TV z bye bye

[AJ]

So Jana and I got thinking the other day about expenses and such and I'd love to be able to get rid of $100 a month in payments without little to stress about. Just to be able to toss more to the house, one of the car payments, savings, whatever.....

So we first looked at my cell phone bill and I dropped my premium shit down so I can no longer use the e-mail and navigator functions. No biggie, saved $17 a month. But it wasn't enough. So we looked at the TV bill.

We dropped just over $70 a month by getting rid of out cable. First I called to cancel it all, only have internet. Then they told me that by doing so, my new internet price would be $59.99, up from my current $42.99. She then told me if I keep the basic basic level 1 shit, $9.99 and channels 2-24, I'd get to keep my internet price. So we did. I was paying over $82 in the TV area alone with DVR rental and taxes and fees. Now it's $9.99 plus a buck or two in fess/taxes. Now if only I could find another $80-$100 to free up a month. I'd be one happy man, close to a new toy by mid/end summer!

So I'm looking around at sites to allow me the ability to still watch y favorite shows on a more on demand schedule. I'm also working with my Laptop (Media Center Edition) and getting the xbox 360 connect to share videos (downloaded movies/tv shows). So for a list of supplements I've got this:

Netflix - easy to use, dvd or stream depending on the choice. We get our Blue Rays via shipping from here as well.

Hulu - has networks like USA and such which I really like, but not all new shows are out there.

Torrents - I use a couple solid sites, but hard drive space is getting a little crazy (just maxed out an old 150GB external).

Network sites - again, some let you watch the tv shows a few weeks back.

Now I haven't quite figured out how to get my MCE to work with streaming video from laptop to 360 (if even possible), but I'm hoping to find something versus using a VGA cable everytime.

Thoughts? Ideas? Other sites to check out?

 

[niterydr]

Good idea. Becca is locked into a contract with her provider, but when I had my own cable, I dropped it. The cost savings are great.

 

[Slim]

I'm saving about $70 a month as well by dropping cable and going with just local phone and internet through comcast. I got tired of paying for all of those channels only to flip through during primetime and see nothing but repeats of CSI, Law and Order, House, etc. on about 10 channels all at the same time. If I want to watch network shows I can do that for free.

Plus, I'm a big netflix person and there are some Blu-ray players out there now that will stream Netflix movies instantly.

 

[YSOSLO]

I've been contemplating giving up DirectTV after our contract expires, but I honestly don't think Jess could handle just getting the local channels. Maybe the day will come when Comcast will offer any 12 channels you want for a flat rate per month and that would take care of us.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I've been contemplating giving up DirectTV after our contract expires, but I honestly don't think Jess could handle just getting the local channels. Maybe the day will come when Comcast will offer any 12 channels you want for a flat rate per month and that would take care of us.

That's a product they really need to bring out! I would pay a premium price per channel over the basic cable price to pick and select the ones I actually watch.

 

[Workdawg]

I would too, there's probably only 24 channels AT MAX I ever watch, even less than that if depending on how much it'd cost per channel.

It's probably a lot easier on their end to just bundle them up and sell packages though. For everyone to get their own package would probably be a big hassle.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I think the bet was that they figured people would just buy the bundle because getting a certain minority of the channels was important enough. However, now, I think people are reassessing that importance and deciding the other way... making you think that these "pick a package" deals might not become worth it. One would think some type of programmable filter like the ones they use when you only have basic cable would be feasible to customize packages.

 

[Workdawg]

I'm pretty sure it's something that COULD be implemented, but I wonder about the potential cost of implementation and testing vs potential profits from doing it. How many people would end up paying more than they do now? I think it'd mostly be used by people who are currently paying for more channels than they want, not the other way around, not the other way around.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I think that may have been the case before, but now people are cutting back, I could see the opposite being true. I know I would expand my basic cable to get some select channels but am not willing to pay the full expanded basic price and I know many people cutting to the basic basic cable to save money, at least some of whom would choose a pich a channel package to have less sacrifice and still some savings.

 

[Jana]

I've been contemplating giving up DirectTV after our contract expires, but I honestly don't think Jess could handle just getting the local channels. Maybe the day will come when Comcast will offer any 12 channels you want for a flat rate per month and that would take care of us.

Trust me, I'll be going through my HGTV & Food Network withdrawals...but I'll get over it. I'm sure it'd be a change for Jess, but she'd get used to it too (that is if you are looking for ways to cut back on anything).

 

[Slim]

A lot of the reason you get the channels you do in one big package is because that's how cable companies have to pay for them. If they want to offer say TNT for example, they can only buy that channel from Turner if they take TBS, TCM, etc. along with it. The bigger conglomerates that own multiple channels force them to take their 5 or 6 lesser channels if they want to get the 1 popular channel.

Thus, the cable company already has to pay for it, so they pass along all those packages with "extra" channels to the customers and have them pay for all of them as well.

So, we can one day hope for a la carte cable, which will happen, probably just not that soon.

 

[YSOSLO]

Trust me, I'll be going through my HGTV & Food Network withdrawals...but I'll get over it. I'm sure it'd be a change for Jess, but she'd get used to it too (that is if you are looking for ways to cut back on anything).

That's funny...those are the 2 channels we're on most of the time too. We're not too worried about cutting back at this point, because we have another year on our contract, but $80 a month for TV that ultimately keeps us from focusing on family time in the evenings as much as we probably should, makes downgrading a much easier proposition when the time comes.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

$80 a month for the TV alone? Does that include other premium packages than basic and extended basic? Seems like more than the rates I've seen for cable.

 

[dmention7]

That's all I've ever done. And I've been nice to the cable installer, so we get Basic Tier 2 for $9.99/mo. It's cheaper than having internet alone. This doesn't leave this thread, but the installer told me they usually have to do something special on their end to block the basic2 channels, so you might luck out and get a lazy installer... that way you won't have to go through HGTV and Food Network withdrawl.

Between that, and netflix's watch-it now, and regular netflix, I am NEVER in want of something to watch. Streaming netflix over the xbox is win also, because the picture quality is surprisingly good--even better than streaming over our PC for some reason. As close as my eye can tell, it's about midway between standard def and HD broadcasts.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I saw the guy put on this big cylinder on my cable line when I downgraded... looked like a stereo capacitor almost.

 

[JohnnyT]

I find it ridiculous how much TV is per month. I honestly don't think I watch enough TV to justify the price. Nowadays almost every episode for a show can be watched on the computer (and now Netflix), so stream it to your TV and you're golden. Of course, I'm not as 'religious' to certain shows as most of you likely are.

Pete - excellent point, I'm happy to hear that.

 

[dmention7]

I saw the guy put on this big cylinder on my cable line when I downgraded... looked like a stereo capacitor almost.

Probably a signal attenuator. If the signal coming into your house is too strong, they may install an attenuator to dial it back a bit. Sort of like turning down the volume on a preamp to prevent clipping.

Did you downgrade from digital to analog cable?

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Probably a signal attenuator. If the signal coming into your house is too strong, they may install an attenuator to dial it back a bit. Sort of like turning down the volume on a preamp to prevent clipping.

Did you downgrade from digital to analog cable?

Analog extended basic to analog basic basic.

 

[JohnnyT]

^ Reminds me of some Xzibit memes

 

[DrWebster]

Probably a signal attenuator. If the signal coming into your house is too strong, they may install an attenuator to dial it back a bit. Sort of like turning down the volume on a preamp to prevent clipping.

Did you downgrade from digital to analog cable?

Actually, that's a frequency filter.

There are two kinds of cable TV: analog and digital.

Digital cable can be controlled completely from the cable company's office. They can remotely tell your cable box which channels you've paid for (and are thus allowed to watch). If a la carte cable were to happen, this is how they would have to do it. Digital TV channels come in a couple different formats, but that's another topic.

Analog cable is, essentially, a hardwired TV antenna. All analog TV channels are, are just different frequencies on which a particular signal rides. For example, analog channel 2 is in the 56-60MHz range, channel 3 is 60-66MHz, etc. (Here's a table that shows all of the VHF and UHF channels and their corresponding frequencies: http://www.csgnetwork.com/tvfreqtable.html) Cable companies have a piece of equipment at their office called a "filter pack" that lets them input video and modulate it to whatever frequency (and thus, channel) they want (this is how sometimes a broadcast TV's channel isn't the same as the cable channel they're on; the cable office switches it). All of these frequencies end up riding on the same piece of copper to your house, where your TV tuner can pick them up. The cable company installs filters in the box outside your house based on what cable package you subscribe to -- ever notice how all the crap channels are the low-numbered ones, and the more expensive channels are higher-numbered? The filter they install will block frequencies above a certain level, keeping you from watching those channels. If you're able to watch analog cable channels you aren't paying for, then the cable company simply didn't add the filter.