Pixelrrific

Cutting Cable TV

For a few months now, my wife and I have eliminated cable TV from our home.  In fact, “cutting the cable” has been easier that I’d expected.  We’ve found several solutions, some of which are free, and some quite inexpensive.  We’ve gone from over $100 per month, to about $18 per month.

OTA (Over the Air)

Many folks just don’t realize that if you live near a city of any significant size, you can receive television for free.  At least after the purchase of a $8 pair of “rabbit ears“.  In my experience, the $50 amplified antennas are a complete waste of money, and do not perform as well as this old fashioned antenna.  Unlike TV before the digital revolution, if the TV station tower is close enough to receive at all, the picture is crystal clear.   A dirty little secret the videophiles might find interesting is that A HDTV with an antenna will deliver better (often far better) video quality that with cable or satelite TV.  Why you may ask?  It’s due to the fact that the boxes used with these services compress the video signal, therefore some quality loss is unavoidable.

A DVR

This would be hard to do without, after owning two TiVos, and several cable company DVRs.   Fortunately, I have a notebook PC running Windows 7.  The addition of a Hauupage HDTV adapter turned it into a DVR.  In fact, Windows Media Center (WMC) offers an interface much better than most any cable company DVR.  Yes, it records TV shows right off those cheap rabbit ears I just mentioned.  It also offers lots of other online content, and can play almost any video file format supported by Windows right on your TV.

ROKU

We added a Roku 2 box to the setup.  It’s a dedicated box, not unlike the Apple TV and the Google TV boxes out there.  Roku offers a wide selection of streaming media.  Unfortunately, much of the content is duplicated, and some comes at a premium cost.  A good deal of content is targeted at tech and gamer youth.  We mainly looked to use this device for Netflix Streaming, and Hulu Plus.  Netflix works great on the Roku.  Far better than it did on our Samsung DVD/BD player.  You can actually add and browse content right on the Roku device.  Yes, a very similar feature is available on WMC, but if the DVR is recording, it’s best not to push it, as it uses quite a bit of processing power.

Hulu and Hulu Plus

Hulu is free online, and offers some of the best TV content on the web.  The Roku only supports the premium “plus” service.  At only $8 a month, it seemed hard to beat.  One huge problem.  On the Roku (and most any other dedicated device) only about 1/2 the content is view-able, and may only be viewed on a PC or Mac.  This is neither the fault of Roku, nor is it that of Hulu.  It has more to due with the (ignorance and/or greed?) of content providers.  There is however a Hulu plugin for WMC that overcomes this problem.

The Results

In actual use, it’s all worked out pretty well these past six months.  The WMC DVR records shows from the major broadcast channels from the local broadcasts.  Netflix streaming, initially off to a weak start when it first appeared, now offers quite a selection of movies and TV content.  Sure, there are some rough spots.  The Roku tends to “hang”, and requires a power cycle almost every time.  The PC occasionally hits a bump due to a Windows update issue, or some other windows issue.  Overall, including all the rough spots, we do not intend to go back.

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