05-24-2010, 03:44 PM
I was going to suggest that, too.
If you don't watch sports then I think it's pretty easy to drop cable TV service. I'm not sure how easy it is to find live sports casts on the web -- if you can do that then there's probably NO reason to keep cable, or at least not one that justifies the cost.
I use Hulu all the time. According to their website, 1000kb/s is plenty -- their low end is 450kb/s. You can also use ABC.COM and so forth for TV shows but I watched "V" entirely on Hulu. Hulu typically airs shows 24 hours after they air on TV.
If you have a spare computer you can hook it up to your TV. You may need some converters, depending on what inputs/outputs you have available.
For example, my new TV has a VGA in and a standard 1/8" stereo jack input for sound, which made it very simple to hook my computer to it and it looks awesome.
My old TV has an S-Video input and my old computer has an S-Video output (the circular one) so that worked out. My Windows desktop looked like ass (probably because it's an old rear projection TV rather than LCD) but is literally indistinguishable from standard definition television when I watch Hulu on it. I didn't have to buy any connectors because somewhere along the lines of buying monitors and video cards and keeping all those weird cables I had all the converters and cables I needed.
The biggest problem is just that TV on the computer requires more effort. If Hulu doesn't have the show you want, you might have to check Netflix or Amazon or the website of the station that airs the show or PirateBay. Odds are you can find whatever you want but it may require more effort than sitting on the couch and flipping channels.
I do recommend Netflix if you're going to try this option, by the way. The standard Netflix DVD rental subscription comes with free streaming of a lot of older and foreign films -- sometimes you can stream new stuff but generally their "tens of thousands" of streaming shows are 10+ years old or foreign. I would think Netflix would be especially good to have in a rural area anyway, though.
And you can check "Amazon Video On Demand", which is basically like Hulu except instead of watching commercials, you're paying to watch.
Netflix will also pipe directly to a console system, too. Not sure if Amazon VOD does that. But if you can hook up a computer to your TV then you can just do it that way.
Personally, I'm still wasting money on my cable TV. It is nice to occasionally sit down and just "see what's on" but I'm really not getting my money's worth. Netflix and Hulu are 95% of my TV.
If you don't watch sports then I think it's pretty easy to drop cable TV service. I'm not sure how easy it is to find live sports casts on the web -- if you can do that then there's probably NO reason to keep cable, or at least not one that justifies the cost.
I use Hulu all the time. According to their website, 1000kb/s is plenty -- their low end is 450kb/s. You can also use ABC.COM and so forth for TV shows but I watched "V" entirely on Hulu. Hulu typically airs shows 24 hours after they air on TV.
If you have a spare computer you can hook it up to your TV. You may need some converters, depending on what inputs/outputs you have available.
For example, my new TV has a VGA in and a standard 1/8" stereo jack input for sound, which made it very simple to hook my computer to it and it looks awesome.
My old TV has an S-Video input and my old computer has an S-Video output (the circular one) so that worked out. My Windows desktop looked like ass (probably because it's an old rear projection TV rather than LCD) but is literally indistinguishable from standard definition television when I watch Hulu on it. I didn't have to buy any connectors because somewhere along the lines of buying monitors and video cards and keeping all those weird cables I had all the converters and cables I needed.
The biggest problem is just that TV on the computer requires more effort. If Hulu doesn't have the show you want, you might have to check Netflix or Amazon or the website of the station that airs the show or PirateBay. Odds are you can find whatever you want but it may require more effort than sitting on the couch and flipping channels.
I do recommend Netflix if you're going to try this option, by the way. The standard Netflix DVD rental subscription comes with free streaming of a lot of older and foreign films -- sometimes you can stream new stuff but generally their "tens of thousands" of streaming shows are 10+ years old or foreign. I would think Netflix would be especially good to have in a rural area anyway, though.
And you can check "Amazon Video On Demand", which is basically like Hulu except instead of watching commercials, you're paying to watch.
Netflix will also pipe directly to a console system, too. Not sure if Amazon VOD does that. But if you can hook up a computer to your TV then you can just do it that way.
Personally, I'm still wasting money on my cable TV. It is nice to occasionally sit down and just "see what's on" but I'm really not getting my money's worth. Netflix and Hulu are 95% of my TV.