Medieval Woman put up a post asking if everyone is ready for the switch to digital television, and I'm here to tell you, "No, sports fans, we are not ready for the switch."
Okay, so I'm putting it out to the blogosphere. What should we do? We currently get three channels: NBS, PBS, and Fox.
a. give up TV
b. get converter boxes
c. buy a new TV
d. get satellite
e. get basic cable
6 comments:
We got zero channels, and then got the converter box to hook up to our fancy computer screen for the olympics. We got a coupon from the government https://www.dtv2009.gov/ (thanks, uncle sam!), and paid about $40, I think. It's great to get 4 'channels' of PBS (54-1, 54-2 etc.) on the same channel, and we have about all the TV we can handle. At our old place, we did have to string an incredibly long coax cable across the back yard and hang it over the fence to get reception, but we're cheap and didn't want to figure out a more permanent antenna for our rental. Pros--one time cost outlay, more channels than you had before, not so many channels that you get sucked in to incredibly stupid shows (just stupid shows). Good luck!
Hmmm. Most of the folks around here actually got fewer channels after they got the converter box. Perhaps b/c we're far away from the transponders (or whatever they're called)? Some friends lost PBS when they got the box b/c it had been kind of fuzzy before.
mom's house came with a HD flatscreen, which we haven't hooked up to anything. We make do with Netflix, the library and for current events like the inauguration streams on the computer.
that probably doesn't help you, does it.
Bax, your comment IS helpful. We've thought of that. We do Netflix. We watch Lost on the computer. We get Burn Notice from Amazon. But we're big PBS watchers, and, frankly, we have the TV on a fair amount. Which all means we should give TV up. But I don't wanna. Sigh. BTW, I had trouble finding a good streaming video of the inauguration.
We had cable through our phone company and then they switched us over to dish (Direct TV) because the cable option was discontinued. Love them both. When they switched us, the boxes were DVRs, so now we can record things, too, and I can't tell you how cool that is! :)
You know that I have been on both ends of the spectrum: to not even owning a TV to flat screen/cable/surround sound/DVR land that I'm in now. I upgraded because my T was ancient, as was my stereo so I got a deal on the package. I had to change my cable box over to accommodate the HD aspect of my TV and do the DVR and DirectTV wanted to charge me a lot more per month, but they were offering all the special deals to new customers who were upgrading for the change over.
Well, I think that is incredibly lame so I called up the Direct TV people and told them that I wanted the same discount they were offering to new customers. At first they said no, but I asked to speak to a supervisor, threatened to go to Comcast and I got the discount. It equals about $180 over the course of a year. So, if you opt to go the cable route, call and ask for discounts. The worst they can say is no.
As for watching a lot of TV, right now, it's kind of "free" entertainment for GoodEnoughFiance and me. We have been cutting back on dinners out and shopping (OK, I own that one) so it's our one real entertainment outlay. When we first got all the new toys, we definitely spent too much time at the TV. Now, we generally just watch a show a night that we enjoy:
Top Chef
Burn Notice
American Idol
House
Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations
Lie to Me (pilot was last week and I liked it)
When I get ready for bed, GoodEnoughFiance watches Adult Swim on the cartoon channel.I pretend he doesn't do that.
TV is only as evil as you let it be.
Love,
GoodEnoughCousin
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