Cutting The Cord: On Life Without Cable TeeVee

Like most of you, I’ve had a longstanding hatred of Comcast’s TV services. You want me to pay WHAT for this piece of junk Fisher Price DVR?! Loving your Apple products and hating Comcast’s stultifying services are 2 sides of the same coin.

So when I moved recently, I decided to cut the cord and not get TV at all. Here’s how I’m doing it, in bullet point format:

• I bought a 300 dollar HTPC (home theater PC) from Acer. Its just a Windows 7 box in a compact form factor and comes with a wireless keyboard/mouse.
• The HTPC has an HDMI out which goes directly into my LCD. I also connected it via Ethernet to my router.
• I got the baseline Netflix subscription
• I’m going to get Hulu Plus
• I downloaded and installed Boxee for Windows.

And here’s the end result of all of this, also in lazy bullet point format:

• Windows 7 stinks to the high heavens. Unlike Macs, things don’t work seamlessly.
• Not having sports is pretty challenging.
• Hulu Plus and Netflix together can get the job done for TV shows and movies.
• Boxee isn’t as great as its made out to be. I was impressed, no doubt, but there’s definitely more heat than light here.
• All in all, cutting the cord is a bitch and I don’t feel like the sharpest tool in the shed for having gone down this path.

Thus far, though, its worth it to not get price-gouged by Comcast. Let’s see how long I can hold out!

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