kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
 ·T-Mobile US
| Exactly my plan...
...as well - I've had nough of TWCNYC's rate hikes and CONTINUOUSLY SHITTIER AND SHITTIER QUALITY, especially when it comes to these FAKE "HD" channels.
Seriously, I can save well over $100 per month - and the only thing I'll miss will be Olbermann's Countdown (Stewart and Colbert are available in full online and Bill Maher can be 'found' as well.)
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[BQUOTE=[user=bicker]]Waaaa waaaa waaaa. You just want what you want and don't care to factor in what is right or true. Your perspectives are un-American, and deserve far more ridicule than I'm prepared to pile on them.
[/BQUOTE] |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| I canceled DirecTV last summer.
Honestly the only thing I miss is NFL football. Most everything else can be found in some variety elsewhere.
Enjoying the Netflix streaming. It's the first service I've used that I feel is priced fairly and doesn't annoy me. Find I'm actually reading books. Go figure. |
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ArgMeMatey
join:2001-08-09
Milwaukee, WI
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to kamm
I saw a thread yesterday about the unadvertised $15 a month plan from Dish Network:
»[DISH] 14.99 for 20 channels and Locals+Local HD's?
Seems like a decent option to consider in the long run, if you don't want to go cold turkey.
Digital OTA on an HDTV is going to have a lot of cheap people scratching their heads about whether to keep cable.
Hopefully enough people will drop cable entirely to convince them to offer slimmer, more targeted packages if not actual a la carte.
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USNG:
16TDN2870
Find your Lat-Long:
Geocoder |
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Mizzat
Will post for thumbs
Premium
join:2003-05-03
Atlanta, GA
·AT&T Southeast
2 edits | reply to Karl Bode
Funny Article. I've been doing just that for 2 years. I've got a 46" LCD and no cable, friends think I'm absurd until they see now nice free HD OTA (over-the-air) is. Sure I don't get discovery or ESPN, but I get enough to get me by. I used Blockbuster because it is just as easy to run around the block and trade in my DVD I got in the mail and pick out another one I want to watch. $18 a month as well with tax. I also used my SkyMiles that I never used to get a few magazine subscriptions for free. I've plenty to do and with programs like Boxee coming out that make my HTPC even easier to view things like Hulu, online radio, and many other multimedia sites, I'm happy as a clam!
I make real decent money, and I'm not fearing a layoff, but with me in school for my MBA and plenty of other things to do. I don't miss cable a bit, once you become OTA, it starts to become somewhat of a hobby for me. That is, finding other things to do besides sitting in front of the TV. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Karl Bode
She may be getting 50 digital TV channels OTA but I'd bet only 10-15 or so are the main HD stream. Nonetheless, the quality usually beats cable on either.
One thing you missed: The February transition to all digital won't result in less digital coverage. That makes no sense. If anything, the OTA coverage will increase as stations move their transition signals to their final, full-power transmission facilities.
I've weaned my wife off of cable and onto a HD TiVo connected to an antenna in the attic. We get all of the Chicago OTA digital channels and don't miss Comcast's overpriced, poor-quality offerings at all. |
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mobbo
join:2005-04-13
Denton, TX | reply to ArgMeMatey
Bullseye. I would gladly pay $15 - $20 to pick a dozen or so of my favorite channels in HD. If I could get OTA on my own, plus ESPN, Comedy Central, TBS, FX, and a few others, it would be worth it totally. |
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eric_n_dfw
join:2001-10-22
Euless, TX
·EarthLink
 ·AT&T U-Verse
1 edit | reply to RadioDoc
ditto to your last paragraph. Dumped DTV when I went HD last summer, settling on a TivoHD + TWC. Then I dumped TWC and was 100% OTA plus an occasional Amazon.com "on demand" download.
Now I'm trying out the Netflix streaming and am fairly impressed, although it has a few quirks I hope they fix soon.
PS: I'm on 6/1 UVerse DSL service and get great quality on the Netflix streaming, BTW. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| Mine is 6016/768 DSL and so far it's been perfect with a Roku box even with other applications using the connection. Considering that the TiVo offering just went live last week I'm sure there are a couple of bugs to work out. The Roku unit has been flawless.
Have you wasted a day on YouTube with your TiVo yet? 
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
·T-Mobile US
| reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode  :I canceled DirecTV last summer. Honestly the only thing I miss is NFL football. Most everything else can be found in some variety elsewhere. Enjoying the Netflix streaming. It's the first service I've used that I feel is priced fairly and doesn't annoy me. Find I'm actually reading books. Go figure. Heh, it's (one of) the upside of living in a city: I read a lot, mostly during my 2x30 mins daily subway trips. 
TV programming is something that's ridiculously overpriced here, in the US - of course, it isn't an accident, it's the country of corporate laws and rules (a' la carte, anyone?)
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[BQUOTE=[user=bicker]]Waaaa waaaa waaaa. You just want what you want and don't care to factor in what is right or true. Your perspectives are un-American, and deserve far more ridicule than I'm prepared to pile on them.
[/BQUOTE] |
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kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
·T-Mobile US
1 edit | reply to ArgMeMatey
I still have two dishes on the roof, I'll check into this, thanks.
Digital OTA on an HDTV is going to have a lot of cheap people scratching their heads about whether to keep cable.
Hopefully enough people will drop cable entirely to convince them to offer slimmer, more targeted packages if not actual a la carte.
There, you just said it: A LA CARTE.
If I could put together 10-20 channels (MSNBC/Comedy/IFC/Sundance for me and few more for my wife) of my own I would pay up to ~$40-$50 in HD (NB: main HBO included because their docus are usually top-notch and some shows also great (Why did they drop Rome!?) plus RT w/ Bill Maher is a good one too.)
If they don't respond then I'm glad to take my money somewhere else, sorry.
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said by bicker :Waaaa waaaa waaaa. You just want what you want and don't care to factor in what is right or true. Your perspectives are un-American, and deserve far more ridicule than I'm prepared to pile on them. |
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baineschile
2600
Premium
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI | Comcast is offereing something new in my area. called the Digital Economy. Its locals, plus 20 or so cable stations (animal planet, usa, etc.). 29 bucks/mo, not too bad. |
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Matt
Gone playing Dragon Age Origins
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode :I canceled DirecTV last summer. Honestly the only thing I miss is NFL football. Most everything else can be found in some variety elsewhere. Enjoying the Netflix streaming. It's the first service I've used that I feel is priced fairly and doesn't annoy me. Find I'm actually reading books. Go figure. I have a bad addiction to the the Discovery, Discovery Science and NatGeo channels. If I could find an alternate (legal) delivery method of those channels in HD, my cable would be canceled the next day. |
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eric_n_dfw
join:2001-10-22
Euless, TX
·EarthLink
·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to RadioDoc
YouTube on Tivo is only valuable for showing a group of people something on the big screen - and then only if you absolutely know what search query to use. Surfing/browsing YouTube is too cumbersome.
I wish Tivo would enable USB keyboard support - it would make things like YouTube and everything else much easier to use. |
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ph03n1x
join:2003-02-15
Sanford, FL | reply to kamm
Here's your Countdown fix. New episodes released nightly at 9pm. Free as in beer.
»www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8132577/ |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
 ·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to kamm
This article details exactly what I have done. Installed a Roof top antenna, and have Netflix.
Um.... I'm not really missing TV much at all. In fact I'm enjoying watching all the Doctor Who episodes from the BBC on DVD and from Netflix streaming right now....
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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hurfy
Premium
join:2002-08-06
Spokane, WA
| lol
I never had cable so i don't miss it. That seemed to be the safest way 
OTA, Netflix, and swapping DVDs with friends. That and a bookcase with several hundred books i have yet to read cover any time not absorbed by video games |
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M A R K
St. Ides Heaven
Premium
join:2001-06-15
Long Island
clubs: | reply to kamm
»www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/
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See you in Villains |
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hescominsoon
join:2003-02-18
Brunswick, MD
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to RadioDoc
said by RadioDoc :She may be getting 50 digital TV channels OTA but I'd bet only 10-15 or so are the main HD stream. Nonetheless, the quality usually beats cable on either. One thing you missed: The February transition to all digital won't result in less digital coverage. That makes no sense. If anything, the OTA coverage will increase as stations move their transition signals to their final, full-power transmission facilities. I've weaned my wife off of cable and onto a HD TiVo connected to an antenna in the attic. We get all of the Chicago OTA digital channels and don't miss Comcast's overpriced, poor-quality offerings at all. the digital signals don't' travel as far and are much more sensitive to interference. If your analog OTa is marginal your DTV OTA is going to outright suck. This rule is not absolute of course. |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| It depends on how you are defining more sensitive to interference. DTV is an all or nothing proposition. You pretty much get a perfect picture or you get nothing. So if your analog is very snowy, fades in and out, you are probably correct that your current setup is probably not going to work for that channel. In most cases this can be improved with a higher or larger antenna. You can also use a preamp out on the mast(do not cheap out on this option if you go this route, buy a channel master). Many people do not know that placing the antenna inside the attic will greatly reduce the signal, as compared to placing the antenna on the rooftop. If I remember correctly the usable limit for digital is about 90 miles vs about 125 for analog. Most people that live that far out will probably have alternate solutions anyway(usually sat). |
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yolarry
join:2007-12-29
Creston, WV
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
| reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode :I canceled DirecTV last summer. Honestly the only thing I miss is NFL football. Its been 2 years since I canceled Directv.
I don't miss it expect Sci-fi. Adult Swim, locals. |
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