Drone on...it's great to see you!! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

I hate commercials also, so we DVR everything and watch later so we can skip through the commercials.

Hi Wanda,
The get together needs to be CLOSER! :) Throw Nita some luvin' from me, okay?

We have never had cable/satellite tv. My husband probably wishes we did, but he isn't home very much, and I don't watch tv.

There are some things I'd watch on tv, if I had unlimited internet access...like American Pickers....but there isn't a whole lot of tv that interests me. I quit watching tv when I was in jr. high school. I don't remember why.....could be that back then, we only had one tv (no remotes either) and my dad controlled what was on tv. I grew out of the habit of watching tv. However, last year, I stayed at a friend's house for four months, due to a tragedy in her family, and she had Direct TV and I admit to watching a whole lot more tv than I ever had before. Good grief.....they make a "reality" show about everything! Nothing I couldn't live without though.

Yesterday I read a story on Yahoo stating that the cable and satelite TV business is dropping like a rock. Two years ago they were adding almost a million new customers a year. Last year...I think it was 49,000.

People are just not that interested in 'live TV' except sports. The younger generation moved out of Mom and Dad's house and never 'hooked up' TV or landline phones. They live with cellphones and internet. They stream programs to tablets, phones -- and sometimes TV monitors -- via Apple, Amazon, Netflix, etc.

One fast-growing industry is digital antennas.

I need to cancel our landline and learn to stream video! Maybe we'd put a digital antenna in the attic so DH can watch his Chicago sports teams (should they prove worth watching someday). I assume one can see Bears and Cubs via an antenna?

Currently we are in front of our TV to view a DVR-recorded Masterpeice Theater episode, "Mad Men", or "Midwives". We watch 30 mins. of morning and evening news. We rent DVD's of old British TV series from our library. Once in a while we rent an American-made movie on DVD -- not a big choice since most seem made for an 'arrested development' audience.

LOL - Not ashamed to say we love our TV and have pretty much the whole sha-bang as far as programming goes.

For most of the day, the TV isn't even on, but it sure is nice to turn it on after a hard days work. We DVR almost everything we watch. Gosh - it is a downright hardship to watch something live! :)

Our internet is limited here, so watching things "online" just isn't an option.

lol..i'm a tv junky! right now am watching news and on here at the same time...we do have bright house with some movie access...since i'm alone most of the day it's my company, til dh gets home...

Chisue, that's how my kids (especially the youngest) are living. Pure internet. I confess that I at least put up a digital antenna for the local news/sports. My national news comes mostly from France24, eNCA (South Africa) and the English language Aljazeera (a perspective that's a little right of NBC lol REALLY!). France24 is also available over the digital airwaves in Atlanta.

So...where do you GET the high speed internet from which to stream Netflix, etc.? I might learn to do that while also adding the digital antenna.

Our 'bundle' just upped the cost of high speed internet from the $20/month 'trial' to $43/mo. I reacted by dropping that and ordering the cheapest speed -- which is now $28/mo, eight dollars more that the top speed had been! (Such game-playing!)

I'd love to get some NEWS from somewhere outside the USA. Is it *brief* and to the point? More like NPR? (I'm sorry whomever has died, but I don't care enough to watch two minute clips over and over and...)

Hey hey hey!

It's AT&T DSL but I would have to ask my wife how much it is (sorry, how embarrassing) I think it's $40-something so the savings doesn't come from that. The savings came from dumping the almost $100/mo Directv. Like most people I use the DSL and a router to feed the other internet driven things in the house. LIke, I'm rockin' to Pandora's "Chillwave" right now. *wink*

You would love the news and the perspective would honestly surprise you I think. It's not America hating (or loving) as it speaks to the issues affecting it's particular audience. The United States is very much a topic because this nation really does affect every corner of the globe, we just do.

The coolest thing is watching broadcasts where every sentence isn't pushing a political agenda related to our government. I don't care what network you're watching.. it's so slanted it makes you want to vomit. That includes NPR (sorry, my opinion).

Hey Glender!!!!!!! KISS!!!!!

Thanks for the DSL source. I could save by dropping our land line @ $18/mo and the DirecTV @ $97. I'd have to take the high speed DSL from AT&T again @ $48.

Oh-oh...how would we replace the DVR part of our DirecTV? No "Masterpiece Theater" or "Mad Men" or "Call the Midwife"?

I have Att U-Verse and bundled.

Their prices are always changing, grrrr, but I prefer it over Charter.

If you don't mind my asking, Holiday, why were you "suspended" from DirecTv?

We've had it for 15 or so years, & no problems. Cable isn't an option for us. We have ATT-DSL, but I don't think the download speed is near what it should be to watch TV on it. Besides I prefer a bigger screen than an iPad or laptop. Not a huge tv watcher (tho' DH is) but there are interesting shows on.... we're into PBS, NatGeo, Science, Discovery, & DH MUST watch the NASCAR races & a few "hunting" type shows.

BEE -- I think you use the laptop or iPad as a conduit to play the content ON your TV screen. The little Apple device has no screen.

I don't mind you asking Bee. I was "suspended" because the guy simply wouldn't accept my outright cancellation! lol They don't want their equipment back in the hopes that you will re-subscribe, I didn't and wont. I wasn't dissatisfied with the service provided by Directv, mind you. We didn't think it was worth nigh on $100/month and it's not to us.

I'm watching eNCA streaming from Livestation right now using AT&T DSL so it flat out has the juice (at least in Atlanta) to stream.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean about small screens? I'm watching this on a 50" plasma flat screen via a Belkin Wi-Fi router and a Samsung blu ray player.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to do this. I only said six months ago that I would report back on my experience and at the time I stated that I didn't know for sure if it work out (basically for sports reasons) but it's been a lot easier than I thought.

Honest, it's been a horizon broadening experience. Of course if your main interest is watching race cars and people kill things it might not be quite as mind expanding.

I watch a lot via my laptop, on my HUGE screen TV, also with AT&T DSL.

Not streaming though... mostly netflix, and youtube. I still have an indoor antenna, which works fine for the two sitcoms I watch weekly.

Moni

I can't believe how well equipped I am these days. I had no TV reception for years and years. Just watched DVDs up in my bedroom, and not very often. Then a couple of Christmases ago I received Roku as a gift. Had no idea what it was until it was explained to me.

My DS said it was time to get a downstairs TV, and so my rustic 160-year-old farmhouse got a TV mounted on the living room wall. I started streaming Netflix and loved it. The next step was when my DS put an antenna on one of his ham radio towers for me, high above the house. That brings in 14 channels most of the time. All I really need is the Public TV stations and CreateTV, plus NBC for Jeopardy and (recently) The Voice. Everything else is a bonus.

So after that I bought myself a 19" TV for the kitchen. My DS mounted it on a (160-year-old) post and installed a small Blu-Ray DVD player underneath the (90-year-old) butcher block. With it, I can stream Netflix, play Pandora, or get lots of other options if I need more variety (which seems unlikely). The old house is in the electronic age!

I still don't watch TV every night, but I really love having it available when I feel like it. And I really love not having a cable bill.

So, what is the better option?

Blu-Ray DVD player or Roku? I just may be up for one, or the other.

Guess I should investigate price?

Moni

This morning's Chicago Tribune has a full-page ad for something called Clear-Cast that brings you "Free TV". (It's a digital antenna you stick on your window, and IT is not free; it's $50.) I think I'll look it up: clear-cast.com

I'd still lack a recorder though, huh? What does that, independent of a contract with cable? TiVo? Roku? Do you just buy those -- no ongoing contracts?