Posted on 06/30/2015 6:00:04 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
...Internet and getting a FEW Channels(Fox News, History, H2, and AHC etc...)?
I have this iMac and I have to spell check the spell check
Kinda does what it wants
All you need is internet - I have rabbit TV over the internet for $10/year - all it does is consolidate the free stuff and offer pay per view. The free stuff is plenty includes all sorts of international as well as govt and other stuff - movies classic tv, current tv, etc.
Again it isn’t 100% as newer stuff and sports you have to ppv, but I don’t need that anyway. What sports I need I can find free elsewher on the internet
What’s a cable?
For live sports, all sports worldwide
Www.firstrowsports.eu
A lot of pop ups telling you need to load video codex, DON’T do it = malware. The pop ups can be a pain, but bottom line you get your game. In LA you cant get the Dodgers or PAC-12 network games with FIOS, problem solved.
DANG, I love these threads!
You tube has other good "how to" clips on the cord cutting topic, as well.
He thinks I am ignoring his “suggestions.” I tell him I am concentrating and trying not break my train of thought.
The last time he threw up his hands and told me I can't learn to fix a car on the Internet. I laughed and told him it has worked well so far. Let's see...Mmmm. Spark plugs (including that nasty number 6), radiator, bypass hose, starter, & new headliner among other things. :).
Not bad for a 61 Yr old self taught grandmother. Find the right sources and it is not difficult.
My dear cousin up in Ill. is a year younger than me. She still fixes her inherited Mercedes sedan and the TR6 she’s had since college years. I’m 70
Agreed. TV is always the least productive thing you can be doing. Trying to make the plunge myself.
I’m trying myself.
The problem I have is with the remote and commercials.
I have cable with HBO and Cinemax and about 250 other channels that I rarely ever watch. I never ever watch the crap from the big three/four and haven’t for well over 10 years. News from Fox and maybe CNN for breaking stuff. But most non-breaking news is from the web. Sports for me is auto racing, my NFL and NHL team and that’s about it.
I have Netflix but can honestly say I rarely watch.
Back to the remote. BTW, it’s not called a “channel changer”
I’m a guy so I’m constantly changing the channel.
Commercial, change the channel.
Bored, change the channel.
I’m OK with watching 2 or 3 shows at the same time.
I can’t do this with Netflix.
I can’t really do this from a PC.
ADHD’s got me.
Went through SMART TV - Horror highway.
Went through the Roku thing - sucked for me.
Both are hinky and really lack selection IMHO...
Go find you an old desktop computer and hook it to your TV. It’s AWESOME. Anything you can get to from your laptop is now on the tv, to include anything you might get from a Roku or SMART TV... And you can throw out your DVD player, and all the other extraneous little black boxes you might currently have connected - The computer can do anything they can do.
You will find that you will need a reasonably big tv though, to see the desktop from across the room - It is tough sledding with an old-school TV. If you have a Big Screen of some moderate size (mine is 38” Samsung SMART TV, I think) with HDMI input, it’s easy to hook up and reasonable for viewing and operation... I can also access the media computer from my laptop, using TightVNC (free program), and run it from my chair... Outside of the TV, my outfit is listed below:
Used Acer computer running MS Vista, with BlueRay DVD and HDMI capability. Runs like a top. $25
Wireless Keyboard w/ glidepad from WallyWorld - $30
Wireless N series NIC to catch internet from my router - $15 (Though I am actually going to run a wire to it eventually)
HDMI cable - $10
I have Amazon Prime - $90/yr, Netflix - $100/yr... And I watch a ton of Youtube for free. There is also Hulu or HuluPrime($90/yr), but so far, I don’t have the need of it.
I have kept Cable TV for one year, in order to acclimatize and test my way into the cable-free life (I was really worried about clicker withdrawal and not being able to have a bump-channel to go to during commercials, which turned out to be kinda true)... But I find that I rarely use the cabletv at all anyway. A bigger problem turned out to be what to do in the bedroom when sleep eluded me - TV used to be used to lull me to sleep - That was really the most difficult thing for me to overcome. That was fixed with an Android tablet and Youtube radio stuff... Or Coast2Coast AM...
If I had gone cold-turkey, I would have missed NASCAR and FoxNews (if there were some National emergency of some kind... I don’t watch FoxNews otherwise), but over the year, I found I can comfortably live without them... not enough reason to keep Cable.
Appropriately, on the 4th (Independence day), there will be no CableTV hooked up in my house. When I go to pay my bill, I will bring them back their boxes and clickers. Good riddance. With the extra $80/mo (going up to $100 in July), I will first pay up streaming services, and then buy the machinery to outfit the bedrooms to run like the living room does. From then on, the savings will go into my pocket
See #91
I hear you (see my #91)...
The funny part is, once I hooked a computer to the TV, it became very rare that I would watch CableTV at all... Often it was on and muted, because I was watching internet on my laptop...
But generally, when I was really watching the thing, it was because I piped something from the internet to enjoy on the bigger screen. I seldom get fidgety anymore without the clicker... generally because the selection I am watching was selected with intent - I am not surfing around to settle for something I am barely interested in...
And likewise, usually the things I watch are commercial free - so needing a bump-channel when the commercials hit is not necessary - Kinda like when you sit down to watch a movie - I doubt your trigger finger is itchy during the show... Same sort of thing...
It really wasn't all that tough to overcome, and as of July, I start saving 1200 bucks a year - That ain't chicken scratch... It was the money that got me looking else-wise - It is unconscionable that the biggest bill in my house, outside of heat for maybe one or two months in the deep winter, is dedicated to communications, and that, bang for buck, most of that communication, as displayed via CableTV, is so very substandard... Two hundred channels and nothing... *NOTHING* on.
You have no idea how much frustration is in that until you cut the cord.
There wasn't much we were really watching anyway so I don't miss it too much.
Maybe I will add Hulu soon as well.
Ditch the subscription!
Get netflix or hulu if you absolutely have to sit in front of the boob tube. You can rent off of redbox or get dvd’s cheap at wally world.
After a month of so, you won’t miss it in the slightest and you will have at least an extra 100 in your pocket each month. You can also buy ChromeCast and stream youtube to your TV if you have an HDMI port or any other media your laptop is capable of playing...
Bottom line, best thing I did for my kids and I was get rid of cable.
I have a similar setup. It was cheaper than replacing a dead bluray.
I have 2 or 3 shows that I really enjoy, but watch them on demand. I watched this one show that ran 7 years. I realized that was 70 hours I could have spent playing chess with my kid that I won’t get back. It is tough though.
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