directv out, netflix back in

DirecTV is $75/mo, so they go BYE-BYE after this weekend. It was a pleasant coincidence that one of the premium channels is having a free preview* this weekend. So I added those channels and kept the dual-tuner DirecTivo humming snagging movies. Tomorrow I'll disconnect the dish and quasi-landline** and call up to cancel.

We had Netflix before but wasn't using it much so we cancelled a few years back. They kept begging us to come back (free month), so I eyeballed how to stream 'flix to the Wii. Worked fine, as you can see in the inset pic.***

We were happy with the setup, so re-subbed with the the streaming+1dvd plan ($9.99/mo). Our approach is:

1. to pull down streaming content
2. check RPL for DVDs
3. use the Netflix mailed DVDs to fill in gaps from #1 and #2.

Bottom line: $65/mo savings over our current situation, with access to things like Mad Men on DVD.****

The mythbox is still cranking away recording broadcast tv. I set up His, Hers, and Both recording groups so we easily see what it's recorded for what audience.


Edited to add: we basically stopped going to the movies a few years ago. People are idiots in public. I have no desire to pay $20 to listen to cellphones ring and the unsocialized yell at each other. So we pop our own popcorn and watch movies on the wall. The projector was about $500 used off eBay 8 yrs ago and the bulb is still holding out. Does double duty for xbox/wii action. Awwww yeahhhhhh buddeeeeeeee...




* we don't have any pay channels, just basic stuff + locals.

** No landline, but I'm running the DirecTivo daily call through the mythtv box via serial cable. Werd.

*** LCD projector shooting on the wall. Didn't even move stuff out of the way because it was a test run. Still daylight outside, and windows open. The image as you see it is about 8' X 6'. Shot was from a season three ep of Drawn Together. Drawn is like South Park, only funny. If you have a high tolerance for offensive humor you'd probably like Archer. And why isn't Aisha Tyler a superstar? She's 12 kinds of awesome.

**** this makes the Dear Wife very happy

DirecTV to hike prices

Here's a thread about it.

I'm ready to go live with the free Over-The-Air antenna feed saved onto the mythbox. Will discuss it with the Dear Wife tomorrow.

If we do cancel, I'll disconnect the dish cables and network connection first so they can't do anything sneaky to our DirecTivo. There's about 100 hrs of recorded material there we'd like to eventually watch.

TV: Glee

We have a TiVo/Myth wishlist set up to catch shows called "Pilot", which means it will catch pilot episodes. Most suck, but every once in a while you'll catch something great like Wonderfalls, Veronica Mars, BTVS, etc. Glee doesn't suck.

Dear Wife granted it a Season Pass, or would have it there were any new episodes coming up. But the series doesn't start until Fall.

HDhomerun

Wow.

I picked up a HDHomerun; it's a networked, dual-tuner DTV device. It grabs the DTV stream (HD, SD, whatever) and slings it over to your windows/mac/pc or to your mythtv/mediacenter/dvr.

Our main DVR is a 2 tuner DirecTivo with a 300GB drive, but DirectTV is $60/month. I have built a MythTV box (using the excellent MythBuntu distribution). I already had a twin-tuning Hauppauge PVR500 card in there for grabbing analog cable. The networked HDHomerun adds two more so there are 4 tuners in the myth box.

I am seriously considering dumping that $60/mo DirecTV feed and getting our TV free over the airwaves, timeshifted on the Mythbox.