If you watch alot of tv show.....cutting out

[momxx5]

We have a pretty large family, and there are many shows that each have as favorites.

We are disconnecting Directv and I am trying to figure out how the kids/DH will watch their shows???

They like:

TLC - tons of shows
Disney Channel

iCarly
Victorious
House of Anubus

Moonshiners
Gold Rush
Dance Moms

Glee
Survivor
American Idol
Law & Order

Not to mention the movie channels.

So, what is the best way to handle this: Hulu, antenea, Netflix.
HD is pretty important too.

 

[Princess_Meghan <3]

My parents are going to be cancelling our cable soon, too, so I'm interested to see what others say.

I know Hulu has been pretty good for catching up on missed episodes for me, and sometimes the website for the channel will have episodes available to watch. I know I've watched Victorious on the Nick website. My step-dad also got cables so we can hook laptops up to the tv and still watch our shows through the tvs- I don't know how good the quality will be, because we haven't tried it yet.

 

[adventure_woman]

For the shows on the regular networks, can you just use an antenna? I have Charter Cable, and I was able to get the basic channels for $10/mth - The regular networks plus Disney and Lifetime.

CBS is good about putting their shows on their website.

 

[21yankees]

We did this in June (this past year). The first thing I will say you and your family will adapt. Second you won't be able to find every single show you're all used to watching through Netflix, Hulu, Hulu +, Amazon, iTunes, etc. You will have to do some research to figure out what you'll be able to find where. You'll be surprised how many shows you end up not 'missing' and how many shows you didn't know were out there to watch.

 

[Marionnette]

We have a pretty large family, and there are many shows that each have as favorites.

We are disconnecting Directv and I am trying to figure out how the kids/DH will watch their shows???

They like:

TLC - tons of shows
Disney Channel

iCarly
Victorious
House of Anubus

Moonshiners
Gold Rush
Dance Moms

Glee
Survivor
American Idol
Law & Order

Not to mention the movie channels.

So, what is the best way to handle this: Hulu, antenea, Netflix.
HD is pretty important too.

How about asking a friend who has cable to record it for them?

Go over a family member's house if they have cable and ask to watch their tv?

I have a Slingbox for my sons who are away at college. They can watch tv from my house over the internet. They connect their laptop to their tv at school to watch. It requires that I keep a separate cablebox for each of them to use and separate Slingboxes as well. The HD version of Slingbox costs around $200 apiece. They can watch anything that I get on cable, anywhere they go. My older son even watches on his iPhone since he has an unlimited data package on it.

Of course, you would need someone who has HD cable and is willing to let you connect a Slingbox to one of their cable boxes in order to do it.

 

[momxx5]

We have no family within 800+ miles and I don't have anyone that I would feel comfortable asking to record shows.

All the kids have been informed of the changes effective midnight tonight....no tv until I can figure out the other plans. Everyone except hormornal 13yr old DD is on board. Of course I am "ruining her life"......NOT!

 

[undertheradar]

Can you get more hours at Old Navy, eliminating the need to cancel DirecTv?

 

[disneyfab]

We cut cable two years ago and never looked back. We started out using Netflix and then they added streaming a few months later. We do the streaming only plan now and also added Hulu Plus a few months ago.

The little kids have a Roku in their room and also watch on their Ipod Touch. Netflix streams a lot of PBS kids shows, Nick Kids, and Disney channel shows. Hulu seems to stream more cartoon network stuff. My oldest also likes the wrestling/UFC stuff on there too.

I like Netflix for movies, discovering new shows, and re-watching old shows I loved. Hulu Plus is good for showing currently airing seasons for ABC and NBC shows.

I also find shows posted online at places like blendseries, channelcut, and sidereel.

 

[wishing upon a star]

I am actually a huge fan of House of Anubis and yesterday I missed the episode "House of Spirits/House of Blackmail" because I forgot that the show came on at 7:00pm Monday-Friday.

If I happen to miss an episode or the show that I like doesn't air in the US, I usually end up watching them online. Some people/fans usually upload the episodes within a few hours of it airing and I am able to stream the episodes through various websites.

As for House of Anubis, I wasn't able to watch the episode last night because no one uploaded it on the websites that I check but I was able to watch it today before the new episode came on TV. Nick.com and TeenNick.com upload the new episodes the day after they air on TV so I was able to watch the show on Nick.com.

I am not sure when or if Disney will upload new episodes within a day of airing but as far as iCarly, Victorious and House of Anubis, Nick.com and TeenNick.com will have the episodes uploaded within the next day so your kids can always watch the latest episodes from the channels websites.

I have also had success with watching Pretty Little Liars on Hulu and ABCFamily.com within a day or two of the episode airing on TV if I missed it.

So your best bet would probably be to check the official websites of the channels the day after the new episode airs and it will probably be uploaded. Or you can also do a Google search and find other ways to watch the episodes if the main websites don't have them.

I can gve you a list of the websites that I use to watch my shows if you would like.

 

[mrsklamc]

You don't have to have family within 800 miles to use a slingbox. On the rare occasions there's something we REALLY want to watch on cable we watch my MIL and FIL's TV via slingbox and they live several states away.

Mostly, like a prior poster said, you don't notice as much as you think you will.

 

[HelenePA]

Can you get more hours at Old Navy, eliminating the need to cancel DirecTv?

Seriously? The kids will be fine with out seeing their favorite shows...

We just got Direct Tv back after a year with out it.. We did not miss it nearly as much as I or the kids thought we would... We watched a lot on Netflix, I did not like Hulu (we had Hulu Plus there are free trials of this out there so try before you buy! Along with Netflix!) there wasn't much on there (hulu) I watched, just Bones and Kitchen Nightmares. Some of the shows I did watch were on the net only... I hate sitting at my computer watching TV so I just went with out see them... I gotta say my kids are SO use to watching TV with out commercials now, my 3 yr old gets VERY mad when they come on!!! You'll be fine.. check out www.instantwatcher.com

as for HD sorry can't help you we just got out of the 1990's and got a flat screen HD TV from my brother for Christmas... we still dont have a HD dish so we still dont have HD

 

[mrsklamc]

And this is just my personal perspective kind of as an afterthought and is in no way a reflection on you OP- I think you are a very nice person and from what you posted once I think you live in the same town as my DSis-

If any of my kids ever tell me their "life" is ruined in relation to TV, they are DONE watching TV, period, until they find something better to do with themselves.

 

[wshupnastar]

We are getting ready to cancel our Directv also. I have already set up Hulu Plus and NetfliX.

I am just going with the attitude that we probably watch too much tv anyway! LOL What we can find, we might watch. Hopefully we won't miss it too much. I have noticed NefliX is adding a lot more shows to the streaming. They offer lots of Disney channel shows, so maybe your kids won't miss it too much.

Good Luck!

 

[JDUCKY]

We dropped cable when we bought our house about 18 months ago. The kids all loved Nick and Disney channels and we watched HGTV, TLC, USA, etc.

We only have an antenna in the attic to pull in the locals. I also built a Home Theater PC (HTPC) that's connected to the router and the TV/stereo so we can watch Netflix, Hulu, ABC/CBS online, YouTube, etc.

The kids haven't missed watching Nick/Disney. They've found other activities outside and inside, for the most part, but when they do watch TV, they've found other things they never would have seen before otherwise (Cake Boss, H2O, Mr. Ed) courtesy of Netflix and Hulu.

Granted, an HTPC is overkill for most but I love the concept of them and now have an XBOX 360 S in another room hooked into it all with the Windows Media Center Extender so they can watch regular network TV, Netflix, etc. via the XBOX in that room.

A lot of TVs have Netflix/Hulu apps built-in or there are other devices like those mentioned in this thread that would provide that.

Bottom line is, you can save money w/o losing most of what you're used to watching.

 

[Missy29]

My dh works for Comcast so yay to free cable and Internet! But you mentioned that HD is important to you, I know for at least Comcast you need a HD box to get HD, just throwing that out there.

 

[JDUCKY]

My dh works for Comcast so yay to free cable and Internet! But you mentioned that HD is important to you, I know for at least Comcast you need a HD box to get HD, just throwing that out there.

Only if your TV doesn't have a built-in QAM tuner. Most HDTVs nowadays have both ATSC (over-the-air) and QAM (non-encrypted cable) tuners built-in. Just plug the cable from Comcast coming out of the wall right into the TV and rescan for digital channels.

Although, that capability may change in the future. Cable companies are petitioning the FCC to encrypt everything:
http://www.multichannel.com/article/477203-NCTA_to_FCC_Let_All_Digital_MSOs_Encrypt_Basic_Tier.php

 

[undertheradar]

Seriously? The kids will be fine with out seeing their favorite shows...

We just got Direct Tv back after a year with out it.. We did not miss it nearly as much as I or the kids thought we would... We watched a lot on Netflix, I did not like Hulu (we had Hulu Plus there are free trials of this out there so try before you buy! Along with Netflix!) there wasn't much on there (hulu) I watched, just Bones and Kitchen Nightmares. Some of the shows I did watch were on the net only... I hate sitting at my computer watching TV so I just went with out see them... I gotta say my kids are SO use to watching TV with out commercials now, my 3 yr old gets VERY mad when they come on!!! You'll be fine.. check out www.instantwatcher.com

as for HD sorry can't help you we just got out of the 1990's and got a flat screen HD TV from my brother for Christmas... we still dont have a HD dish so we still dont have HD

Yes, seriously. Just watching the posturing that begins with hardluck stories. There is a history involved.

 

[Nayan]

While most folks can and do cut the cable while still being able to see what they like to watch, I always suggest you make a list of you're 'must see' shows and look for them online. If the majority of them you can find elsewhere and you're okay with watching them online then go ahead and cut away. But otherwise keep your cable/sat. Same thing for sports. I am a huge sports-nut so I will not give up my cable.

 

[sam_gordon]

Only if your TV doesn't have a built-in QAM tuner. Most HDTVs nowadays have both ATSC (over-the-air) and QAM (non-encrypted cable) tuners built-in. Just plug the cable from Comcast coming out of the wall right into the TV and rescan for digital channels.

Although, that capability may change in the future. Cable companies are petitioning the FCC to encrypt everything:
http://www.multichannel.com/article/477203-NCTA_to_FCC_Let_All_Digital_MSOs_Encrypt_Basic_Tier.php

In our area, while you can get some cable channels using "clear QAM" (non-encrypted), you won't get all of them. The locals are on there as well as a few national. But the sports channels (ESPN) aren't I know.

 

[mrsklamc]

Yes, seriously. Just watching the posturing that begins with hardluck stories. There is a history involved.

I don't think cancelling cable qualifies as a hardluck story.