spainlinx0

I finally did it. I got rid of the triple-play package and left myself with only internet service. They kept me on hold forever to do it too. My bill should drop from around 140 a month to around 50 a month.

I thought the final cancellation person was pretty funny. They offered me the family package with DVR for $90 a month. I was tempted, but stood firm. When I said no, she actually sounded incredulous and said "but how are you going to watch tv?" I told her that I will just stream everything.

I then signed up for the $9 Netflix plan just so I could stream on my 360 as well. A couple of questions for those who have done this, and also those who may know the answers to the following:

Can I watch Hulu or the networks' respective website streaming shows from the Wii? If so, does it work well?

How can you tell if a Netflix streaming movie is OAR before you start playing it? I was going to watch Miller's Crossing, but saw it was P&S so stopped.

How do you keep track of what shows you are watching? There are a bunch of new and returning shows I had season passes before which I now have to remind myself to eventually watch online. How did you manage this easily? I feel like I'm going to have to make up a spreadsheet to keep track.

It's strange that after not watching commercials for so long, I guess I will be forced to when streaming television. It is absolutely brutal when I watch Tool Academy. If I see that damn Nice and Easy hair dye commercial with the chick from the Office, or Drew Barrymor's makeup commercial one more damn time I'm going to lose it. And they play more than one during a break!

How the hell do you search for stuff on the 360? No search function is really ridiculous.

And for those who have done this, how did it work out? Did you go back to cable eventually? How did your viewing habits change? Any tips to ease the withdrawals?

Chew

You can't natively stream Hulu onto most set-top devices. PlayOn does stream Hulu and works with the 360. It's currently 50% off ($20) for the next week. When I tried it, Hulu would change something and PlayOn would stop working. You'd have to wait for a software update for it to work again. Then Hulu would change something again. I ended up waiting for updates more often than actually using it.

I really like Myepisodes.com to keep track of new episodes. http://www.myepisodes.com/frontpage.php
They have a iGoogle gadget I use on my Google homepage, so every time I open my browser it tells me when there's a new episode (the day it airs).

magi

I am looking to doing the same also. I would be making a Media PC though for the living room with a TV tuner. That way I can still record any HD OTA shows. And with Hulu and Boxee I think I would be set. I think the only thing I would be missing would be HGTV and Food Network.

Birrman54

I don't have cable either. I have a PCs or Xbox 360s hooked up to the various TVs. I have ripped DVDs and such stored on the network and it can stream from Hulu, etc.

I also set up a Slingbox at my parent's place and paid for an extra cable box. This lets me watch local sports, etc for a much lower annual cost.

spainlinx0

The Wii uses an Opera browser though which is why I was curious if it worked on there. I just had my system replaced, and I don't have the browser so I want to see if it works before I pay for it.

SonOfAStu

We're thinking about doing this as well. The savings wouldn't be a dramatic as yours as our monthly bill right now is at $100, but we just feel like we watch too much damn TV.

I'm going to buy a new desktop computer and PlayOn to use with my PS3. Should pay for itself in a year.

I wonder how my OTA reception is...

lamphorn

Cable/satellite TV is insanely overpriced. It's practically like paying rent.

FatTony

Good for you! I dumped cable a few years ago and haven't looked back. I just came to the realization that I was paying quite a bit for something I didn't really use that often. While cancelling, I told them if they had an a la carte option so that I could just pay for the 5-6 channels I actually watch, I'd sign back up in a heartbeat (I really miss Comedy Central and Cartoon Network).

I'm currently using TVersity on my PS3 to stream stuff from my PC, but with the PlayOn deal this week, I'm probably gonna pick that up so I can stream Netflix and Hulu.

spainlinx0

Just tried out Hulu and Fox.com on the Wii. Not a go. That's a disappointment, but I can always just hook up the laptop to my tv and watch like that.

Chew

I believe PlayOn did just add Wii support. They have a trial period, if you want to check it out.

Edit: Trial period is 14 days and they did add Wii support.
http://www.themediamall.com/playon/

Draven

Here's what I did:

* Cancelled satellite
* Bought two stand-alone TivoHDs
* Bought a PS3

We watch 90% of our shows off our HD antenna on our TV. The few we don't, I find online and stream them to the PS3. (PS3 Media Server for OSX...it's awesome) The kids watch Netflix cartoons on-demand from either Tivo or the 360 in the basement.

We don't miss satellite at all. There is always something to watch.

Easy

Funny you don't mention over the air (OTA) at all. Can't put up an antenna? I get ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX and CW in Hi Def at no cost and record it on my Media PC. Beautiful quality on a 73" screen. Looks like you are well informed about other options.

I looked into cable because I wanted to see "Mad Men", "Dexter" and a couple others as they aired. They wanted $25 for basic cable which is not nearly the quality of what I get free. Then they required the addition of a PVR at $15 a month to connect a cable card. Then they added a digital tier and a hi def tier and this and that... by the time they were done they had pumped up the price to about $90 a month to watch a handful of shows. Crazy bastards. I just burst out laughing.

I'll buy the blu-rays when they come out and consider them a tremendous bargain compared to these insane cable fees.

spainlinx0

I live in an apartment, and I doubt I would get decent reception. Plus I was using the cable company's DVR, and I'm not going to buy a Tivo since the purpose of this move was to save some money. I don't ever watch shows live, so just having the channels really doesn't matter to me if I can't record them. The only extra expense I am incurring is Netflix, and the rest of the my options I already had.

By the way, no one has answered yet. Can you search on Netflix on the Xbox 360?

DJariya

Just curious, did you cancel cable because your trying to save money or because your trying to cut down your TV viewing?

I know cable prices are outrareous and $140 a month for TV watching is alot of money.

But, I have Directv and I pay roughly $80 a month for 3 receivers (2 DVR's, 1 HD Receiver), No Premium or Sports packages and I think that's a pretty damn good/fair deal. Especially to not have to go through the pain of the crazy wiring you need to do to watch stuff off the net.

Lots of good stuff your missing out on: Burn Notice, Mad Men, Caprica, Rescue Me, Damages, Sons of Anarchy, Nip/Tuck.

But, it's your money and your choice, so good luck to you.

Heat

I wish I could do that but my wife loves her shows. Of course, my TV package is running me about $41 with locals, two tuners and two DVRs.

For internet I use a wireless company, I pay $21 per month for a pretty fast connection (I download at about 55 or 60 kbps). Not lightning quick but "good enough".

Also, look into putting a rooftop UHF antenna inside your apartment - with a good antenna you should pick up your local stations for free without the snow of past years since most stations are digital now. The type of antenna I'm talking about is about $25 and maybe 18" wide by 24" tall.

Another option would be to get Dish Networks $25 family package which includes locals. Add $6 per month for a DVR and you'll always have something to watch.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/packages/...ack=DISHFamily

eagin

Within the last week or so, the Wii internet browser became free for download to all users... so, you should be able to get it without having to pay for it.

story

Good for you. I love the incredulous cable people when you try to cancel or downgrade. They can't believe it. If you really want an excellent price or an extension of a somewhat-reasonable price, tell them you want to find out the cost of all the lower-tier plans (even the absolute lowest-tier plan) and when try to get you to stay at your current level, say the magic phrase: "Time are tough."

Believe me, they'll play ball pretty quick.

story

Oh, and you pay $50 for internet per month? Yikes.

Chew

I haven't tried it yet, but I thought the last 360 update include some kind of search ability?

If you have an iPhone, there's plenty of apps that allow you to add stuff to your queues (Instant and disc).

al_bundy

some of the Apple cult fanboys bought Apple TV's and just buy shows they want via iTunes. they say it's cheaper than cable

milo bloom

We dumped cable about 1.5 years ago, and we've gotten used to it pretty well. We have a crap-ton of DVDs (and we buy used so it's very cheap). We stock up on the annual DeepDiscount sale (this last one we dropped $500, no joke). And of course there's online streaming.

We do have an antenna and manage to get a good handful of channels here in the Chicago suburbs. We recently bought a new Samsung with a very nice built-in tuner, and my BIL recently re-ran the house's co-ax system and took probably 100 feet out of the line between the antenna and TV so we have much less signal loss now.

Also, I've seen on various sites around the web that Cartoon Network is really going into the crapper, lots of live action stuff and just not much good stuff anymore.

spainlinx0

It was more to try and save money. Also, with having to study for the CPA exam I also simply did not have as much time to watch tv so why keep paying exhorbitant prices for what I won't be using?

I was paying 140 for cable with HBO and Starz, cable internet, and the phone, so $80 for your package plus the 50 to keep my internet, and I would be paying about the same for less service if I went with DirecTV. (I only have one DVR, and I really only watch on one television so I don't need the extra boxes.)

As for your shows, haven't checked out Burn Notice. Got a little frustrated with Mad Men around the middle of the second season and dropped it, never saw Caprica, didn't even tune into this season's Rescue me after the last couple of seasons, never saw Damages or Sons of Anarchy, and quit on Nip/Tuck as well.

And to be honest, if I want to see those shows, it's easy enough to obtain them. I just didn't want to bring "that" discussion into here.

Also there's no crazy wiring for me. The 360 is obviously already hooked up to the TV. I have a loose HDMI cable that I simply plug into my laptop when I want to watch something from the computer on my TV. I also already have a wireless keyboard and mouse so it's no big deal to hook it up that way.

Checked at lunch, and saw that. Not bad.

I haven't found this speed for cheaper. It's the basic cable internet package as far as I am aware. No Fios available, and I didn't want DSL.

TheBigDave

There's no Netflix search on Xbox. They have a couple categories (Drama, Comedy, TV, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Newly Available, etc). Each has about 100 movies listed. It's good enough to find something worth watching. But if you're looking for something in particular, it sucks.

You need to go through Netflix and add items to your Instant Queue.

aktick

Unfortunately I just did another stupid 2-year contract with DirecTV in January, but once that's up I'm probably done with them. It's just become too easy to watch things by other means. And the few live sporting events I will really want to watch I can just go to the bar or a friend's and see.

And I only pay ~$70 a month (and another $35 for internet), I couldn't imagine paying over $100 for cable or satellite.

FatTony

Well, it's been about 5 years since I was able to watch Cartoon Network regularly, so duly noted. They still have Venture Bros. though, and that alone is reason enough for me to want the station.

I forgot to mention I have an antenna too. I get most of the local channels except for Fox, who inexplicably broadcasts from Bremerton instead of downtown Seattle like all the other sane networks. Hell if I'm gonna reposition the antenna every time I want to watch a Simpsons rerun.

As an added bonus, since dropping cable, I feel I've gotten much more of my money's worth out of my DVD collection. I've also been able to take a step back and realize that a lot of the movies I own I simply have zero interest in watching again, so it's helped me to clean out my collection as well.