I dumped cable TV, and still have loads to watch

Dr Who is on Netflix too, FYI.

MonoCheli wrote:

Dr Who is on Netflix too, FYI.

I meant the brand new episodes as they come out.

I had the same problem with itunes. I eventually just built a home theater PC for about $700. I can play pretty much everything on it. The way I figure is I end up saving 70 bucks a month from my cable bill and pay for the HTPC in less then a year in savings.

Norfair wrote:

I had the same problem with itunes. I eventually just built a home theater PC for about $700. I can play pretty much everything on it. The way I figure is I end up saving 70 bucks a month from my cable bill and pay for the HTPC in less then a year in savings.

This is what I have done for the last 3 years. Most shows can be seen throught the networks website, hulu, netflix, etc. The big hitch is if you like sports...

Which is exactly what I'm experiencing now. I need to figure out how to get the Tour de France before it starts.

I want to congratulate you, obirano, on your decision. I was just looking at my journal this morning, and saw that it was over a year ago that I gave up cable TV. I couldn't be happier. Netflix & Hulu+ have been excellent, and just $16/mo for both!

We use several devices: Roku, PS3, 360, ipad, and PC's. You can also use Tversity (free) and stream video (and music) from your PC to a 360 and PS3.

I don't know anything about itunes streaming, but good luck in your search!

MeatMan wrote:
obirano wrote:

Reviving this thread as I am seriously considering dropping my cable as I don't watch it at all and my wife only watches food network and HGTV for the most part which both appear to be on Hulu. Are there any suggestions for devices? I looked at a Roku player, but I would like to be able to stream stuff from my itunes account which I don't see as an option. Though on the Apple TV side, there is no mention of Hulu. Any device that does Hulu, Netflix, and itunes?

I am not (and never plan to be) in the Apple ecosystem, but my girlfriend and I cancelled the DISH network about 6 months ago for a Roku box, and we are quite happy with it. Our most used "channels" are Hulu, Pandora, Netflix, TWiT, Revision 3, and Whiskey Media (Giant Bomb).

I'll give another shout out to Roku.

If you want your Dr. Who fix, Roku works with Amazon's Instant Video and you can buy the current season of it and other shows (as well as rent and buy movies). If you have an Amazon Prime Membership, you also get a ton of streaming content for free, though most of it is a duplicate of Netflix's content.

MonoCheli wrote:

This is what I have done for the last 3 years. Most shows can be seen throught the networks website, hulu, netflix, etc. The big hitch is if you like sports...

ESPN3 is getting there. It doesn't have the big games that are on ABC until the next day, but most of the ESPN games are on it.

Thankfully my apartment includes cable for free so I don't have to cut myself off from sports yet. Next place we live though, I hope ESPN3 just keeps getting better and I can cut the cord.

I think I am going to go with roku. I am debating on which unit at this point though. Basically looking between the two upper end units. Is dual band wireless all that usefull?

Between MLB and Netflix streaming on my AppleTV, I have zero use for anything else. I was planning on hacking it when I picked it up 2 months ago but theres no point right now since I already have too much stuff to watch.

I decided to cut it off (2008) before the Roku, etc. boxes we well established so I went ahead and built a HTPC and really appreciate the versatility it gives me. If there are no integrated ways to get it I can just use Chrome, and Just go to the Hulu page with out Hulu+. It is also nice when there are some Steam games better fit for a big screen and game pad (Super Meatboy, etc.). I will say the Windows Media Center experience is not flawless with just the remote so a keyboard and mouse are needed semi-regularly. It is also the size of my component stereo. I was driven by the fact that I have a WHS (Windows Home Server) as a back end that I have ripped all of my dvd/bds on to and stream them all to the HTPCs in the house.

On a side note I keep getting surveys from Nielsens and can't fill out much of the questions because I don't have cable and do VOD for just about everything we watch in my house...

So I just picked up a Roku box, and I'm loving it for Netflix and Crunchyroll. There's a Whiskey Media (read: Giant Bomb) Roku channel that's okay, although it needs some work: the official channel just dumps all the videos (including stuff like trailers) into one big long queue and doesn't let paid members log in to view HD streams and exclusive content. There's a beta version of the channel that separates the videos into tabs for categories like Quick Looks / Trailers / Reviews etc. like the web site does and lets you log in if you're a paid member, but it's a little hinky (doesn't have thumbnails for videos and only displays the latest ten or twenty in each category). Hopefully that's something they work to improve.

The one thing I'm feeling pretty on the fence about is whether it's worth ponying up for Hulu+. Now that Netflix has hiked their prices, my girlfriend is all for dropping down to streaming only and using the money we save on a Hulu+ subscription. She uses Hulu a lot more than I do, mostly for the Daily Show / Colbert Report, catching network shows if she misses the OTA broadcast, and the little bit of anime that she can't already get from Crunchyroll, and she'd like to be able to view that stuff on the big screen.

I signed up for the free week trial, and while the Hulu+ Roku interface is very slick and the video quality is better than just about anything else I've tried as far as streaming, I'm still just not sure. It bugs me that there's still ads while Netflix is ad-free for the same price, and it bugs me even more that there's still content that you can only view on the web for some goddamn reason. I mean, three of the shows that I'd use it to watch are 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, and Community. All three are NBC shows, yet 30 Rock and Parks and Rec are on Hulu+ while Community can only be viewed on the web site. What's the sense in that? None that I can see. It seems to me that if I'm paying for the premium service, I should have access to all the content wherever I want, and I shouldn't have to sit through ads. In other words, I should get the same deal I'm getting from Netflix for the same price. It may be a small annoyance, but it speaks to the fact that Hulu is kowtowing to the whims of Old Media license-holders while Netflix is still making at least a show of standing up to them.

Any Hulu+ subscribers care to enable / disable me? What's your experience been like? Do you feel like you're getting your money's worth? Are there any other factors I should be aware of?

While we're at it, has anybody messed around with Amazon Prime's streaming offerings? So far their catalog looks pretty weak compared to either Netflix or Hulu, unless you're REALLY into British shows and documentaries (of which there are a fair selection on Netflix anyway). It's cheaper than the competition, though, and for as much as I buy from Amazon having that 2-day shipping on everything would certainly be nice.

hbi2k wrote:

Any Hulu+ subscribers care to enable / disable me? What's your experience been like? Do you feel like you're getting your money's worth? Are there any other factors I should be aware of?

I'll work on disabling you by saying I absolutely hate it. I got a free month by integrating with Facebook. I was expecting to have a ton of shows all the way back to the start. My daughter got hooked on Glee and wanted to watch it from the start. I realize the episodes are on Netflix but I figured I would get my money's worth (free, but still) out of Hulu. Turns out they only have Season 2 online.

We also love America's Got Talent. I loaded up the XBOX Hulu+ app and it told me it could only stream over the web.

I get annoyed rather easily and found that Hulu+ was not worth the money they are asking. There are still commercials and I currently use Netflix / Amazon Streaming (ok, I've barely used this but I do have it thanks to my prime membership) to care about Hulu+. It didn't have anything I really cared about that I felt was worth paying for. I still want to go back and watch Lost, Heroes, and Prison Break. All 3 of the complete series are on Netflix. Even if Hulu+ got amazingly awesome in the near future, Netflix has been great for me. I only have the streaming option so the price hikes did not affect me at all.

EDIT: Regarding Amazon streaming, the search seems like it really sucks. I can't seem to easily search "Prime only" stuff. I could be doing it wrong though so don't take this as 100%. The shows I did find, as you said, seemed kinda blah. Netflix by far has been my favorite out of all the streaming services.

Already had Amazon Prime so I've messed around watching a couple of movies on my PC. Not too shabby.

I'm more annoyed because one of the things it supports for HD is the Samsung TV that was one model higher than the one I got last Sept. I chose the $50 cheaper one thinking I had enough with the DLNA stuff, but didn't need any internet apps or whatever the slight model differences were. Who knew it was going to support Amazon? Not even sure that tv/video stuff was going at that point.

Anyway yeah the selection is a little odd. But it seems fine for watching so far. I just need a better way to get it on my tv. Maybe I'll buy a longish DVI-HDMI cable or something...

Apparently it plays on Roku and all of those boxes, and on the 360 as well. Just not the PS3 or my TV of course.

hbi2k wrote:

Any Hulu+ subscribers care to enable / disable me? What's your experience been like? Do you feel like you're getting your money's worth? Are there any other factors I should be aware of?

I ditched Hulu+ pretty quickly despite feeling a bit of touchy-feely attachment to the company itself. Too much of what I wanted was web-only. I felt like they could either have ads in the stream or keep most of their content web-only but not both. I found that I didn't so much dislike Hulu+ as completely neglect it; I always ended up watching something else on Netflix because it was simply easier.

Thread necro for a question. I want to watch Homeland, the Showtime show. My wife and I cut the cord about 4 years ago and typically watch shows like this on iTunes months later. I'd like to watch this now, though. Are there any options for us other than upgrading our cable bill by $70? Is Showtime selling these episodes through any service?

DSGamer wrote:

Thread necro for a question. I want to watch Homeland, the Showtime show. My wife and I cut the cord about 4 years ago and typically watch shows like this on iTunes months later. I'd like to watch this now, though. Are there any options for us other than upgrading our cable bill by $70? Is Showtime selling these episodes through any service?

I haven't seen it but if you check Clicker.com they might have a listing of where its available.

Jayhawker wrote:

I think you will have to wait until the DVD's come out, at which time Apple will probably have it on iTunes. I'd really like to see it, as well.

Well, we're suckers so this probably means upgrading to Showtime for a month or something. So silly.

I think you will have to wait until the DVD's come out, at which time Apple will probably have it on iTunes. I'd really like to see it, as well. But even if I ever decided to go back to cable, I still doubt I would cough up the extra dough for HBO or Showtime.

It's just one of the shows I have to wait for.

But for now I have Terriers, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad on Netflix for less than adding Showtime to an already overpriced cable bill. And we are just into season two of Monk, late in season one of Psych. There is still several seasons of SG:1 and SD:Atlantis to watch. And I just started watching Sons of Anarchy.

I may be late, but for $10 a month, I still have way more TV than I have time to watch on Netflix. With Arrested Development and House of Cards (a David Fincher original series with Kevin Spacey) coming as Netflix exclusives, there is not a better deal on streaming content anywhere.

And some Showtime content makes its way there, too, if even it is just for the first couple of seasons.

Obviously you can watch Homeland... if you want... but not "legally"... so...

Stele wrote:

Obviously you can watch Homeland... if you want... but not "legally"... so...

:?

No, definitely looking for legally. Especially with all the piracy craze going on right now in legal circles.

I found out something interesting recently. A friend of mine who recently dumped his cable TV and went the Netflix/Hulu route, told me that he had read that you can still get cable TV through the cable line, legally and free. He said he plugged his cable into his TV, and did a channel scan, and found that he still got local channels (same as you'd get with an OTA antenna).

I did a bit of research, and found this to be true - that it's both free and 100% legal. The catch is your TV needs to have a built in QAM tuner. Most newer TV's (2009-present) have them, and according to a thread at AVSForum, it's a crap-shoot if 2008 and prior HDTV's will have them.

The reason this is legal is due to FCC regulations that require local channels to be carried over the QAM signal, so cable co's aren't legally allowed to scramble those channels.

I tried this on my 2008 model Samsung HDTV, and had success, including HD channels. To be clear, what I have is the TV, and the existing coax cable line coming into the house, and hooked direct to the TV (no cable box, no cable TV subscription), and I get all the locals (quite a few), just as I would if I'd hooked up an OTA antenna.

So, if you're considering dumping cable -- or only have basic cable TV as it is, it might be worth it to try this out. You might save some money.

Huh, I might have to try this my Sharp Aquos is a 2008 model. Although if this works I'm going to curse you for not finding out about it 2.5 years ago; that's a lot of House to catch up on.

I tried that here in Cleveland with mixed results over Time Warner a couple of years ago. I was able to get just 2 of my local stations (NBC 3.1 and ABC 8,1) and the rest of the free channels were sales channels (QVC, HSN, etc) or public access. They also looked horrible, very grainy / pixelated.

Since I've cut cable, I'm really impressed with the OTA HD channels here. They look incredible and some of the sub-channels are really good. My wife and I have been watching the original Twilight Zone series before bed on 19.2 and we discovered we had 4 PBS channels OTA where on paid cable we had just the one.

This does work. I pick up about 15 channels. We get ABC, FOX, CBS all in HD. Then there are some weird channels. The CW, ThisTV (Really really old movies). We had Universal Sports which showed fencing, biking, and everything else you would expect to never see but that channel stopped broadcasting on 12/31. We did have USA which changed to TNT. Now it's nothing. There's a couple other channels mixed in there as well. It's served the wife and I well over the past 3 years. I just can't see paying for cable although I do miss my Discovery, History, and TruTV channels.

The cable trick does work, but in most all areas the signal quality will be far inferior to what you would receive with a $25 antenna from Wal-Mart. It is very nice if you're in a rural area far from any broadcast towers, but if you're in a city or suburbs, probably still better to go OTA (which drops any internal QAM requirements).

Jeff-66 wrote:

I found out something interesting recently. A friend of mine who recently dumped his cable TV and went the Netflix/Hulu route, told me that he had read that you can still get cable TV through the cable line, legally and free. He said he plugged his cable into his TV, and did a channel scan, and found that he still got local channels (same as you'd get with an OTA antenna).

I did a bit of research, and found this to be true - that it's both free and 100% legal. The catch is your TV needs to have a built in QAM tuner. Most newer TV's (2009-present) have them, and according to a thread at AVSForum, it's a crap-shoot if 2008 and prior HDTV's will have them.

The reason this is legal is due to FCC regulations that require local channels to be carried over the QAM signal, so cable co's aren't legally allowed to scramble those channels.

Wrong. The reason it works is that the cable companies can't encrypt the limited basic tier. That doesn't, however, make it legal to get free service by getting yourself a tv with a QAM tuner. And the cable company has every right to disco that line (and should for market health scores... active lines to disco'd customers tend to push a good deal of noise into the system, screwing up internet and phone customers).

The interesting thing, though, is that these TV's can use the copper in your home as a big antenna (assuming there's a cut or open somewhere), and display OTA signal. I had one the other day where the customer was disconnected because a company moving main lines from an old pole to a replacement pole cut her line. I went out, put a new connector on, and hooked them back up. When I got back in, they told me that one TV had picture before I repaired the line, but after it was getting "No Signal". I disconnected the line from the outlet, and the picture came back in.

The OTA signals were being picked up where the line was cut, and the TV was able to use that signal until I hooked it back up. Once I put a new connector on, I sealed that network. On top of that, anything that was still getting in, was far too weak to overtake our signal.

So, I just kicked television (or at least, cable).

The plan is multi-fold:

1) MythTV DVR for ClearQAM broadcast TV.

I still have cable for internet access, and so still have broadcast TV via clearQAM. This covers roughly half of our existing TV use, and it's going to be completely unchanged by the loss of cable TV. Recording clearQAM is easy with a Linux box running mythtv (whereas scraping the analog outputs from the cablecard STB to get the encrypted QAM premium channels was a massive pain in the rear)

2) Amazon VoD:

I bought a Roku box for this purpose. Amazon VoD has current run seasons of a lot of shows available at reasonable prices. Considering that I'll be saving over $80 a month by ditching cable, that frees up a lot for use on pay per view.

3) Free web content:

A lot of stuff is available free on the web (e.g. Daily Show, Colbert Report). We'll use the aforementioned Linux box for this.

4) Hulu Plus (maybe):

I haven't figured out for sure whether the value proposition on Plus makes sense. Sure it puts some stuff on the Roku that we'd otherwise watch free through the browser, but I'm unconvinced that the convenience is worth the cost.

5) Netflix streaming:

This mostly overlaps with Amazon Prime's included VoD content, but for certain things it's still useful.

6) Netflix discs:

At least one-at-a-time, because some movies seem to never be available on Amazon VoD pay-per-view.

7) Piracy:

Anything that isn't available from those other channels, or is only available after a substantial delay, I'm just going to pirate. Note that I could make this all substantially easier by simply pirating everything, but I really want to pay people to give me the things I want.

There's not much that falls into this category. Probably HBO and other premium channels with no way to buy into other than through traditional cable or satellite. Let me buy this stuff directly and I'll happily give you my money, but I'm not subscribing to cable just for it, and it's too easy to acquire for me to simply do without.

I'm back ON cable. There are two reasons, HBO, Showtime and Sports. We'll see how long it lasts, but HBO and Showtime have been on such a run recently with Game of Thrones and Homeland that it's hard to wait 4 - 6 months to see what the hype is about.

And for some reason most sports have migrated to cable TV, including the college football championship game. Something that would have seemed unreal a few years ago. So right now in the battle to get a la carte TV I'm part of the problem. We'll see how long this holds.