Life without Cable and Still get all the TV & Movies you want.

[superdave]

The Canadian Situation

We currently pay around $120/month for local phone, mid tier HD cable and no cap internet + a digital box + PVR. Not bad, but it can easily float to $200 /mth if you don't exercise some restraint. Every 6 mths or so, I call my provider, threaten to cancel, and they offer me the deal de jour. So I manage to keep my bill at around 120-140.

The local phone service is the easiest to replace. I already use Skype for long distance, so I figure that eventually a cell will replace the home phone.

I would love to drop the HD Cable, but I also love HD on my 2 HDTVs. In Canada, you have to use a US proxy to access online US content, but it is doable. In Nova Scotia, we don`t yet have OTA HD. If we did, I`d drop the Cable immediately.

At the end of the day, high speed internet is the only service I see me paying for within 1-2 years.

Interesting story. My brother in law has some coop students working for a company that run cable and such for `the providers`. They reason that they have a recession proof business. People will not give up high speed internet no matter what. So you gotta have power, water and high speed internet as necessities these days.

 

[RonBoyd]

Here is another solution that I have been keeping my eye on:

BOXEE: the open, connected, social media center for windows, mac os x and linux

Boxee Blog » a Boxee Box is coming!

And then there is this:

Could this finally be the season for Web TV?

Big TV manufacturers including Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Vizio say that they're poised to revolutionize television this Christmas shopping season: They're about to launch the first major marketing push for a new generation of sets that can easily integrate Web content with traditional TV news and entertainment – without the fuss of connecting the TV to a set-top box.

 

[walkinwood]

I saw this article in the NY Times. Clicker.com allows you to search for tv shows on the web. I tried it and its a good start. I knew where to find shows that I searched for, and found that it missed those sites. But if you don't have that knowledge about a particular show, it is a good search engine.
Clicker Aims to Be the Path to TV Online - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

It is sad, though I would have liked the show better if the lead had been almost any other Joss Whedon alum other than Eliza Dushku. Amy Acker and Summer Glau are much better actresses and would have been able to carry the show better. Hopefully the guy who played Victor will land somewhere good -- he is phenomenal.

Speaking of Firefly, the opening scene of the pre-Halloween episode of the show Castle was hilarious with Nathan Fillion dressing up as Mal, and lines like "didn't you wear that like five years ago?".

Gotta say that among my monthly expenses, the $100 for HD cable and DVR is probably one of the cheapest on a per-hour basis. We watch sports and DVR quite a number of shows.

I always thought Dollhouse was an opportunity for beautiful people who can't act to show off their "goods". Firefly was a better show, but even it had some significant flaws.

 

[RonBoyd]

I saw this article in the NY Times. Clicker.com allows you to search for tv shows on the web....

Interesting. Works great! Now to figure out how to get the media from the PC to the TV.

 

[Bimmerbill]

I really liked Firefly. And Farscape. Currently enjoying Eureka and the new Dr. Who. Good sci-fi there.

I just set up my Windows 7 Media Center PC, and their "internet TV" had season 1, 2 and 3 of the original Star Trek and Twilight Zone. Also Love Boat and a few others from the 80s.

 

[DeborahB]

In the category of "TV shows that were cancelled too soon"... did anyone see "Threshold"? It's out on DVD including the episodes never shown on TV. I found it at the library (go figure). Check it out (all puns intended).

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

In the category of "TV shows that were cancelled too soon"... did anyone see "Threshold"? It's out on DVD including the episodes never shown on TV. I found it at the library (go figure). Check it out (all puns intended).

If you like short-lived shows, check out these classics (not canceled, just ran out of material from the original writer).

Cadfael
The Prisoner (1960s version)

 

[Bimmerbill]

Yeah, I watched Threshold. That was the one with the big underwater dino and the kid who gets one as a pet?

 

[tuixiu]

Regarding shows, recently got hooked on Dexter. I'm netflixing my way thru 'em, halfway thru season 3 now.

 

[DeborahB]

Yeah, I watched Threshold. That was the one with the big underwater dino and the kid who gets one as a pet?

No, I don't think I'd describe it that way. Don't want to post a major spoiler here, though! If you like sci-fi, try this one.

 

[Bimmerbill]

Oh yeah, that one was "Surface" I think. I remember Threshold vaguely, mostly after seeing the short actor.

I like Fringe too.

 

[RonBoyd]

I like Fringe too.

Oh! Don't mention it. You will jinx it.

 

[RonBoyd]

15 Websites to Watch Movies, PPV Events, and TV For Free

 

[Lusitan]

I have never had cable TV: we use the free air channels (quality is good now that it's digital) and NetFlix/library for movies. Cost is about $15 per month (for the NetFlix) and we get enough TV/movies.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Comcast is popping up a white box on my TV telling me that I'm seeing the message because I don't have the right digital equipment. It looks like my cheap bastard sweet spot of $10/month standard cable setup in which I get all the local channel, CNN, ESPN, Discovery, the Travel Channel, and the History channel is about to get squeezed out.

 

[Kronk]

Do you have a Comcast converter box? They started stuffing more information over the cable so TVs can't interpret the signal without their (free) cable box. You need one on every TV.