aka an anti-commercial
A few weeks ago, DirectTV irritated the crap out of my husband (Long story…I won’t get into it here.) so we disconnected our service. After looking into other alternatives, we finally decided to forgo any additional television hookups. Here’s why:
I’ve been a proponent of a la carte cable for years now. I like the idea of being able to pick and choose the channels I actually watch, and paying for them accordingly, rather than having to pay $60+ a month for a bunch of crap I don’t care about. Obviously, cable and satellite companies aren’t gonna go for that. Nowadays, though, I can do it myself. That’s because most of the shows I watch are available online for free. For the past two weeks, for example, we’ve signed onto “24” at hulu.com on my hubby’s work laptop, hooked the laptop up to our television, and voila! All set to go, with fewer commercials than we get on regular tv. We’ve done the same with Netflix ‘watch instantly’ movies, The Daily Show/Colbert Report, The Office, and a few other Must See TV shows. AND we’re saving $60+ per month. Sweet!
The only downside is that there’s no way to get New England Sports Channel online, which means no Red Sox games. We’ve been listening to them on the radio, which is cool, but I miss Don & Remy. We’ll have to work on that one…
R.J. Keller 
OK. Here’s where my technological inadequacies really become evident. I had no clue you could hook the computer to the TV. I would have never thought of that in a million years. I am going to be one dumb old lady one day.
I can’t take credit. It was all my hubby’s doing. 😀
I use a roku player for Netflix and Amazon On Demand content – no computer hookup necessary.
I getting ready to set an entertainment center with a desktop plugged into the TV and stereo. All my music and video will be on the hard drive and instantly accessible.
I’ve been thinking about doing something like that myself — glad to hear that someone is making it work.
We used disconnect our cable about once a year (if not more), but we never made it without it more than two-three months (never all through the winter). Now that we got Tivo, we need to give it something to record. But Hulu is so cool, isn’t it?
Sounds like you’re doing something cool, Kel. Especially where you’re saving $60. So you get high points for that.
I’ve never had cable, so I’ve never thought I was missing much. Give me the news and one particular late night show and I’m a happy camper. Just don’t deprive me of music or I’ll go crazy.
Newer computer & laptops have a very simple HD connection to TV, so you can have HD programs & watch blu-ray HD DVDs. You can record live TV & replay it when you wish.
It’s more complicated to connect older computers to the telly, but rarely impossible. Most of us aren’t technophobes, but most of us know someoone who is. get help!
I really like Hulu. My wife and I watch almost all of our shows on there. Except for Castle, and ABC plays it on their website.
R.