Thinking of turning the cable tv off

hit man cband is the big dish.. http://www.skyvision.com/programming/digital.html#4dtv0 here is the link to the programming. ive been using and supporting cband as the small dish just cost to much but for me since i just have one tv and the prices are right it the best deal going for me

I need to figure this out... Our computer is old and refurbished a few times, and we don't have the highest speed internet, though we can upgrade to get much faster. I wonder if our computer would be compatible to do this, or if I would need to upgrade the computer? How do you know if it has svideo?

ETA: we'd need to have things watchable on the tv somehow, computer screen is teeny tiny!

I like Hulu best so far (though I didn't know about Veoh till I read above - thanks!). It saves your spot if you have to leave and come back, so you don't have to search for your spot. You can also "subscribe" to shows, so it automatically goes to your play list. I am just starting to check out TidalTV.com. They have CBS shows (Hulu is run by Universal that has NBA, USA, etc) along with some HGTV and PBS. The individual network sites are good, too. I agree with Cygnet. There is such a demand for this out there, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see it overtake cable if they don't start working with the audience more.

When our kids were little we disconnected the Tv. Didn't have it for 15 years. Was wonderful. More conversations, More reading, Librairy every week, More outdoor activities and ended up with three very smart kids and great readers. Now just hubby and I and we still don't have Tv. Dont' miss it at all.

We killed our tv quite a few years ago.

Ironically, when DD was in grade school, some folks from a tv show called "Aliens Among Us" came to the school to interview the children. It was a children's tv show and the episodes featured the alien visiting different children around the world to see how they lived. When the crew interviewed the children, they asked them to tell them something interesting about their life at home. When DD told them we don't have tv, they decided to feature her in the show!

They spent the day at our house and taped her and DS fishing, riding dirt bikes, playing catch, playing games, reading, daydreaming, etc. We had a ball with the crew and even took them to the local farmer's market for lunch.

That was one of about 4 times DD was on television. Fortunately, they sent us a video of the episode so at least we were able to see it.

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Check the back of your computer for an svideo port. It's a small round port -- there would be a corresponding port on the back of a newer TV. Laptops are more likely to have this than desktops, but desktops do sometimes have SVideo out. Just depends on what specific features you have.

There are a few ways to get video to a TV from a computer. That's the easiest and most common.

BTW, Svideo just transmits video. You'd still need to use the computer's speakers or hook the computer up to a sound system for audio.

for movies another site is www.watch-movies.net - free, nothing to download, and they even have movies that are currently in theatres (which Im a - too cheap to go to - b - with the kidlets and no sitter impossible- and c I'd rather watch em at my home then w/ a bunch of other people yakking on cell phones or talking the whole way through LOL)

I am 58 years old and have NEVER owned a tv.

I do listen to people who say they have 350 channels and "there's nothing good on".

We were having a family discussion about doing the same last night. I'm sure I could do without it. About the only channel I watch is the Turner Classic Movie channel and I'm starting to grow tired of it.

We haven't had satellite for a couple of years now (no cable out here). We missed it for about a week. We watched mostly things like History channel and science, National Geographic. Our dd watched Noggin (no commercials) preschool channel when she watched.

If we watch tv (rarely), we watch the news, although that's almost worse than watching an R-rated movie!!!! Usually if we sit down to watch something, we watch a video/DVD. We watch alot of M*A*S*H and Andy Griffith....I think we've seen each episode at least 5 times LOL! DD watches either PBS or a movie.....but she's an outside kid, so not too much tv. Moreso in the winter months.

Honestly, you won't miss it. We're hlaf-tempted not to get the converter thing for our tv for this next year. We'll see. We were paying 60.00 a month for satellite, and we could use 60.00 a month in a hundred other ways than on garbage on the boob tube

Shawna

One of the thing that TV does is to make people passive. They don't take active charge of their lives. Kids who have TV all the time don't know how to play -- they must be entertained.

My son gets loads of TV at his dad's house -- and so he gets none here. I hate the extremism of the situation, because I believe in balance in all things, but it's the only way I can balance out the overdose at his other home.

One thing I think bears keeping in mind is the Internet if someone is getting rid of television for "quality time". A computer can be every bit as big of a "boob tube" as a TV. Yes, it is a little more interactive than television, but speaking from experience it can be every bit as time-consuming. I'm SO guilty of wasting time online. In a way, it's worse than television; although I might not find anything worth watching on TV, I can ALWAYS find something time-consuming to do on the Internet. And with television programming moving to the Internet, I think many people (like myself) are simply moving from staring at one little box to staring at another.

When I was a kid, our parents didn't like to get cable either and we lived for some years without it, but they did buy videos for us to watch. As someone else mentioned in an earlier post, as a result, my sister and I spent most of our time playing outside with our pets, riding our bikes, going to the library and reading.

I've always loved having cable though, but must confess I wasted a lot of time watching TV when we had it. Now that we're grown up and manage our own finances, we have gone without cable since 2001 because we simply can't justify the expenditure.

We buy an occasional DVD and are building up a collection of good movies and watch full episodes of shows we like on Hulu. There is another site that offers free viewing called Joost, which I haven't used much but I think is increasing in selection.

I haven't gotten any TV channels in 4.5 years, no anntena at River Cabin!! I don't miss it a bit...well ok, I miss My Name is Earl, but I get that from Netflix!!

Dish would cost me about 70 ish a month here, but Netflix costs me only 20, what a freaking bargain...and I only watch what I really want to watch.

Margie

I have not had cable in ten plus years. we are lucky to get 5 network stations, including PBS. We watch local news, DH watches Seinfeld reruns and network shows like House and Antiques road show.
I noticed when we had cable, many of the movies were played over and over, and were in the five dollar bin at walmart. I bought him over the movies he loved, like the Godfather and band of brothers. Now there is netflix and redbox, I cant see the sense of another bill

It has been a little over a month and I love not having cable anymore.We are having even more family time than before.We are playing lots of board games together among other things.It was a good move to do this.

We turned ours off almost 20 years ago. Raised 3 boys with no tv. We constantly get praises from teachers and church people about our boys and they want to know our secret. I am convinced that no tv is a large part of my boys ability to stay on task and concentrate on a problem until it is solved. My boys also communicate (orally and written) very well and I am convinced that is because they have done a lot of reading instead of watching tv. Our boys also have no cell phones which is another blot on our society (at least the way a lot of people use them).You will never regret turning it off!

Got rid of cable 3.5 years ago.
Have rabbit ears on the tv now.
Don't miss the monthly bill at all !

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Went a step further than just not paying for it we never did that and i have never bought a tv , just get other peoples old ones when they get a new one

the step further , we removed the tv and put it in the basment for 3 moths then broght it back up one day when it was raining to let the kids watch a vido , spiders had gotten in it and it fried right there

so now we do a moth without tv when it seems that the kids are getting to attached to it , but we just unplug and put a blanket over it

We won't have any channels come February even with our worthless box the government forced on us. We're considering getting cable soon, just for the fact that we'll get broadband for the same price we're paying for dial-up and our phone will once again be free to ring. I could do without that last one.

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