Do you even TV Bro ?

The wife noticed a piece of mail left on the table last night, an advertisement solicitation from Charter Cable - "our internet provider" wanting to (Upgrade) our service to include a cable television package with our internet service for only 40 bucks more a month (basic - much more for premium packages)
As we were looking at it my wife asked me
"When was the last time we watched an actual TV for anything ?"
I didn't have an answer for that as I cant even remember the last time any of the 4 TV's we have have even been turned on.
We have movie times each week that we watch a movie together, but always do it with one of the laptops out in the garage while having cigars together so no need for a TV there, and to watch videos she uses one of her laptops, I will use one of mine or my desktop PC, even when I'm playing video games I use my desktop PC over the PS or Xbox every time, and for local news or shows I use a laptop while on my favorite chair

So, with all the availability of the same content on the internet and devices like laptops, pads, smart phones and such for free .. (sometimes it takes a little looking around but it is all there - free) and who doesn't have internet now days
1 - Do you use the TV in your home regularly
&
2 - If you don't and use the net mostly like I do, why or what would compel you to "purchase" TV service and justify the price for it ?

When I asked my brother in law about it this morning he said "Ya, thinking about it, I don't really use the TV. I have a cable TV package that costs me right at 140.00 bucks a month, , and I've had it forever and it's just one of those things your suppose to have, and even though I probably don't need it, it's there if I want to use it I guess"

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roland_7707

We cut the satalite cables after dish charged us continually for porn that we would never order. And even after locking our account and talking to managers it happened for 3 months after. So nope no tv for us. We watch seasons of shows on dvd, but no tv service.

Unicorn

Sports. That and my kids would die if they couldn't watch Power Rangers or Disney Channel. And then I'd die because I'd never get anything done around the house.

danielzreyes

I watch a lot of sports, wifey loves her reality nonsense and the kids really dig SpongeBob in HD. TV is good stuff

danielzreyes

Unicorn:
Sports. That and my kids would die if they couldn't watch Power Rangers or Disney Channel. And then I'd die because I'd never get anything done around the house.

Amy Jo Johnson is still a hottie

avengethis

I watch a lot of sports that are not on locals that you cannot find online either. I enjoy watching many different series of shows that are not available on hulu or netflix either and I'm not going to go buy dvd's for something I will watch once. During the summer I watch a lot less TV but during the winter when its so damn cold out there is not much else to do. I also have my xbox that I spend time on as well.

W1REB1TER

living in japan for the past 4 and a half years made me realize how little i need actual tv service. when i move pack i plan on just getting internet. since almost anything i could want to watch i can on the internet.

jd50ae

Cops, Forensic Files, Cops Reloaded, Cold Case Files, 48 Hours, Homicide Hunter, John Taffer, Gordon Ramsey, a lot of movies (commercial free only), The Last Ship, SVU, Blue Bloods, a lot of "news", Drugs Inc., some football, Modern Family (once in awhile), Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, The Walking Dead, The Five (once in awhile), Swamp People, NCIS, Below Deck, Storage Wars, Mystery Diners, Epic Ink, Ink master and a few others. But all recorded and I zip thru commercials. Yea, I need my TV.

But I never fall sleep watching TV.

smoke em if you got em

Sports and decent movies on from time to time. There are a few shows the wifey and I watch together. Kids don't watch much tv during the school week..but come summer time that's another story!

honorknight7

Unicorn:
Sports. That and my kids would die if they couldn't watch Power Rangers or Disney Channel. And then I'd die because I'd never get anything done around the house.

This I don't think about as my kids are all in there 20's, the grand kids do love watching cartoons when here but just watch netflix kids on a laptop to do it – they can each get there own laptop to watch different shows so no fighting over the show

avengethis:
I watch a lot of sports that are not on locals that you cannot find online either. I enjoy watching many different series of shows that are not available on hulu or netflix either and I'm not going to go buy dvd's for something I will watch once. During the summer I watch a lot less TV but during the winter when its so damn cold out there is not much else to do. I also have my xbox that I spend time on as well.

Also I'm not a (TV) sports fan, LOVE LOVE LOVE going to games, but hate watching it on TV and have netflix, also watch a lot on cokeandpopcorn but have not found Any show I couldn’t find free on the internet within a few minutes, but haven’t tried that with sports so ya sports might be a good TV package only thing, especially if wanting to watch it while its happening and not later on, and I used to play xbox quite a lot until I got into PC modded gaming

jd50ae:
Cops, Forensic Files, Cops Reloaded, Cold Case Files, 48 Hours, Homicide Hunter, John Taffer, Gordon Ramsey, a lot of movies (commercial free only), The Last Ship, SVU, Blue Bloods, a lot of "news", Drugs Inc., some football, Modern Family (once in awhile), Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, The Walking Dead, The Five (once in awhile), Swamp People, NCIS, Below Deck, Storage Wars, Mystery Diners, Epic Ink, Ink master and a few others. But all recorded and I zip thru commercials. Yea, I need my TV.

But I never fall sleep watching TV.

I do watch a lot of shows like this just do it with a laptop, even in bed most nights, even take a laptop to watch a show while taking a nice hot Epsom salt bath too

and the site(s) I use mostly for the free shows don't have commercials either

This brings up a related question, since I don’t have need for a TV package to pay for BUT use the Internet massively at the house I pay right at 80.00/m for high end cable internet (including the wifi router). Is that normal or more then what you pay for while having a TV service also ?

twistedstem

Actually watch more then we should probably.have a few shows I'm kinda hooked on.elementary,C.S.I ( the Nevada one none of the spin offs) watch the McFarlane cartoons american dad,family guy,bobs burgers.and a decent amount of sports watch the NASCAR stuff.and the occasionall football game.

WaltBasil

Oh, I TV, bro.

I loves me my entertainment. I'm a loner. I drink alone. Smoke alone. I 've got my wife, so I'm not really alone. But I don't venture out to be with friends much. No clubbing. If I'm outside the house, I'm biking, camping, hiking, etc. Most of my friends are online. Most of my spare time is spent watching movies/TV shows. Just this weekend alone I watched Season 3 of Hell on Wheels (netflix) and brought myself current with HoW Season 4 (DVR). That's a binge. I also managed to make 2 loaves of French Bread, a batch of brownies, a pot of beans, and my pizza. so if I wasn't smoking or cooking, I was watching the panel.

We've a 24" hanging in the kitchen to watch while seated at our bar. Has an AppleTV attached as well as my wireless uVerse. Watch live news, or DVR'ed TV shows, along with TV shows on netflix. Maybe games. Nothing that requires decent sound to really enjoy.

My pride and joy is the 80-inch aquas hanging on my living room wall. The living room is basically my theater - specifically built without windows or anything else, walls painted a dark color. I built in the speaker placement as the house was built so the entertainment unit plugs into the wall - speakers already wired and mounted (5.1). Also have a theater style popcorn machine, and have seriously considered (and still considering) building in a soda fountain that will have Coke and Diet coke on tap (due to the shear amount of sode we consume: 10-15 cases a month between the two of us). You see, I hate going to the theater. Love the movie, hate the people there distracting me from my movie. So it's very rare I go to an actual theater. Usually once or twice a year, and has to be something I'm really passionate about: Star Trek or Planet of the Apes, etc. All other movies get watched in my own "theater." So I've got an AppleTV and the main uVerse box HDMI'ed into my Onkyo receiver distirbuting the sound.

For my cable, I still have premium package with Showtime so that I can still watch current episodes of Shameless and Homeland. Once I tire of them, Showtime is gone. I've got to keep the tier of TV that allows for AMC/FX/FXX/ etc. where most of my TV shows I watch are still being first ran. Sitcoms and games I can settle for watching on the kitchen TV, but my main shows and movies must be watched on the big screen through the sound system. I never could settle for watching any shows on a phone or computer or ipad screen. I need that full experience.

I've also got a 55" hanging in my work out room in front of my teadmil. I only watch the morning news on there as I'm running my 2 miles every Mon-Wed-Fri.

jgibv

honorknight7:
1 - Do you use the TV in your home regularly

Yes.

Kind of.

We have 3 TVs in the house (living room & upstairs bedroom TVs are on frequently ... basement TV is rarely used, going to move it to the garage if I ever run new electric & cat6 out there).

I run a networked CableCard tuner box with 3 tuners, and HTPC box to serve all our "home media needs".
HTPC box has a 3 TB HDD so lots of room for storage.
Almost everything we watch is "pre-recorded" so we can skip over commercials.
(Even though wife never skips the commercials and it drives me effing nuts)

So as far as live TV, eh don't watch it too much.
I'll watch sports (college football and NHL hockey) and wife will often watch HGTV/cooking shows just to "zone out".

But 90% of what we watch is "time-shifted" DVR content, DVD rips, downloaded content, or streaming web content.
The cool part is that all live tv channels & saved content can be viewed "network wide" so we can watch everything on any networked device (HTPC, laptops, PS3, X360).
The only exception is the iPad, haven't found a good way to watch live tv on that yet, too laggy.

honorknight7:
2 - If you don't and use the net mostly like I do, why or what would compel you to "purchase" TV service and justify the price for it ?

I was "ok" with paying $120/month for cable and internet through ATT Uverse. But that was just an "intro offer" and they kept raising the rates and their customer service was absolutely horrible, so I finally told them to F off and cancelled it.

Switched providers and got all of my own equipment now....
Now paying $85/month now, for the same services I had with uverse, and couldn't be happier.

If we could get HGTV/Cooking/etc. online for my wife to watch, I'd consider downgrading or maybe even cancelling our TV package....but they don't have streaming/on demand services for those channels AFAIK.

dr_frankenstein56

yup.... porn and cartoons. the occasional how its made.

Aj

The3Stogies

I prefer the radio myself, get more done. My wife has to have the tv on. If there is a tv on I find myself watching it from time to time but there are very few television shows I will sit and watch while they are on. So many freakin commercials, you pay through the *** for cable and get more ads then I ever saw. Usually just DVR what I want to watch and zip through the commercials. Or put in a 3 Stooges DVD, lol. Got a ton of old shows and movies on DVD's.

Had the same isp but been switching from cable to dish to get the intro discounts, then switch back. Either way it is expensive for what you get vs what you actually watch. Could get a digital antennae and go that route for local channels for free, that's on the table too. Too bad you couldn't pick your channels al la carte, end up with a few select channels and much smaller bills. Gotta admit most of the middle channels are crap and should go away anyway.

1 It's usually on but no one sitting and watching it.

2 Had to have it for the wife, happy wife, happy life. Not that I don't watch it too.

jlmarta

Nope. Ours is turned on at 5 PM for an hour of talking heads loosely called "news". It then gets turned off. So much for our tv'ing.

I pay for the full load of channels from Dish Network on the premise that I might want to watch something one of these days. How stupid is that??

But here's the good news. A friend recently turned me on to an antenna that'll pull in stations from as far away as 150 miles, HD, FM, all the channels that we would normally watch (and pay for) and it's got a remote controlled rotator built in. All this for less than $50. My friend lives in the same city as I do and says his antenna exceeds his pre-purchase expectations. He's ecstatic!

Can you guess what I ordered?? I plan to cut the cord to cable or dish tv as soon as I get it mounted and tested and it performs as my friend says it does. I envision a hefty increase in my cigar budget shortly afterward.

blutattoo

Well I use to work for the evilest of all cable providers so I still have every channel available, minus porn and PPV. Increasingly I watch more and more stuff online, but I'm not sure I could live without sports on TV. I am eagerly waiting for the day when we can a la carte channels rather than pay for loads of crap I would never watch. I got free cable/internet/phone for two years as a part of my severance package. Once that expires I'm seriously considering ditching it. I can't afford $200+ a month. My 100mbps internet will cost 80 by itself, so I think that is about standard for cable or fiber optic.

jgibv

jlmarta:
I plan to cut the cord to cable or dish tv as soon as I get it mounted and tested and it performs as my friend says it does. I envision a hefty increase in my cigar budget shortly afterward.

Just in case your friend didn't show you this site yet....check it out. http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29
You enter your address and it shows you the direction and strength of nearby OTA signals. Pretty handy IMO

jlmarta

jgibv:
jlmarta:
I plan to cut the cord to cable or dish tv as soon as I get it mounted and tested and it performs as my friend says it does. I envision a hefty increase in my cigar budget shortly afterward.
Just in case your friend didn't show you this site yet....check it out. http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29
You enter your address and it shows you the direction and strength of nearby OTA signals. Pretty handy IMO

Yep. That's the info that comes with this antenna. It shows reception in my area is great. I can't wait.....

perkinke

Sports and HBO is about it. Once (if?) Google gets a deal in place for their service and I can get HBO without cable I'll happily ditch mine.