Category Archives: Entertainment

Cable TV free

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We have done it. As of yesterday, we are Cable TV free. Cable boxes were returned, bill adjusted (just $59 per month for Internet & basic cable), and now figuring out what to do next. The price drop is over $70 from our previous cable bill.

So far so good. We definitely have watched a lot less TV, although we haven’t been home much either. When we were home yesterday and this morning, my 4-year-old nephew was over, so I ended up streaming cartoons for him over Netflix. Including the original Popeye cartoon from 1936, which was really neat to watch with him.

While my bedroom TV can see the few Clear QAM channels in HD, my 2007 era living room TV cannot (it only sees the SD versions). This is something that will need to be rectified. I may experiment with a TV antenna just to see what channels are in the area.

I’ve begun to think of what is next. I’m seriously considering a Mac Mini server & home theater computer. Combined with the Elgato EyeTV we could work around the HD issue I mentioned in the previous paragraph, record anything on basic cable worth recording, and also have a centralized server for movies, music, etc. Then use an AppleTV for easy access. Another option would to build a Windows Media Center PC as that seems like fun to play with, although it seems to have its own annoyances.

I also have been wondering whether to get a receiver and start building a home theater sound system. The problem I’ve had so far is that all of the receivers I have found are bulky, have tons of connections & buttons I would never use, and aren’t my definition of simple. There are also very few that are even Energy Star qualified. Where is the Apple of home theater receivers when you need one?

Operation Cable TV free so far appears to be successful. More updates to come.

Going cable free

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Tonight my wife and I decided that by the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs (roughly a week or so from now), we are going to turn in our Cable TV boxes and go Cable TV free as an experiment this summer.

Why we are doing this:

  • It is the summer, let’s get out and enjoy it instead of sitting in a chair being zombies.
  • Online options (Netflix, iTunes, and similar services) are now very viable options for when we want to watch TV.
  • The only time we watch TV is for local news & sports. Here is the kicker though…we rarely watch the sports, we just listen to it while doing other things. Use the radio for that, much cheaper.
  • We want to do more reading, work on our condo, and hopefully be moving into a house this summer. The last thing we need to do is be distracted by whatever is on the Food Network.
  • Of course the big part, our cable bill will be significantly cheaper. An early estimate is a reduction of half our current bill.

The only thing I will miss is the sports game that I WANT to sit down and completely focus on. Like a Red Sox/Yankees game. But maybe in this rare cases I will go to a family or friend’s house, a local bar, or just listen to it the old fashioned way as well.

Sony’s critical error

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Reading about how bad the security breach of the PlayStation Network is, I don’t know how I could ever trust Sony again. At least not anytime soon.

Waiting six days to tell us that all of our personal information is most likely compromised (including my password) and they cannot guarantee the security of my credit card data?

I can deal with name, e-mail address, etc. But password? That tells me they didn’t follow standard practices for password security. Which definitely doesn’t give me confidence about them protecting my credit card information.

Since I have linked my Facebook account to my PlayStation Network account, I think I am going to change that password too. Since I have no confidence that Sony hasn’t safely stored that password either.

I would sell my PS3, but I am sure there is a flood of them hitting the market this second.

What a mess. They have a lot of explaining. The next week and what actions they take to calm our fears and compensate the PlayStation Network users is going to be make or break for the PS3 in gaming market.

Moving away from cable…slowly

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The cable companies must be deathly afraid of what people like myself are trying to do…slowly moving away from subscribing to Cable TV. While I cannot completely kill that bill (not until there is a reasonable option for live sports), I have begun to take baby steps in that direction.

The bedroom TV is literally used for two things: morning news and movies. That is it. In fact, even saying movies was kind of inaccurate since there wasn’t any DVD player in there. In the past, if I really wanted to watch a movie in there, I had to lug my PS3 into there and hook it up.

Not anymore. The HD Cable Box is unplugged and will be dropped off at Comcast shortly. The AppleTV plugged in, configured, and in use. Cable TV cord plugged directly into the TV so we can access the Clear QAM channels such as our local TV stations (all still in HD). Took less then 20 minutes to pull this off (plus the time to do a channel scan on the TV).

The setup is vastly easier to use. My wife always had trouble getting the cable box and TV to be turned on at the same time. That issue is gone. The AppleTV is always on or in standby, a simple button press on the spartan Apple Remote away from being active. Using just the TV remote for switching channels, inputs, and volume is much better.

Test streaming of Netflix and content from our laptop worked flawlessly without issues. Watched two Firefly episodes and really enjoyed it. Ripped DVD’s from our collection work perfectly and look remarkably good. Still have to get all of our movies ripped and encoded, but we are getting there.

Curious to see if we ever miss the cable box in there (based on our usage the past few months, I am almost certain we won’t miss it). I am also going to see how often in the living room we really watch a TV channel not available on Clear QAM. I suspect only when it comes to live sports.

Once Apple allows apps on AppleTV (it is a matter of time before that happens) and if the major sports remove blackout restrictions for local sports viewing, we will easily have enough content to officially cut out the TV part of our cable bill.

The LOST finale

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Last night my favorite show of all-time aired its last episode. LOST was finally done after a mind bending six season. I have been organizing my thoughts regarding the entire series and its conclusion all day. As sad as I am to see it go, it was time. I first started watching between season 1 and 2 and became immediately hooked.

Never have I watched a show that incorporated so many genres, whether it was drama, sci-fi, mystery, comedy…it was all there and all well done. It was certainly a show that required people to think and that was the best part about it. I knew I wasn’t going to stumble across a casual LOST fan, those people simply did not exist. You either were all in or all out.

One thing is for certain. There will never be another TV show like LOST. Thank you.