Frugality

3 Simple Steps for Life Without Cable

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So – tired of being a slave to the cable company – or satellite? Believe it or not there is life without cable. Many preparedness-minded folks are frugal and want their hard earned money to go towards more critical items than television. Saving $80-$200 per month can certainly help with adding to food storage or reaching an emergency fund goal.

I made the decision to end cable due to the high cost and so many channels I paid for and never, EVER watched. I have been off of cable for over a year now and rarely have any regrets. Depending on your interests and technological prowess cutting the cable can be easy – or very frustrating. When it comes to getting rid of cable there is always the option of canceling and just staring at the wall, reading a book, or going for a walk. I enjoy watching a good movie or TV show so staring at the wall was not really an option.

Here are my 3 steps for a life without cable:

 

1. HD Antenna. 

The simplest way to get news, TV shows, and movies after cancelling cable service is via the air. Yes – TV stations still broadcast a signal over the airways. An HD antenna will snatch it out of the air and deliver a high quality picture to most any modern television.

HD antenna’s are simple to install and range from very inexpensive(less than $10) to pretty inexpensive(around $50).

hd-antenna

My personal choice is the Amplified Outdoor Motorized HD Antenna. I have been using this antenna since cancelling cable and it works great. It is designed to mount on top of a pole. I used a broomstick pounded in the ground to mount it outside my house. A remote control allows the it to be rotated from inside the house incase the signal is weak. This model runs around $38.

HD antenna’s costing as little as $10 can work well. I have upstairs in my bedroom the RCA Indoor HD Antenna. This thing is small with rabbit ears. Performance? Works pretty good for less than $10. I am looking at getting another Amplified Outdoor Motorized HD Antenna and mounting it in my attic. With the increased elevation I should have expanded channel selection.

 

2. DVD, Blu-Ray, and RedBox.

After adding an HD antenna a DVD or Blu-Ray player will certainly provide a huge library of movies to choose from. Amazon has a massive selection of DVD’s and Blu-Ray’s for well under $10 each. An entertainment library can be built easily.

Movies can be rented for around $1.00 at many rental kiosks located in grocery stores and outside Wal-Marts and pharmacies.

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Grab a movie, pop some popcorn, and have a movie night.

 

3. Streaming Devices & Services: Roku, Fire TV, Netflix, and Hulu.

Most of my entertainment comes from the use of media streaming devices. Basically these devices use the Internet to stream movies and TV shows to a TV. What is pretty important is your Internet speed. If it is too slow the media will not stream well and it will “buffer” often causing a delay.

I own most every type of media streaming device made and would only recommend the Roku and the Amazon Fire TV Stick. The Roku is the best option for most people. They start at around $40 and go up in price from there. I always buy the cheapest ones.

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The Amazon Fire TV Stick is great if you are an Amazon Prime member due to the thousands of movies that are available to stream. I have been a Prime member for years and love it. There are lots of benefits in addition to the movies and TV shows available for streaming.

Once you have a Roku box and hook it up to your Internet “channels” can be installed. This is a very easy process and there are many channels which allow streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows totally for free. Premium channels such as Netflix, Hulu, and VUDU offer paid streaming services.

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Netflix offers access to thousands of movies and TV shows for around $10 per month. It is an incredible bargain.

Hulu offers a paid subscription service at under $8 per month. They provide many current TV shows for watching as well as a decent selection of movies and older TV series. It is well worth the money.

VUDU is a service which you can rent or purchase movies and TV shows online. You do not physically get a disk, rather the media is stored on the Internet. New TV shows are usually available within hours of showing on regular TV. This is the method I use to watch The Walking Dead. I buy the entire season and watch it the day after it airs on cable. TV shows average around $2.99 per episode and movies vary from $4.99 on up.

 

Summary.

There is life without cable. An antenna, DVD’s and Blu-Ray’s, and media streaming devices are a great start. Throw in a good book, walk in the park, and more trips to the range and life will be great.

Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration.

Now, where’s that popcorn?

JR

 

 

 

 

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38 Comments

  2. Oren says:

    Good info John. I’ve been wanting to wean off of the idiot channels for a long time. I can do without all the cooking channels, info commercials, the same movie channels the non-news and just garbage for a long time. This looks like a good way to go.

    Reply
    1. JR says:

      Depends on elevation of your property. If you sit down into a valley that could be problematic. On top of a mountain – should work well. I live in a pretty flat area so elevating the antenna helps.

      Reply
  4. Bob Sickinger says:

    Amen JR…we dumped cable back in the summer and don’t miss it a bit..that extra money comes in handy to buy ammo!!! 🙂

    Reply
  5. Capt.Michaels says:

    We love our Roku/SlingTV/AmazonPrime/HDAntenna set up. It was a little adjustment not having a DVR box to record shows when we missed them, but it was not a huge pain to get adjusted. Besides, the shows always come back around. The overall price savings and the surprising free time that became available turned out very well. We didn’t realize how hypnotized we were by having “TV” entertain us.

    Now when there is nothing on to watch. It’s not a painful, “We’re paying how much for 200 channels only to watch 5!?” Prime pays for itself by the free shipping and the HD antenna has a dual purpose and was a one time purchase.

    Reply
  6. Panhandle Rancher says:

    Some time ago, I put up a VHF/UHF TV antenna and rotator and recently bought an Apple TV/internet box. Before that I had DISH and before that Direct TV and I suppose before that, cable. With the outside antenna we receive local news and weather and the occasional commercial broadcast TV show the wife wants to watch; with Apple TV we receive streaming CBS news and have access to all networks, albeit a day or so later than broadcast. What I miss most about becoming free of pay TV is the loss of FOX News. Anyone hooked on FOX News should try one of the internet based TV devices with caution. I am told Apple is in negotiations with FOX News but by the time it happens, if ever, I hope the spouse will be over the need for a FOX ‘fix.’

    For those of you possessing a tablet computer and modern flat screen, it is not too hard to make the tablet stream FOX News directly to the TV.

    For us of the early baby boom generation, streaming TV is as new as satellite TV used to be. It is a different experience, not necessarily ‘better.’ Oh, but it is cheaper. Considering we already have internet service, streaming TV only costs about $15 more. NETFLIX and Hulu supply most everything the wife watches other than local. Direct TV bills were approaching $150/mo, so Apple TV is a considerable ‘saving.’

    I wouldn’t recommend the switch if you live in an area that does not permit local broadcast reception. Our nearest TV station is a two to three hour drive away and we receive it only because we live on top of a mountain and I have an excellent albeit expensive TV antenna.

    Another thought. Hulu and NETFLIX makes many many movies available. I was reading in my easy chair one evening and the wife selected the movie SHADOW WARRIOR. As a result, I am hobbling around almost crippled. As I concentrated on my good book, I would occasionally glance up at the movie and then more frequently. I was amazed at how real that movie experience was. That night, I dreamed I was in the old DDR (East Germany) running from the Stasi. I banged a big toe somehow on one of the posts of our four poster bed so hard that the outside margin of the toe split along the nail all of the way down the side of the toe with a chunk of meat flopping loose. Of course I just disinfected and taped it back when it should have had a good dozen stitches. Two weeks of Cephalexin and an odd looking toe later, I am still hobbling and the wife snickers whenever I stub it or a dog steps poorly.

    The point is, other than setting forth how stupid I am, is that some of us may not need overstimulating and the internet TV makes this so easy. I have also noticed that there is a lot of decidedly non-Christian ‘entertainment’ out there and am firmly of the belief that God does not like pornography. For anyone so tempted, I recommend holding in abeyance any thoughts of something like Apple TV.

    My thoughts,
    PR

    Reply
    1. JR says:

      Thanks Panhandle Rancher. I have not tried Apple TV yet though I do have an Apple account with a bunch of TV shows attached to it. Pricing on the Apple TV is not bad so might check it out. As always thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  7. Panhandle Rancher says:

    Oren, outside antennas with a pre-amplifiers will work much better than an inside antenna, especially if your roof is metal. The higher the better. One of the best ways to determine what works in your area is to drive around and look at what other people have sticking up. Digital TV permits excellent reception of weak signals that would have been unwatchable with analog TV. With digital, one either sees a good picture or not.

    Hope this helps,
    PR

    Reply
    1. Oren says:

      Thanks Panhandle. I’ll have to ride around and see if anyone even uses antennas in this area. I’ll check with my son. He has never had satellite nor cable. He seems to know everything we talk about anyway, so he’ll certainly have this answer.

      Oren

      Reply
  9. Fred C says:

    I have the same antenna as you John for my RV. It does work well but weather or atmospheric conditions do affect the ability to receive some stations. I can watch a station one day then can’t get it the next day. Antenna never moved.

    On another note, I am wanting to build my arsenal a little by purchasing a Kimber 9MM. Does anyone know where I could get one without having to include one of my legs too. Those things are expensive! A used Kimber would be fine.

    Thanks for the Post and Website John. Good luck on finding some land.

    Reply
    2. goingray58 says:

      I have Netflix and prime. And DirecTV. With the exception of local weather and events DirecTV is nearly worthless .. considering the cost per month I am considering scaling that back to basic or letting ti go altogether.If it was just me .. I would. If I had t pick just one I don’t know which I would choose, By dollars it’d be Netflix.. but I am using Amazon Prime more and more for my prepping items.. lower cost products, no sales tax, and no shipping. That is for things I can’t barter and fresh foods. Id; have to sat though,, I watch less than an 2 hours of any of it a week. I do listen to podcasts (looking forward to JR’s), and audio books.. Seems that is the only way shop and kitchen clean up and chores get done. My head doesn’t like neutral. It likes busy and learning.

      When I figure I can do no Directv.. I guess I’d get back about $150.00 a month ..
      that is nearly $2k a year.. What can yo do with that?

      Fixed media like disk is just a waste of time for me. I do get the shows I like in *.mp4 or similar and have some on 2- 3TB remote drives, SD chips etc.. . They store in Faraday like the spare laptop.

      I think maybe since I don’t do much watching, I’d be fine without it altogether. Did it for Lent a couple times.. after a hard week ,.. the rest isn’t bad.

      Random thoughts

      Reply
      1. JR says:

        Thanks goingray58 for the info. I assume that you are getting the .mp4 video files via torrent? I have a part 2 planned for this but for most folks especially if they are not well versed in computer technology it will be like reading Greek.

        Reply
        1. austex7124 says:

          Interested to hear what you think of torrent! So far, I’ve shied away from using that as a resource… Looking forward to “part 2”!

          BTH, I don’t post much, but have been enjoying your site(s) for quite some time now… you are a great asset to the prepping community and I admire all the work you do to help others! Good job Man!

          Reply
          1. goingray58 says:

            On bittorrents.. they basically work by letting multiple systems that have the same file(s) (for simplicity), contribute or (seed) them into a cooperative network of like minded systems/users. Basically everyone that has the file says you can get some of it here.. so everyone gives a little no-one gives it all (with some exceptions). There are negatives. 1.) If your download is copyrighted.. it’s a legal violation, and there are “trackers” that go look for users doing just that 2.) If you are a windows user and don’t have stellar virus and malware protection, malicious users WILL infect your system and take your data or just break it. (Linux not so much, and maybe not newer Macs) That being said it is an excellent way to share data, and many user communities do just that. I could see where sharing some of the articles we have here in PDF or e-book format would be very beneficial, especially if the internet goes down or becomes hyper regulated. Rule of thumb.. You must assume you HAVE NO PRIVACY for your data, and if you don’t know enough to protect your-self technically you have a couple of options. 1.) find someone who does and learn from them 2.) use the sneaker-net (meaning.. your feet.. sort of.) Use jump drives and remote drives to directly upload and download files from people you know and trust.. But have your virus checker scan all incoming files regardless of where you get them. Anyway ,, I’ve been a sysadmin and more for 30 years.. and I am only middle of the read to the newer cyber folks .. so be very careful. Remember backup is your friend .. If you play you get bumped and bruised in any game. as advice Never use your play system to house your finances and personal stuff.. keep em separate, and you are much less likely to get hurt. all this is IMHO .. I am sure there are other opinions ..

          2. austex7124 says:

            Thanks for the cautions goingray58… Much of which are the reasons I’ve shied away from bittorrents. The risk vs reward ratio seems too great to me…. The Playon.tv thing seems to fit the bill for me, without all the extra risk….

          3. goingray58 says:

            Fair enough for TV type stuff.. and me as well .. they are large and take way to much Down Load time.. If you happen to have a cap on how much can be downloaded (300 GB or whatever) like some Cable vendors require.. it’s an all-around bad deal for video. I have heard of people using them for audio books, and e-books.. and the selection is huge.. They are much smaller. I’ve seen a library with quite a few selections useful for prepping as well as entertainment. Same cautions though. Some things are not covered by Digital Rights, and can be downloaded without any issue. If you find what you want and list it.. then go to your local coffee house or deli with free wireless.. Ultimately though if you don’t run something to spoof your MAC (Media Access Control address) any download over any network can be tracked back to the device. Things like spoofing and swapping devices for hiding MAC’s is a little exotic for most folks. Since I get to play with this stuff professionally .. I stay a little deeper in it than many folks. Though now an 8th grader in China or the middle east might be better at it than me.. another reason for me to try to understand. That is just freakin scary to me. Many of the folks that manage our national defense are not that bright or are vulnerable to foreign powers. We are only as strong as our weakest link. I try to be smart first, strong second and go loud as a last resort. Doesn’t always work out though. I’ll have to look at playon.

          4. austex7124 says:

            “I try to be smart first, strong second and go loud as a last resort.” Love that line! Permission to plagiarize it?!?!?

          5. goingray58 says:

            sure thing.. and installed playon .. I like the browser extension that allows you to record whatever is playing in the browser .. like Youtube… I’ll have to see if want to upgrade to plus .. too bad it is windows only .. I’ll have to see if the files are a format I can play with or convert .. l8r

  10. austex7124 says:

    Nice article John… For those of you that need a long distance solution, we have our “country place” set up with HD tv using a long range antenna, and it works great! The towers we receive from are 66 miles away, and we pull them in fine with a directional antenna called a “Stacker” which you can read about at the following link. http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/ I even mounted it inside my attic rather than on a pole, added a amplifier, some cable splitters, and volia! HD tv in multiple locations.

    For other than local broadcasts, we use a Roku 3 for Netflix, etc. I’d recommend the 3 because it has a headphone jack built right into the remote, which is really convenient, esp. if you have significant hearing loss and like to use a high volume setting. Headsets really improve comprehension for me as well.

    Lastly, I found an app called playon.tv that let’s you record streaming tv on your computer or an external hard drive. It’s very similar to using a DVR recorder. Great for grabbing a movie or two off of Nextflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime, etc to watch later, or as in my case, in a totally different location! I record a few good tv shows and movies on a cheap hard drive and take them “to the country” to watch without having to stream there, as our only internet source is the hotspot on my phone. Plugs right into the tv via a usb port… simple!

    Hope this info helps anyone wanting to “cut the cable” or, as in my case, for those in places without easily accessible cable or internet (without going the expensive satellite/dish options anyway..)

    Reply
    1. goingray58 says:

      You know I had a friend give me a Roku stick .. old right .. and I went to look at Roku and you are right the remote plug for ear phones is perfect for me .. just no the money at the time. Your mention made me go look again .. they never have refurbs .. and this time they did .. so I got one for about $40.00 less than retail.. When I do have time .. it’s usually late and wife unit goes to bed early like chickens .. I’m more a night and late person .. when I sleep.. anyway she will appreciate it .. volume not at 80 vs her 40-45. 🙂 thanks @austex7124

      Reply
      1. austex7124 says:

        You’re quite welcome goinggray58! Yeah, nice not to always hear “TURN THAT $&%^*^@& THING DOWN!!!” emulating from the kitchen 😉 !! Seriously though, its the clarity of speech that is so much better for me using a headset… I don’t have to strain to figure out what’s being said, making watching much more pleasurable.

        Reply
    2. JR says:

      Appreciate all the info austex7124. I have a subscription with Playon and not real impressed so far. I need to give it another shot.

      Good thoughts on the remote with ear plug adapter. I may check on getting a remote for my Roku’s with that option.

      Reply
      1. austex7124 says:

        You’re welcome JR….. Yeah, the Playon thing isn’t perfect, but it’s the best solution for my situation that I’ve found so far. It’s a bit time consuming, since the recordings are in real time (i.e. a 1 1/2 hr movie takes 1 1/2 hours to “record”) vs. a fast download, but it has a “que” feature and a delay timer, so I just typically throw a couple of episodes of Homeland, a good movie, etc in the que, let it run overnight, and they’re ready to go the next morning. The fact that streaming is a bit pricey using my cell out in the country has led me to this much cheaper option… good luck!

        Reply
  11. Dave K. says:

    Great thoughts JR! It is amazing how much one can accomplish without the distraction if TV. Personally I’m coming up on 20 years without a TV in my home. Don’t miss it one bit. Given all the projects and preps I don’t think I’d have time anyway! Really enjoy all you put together! Keep it up!

    Reply
    1. JR says:

      Thanks for sharing Dave K. I can’t imagine being without TV for that amount of time. I do enjoy many shows and the entertainment but can see that time can certainly be wasted.

      Reply
  12. SingleMom says:

    We’ve been without cable for about 4 years now, and I don’t miss it a bit. I check the news online, and we look for cheap DVDs of movies and TV series that we know we’ll watch again and again. Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Goodwill are all good sources at decent prices. The kids have become more interested in board games, and we have a lot more fun with those than we did when everyone was glued to the TV set all evening.

    Reply
  13. goingray58 says:

    hmm .. so maybe an article covering video file types that carry audio .. i.e. movies.. some links to software .. some links to browser extensions.. yeah might be worth a technology section carefully advising people that it’s for instructional purposes only..
    yup

    Reply
  14. Panhandle Rancher says:

    For anyone considering a move to satellite based TV, I recommend mobile service like one would use with a mobile home or RV. This way your actual physical address lat lon may not be registered with the provider.

    For those of you who can receive broadcast TV one day and not the next, I remember overhearing one side of a cellular telephone conversation in the windy west Texas oil patch. The person near me was yelling into his cellular because the wind was blowing so hard. I laughed when I heard him complain the wind was blowing away the cell signal. In reality, wind born debris, ranging from sand particles to cardboard boxes increase path loss and degrade signal strength. Just because your weather is fine doesn’t mean there isn’t atmospheric related path loss elements between you and the transmitter.

    From our mountain with a good external antenna, rotator, and pre-amplifier, we receive great TV from as far as 150 miles away. Again, we occupy the high ground.

    PR

    Reply

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