's front row, boxee and the ps3 - you don't need to type anything, ya know? i mean, i don't mind ripping dvds and creating a local video library, but i'm not getting down with torrents!

Six66Mike - 4-16-2010 at 09:39 PM

First thought was umbilical chord lol.

We don't have cable here, we lived 5 years with the free to air channels which is *counts* 5 of them, 3 commercial and 2 PBS/BBC style stations.

We got digital/freeview now and it's like 20-30 channels, but that includes 4 versions of the same channel 3 times over lol.

I download nearly everything, even with a 40gb monthly limit. Most shows they don't even air here anyways, it's the best way to go. In the US it's probably cheaper for a fat internet plan than paying for cable. If you want to get started on some quality TV torrent sites let me know.

DaveMoral - 4-16-2010 at 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BD
damn, clevo. never knew all that about the dish.

dave, there is definitely a complexity threshold in this house that needs to be kept in mind. it needs to be simple enough to run with a remote. that's the beauty of apple's front row, boxee and the ps3 - you don't need to type anything, ya know? i mean, i don't mind ripping dvds and creating a local video library, but i'm not getting down with torrents!

Mac has turned you into a computer wuss. Hahaha.

Do you have a Netflix enabled Blu-Ray or do you use your PS3 for that? Because you should be able to just stream all the Netflix streaming shit right to your TV, if you aren't already.

I don't know shit about Mac other than that I really don't like the operating system. I don't know why either, I think I'm addicted to the bullshit of a PC.

CR83 - 4-16-2010 at 10:03 PM

Directv. Been happy with them. I pay $20/mo for DSL but it is only 1.5 meg DL

clevohardcore - 4-16-2010 at 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveMoral

Quote:

DAVE - mac rules all brother, seriously. :wink1:

barc0debaby - 4-17-2010 at 12:24 AM

National Geographic just played a show called Zombie Alligators. I think that justifies the cost.

Six66Mike - 4-17-2010 at 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by CR83
Directv. Been happy with them. I pay $20/mo for DSL but it is only 1.5 meg DL

I'd be happy with 1.5mbit these days

You got me beat.

CR83 - 4-17-2010 at 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Six66Mike

Quote:

Originally posted by CR83
Directv. Been happy with them. I pay $20/mo for DSL but it is only 1.5 meg DL

I'd be happy with 1.5mbit these days

You got me beat.

We are completely wireless in our house now. 1 desktop and 3 laptops plus a Wii. I don't think our wireless modems can even get up to 1.5 meg/s DL any way. So far, so good.

Dave, if I have extra bandwidth I would give to you Bud.

JUICE MAYNE MSHC - 4-18-2010 at 12:41 PM

BD...if you have to have cable, go with Directv. Their prices are pretty good right now even with the HD package. We have them and have no complaints. Check out their pricing on their website.

With that said, I rarely mess with the Directv we have. We only have it because of the sports channels, and I hate sports. I watch everything on a PC hooked up to my TV. I can't speak for children's programming because I don't have kids but I'd imagine it's out there to be consumed.

Here's what I've used and my results...

- Xbox with Netflix (I'm guessing the PS3 experience is similar to this). Pretty great, most things are available in HD, no buffering, no choppiness. Only sucks because you're limited to only Netflix and whatever video marketplace your console has.

- Apple TV...lame at first. Loaded Boxee and a bunch of other shit on it and it was a lot better. But it can't do Netflix which was a deal breaker for me. HD files in any format other file format than Apple's don't do well on this thing either.

- a 4 year old Macbook with an external 1TB hard drive. Used an iPhone remote app to control it. This was pretty great. Netflix, Hulu, etc. It can do anything plus I could download anything I wanted right to the Macbook rather than downloading it elsewhere and transferring it over. No complaints with this setup.

- Check this link out Lifehack HTPC article. This is the next thing I'll be trying this week. Cheap and easy to set up. This setup is most likely what I'm going to set up for my mom because this thing is supposed to be easy for non-tech people to use.

Get at me if you need any more info.

CR83 - 4-18-2010 at 10:14 PM

Juice, that is a kill article you posted. Very tempting.

morgan - 4-18-2010 at 10:31 PM

Moving into a new plae in a little less than a month, not planning on bothering to get cable.

ShawnRefuse - 4-19-2010 at 10:12 AM

I'm addicted to too many shows now. Dexter, Nurse Jackie, Justified, United States of Tara, and all on DVR the other shows I could watch on Hulu or something but I need the IV of relaxation when I get home. It's my guilty pleasure.

BDx13 - 10-19-2010 at 12:18 PM

Never did go the distance and drop cable.
Wound up getting another discounted rate a week later...
which just expired again.

Netflix just announced disc-free streaming to the PS3.
Got that shit hooked up last night, works like a charm.
One less step to the streaming goodness.

The regular netflix queue is up over 100 titles, streaming around 50.

LordActionWood - 10-19-2010 at 12:39 PM

Dudes, please school me on the best way/configuration to get the highest quality picture from your PC to your TV. I am somewhat technical so you don't have to break it down too much. I am thinking a docking staion for my notebook with an hdmi connection and then go righ to the hdtv.

What do you think?

All I watch is hockey and fights.....I don't care about network TV but eventually get roped into BS when I could be doing something else.

I have an xbox with netflix..its awesome. Most times when I watch TV, I use the netflix/xbox option.

So, if I ditch digital TV (Comcast)...should I still get my internet through them?

I'm looking forward to doing this!

Colin - 10-19-2010 at 03:53 PM

I have Netflix, & part of that is having it hooked up to my roomates Wii. I have all the good History Channel, Office & Louis CK re-runs I need. The only thing I miss about cable is the news

BDx13 - 11-21-2010 at 11:09 AM

looks like time warner is getting the message.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20101119/tc_yblog_tec...
this $30 plan includes everything i need.
amazing the reason we pay so much is because of sports.

Vanilla Gorilla - 11-21-2010 at 11:33 AM

I fucking hate Time Warner Cable, they keep giving me some bullshit how i can't get a better package until March because i am in some price lock plan and if i want to get out its gonna cost fifty bucks. I never signed up for this pricelock bullshit which according to the person i talked to they don't even have anymore because so many people complained about it, but they still won't let me out of it. FUCK time warner