We just did a major downsize with Time Warner and dropped HD, Digital and went to the basic of the basic with just the regular channels such as CBS, Fox etc o we now get about 20 channels instead of 200+.

Couldn't really justify having all those channels when th ones we watchedthe most were the ones we'll get for free, and right now if they are in HD or not really doesn't bother me.

We still kept RoadRunner as it was since we'll need it or watching a lot of things online.

The bill dropped from $165 down to about $80

My DVR is dying on me so I am thinking about picking this up.

Threads like this make me glad I work for the cable company, so my monthly bill for 2 DVRs with every channel and internet is $9.09.

What would that cost one of the company's customers?

I'm tempted to finally cancel cable. I've been keeping my monthly bill to around $90 (high-speed Internet, expanded cable, couple extra sports channels, and WWE Classics on Demand). But that's only because I'm usually able to get in on some sort of promo each time my current deal expires.

My six-month promo ended in December, which bumped my monthly bill to $100. An extra 10 bucks doesn't seem like a lot, but I have trouble justifying the $90 as it is. I called and was told they couldn't go any lower on it, but they did comp me three months of the sports package.

I got an invoice for my January bill, which was $100. Thinking about where else that money could go, I called to see if they could lower it. They not only couldn't, but the CS rep practically lectured me about how promos are meant for new customers and that eventually, you need to pay the full price. That's a bunch of crap, since I know plenty of people who've been coasting along with lower monthly bills thanks to promos for years.

The 20th is when Charter rolls out any monthly specials, so I'm calling back tomorrow. If they can't get the bill back down to around $90, I'm calling it quits and just hanging onto the Internet aspect.

I'm working 40 hours at one job, another 10-15 on eBay, taking a night class, and trying to maintain a social life. I don't really get to utilize cable right now. And just about anything I'd normally watch (i.e. The Office, Community, Jersey Shore) is available online.

Give it up. Sometimes you miss it, but I haven't called them back yet.

Same here. We get our locals in high definition (720p) using rabbit ears, then we watch DVDs of TV shows (Weeds, 24, Miami Vice, and some cooking shows) that I picked up off of eBay. We also rent one or two movies a week from Redbox ($1 each). Plus maybe one or two shows a month off of iTunes ($1.99 each).

I'm considering a standalone DVR, like the HDHomeRun mentioned above. Mr. Payroll, what do you think of that unit? How hard is it to, say, record a show off of antenna then watch it on your TV?

I was doing the $14 basic cable thru comcast... however I decided to upgrade to basic digital for $20 first yr, $30 after that. I also don't watch a ton of tv, but it'll be nice to have the sports, news and music channels when I want em, plus when friends come over.

Well, the HDHomeRun would not be a "standalone DVR". You have to hook it up to your computer, which serves as the harddrive and runs a 3rd party software (like SageTV)

http://www.silicondust.com/

Count me in as another who dropped cable (and in Canada it's crappier and more expensive). Unless you watch sports or other reality tv (HGTV, Food etc) you can get it at a much better deal elsewhere.

Funny thing is if my cable co. hadn't have dicked me around when trying to pear down my service I would still have something with them butt with HD OTA, iTunes, Hulu, TVonDVD and Zip (crappier CDN version of Netflix) it just doesn't matter.

I may see if whatever that new version of Dish Now/Ya sttill offers HBO ala cart since that was the only "good" channel in my package but if not/until then the DVD sets will do me fine.

Oh and the addict cravings subsize after about 30 days w/o cable so if anybody out there is planning to do it plan a busy month and then you'll be fine.

While I would never cancel cable all together, yesterday we finally made the decision to get rid of every preminum movie channel. When we signed up, they gave us a "great" deal on the entire HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc movie channels, but honestly, aside from some HBO series I follow, we never watched the 40+ movie channels. I cut them off and some others and now I save $50 a month on my bill.

Re: HBO series - if all the cable/sat co's allowed ala cart ordering just for HBO I suspect it'd become the most watched network even beating NBC, CBS etc...

I just canceled my cable.

When the guy on the phone asked me why, I said, "Because they won't let me watch the shows I want to watch. Every time I try to watch a show on, characters from other shows start running around the screen, covering up the show I'm trying to watch. Fortunately, this problem doesn't happen when I watch TV shows on DVD, so from now on, that's how I'm going to be watching TV."

Here's a great rant about this annoying trend. I especially love the two different Simpsons clips that are included. The narrator does use some foul language, so it's not safe for work. Embedding on this one is disabled, so here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mTOI0x3hzs

I almost did this when I moved a few months ago but I was only able to get 2.5 over the air channels in this small town and I have quite and addiction to History/Discovery/Comedy Central.

It is still an option for me someday though...

I was in Best Buy the other day, and the DirecTV dude came over and asked if I'd be interested in a promotion. I said "no, we had DirecTV awhile back but decided just to go with antenna only." He looked at me like I'd grown a second head. He said "Well, let me tell you about our deals." I said "No thanks, I'm good."

It's like he couldn't believe I was surviving. Honestly, outside of a few USA and FX shows I have to track down through other means, I really don't miss having cable/satellite in the slightest.

I cancelled Direct TV when the football regular season ended (hope the online option is available next year, if not there are a few "establishments" enearby that have NFL ticket.

I added a TV tuner to a computer (our house came with an antenna in the roof, we get everything but ABC over the air). The computer has an HDMI out, I bought Hulu Plus and already have a Netflix subscription. Between all that, I really do not feel like I am missing much. With the money I am saving, I plan on buying the MLB online subscription this year.

Same here. It's been almost three years.

AMC shows (The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad) are the only thing that I've had to 'dig' for. If I want to watch some Conan Obrien, he's just a few clicks away.

My main problem with the online options like Hulu is that they aren't very good for interrupted viewing, meaning that if I have to leave for something in the middle of the show I can't just pause it like a DVR and easily come back to the same spot later. Things like skipping ahead and back are also a pain because of the way they structure the mandatory commercials. So far it's still too frustrating an experience to be anything more than a last resort backup plan if I somehow forget to record something.

I'm pissed with Dish Network at the moment. I have the America's TOp 200 package and HD. A few days ago I notice that ll of my HD channels disappeared except for SyFy. They weren't blocked out. They were just plain gone. I called them up and they gave me some BS that some of their customers weren't receiving a proper signal and that's why they weren't getting HD. I told the guy that the only way that would make sense is if the channels still showed up on my guide but were blank when I tuned them in rather than be missing from the channel list altogether. He just told me to call back in a few hours if the problem persisted.

A few hours later I called back and a more helpful person simply walked me through rebooting my box and that did the trick. Or so I though... Sometime later I noticed that two of my HD channels were still missing. Those were HD Theater and HDnet Movies. I call back once more and a third person responds. This one first tries to BS me into believing that I never had those channels. I tell him that's not true as the reason I picked the package I have is because those channels were a part of it. Then he tries to convince thatwhat I was seeing was a 6 month preview. Again, BS since I've had Dish for almost a year so that preivew would have died out ages ago. Then he told me is that Dish Network had migrated me to a different package (without my consent no less) because I was no getting "free HD for life". I asked them how could that be since I joined before that promotion rolled along and I refused to pay the $100 and enroll for an extra 2 year commitment they asked of me back when I inquired about that "deal". They simply said they decided to give free HD for life to all their customers and that required migrating me to a new package (which in theory is still the same America's Top 200 but with channels missing ). The only good news is that my bill was now going to be $10/month less.

So I inquire as to how to get those two missing channels back. He says I can upgrade to their Platinum Package which has those two channels and 18 other HD channels (none of which I recall since none sounded all that interesting). I decide, screw it, I'll just be paying what I was paying before anyway so I decide to go for it. Then all of a sudden he tells me I can't have that package because I live in Puerto Rico. Funny since he had accessed my account at the beginning of the call and this wasn't an issue when he made his sales pitch. He insists that the only way I can get HDnet Movies back is if I go for one of their Dish Latino packages (the 255 channel one). This is a no-go for me since the Dish Latino packages tend to dump most of the other channels I do watch and replace it with programming that either does not appeal to me in the slightest or I can get locally without the aid of a service provider.

So I'm thinking of checking out that Hulu Plus deal since it offers shows in HD and it's way cheaper than Dish. The only things I'll truly miss are BBCA and any show I might catch on CW (since they block access to the online versions in PR for whatever reason).

Hulu Plus only has select ABC, FOX and NBC shows in HD 720p. The shows that aren't produced by those networks aren't available in HD and have expiration dates and aren't available for streaming through the HDTV/Blu-Ray players. Also, Cable shows on USA, FX aren't in HD and have anywhere from 8 day to 1 month delays. I have Hulu Plus, but only use it as a last resort in case I am running low on DVR space.

hulu also needs a way to favorite shows or subscribe to a show. its such a pain to just scroll through all the shows when i have no idea what i want to watch. i see things i would like to watch later but the i forget about them next time around. also a favorite networks list would be nice too. i hate scrolling through all the goofy ones just to get to the real ones. oh and a "hide all clips" options. they are pointless.

You might want to consider the Channel Master CM-7000PAL Digital Video Recorder for ~ $350. This is the only exclusively OTA recorder I've seen. I was actually waiting for this to come to market but grew impatient and dedicated a PC to the task.

unless i am missing something you are trying to do, you can absolutely subscribe to tv shows in Hulu. They show up in your queue

I think setting up an account with Hulu will fix both your problems.

If you are logged into your account, Hulu will remember where you left off of a show you were previously watching.

If you subscribe to a show, Hulu can send you an email when new episodes are available.

I lived without cable for a few years when our budget was tight. It wasn't bad at all. I read a lot of books and joined Netflix. It's pretty great to watch a whole season of a show in a short time with their discs. I also don't have a cell phone. It's amazing what you don't really need.


I also want to add, there are some funny, entertaining shows on regular t.v.