(most recent thread was from 09)


So I need internet and I'm on the fence about having cable. If I have it great and if I don't oh well but I don't want to spend over $85 unless it can shoot rainbows or something. I'm open to any ideas or alternative companies tww may have in mind.

7/7/2011 10:39:49 PM

Stay away from Sprint. TWC has a 1 year deal for around $30 for just roadrunner with no t/v service. Prolly your best bet.

7/7/2011 10:44:21 PM

Fuck cable TV. Get broadband internet and a subscription to netflix. Combine that with all the other sites on the internet where you can watch videos and you should have plenty of entertainment. Instead of clicking through channels or watching something I didn't really want to watch I can just pick something that interests me. No commercials, ever.

It's seriously the best thing, I think my life became a lot better when I stopped watching regular TV.

7/7/2011 10:48:31 PM

To people who do not have cable TV and use netflix -- Can you give me some pros and cons? I am seriously considering doing this in my new apartment.

7/8/2011 10:34:54 AM

Live sports is the only real reason to have cable or sattelite anymore. If all you watch is shows and movies, you're fine with some combination of Hulu, torrents, Netflix and good old rabbit ears.

7/8/2011 10:36:59 AM

Just don't come into my Game of Thrones thread and bitch that you haven't seen the latest episode yet because you can't find it on a torrent.

7/8/2011 10:39:13 AM

location needed

7/8/2011 10:39:36 AM

I dont have cable....only a HTPC with Netflix connected to the livingroom TV.

It's not all that bad...I dont miss cable except for live sports.

The only drawback I see to this setup is that you cant just walk into the livingroom and turn on the TV and have something automatically playing (well, I know you can set this up, but it's not the same)...know what I mean? You have to sit down and hunt for something you want to watch. I sit in silence quite a bit as I look for something interesting to watch.

7/8/2011 10:44:09 AM

Quote :

"Live sports is the only real reason to have cable or sattelite anymore. If all you watch is shows and movies, you're fine with some combination of Hulu, torrents, Netflix and good old rabbit ears. "

I would miss all the premium shows i watch the most (dexter,treme,californication,true blood etc). i could go with the netflix, and watch them when they're released to DVD i spose, but then that's a lot of waiting, and patience has never been my strong suit. plus the torrent thing seems like it would be a lot of overhead...maybe it's worth it to save dollar bucks tho...



[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 10:59 AM. Reason : V yeah thats that other thing, i rather avoid the whole 'breaking the law, breaking the law" thing]

7/8/2011 10:45:11 AM

Not to mention, it's technically illegal and while you're probably not going to get busted, if you got in trouble for something else they might check your computer to throw other charges at you.

7/8/2011 10:48:14 AM

I have road runner only. The nice thing is that you don't have to pay taxes and fees for internet service. It's $49.95 always. Every month. We watch TV shows on Hulu and other internet sites. It's not a bad deal at all. Also, as a bonus, we experimented by plugging the coax into the tv to see what would happen. We found out that we get about 80 standard cable channels and some location ones in HD.

[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 10:50 AM. Reason : -]

7/8/2011 10:50:16 AM

Just think, you're spending roughly $50 more a month (~$600/year, estimated cost of having TV w/ premium channels in addition to internet) to watch True Blood, Dexter, and whatever else right when it comes on. Finding torrents is easy, and if you get an Xbox or PS3 (or I'm sure any other device you need for Netflix on TV anyway) you can stream the video files to your TV.

This thread has a lot of info

message_topic.aspx?topic=609601

Are new episodes of Dexter/Futurama/Breaking Bad on Hulu Plus?

[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 10:53 AM. Reason : lkj]

[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 11:01 AM. Reason : more]

7/8/2011 10:51:39 AM

I hate you all. Satellite is a necessary evil in my life.

I won't pay for Showtime or HBO. HBO I might consider one day. I just wait those shows out on DVD. If you have Showtime and HBO your bill should be waaaay more than $50 a month.

[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 10:57 AM. Reason : .]

7/8/2011 10:54:31 AM

Quote :

"To people who do not have cable TV and use netflix -- Can you give me some pros and cons? I am seriously considering doing this in my new apartment."

after much going back and forth, my boyfriend and i decided to get rid of our cable for good last month. honestly, we haven't looked back. we use Netflix, we subscribe to Hulu Plus, and we have Apple tv so it pretty much covers everything we would watch on cable for a fraction of the cost. i have also noticed i am less prone to turn on the tv just to "watch something." every few days i'll turn on the tv and flip through Netflix or Hulu plus and see if anything interesting is on and if so, i'll watch it and if not, then i turn the tv back off.

7/8/2011 11:57:29 AM

Quote :

"Also, as a bonus, we experimented by plugging the coax into the tv to see what would happen. We found out that we get about 80 standard cable channels and some location ones in HD."

make sure TWC never finds out about this or they will come and put a filter on your line to block all those channels

I, too, have TWC for internet only and that was the first thing the guy did when he came to install

I can get by with Netflix and DVDs, and Hulu or watchseries.eu for anything that netflix doesn't have.

[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 12:35 PM. Reason : .]

7/8/2011 12:34:48 PM

^It's my understanding that there are a few channels that they can't block with a filter because they fall within range of the allowed spectrum. That may have changed though. I still don't think it should be that many channels

7/8/2011 1:11:00 PM

^^add a television package for a month or two then cancel it. Chances are that they won't waste time doing a truck roll to put the filter back on.

^With suddenlink I always had the broadcast networks (HD included) with internet only. It was my impression that they couldn't filter them out, but I tried the same thing at my buddy's house and he couldn't pick up any channels.

7/8/2011 1:18:11 PM

When I moved into this place, I hooked up a cable to the outlet and didn't get a signal, and still didn't get anything after activating an internet only plan. The tenants before me having DirecTV probably didn't help either

7/8/2011 5:16:55 PM

blow up your tv
throw away your paper

7/8/2011 5:26:05 PM

search for TWC and time warner in the tech talk. theres bunch of threads on this type of stuff

7/8/2011 6:21:57 PM

there's no way the most recent thread was from 09 - a new one of these comes up every few months

7/8/2011 8:25:10 PM

then provide a link

7/8/2011 8:40:24 PM

Quote :

"To people who do not have cable TV and use netflix -- Can you give me some pros and cons? I am seriously considering doing this in my new apartment."

Pros:

- I never see commercials, ever, and never get horrible jingles in my head or have to see the stupidity that flows from America's marketing companies.
- The content on netflix is updated fairly regularly and includes a lot of stuff you might not watch normally or see normally in a video rental store.
- Netflix keeps track of what I like and suggests similar things, which can be very handy for finding new titles sometimes. There's all sorts of movies out there that you'd probably like that you've never even heard of.
- It's cheap as fuck and the quality is as good as your internet connection.
- If the net goes out you can probably watch it on your smartphone.
- New releases can usually be had with the DVD service, which does cost a bit more (I might get it anyway because I think all the old star trek series are DVD only ).
- Anything you want to watch starts instantly, whenever you watch it, without you paying the additional fee for a goddamn DVR which can't store anywhere near the amount of content netflix has available for streaming at any given time.

Cons:
- Newer stuff isn't available until it becomes a bit older.
- If the internet is being particularly shit you will have no TV (though I guess if the internet goes out, the cable is probably out as well).
- Watching netflix on your TV requires some sort of device that will stream it (a game console, a google TV box, another type of digital media system or HTPC).
- A lot of shows will never be on netflix.
- If you use the DVD system, the cycle time might start to bother you.
- This definitely isn't a con for me but some people like watching sports and 24 hour news networks.

Other Thoughts:
- Netflix has more movies I think where Hulu has more TV shows.
- The quality is pretty damn nice on netflix, and with a decent media device/HTPC you can get lots of entertainment from youtube, netflix, and elsewhere on the internet through your TV.
- There are many shows that are available in torrents on many websites. No, they aren't exactly legal, but nobody's exactly having a witchhunt to arrest all the people downloading these like the RIAA was over pirated music.
- They wanted to charge me something closer to $90/mo for internet + digital cable that would be filled with advertisements and shit ass TV shows I would never watch. Instead I pay $50/mo for internet plus ~$8/mo for netflix. I enjoy using my TV more than since I bought it in 2007 because now it's easy to find shit that I actually want to watch.
- Rocko's modern life is on Netflix. ROCKO'S GODDAMN MODERN LIFE! It's worth it just for that.

[Edited on July 8, 2011 at 11:36 PM. Reason : fart]

7/8/2011 11:35:13 PM

Quote :

"Fuck cable TV. Get broadband internet and a subscription to netflix. Combine that with all the other sites on the internet where you can watch videos and you should have plenty of entertainment. Instead of clicking through channels or watching something I didn't really want to watch I can just pick something that interests me. No commercials, ever. It's seriously the best thing, I think my life became a lot better when I stopped watching regular TV."

qft

7/8/2011 11:56:15 PM

I lived in another city for 7 months last year, did Netflix for first 5 months and gave into cable the last 2.

Netflix was great. Between the instant content and the mailed DVD's, I had an infinite supply of quality TV and movies. The only things I missed were Comedy Central, ESPN, and Mythbusters. I only got cable because I wanted to see Monday Night Football and my company was paying for it anyway. Plus, it's so damn convenient to just hear about a new show and set the DVR.

Now I'm moving to a house and it's decision time again. I wouldn't mind paying $20/month for Netflix and Hulu. But two other people will be living there and they probably want cable. When you add up all the boxes involved, it's going to be $100/month. It doesn't feel right to pay $1200/year to watch a handful of shows live.

Can anybody speak to the quality or quantity of broadcast channels that new TV's can receive, and/or what you can get from an HDTV Antenna?

7/9/2011 8:28:54 AM

^ My best friend has one and she loves it because she rarely ever watchs tv and just wants to convenience of being able to turn it on, play, and not have to look for anything. She doesn't care that the choices are pretty limited.

However, I know from being over there she doesn't get that many channels and I know she definatly doesn't get

Quote :

"Comedy Central, ESPN, and Mythbusters"

. I'm glad she likes it but I know after seeing hers that I wouldn't get one

7/9/2011 10:22:18 AM

So I'm leaning twards the Netflix and Hulu Plus with my bluray payer but had a question with TWC internet plans

Quote :

" Road Runner® Broadband Extreme (up to 30 Mbps) $50 Road Runner® Broadband Turbo (up to 15 Mbps) $40 Road Runner® Broadband (up to 10 Mbps ) $30 "

Since I'll be streaming things will it lock up with the slower internet choice? I don't know how many Mbps it would take to stream a movie and still play on the internet

7/9/2011 10:36:46 AM

The 10mbps service should cover it OK. I forget, but I think the extreme service is that new Docsis 2.0 3.0 fuck you.0 that will provide you more bandwidth than you need for just streaming movies.

TWC's regular cable roadrunner service does have a way of slowing the fuck down during busy times, however. It's never been a problem for me while using netflix, though.

7/9/2011 12:13:19 PM

5mbps+ is all you need to stream w/o buffering.

I did it at my current place with a 1.5Mbps connection. Took about 5 or 10 minutes to buffer but it was fine after that.

7/9/2011 12:13:22 PM