Saving@Home on your cable bill
 

I'm thinking of stopping my cable TV service and just using the web and phone connection.

I have three reasons:

1. I'm a movie buff that would like to save some money.

2. DTV (coming soon) over-the-air is really nice around here. (20 channels).

3. My kid gave me another 6 months of Netflix for Christmas.
And for my Birthday last week, she got me the Roku box.


The Roku box allows me to watch about 12,000 Netflix movies
(400 of them in 720p HD) using my (wireless) 5 MegaBit network connection.
Plus, I watch about 2 Netflix DVDs a week, via the US mail.


Since I know that I'm not the 1st person to think of this idea, I'm pretty sure
the cable companies are going to fight the future, by banning video streams, unless you pay extra..
This is where the Washington dimwits step in.. Wonder what they will do??

hulu.com is pretty much the best thing ever for streaming movies and TV shows from a ton of different networks and studios. Check it out if you haven't already.

TV
 

If I could steam them to my Roku, that would be great.
My Netflix membership also allows me to stream to my PC,
but I'm not crazy about sitting in this chair, more hours than I already do..
(I love playing COD on the PC, but one's butt does start hurt after a while)!

I think my wife will be interested in hulu. She watches the E-channel
and Kate-n-Nate+8 all the time..

plus
all the networks will allow you to watch their stuff for free at their sites. Old stuff too.
Don't you just love
"The Love Boat"?
I am trying to figure out how to get my monitor display up om my TV in the big room.
Then I can set it up here and watch it there.

Never watched the Loveboat at all. But, I wouldn't mind watching some old "Outer Limits & Twilight Zones"..

If your PC isn't too far from the TV, you could use an HDMI to DVI cable.

My Cable Mart
Has them from 3 feet (cheap) to 50 feet (costly).


WOW! 90% of sites with "HDMI" in the URL just went bad, according to Google..

You should look into a stand-alone HTPC with a connection to your TV (DVI to HDMI if you've got an HDTV.

I built one a couple of years ago simply by adding a TV tuner card to an old PC that we weren't using any more, sounds like you wouldn't even need the tuner, just a connection to the TV. You can get some very nice HTPC cases that look like a stereo receiver so they don't clutter the house, and the picture will be as good as the media itself (DVD, Bluray, streaming, etc).

Plus there are several open source (free) options for HTPC software. I use MediaPortal (MEDIAPORTAL - free media center - Home), but there are several others including MythTV for Linux. Several of these can integrate Netflix streaming, and as open source software, they will expand to include whatever users want. I've got my fingers crossed for MediaPortal to integrate Hulu very soon.

To me it's the perfect (and cheapest) solution to the conflict between being cheap and being a mediafile. We pay for cable internet and Netflix, but get basically any kind of media we want, all on our HDTV using a remote (and occasionally a keyboard).

Plus it is reusing an old PC that otherwise would have been recycled.

PC for TV
 

I was thinking of using my old PC to drive the 42" Plasma in the den.
I had the idea of setting it up mainly as an HD DVR, but my wife wouldn't
like all the fan noise coming from that old gamer system.

I do like to watch movies and some TV shows, and I think this little
Netflix box is going to get a few more channels, plus pay VOD from Amazon.

So, the next time my provider decides to raise my cost, I'm dumping
the TV part of the bill completely.
------

I was watching the 'Man Trap' last night. It's a 1st season Star Trek show.
I could not believe Capt Kirk.. What jerk!! LOL!! Funny stuff!!
Seeing the sets & props in HD puts a whole new prospective on the show.

The mailman dropped off a new DVD today. Got to go watch it.. :)

You should put a watt hour meter on your cable box if you have more then just basic cable as some of them use 35 watts or more 24/7 costing you $3 or more per month

I've done that and found my warm cable box + TV & VCR, DVD & etc load is 38 watts.
But, it's mostly the cable box. Comes out to $66.76 a year.

That's one more reason to get rid of my cable box!

I dumped cable when they took SPEED off of the regular list :p

That was about 18 months ago and I DO NOT MISS CABLE. It is a huge waste of time. I still watch movies, but i'm not bombarded with commercials or spend hours "flipping".