So... who has pulled the plug on cable?

[monstermaker]

I cut it last week but picked up a converter and antennae to see some local news and what not. It will save me $800 a year. Yeah I was getting screwed by Verizon. And I'm finding I get more done without the tube running in the background. The quality of shows that is broadcast is pathetic. On top of that they squeeze advertising into the bottom of the screen and cram in commercials at every opportunity. So life's better.

[sventvkg]

No cable. Have Apple TV with HBO NOW and Showtime Anytime apps. Fastest broadband possible. I pirate my shows on other networks until these companies give us what we want ala carte commercial free:)

[Ed A.]

All I have is a fast cable modem and SlingTV. I pay $25 per month for over 40 channels with Sling Blue.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I had never even heard of SlingTV before Ed - thanks for the link!

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

No cable. Have Apple TV with HBO NOW and Showtime Anytime apps. Fastest broadband possible. I pirate my shows on other networks until these companies give us what we want ala carte commercial free:)

 

I think it's utterly ridiculous that we can't pick the channels we want a la carte, and wish they'd change that. You wind up having to add extra "tiers" of channels, with many you don't care about, just to get one or two that you do want.

 

 

[Anderton]

I think I may have reached Stage Two of cutting the cable...I spend more time watching YouTube than Hulu or Netflix. Then again, I'm attracted to weird things, like documentaries about Abkhazia, and why it's a cool vacation place (I bet it's not expensive, either). There's an older series about "Places that Don't Exist" that covers breakaway states that aren't really recognized by any international body.

 

I guess the cool think about YouTube is it's a window on just how bizarre our little planet really is. Thank God you can turn off the live streaming comments...

[Phil O'Keefe]

Are you watching on your TV or on your computer Craig?

[Etienne Rambert]

I only have wi-fi at home. But it's cable. Didn't want the TV or phone.

[Folder]

I've lived a few places over the years that had cable. My girlfriend and I rented an apartment about 35 years ago when I was in college that had cable. Apparently the previous tenant had it but never had it turned off so we watched it for free. There wasn't much on in those days but we did have HBO. I've never really been a big TV watcher and have never been much of a homebody so I guess I never could justify the cost. But I have seen a good bit of cable over the years at friends and families houses.

 

I have an old CRT TV that's been sitting in the closest for about three years now. I lost the remote and got tired of getting up to change the stations.. Recently I found the remote but haven't bothered to get it out of the closet because I don't really have much time for TV or the desire to watch it.

 

I would rather just go on the internet instead.

[Dogfur]

I'm happy to report that I'm not having any withdrawal symptoms in my second month of Dish Network-less existence. I was receiving their beams of garbage for a decade. I did throw up an antenna and receive local channels, mostly for news. Family is using Netflix,Youtube,etc

[UstadKhanAli]

All I have is a fast cable modem and SlingTV. I pay $25 per month for over 40 channels with Sling Blue.

 

What do you like about it? What do you dislike? And how much are you paying for having to pay for internet? Just curious. I really want to get rid of our cable and am looking for something that still enables us to watch real-time TV, including sports and such. Can you use a DVR or otherwise record programs? Thanks.

[Chris Loeffler]

Three years ago... never looked back.

 

Amazon Prime + Hulu Plus + Netflix has me covered. The only reason I could see paying for cable is if I watched sports regularly. Do I have everything that cable has to offer? Nope. But I would have Netflix and Prime either way, so it's $11 for Hulu or $60+ for cable. No thanks :-)

[Anderton]

Are you watching on your TV or on your computer Craig?

 

(e) all of the above. While eating at home, I have my laptop in front of me and watch on that (and nuke spam during the slow parts). But I also have Chromecast, which is great. You can dial up Netflix, YouTube, or whatever on a phone or tablet, and "cast" it to your TV. Then your mobile device essentially becomes a remote.

 

I'm interested in checking out over-the-air digital but I don't think it has anything I want to watch and if there is something, it will show up on Hulu or Netflix. As to news, if the past year hasn't discredited the news once and for all, people aren't paying attention.

[Hard Truth]

I did a few years ago. I would have done it sooner, but I wanted to support my local public, educational and government channels, which are only available on cable and streaming video.

 

I watch a lot of Netflix and Amazon prime streaming shows and movies as well as discs from Netflix. There are tons of good shows out there if you look. Check out my article 50 TV Shows You Really Should Watch at http://www.oranjproductions.com/shouldwatchtv.htm

 

I recommend that everyone who watches any local TV get an antennae. The broadcast HD picture is much better than the compressed signal that cable TV delivers. Only Blu-Ray is better.

 

I had to search a lot to find a DVR that would record HD broadcast. They didn't exist at the time except for sketchy off-brand gray ware. The one I found on Amazon (Maganavox) has an HD receiver, but makes a standard def recording that is then upscaled to HD to feed your TV. It looks pretty close to broadcast and about the same as the cable. You lose the surround sound. The advantage is watching whenever you want and being able to skip commercials.

 

I have a $60 android box with HDMI output that I use to watch YouTube and other internet streaming. Unlike Roku, smart TVs and most other "over the top" devices, it has a web browser so you can watch anything (porn) on the internet. You can do the same with any computer with built-in HDMI or with an adaptor, but with this box I don't have to worry about viruses and malware taking down my whole computer, the worst that can happen is my $60 box goes down. So far, it has recovered nicely from crashes. The OS is probably on a PROM, so it may be indestructible.

[Anderton]

I recommend that everyone who watches any local TV get an antennae. The broadcast HD picture is much better than the compressed signal that cable TV delivers. Only Blu-Ray is better.

 

I've been interested in this, but do you need line of sight? Is there a way of knowing whether or not you can pick up digital TV in a particular location without buying and setting up an antenna, only to find out it doesn't work?

[MikeRivers]

 

I've been interested in this, but do you need line of sight? Is there a way of knowing whether or not you can pick up digital TV in a particular location without buying and setting up an antenna, only to find out it doesn't work?

 

 

Go to http://antennaweb.org/ Plug in your address and it will give you a list of channels that you can receive with various sized antennas.

[Hard Truth]

I believe whether you need line of sight depends on your distance from the transmitter and whether there are significant obstacles (hills, buildings) that can block transmission.

 

You can get a decent set top antennae for under $20., so experimenting isn't costly. Research shows that powered antennae are more prone to interference than passive ones, so don't pay extra for power. I use the cheapest Radio Shaft antennae successfully. The main problem with it is that the base isn't heavy enough to keep it stable, so I put a weight on it.

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

 

Go to http://antennaweb.org/ Plug in your address and it will give you a list of channels that you can receive with various sized antennas.

 

Since I live near the mountains and kind of away from straight line of sight to the transmitters, this is really useful and helpful for me - thanks Mike!

[MikeRivers]

I'm down in a hole, and I can receive most of the channels that it tells me I can. I have an outdoor antenna with a rotator, and I can receive three of the four commercial local network channels and one PBS channel with the antenna pointed in the same direction, so that's pretty much where I leave it unless I really want to watch a station that's in another direction.

 

Problem is that I have a lot of trees surrounding my house, and when it's windy, and especially when it's rainy and windy, the trees move around a bit, changing the reflection of the TV signal and causing multipath interference - that's the RF term for "phase cancellation". In the days of analog broadcast, it would cause intermittent ghosting and noise, but with digital broadcast, I just get a dropout. It doesn't take much of this for a program to become unwatchable. Sometimes I can improve on it by rotating the antenna a few degrees, but then I have to remember to move it back when I want to watch another channel or I'll get dropouts on channels that usually work pretty solidly.

 

Which reminds me that I have to climb up on the roof and clean the gutters . . . but today it's raining. And maybe it will, tomorrow, and the next day.

[Mikeo]

I live pretty much in a small city in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by a couple of large hills

 

We have TW cable and it was weaseling it's way up. We also had Verizon for the net and my own wifi. Verizon was weaseling it's way up too.

 

TW offered s a deal for 100 bucks a month. Plus tax. Turns out to be like $115.

 

I watch no TV shows, but catch the local news. I recorded the PBS series Soundbreaking, but watch one show online.

 

I'll catch the Patriots on Sunday, if I'm not busy. That's the only sport I watch.

 

 

My deal with TW is up in late Jan, and it might go up to 150 a month. No big deal. I will renegotiate that deal, or I'm out. I just net the net to be set.

 

My wife records a bunch of show, I have no idea what they are (wife's seem to like TV I guess). Most movies imo suck, and I hate wasting 2-2.5 hours on crap movies, I'm not interested in. Don't get me wrong there some amazing ones that come out each year, but like good music you need to look for em.

 

I own no big TV. Pretty much if it wasn't for the wife, I probably would have a TV, other than the fact that I might be a bit embarrassed these days telling folks I didn't own a TV.

 

When I get home I look forward play some guitar.

 

One day I recently I was in the grocery store check out line, where the keep the tabloids, like the Star and the Enquirer. Didn't know what one person on the front cover did, nor did I really care.

 

Prince Harry, Kourtney Kardashian, Brad and Angelina. I don't care who's getting married or divorced, who sleeping with who, or what they did for Thanksgiving. I am keeping my eye on Jennifer Aniston, and if my wife dies, I'll ask out Jenn. . I actually should say that cause my wife almost died last year.

 

 

 

 

http://antennaweb.org/

I got 3 possible stations, with this option.