Though I do have original thoughts from time to time — often once or twice a week — I cannot claim ownership of most of the inspiration for this post. Many have done it before us. I'm merely a follower.
We got rid of our DirecTV subscription and turned to the internet for almost all of our content.
Gasp!
Yeah, welcome to 2009. Truth be told, though, it's something I've wanted to do for a while now. There's been one hangup in that plan, though: sports. How will we watch the Cubs? What about the Tour? What about just turning on a college football game in the fall? And will it be in HD? We've had HD for three years now. We're not turning back.
We got a PlayStation 3 in November as part of a basement remodel, ostensibly for gaming, but also because we needed a DVD player down there anyway. As I explored its capabilities more, though, dumping DirecTV made more and more sense. There's a TON of on-demand content from Netflix and Hulu Plus, and it costs $16 per month. Total. We can get live local programming in HD via a digital TV antenna.
But what of the Cubs? MLB.tv, the streaming arm of Major League Baseball, has a season pass for $100. That's for all the games, not just the Cubs. And if its broadcast in HD, you get it in HD. The only thing we're missing is the Royals, since we're in their broadcast territory. If you've seen the Royals since, 0h, 1985, you know that's not really a loss.
The Tour can be handled online, too — Versus offers an HD streaming package for $35. A tether to the computer will handle that. And ESPN3 — another streaming channel (thanks for the info Ben and Jeremy) — will fill in the gaps, though not in full HD. But considering how much we actually, truly watch ESPN, it's not a big deal.
The only real problem in all of this was what to do about the upstairs TV (we have a split-level house, which basically has a formal living room and a finished basement/family room). Since we use both spaces equally (upstairs in the early evening, like when Jack is playing and we're cooking), we wanted content on both TVs.
We started checking into a Mac Mini, which could use the TV as a monitor and do everything the PS3 can do, plus store more movies and music. But after going through the specs and looking at an $800 computer, we reconsidered. "Why does it cost so much to mimic the features built into the PS3?"
— Original thought ahead! —
"Wait. Wait wait wait! Why don't we just get another PS3? It's $300. The only thing we'll be missing on the upstairs TV is ESPN3 and the Tour (which are web-browser only). It's less than half the price of a computer and way easier to use."
Jackpot.
We went to the Furniture Mart on Saturday to get a couch for the basement, picked up another PS3 and got to business. We pulled the plug on DirecTV later in the afternoon.
Initial costs aside — $300 for the PS3, $35 for the computer-to-TV cables and $40 for another digital TV antenna — we'll be knocking $45/month off of our monthly bills. And as far as I can tell, we're not really missing anything. If anything, we have way more to watch.
Like I said above, we're far from the first members of this bandwagon. But damn if it doesn't feel good to not have to pay that $78 bill every month.
6 comments:
Good job dude. I keep wanting to do the same thing but just can't seem to do it.
How is the hulu plus? Do you get the shows the day they are aired or the day after?
I keep wanting to do this but can't seem to make the leap. One day I will be persuaded.
You get shows on Hulu Plus the day after, plus the entire season's archive. Many shows have the entire catalog, too.
Think of it this way: If you miss a show on Thursday night, you probably don't have time the rest of the night to watch it, either. That's the case for me, at least.
Bryan, did you catch the conversation between Paul and I? Or do you not have a Cox line running to your house? If you do, it's worth a try to see if they port the free digital stations to your line. More channels and absolutely no interference. Worth a shot.
We get the digital stations through the air, Mike. Also, we don't have a Cox line, so ... nevermind.
Ah, I see. How is your signal? I did some research on this whole thing before I found the Cox line solution. A couple great websites:
tvfool.com lets you input your address and find out what stations are in your area and what kind of antenna you need.
DTV USA Forum has a ton of really knowledgeable people to help with questions.
There's also a couple sites that explain how to make a really receptive HDTV antenna out of coat hangers and wood. I would've tried that had I not found my solution.
Yay free/cheap stuff!
We have excellent reception for everything except KPTM. But it's Fox, so it's not like we're missing anything there, anyway.
The antenna sites ... yeah, I know. I wrote about how to get good digital TV reception in a former life.
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