| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
GeoPierce
Geocacher
Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Posts: 1657
Location: Eden Prairie, MN
|
 Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:00 am Post subject: Sick of paying through the nose for Comcast Cable TV |
 |
|
Anyone else? What other alternatives are there in the metro area that work?
We pay $100 a month for cable tv and DVR (which requires a certain cable package) and mostly watch the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox), History (Pawnstars, American Pickers), Discovery (Mythbusters), HGTV and a few others.
90% of what we watch is recorded to the DVR and watched later.
We have a basic Netflix account and get DVDs and watch shows through the Wii.
I know about Hulu and have watched shows on their a few times but would prefer something that can be watched on our big screen tv without a dedicated computer.
So I figured I'd ask what other people are doing in the metro area?
Thanks for any helpful advice!
_________________
Tupperware doesn't belong in the kitchen! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
bflentje
Geocacher
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 3654
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
If that price does not include Internet, it is high. If you do get Internet, it's in line with being "reasonable" in my mind.
You can do what we do with Charter. Every year or so we call and threaten a move to dish if they don't give us a deal or lower our rates. So far it's always worked.
Some day they'll call my bluff. Which will suck since I have no real intention of moving to a crappy satellite system. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GeoPierce
Geocacher
Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Posts: 1657
Location: Eden Prairie, MN
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
| bflentje wrote: |
If that price does not include Internet, it is high. If you do get Internet, it's in line with being "reasonable" in my mind.
You can do what we do with Charter. Every year or so we call and threaten a move to dish if they don't give us a deal or lower our rates. So far it's always worked.
Some day they'll call my bluff. Which will suck since I have no real intention of moving to a crappy satellite system. |
That price does not include internet, which is another $50 which also seems a little high but I am ok with that. My point is I don't want to pay what others pay because I know there are cheaper solutions out there. I'm just wondering what others do in the metro area.
I've tried calling and they lower the price $10 for 6 months which isn't worth it because then you have to remember to call back again. I'm looking for a permanent solution. I don't want a dish either.
_________________
Tupperware doesn't belong in the kitchen! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RudeRat
Past MnGCA Board
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 713
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
We’ve got Comcast with one premium channel which they gave us free for 6 months, with internet service for $70ish. We just got that deal last week when we went into the Comcast office in Glen Lake where they set us up as brand new customers with all the bennies. Also, I use a second generation Apple TV for Netflix, internet radio, Youtube and video podcasts, plus iTunes content from any of our PC’s through Home Sharing. I love the Apple TV interface, but I wish it had Pandora, Hulu, Revision 3 and a few others. I can also stream over my wifi from one PC using the Netgear Push2TV box that came free with the laptop. I do not have DVR. If I miss it, I miss it. However, if I wanted it, I’d get a cheep TV card for my PC along with the software for a total cost of around $100. I’d load the captured video into iTunes and stream it from there to the Apple TV, or push it to the TV through my laptop.
_________________
Ahhhhhhhh, the power of cheese! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GeoPierce
Geocacher
Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Posts: 1657
Location: Eden Prairie, MN
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| RudeRat wrote: |
| We’ve got Comcast with one premium channel which they gave us free for 6 months, with internet service for $70ish. We just got that deal last week when we went into the Comcast office in Glen Lake where they set us up as brand new customers with all the bennies. |
Wait till it doubles in 6 months. 
Anyone else using some type of DVR setup besides the one that Comcast offers?
_________________
Tupperware doesn't belong in the kitchen! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bflentje
Geocacher
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 3654
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
| GeoPierce wrote: |
| RudeRat wrote: |
| We’ve got Comcast with one premium channel which they gave us free for 6 months, with internet service for $70ish. We just got that deal last week when we went into the Comcast office in Glen Lake where they set us up as brand new customers with all the bennies. |
Wait till it doubles in 6 months.
Anyone else using some type of DVR setup besides the one that Comcast offers? |
Using Charter's DVR service. It's ok. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GeoPierce
Geocacher
Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Posts: 1657
Location: Eden Prairie, MN
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
Anyone use an antenna to watch/record shows on local stations and watch cable shows some other way?
_________________
Tupperware doesn't belong in the kitchen! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Pear Head
Past MnGCA President
Joined: 04 Apr 2004
Posts: 5594
Location: north of Duluth
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
I disconnected my TV about 8 years ago and don't miss it. We get Netflix discs in the mail and that's it. If Netflix doesn't have it then we don't watch it.
_________________
Hmm... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bflentje
Geocacher
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 3654
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 7:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Pear Head wrote: |
| I disconnected my TV about 8 years ago and don't miss it. We get Netflix discs in the mail and that's it. If Netflix doesn't have it then we don't watch it. |
There are only 4 cable channels I would miss. The others I could care less. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
qwerty2582
Past MnGCA Board
Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 457
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 11:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| RudeRat wrote: |
| We just got that deal last week when we went into the Comcast office in Glen Lake where they set us up as brand new customers with all the bennies. |
I walked into the exact same office, asked about what they had, looking for deals and whatever they were doing, and they told me "Call the sales office, they'll have better deals for you"... So congrats on getting good customer service
Personally, I can't stand the fact that it's a legalized monopoly, but I can't (well, actually choose not to) do anything about it... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rustynails
Geocacher
Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 661
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I'm stuck with comcast too. It's a scam paying for all those channels you never watch. You should be able to choose ala carte and just pay for what you watch. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MNMizzou
Geocacher
Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 635
Location: Maple Grove, MN
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| GeoPierce wrote: |
| Anyone use an antenna to watch/record shows on local stations and watch cable shows some other way? |
While it really isn't truly related to your thread, I will say getting the locals off air is the best picture quality you can get, bar none. If you use an antenna you get the full 19mb/s stream delivered, instead of whatever Comcraptic and all the others compress it down to to fit in their bandwidth.
We have Comcraptic, but I use a Tivo, which is nice cause I can hook an antenna up to it as well to get off air signals of the local stations. Price wise it doesn't really save me any money. Unless you have to positively be with the current season of a lot of the cable stuff I would look at how to get those channels delivered alternatively... which some of the niche stuff is hard. I haven't tried much of it yet (although it is on my list of things to do) if you could somehow DVR or capture those episodes. For example if HGTV streams or otherwise makes them available and you could save the episode with Download Helper, then do a conversion to an m4v file via handbrake, I believe there is software that will convert that m4v file on the fly to your tivo. Complicated? Yeah, it just depends on how much you want to save money. Me I probably won't dump Comcraptic any time soon cause I watch too much live sports.
As far as internet goes, I don't know if that Clear is in your part of the metro, but it looks interesting, although they need to up their speeds a bit before I seriously look at them. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
seamusbleu
Geocacher
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 188
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:15 am Post subject: |
|
|
| GeoPierce wrote: |
| Anyone use an antenna to watch/record shows on local stations and watch cable shows some other way? |
I do. I've got comcast for internet and a netflix subscription. I've got a tiny computer under my TV with a wifi connection to the network, a usb remote control and a usb TV tuner. I use it (with win7 media center) as a DVR, to stream "watch instantly" Netflix selections, and also occasionally with Hulu. Total monthly outlay is $45 for internet, $9 for netflix. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
NOSNOW
Geocacher
Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 198
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
| We have Comcast Basic-Basic-Basic service + internet. The only reason we have basic service (local channels only) is that it’s cheaper to have it then not to. We have a DVR that we got somewhere, maybe Ultimate, about 6 years ago. Which work great, it also work with an antenna. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GeoPierce
Geocacher
Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Posts: 1657
Location: Eden Prairie, MN
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
| seamusbleu wrote: |
| GeoPierce wrote: |
| Anyone use an antenna to watch/record shows on local stations and watch cable shows some other way? |
I do. I've got comcast for internet and a netflix subscription. I've got a tiny computer under my TV with a wifi connection to the network, a usb remote control and a usb TV tuner. I use it (with win7 media center) as a DVR, to stream "watch instantly" Netflix selections, and also occasionally with Hulu. Total monthly outlay is $45 for internet, $9 for netflix. |
So you use the computer as the DVR? Does it have a tv tuner card? What's the difference between Home version and Media Center version?
Anyone out there use Linux in the tv setup?
_________________
Tupperware doesn't belong in the kitchen! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
User list
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
