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Step One: Why should I even do this? I have TimeWarner Cable, and my bill admittedly was on the high side. But I only have two TVs so it can't be THAT much, right? Judge for yourself: Two Cable boxes at $20 HD Service at $13 DVR Service at $7 Basic Cable $13 Expanded cable $40 Howard Stern on Demand $13 Four Premium Movie Channels $30 Taxes $15 Total cost: $151/month or $1,812/year Sure surprised me. I had bought into my cable plan under a "triple play" Cable/Internet/Phone for $99. This is completely designed to fool you. The terms were for one year, then everything jumped up to $129, but that only covered basic internet, basic phone and basic cable. The box rental fees, the HD fees, the DVR fees, and any additional channels all cost extra. But in the back of my mind I'm thinking "I'm only paying about $30/month", when I'm actually paying five times that. But let's say you're the most modest of TV watchers. You have one TV with only local channels, and no HD. Cable box at $10 Basic Cable at $13 Taxes at $2.50 Total cost: $25/month or $300/year But who wouldn't want to save an extra $300/year? Pull out your cable bill and crunch the numbers and find out what you'll be saving. Step Two: Will this even work? Admittedly, these savings come with a cost. You're losing a good amount of selection. Go to antennaweb.org and plug in your address, this will let you know how close you are to broadcasting towers and what your overall signal strength will be. I live in Manhattan, and am relatively close to all the major broadcast towers. Once I remove the foreign language channels and the 24 hour religious programming, I receive 16 unique channels. But being close isn't necessarily a requirement for good reception. My parents live about 30 miles from their broadcast towers, but because they don't have any tall buildings to worry about, their reception is just fine and would receive 14 channels (I've got an extra PBS affiliate). I have a Terk Indoor antenna that's rated to pick up channels from 40 miles. I get on average 85% or stronger signals, anything above 75% and I'll never see flicker. With Digital TV you either have a signal or you don't. No static like with old antennas. 50% - 75% you'll have some flicker, but unless you're really close to 50% you'll never miss more than a second or two of programming. If you're REALLY far away, there are still options. The most extreme scenarios would find you using a 100-mile rated antenna mounted high on your roof. Step Three: What's a Tivo? This step is optional, but now that you've lost access to channels that air gameshows and cooking shows 24 hours a day, you need to manage your content a little, to get that same level of programming. If you've never experienced one, a Tivo is a DVR a Digital Video Recorder. Basically a big videotape that records shows for you. Tivo also has a full programming lineup going out for two weeks. Here's where you have to get creative. Tivo utilizes season passes, these let you record a show whenever its on, whether it's a new episode or a rerun, your choice. If you like American Idol, go to the programming guide, select it and setup a season pass to record every new episode. You watch it anytime after it's aired, and then delete it. Tivo also utilizes Tivo Suggestions, it will find more shows for you to watch based upon what you record, as space allows. So even if you don't set up a series of season passes, just recording a lot of American Idol will tell the Tivo to get you shows similar to American Idol (So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent, etc.). Step Four: Okay, how much is this gonna cost me? I have a Terk Indoor Antenna, rated up to 40 miles, it cost me $40 from amazon. The REALLY high end 100 mile rated antennas only run about $150. If you don't have an HDTV, you'll need a converter box. The government will give you a coupon, but they typically run $40. If you want to replace that extremely modest TV viewer scenario, it's only $40 for an antenna with an HDTV. Or $40 for an antenna + six weeks waiting for a coupon (or another $40) for a digital converter box. So $40 - $80. That means this extremely modest TV viewer will have paid off their antenna investment in just three months. As a bonus Digital TV broadcasts programming data. You'll get about 24 hours worth of channel information. Nifty little feature. If you want to start replacing all the benefits of cable, you'll have to look into a Tivo. Tivos start at $149 for a standard definition Tivo. This is 40 hours of content on two tuners (you can record on two different channels at once). For $199 you can get an HD Tivo, this gives you HD content, functions the same as a converter box, 40 hours of HD content and dual tuners. For $499 you can get a Tivo HD XL that gives you 160 hours of HD content and dual tuners. A nifty bonus of having two Tivos; they talk to each other. You could start a show in one room, and finish it in another. You most likely can't do that with cable. Tivo has a monthly fee however. It's $12.95 a month, but you can pay a one time fee for the life of a unit. It sounds steep at $299, but not having to pay $12.95 a month means you make your money back in 23 months. I've had my first Tivo for five years, and it's been running near non-stop and I've never had a problem. I view it as a safe investment. Worst case scenario. My high end cable tv usage. Two HD Tivos = $398 Two lifetime passes = $598 Antenna = $40 Total cost = $1,040 That number looks so scary, but really my $151/month cable habit, once cut, will save me that much in just seven months! Even if I had to buy all that crap over again, every year, I'm still saving $500 a year!! For about what it costs to get a new computer, you can have all the benefits of cable television without the bill. Step Five: Hey, I'm missing <such and such> channel? Here's where you put your Tivo to work for you. I had a friend tell me that they'd be missing out on TruTV (formerly CourtTV). Each week on the major networks, there's multiple episodes of Cops, America's Most Wanted, Street Patrol, Homeland Security and Jail. All are variations of TruTV content. Most run late at night. Using the Tivo you can set up a season pass to record reruns. You won't have the luxury of tuning into TruTV and seeing what's on, but you will be able to go through your Tivo and see what TruTV type content was recorded for you. You have to plan ahead just a LITTLE bit, but you can get your "<such and such> channel" fix. Or the Gameshow Network. Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Price is Right are all on every single day. Tell Tivo you like these shows, or set up season passes for reruns, and you recreate the Gameshow Network. Food Network, PBS has numerous cooking shows on every week. It won't be 24 hours a day of content, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was 20 hours or more a week. Now, there might be shows you REALLY like that are only available on cable networks. For me I love Mad Men and The Ultimate Fighter. Only available on AMC and Spike respectively. With a Tivo you can use Amazon Digital Downloads. This gives you access to thousands of TV shows and Movies through Amazons Video Marketplace. Most cable networks put up their programs the day after they air. A season pass costs ~$25 depending on the number of episodes. Mad Men airs new episodes on Sunday evening, but I just have to wait til Monday. I get the bonus of owning these episodes forever. Step Six: Replacing Movie Channels and Renting Movies "I rent movies through my cable company, and hey what about HBO?" You can rent movies through Amazon Digtal Downloads, they are $2.99 for Standard Definition and $3.99 for High Definition. My cable company charged $4.99 and didn't offer High Definition. Amazon's selection is also REALLY deep. You can find lots of older movies on there too, and they have sales every week. Some movie rentals can be $.99 or even free. HBO/Showtime's original content is the only bitter pill in this whole scenario. If you like new shows, like True Blood or Weeds. You have to wait til they are available on DVD. Which is typically 6-8 months after the show finishes airing. The only bonus to this is you can watch the whole season in one sitting. Which is nice as some of these shows can be cliffhanger intensive. For renting physical DVDs I recommend Netflix. For $11/month you have access to just about any DVD ever made. They ship it to you in a red envelope, you watch it, put it back in the red envelope and drop it in the mail. They utilize confirmations from the post office to shave some time off the shipping, but you can typically get two movies a week this way. Another feature that your Tivo lets you take advantage of is Netflix Streaming. That $11/month lets you access over 10,000 movies and tv shows that you can stream instantly to your Tivo. I paid $13 a month for access to HBO, $11 a month gives me A LOT of movies a month through Netflix. Any questions, troubleshooting, I can help! 
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 02:45 |
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| # ? Nov 21, 2009 03:17 |
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Oh yeah! I have a ~$50 digital antenna, and I just love getting crystal-clear high-def TV for free. I don't even need a TiVo, 'cause if I miss a show I can just catch it the next day on Hulu (admittedly, not in HD). All I pay for is Netflix with streaming.  It helps that I basically have a clear line of sight to the broadcasting tower, though, and I'm afraid that if I move I might lose my great reception. Like you said, digital TV either comes in or it doesn't, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 03:13 |
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I have an even cheaper and simpler plan (than the OP). Ultra basic cable, $16.49/mo 2 modern HDTVs with digital tuners I already own, so no cable box required. $10 discount on TV when bundled with any cable internet package, which I'd still keep if I ditched the cable tv because let's face it, if I read these forums I probably live on the internet. Which comes out to $6.49 a month for about 40 channels of basic cable, including some channels like discovery, sci fi, TLC and food, with all local affiliates in HD. Of course I also rent and stream from Netflix on that high speed cable connection and have more tv/movies through that than I can possibly watch. Hell, I was unemployed for 6 months earlier this year, Netflix kept me sane. I signed up 5 years ago and have never had fewer than 100 movies in my queue. I'm pretty content with $77.88 a year for the TV selection I have, and I don't have to buy all that hardware. Granted, at some point I'm going to get a Tivo but I've done okay so far. I agree that your $1800 number just for cable is out of control, especially in terms of getting your money's worth. I mean, that's the price of a decent HDTV! When it's that expensive you have to start forcing yourself to watch TV to justify the bill, which then becomes annoying instead of relaxing and entertaining. Just saying I agree completely with your premise, but there are even cheaper options than your $300 a year without ditching completely. Maybe a sub-theme of "post your home entertainment expenses" would be useful in this thread. Could be both hardware costs and recurring costs. I have a $1900 tv, $200 blu-ray player, and a $500 26" HDTV monitor with tuner and $100 Blu-ray drive in my pc. No audio yet, just an old stereo receiver for the living room and pc speakers for the pc. Equipment costs: $2700 Recurring costs: Cable tv, internet, netflix 3-at-a-time with Blu-ray plus streaming, $98/month. The only thing there I'd consider ditching would be the cable TV, and again it's only $6.49 a month. The internet and netflix are worth every penny to me.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 05:48 |
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Another thing to consider when trying to save money on entertainment is your local library. It probably depends on your area, but in the area I'm in (Oakland County, Michigan) the libraries have huge DVD selections, and even lots of video games. Oddly enough they even have PC games at one of the libraries around here. The one for my city has games for all major consoles including handhelds and current gen consoles, and usually they get new releases really quickly. Although this thread is supposed to be about more digital entertainment, you could also check to see what else your city has to offer. My city has a community center that offers a rec room with pool tables, foosball, shuffleboard, gym, fitness center, and swimming pool to residents for no charge.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 06:50 |
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Same deal here. $50 outdoor DTV antenna on the roof (small and easy to install, not one of those huge things) gets me about 15 channels, 6 of which are full HD, in Central Texas. Picture quality is arguably better than time warner cable at times. Hulu is the perfect supplement. Drop the cable company and use the money you save to buy a dedicated TV computer for online streaming. You'll get MORE on demand content and still come out on top.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 06:59 |
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I've probably got all you guys beat. OTA, only paying for analogue cable, hooked up to an HTPC with two digital OTA inputs and one cable input. My program guide disabled the cable versions of the OTA channels and remapped them to the OTA ones so swapping between different sources is nearly effortless. I can add drat near as many tuners as I want. Linux/Open Source DVR software fans can get even geekier, but Windows Media Center with an extension to launch Hulu Desktop, all from the remote, is good enough for me. If you have a digital tuner with QAM support, you can usually plug in your cable line and get the HD locals for completely free without any rental tuners necessary. The cable company won't tell you this (your average front-liner probably doesn't even know this exists, and the marketing men won't train them to know) but it's true. It's the FCC's way of trying to give a little love to those of us who have mountains or no way to get signal from an antenna. This far north from San Francisco I'd need an antenna taller than Sutro Tower to get anything. Craptacular! fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 08:07 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 08:05 |
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Imo the only reason to purchase TV channels is to watch sport (online streams are still too unreliable, and its not always convenient to go to a bar to watch games), but if you can live without that then youre golden, everything else can be easily replaced.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 08:59 |
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chedemefedeme posted:Same deal here. $50 outdoor DTV antenna on the roof (small and easy to install, not one of those huge things) gets me about 15 channels, 6 of which are full HD, in Central Texas. Picture quality is arguably better than time warner cable at times. Hulu is the perfect supplement. What brand did you get and how easy was easy exactly? I originally got an indoor TV topper for $15 or so months ago, but I can only get 1-2 channels and it's spotty at best. I would love to get an outdoor, but thought it'd be a huge hassle and way more than $50.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 11:31 |
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I just wanted to chime in with another experience. We ditched Comcast cable earlier this year. Our current TV is an eight year old CRT and we're using a converter box and a $10.00 set of RCA rabbit ears. When we got rid of cable we reactivated our Netflix subscription. After Christmas we're going to buy a router and a Roku box so we can stream content to our TV. We live on a middle floor in a mid-rise apartment building and we're surrounded by other mid-rise apartment buildings so OTA reception can be spotty. We pretty much have to move the antenna around every time we change the channel and some stations, like ABC, can be a real pain in the rear end to receive. I've had to prop the antenna on the floor, at a very specific angle using a few books to tilt it and a lot of patience. I'm dreading the frustration when Lost comes back on. We tried a more expensive Terk amplified antenna - this one, I believe. Unfortunately, despite its supposedly 360° reception, it still required constant manual tuning and performed on the same level as our RCA model so it was returned. I'm curious to know how a more powerful outdoor antenna would perform. We'd have to rig it out on our balcony but I don't see it being much more effective than the Terk model was since our antenna is situated next to a large seven foot wide sliding glass door.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 12:28 |
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I'm in Manhattan and surrounded by tall buildings. antennaweb.org says I should only receive like two channels. I have a Terk Indoor antenna, but after a rain storm I went and purchased a distribution amplifier for another $40. My signal is so goddamn strong now. I have 44 channels I pick up, but cut out all the religious and other nonsense, and it goes down to 16. I have an 80 mile rated outdoor antenna I want to hook up, that will hopefully let me pull poo poo in from NJ and CT and possibly Albany. It's all about the Tivo with dual tuners recording poo poo at night. here's another trick I do. How to get (at least) 10 free movies a week Tivo lets you record using wishlists. Say I love Bob Newhart. I can tell Tivo to record ANYTHING with Bob Newhart in it. Or you can get more specific, suppose I don't love any TV shows Bob Newhart was in. Just his movies I can set up a wishlist for Bob Newhart in "movies." Taking that a step further, at the very end of all my season passes/wishlists so it will never conflict with anything. I have a wish list set to record EVERY movie that airs. All these are in HD. I've gotten Hunt for Red October, James Bond movies, The Matrix Revolutions, The Break-Up, Kung-Pow Enter The Fist, etc. Really all genres are covered. Last week for Halloween, one of the PBS affiliates ran a 24 hour marathon of classic horror movies (Night of The Living Dead, Most Dangerous Game, etc.) that my Tivo captured most of.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 12:43 |
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Cannibal posted:If you don't have an HDTV, you'll need a converter box. The government will give you a coupon, but they typically run $40. This is wrong. What you need is a digital tuner. most of the CRTS manufactured after the announcement of the digital switch should have one. Check your manual. There are also some lovely HDTV's that don't have a digital tuner. If you suspect you have a lovely HDTV, again, check your manual. There's no reason to get a converter box if you already have a digital tuner built into your TV. A lot of people confuse HD and digital TV, and while they often go hand in hand, they are different things entirely.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 15:22 |
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What about unique content channels that you get on cable like Discovery Channel or FX? I'm doubting you can get them OTA, and I'm not aware of any online providers for their content like hulu. Also, I saw an old satellite dish the other day and found myself wondering whatever happened to people using big dishes to catch broadcasts directly? My aunt had one and was able to pick up all 7 or so different HBO channels for free for a while.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 19:23 |
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dividebyzero posted:What about unique content channels that you get on cable like Discovery Channel or FX? I'm doubting you can get them OTA, and I'm not aware of any online providers for their content like hulu. For unique content channels I personally go through itunes (but they are most likely available the same on amazon). Just browse by network and purchase the shows a la carte. You're paying a premium but chances are it's still FAR less buying a season pass than your cable bill. I've been doing this for awhile now, and have a good collection of Comedy Central's past lineups forming. Netflix comes in handy here too. There are a lot of Discovery and History Channel shows on there. But for free tv, PBS provides a lot of similar stuff (Nova, Frontline, etc.)
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:30 |
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When my uncle decided to replace his relatively new mac mini with a laptop, he gave my cousin the mini which was promptly turned into a media center pc. The computer's connected to his HDTV and sound system and functions as a DVD player, music player, and hub- as well as a pretty solid computer for dicking around on the web or whatever. He's got Netflix streaming, Hulu, and most channels' websites will now show currently running programs (like Discovery) which takes care of pretty much all of the non-OTA stuff ('Always Sunny in Philadelphia' or 'The Daily Show'). Whenever he wants to watch something on HBO or Showtime, he goes over to my uncle's place (my family has a thing for 'Dexter"). For live tv, he's got a high-def antenna setup that gets about 12 channels- 6 in HD. All-in-all, he only pays for the Netflix and a fast internet connection. The mini was free, but new ones can be a bit pricey (they just did a line upgrade so the older ones are substantially cheaper). If you've got just about any old computer lying around, it should do the trick (maybe upgrade the memory and video card if need be) or just spend about $400 on a cheap PC that does the same job. Really, all you need is a computer with decent speed and a good video output. Either way, it's a one-time buy that should come out substantially cheaper than cable in the long run. My dad's actually considering doing something similar and then I'm sure we'll all just bum off of my uncle's Showtime subscription (maybe buy pizza or something)- which also presents another good plan. If you've got a friend with subscription content that you're interested in, make it a social event. For instance, if you and your buddies all love 'Weeds,' then make a point of watching it together. Maybe provide food or other recompense (like Netflix movies) if you don't want to just bum off them. If you wanted to record OTA or basic cable content, you could also go for one of these: http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mai...brid09/product1 (There are tons of PC options too). It's not nearly as feature-dense or easy to use as TiVo but it's much cheaper. Electric Bugaloo fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 22:03 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 21:55 |
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dividebyzero posted:What about unique content channels that you get on cable like Discovery Channel or FX? I'm doubting you can get them OTA, and I'm not aware of any online providers for their content like hulu. FX, Comedy Central, the History Channel, and some Discovery shows are on Hulu ('It's always sunny' is on Hulu and that's the only thing worth watching on FX). Also, most channels will now stream episodes on their websites (like Discovery).
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 21:58 |
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Electric Bugaloo posted:('It's always sunny' is on Hulu and that's the only thing worth watching on FX). Sons of Anarchy is better than It's Always Sunny, but both are good shows.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 22:05 |
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I'd completely forgotten that they *do* have some episodes of Sunny' on Hulu. Since Hulu factors into a lot of these plans, how will Hulu's switch to paying for most content next year factor in to the calculations?
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 23:32 |
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dividebyzero posted:I'd completely forgotten that they *do* have some episodes of Sunny' on Hulu. Since Hulu factors into a lot of these plans, how will Hulu's switch to paying for most content next year factor in to the calculations? You mean when every single person stops using Hulu?
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 23:46 |
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Cannibal posted:I'm in Manhattan and surrounded by tall buildings. antennaweb.org says I should only receive like two channels. I have a Terk Indoor antenna, but after a rain storm I went and purchased a distribution amplifier for another $40. My signal is so goddamn strong now. I have 44 channels I pick up, but cut out all the religious and other nonsense, and it goes down to 16. Please tell me about the amplifier you have. I have a big outdoor antenna, admittedly the coax cable is probably 4x as long as it needs to be as I didn't realize that I have no way of putting this thing on my roof at my apartment complex. I'm in a valley and there are trees totally surrounding my complex so I have to move my antenna around to get different stations to come in how I like. How do you guys use the antennaweb thing? buy a compass and point?
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 01:02 |
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Question from a UK-based person that I've always wanted answered, and this seems the best thread to ask in. Obviously you don't really have the regional aspect of TV like we have, and also you don't have such a high population density. Do TV Channels in America co-locate on the same masts in a given area, or do they dot themselves all over? It seems like everyone in America has omni-directional antennas, whereas in the UK, you get all of the TV channels in your local area by pointing a directional antenna at one mast for your area, and maybe if you want to you can also buy another and point it at the mast for a neighbouring region, etc. There are relay transmitters for people in hard to reach areas, of course. 
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 01:29 |
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Cannibal posted:If you don't have an HDTV, you'll need a converter box. The government will give you a coupon, but they typically run $40. The coupon program ended on July 31. a few people posted:Digital antenna
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 01:46 |
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dividebyzero posted:I'd completely forgotten that they *do* have some episodes of Sunny' on Hulu. Since Hulu factors into a lot of these plans, how will Hulu's switch to paying for most content next year factor in to the calculations?
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 01:47 |
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thehustler posted:Obviously you don't really have the regional aspect of TV like we have, and also you don't have such a high population density. Do TV Channels in America co-locate on the same masts in a given area, or do they dot themselves all over? Usually, all of the TV masts are in the same general area in the city that the stations broadcast from. Omnidirectional antennas are used nearby, with more directional antennas used the farther you get from the cluster of towers for the city.
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 01:53 |
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Cannibal posted:Antenna = $40  More like "Antenna = $2" am i rite
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 01:54 |
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I bought this & stuck it on my balcony, facing the great TV transmitter that is the CN Tower: http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD-1...a/dp/B001DFTGQU It's glorious. I get all the local channels, plus a pile of Buffalo channels. All in HD. Honestly, cable is such a retarded rip-off. Yeah fantastic, 200 channels. How many can you watch at once?
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 06:00 |
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You live in Manhattan and you can't afford your cable bill?
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 06:24 |
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Afford /= saving money.
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 09:06 |
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This thread needs... PlayOn is software you run on your PC that streams online content to video game consoles. Out of the box you get access to things like Hulu, Nextflix, Amazon.com, Youtube, CNN, and more. Plus there's an active plug-in community that adds support for things like AdultSwim.com and FoodNetwork.com They have a 14 day free trial and if you like the software its only $40.
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 16:27 |
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I would love to do this, but I'm currently locked into TWC "Pricelock Guarantee" which gives me a lower rate for a fixed 2 year subscription. I pay about $136/mo for cable internet, HD cable package, and an HD DVR.
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 16:30 |
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zamiel posted:What brand did you get and how easy was easy exactly? I originally got an indoor TV topper for $15 or so months ago, but I can only get 1-2 channels and it's spotty at best. I would love to get an outdoor, but thought it'd be a huge hassle and way more than $50. Brand was some off brand. Got it at Home Depot, though I bet ya newegg has them cheaper. My model looks a little different than this but here's a way better priced similar unit at newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1-256-_-Product It's small and unobtrusive. Installation can be approached one of many ways. On a pole as shown, or like I did, on a small board mounted just below the rear peak of my roof, with just the antenna protruding above to be visible from the street. Installation was a snap, just use thought about how you mount stuff on your roof so not to create leaks. Only final thought; I kindof wish I had gotten a slightly higher model. While this gets me all of Austin and some of San Antonio from Kyle, Texas, I am baaarely out of range of houston with this antenna. Had I splurged a bit more I could have gotten a ton more channels.
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 23:04 |
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The easiest way for you to save money would have been to have one cable box and no tivo. Use a drat VCR..they still work.
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 23:28 |
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Or a spare PC, cheap TV tuner card and cheap/free DVR software. If you don't care about High Definition you can do this with a really old PC and cheap as cheese hardware.
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| # ? Nov 08, 2009 23:32 |
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