Man, I'm PO'ed At The Cable Company!

[MasterBlaster]

OK, call me dumb but I thought when the change to digital went into effect there would be some HD channels coming through. Guess what? I was wrong! The digital changeover has nothing to do with the HD channels. You still have to get the fricking converter box and I hate a galldanged converter box!!! You gotta make space for it and use their remote control! Frig that!

Soooooo, I decide to sign up for the digital ($17 more a month!:X) package and I drive to the cable company to pick up the "box." And again, guess what??? The "box" has the same dimensions as a common stereo receiver, maybe even bigger!!! And I have no place at all to put the damed thing - my TV is wall mounted. So I though about it and told them to keep that shit and leave my account as it is.

One would think that with today's technology they could come up with a way to eliminate that "box."

[Blinky]

I'm glad I don't have cable. It's one of the more predatory businesses out there. Bandwidth isn't costing them shit and they're charging premium prices for it.

[MasterBlaster]

Meh, we're paying for all the infrastructure n shit, not just the bandwith.

[woodworkingboy]

They have what's called a CableCard, it eliminates the box.

[MasterBlaster]

Yea, you just need to buy a TV that has that slot. I wish I'd have known that when I bought THIS new LCD tv 6 months ago!!!

Anyone wanna buy a TV?

[Wagnaw]

Anyone wanna buy a TV?

I haven't owned a TV in six years. But you should try and sell your story to the satellite providers in exchange for a free set up. :D

[MasterBlaster]

Crap, I just found out that the CableCard costs an extra two bucks a month! They charge you for the privilege of getting rid of the box!

[Blinky]

Crap, I just found out that the CableCard costs an extra two bucks a month! They charge you for the privilege of getting rid of the box!

Like I said, "It's one of the more predatory businesses out there." $2 dollars a month for a card that might cost them $15. Probably can't buy your own either, eh?

The thing about cable companies and bandwidth is, they already had 90% of the point of presence infrastructure back in 1990, all they had to do was setup some data centers... which were cheap compared to laying fiber. Bandwidth to the household via CATV cable in this country should cost almost nothing. Time-warner charges $50 per month for basic, un-guaranteed internet bandwidth. The FCC screwed us big.

[gf beranek]

Graft... that's what it's about.

[Nails]

I haven't owned a TV in six years. But you should try and sell your story to the satellite providers in exchange for a free set up. :D

How's no TV treating ya? I want to throw mine out the window.

[MasterBlaster]

Ya'll aren't watching the right programs. :drink:

[Burnham]

No, Butch. We aren't watching any programs...and happy as clams at high tide.

I have sooooo many better things to do than sit in front of the tv, watch crap, and get spoonfed mass marketing.

Not that I mind a whit should you like to do so...just isn't my cup of tea.

When I travel for work, stuck in a motel, I look at it...confirms my desire to avoid in my regular at home life..

[CurSedVoyce]

No, Butch. We aren't watching any programs...and happy as clams at high tide.

I have sooooo many better things to do than sit in front of the tv, watch crap, and get spoonfed mass marketing.

Not that I mind a whit should you like to do so...just isn't my cup of tea.

When I travel for work, stuck in a motel, I look at it...confirms my desire to avoid in my regular at home life..

:thumbup::thumbup:

[NickfromWI]

I haven't had a TV since I left home. That would be 1997. I LOVE not having one. In high school, i recognized how much of a time waster it was. And commercials just PISS me off!

Try keeping it off for a week or two. You might like it. Plus...no TV and you don't need the box!

[CurSedVoyce]

I watch what I want to when I want to in streaming video piped to my TV from the computer. And the kids are far better off watching good movies and such instead of TV any day. You know how good it feels to see how they play like I used to when I was a kid. They can make play out of the simplest most ordinary objects with their imaginations. Also, when we go to the store or at Christmas time we don't get the I want I want I want bull chit.

[Ryan]

One might say the internet could be a waste of time as well. Web surfing is somewhat akin to flipping channels.

[MasterBlaster]

TV can be educational as a mofo. The Discovery Channel and the History Channel - how can anyone say they're not good for your mind??? What, I should read the book instead?

Not having a TV because it's "a waste of time" is like having an outhouse cuz an indoor bathroom "might smell."

[Altissimus]

the reason I'm on dial-up is my local cable provider will not run service all the way up the mountain , he goes halfway up and thats it ....

[MasterBlaster]

That sucks.

[Newfie]

the reason I'm on dial-up is my local cable provider will not run service all the way up the mountain , he goes halfway up and thats it ....

Climb the pole and tap in for your own connection, eh!:)

[MasterBlaster]

Ah, those were the days...

[Altissimus]

He does better bringing in service for new condominiums with dozens of customers in one spot than extending rural service in areas with few homes or year round residents .... It's not fair ! I would LOVE high speed internet (media challenged) ....

[MasterBlaster]

It's most awesome, mate. I've never known anything else.

[woodworkingboy]

TV isn't a habit for me, but sometimes when I'm really tired from working, don't want to think about nuttin, I like to turn on the tube and just zone out for a couple hours. Hopefully it's something that I enjoy watching, but probably if someone were to ask me the next day what I watched, I might not be able to remember. I find it therapeutic in those instances.

[Altissimus]

I used to watch quite a bit of history channel type stuff .... I could watch the construction of the Empire State Building again and again ....

[squisher]

I never miss an opportunity to add. No broadcasted television here, only movies. When they want to pay me for the right to advertise to me in my home, I'll consider it, depending on how much they're paying.

Talk about a good business, the advertisers pay for advertising space and then the audience pays to be advertised to. Not a bad gig.8)

[lumberjack]

I too would love to be on cable internet. I could spend weeks sucking in random media that is a PITA to get at on Hughes.

I learn too much from the internet to say I'm not addicted to it in some fashion (learning that is). TV is great to keep my mind from running away, although it does suck when I notice flaws in nearly anything I watch.

[stehansen]

I have dish network. I like it (having television) but I'll admit I don't get much of it watched. My typical evening I'll check out the treehouse and then when I go to bed I'll switch it on and last 5 or 10 minutes before I fall asleep. Do any of you guys get the military channel, and if so is it worth it. It doesn't come on my package that I have right now.

[MasterBlaster]

I never miss an opportunity to add.


:?

[Burnham]

He's a math scholar...:D

[squisher]

:?

I never miss an opportunity to add that I dislike broadcasted tv.

Better?:D

[Blinky]

Better?:D

Anything you say your manjisty! :P

[IchWarriorMkII]

TV can be educational as a mofo. The Discovery Channel and the History Channel - how can anyone say they're not good for your mind??? What, I should read the book instead?

Not having a TV because it's "a waste of time" is like having an outhouse cuz an indoor bathroom "might smell."

I agree.


I think a lot of my knowledge came from TV. Maybe a third of it. The other 2/3rds came from reading and everything my Pappy told me.

I signed up for Dish Network a long time ago. Much better IMO. With the DVR technology I can actually watch the shows I want to, when I want to ( I rarely catch the shows I want live anymore) and now I don't have to watch commercials, just blast right through them.

Of course, the TV is full of junk. No doubt. I go to the in laws house and all they watch is sitcoms and drama tv. No thanks.

[Blinky]

I watch DVDs and streaming movies... and streaming South Park episodes, but no cable or broadcast. I have a bad reaction to commercials when they come at me every seven or eight minutes.
I miss a few channels like Discovery and Comedy Central but not enough to pony up the cash for cable. I read a lot, don't remember much of it but it passes the time.
I've been learning to play Go (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(board_game)) lately and it pretty much fills my brain right up at this point.

If you have a DVD player and like dramas like Deadwood, watch 'The Tudors'. It's as restrained as Deadwood is unrestrained... but in a really wicked way. Anne Boleyn is hot too.

[stehansen]

I wonder if people really talked then like they do in Deadwood. Like Shakespeare except they cuss a lot.

[MasterBlaster]

Supposedly, yes. :drink:

[Blinky]

Supposedly, yes. :drink:

Don't you mean, "Supposedly, yes... caulksucker!". ;)

[MasterBlaster]

If I lived in Deadwood, yes.

[Frans]

I wonder when someone will organize a class action lawsuit against the cable companies, cell phone providers and the sat. companies?

Seems like they are really out of control.

[MasterBlaster]

Cot soccers!!!

[Al Smith]

It's no doubt a regional thing .Around here you get a DVR type gizmo that's not too large .That stupid thing ties you into certain movie channals etc. as part of the package . Some channals have been on high deff for several years .

I've got everything on cable ,internet ,TV ,telephone . Has all the perks ,call forwarding ,caller ID all the bells and whistles of regular telephone plus no long distance charges .

[Canuck]

I have a 52" plasma, HD cable and all that shit. Reading this is making realize that I might watch it once a week. And I'm paying about $100 per month for it, thats $25 everytime I watch my tv. I think I'm going to cancell that shit.

[OTGBOSTON]

My home is a shrine for the 42'' flat panel, HD, LCD, 1080p idiot box in my living room:D

My provider is comcast, I like 'em. You guys complaining about commercials need a DVR or 'on demand' programming....;)

[MasterBlaster]

Many commercials nowadays are highly amusing.

[squisher]

No commercials wanted here. But I'm still pimping the 62" dlp with blue ray and surround.:D

[MasterBlaster]

Piss on it, I'm headed out to get the damn BOX. I'll just have to mess with the feng shui of my set up. 108 bones a month. :X

[MasterBlaster]

Somehow it went from 108 to 125 a month. I declined the offer.

As you were.

[OTGBOSTON]

hahaha

[stehansen]

I think Dish network is about half that MB.

[MasterBlaster]

Yea, and when it rains it goes out.

[Frans]

Yea, and when it rains it goes out.

True. I just downgraded my service to the minimum. Watching movies on-line now.
Just good for the local news.

I just watched the new x-men Wolverine origins movie. Not bad.