Has anyone 'sync'ed your TV with your PC and dropped cable?

by AK - Jeff 31 Replies latest social entertainment

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  AK - Jeff

  Thanx for the info on Magic Jack, sammielee.

  I have wondered how good it was. I currently pay only $29 a month for the bundled phone thru my cable provider - but MJ is a ton less than that. If I cut out TV too, I could get it all for under $50 a month.

  The comment about tv being mostly commercials is right on. I cannot believe how much of that is on there nowadays. I can watch most hour shows on the internet [including minimal internet commercials] in about 40 minutes.

  FNH - Well, mostly for convienience I guess. My monitor is pretty good sized, but bigger would fit the LR instead of the study area. The new TV's are all internet ready I understand, and have tuners of course if one chooses later to go back to cable, whereas PC monitors have no tuner.

  Jeff
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  drwtsn32

  You don't have to watch commercials with cable/satellite either. Just get a DVR. It's the only way to go.
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  AK - Jeff

  Someone on another thread has mentioned Ooma. Anyone ever used this service?

  I didn't see a price, but the demo ad looks good.

  Jeff
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  Dagney

  I agree, the DVR is the best invention ever.

  I work hard and long hours, HQ TV a guilty pleasure. LOL.

  BTW, does any know if I can copy the recorded programs I don't want to lose to a computer?
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  Lady Lee

  I saw a price of 39.00 for the first year and 19.99 to buy a second year

  What I can't find is service to Canadian area codes
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  drwtsn32

  BTW, does any know if I can copy the recorded programs I don't want to lose to a computer?

  Some DVRs like TiVo support this. But the cable company ones don't, as far as I know.

  Personally I just added an external hard drive to my (cable company provided) DVR. It now holds hundreds of hours of programming. I just don't delete the stuff I want to keep.

  You can also get a DVD Recorder and copy shows that way, but it has to be done in real time.
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  Dagney

  Thank you drwtsn32.

  My Dish DVR is about 4 years old, and not HD; I don't think it has a USB port, but I will check. I did get a advert to upgrade to an HD box, which I guess I need to do anyway to get full pop for my new TV. (Boy do I love that thing!! It's wretched excess I'm sure.)

  I was thinking, worse case scenario, play the recorded show (not many) and record on DVD recorder. Wouldn't that work?
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  drwtsn32

  Yep, that should work...and I mentioned it in the last sentence of my post. :)

  If your DVR is that old it probably doesn't support an external hard drive. You'll have to check and see...
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  jwfacts

  I dropped pay tv as I found most of what I watched was on free to air. We now have about 15 free to air channels in Aust.

  I was wondering if anyone has tried Apple TV. I don't know too much about it, but it seems you can use it to find and download HD movies, but have to pay on demand.
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  jwfacts

  I forgot to add, I have a 46" Sony HD LCD. It is great for viewing movies from the laptop, either from the internet or dvd. They are very cheap these days, it cost me less than my 30" picture tube tv 5 years ago.