Ditching Cable?

I know this has been covered before, but has anyone have any thoughts/experience on Satellite Direct? Supposedly a small one time fee to download ($50)and then the ability stream 702 US channels. Is it even necessary? Time-Warner just hiked me another$20. Currently we have phone, internet and a fairly basic TV plan w/ HBO (free) but have to pay for the DVR and service. I finally got the O.K. to dump them from the boss, as long as I come up with an adequate alternative. I'll have to keep internet($40-$50), until we get FIOS in our area. I have two spare PCs I can use strictly for TV. What would be a decent way to set them up? I don't need state of the art technology, but don't want any problems either. Also, where do you find listings as to what's on and where?

Suggest making a Boxee if you are going to use a computer.

http://www.boxee.tv/

I use a roku box cause I wanted simple for ease of use with the wife.

Satellite Direct appears to be a scam to me. I think I'd avoid it.

We use Netflix Watch Instantly with a PC to replace paid TV service. For 9 bucks a month, you can't really beat it. Get an antenna (yes, the rabbit ears variety) to pull down the local networks over the air. This, plus Final Gear, pretty much replaces all of our media consumption. For best results, connect your media center PC to your internet connection with a network cable (i.e. not wifi).

If you have a recent flat-panel HDTV, it will have a monitor input on it for a PC, so no adapter equipment needed. If you have a 1080p TV you're trying to drive, you'll probably need a fairly beefy video card. Media Center MkI here had a years-old ATI Radeon 9250 which struggled at 1920x1080 resolution. Media Center MkII has a AMD/ATI Radeon HD 5450, which handles the big screen a lot better. I am fairly certain that nearly anything made in the last 4 or 5 years should drive a 720p (1366x768) screen without issue. Boxee as mentioned above is a great idea - but you will need more horsepower. Refer to minimum system requirements on Boxee's website.

We also use netflix for movies. I don't really miss cable that much.

Another vote for Netflix and then we watch sitcoms, etc the day after showing on the laptops

Netflix, Amazon and iTunes for movies. Bittorent for TV shows and obscure movies I can't buy anywhere. TED (torrent episode downloader) can automate the downloading of torrent files so stuff is waiting for you when you get home. I haven't watched broadcast TV in years, except for sports (and I do that at friends' houses). Commercials suck (go ahead and call me out for leeching off of the networks...I agree I'm bad).

Boxee, Plex (mac) and XBMC are all great ways to organize media. If you've got iphones/ipads you can stream video from your PC to your phone with airvideo and streamtome, which is sometimes nice on the iphone and totally ridiculously awesome on an iPad.

Steer clear of Linux setups because AFAIK there's no way to watch Netflix without Windows or Mac OS.

You might want to consider ~Free To Air~ TV.

You can usually get Public Television plus various local and international channels. There's a lot of religious channels too......if you're into that. Combined with internet, it might be OK.

In two weeks were moving and ditching cable. We've been trying Netflix and Hulu to see if we can survive. Coupled with over the air stations we see no reason to keep giving the CC over a hundred dollars a month.

We're using Roku and Apple TV for our streaming with the Roku being more versatile.

Netflix only and occasional streaming of tv shows from network sites.

I haven't had a dish or cable since October/November. I don't miss it as much as I thought I would, but I don't watch sports.

I don't need the cable TV, but I don't think I can get broadband without cable.

Used to have DSL- that was not too good. Only one cable provider in SW GA. I am not aware of a satellite provider that can handle internet.

We are on Netflix and Hulu only. There are only select shows that I miss. Mostly Discovery Channel. Aside from that it's awesome.

SVreX wrote: I don't need the cable TV, but I don't think I can get broadband without cable.

I have broadband through the cable company without cable tv.

^Same here, we just upped our connection with Cox as well.

I would love to ditch my cable company but would miss most of the races and other sporting events I enjoy. Are there decent solutions for streaming races, football, and baseball?

ALMS is on their website and on ESPN3.com

Some of the others are available online as well.

http://www.tvracer.com/

http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm

Do a search for auto racing streams and you'll get some hits. Nothing is all inclusive though. It would be awesome is Hulu or Netflix picked up this ball and ran with it.

Might be worth posting on the Hulu forums to request more autoracing content:

http://www.hulu.com/discussions/6

We split Verizon fiber-optic Internet with our neighbors downstairs. Over a wireless router, I download stuff at over 2 mbps. Between that and Netflix via the PS3 and through the snail mail (and a $6 homemade HDTV antenna to get the local news for the SWMBO), I don't even remember what cable is, and I don't care to.