Going Without Cable

[atx111]

Last night the wife and I were flipping through the channels and pretty much at the same time commented how most of the shows on anymore are total filth. Not to mention, it's pretty expensive for the channels we get. So, then I commented that we could probably get rid of cable, put an HD antenna in the roof and be fine. There's only a handful of shows we actually like to watch anyway, all of which are on Hulu and we already have Netflix. Just wondering who else has cut the cord? I think we'd be better off as a family for it anyway.

 

[Dawg'sLife93]

Re: Going Without Cable

Last night the wife and I were flipping through the channels and pretty much at the same time commented how most of the shows on anymore are total filth. Not to mention, it's pretty expensive for the channels we get. So, then I commented that we could probably get rid of cable, put an HD antenna in the roof and be fine. There's only a handful of shows we actually like to watch anyway, all of which are on Hulu and we already have Netflix. Just wondering who else has cut the cord? I think we'd be better off as a family for it anyway.

I haven't had cable,dish,or anything since 06. I catch my shows on Hulu , netflix, or on the station they come on online. I'm watching Hell's kitchen right now, I'm just a week behind. Big deal.

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Going Without Cable

I have not had cable or satellite for over 20 years now. The money we've saved has paid for a good part of the kids university education.

I have deep fringe VHF and deep fringe UHF antennas atop a 50ft tower with a rotor. I get 13 Hi-Def channels from local broadcasters and it costs me nothing. If I want to watch something not broadcast over-the-air, I simply stream it from my laptop onto the TV. I don't miss any of the "specialty" channels because we've never had them and I don't regret it for one second. Our kids, now in their twenties, have survived just fine, and rather then just park in front of the TV all hours of the day, we find other things to do.

 

[atx111]

Re: Going Without Cable

Yeah, and it's too easy just to flop on the couch and start mindlessly flipping through channels. 90% of the time I only have the TV on for background noise anyway. We only record 2 shows on the DVR, one of them is on Hulu, and the other is for my 2 yr old boys, Lawrence Welk. They love it, but pretty sure can find it online too.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Going Without Cable

In Kansas you probably have more fun watching the Tornado's anyway...

Be Safe!!

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Going Without Cable

I haven't had a TV provider for a couple of years now. I have an antenna, and catch quite a few stations for free. The only thing I dislike is not getting NBC, as I love Jay Leno. I can only get it on the back small tv on the amplified antenna, and that's only sometimes. That's because I'm 50 or so miles from the antenna. That's funny, in a city with 175,000 people and we don't have an NBC affiliate within 70 miles.

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Going Without Cable

I haven't had a TV provider for a couple of years now. I have an antenna, and catch quite a few stations for free. The only thing I dislike is not getting NBC, as I love Jay Leno. I can only get it on the back small tv on the amplified antenna, and that's only sometimes. That's because I'm 50 or so miles from the antenna. That's funny, in a city with 175,000 people and we don't have an NBC affiliate within 70 miles.

Well you won't be missing much since Leno will not be on much longer.

 

[matt167]

Re: Going Without Cable

He's on until January 2014 right? I rarely watch The Tonight Show but do watch Jay Leno's Garage on Youtube and his site which links to NBC..

Have not had Cable/ Sat in 4 years. Local channels only, but I can stream anything I want for free.. The funny thing is, I can pick up channels 40-50 miles away but the station 7 miles away is a low power signal and I can only watch it on clear days... Thing to remember is that the 'HD' antenne is a gimmick, the digital signals were designed to work with the old antenna's. You can still get the old type antenna's and they work fine..

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Going Without Cable

He's on until January 2014 right? I rarely watch The Tonight Show but do watch Jay Leno's Garage on Youtube and his site which links to NBC..

Have not had Cable/ Sat in 4 years. Local channels only, but I can stream anything I want for free.. The funny thing is, I can pick up channels 40-50 miles away but the station 7 miles away is a low power signal and I can only watch it on clear days... Thing to remember is that the 'HD' antenne is a gimmick, the digital signals were designed to work with the old antenna's. You can still get the old type antenna's and they work fine..

Yep, that's right. there is no such thing as an HD antenna. An antenna is nothing more than a wire tuned to receive a frequency. The actual frequency of the signal didn't change, just the format of the signal. Channel 5 is still channel 5, it's just digital now, instead of analog. But the actual frequency of the signal is unchanged, which means the old style antennas work fine.

My old amplified antenna is an OLD one from my analog days. It worked good for analog, and no shock, is great today. I cant find a new antenna that comes close.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Going Without Cable

We've had nothing but the Internet since 2001, and I don't miss it at all. Nearly anything you want to watch is available on the Net, and a lot of it is without fee. As the cable company likes to remind me, we're already paying for the cable. But it's still a few bucks cheaper without all of the channels.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Going Without Cable

me and the wife have been discusting this for a few months now. all the shows we watch are at the end of the season and no one realy watchs tv in the house other than the local news so it might be time to switch. My biggest upset is that the adverts run longer than the shows so im paying to watch adverts. I have netflicks so im thinking of adding hulu and antenna and just cancelling the sat dish

 

[matt167]

Re: Going Without Cable

$50 Roku if you don't have an internet connected TV, you can add a lot to that box. quite a bit is free, most is paid tho you only download the apps you need.. The Plex App will also allow streaming off other sites that do not have Roku apps with particular Plexapp's, like the Youtube app

 

[hostage]

Re: Going Without Cable

We dropped cable years ago and we are a young couple too. We can afford it, though I prefer my money else where. Also I like watching PBS, which is on air. I can't watch cable anymore because of to many commercials anyway. Also I love netfix, hulu, and the outdoors!

 

[kahuna123]

Re: Going Without Cable

Hi Def Antenna Gray-Hoverman TV High Definition Antennas, Grey-Hoverman HiDEF TV Antenna

70 Miles away with an amp 42 channels

I made mine. 10 years old now and works great. 20 bucks of pvc and 6ft of 6 gauge wire 3ft sg ft of chicken fence. google around you will find the plans

 

[electric603]

Re: Going Without Cable

We often talk about getting rid of our cable because we have a smart tv and already have netflix. Our cable bill is around 150 a month. The only thing Is I like to watch Discovery channel and science channel, history channel and other channels like that. Can you get those with Hulu?

 

[JaSla74]

Re: Going Without Cable

I had suspended DTV over the last two summers. Last November I fully cut the cord (kids never noticed it was active the Sept prior). Took me awhile to build the network I wanted, but I absolutely do NOT miss cable/dtv. You'd have to pay me to subscribe again. Just make sure your internet connection is up to snuff. I ended up ditching DSL, because it bogged down every night staring about 7pm.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Going Without Cable

Just think what $250 a month would do for the retirement account? I'm ready to dump my provider as we really only watch movies or download what we want. Between the two houses, we spend about $250.00 a month and it just bothers me. The commercials are just the worst, and I refuse to watch them, I will watch 3-4 shows at once, and not miss much from any of them.

 

[sky7]

Re: Going Without Cable

Go for it, dump the cable. The wife and I did the same thing about 6 yrs ago. I threw an old school antenna on the roof and used the existing coax to each room. We ran free converter boxes when we had tube tvs and now just plug right into flat panel tvs. We get about 15 crystal clear channels: the major networks, fox, PBS, and a bunch of bonuses. We save cash, and we (+4 kids now) stay off our duffs and play outside.

This looks like the popular vote around here. Go for it.

 

[DayCruiser]

Re: Going Without Cable

Here is the problem with the no cable/dish idea. So you switch to internet TV movies. You then have to have high speed internet which cost a lot.
I have noticed, when there is nothing to watch on TV then the wife focuses on me and our problems--real or imagined LOL Honey, when are we going on vacation? We need a pet. When are you going to fix this and fix that and buy this and buy that ......So no TV --not good for me. Find her something to watch and she will eventually fall asleep--good for me There are a few channels out of the 1000, we watch. Many times there is nothing on. I don't like having to pay for 990 channels just to get the 10 decent channels.
One thing I think is terrible is the way violence is displayed as entertainment. There were commercials last night promoting a future documentary movie. The recreation of this young girls actual murder. You see her pleading for her life. I wasn't in control of the remote and the wife had dozed off or I would have quickly changed the channel. Just sickening! These networks are sick for making money off a someones murder. That shouldn't be entertainment for the masses. Now this reality violence crap is all over TV land--murders, rapes, beatings...We have to pay for this garbage or go without the good channels