Getting rid of my DirectV

[DVCBELLE]

I know a lot of people have been asking about getting rid of cable and thought I would post my experience.

I have set up a blu-ray that has netflix and youtube capability. I also got an antenna to pick up local stations. The quality over the antenna is AWESOME!! In addition, I can't believe the amount of stuff I can stream from Netflix - my kids are in heaven! In addition, my daughter (8) thinks watching youtube on our tv is the coolest thing ever! Now she can watch her favorite videos and sing and dance to her heart's desire.

My dad is letting us set up a slingbox at his house to get the new Disney shows and Cartoon Network for the kids - this cost me $80 for a slingbox off ebay and $100 fro a slingcatcher for my tv. I haven't set it up yet so I will have to review that later!

Finally, I got a TIVO - that is for me - I can't bear the thought of not being able to record my shows.

My grand total in monthly bills will be $20 a month and I can see where we will not be renting movies anymore - I will get the new releases I want through Netflix and our instant queue is already filled with movies that we think we will enjoy but never saw!

For those of you considering getting rid of cable/satellite - I highly suggest you give it a go! You could easily buy a Blu-ray in the $150 range that has the netflix capability and just test it out to see what you think. I got a lot of little extra toys (powerline, tivo, slingbox) b/c we felt they would meet all of our needs without any compromise so my initial cash investment was high - but we asked for money for Christmas for just this purpose. And we are getting rid of Directv not for budget reasons but in protest of the crappy way they treat loyal customers and for all the other services that lure you in with low prices but then nickel and dime you to death.

 

[HunnyPots]

I am trying hard to convince my husband to get rid of Dish. We are paying almost $100 a month and honestly 2/3 of the channels are infomercials or home shopping! It's insane! I would be fine going to basic cable with no DVR but my husband thinks he can't live without DVR now. I personally think DVR is one of the worst things we've ever gotten into. We waste so much more time watching tv than ever before. My husband will easily spend 12 hours watching Law and Order recordings every Saturday and now we get nothing done around the house anymore. The only channel I would miss is SyFy and I could get those shows on Hulu.

I'm so out of touch! I know NOTHING about BluRay or any of the other gadgets you mentioned but I may have to do some research.

I'm gonna give this my best shot and see if he'll go for it!

 

[HunnyPots]

double post

 

[DVCBELLE]

You should check out Netflix - there is a 2 week free trial so you could at least see what is available for streaming - I just checked and Law and Order is on there.

Even if he really still wants a DVR - then you could go with Tivo - the box for HD is $250 but non HD is less and you can get refurbished ones - the subscription is about $13 a month or less if you pay a year in advance. You can stream Netflix on there - so for about $20 and a tivo box you would have a lot of options!

 

[SalandJeff]

I would love to get rid of our Dish. I need some help understanding what you've got set up.

So you have an old fashioned antenna to get locals? I did not think you would be able to get good reception this way. I understand the blu-ray and netflix. How are you using the Tivo....what exactly can you Tivo...the local channels and whatever you get from netflix (I guess this part does not make sense to me - if you are getting something from netflix, why wouldn't you just get it at the time you want to watch it)? And what is a slingbox/slingcatcher and what do they do?

Thanks for any explanations you can provide!

 

[DVCBELLE]

I would love to get rid of our Dish. I need some help understanding what you've got set up.

So you have an old fashioned antenna to get locals? I did not think you would be able to get good reception this way. I understand the blu-ray and netflix. How are you using the Tivo....what exactly can you Tivo...the local channels and whatever you get from netflix (I guess this part does not make sense to me - if you are getting something from netflix, why wouldn't you just get it at the time you want to watch it)? And what is a slingbox/slingcatcher and what do they do?

Thanks for any explanations you can provide!

I will only be using the Tivo to record my shows from Network TV - but that is really important to me - I like to wait until my kids go to bed and then watch my shows and I don't want to wait until they are available online. It is a little indulgent but I like that I never feel like I have to watch a show when it is on!

I have not set up the slingbox yet but it was designed to send your tv signal to your computer or blackberry while traveling. Then they designed the next component - the slingcatcher that will play anything from your computer or slingbox on your tv. So this will let me watch Hulu or any other online show from my computer on my tv. I got the slingbox b/c my kids want to watch the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network shows when they are still new. So my parents are going to let me put it on their tv and it will "sling" shows from their tv to my slingcatcher. My parents don't use their DVR and so I will be able to DVR shows for the kids and then watch them at our house. To be honest - I have no idea how easy or hard it might be. So I will have to wait and see and then I will let you know what I think about it! The slingbox is only useful if you have someone who you can hook it up to. Since my parents don't use their tv a lot and travel a lot - this is a perfect set up for us. Plus if we ever miss something b/c they are using their tv - that is ok with us.

The other thing you can do with the slingcatcher is play your itunes videos on your tv - so you could download current episodes of shows on your itunes and then watch on your tv.

I hope that helps - when I get the slingbox and then get it all hooked up - I will review it for you! I can say that even without the slingbox - I know we will be fine! It is just an added bonus!

 

[littleshamrock]

This is so interesting. I am not sure that I understand exactly what you are doing, but I know that I am sick of paying $65 a month for TV. There's never anything on!

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

Tell me more about the streaming on Netflix. What can you get other than movies? Can you get any TV stuff? I really don't watch much on TV and since we use Cable for internet we get the basic package for the "local" channels. Although I'm not sure my DD could give up the cartoon channels and Disney channel.

 

[pklein09]

You can use an antenna? I'm in central Jersey, and all our local stations went to digital broadcasting....the antenna on our old TV doesn't work any more, and hasn't for almost a year. They changed the broadcast signal last February.

 

[Codeaddict]

There are a couple of websites that will allow you to see what is available on Netflix instant watch

http://instantwatcher.com/

and

http://www.thenowhereman.com/netflix/

and one for content that is streaming soon

http://www.streamingsoon.com/

There is also a Roku box available to purchase that will allow you to stream Netflix, Amazon video on demand, Pandora, and more to your TV http://www.roku.com/

If you have a Wii, XBox 360, or PS3 take a look at PlayOn for streaming web content to your tv http://www.playon.tv/index.php There are also plugins and scripts available for the PlayOn software to add even more streaming to your tv http://www.playonplugins.com/ and http://www.playonscripts.com/

 

[ski_mom]

What about watching sports on this setup? Are they still available? I think my DH would die if he couldn't watch the Cardinals every night .

 

[DVCBELLE]

You can use an antenna? I'm in central Jersey, and all our local stations went to digital broadcasting....the antenna on our old TV doesn't work any more, and hasn't for almost a year. They changed the broadcast signal last February.

You need a digital converter box and then you would be able to pick up your local stations. Older tvs can't convert the signal but I just got a brand new tv so the regular antenna works with it. I think the boxes run around $30-$40

What about watching sports on this setup? Are they still available? I think my DH would die if he couldn't watch the Cardinals every night .

That is another reason we are glad we can hook up to my parent's tv. My DH doesn't watch the games everyday so we decided if there was a game he REALLY wanted to see with the money we are saving we could A. go to the game or B. go to a sports bar to watch it. I am not sure what the options for streaming games on the internet are - if they stream online - you could use the slingcatcher to watch them.

I am sure there are better ways to do all this - but they were too tech oriented for me - so I went with options where I plugged it in and watched. I got lots of advice on ways to tweak my computer this way or that but in the end...it just wasn't worth the hassle to me.

Ironically, I have called DirecTV to make sure I can cancel and I didn't take some mysterious extra contract on and they let me know I was not under contract but why was I cancelling (I have not yet b/c we want to get our new setup completely working before we cut the cord ) I told them I was sick of haggeling with them and that I had to keep lowering my programming to stay in a reasonable price range and that I didn't want to call every year and beg for a free this or discount on that. That I thought that I shouldn't have had to threaten to cancel to get them to offer me a free HD/DVR box and free HD for 6 months and that I didn't understand why they didn't offer their best price to EVERYONE instead of having lower prices for new customers, discounts for people who threatened to leave and then people who just didn't do anything were paying a lot more.

She didn't like this and tried to say that after one year of programming, everyone pays the same rates. Which is not true b/c I currently have a $10 programming credit and free DVR b/c I called and begged for lower rates last year.

SO today, I get a follow up call - am I happy with DirecTV. I said no and told her the same things and that I wasn't going to pay extra for HD when it is free with my antenna. Her suggestion: That I go to the basic package so I will get the basic stations. I asked why I would pay them for something I could get for free. She had no answer. So she asked what they could do and I said that I had called and asked and have gone over scenarios and that in the end, they don't offer options that work for my family.

That ended our discussion but she did let me know that if I changed my minds - all my discounts and free hardware options were still available and would be extended indefinitely.

SO the point of this long post is: if you want to stay with your current service. Just call - Don't talk to a regular rep - go straight to the cancellation dept. ask if you are out of contract. When they say yes - tell them that you are going to check out other options then. They will then throw the world at you.

 

[micki7337]

We got rid of Direct TV about 7 months ago and we got cable and we have been so happy no pixilation anymore. no more equipment failures, No more high bills, No more aggravation. We saved about 50 dollars a month and that includes us subcribing to netflix recently. Direct TV became such a hassel. I was tons of reapeating channels, home shopping and infomercials. It Stunk

We hre much happier

 

[ohiomom28]

I know a lot of people have been asking about getting rid of cable and thought I would post my experience.

I have set up a blu-ray that has netflix and youtube capability. I also got an antenna to pick up local stations. The quality over the antenna is AWESOME!! In addition, I can't believe the amount of stuff I can stream from Netflix - my kids are in heaven! In addition, my daughter (8) thinks watching youtube on our tv is the coolest thing ever! Now she can watch her favorite videos and sing and dance to her heart's desire.

My dad is letting us set up a slingbox at his house to get the new Disney shows and Cartoon Network for the kids - this cost me $80 for a slingbox off ebay and $100 fro a slingcatcher for my tv. I haven't set it up yet so I will have to review that later!

Finally, I got a TIVO - that is for me - I can't bear the thought of not being able to record my shows.

My grand total in monthly bills will be $20 a month and I can see where we will not be renting movies anymore - I will get the new releases I want through Netflix and our instant queue is already filled with movies that we think we will enjoy but never saw!

For those of you considering getting rid of cable/satellite - I highly suggest you give it a go! You could easily buy a Blu-ray in the $150 range that has the netflix capability and just test it out to see what you think. I got a lot of little extra toys (powerline, tivo, slingbox) b/c we felt they would meet all of our needs without any compromise so my initial cash investment was high - but we asked for money for Christmas for just this purpose. And we are getting rid of Directv not for budget reasons but in protest of the crappy way they treat loyal customers and for all the other services that lure you in with low prices but then nickel and dime you to death.

Darn this would be great, except we can't use an antenna around here. They have switched everything to digital and antennas don't work.

 

[DVCBELLE]

Darn this would be great, except we can't use an antenna around here. They have switched everything to digital and antennas don't work.

I pick up all the Dayton channels on my TV

You just need a digital converter box - plug your antenna into there and then it sends the signal to your tv for you!

 

[RooRach0906]

Wow I really admire that you could do that!!! We have a BluRay HD DVD Combo in other words we bought our player like 2 years ago and then they got rid of HD DVDs and then it was one of the more expensive players. We love it tho. We are talking about getting a New BluRay for another room so that we can do all the games on the movies. BluRay is awesome and so clear!!! Love love love it!!! If we lived somewhere that we could get the streaming Netflicks and the Channels in our TV, I would see if my DH would be good with that, but it would still be really hard for me bc all I watch is TLC, ABC Family and the Disney Channel (little girls I watch).

 

[81felgs]

I know a lot of people have been asking about getting rid of cable and thought I would post my experience.

I have set up a blu-ray that has netflix and youtube capability. I also got an antenna to pick up local stations. The quality over the antenna is AWESOME!! In addition, I can't believe the amount of stuff I can stream from Netflix - my kids are in heaven! In addition, my daughter (8) thinks watching youtube on our tv is the coolest thing ever! Now she can watch her favorite videos and sing and dance to her heart's desire.

My dad is letting us set up a slingbox at his house to get the new Disney shows and Cartoon Network for the kids - this cost me $80 for a slingbox off ebay and $100 fro a slingcatcher for my tv. I haven't set it up yet so I will have to review that later!

Finally, I got a TIVO - that is for me - I can't bear the thought of not being able to record my shows.

My grand total in monthly bills will be $20 a month and I can see where we will not be renting movies anymore - I will get the new releases I want through Netflix and our instant queue is already filled with movies that we think we will enjoy but never saw!

For those of you considering getting rid of cable/satellite - I highly suggest you give it a go! You could easily buy a Blu-ray in the $150 range that has the netflix capability and just test it out to see what you think. I got a lot of little extra toys (powerline, tivo, slingbox) b/c we felt they would meet all of our needs without any compromise so my initial cash investment was high - but we asked for money for Christmas for just this purpose. And we are getting rid of Directv not for budget reasons but in protest of the crappy way they treat loyal customers and for all the other services that lure you in with low prices but then nickel and dime you to death.

Directv sucks IMO. And I agree that they do not treat their loyal customers well AT ALL. I will never use them again. Beware if you move and have your service moved with it. They automatically re-new your contract if you are not under one. We also upgraded to a new box and they automatically re-newed my contract for 2 years (which I never signed for and they could not produce a receipt). We placed millions of phone calls to them to no avail. I would have sued them but it would have cost me more to do that. In the end..one customer service rep was kind enough to tell me that I could suspend my account for 9 months and that that would still go against my contract time and at the end of the 9 months turned out to be the end of my contract so I was able to cancel it without penalty.

 

[kfeuer]

I'm surprised to hear all the unhappy Directv customers, we had them for years and were always happy. Unfortunately we can't get a clear signal in our current house and are stuck with Comcast. I *despise* Comcast--terrible service, and their DVR is the biggest piece of overpriced junk I've ever had the displeasure to use. I would love to be able to go back to Directv.

OP, sounds like a neat setup. We just go a Blu-ray player with Netflix streaming but haven't really looked into it yet. We occasionally rent from Red Box but that's about it.

I gripe about our cable bill, but DH loves ESPN and NFL Network (and I'm equally unwilling to give up Project Runway or Top Chef ) so here we are.

 

[HamTown]

We dropped our cable almost a year ago and haven't missed it much.

We have all the local channels with HD antennas and I bought an HD TIVO off ebay that allows me to Tivo any network programming. It also can stream Netflix and Amazon on demand as well as YouTube and some music videos.

I'll have to check into the slingbox/slingcatcher set up. The only thing we really miss is ESPN so if we could pull the ESPN 360 broadcasts, we'd be set.

 

[Esteri]

We had DirecTV for many years and loved them. But, hardly watch TV at all. We move a year ago, the dish got mounted, but the cable never made if from the attic to the TV. After 4 months of no TV - and not missing it at ALL - we cancelled.

At this point we can get nearly everything we want to watch off the internet anyway. With fewer ads. It's too bad Hulu and Fancast are moving to subscription models.

It's amazing how much more time you have in the day when you haven't got TV. More time to spend on DIS and Facebook!
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