I blogged about how I was cutting my monthly bills down by cutting my cable service. Well here is an update on how that is going.
1. Experiment with Digital Antenna
This was a no go. Since Digital does not go near as far I could not receive any local channels. So that $36 premium antenna, well it is getting returned. Damn FCC said "hey lets screw over all those people in rural areas with this digital thing"
2. Internet Streaming
This is going well. It has some advantages and disadvantages, but hey its free or mostly free. Some people may have to buy equipment for this if they don't want to watch it on their computer monitor.
A. Advantages
-Its Free with few intrusive ads
-Availability. You can watch it anytime you want. No more I got to stay up for that show, or I can't do that thing because I'm addicted to my show and I must watch it even if it makes me miss hanging with friends. Well to a degree. Most sites only keep the past 5 episodes. So you can miss one if you don't go to watch it for 6 or so weeks after it aired.
-No more channel surfing. Well this is kind of both an advantage and disadvantage. You don't flip through channels. However, I got myself psychological used to the remote. It took me a bit not to think about flipping through channels and actually messed with my head for awhile.
B. Disadvantages
-Sometimes it does not stream well with speed packages. You may have to upgrade a little here. This will cost you more, but not as much as the cable/satellite service. So you still save money. (Unless you go to FiOS, that has killer speeds but starts in the range of the other services, and I can tell you that you don't save that much with the sole called bundled packages)
-Picture Quality. It can be blotchy, and sometimes the audio does not match the picture. This also could be helped by an increased speed.
-Branded TV. This really is not a disadvantage per say but it is branded with logos. At least Hulu is. However it does not take long to not even notice these branded logos.
-No more channel surfing
-Connection to a tv for those that
C. My Opinion So Far....
So far this has worked out. It does take some time to get used to it. You need to get used to the picture quality, the streaming delays, and the simple change psychologically. If you watch on your computer screen you need to be used to a smaller screen. However I use an old laptop streaming low speed broadband to my 40" LCD tv. This setup works. You will come across some quality issues but so far it has not been to bad. Hulu and the Network channels work fine. Netflix from its compression does have a bad image quality.
What I recommend is to send it to your tv if you have one capable of it. (You can make old ones capable with adapters but it will effect quality) Most LCD, LED's have a VGA port. Keep in mind that is just for audio. You still need computers speakers. If you have an HDMI capable video card then you are in luck. It transfers both audio and video. However you will likely have to change a setting on your computer to make it do so. More on setup, adapters later in part 2.
I recommend a min speed of 1MB Download and 768k upload for your broadband. To let you know though I am running it on a 768/128 so it is possible at lower speeds. If you are into more quality then a 3MG/768k could be a good investment without breaking the bank. (Depending on the company)
This method has saved me 2 months of service. In one year at my cheap cable service fee of 30 a month saves 360 a year. If you pay 45 it would save 540, 60 would save 720 a year. Add also that you are maximizing your dollar for your internet service, getting more out of what you are already paying for.
I have also found some shows I wouldn't normally have watched that I found are decent shows. So in a way it has got me watching more which is bad, however when I finally get my elliptical it might not be so bad. I can then do that while I watch shows. I need something to keep me entertained while I do it. So I don't get bored. The bad could turn into a good.
Well I'm out for now. I will blog some soon on the adapters, etc, that you can get or should get and other setup options in part 2. Peace out....
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