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I have a WDC - World Domination Centre - consisting of a 40" tv plugged into a dual Xeon box as a monitor. It's Linux-based (14.04) and I use a USB dongle to play free-to-air channels over Kaffeine. Nice thing is, I can record TV programmes I like, such as Sherlock and Montalbano, or watch DVD's; obviously the whole thing is ported into 5.1 sound as well, and I have about 80GB of music on the drive also.
I don't watch much tv though. 
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OriginalGriff wrote: This is one reason why I record most things I watch these days: I can skip the adverts and leave just the program.
Yep, same here. I used to watch programs in "replay" 5 years ago, as it was still something brand new nobody knew about (meaning servers were still accessible). Now they have put ads in replay services as well, at the beginning of eahc program. Worse : Replays are streaming videos (no news, I know), e.g. not so stable, especially when everybody replays at the same time, so if you lose connection or it gets interrupted for whatever reason, you have to escape and re-enter, and there goes another 3min ads ( the same you had already watched earlier  ).
So recording is the way to go. Even better : I can start watching a program while it is still being recorded, meaning that if I start watching 15min after the live start hour, I have enough buffer to skip the three or four ad breaks in the evening without interruption.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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Sadly, I would miss tv a bit. I reckon I need some non brain-consuming activities after work/kids/dinner/kids/dishes/kids-bedtime-stories, so tv is perfect for that. And I enjoy watching series.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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Commercials are easy to avoid, just don't watch anything 'live'. I've got home built DVRs on our TVs so anything the wifey is watching was recorded. She almost never watches live TV. I don't watch TV except for the talking heads on Sunday morning (This Week with George Stepanopoulos).
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I quit watching TV 20 years ago.
Because of this my tolerance for commercials has bottomed out.
When commercials come on the radio I change the channel - I will NOT LISTEN TO THE HORSE SH*T!
If a show gets really good reviews over a few years I'll pick it up on DVD.
Save tons of money and I've a nice DVD collection.
Plus, no commercials.
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When I moved to the USA (from England via Germany) I was shocked at how many commercial breaks were in the shows having been used to the BBC (no commercials). We do have commercial TV channels in the UK but the frequency and length of the breaks was much reduced compared to the US (at least it used to be on ITV & Channel 4).
For the last few months, possibly a year or two now, I have been obtaining an increasing number of shows and movies via non-cable TV methods, Netflix, HULU, etc. and my wife, who is disabled and bed-ridden 90% of the time and therefore watches a lot of stuff, has found that the consumption of TV directly has dropped to the point where when we watched a show the other night, the TV had not changed channel, or even been looked at since the same show was on the previous week! We are now considering saving a lot of money by changing the FIOS deal to only have internet access. We don't watch or have interest in sports.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Forogar wrote: I was shocked at how many commercial breaks
If I recall correctly, there used to be a limit on the amount of commercial time that could be interspersed throughout a show - until Ronald Reagan got rid of it. Same guy that got rid of the 5mph no-damage bumpers for cars that had been mandated and a couple of other things that were definitely not good for the consumer.
I have been blessed with the ability to flush the commercials from my mind's buffer almost as they go by. Still, time is worth something, so I record and skip through when feasible.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Quote: I quit watching TV 20 years ago.
finally i have met someone who thinks like me. its not 20 years in my case however, its more than an year. However i dont even listen to radio.
My friends say i live in an extinct world, the world when dinosaurs ruled.
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I cut the cable going on two years ago. I don't miss it at all. The time I realized I wasted was crazy. I still watch some shows on Hulu occasionally. I don't miss the ingestion of media in the least. And I find myself avoiding the TV when I'm with friends or family.
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I've been without cable TV for about 6 years now and I don't miss it a bit. I use my ps3 to watch content either through Netflix or Amazon Prime. Its very easy to get by without the programming and you quickly adjust to life without it. The only caveat I would give is that if you're really into sports this may not be a viable solution for you. Over the past 10 years its seems that the majority of sports have migrated to channels like TNT, ESPN, etc...
Also, with things like Hulu growing in popularity its becoming extremely easy to find legal ways of viewing any TV show online.
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Just cut it, stop worrying about it.
My kids don't miss it. They just play in the dirt outside, chase each other with sticks, learn music, and when they really want to watch something on the TV, they go buy a $0.50 movie at the thrift store (new to us).
You find other things to fill up the time. Consuming commercials and the mindless fluff that is called programming is not required to live nice life. Since I've stopped watching it, I actually prefer not to see/hear it when I go to other folks houses. And the worst is when it is stuck on at a restaurant, mechanic, or elsewhere.
Actually, where I live (in the middle of nowhere) I can still pick up about 10 channels over the digital rabbit ears (converter box). It is more than I want: weather, news, professional and college sports, cooking shows, and mindless prime time fluff. My viewing habits probably average about an hour per week. I cannot even sit through a whole football/basketball/baseball game anymore.
Too much else to do with my life!
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If you have a rabid sports fan in the house, the answer is "You can't." I would cut the cord in an instant, but that would mean that the out of market games won't be available or even in market won't be available if there is a blackout for the game due to sales.
Same for channels like HBO, the SO likes a couple of their series, so I'm stuck with cable.
Whee. 
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It's been almost 10 years since my household has had network or cable TV. Last year, my phone company gave me a deal that included cable TV (basic package) for only $10 more per month. We tried it out for exactly 3 days. Then gave the box back with a thanks but no thanks.
You will find so much more to do without the TV distracting you. Most everything you want to watch you can find on the internet anyways.
Brent
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Dumped cable for everything but internet. No replacement. Got rid of the tv. never looked back.
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Cunuck here so i'm not sure if that makes a difference to you. A few months ago i made the decision to cut the cord, my Phone, Cable & Internet totaled ~$230 a month. With $120 just for the cable. I only really watched a few shows and the rest of the time it was just background noise when cleaning or working. I didnt want to be without any means of watching tv to kill time so i looked at Netflix but it didnt have everything i wanted so i looked at Hulu but being Canadian this wasn't an option unless i paid for a service like unblock-us. So i sat down and did the math and it worked out that i still saved a bunch of money and had access to on-demand tv that i couldn't access before so the decision was simple.
Then (Cable) = ~$130 for everything taxes, rentals fees and whatnot.
Now (Roku) = $100 initial cost for the Roku. $8 for Netflix, $9 for hulu and about $10 for unblock-us.
So after the initial cost of the Roku my bill went from $130 to $20 and i feel like i get more value. Sure there is still the odd show i have to ... ummm .. acquire elsewhere but i'm much happier now.
All in all im happy now so give it a shot, worst case you can go back and get the introductory bundle and still save some cash.
Don't comment your code - it was hard to write, it should be hard to read!
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I'm about to enter that realm, so, reading your experience: it's a plan!
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Excellent timing for this thread:
I have just initiated 'negotiations' with my TV/Telephone/Internet provider based upon the imminent expiration of a package deal.
Now I'm thinking more strongly in the direction of something like Hulu or Netflix; My Patriot media box will already get me relevant components of MSNBC and a number of other (free!) recorded items.
My email ALL goes through forwards - changing my contacts means a simple change of some of the target addresses. Much of the network TV can be picked up free on a digital antenna (empirical observation).
The convenience factor vs. cost is at the absolute edge of what I'm willing to tolerate.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Kids are better off without cable IMHO (or any TV, depending on where you are). Each day they see two homicides, three wars, four felonies and fifty misdemeanors, and that is just the news.
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We dropped cable a couple of years ago. Netflix, Apple TV and plenty of news channels give us everything we want, when we want it. way, WAY cheaper. I can't imagine ever signing up for cable again.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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We pay for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, so figure us for <$30 a month. We also bought a nice digital antena that sits in our attic and gets us the local broadcast channels which I only watch sports on.
The only downside is you can't watch shows as they come out, so while the internet was going crazy talking about how awesome the end of Breaking Bad was I had to put my fingers in my ears and hum, then wait 6 months to see it.
On the plus side I get to watch TV on my schedule and without commercials*.
*Hulu has commercials and it pisses me off so much that I generally avoid watching anything on it unless my wife forces me. She doesn't seem to mind the commercials. I'd be happy to pay more for a no commercial package if they offered it.
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I cut the cable almost 3 years ago (of course I retained my internet and Netflix like many here have said).
The value I perceive from most TV programming has dropped off a cliff in recent years. With a handful of exceptions the writing of most shows is atrocious - my sister who happens to be a writer told me this is because a lot of the talented writers are transitioning to the gaming industry... so there is a rational explanation for my perception.
FWIW I love football and other sports - but I am not going to watch 3 hours of commercials for 1 hour of football. So the whole "you need cable for sports" thing does not carry weight with me.
You will find you have more time to do useful things like build an app for your phone/tablet/pc, and never miss cable tv.
P.S. The whole point of paying for cable was supposed to be to pay for the content I thought? Then they fill the content with ads...
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I have an old laptop connected to my HDTV via HDMI with a wireless keyboard/trackpad combo to control it from the couch. I watch a lot of content through websites of the networks that provide full episodes right from their website. This is also a good way to get HULU since you don't need a Hulu Plus subscription to watch a lot of content on their website.
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$40/month - internet access only. I/we get more "tv-like" stuff than we can possibly watch. Raised two kids on saturday-morning-only cartoons ... they are now in their 20s and thank us for that.
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We have recently kicked our cable addiction. We kept the internet and phone though. Net savings of about $62 a month. My 10yr daughter took it the hardest.. So hard that explaining to her that we wanted to cut cable to save on money somehow twisted in her mind that we were suddenly poor and selling off all our possessions.. (kids have no concept of budget so are funny like that)
Basically, we took a look at what do we watch, what shows do we really care about.. What we found is nearly all of them can be found in streaming format.. Fortunately we tend to DVR the important shows and with our busy schedule would take a single day or 2 and just go on a marathon to catch up.. With the likes of Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. New episodes took a while to become available.. So why not just wait until the season is over, all episodes eventually are available, and we just go on a marathon.
Additionally, I pointed out to my daughter that other than those property hunter reality shows o n HGTV, she only watches Disney and Nick shows.. Often then same 5 episodes over and over and over again no less.. We setup a profile for her on Netflix, and all of her shows were there. Problem solved.
The kick in the pants is, our regional cable provider knows this is exactly the trend.. So as long as you have their full internet/phone/tv bundle they give you high speed for cheap but have a 250-300GB per month data cap.. Cut the TV service, internet goes up like $9 and your cap is lowered to 200GB. I have a dedicated home theatre PC that I built from old parts and ebay bits. Was a respectable media machine ala 2008 but it still does the job.
So far the data cap hasn't been an issue, but we'll see what the summer brings. Depending on what your looking for, an Xbox, Roku, Amazon TV, Chromecast, etc.. all viable solutions if you want to commit to internet streaming. Even for keeping up on sports, the internet packages can still bring you savings long term. I'm considering a tuner card for DVR recording over-the-air tv.
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Hey, don't think anything of it. I pay $280. Of course I have all the premium channels, phone service, high(er) speed internet service, and I'm out in the boonies with the best cable company I've ever seen, Metrocast. Anything goes wrong, and you get a tech at the door practically before you hang up the phone.
I agree that the commercials are too much, so I don't watch entertainment programming other than my premium movie channels. Otherwise, I put on a 24 hour news program while interacting with my computer really entertains me. If there's 6 minutes of commercials on my new channel, what do I care? I'm not hanging on what happens next like I am with an entertainment program.
I've got a project going now to create a movie library. You can get video capture hardware that, although it doesn't do HD, it is very, very good anyway, and better than recording with VHS. I'm up to about 200 movies in my collection now, and am heading for 1000. If I want to see "The Shining" or "The Sting" or maybe the original, 3hr+ "Spartacus" with Kirk Douglas (If you saw the recent movie of Mr. Peabody & Sherman, did you catch that the Spartacus character looked exactly like Kirk Douglas?) I can do it whenever I like. I have an entertainment center in my car that does DVD, and having 1000 movies along on vacation or any time I expect to have extra time parked and waiting, I can pass it a whole lot better than sitting in the car and doing Sudoku. I'm scheduled to record about 46 more movies in the next 2 weeks, all movies I've seen and enjoyed, and this I think is the "long suit" of cable. It enables movies at $0.50 each for a blank double-sided DVD instead of $2.50 (used) to $20 or more for a retail acquisition. OK, those are HD, but that's not something I'm going to be able to discern on a portable player or my 7" Kenwood DNX9140.
Cable's "worth it" depending on how you use it. I also know tons and tons of current events that I don't think I could keep up on any other way than to let the 24 hour news channel blather in the background.
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