I turned in my cable box for pod-candy!

[whooleytoo]

Grrrr.. you people evoke my well-developed sense of jealousy:

- HD content? No.
- 16x9? No (most channels are cropped to 4:3)
- iTMS TV shows? No.
- Slingbox? No. (not available here)

You don't know you lucky you are!

 

[maokh]

I did a cost analysis between turning in the cable box vs. keeping it. My scenario involves using iTunes to make legitimate purchases of popular television shows.

My satellite service is about $63/mo, for a yearly cost of about $756.

Comparing my satellite service fees with season pass purchases over the course of the year (average price of $35 a pass), I would need to avidly follow 21 television series before equaling my service costs. I dont really watch any television to begin with, so 21 shows is a silly number to me.

I even wrapped up my hardware costs into a list of about almost a dozen popular shows I might think of buying a season pass for. I *still* came out short of what I pay for satellite service.

...and purchase an EyeTV OTA HD receiver, and all the math goes out the window. The cost savings and viewing convenience are unmeasurable.

I am not figuring in my cost of internet service, because this is something I already have and need. I pay about $28 for 1.5Mbps down / 1Mbps up.

Sounds like a winner to me.

 

[daveporter]

I have Dish Network satellite service and have not even turned it on since we put an ATV on both of our LCD TVs. We have a very large movie, TV and music library and find that buying boxed sets of the TV shows we want to see (with no commercials ) is a much better way to go.

We can receive reliable HD TV for the local network news over the air with a very small antenna where we live so there is no longer any need for Dish here and were going to have it turned off also.

Dave

 

[japanime]

Does the fact that iTunes television shows are not in high definition bother any of you?

I'm by no means a "videophile," but I do admire a good picture, and shows purchased from iTunes and played on my 50-inch plasma TV look just fine to me.

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

I also made the jump this week and turned back my Comcast DVR. I'm keeping the basic/limited cable just to be able to watch local news and shows in HD. I added up how much money I'm going to save and it's unbelievable. I like the idea much better of paying for just the shows I want to watch and not having all of those channels I'd never tune to. Plus, I get to keep the shows after I've watched them!

While the quality of shows is good enough for now, I really do miss watching things in HD on my 61" DLP. Hopefully Apple will add 5.1 surround and true HD eventually.

 

[Scarpad]

ATV has become my DVR and I love it !

 

[Xeem]

I can't even get cable where I live, but I have DSL, so I guess the internet has sort of been my cable provider. Between iTunes and... other sources, I can find all of my favorite shows in at least 480p.

 

[JellyFish]

Apple TV was working so well for me that I returned my Motorolla HD converter box today.

I never had a problem with Cable TV until I used Apple TV. I have about 10 podcasts including Wallstrip and Geek Break that take up my TV time. (Lindsay and Callie are pod-candy!)

That is, when I'm not watching movies I've converted or downloaded.

Ha, you sound like me. I got rid of my cable too. Crap content and ****** box too. Way too expensive for what you get.

 

[JellyFish]

Interesting. I wonder how fast this kind of market shift is happening. Certainly, if you pay as much as Zim does, you can get a large number of monthly television shows, hopefully as many or more than you are watching, for less money.

Does the fact that iTunes television shows are not in high definition bother any of you?

Not at all. I have a Samsung 50 inch HDTV and it is able to reformat or stretch or whatever it's called movies and stuff. Although the ITMS stuff doesn't quite look HD, it still looks very good. I don't care if it's not perfect, I just care about being entertained for a reasonable amount of money.

Cable TV sucks. It just does. It's a major financial ripoff and it's filled with crappy content that is over-priced and the cable companies screw people with their idiotic "packages."

 

[JellyFish]

i would love to cancel cable but comcast is the only provider that offers good high speed internet in my area and if i cancel their cable TV they will charge me $60 a month for internet. Doesnt make sense.

I've been looking into ClearWire but have mixed reviews

Here's a trick, call them and tell them you have an offer from another company and see if they will cut you a break. Can't hurt to try. And even if you pay $60 it's still less than paying for all the cable crap you don't want anyway.

 

[nbs2]

I mean, I don't like Comcast's cable monopoly either, but how else am I going to get my favorite shows in HD with DD5.1? Consider that (sans renting the HD box) Comcast pretty much gives you Basic Cable for free if you have their internet service.

Better than free - it's cheaper for us to get basic cable and internet than it would be to just have internet service....

 

[soLoredd]

I would love to do something like this, and my fiance and I have thought it over a few times but man, I love sports too much.

 

[maokh]

If you want extensive sports coverage, keep the cable box or satellite TV receiver.

If you find yourself only watching games on your local TV channels/broadcast network channels (ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX) then you might want to still consider ditching your cable box.

...but instead of using the AppleTV, I would recommend a cheap OTA HDTV receiver. If you don't already have an ATSC receiver on your television, these boxes are about $150-$200 depending on retailer. The biggest issue is antenna.

I have been able to get HDTV OTA on my rabbit ears in downtown seattle, but im now out in the suburbs, and i had to put up one of those old school suckers on my roof.

After analog TV sunset, i think HDTV reception might be a little better....as everything is moving to the lower frequencies...still hope maybe. we'll see.

 

[miTunes75]

I pay Comcast $138/month. This is for cabletv and cableInet. If I choose to get rid of cabletv, then it will decrease to $75/month.