Cable TV and how to avoid the high costs

[Zorba]

DVR function is very much still a thing for people who still have cable or satellite subscriptions.

Standalone DVR box like a TiVo would only be a thing if you want to record local channels through an antenna tuner like what I talked about. I refuse to pay $75/mo to stream something that's broadcast for free through the air. My uses (sports, which I only watch live) don't require a DVR so I'm not compelled to buy a box just to do that.

I never had a DVR of any kind - stopped recording stuff at the end of the VHS era. TiVo completely turned me off on the idea of the DVR - a stupid subscription service. Then I quit watching TV pretty much altogether, although I'll watch "Gold Rush" or the occasional HGTV show when wife has them up. She was out of town for a week recently - TV was never turned on. She streams a couple or three things, pays something like $20/mo.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I never had a DVR of any kind - stopped recording stuff at the end of the VHS era. TiVo completely turned me off on the idea of the DVR - a stupid subscription service. Then I quit watching TV pretty much altogether, although I'll watch "Gold Rush" or the occasional HGTV show when wife has them up. She was out of town for a week recently - TV was never turned on. She streams a couple or three things, pays something like $20/mo.

I never had TiVo but I had the capability with DirecTV until I cancelled it and went to 100% streaming over a decade ago. It was nice when I was trying to keep up with a series and a social life at the same time, and I enjoyed skipping ads and being able to rewind if I missed an important line of dialog. I never used it as a means to keep a copy of something for long term repeated viewing ...I much prefer a physical copy for that purpose.

Now I have kids and never leave the house, and I can't even name a series that isn't available to watch on a streaming platform, though I suppose there's probably a few that I could catch OTA that are not available on any of my current subscriptions but like music, I'm not sure anything good is being made anymore. Right now my wife and I are going back through and watching The Office (US version) and waiting for the most recent season of Yellowstone to be affordable on the subscriptions we have so we dont have to add another.

We probably spend $30 a month and it's worth no more than that to us so to add Paramount+, something else would have to go.

 

[CreepinDeth]

I worked for Chicagolands master feed for many years. I always had free services from the nations leading company

Been hackin and tinkerin with other “free” stuff for many years as a hobby. Dating as far back as News Servers for bits of movies, napster, Limewire, Kodi, Terra whatever it was called, it all was a massive headache with repeated updates to stay functional

I left the industry and just bought a SuperBox
I get every movie channel in America, Canada, and Europe. I also get every sports channel, every game (even tho I boycotted all sports after kneeling) plus every propaganda channel (“news”) in America for you old timers

3 years later we had to replace it due to it being too old to keep up. $300 a pop for 3 years is VERY cheap. Free PPVs also every Friday and Saturday

With that being said we went from 9 TVs in the house to 5 and we barely watch TV anymore

 

[Zorba]

With that being said we went from 9 TVs in the house to 5 and we barely watch TV anymore

We have, count it, exactly ONE TV.

 

[cliffish]

We have, count it, exactly ONE TV.

we went from 6 to 2, and the one in our bedroom barely gets used.

 

[Zorba]

we went from 6 to 2, and the one in our bedroom barely gets used.

When I was a kid, we peaked at 4 - plus whatever I had at the time in my little TV shop in the shed. Uh, make that 5 - we had one in the camper as well. The most I've had as an adult was 2 - and one of those was in the camper when we used to have one. Always just 1 in the house. I think its about 27 inches, tiny by today's standards but fine for us as we all grew up watching 25 inchers.

 

[cliffish]

When I was a kid, we peaked at 4 - plus whatever I had at the time in my little TV shop in the shed. Uh, make that 5 - we had one in the camper as well. The most I've had as an adult was 2 - and one of those was in the camper when we used to have one. Always just 1 in the house. I think its about 27 inches, tiny by today's standards but fine for us as we all grew up watching 25 inchers.

my eyes are old, have a 71" in the den, then a 42 in the bedroom. When watching hockey on the smaller one I still can't see the puck.

 

[wigsajumper]

During Football Season we get Youtube TV for the local channels usually about $86 a month. I get the wife Sunday Ticket so she can watch her Dallas Cowboys and have the Redzone. After Superbowl I suspend the service until September or whenever the wife says she wants to watch preseason games. If it wasn't for Football I wouldn't even bother.

 

[Zorba]

my eyes are old, have a 71" in the den, then a 42 in the bedroom. When watching hockey on the smaller one I still can't see the puck.

Our daughter has one of those gargantuan oversized jobbers. Like my dad used to say, "I want to SEE the movie, not be in it!".

 

[freedom_in_4low]

We have one 55" that the entire family uses, and I have a 32" in my office that just goes between YT and Pandora while i work. As for actually watching TV (not counting YT background noise) we don't do it much by modern standards. The wife and I might watch a movie or a few episodes of a series 1 or 2 nights a week after the kids go to bed, and the kids will watch a movie or two on weekend evenings if it's dark early or inclement weather.

 

[Apparition]

Our daughter has one of those gargantuan oversized jobbers. Like my dad used to say, "I want to SEE the movie, not be in it!".

Being in it is the only way and you better have a full sound system to make it so. Oh and rumble chairs.

 

[cliffish]

Our daughter has one of those gargantuan oversized jobbers. Like my dad used to say, "I want to SEE the movie, not be in it!".

Well then your dad certainly would not like the 122" projection TV my son uses in our PA house. You do feel like you are in the video game with the surround sound and subwoofer.

 

[red02tj]

I’m very happy with YouTubeTV
https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/
Works with any recent smartTV with the all built in or you can buy their dongle

No contracts, easy to add and remove premium channels or sports packages.

 

[CreepinDeth]

Well then your dad certainly would not like the 122" projection TV my son uses in our PA house. You do feel like you are in the video game with the surround sound and subwoofer

Same here
Basement family 13’ 4K 2 row theater
Klipsch & Onkyo surround, mostly for Playstation

This is the main family room
120” projector replaced a 65”
Klipsch surround