This year has proven to be very expensive so far. After purchasing a new car and preparing to pay for knee surgery. We needed to review the Stark family budget to see where we could cut back. Jen and I both decided that we did not need satelliteTV to survive. We had recently starting getting instant downloads from Netflix via our Wii. We figured that Netfilx combined with the free over the air broadcast would be enough for our family. So yesterday marked our first full day without satellite. I spent the morning crawling in our attic trying to connect an antenna to our home cables. Was surprised to find a very good antenna already in the attic left by the prior owners. The problem is that the satellitehad so many cables and strange connections that I'm not sure if I have the right cable connected to the antenna. Still cannot get channel 11 on one TV. But after I was done I felt confidant that we were now in a position to live without our ESPN, TNT, Disney & G4 channels.
The one thing that we already miss is the DVR. We really enjoyed being able to pause live TV and record and then watch whenever we wanted. But it is good for our kids to experience TV the way Jen and I did while we grew up. We had always felt that our kids had gotten very spoiled by having instant TV to enjoy and the ability to fast forward commercials. But because we miss it so much, we will purchase a DVR that works with over the air TV. Once we ensure that we really can survive without all those channels you pay 70 bucks for. :)
6 comments:
You can still get some shows instant watch from Hulu.com. It's not commercial free but it is far less commercials than broadcast TV.
Recently our apartment decided to give us free expanded cable. Right now I'm pretty uncertain it beats out Netflix and Hulu, and it's free.
Good for your little brother. I'd still like to make that antenna that we were talking about. Did you use the one that you made or the one that was in the attic?
We checked out Hulu, but it's not free anymore. Darn.
Carl
I may be able to give you my now extra antenna. But only if I can get my last TV to get all the channels from the big antenna. Currently it is still missing a few channels and I'm not sure why. I may need to buy something that boosts the signal from the antenna to that TV. It is either that or I still have some satellite device connected that is interfering with the antenna.
If I can get it fixed without using my extra antenna then I will give it to you.
Hulu is free for us, even today. Why wouldn't it be free for you guys? Strange.
Hulu was still free when I used it Sunday night. There is a distinction between Hulu and the new paid version that offers HD programming. The paid version is in its infancy and has very little programming available.
However, if you have a computer running windows you can search for "Hulu Desktop" and run a the free version of Hulu on your desktop without using a browser.
The main advantage of hulu is only the subscriptions queue. It allows you to sign up to have specific shows added to your list automatically. It makes it almost as convenient as a DVR.
The drawback is that you have to either watch it on your computer screen or use some ingenuity to hook your computer to your TV. Thankfully my computer had an HDMI output built into it which made the process super easy. I used a simple headphone jack to plug the audio into the old stereo system and viola! Hulu on my TV for the cost of my internet connection.
Recently I also found that I could make my phone into a nifty remote control for the PC using MyRemote for android. It took about 1 minute to set up on the computer and phone. It's free to boot!
So, free TV and laziness!
Okay so it's not all free. I pay for Netflix. But after renting 8 DVDs a month from Redbox it became the less expensive way to go.
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