Is It Time to Drop Cable TV for Netflix, Hulu Plus and Antenna?

[droht]

Cable is expensive and I guess that sucks. So is the price of gas, and my POS Dodge for that matter, but I am not considering riding my bike to work every day. Nor am I considering dropping cable. I don't want or need more complications in my life. Antennae, on line streaming, networked devices, etc. It is all very cool, to be sure, but I really like turning on the TV and DVR and relaxing. And I especially don't want my wife and child to have to jump through hoops to watch Real Housewives of Atlanta or Angelina Ballerina.

A Google TV approach with total a la carte options would be great. When that is a reality I'm sure I will look hard at it. Until then I'll be sending Comcast a bit of cash every month.

 

[darien87]

There are two catch-phrases that apply to antennas and OTA reception:

• Location - Location - Location
• Aim for Good Enough antenna performance rather than over-kill

The type of antenna you should look for depends on where you live, what broadcasts are available on what channels, and how far away are the broadcast towers.

Go to AntennaWeb.org, enter your address and see what results you get.

Follow their recommendations for the type of antenna to get, as too much gain from an antenna meant for more distant stations can create problems. The more gain an antenna has, the narrower is its angle of reception, and the more likely you will need a rotor.

Antenna Web tells me that there are no stations predicted to serve my area. Guess I'm SOL. Sure I live in a suburb, but I live in the frickin' SF Bay Area, you can't get much more urban than that.

 

[patnshan]

I actually like cable, no problems with it at all. I consider it a fixed cost for the convenience it gives me. I do also have a Roku XDS, HTPC, PS3, Wii, and streaming blu ray players which give me the capability you describe, yet I still like having the convenience of cable.
To top it off, Roadrunner here is silly fast and never goes out and I LOVE the caller ID on the TV. To each their own I guess. No i don't work for or have any vested interest in TWC. Are they too expensive? Yep. Does anyone else offer the convenience they do for cheaper? Nope. I have 7 TV's wired for cable; dish or direct would cost me a fortune!
If I were out to save money I guess I would consider your recommendations but it's not enough savings for me to give up the convenience.
Pat

 

[jostenmeat]

Antenna Web tells me that there are no stations predicted to serve my area. Guess I'm SOL. Sure I live in a suburb, but I live in the frickin' SF Bay Area, you can't get much more urban than that.

Something must be wrong here . . . I've used that site as well, but I actually prefer this one here, tell us how it goes:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

 

[darien87]

Something must be wrong here . . . I've used that site as well, but I actually prefer this one here, tell us how it goes:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

That one worked. Thanks for the info. It says that I'd need a roof mounted antenna.

 

[90gstman]

DVR box

I'm cutting the cord from CATV. I'm currently paying about $110 for basic HD cable service (NO premium channels) here in CT with Cox Cable. Thats just plain disgusting to say out loud.

My question is does anyone know of a good DVR box with an ASCT tuner (HD tuner) in it for a reasonable price? If so were can I buy it from? My HDTV has no tuner in it. Seems that these are very rare these days.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I'm cutting the cord from CATV. I'm currently paying about $110 for basic HD cable service (NO premium channels) here in CT with Cox Cable. Thats just plain disgusting to say out loud.

My question is does anyone know of a good DVR box with an ASCT tuner (HD tuner) in it for a reasonable price? If so were can I buy it from? My HDTV has no tuner in it. Seems that these are very rare these days.

You could a Tivo like this one : http://www.amazon.com/TiVo-TCD652160-Digital-Video-Recorder/dp/B000RZDBM2,
but I think it requires Tivo subscription to get the channel guide, or you could build it yourself and use Windows Media center to record the shows. There are plenty of inexpensive ASCT tuner cards, both internal and external.

 

[jostenmeat]

That one worked. Thanks for the info. It says that I'd need a roof mounted antenna.

You're very welcome Darien. FWIW, I get a million channels from numerous counties, however it is almost only the biggest national networks that I care about getting. Many of the other stations are foreign language, and many are also not in HD. Seriously, I might have maybe 5 Mexican stations, and many other foreign stations too. One of the best looking there are is the Mexican soap opera station, lol. The reason I bring this up is because I think I wasn't expecting to get many of these, so it's worth a shot.

Also, you can share your results here without having to divulge your address, which is a pretty cool feature that TV Fool integrated. I think it does show your zip, but that's it. Give it a shot with a linky if you want to show people, and just preview the link/post to be sure. Cheers.

You could a Tivo like this one : http://www.amazon.com/TiVo-TCD652160-Digital-Video-Recorder/dp/B000RZDBM2,
but I think it requires Tivo subscription to get the channel guide, or you could build it yourself and use Windows Media center to record the shows. There are plenty of inexpensive ASCT tuner cards, both internal and external.

I don't think it's the Tivo that costs subscription wise?

The doozie is that the cable companies have wised up to their losses with STB rentals to companies like Tivo, and so have jacked up their cable card fees by 5x in the last few years, around $10ish now. I wonder if it's possible to try any different STB without a cable card, and have it work, but I don't understand the tech.

Most/all projectors don't have ATSC tuners either, and so I bought this one here. If I did it all over again, I *might* have splurged for a Tivo just for the DVR, but I watch so little TV, I dunno . . .

My mini-take on my tuner:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63135

 

[90gstman]

Dvr

BoredSysAdmin,
Thanks for the response. I thought about the PC route but I dont want to rely on my computer (in a different room) every time I want to sit down to watch TV. Also, it will just confuse the wife. Also, with Tivo, I can't bring myself to paying $14 a month for a tv guide.

I did some research this morning and found very few options, most of which are discontinued or maybe never existed:

Sony DHG-HDD250: 250 gig hard drive and an ASCT tuner and TV Guide. Discontinued a few years ago. Sometimes used ones can be found.

Magnavox MDR513H/F7: $227 has hard drive and DVD recorder and digital tuner. I'm not so sure if it has a tvguide.

Ecostar TR-50: A lot of websites talk about how great it is, it records OTA HD tv, free TV Guide, etc. But I cant find one place that actualy sells them. I think it was to be sold by Dish but not a word of it on their website?

Moxi: At $599, it is too cost prohibative to even think about.

Channel Master CM-7000PAL: Just what I need (it even has two tuners in it) but its $380.

DTV PAL: Aparently this is the same unit as Channel Master CM-7000PAL but much cheeper ($285). I read that Dish used this model at one point. Reliability looks questionable.

Anyone have any experience with a standalone DVR (no subscription fees)?

 

[jostenmeat]

BoredSysAdmin,
Thanks for the response. I thought about the PC route but I dont want to rely on my computer (in a different room) every time I want to sit down to watch TV. Also, it will just confuse the wife. Also, with Tivo, I can't bring myself to paying $14 a month for a tv guide.

I did some research this morning and found very few options, most of which are discontinued or maybe never existed:

Sony DHG-HDD250: 250 gig hard drive and an ASCT tuner and TV Guide. Discontinued a few years ago. Sometimes used ones can be found.

Magnavox MDR513H/F7: $227 has hard drive and DVD recorder and digital tuner. I'm not so sure if it has a tvguide.

Ecostar TR-50: A lot of websites talk about how great it is, it records OTA HD tv, free TV Guide, etc. But I cant find one place that actualy sells them. I think it was to be sold by Dish but not a word of it on their website?

Moxi: At $599, it is too cost prohibative to even think about.

Channel Master CM-7000PAL: Just what I need (it even has two tuners in it) but its $380.

DTV PAL: Aparently this is the same unit as Channel Master CM-7000PAL but much cheeper ($285). I read that Dish used this model at one point. Reliability looks questionable.

Anyone have any experience with a standalone DVR (no subscription fees)?

My friend uses a Tivo. It's really quite fantastic. Next time I see him, I will ask him how much all of his subscription costs are.

Also, a different friend's experiences lead me to advise you in getting the latest generation of Tivo. Not an older, or refurbed. If you do, make sure to test it quickly, well at least within 30 days, so that you can return it if it doesn't work, maybe due to some HDCP issue, can't recall the details that my neophyte friend was telling me.

Lastly, I'm pretty sure Dish network has or had an STB that can record 4 channels simultaneously. Dual tuners for the sat, and then 2 more for OTA. However, this would require two antennae to use the max of 4.

 

[fredk]

There is one piece missing from the online side of the equation. How much bandwidth does streaming use?

I got rid of cable 5 years ago for a few reasons. At the time there was no alternative so I stuck with a fairly low bandwidth internet connection. In order for me to get programming online, I need would need to upgrade my internet connection as well. That would add anywhere from $20 to $70 a month depending on how much addtional bandwidth I require.

Edit: so, some quick reading and I'm looking at a minimum of 30gb per month for one hour per day of SD programming which would add $20 a month to my bill. If I want HD programming or I watch more, it just goes up. So for minimal watching, it saves me $10 a month over basic cable, BUT, program availability in Canada suck, so basic cable provides me much better programming. I'm willing to bet I won't find the programming I want available online.

Sigh, maybe in my next life. In the mean time, all the cable providers, online providers, internet providers and content developers can kiss my hind end!

 

[Rmassey]

Great thread, here's what I did to kick cable/Sat habit.

After years of viewing and having used Dish, Direct and Cable at various times, I noticed 95% of my viewing habits were Local programming with only a handful of Fx & TBS shows that I could easily live without or rent via Netflix. Sports is not included in my viewing habits, so no 'need' for ESPN, etc.

I'm lucky that I can get all HD locals via OTA. I did have to add an amplifier to boost a few signals, but I now have a rock solid OTA signal.

Coming from an HD DirecTivo (HR-250), which I liked, I bought a Tivo S3 and Tivo HD in 2007 both with Lifetime service (added later) to avoid any future Tivo fees. As we all know Tivo is not cheap, but I like the UI and hate messing with HTPCs. Networked Tivos also allow me to transfer shows between Tivos and to my PC for archiving to a server.

I won't bore you with the math, but I essentially paid for both the Lifetime Tivos in about 20 months of DirecTV savings @ $75/mo. Like I said, not cheap, but I was going to pay this same amount out to DirecTV anyways, so why not invest it in Tivo hardware and Lifetime service and stop the endless DirecTV payments.

I realize this setup is not for everyone with high upfront costs, limited to HD Locals, no CATV sports programming and requires a solid OTA signal.... but it works for me. I now have a ZERO dollar TV bill. I can record Local HD programs to two Tivos and do not pay for programming I do not want or use.

Currently Tivo offers Netflix streaming, Pandora and Amazon on demand video. Looks like they may add Hulu Plus to the Tivo Premiere which may trickle down to the Tivo S3/HD hardware as well. I'm watching to see how this plays out. given these pending service updates, I have not stepped up to a Hulu delivery solution yet, but I do have two WDTV boxes which can stream content form my Windows Home Server just fine. These work fine for downloaded content, which I will leave for another discussion.

 

[90gstman]

So I just hooked up my bedroom TV to the antena and here in Connecticut this is what I got:

NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, FOX, CW, MYTV9, COOL TV (music videos), Telamundo, LATV, THIS TV, and Universal Sports. Not only that but most of these channels also have at least one other low rez channel with things like weather etc.

Thats 75% of what I normaly watch. All I need now is a OTA DVR. I already have netflix streaming on my BluRay player. So now I'm ready to take back my $110 a month that I give to COX Communications.

 

[projectionist]

Lets see there are currently 73 million cable subscribers in the U.S. and the cable companies lost 3/4 of a million of those to cable cutting so that's less than .0102% of their customers. This seems to be quite trivial. That said it is true cable service cost to much but it is not simply the cable companies overcharging, it often is the networks overcharging the cable companies to rebroadcast their content. This is evidenced by they recent "blackout threats" from Disney, Espn, Nbc and the list goes on and on. The simple fact of the matter is when the contracts are about to expire these companies engage in all matter of dirty tactics to make the viewers think it is the cable companies that are turning off the programming but in fact it is they networks that are holding the cable companies hostage by refusing to negotiate in good faith for a fair price for their content. I encourage the networks to keep it up because eventually the cable companies will say enough is enough and let the contract expire and when that happens the only way the viewers will be able to get the content will be free OTA or Free inet sources and Ad revenue's will simply not support these extorsionist networks in the style that they have become accustomed.

 

[Cloon]

Is it possible to get HGTV episodes streamed on any fo these services? Its the one hurdle before I can convince my wife to drop cable!

 

[B1-66ER]

Torrents. I'll admit it. I have no prob paying for tv, but there has to be a realistic expectation on what I will pay for. Frankly cable tv has done its best to keep us dumb and numb (from crap-*** news to prime-time programming) to make me really decide what I want to watch. On an average night, I watch maybe 2 hours of programming. I should pay $75 for that? And I cant design my own programming? The "buy a lot get a lot" pricing strategy of cable tv is over, and I'm glad alternatives like Hulu are forcing people to reevaluate the forced economics of cable tv.

 

[Rmassey]

... All I need now is a OTA DVR.... So now I'm ready to take back my $110 a month that I give to COX Communications.

Here's an option:

Tivo Premiere $299 + Lifetime service @ $399 = $698 / $110 = 6.34 months

In about six months you are free and clear with Zero TV costs.

if $698 oop is too steep for you, they offer all kinds of creative purchase/pay as you go plans like:

$0 down + $19.99/month - 2 yr commit
$99.99 + $19.99/month - 1 yr commit
$299.99 + $12.95/month - 1 yr commit

 

[audiofox]

My main reason for staying with cable is the sports channels, many of which are unavailable OTA (ESPN and their various flavors, Fox Sports Net, Versus, NHL Network and others) and can only be viewed via cable or satellite TV or with a trip to the local sports bar. It is certainly possible to get one's sports fix with OTA services, especially in major markets like LA, but there is still a lot that is NA via my rooftop antenna, especially if I want to watch my alma mater, which is not a local team for me. If there was a sports-only cable service, or even better, a broadband service, I would jump in a heartbeat, but the chances of that happening in the near future are slim to none. There is also the WAF that factors into this for me-my better half would have nothing to do with a broadband-based service unless I could make it as user-transparent as our cable is today.

 

[westcott]

Interesting editorial. I have discontinued my satellite service and have purchased a Roku XD box to supplement my NetFlix.

I did purchase Hulu Plus but after only a day of reviewing what was available via Roku, I discontinued it. MOST of the programming I watch is not available through Roku. My programs can only be watched via the computer. That is not acceptable and I promptly cancelled my Hulu Plus.

Amazon on Demand has a better selection of programming and like you said, @ 99cents a program, I am still way ahead of what I was paying for satellite($130/month). Most of their programming is in Dolby Digital, as well.

Now that NetFlix has raised their prices, I too will drop my subscription to 1 DVD at a time. I love the Roku XD and its function but NetFlix has a long way to go before more current material is readily available and that is one of many drawbacks over its competition. No Dolby Digital support, fullscreen instead of widescreen, and other bandwidth restriction strategies make NetFlix the least favorable internet streaming solution, for now.