It's been a month and a half since I canned the cable company.
Category NoMore Cable
It's been a month and a half since I got rid of my cable television and how has it worked out?
It's been fantastic. The only thing I should add to my previous post is that I put an antenna on the roof to pick up a few free over the air tv channels. With a big enough aerial I was able to receive 4 HD channels and a few analog ones(about 14 channels in total) have I mentioned I live in the middle of nowhere? It will be interesting to see what the Tivo still picks up when the switch to digital takes place, maybe it will pick up more? The main reason for putting the aerial on the roof was so that my folks will still be able to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy when they visit, and if in the winter it snows and I lose internet I should still be able to see semi local news if you consider Portland Maine local.
So what I have found the most refreshing about this system is I can watch a lot of shows via hulu on the big screen with a lot less commercials, many shows have one commercial at the beginning and that's it. Much more civilized. The combination of Hulu, ABC, Netflix, Amazon VOD means there is always something I can find to watch if I have the time.
Setanta-i.com has turned out to be great and I will be watching the FA Cup final tomorrow on that. Also credit to ESPN360.com which also has great streaming quality and yesterday I was able to watch Manchester United put on a terrible performance against Barcelona in the UEFA Chanpionship.
Having my setup work with the BBC iPlayer through the Playstation 3 (PS3) has also been great, I've been a little bit hooked on a show that was on everyday called "The Great British Menu" which finished today, after watching it I really want to try eating pigs ear, maybe I should steal one that I normally give the dog. Also I am embarrassed to say it, I have been watching the English Apprentice show, I loath these types of shows, and I blame Gab and Tim Davis for making me watch it. If these people are the cream of the cream, then Britain has problems, it's like watching a train wreck every week, where's your common sense people, arggh I can feel my blood pressure going up just thinking about that show.
Anyway, would I recommend this to others. It depends, if you're comfortable with computers and getting it setup, have a reliable internet connection then absolutely. For those interested these were my initial and ongoing costs:
1 Year Subscription to Setanta-i.com $149 (includes all Setanta Pay per view events, formerly I would pay $29.99 to watch those, maybe 4 rugby and England games a year)
1 HD TV Aerial $85
1 TV Aerial Pole $15
1/2 month credit back from cable company -$50
One off Total: $199
TivoHD Monthly subscription: $9.99
Netflix Monthly subscription, 1 DVD at a time, unlimited instant watching: $8.99
UK VPN Monthly subscription: $5
Monthly Total: $23.98
My previous monthly bill for Tivo's and Cable was roughly $140 a month. + $120 a year for PPV events.
Projected yearly savings: $1,512.24
It's been a month and a half since I got rid of my cable television and how has it worked out?
It's been fantastic. The only thing I should add to my previous post is that I put an antenna on the roof to pick up a few free over the air tv channels. With a big enough aerial I was able to receive 4 HD channels and a few analog ones(about 14 channels in total) have I mentioned I live in the middle of nowhere? It will be interesting to see what the Tivo still picks up when the switch to digital takes place, maybe it will pick up more? The main reason for putting the aerial on the roof was so that my folks will still be able to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy when they visit, and if in the winter it snows and I lose internet I should still be able to see semi local news if you consider Portland Maine local.
So what I have found the most refreshing about this system is I can watch a lot of shows via hulu on the big screen with a lot less commercials, many shows have one commercial at the beginning and that's it. Much more civilized. The combination of Hulu, ABC, Netflix, Amazon VOD means there is always something I can find to watch if I have the time.
Setanta-i.com has turned out to be great and I will be watching the FA Cup final tomorrow on that. Also credit to ESPN360.com which also has great streaming quality and yesterday I was able to watch Manchester United put on a terrible performance against Barcelona in the UEFA Chanpionship.
Having my setup work with the BBC iPlayer through the Playstation 3 (PS3) has also been great, I've been a little bit hooked on a show that was on everyday called "The Great British Menu" which finished today, after watching it I really want to try eating pigs ear, maybe I should steal one that I normally give the dog. Also I am embarrassed to say it, I have been watching the English Apprentice show, I loath these types of shows, and I blame Gab and Tim Davis for making me watch it. If these people are the cream of the cream, then Britain has problems, it's like watching a train wreck every week, where's your common sense people, arggh I can feel my blood pressure going up just thinking about that show.
Anyway, would I recommend this to others. It depends, if you're comfortable with computers and getting it setup, have a reliable internet connection then absolutely. For those interested these were my initial and ongoing costs:
1 Year Subscription to Setanta-i.com $149 (includes all Setanta Pay per view events, formerly I would pay $29.99 to watch those, maybe 4 rugby and England games a year)
1 HD TV Aerial $85
1 TV Aerial Pole $15
1/2 month credit back from cable company -$50
One off Total: $199
TivoHD Monthly subscription: $9.99
Netflix Monthly subscription, 1 DVD at a time, unlimited instant watching: $8.99
UK VPN Monthly subscription: $5
Monthly Total: $23.98
My previous monthly bill for Tivo's and Cable was roughly $140 a month. + $120 a year for PPV events.
Projected yearly savings: $1,512.24
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Comments
Posted by David leedy At 07:08:02 PM On 05/29/2009 | - Website - |
It's a small app that sits on a running pc, it makes itse;f a media server that the PS3 can see, and serves up the Hulu content, Netflix, Amazon VOD, CBS, youtube etc.
Posted by Carl Tyler At 09:27:34 PM On 05/29/2009 | - Website - |
Posted by null At 04:35:08 AM On 05/30/2009 | - Website - |