Cable or No-Cable?
So how do you folks watch TV? Do you have cable? Satellite? Why pick one above an other? (Yes this was inspired by Steve’s admission that he not only no longer watches Heroes but doesn’t even have cable)
Here’s mine, in order of how frequently it is used.
1. Dish with HD DVR: I admit that I sometimes am not in the mood for a movie or the like. I flip channels and see what’s on Discovery, The History Channel or the like. Plus there’s always sports. (Although The Mountain while picked up by Direct TV isn’t on Dish. But then the camera quality and announcer quality on The Mountain sucks) Also my kids get bored of the videos we have so being able to set the DVR to record a bunch of Scooby Doo or the like off CN so my wife can have an hour nap is always nice.
2. Apple TV: I often rip my Netflix (below) movies to watch at my leisure. I must confess I also occasionally BT shows like Last Avatar and play them on my Apple TV. It’s also nice to have a collection of cartoons for kids.
3. Netflix: I love Netflix but I bet you have the same problem I have. You order the movie only to find you’re not in the mood for it. It sits on the shelf for weeks until you are in the mood for it. Yes you could do their online thing but then you have to be in front of your computer plus their picture quality sucks and after watching HD for a few months it’s hard to watch anything less. I do rip the DVDs to my Apple TV occasionally. However about half the time there was a scratch or you ripped the wrong data so you’re missing a chapter (or the DVD just won’t rip at all).
I’ve been with Directv for years and have nothing but praise. With DVR, even the rare rainfade outages don’t matter because I still have things I can watch.
TimeWarner cable is Satan.
Comment by Chad Too — September 26, 2008 @ 10:31 am
I get about 20 or so channels just off the air with a standard antenna. This gives me all the basic channels in HD.
And I do netflix.
Comment by Supergenius — September 26, 2008 @ 10:49 am
Too poor a student to have satellite or cable. Don’t even have a TV proper. I use Netflix and hulu, mostly.
Comment by Nitsav — September 26, 2008 @ 11:00 am
I have DirectTV and I regularly call up and threaten to quit and go to the Dish, or Time Warner. If you hold to your guns and act determined, they’ll eventually offer you a couple premium channels free for three months, or money off your monthly bill.
I rarely watch anything live. I tivo things at medium quality (I don’t have an HD TV yet, and I’m not really a resolution snob) and my tivo has a fairly large capacity, so I have a mini library of shows and movies on it.
I also own a Roku Netflix Player with about 500 titles on my watch instantly queue. I recently changed my membership to one movie at a time because we’ve had three discs sitting around in red envelopes for months.
I also buy a fair number of TV shows on DVD and watch them out of the box.
Comment by Brian G — September 26, 2008 @ 11:03 am
I have DirecTV and the rain really affects our reception. It really doesn’t take more than a light rain. I should take Brian’s advice and call up and threaten to swithc but haven’t yet.
Comment by Tim J — September 26, 2008 @ 11:06 am
With my Dish the only trouble I have is when there is a wet snow that binds to the dish. Fortunately the Dish is down low enough that I can take a long pole, wrap a towel around it, and standing on my toes mostly clean it off. That usually only happens a handful of times in the winter though.
Comment by Clark — September 26, 2008 @ 11:24 am
In my apartment building, it’s either cable or nothing. We don’t get antenna reception, and don’t have a place to put satellite dishes. When we move, we may will get nothing but Netflix, antenna (if available) and online, but a lot of that will depend on how crazy my wife will go if she’s cooped up with kids all day without cable.
Comment by Sam B. — September 26, 2008 @ 11:41 am
We shelved the TV recently, but we still have cable service. Turns out it’s cheaper to have both cable tv AND cable internet than just the internet service alone. Stupid TimeWarner. It’s like McDonalds where the double cheeseburger is cheaper than the single cheeseburger.
Comment by Brock — September 26, 2008 @ 11:44 am
we don’t have cable and don’t get anything in on the tv at all. the tv exists for the rare rented tv series, guitar hero/rock band, and “meet me in st. louis” for the kids. we watch only a couple of shows sporadically and we do so when we have free wireless on the laptop (no internet, either). we use netflix if there’s a series we want to watch, which means we’re VERY patient people. can’t wait for season three of “big love”… to come out on dvd!
Comment by makakona — September 26, 2008 @ 11:53 am
Funny, just this morning I ordered installation of fiber optic internet service from the phone company. I had to decide whether to subscribe to TV also. It was quite tempting, but we didn’t because of two concerns: 1) the monthly charge, and 2) the fear that we would get our money’s worth sitting around watching TV so much.
Comment by John Mansfield — September 26, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
British digital terrestrial TV, BT, Netflix.
Comment by The Brit — September 26, 2008 @ 12:16 pm
Sam, think about getting an Apple TV and ripping lots of cartoons.
Personally the big reason I don’t want to get rid of cable is because I don’t want to wait often a year to be able to watch the shows everyone is talking about. (Although now, admittedly, many are available on iTunes or via Hulu)
Steve, so how are you planning on watching the finale season of BSG? iTunes?
Comment by Clark — September 26, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
John, I can understand the danger of sitting around watching too much TV. Although after work and I’m exhausted I frequently don’t want to move from the couch (even if I’ve promised a few blog posts my mind won’t cooperate). So if I’m not watching TV I’m reading some fiction books which arguably ends up being more expensive if you don’t stick with what’s available at the public library.
Comment by Clark — September 26, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
My homeowner’s association won’t allow dishes. So I’m stuck with Charter cable, who I hate. I have a very fast internet service at home, that’s nice, but their TV services are a total rip-off. I have the minimum TV + the tier 1 HD package + the internet. I wish they allowed for dishes, or I’d go get that new all-HD service from Dish Network.
I’ve been back and forth with Netflix, and I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t fully satisfying until you guys mentioned it here - I’m in the mood when I throw it into my cue, but NOT in the mood 3 days later. I’ll probably quit again like I always do and then go back a year later. And I like the idea of the Roku box or whatever it’s called, but it’s in lame standard def. An upconverted DVD looks 10X better.
Comment by David J — September 26, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
I read an interesting article about strategies for Netflix users to avoid keeping unwatched movies around forever. Netflix keeps a tight lid on the statistics about what movies stay in people’s homes the longest, but it did an informal survey.
It mentioned various titles that people tend to keep–Hotel Rwanda, Schindler’s List, Passion of the Christ.
Generally, the combination of serious subject matter and critical acclaim is deadly. Also long running times are a factor. Personally, for me, foreign films move a bit slower through my house. The advice given was to just put the thing back in the envelope. Why not? Also it’s smart to not be snotty and load up your queue with stuff you like to watch even if it’s not high-minded. My netflix friends can attest to my use of this strategy.
Right now I’m in a bit of a netflix logjam, I currently have a Fellini film, an Antonioni film and Michael Clayton at home. I’ve had all three for a couple months–I think that’s what motivated my recent switch to the one movie plan.
Comment by Brian G — September 26, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Heh. Like I said in the other thread Hotel Rwanda’s been sitting on my DVR for some time and The New World on my aTV.
I seemed to be in the mood for more artsy films when I was single. Now that I’m so busy I find myself, when I have the time to watch TV, wanting more escapist fare.
I need to reorder my Netflix queue accordingly and just rip the ones that are ‘artsy.’ Unfortunately several in my queue are in HD-DVD format and can’t be ripped.
Comment by Clark — September 26, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
This is probably the article that Brian G read.
I have Verizon’s Fios service (fiber optics to the house) for TV, phone and internet because bundling offered a good price. Before that, we had Dish Network for several years and liked it just fine.
Comment by BTD Greg — September 26, 2008 @ 2:16 pm
For those whose HOAs ban satellite dishes, check out this link.
Comment by Last Lemming — September 26, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
Baby cable (just the basics) and I watch everything on Tivo. It always takes me a minute to remember how the tv works on its own without it. Netflix–love it. Can’t believe there are still people who haven’t tried it.
Comment by shazbraz — September 26, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
Uh…here’s the link: http://www.slate.com/id/2199365/
Comment by BTD Greg — September 26, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
Heh. I’d forgotten about that essay. I love it although am surprised that Kurosawa goes unwatched. His Samurai films are basically action films. I could see someone saying that about say Ikuru but not Seven Samurai or Yojimbo.
Comment by Clark — September 26, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
I hate cable companies.
I came close to getting internet through a company called RCN. They were telling me that I had to sign up for 12 months at a time and that we had to pay an installation fee.
The day before the guy was supposed to come ‘install’ the system, we changed our minds. I called and cancelled. I had to call them three times. The first person I called said he could see my account but he couldn’t cancel the appointment … I would have to wait an hour because the ‘local’ office wasn’t open yet. I called later in the day and made the mistake of telling the person right off the bat I wanted to cancel. This person put me on hold for so long that I finally hung up and called back.
I told the next operator I didn’t like the way I was being treated and that the last person had put me on eternal hold and that if this happened again I was going to make a point of telling all my friends to stay away from RCN. This person said to me that if I didn’t want to keep the appointment, “you should just not be there when the person comes.” My response: “That would be inappropriate, it would be rude, I’m trying to save your guy his time.” Unbelievable that a customer service rep would tell you to stiff his own company. So then that person also put me on hold for a long time.
Finally another person picked up. At that point I was really angry. I explained that I wanted to cancel. The person said “obviously we don’t want to lose you before we even get you signed on to the service.” He offered to give me a better bit-rate speed for the internet connection, for only a slightly higher monthly subscription price and no installation fee. When I said I wasn’t interested, the person said I could get a 6 month contract instead of a 12 month contract. This only made me realize that everything was negotiable and that the so-called deals they were giving were rip-offs as well.
Since that time, that same company has called me three times to try and find out what the problem is and see if they can re-schedule the installation of their service.
Again, I hate cable companies.
One obvious tip though - if you feel you have to sign up for cable - set up your appointment with the cable company and then call to ‘cancel’ the day before. Maybe you’ll get a better arrangement out of it. That is the way to negotiate with these companies.
Comment by danithew — September 26, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
I forgot to mention that the first person I spoke with at RCN told me that though he could see my appointment and not cancel it, he could put a note in the system saying I had called and wanted to cancel the appointment. However, the agent insisted I had to call again to cancel.
The whole thing was just ridiculous. My reaction to the whole experience was fairly simple. If this is how the company treats you before you are under contract, how will the company treat you once you are legally bound to subscribe to the service?
Comment by danithew — September 26, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
I hate cable too, but we get highspeed internet, unlimited long distance and digital on-demand tv all in one bundle, and it’s a pretty good deal. Plus, if we got a dish, there would be wires all over my house, and the Martha in me can’t handle that…
I have Netflix issues too- three movies sitting here on my desk, have been for weeks, and I’m not interested in any of them right now… ah, the problems of affluence. Even unemployed affluence…
Comment by tracy m — September 26, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
Like SuperG, I use an antenna with digital converter box and Netflix. And like nitsav, I also use Hulu pretty often — in fact, last spring we watched more episodes of 30 Rock, the Office, BSG, Family Guy and the Simpsons on Hulu than on broadcast television.
Comment by Wm Morris — September 26, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
we have a dishnetwork hd dvr. i opted to pay $50 for the one w/ double the hdd capacity and am glad i did. dish’s dvr’s have great software and are pretty intuitive to operate. i have dish 150 + hd programming. if you think you can live w/o hd it’s because you don’t have it yet. especially sports, but truthfully everything is more enjoyable to watch.
we do netflix as well. we had the same problem w/ having movies sit around for weeks w/o watching them. since i have a pc hooked up to my hdtv i just bought a 750gb hdd and started ripping away. once i fill it up (80 movies or so) i’ll stop netflix until i have a chance to watch all or at least most.
one question. how do you view ripped movies via appletv? can you do it out of the box, or do you have to hack it in some sense?
Comment by mike d — September 26, 2008 @ 9:11 pm
netflix and the Internet only. No actual “television” of any kind, which is not to say that we don’t watch plenty of TV shows. Just different (and cheap) formats.
Comment by Jeremy — September 26, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
We decided to axe the satellite this year to save money for awhile and it’s so peaceful around here now. I do feel kind of out of touch with the news, though. I’m not cleaning the house more, but I am reading in the blogs more.
We don’t know if we’ll go back to cable or satellite in the future. We did it to save money and find we are not missing it much.
Comment by Not in Utah — September 26, 2008 @ 11:10 pm
not in utah, it’s the same here. thought we’d save a few bucks and now i don’t know how we’d fit tv into our schedule! the more time that passes without tv, the happier i am with our decision. above all else, i think it’s made for a great parenting move.
Comment by makakona — September 26, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
Thanks for the link on HOAs. I’m going to confront them about it. I really want the TurboHD package from Dish.
Comment by David J — September 27, 2008 @ 12:57 am
Hulu and Netflix.
I pay for Roadrunner, but may drop it, but need tofigure out thepricing thing.
Comment by Matt W. — September 27, 2008 @ 7:20 am
We just moved to Japan and I refuse to pay $100/month for decent channels.
Instead, I bought Apple TV. I rip DVDs and just download the shows from iTunes we’re interested in. Unfortunately, depending on the month, we can drop $40 on iTunes.
Comment by Hayes — September 28, 2008 @ 8:16 am
We have terrestrial HD (our antenna is a paperclip!) and TiVo HD. We have more tv at our fingertips than we could possibly watch. In fact we dumped Netflix because of this. Plus the fact that I ordered oddball films that my wife refused to watch.
For the kids I say forget the Apple TV. Buy a 120 GB (or a close out 160 GB) iPod and put the movies on that. That way you can let them watch on a TV, in the car, on the plane, etc. We’ve got about two dozen movies on a 30 GB player that isn’t even full and the kids love it in the van. We just plug it in to the built in DVD player and we never have to fuss with discs.
When I was watching BSG faithfully I used BT to get it, in fact I watched the first season before SciFi broadcast it. I stopped at the boxing episode. Too stupid to tolerate and I gave up. I need to rent the discs and catch up I guess.
Comment by a random John — September 29, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
I have a question.
How do you rip a DVD?
Comment by Brian G — September 29, 2008 @ 4:51 pm
How do you rip a DVD?
http://handbrake.fr/
Comment by a random John — September 30, 2008 @ 8:50 am
Be aware that Handbrake does a horrible job with Disney DVDs. (i.e. rarely works)
John, the problem with an iPod for the kids is that switching shows is much more of a pain. (Especially if you have toddlers who are apt to want to adjust the iPod)
I agree with an iPod for travel though. However the video adapter is pricey. If you don’t have one then you have a tiny screen with two kids in car seats fighting and crying because they don’t see. So you’re stuck with a DVD player that hopefully has video in and then a AV adaptor for the iPod. I’ll get one for my iPhone when we have a big drive coming up. But I’m not about to lay out $50 for the adaptor just yet. (Fortunately we already had a DVD player with video in or else it’d be even more expensive)
I will say that for doctor’s office visits having some short videos on the iPhone is nice. (The trick is to keep videos that only are on the phone)
Comment by Clark — September 30, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
Clark,
What Disney movies has Handbrake failed on? I haven’t had any problems other than having to skip the first chapter of Ratatouille.
The adapter for the Classic iPod (at least for mine, YMMV on newer models) is simply the cord that came with my video camera. You can get one for cheap online. Yes, the colors don’t match up right but it takes about two seconds to figure that out.
Unfortunately the iPhone only does video out through the dock connector. I don’t know if there is a portable solution that allows you to charge and get video at the same time.
Comment by a random John — September 30, 2008 @ 12:41 pm