Refinement of Our Cable Alternative Continues

Have I ever mentioned how much I absolutely love technology?  Awhile back I posted an article about how we had cut cable back to just the local network channels and were paying $6.95 a month for an old Tivo subscription so we could record our favorite network shows.  This has worked really well so we can watch shows like Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory but the picture was never very good because the Tivo is 6 years old.  We normally spent most of our time watching Netflix because it was usually in HD and the picture was beautiful.

I was chatting with a friend of mine today who just received his new ROKU box.  I had heard of ROKU but hadn’t really seriously considered picking one up because we already have Apple TV.  We love our Apple TV for watching Netflix and I really enjoy controlling it with my iPhone.  Unfortunately, I can’t use the Apple TV for Hulu Plus (which we currently don’t subscribe to but will shortly).  Anyway, I love the idea of buying a ROKU for $49 with no subscription.  We can use this to stream all the latest shows from the networks and it will let me cancel our Tivo service.  In the end, it will come out about even but we’ll have a higher quality picture through ROKU and will continue to avoid the monthly cable television tax that most people are paying.

 

What are we currently paying for our entertainment?

-Basic cable: $15 per month

-Netflix streaming: $7.99 per month

-Old Crappy Tivo: $6.95 per month

 

What will we pay going forward?

-Basic cable: $15 per month

-Netflix streaming: $7.99 per month

-Hulu Plus: $7.99 per month

 

The big benefit to this change is a TON more available content and the picture quality will be MUCH better (std definition vs high definition).  And we’re still paying FAR less for our TV viewing.