9 months without cable

Well, I thought it was time to update everyone on where we stood with our trial of "no cable or satellite" in the house. It's now been 9 months and honestly we are watching fewer actual shows that are still being shown. Those we are watching, well, we just see them a little slower than everyone else. ;) We are watching MacGyver (through DVD), Battlestar Galactica (thank you SciFi!), Stargate Atlantis (again SciFi), and Amazing Race. 4 shows people...yet we really don't seem to have any more TIME. Where has all that time gone?

In the past 9 months we have seen a huge leap in the streaming technology. We've also determined that streaming wirelessly with an older laptop is not the best idea either. Hooked directly into the network with a dedicated computer seems to give us a pretty good experience.

So, what exactly do we watch and how? Also, what else have we done to add to our need for TV. What specific things have we missed about not having cable?

1. We recently joined Netflix. Not because we could get unlimited movies delivered to our door, but honestly, because they offered the "Instant Play" feature for MANY movies and television shows (yes, most are older, but still we like watching reruns of many of our favorite shows). Which shows in particular do they have? Mythbusters, Sliders, Dr. Who (original), SeaQuest, Extreme Engineering, and so forth to name a few. They have CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York, Numb3rs, and I believe NCIS and The Unit as well. We found quite a few family favorites from PBS on there, and many from the History Channel that the boys enjoy watching.

These are from NETFLIX people, so no commercials. :)

2. Did you know HGTV has ONLINE shows as well? SCORE for Me!!!! Full episodes of some of my favorites, and better yet...it streams continuously that ONE show. So, instead of moving into the next show as it does on TV, it moves into the next episode of that show. Love the Designed to Sell series...

3. Sci-Fi channel has our favorite shows on their full episodes list. These are currently Battlestar Galactica (it runs about 1 week "slow" and it's just about over), Stargate Atlantis (we're in the last season on this one), and Eureka (not playing right now).

4. Amazing Race is streamed online after the final showing in the US, meaning right after (or as it plays as I've not tested it) the Pacific time zone sees it, we get it streamed online. We typically save it for a night the boys can watch with us.

The boys? Well, they have not seen television shows designed for them since we cut the cable. No Disney Channel, no Nickelodeon, no Cartoon Network, etc. We have not shown them the Netflix instant play stuff yet, but probably will soon.

What have we missed? Well, we have missed certain things...like watching the Inauguration real time without having to tweak the antenna. Superbowl was a little noisy. Baseball's Homerun Derby was not shown on networks. That's the sum total of the things we've "missed" about not having Cable/Satellite hooked up. 3 things...in 9 months? Dh would like to go on the record that he does sometime miss the "channel surfing" aspect of having cable.



More Disney this week...more photography stuff...and homeschooling ramblings.