I am considering cutting the cord as well, but two things hold me back: phone service and DVR. I don't want bill collectors calling my personal cell phone and I usually work contract which means faxing is needed. Not a fan of computer based faxing.
Two SD TVs in the house ans 1 HDTV. The kids are getting a Wii for Christmas, so that will make the transition more acceptable to all.
They watch Disney channel, but there are so many repeats, it's not even worth it. I like Doctor Who, which I can subscribe to, but I usually don't re-watch episodes, even though I own many.
I own a MacBook Pro, iPhone 5, and iPad 4. I'm considering ATV as well.
Current bundle: $160/month and were already 2 months behind.
Any suggestions for me.
Disclaimer:
Any suggestion for cutting cable while STILL maintaining your entertainment consumption is going to involve an up-front cost, with the savings working out over year-timescales. Meaning you'll pay several hundred dollars now to make the switch, but then pay less per month than you were with cable, resulting in long term savings. But you won't experience the savings benefits until a few months to a year down the road. It sounds like your situation is such that a big upfront cost would not be recommended.
But you are a grownup and can make your own decisions.
Now for my suggestions:
The two things holding you back: phone and DVR. for Phone see my "net talk" suggestion above. (NetTalk does allows faxing. I've used my Canon printer/fax machine with it successfully.)
For DVR:
-Get an OTA antenna (as little as $15 at home depot or radio shack, though you may need something bigger depending on how good your reception is where you live).
-Get an HD Homerun dual tuner device. ($130 from manufacturers,
http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/atsc/) (or as little as $88 shipped from B&H
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=764007&is=REG&Q=&A=details )
-Get EyeTV 3 and install it on your mac.($80, plus $20/year for TV guide program information)
http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/buy.en.html#section_3
-Get an Apple TV 3 (or an Apple TV 2 if you can find one on ebay for a lowish price). ($85 refurbished from Apple, or $100 new from Apple)
-Get a netflix streaming subscription ($8/month)
-Install all the devices so your setup is as follows: The OTA antenna is split: one cable goes straight to your TV so you can watch live TV in HD. The other cable feeds into the HD Homerun. That HD Homerun connects to your router via ethernet cable. Your mac connects to your router via ethernet OR wifi. EyeTV runs on your mac, providing the DVR recording capability for any channels available OTA (the major networks, PBS). You use EyeTV to schedule recordings (dual tuner). EyeTV will auto-export the recordings to iTunes, which makes them available to stream to the Apple TV, or sync to your iPad or iphone. Expanding to multiple TVs is easy: just buy another Apple TV, and it will have access to the same iTunes library stored on your mac (or on an external hard drive).
-For non-network shows, use Netflix (they are great for kids shows. . . check out the instant streaming catalog for kids before signing up to see if they have the ones your kids would like). Or use Hulu (Hulu Plus for Apple TV costs another $8/month, or you could just use free Hulu on your mac and use airplay mirroring or AirParrot to stream your mac's screen to your Apple TV wirelessly. Or if you have an Apple TV 2 you can jailbreak and install the Hulu plugin which enables free Hulu access on the Apple TV.)
-If there are shows you can't stream free online somehow, just buy the show ala carte on iTunes or Amazon.
Costs:
Upfront: as little as $268 (for antenna, EyeTV, HD Homerun, and Apple TV only). Costs go up depending on where you buy.
Recurring: $20/ year ($1.67 per month) for TV Guide program information.
$8/month for netflix. $8/ month for Hulu Plus. So as little as $1.67/month and as high as $17.67/month.
