Comments on: Life Without Cable TV: Week One

By: Glendon Cameron

Glendon Cameron — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:39:28 +0000

I have gone through this event “no cable” more than three times and each time when I do resume watching TV it is less versus more.

Good move and enjoy saving money and watching what you truly enjoy. I am currently without cable and none the worse for it!

By: Bryan Williams

Bryan Williams — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:28:35 +0000

I use to have DirecTV, but the $40.00/month service I started out with in 2000 had climbed to $70.00… I’ve been without satellite or cable service for over a year now and can’t say that I really feel like I’m missing anything. I set-up a MythTV DVR for recording over-the-air TV; with Netflix, and streaming sites, I have plenty of interesting stuff to watch.

By: Mike Wise

Mike Wise — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:33:53 +0000

I gave up cable in May and haven’t looked back. I have an antenna hooked up to my iMac using an Elgato EyeTV 250 to record HD programs for free over-the-air. I encode those programs and store them on an AppleTV attached to my main TV set. Anything I can’t get for free over-the-air I buy from iTunes. The mere fact that I have to make a conscious decision to record, stream or buy TV now means I’ve cut back dramatically in what I watch. I save money on cable, and have more time to do other things around the house.

By: Ryan @ Plantingdollars

Ryan @ Plantingdollars — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:03:29 +0000

I grew up without cable and have never had it. Like you mentioned hulu has a lot of shows if you really want a TV fix, but there are so many outdoor and community activities to do that TV almost always takes a back burner, at least in my own life.

Congrats on making it a week!

By: MBAbriefs

MBAbriefs — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:30:22 +0000

Congrats on making it through week 1. I find so much stuff on Hulu and Netflix I rarely watch cable TV anymore, just can’t talk the family out of having cable. At the end of the year you should have an extra $1,000 in your pocket.

By: Christopher.FM

Christopher.FM — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:08:20 +0000

Though I’m not much of a TV watcher myself but in the living space that I share, my roommate loves to DVR certain shows. We have a setup where we can stream movies over the wireless to a modded Xbox in the living room. Could you point to any good tutorials on how to set up the Mac Mini as a DVR? and can it stream movies in a similar way?

By: EkingOut

EkingOut — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:01:13 +0000

My fiance and I have gone without cable for 3.5 years. We also use Hulu, Netflix, and iTunes to mitigate that fact. The biggest issue I’ve experienced is that you’re not privy to 3/4 of the topics of conversation out there in circulation. I feel like a pariah sometimes, especially when I explain that we don’t have cable, and that’s why I didn’t know Sookie got punched in the face.

By: Noname

Noname — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:36:15 +0000

Peer Guardian for torrents.

By: laura

laura — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:04:42 +0000

What torrent feed was it? If it was Limewire, it’s the feed, not the cancellation of service.

By: jim

jim — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:43:33 +0000

Good job so far. I wish I could get our sports shows via PPV online or somewhere other than cable.

Just my opinion but I’m quite sure that your canceling TV service has nothing at all to do with the copyright infringement notice that Verizon sent you. Verizon doesn’t even offer TV in many (if not most) areas. I doubt it would make any sense for them whatsoever to send legal notices for copyrights they don’t even own just to people who recently cancelled their TV services. Verizon is sending the notices to play nice with the owners of the copyright material in question.

By: Anca

Anca — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:37:06 +0000

I use FastPassTV.com for any shows I can’t get on Hulu. No torrents needed. And no need to wait a week for ‘House’ to get posted on Hulu.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:20:29 +0000

I read last weeks blog and was intrigued. Glad to see it is going well. I want to “ditto” what Meg said. I’m a librarian and the abundance of TV on DVD that we purchase for patrons is amazing. A lot of cable shows. Dexter, True Blood, are just too examples. Sometimes there’s a wait but at least you’re not paying for it. Just in case your readers are skimming the comments:

CHECK THE LIBRARY!

By: MoneyProgress

MoneyProgress — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:12:23 +0000

Thanks for the post!

I have to admit though, the first thing I thought when I read this was… WOW, that is a ton of shows! 44! I’m not sure I understand what you mean when you say they “happen roughly once a year.” Does this mean like specials, or 44 episodes total you are interested in, or a mix of series and other things?

Watching that many things isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but at the point of setting up a spreadsheet and spending all this time on finding alternatives and ways to watch them, it seems like you need to be careful or the money you are saving might just be translated into more time spent trying to watch everything when previously it was very easy with the DVR!

By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:07:30 +0000

I am impressed that you have tried this, and if it saves money permanently, it’ll be great.

John deFlumeri Jr

By: Chris G.

Chris G. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:56:32 +0000

If only I could get my live sports (Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics) online. MLB.TV or similar services do not work for me since they blackout for local games.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:06:23 +0000

The only time I have ever paid for cable was back in college when my roommates wanted it. Nowadays I get movies from the library and occasionally redbox, watch a handful of shows at the house of close some friends that have cable and multiple DVRs, and occasionally buy a DVD of a show I missed. It’s hard to say if I am missing anything.

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:46:08 +0000

Three years ago I canceled the satellite TV and no-one in the family missed it. A $1 Redbox movie each week is all we spend now. When you blog there isn’t much time for TV anyway.

By: Jonathan@Friends&Money

Jonathan@Friends&Money — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:45:33 +0000

Cable is over rated in my opinion. I think that whilst it is important to stay in touch with world events, i can do this through a newspaper or online news sites like CNN etc. All the other stuff I can do without if i’m really honest and beside in my experience I find that you spend more time socialising or with family, than glued to the screen.

By: Meg

Meg — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:39:51 +0000

My husband and I cancelled cable about a year ago and definitely haven’t regretted it.

While we could have kept one or both of our televisions to watch over the air stuff, some of the best benefits came from getting rid of them altogether. It’s nice to be able to rearrange the furniture without having to worry about seeing the t.v. We have things arranged now so that we can better talk with guests. Also, there’s no more big t.v. tables, no more cable clutter, fewer remotes, fewer blinking lights, fewer clocks to program, fewer screens to dust, etc.

Also, we’re DEFINITELY saving on our electric bill! It used to be in the hundreds and this last month it was barely over $40. It’s not all from the televisions, I’m sure — not like we had a plasma t.v. — but it was a big step in the right direction.

Keep in mind that it does get easier, too. I don’t think we watched nearly as many shows as you did, but it did take a little adjustment for us, too. We talked about doing NetFlix or iTunes for some shows but decided to try to just watch free material for a while and see how that went. Soon we had more shows than time and didn’t miss the few shows that we couldn’t find for free legally online. I think we’ve paid for just one movie so far, and that was one we downloaded from Blockbuster after we decided to wait instead of seeing it in the theater.

I think the hardest part was just getting used to the silence since I used to have shows on in the background all the time. I could still do that, I guess, or turn on some music, but once I got used to the silence it wasn’t so bad. In fact, I found that I was able to read a lot better and just function better mentally. I always thought I did better with sound on in the background but that was only because that was what I was used to. Turns out, I just needed to get through “withdrawal”.

Also, don’t forget to check your local library for free DVD “rentals”! Ours has a very good selection and a great website that lets us put them on hold. They even have some downloadable video for users, too.