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Television Can Be Expensive (It Doesn’t Have To Be)
One way that my wife and I have saved money over the years is that while most of our friends have cable or satellite TV, we’ve never paid subscription costs to receive TV programming. That means that we are saving ourselves a good chunk of money every year. If you’re in debt, you probably shouldn’t be paying for TV either!
Rates for cable in our area range anywhere from around $12/month for the basic package with only local channels to well over $100/month for upgraded offerings with premium channels and shows. We probably would have ended up going for a middle of the road package, somewhere between $50-60/month. How much have we saved every year by not paying subscription costs for our TV entertainment? Probably between $600-720! That’s a lot of money! The good news is, TV doesn’t have to be that expensive!
While we haven’t paid for cable TV, we haven’t exactly been deprived, or had to watch only the shows offered by the over the air networks. There are tons of free video options out there! In fact, we actually still watch a lot of the same shows that our friends do. How do we do it you ask? Through a combination of free over-the-air digital TV, free online video services (the legal kind), a video streaming software, and a Xbox 360.
Our Low Cost Home TV Setup
Here’s how we watch TV at our house. Keep in mind that this package isn’t free, but it is lower in cost than the above mentioned $720/year package. Things we needed:
- TV: A TV to watch your shows on! - Cost: Free (you probably already have one)
- Playon Software: This software that can be found at http://www.themediamall.com/playon and allows you to stream online video from popular services like Hulu.com, straight to your TV through a networked media device (see below). - Cost: One time fee of $39.99 (there is a 14 day free trial)
- Networked Media Device – Like Our Xbox 360 (list of Playon supported DLNA-compliant networked media devices): You can get a brand new Xbox 360 for around $200 nowadays, sometimes cheaper if you buy used or refurbished. Tons of other networked media devices are compatible as well including Playstation 3 and HP Mediasmart TVs. Soon it should work on the Nintendo Wii as well. Check the link above to see if your device is supported. - Cost: Free-$200 (depends on if you have one of these already)
- Video Streaming Services: There are tons of online video streaming services like Hulu.com, Netflix, CBS.com, Youtube, Comedy Central, HGTV, and ESPN that support the Playon software! The software also now supports plugins, so additional channels are appearing all the time including the Food Network, NBA/NFL content, and others! - Cost: Free
In our case, we already had everything at our house, except for the Playon software. So for this setup we paid $29.99 (the software has gone up in price since then, but goes on sale occasionally.), plus the $8.99/month for the basic Netflix streaming package (get it, it’s worth it!). That’s $138 for the first year, and $108 for every year after. That is a lot cheaper than if we were paying for cable! (It would be free if we dropped netflix.)
UPDATE: From now until October 31st at midnight, the Playon software is on sale for 1/2 off! Just enter coupon code OCT09 and you’ll get $10 off the price of $39.99!
So here’s how the above cited items are setup at our house in order to stream video from the web, to our TV
- The Playon software is installed on our home computer connected to the network.
- Once installed Playon has a media server running in the background that pulls in RSS feeds from major video content providers, which allows the PC to pull in the video streams in the same way that a web browser does.
- Video is sent over our home network, and played full screen through the Xbox 360 on our 50″ Plasma TV. Much better than trying to watch shows on our tiny 19″ computer monitor!
Here’s an explanation of how Playon works from the software’s website:
MediaMall’s PlayOn software is a UPnP digital media server and browser that pulls RSS feeds from content providers, and presents them to DLNA-compliant networked media devices. In plain English, this means you can use your game console or networked television to access content from providers like YouTube, Netflix and Hulu. The PC software pulls in the media streams, in the same way as your web browser, and then sends them directly over your home network to your device, even converting their formats on the fly to make sure the devices can play them. Simple as that.
MyLifeROI.com talks about how he setup the same Playon to Xbox 360 streaming at his house.
Watch Free Over-The-Air HDTV
The setup I talked about above is only one way to get free or low cost TV content. Another way we get free content at home is through the free over-the-air HDTV channels that are now available to everyone who has a HDTV tuner and an antenna. If you have a TV with a built in digital tuner and a simple antenna, you should be able to just turn your TV on, and get all the network TV stations in their full HD glory! Check for your local digital stations here.
If you have a regular TV, you’ll need to buy a digital converter box to continue watching TV by this summer anyway, and once you get one, you will then get tons of crystal clear TV stations for free! When we started watching Digital TV we instantly gained about 5-10 TV stations because some channels have the main channel, and then sub channels as well.
Honestly we could probably survive on our over the air channels alone, although my wife likes to have our cable TV fix every once in a while – which is why we have Playon.
Watch Free TV Online
In addition to the options above, you can also watch TV for free through a variety of websites online. While it isn’t as fun to watch the shows on a small computer monitor, it is still a good option I think. Many of these online options may be available for streaming through the Playon software in the future as well.
- Hulu.com: probably the best one out there in my opinion, already works through Playon, but you can watch it on your computer as well if you’d like.
- Fancast.com: Similar to Hulu, not quite as good, but still has tons of great content.
- TV Network Websites: ABC, NBC, CBS all have good full episode streaming options available.
- Joost.com: Full episodes from a wide variety of shows.
- Tioti.com: Tape It Off The Internet is a social media site for TV shows – allowing you to view episode information, and then see where you can find the show online.
- Veoh.com: Tons of content, including TV shows!
- TidalTV.com: Tons of TV content, not my favorite site or layout, but it works.
- FreeTVOnline.com: Haven’t used this site much, but was recommended to me.
- Sidereel.com: I’m new to this one, but it looks to have lots of good free TV options.
- AOL Video: Both short and long video clips and full shows.
There are a ton of other free video sites out there, this list only lists some of the ones I found to be the best. Have some free online video options that you use? Let us know about them in the comments and maybe I’ll add them to the list.
Rent Movies And TV Shows – And Use The Library
Another low cost option to get your TV and movie fix is to either rent your TV shows and movies, or to get them from your local library. My favorite options are:
- Redbox: Redbox allows you to rent a new release movie for $1 a night, which is an extremely low cost movie rental option. Search for coupon codes online for free redbox rentals, and it can be even cheaper!
- Netflix.com: Slightly more, but the added convenience of keeping the movies and TV shows as long as you want, and being able to stream a selection of movies and TV shows over the computer, or networked media device. $8.99 for the basic package, or try a netflix free trial.
- Your Local Library: Your local library will most likely have a decent selection of DVD movies that you can check out for a week or more. My local library tends to be a bit picked over, but if you get on a waiting list you can usually find movies or TV shows you’d enjoy watching.
- Borrow From Friends: Borrow movies and TV shows from friends and family. They already own a ton of DVDs, they may as well get some use out of them!
Conclusion
A lot of people pay a lot of money in order to be able to watch the TV shows that they want, when they want. In the process they end up spending upwards of $500-1000 a year, mostly for programming that they don’t watch. If they would just look a little deeper they might find that there are a lot of free or low cost options out there, and they can get a lot of the same TV shows, movies and other video content for free.
My suggestion? Read this article, do some research, and find your own low cost option for watching the TV shows that you love. If you put a few of these tips above into practice, you can save thousands of dollars, just like we have.
Do you have other suggestions for low cost or free options for watching TV? What setup do you have at your house, or do you still pay for cable or satellite TV? Are there shows that you think you can’t get by using these free video options? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
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Boxee is another option.
We returned the Apple TV and then learned about this workaround.
We had a sweet setup for awhile with Boxee and Apple TV, but then Hulu took the content away.
Seems slightly unethical and complicated to me.
We actually enjoy snuggling in to bed once our children are in their beds. It’ss nice to sit in bed and watch TV together instead of being in separate chairs or on the couch all smooshed.
I’ve heard of Boxee, although I think you’re right, they blocked that one for Hulu.
I don’t follow your second point, what seems unethical – and difficult? If you mean Playon – I’m not sure why it would be unethical. You still have to watch all the ads that Hulu/other services put in the content, as watching TV through playon is basically the same as watching it through your web browser. So you’re not really stealing content or anything like that. Just watching it with Playon instead of IE or Firefox.
As far as setting up Playon, it’s as simple as installing the software, and then turning on the TV/Set top box, and selecting to watch video through playon. (some setups may need a couple more steps due to anti-virus software, etc)
When I did a post a while back a a commenter mentioned Sling.com and TV.com
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Another way to watch TV for free is FTA (Free To Air) satellite. Receivers can be bought for as little as $50.00 on Ebay and if you have a bid C band dish or a Ku system 36″ dish you’re in business. Companies like Galaxy marketing, Sadoun Satellite Sales,and Satellite AV sell complete systems. I watch ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX.CW, This, AMG, White Springs, RFD, and many religious stations in English and Spanish. All For Free.
Thanks for the link. I think going without cable is a lot easier now than it was even 5 years ago.
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Thanks for the link to my post! Within that post I have 2 more posts linked that show how I got rid of cable.
For me, cable is a pretty unnecessary expense at this time.
Good post and hopefully the word spreads!
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We use our PS3 for watching Hulu. And we have a Netflix account. Sadly, we still have satellite. But if they ever start live streaming some of the sports stuff my husband watches…We get MLB.tv online, but everything else he watches requires cable/satellite *sigh*
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That’s the only reason I’m still really tempted to get cable TV – so I can watch my Minnesota Twins, Wild, and other sports teams. That and the History Channel..
For now I’m having willpower.
What advantage does Playon have over an S-video or DVI cable going from the computer tower to the TV?
For me, it means i don’t have to have the computer hooked up to my TV, i can stream the shows over the network and have my computer in another room. It also means I can watch the shows full screen, using my remote and/or Xbox controller, to pause, skip, select shows, etc. It’s also more convenient for me than having to navigate to a website, and surf around using the keyboard/mouse, and having all that computer hardware sitting on my coffee table.
Playon may not be for everyone, and if you have a computer right there next to the TV, that might be a viable option as well – especially if you can hook up the audio from the computer to your stereo.
I used to have my computer hooked up to my TV and stereo, but that drove me crazy because in addition to the sound from what ever program or video i was enjoying at the time I would also get every system sound blaring through the room. Every time an email came, “ding”; every instant message, “ding”. I am much happier watching the same stuff through my xbox 360.
This is a great overview. We’ve been using the Roku box for Netflix for a few months and I definitely think we can do without cable. This article gives me plenty of options to think about.
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Another one to add is boxee.com basically the central place where you can stream from multiple sources. I think if this continues and it becomes easier for users to watch TV from computers on TV this will increase.
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Great explaination of things you can do. You can use the PS3, Xbox 360, or even XBMC on the Original Xbox to connect to PlayOn. Also check out Tversity. It offers a lot of the same functions as PlayOn and some more. Handles local file better too. Both products are great and I run both. Each one has advantages.
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I agree, Tversity is another good one. They each do things well, and others not as much.
Does Playon take the place of Xbox Live? I was about to pull the trigger on getting my 360 set up with Xbox Live, not so much for the online gaming, but for the streaming video through Netflix. Playon sounds like it is cheaper, but I’m not sure if it is the same vehicle as Xbox Live to get to streaming video for TV & movies.
Xbox Live and Playon would be separate. Xbox live allows you to stream netflix movies/tv shows without playon (obviously you still have to pay for netflix). You can also rent tv shows and movies through xbox live marketplace and download them to your hard drive. That isn’t cheap though.
Playon works separately from this stuff. It also streams netflix (although native xbox netflix streaming works much better in my opinion) and also streams a ton of other video services like hulu from your computer – to the xbox. Again, to get netflix you still have to pay for the $8.99 streaming package.
Basically, when you go to your xbox and select to view video, you can view video from the xbox’s hard drive (stuff you download from xbox live), or from one of the connected media servers. Playon would be one of the connected media servers (in addition to the built in media server in windows vista -which only has limited streaming capabilities). Does that make sense or did I just muddy the water even more?
Thanks, Peter! Makes sense.
I’m still wondering, though, which source I need. What I want to do is watch full episodes from CBS (CSI, Criminal Minds), so do I need Playon, or would Xbox Live do the trick? (I think I may have to get Xbox Live regardless to download the program to make it possible to play the old Xbox games on the 360.)
Also, in saying the Xbox Live streams better, what do you mean by this? Does it down load faster? Less interruptions during viewing?
If you only wanted to watch certain shows, you could double check on Hulu or one of the other Playon supported services (CBS streaming for example), and see if those shows are streamed through their online services. if they are, you should be able to use playon at no extra charge. I know for a fact that CSI shows up in Playon, as we watch that show quite regularly. I’m not sure about the other one.
As far as the xbox streaming netflix better – i think it is better because the shows stream with fewer/no interruptions through the xbox netflix interface – although it seems to work fine through playon too – it just has a few more interruptions and the interface isn’t as slick.
On Xbox live to download TV shows (unless they are netflix and you’re already paying) it would cost for each show you download – kinda like renting a movie.
A’ight, so bottom line is I would not be able to watch CBS.com (current episodes) without playon?
As much as I’ve tried to use this same plan to justify an Xbox 360 the wife just isn’t buying into that one. She does love Hulu though and we’ve resorted to that for plenty of SNL goodness.
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Great analysis Pete – it is pretty cool how technology is offering us so many options!
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Great Post, I agree too, Tversity is another good one.
You forgot to mention “You still need to keep at least one (wire/cable) for Internet access”
One way or another, you are going to have to pay either the local monopoly cable company, or the local monopoly telephone company, for broadband Internet access. And they tend to often charge *more* for Internet only, or refuse to sell it, mandating you pay for a bundle that includes either TV or phone service.
I do pay for internet service, you are correct -but I have extremely fast broadband for $36.99/month – which isn’t too bad. I would be paying for that Internet access either way -with our without all the TV services – so i didn’t count that.
Great information, I just passed this article onto my husband. Thanks for the post!
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I really want to set this up, but my question about this revolves around quality. I watch things on Hulu from time to time, and for the most part it’s okay, but there are times that it just HANGS and then after a minute or so it goes for another 4 seconds and hangs again. Obviously it’s buffering too slowly. When it gets like that it’s almost unwatchable for me. Drives me nuts.
That’s one problem. The other problem is that there is a marked degradation in video quality when I go from native size to full screen on my computer (not as bad as on YouTube, but still) AND the buffering is worse. If it’s having that much trouble filling a 19″ monitor, how bad is it going to be on a 30″ TV screen? Not sure I can take that kind of degradation.
What does it look like compared to watching a DVD, for example?
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I can only speak for the setup that I’m running at my house. As far as buffering – we never seem to have any issues with that. We’re running on a pretty fast DSL connection, not sure what you’re running on – could that be part of the issue? The biggest problem we run into with buffering is when the show is just starting to play on the xbox. It sometimes takes longer than others to buffer – but once it starts playing we usually don’t have any issues.
As far as the quality – sometimes it isn’t that great, it’s not DVD quality or anything, but it’s more than acceptable. HD it’s not – but we think it’s pretty good.
Great post! There have been some rumors that Hulu is going to start charging for the content in 2010…so it’s always nice that the shows are also on the network pages!
I’m a huge fan on Netflix. I have the basic package (~$9/month) and watch a ton of TV shows and movies through the streaming online option.
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I’ve heard that rumor about Hulu starting to charge for content. If they do start charging i certainly hope they keep it cheap – or have a two tiered system – one with ads for free, one without.
Thank you so much! This was very useful.
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This may not be for everyone, but if are in the US, and you already have a somewhat fast PC with a large enough hard drive, a home network, and an Xbox 360 on a TV, you can get an HD TV card with 2 tuners and record up to two TV programs at a time. I am using an HDHomerun, because I like the fact that it’s not physically in my computer, but there are cheaper alternatives. The Windows7 version of Windows Media Center has greater HD quality than most HD recorders offered by cable/satellite/ and others that cost over $400.00 per box if you were to buy one! Some cable companies deliver QAM signals also, so even if you only have the most basic cable signal, you may be getting free unencrypted digital signals over that line (check with your cable company), or you can also use an antenna for free, like me.
hey all a great site i found for watching free tv online is TopFreeTv.info. good selection and constantly updated.
Great article Peter, thanks. I’m going to try doing this with the WII I bought my kiddos last year. Hope it works.
not for free i don’t think.. unless you did some illegal bit torrent or something like that.