So the woman has gotten fed up with paying out the nose for television and wants to do the 'other' thing, whatever that might be. I've poked around a bit and seen a lot of stuff but of course to me the obvious solution is to simply buy a computer to hook to the idiotbox but for some reason this idea gets a lot of resistance. Part of that is the purchase price, and yeah, she wants to spend less and shelling out a few hundred for a dedicated entertainment pc seems contrary to that until you note that it'll be paid for in a year or less at the same rate as the former cable bill. Of course part of the problem here is that I have no real stake in the game. 'Off' is a fine channel to watch on the television as far as I am concerned, but she isn't so sanguine about the matter.
Anyway, I thought I'd vomit this out there and see if anyone else was doing the Netflix/Hulu or Amazon/iTunes or whatever, and what was liked, disliked, costs, blarg, blah blah.

-m

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Check this out Mord Man.
You'd be surprised how many free channels you get.
Let Hulu cover the rest.

http://www.killthecablebill.com/

And then there are video streaming devices. Yea.

http://www.killthecablebill.com/product-reviews/

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Last edited by Large Filipino on 03-20-2012 at 06:22 PM

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Netflix isn't bad, but if you want to cheap out get $3 fake debit cards, make a new email every month, then keep getting free trials.

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What's your major at college, Life Hacks of LF?

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Hey! What Retro said was genius!

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I'd ditch cable entirely if it weren't for the fact that I just can't watch TV/Movies on my computer without being easily distracted.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Brett
I'd ditch cable entirely if it weren't for the fact that I just can't watch TV/Movies on my computer without being easily distracted.

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I ditched cable entirely at the end of 2003. I have not felt any significant lack. Mord, what sort of TV do you have? If it's got inputs for VGA, DVI, or HDMI, you can find cables of impressive length in all those standards. Your existing computer can output at least one of those, unless it's a laptop or some Apple silliness that doesn't separate the monitor and tower.

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The trouble with 'existing computers' is that those consist of either decade-or-so old desktops with annoying fans, or a couple of netbooks, the netbooks being what the woman I solely rely on for the small amount of computing that isn't done by our smartphones. The netbooks are handy web-browsers but probably not the best media devices, and certainly I'd prefer not to have mine jacked into the television, as I tend to use while the woman is watching television. She might be willing to have hers re-purposed, then she could do her telecommute days in the living room on the big screen.

We do have a Wii, so we could do Netflix on that, though my experience(and hers) when we house-sat for some friends who had it was underwhelming. Amazon Prime seems a better choice.

LF: The OTA stuff seems a good idea, except that we do live in small valley, and the unpowered rabbit ears we got from a friend pick up nothing. I'm sure something like the Leaf would work better, but I'm not sure how much better.

I've looked at the streaming devices and the like, but again, I come back to thinking that if I'm going to spend money on something, a dedicated pc may be more expensive, but it's also a hell of a lot more versatile.

Still, ever since she axed the DVR from the cable company at the end of last month, I just stopped watching. For me, that was the one thing that made it, watching when it was convenient, pausing, rewinding, and of course fast forwarding through ads. Television minus that? Meh.

-m

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You can get a stand alone dvr, you just can't fast forward while watching live.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Brett
I'd ditch cable entirely if it weren't for the fact that I just can't watch TV/Movies on my computer without being easily distracted.

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The only live television I watch is speeches and news coverage when something big happens (shuttle breakup, 911, that sorta shit.) Other than that, the only TV I'll watch are shows I DL.

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How come I've never seen the gay porn channels on Dish Network?

Must be blocked in my area.

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quote:

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Originally posted by retroguy_fawkes
How come I've never seen the gay porn channels on Dish Network?

Must be blocked in my area.

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LOL! V's gay porn would be "The Count of Lubing with Crisco."

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Use a roku and playon/playlater, and whatever other services you want. Add the leaf for OTA.

http://www.playon.tv/bundle/buy/spe...hp/?prmcd=rkem3

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