Just cut the cord

[nolaradio]

Absolutely. We're not going to miss it. I'm thinking about an HD antenna, but we're a little far from the bigger stations, so I don't know how good the service would be. But we love being able to watch pretty much anything we want, whenever we want to. I have like 5 tv series in my netflix queue right now. Not like we'll run out of entertainment anytime soon.

This is what I have in my attic. It's about 25' up and I get all the OTA channels for the New Orleans area in Mandeville. http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10901&cs_id=1090102&p_id=4730&seq=1&format=2

I cut the cord about four years ago. Besides the OTA channels, I have a subscription to Netflix. I also have access to a Hulu account. As far as hardware, I have two Roku boxes and an Amazon Fire TV stick that I haven't tried out yet. Once football season rolls around again, I am going to give Sling TV a try. For $20/month with no contract, it's cheaper than taking the family out to eat somewhere to watch LSU games.
I keep telling myself that I am going to get a Slingbox and hook it up to my daughter's cable at her college but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've heard of forums where you can find people sharing their Slingbox with others but I haven't bothered looking for it since I don't have a Slingbox right now.

 

[nolaradio]

If you really want a DVR, here you go: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EEOSZK0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EEOSZK0&linkCode=as2&tag=dietry-20&linkId=AGTNIV7NYDAI2G27

 

[CatCam]

Back when the HD came out I had Direct TV. I wanted to upgrade my existing receiver to a HD. Direct TV was running an advertisement for the receiver for $29.99 so I gave them a call......they were so nice to inform me that that was only for new subscribers and since I had been with them for 3 years that I was not "eligible" for this "promotion".
So I explained that I had paid my bills for 3 years without an issue but yet somebody that had never given them a dime is "eligible"!!!???
I then told them to come get their dish/receiver, etc......then they offered me all kind of "incentives" to stay but they had already pi$$ed me off.
I now have basic cable and cable internet. I have Netflix/Redbox if I want to see a movie.
I'm going to look into the Sling Thing!

 

[nolaradio]

For those that uses Redbox, check out this site if you don't already know about it. Grab some codes for free rentals or other discounts. http://www.insideredbox.com/

 

[DevinLSU]

Here is what I recommend:

TV with HDMI inputs (Does not have to be "SMART" or have apps because the Roku does)

Audio/Video receiver to decode all signals and act as an HDMI switch.

Roku 3 + HDMI cable

Digital converter w/ PVR + HDMI cable

External hard drive to store recordings from PVR (1TB should be plenty)

HD antenna (Indoor or Outdoor)

Blu-Ray Player + HDMI cable

Logitech Harmony Remote

The antenna will pull in all your local channels (FOX, ABC, NBC, LPB, CBS, etc). Go here to get more info regarding antenna placement/direction. The digital converter will allow the antenna signal to be used with HDMI and also allow recording of local channels. The Roku will handle your subscriptions of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, Spotify, Pandora, etc. There are many free Roku channels. To use more channels and allow your Roku to stream content from your PC you can use PlayOn channel. You can add scripts to the PlayOn server program running on your PC. Here is a link to scripts that will allow you to stream almost anything.

 

[edman87k5]

Yep, that's exactly the route we're going. I'll gladly go drive to a Redbox every now and then to rent a movie for under $2, or stream it for a little more. This easily pays for our trip to Disney in a few years, and also our 10-year-anniversary trip that's coming up

You know, that's the same logic I sold the wife with. Our sat bill is basically a Disney trip every year (more like every 2 years). I will be dropping direct tv sometime this summer. Got to get my internet sorted first, it has been slow as of late. Thinking of switching from att dsl to u-verse, got to look closer. I know u verse has usage limits and overages are expensive. Could be that my 9 year old modem/ router is crap too.

 

[Armed Mage]

Haven't had cable for years. On the rare occasion there is something on TV I find worth watching I can always find it on the internet somewhere.

 

[flamatrix99]

We had DirecTV for years with all the movie channels and HD with a DVR in the living room, master bedroom and a regular cable box in my daughters room. We cut it back to basic HD service no movie channels and cancelled the box in my daughter's room. We bought an Apple TV for my daughter and one for our room. The TV in the living room is a smart TV. we can watch Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon video. Saved over $100/month.

If anyone has a logon for Cinemax on the go my wife would really appreciate it. She can't watch Banshee at the moment.

 

[olivs260]

You know, that's the same logic I sold the wife with. Our sat bill is basically a Disney trip every year (more like every 2 years). I will be dropping direct tv sometime this summer. Got to get my internet sorted first, it has been slow as of late. Thinking of switching from att dsl to u-verse, got to look closer. I know u verse has usage limits and overages are expensive. Could be that my 9 year old modem/ router is crap too.

9 years old???? A new modem/router combo should run you less than $100, and it's totally worth it.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everybody. I'm not sure if we're ready to do the PC thing for a DVR yet, but I'm definitely looking into the HD antenna. Just not sure how many channels we'd be able to pick up where we live. Has anybody else in the Thibodaux area ever tried one?

 

[JadeRaven]

Haven't had cable in years. I do still pay for cable internet though, something like $40/month. One of the first things I did when I bought my house was pull the satellite dish off and throw it in the garbage.

Mostly use netflix, download shows and movies here and there and occasionally watch over the air tv. Don't like Hulu because of the ads. Really it's painful in general to watch TV because of all the ads...

If you have to have ESPN you're pretty much out of luck.

All this talk of Disney trips is really, really frightening.

 

[edman87k5]

Ha. You want frightening? Price a disney cruise!

 

[bayouboy81]

I cut it last month. My kids were doing the same just watching Netflix. My boys are 5,3&11 months. Things they show on regular tv are getting worst and worst. Even commercials.

 

[velociraptor]

I am curious what internet service you guys who cut the cable are using. I use Cos with their synthetic fiber I do manage to get about 20mps down and about 10mps up.

However when I went to kill off the basic cable and keep the internet at the high speed level they charged me a "non-bundle" price that basically negated all but about $20 of savings per month, so kept the basic cable.

I really like the idea of telling Cox to GTFO of my house but I also like high speed internet @20mps+

Just wondering what you guys use. BTW my I use about 20gb on my cell phone connection (unlimited data plan here) and 4 GTE works well but using that as a hot spot is not exactly ideal.

BTW I have Neflix, HULU and Amazon prime which honestly is more TV than I really want to watch.

 

[killerkarl]

I have thought about doing it but I come too close to my monthly internet usage limit as it is.

 

[323MAR]

I have the Cox preferred internet service and Netflix. It is all under $60. I have an HD antenna for regular TV. I love the old shows on METV and ANT.

 

[general mills]

I got rid of basic cable about 6 years ago. I have Netflix, but I really don't use it. my tv is only on about 1/2-1 hour a day for the evening news.

 

[DAVE_M]

Not to stray too far off topic, but honestly, the best way to cut back on TV and Internet usage is to get out of the house and find a hobby. I found making ugly kydex holsters to be a time consuming and interesting hobby. I've met a number of BayouShooter members that have interesting hobbies. Isn't there a whole group of HAM radio people here?

If I could ever get my monthly internet rate back down to the original $30/mo, I would be ecstatic. Something as simple as a $20 bill each month adds up quick. Limit yourself to just one media service and centralize everything. If any of you eventually need a new TV, smart TV's are the new hotness and are well worth it. We're still running a flat screen and "smart" blu-ray player, but I'd like to nix it and get a smart TV eventually. We don't have a TV in any bedrooms or any game consoles; Beer and board game nights are were it's at! lol

 

[kingfhb]

Cell phone service is another one.... you can get a SIM card from Straight Talk Wireless for your phone for $0.99 and then pay $45 a month for "unlimited" service. They do throttle your data after 3GB, but most of the providers do that anyway. I pay $90 total a month for my and my daughters iPhones.

For my home I have the MagicJack... works AMAZING. $35 a YEAR! Can plug into your PC and have your phone with you anywhere or has an App you can use from your cell to answer your home phone.

For internet, you can get FREE internet service through FREEDOMPOP. 500MB of data is free per month (just don't go over the limit!). They also have plans like 4GB of data for $9 a month... mobile hotspots, phones, etc.

The resources are out there.

 

[madwabbit]

anyone that can vouch for amazon's firestick? seems like best of all worlds

 

[olivs260]

They all have their goods and bads, but what did it for us with the Roku 3 was the headphone jack built into the remote.