I'm gonna miss network TV

[RolliePollie]

Wah. I'm sad. No more network TV for me. :( I was happy enough with my fuzzy reception from the antenna on my roof. But I live too far away from the network transmitters to receive the new digital signal, so as of yesterday, I have no TV! You'd think a person could live without it, but I'm not so sure. I'm going to try it out for a while and then I'll probably break down and get Cable. Luckily we do have Cable on our street...a lot of places around here don't. And I can't do satellite because I live in the middle of a forest.

I know I'm whining...I guess this is what you get if you choose to live in a rural area far away from the city. I bet there are a lot of people having TV withdrawals across the Country today. And I wonder how many people just can't afford Cable or Dish in this economy.

OK, my rant is done now.

[sundial]

You might be pleasantly surprised to learn you don't miss t.v. :)
I use my computer for entertainment moreso than the t.v.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

You might be pleasantly surprised to learn you don't miss t.v. :)
I use my computer for entertainment moreso than the t.v.

Me too. I haven't watched tv in about 11 years now. We rent movies, and I learn lots of good stuff online and that keeps me plenty busy. Whatever cool educational/documentary stuff I want to watch, or even any series I might like to see, I can just rent from Netflix super cheap- without the tons of commercials. "TeeVee" has nothing much to offer me anymore. :)

[kelownagirl]

Me three. I stopped watching TV about 2-3 years ago and don't miss it at all. And I had many favourite shows. It was hard the first few months but then, once the new shows started and I had no clue what I was "missing" it didn't bother me at all.

[msincredible]

TV-free for 4 years now. :)

[AnnieBikes]

Nine years next month for me!! Do we sound like AA for TV?!!

When my two younger sons decided to do a 6 week cross country bike-camp-kayak trip, I discontinued the cable TV. When they returned, we did not seem to notice. I thought it would be hard, though I did not watch much anyway. It was a bit of withdrawal for them but they are now gone and I am fine without. I get calls from the Cable company weekly asking if I want "the bundle" and they CANNOT believe that we have no TV service. We did get one channel but that is over now! They even tried to tack on an extra $10 fee because all we get is internet!! I threatened to change service and they backed down. Now I am fighting with them over a "contract" like a cell phone or they will raise my internet only rate to some ungodly amount like 59.99 a month...and it doesn't cost them anything for me to have internet...just the line maintenance which hasn't been a problem!

You can go cold turkey. The computer has all you want for TV anyway....Hulu, I hear, is quite good and free!

[TsPoet]

Not a member of AA TV here.
You can get your TV still, you just need a converter box.

[AnnieBikes]

No, thank you. No TV for me! :D:D

[uforgot]

I have a tv but I don't watch it. As a matter of fact, I used it at school about a month ago and still haven't hooked it back up yet. It isn't a conscious choice for me, I'm just really not interested in anything on there.

[solobiker]

Me too. I haven't watched tv in about 11 years now. We rent movies, and I learn lots of good stuff online and that keeps me plenty busy. Whatever cool educational/documentary stuff I want to watch, or even any series I might like to see, I can just rent from Netflix super cheap- without the tons of commercials. "TeeVee" has nothing much to offer me anymore. :)

Same here. We rent 2 movies a month from Netflix and watch them on our lap top. Other then that I surf around and find fun things to see on line. TV has not been on at all, except for when I want to spend some quality time on my bike with Coach Troy:p

[shootingstar]

Well, have lived in home with tv since 2002. But somehow my tv watching interest naturally falls within 5-8 stations...across cable network.

Before that I was tv-free in household for 25 years. Yes, the computer became my entertainment but that started only around 1993 when I owned my first computer.

My parents did a brilliant maneouvre to dissipate tv obsession: when tv broke down, it would be months before had tv repaired. It happened a couple times when growing up.

[Cataboo]

I haven't bothered to hook up my tv... I use hulu.com and stream shows if I know I want to watch something.

[smilingcat]

Hi, my name is Smilingcat.

I was addicted to TV.

I have been TV free for 4 years now. We don't keep track anymore. I didn't take too much time for me to get over the withdrawl. maybe 2 or 3 month? After that, it was easy.

I also see the prices of those new flat screen TV :eek::eek: I can't justify buying one of those. The cost of the monthly charge for cable or satellite :eek:

Besides, I always have stack of books to read. The stack never gets smaller it seems. Yes I do read, the stack is not stagnant.

[sundial]

I also see the prices of those new flat screen TV :eek::eek: I can't justify buying one of those. The cost of the monthly charge for cable or satellite :eek:


For the price of a new t.v. you could have a sweet bike. :cool:

[Biciclista]

i use my television to watch movies with my DVD player. When my DH is not here, the tv is never on. I grew up in the 60's with TV as our main indoor entertainment. You can break this nasty habit.

[RolliePollie]

Not a member of AA TV here.
You can get your TV still, you just need a converter box.

Unfortunately, I live too far away from the transmitters for a converter box to work. The signal strength has gone down and they're transmitting on UHF instead of VHF now (I might have that backwards) and those signals don't make it this far. I think it's interesting that they didn't really advertise this fact...they just said get a converter box and you'll be fine. But that's not necessarily true depending on where you live!!!

Thanks everyone, for your support. I think I can make it without TV. I'm just in the midst of withdrawals right now. With the support of AA for TV, I will probably be a success story. Now...if only my dial-up internet would speed up so I could watch TV that way...

[emily_in_nc]

We live in the boonies, kinda, and were surprised to see how many digital stations we can now scan on our one digital TV (a little 15" one). We do have a rather large antenna in our attic, which we bought when we first moved here and didn't have satellite. Our larger TV is old and does not do digital. We have satellite TV now so really don't need access to the local channels separately, but during a big storm, it can come in handy on rare occasions if something extra good is on.

I know most people here are rather anti-TV, but there are some real pearls among the rubbish -- Lost and House come to mind, for starters. And the TdF! But certainly to each her own. So much of it can be watched online anyway these days. :cool:

[salsabike]

Some of us, even if we don't watch TV much, are still not anti-TV. And there is some excellent stuff on there, like The Closer and Saving Grace.

[smilingcat]

I'm not really against TV. Just don't care for much of the programming. I just don't have time for it. I'm constantly reading against a growing/shrinking pile of books. Mostly non-fiction. Now I would have liked to have seen the ABC special on year 2100 that GLC had pointed out. Is there a way to rent it on DVD??

And I'm stupid enough to be ordering another half a dozen or so books from Amazon, some used some new... And from the last batch I still have three books.

After a while you really don't miss TV.

As for movies, much of it I don't get it. Alien series just made me go huh?? Indiana Jones series--gross blah... Star Trek movies gubbly gook talk. I guess I'm just showing my age with Casablanca, Miracle on 34th Street and good chic flicks like Sleepless in Seattle, you've got mail, Driving Ms. Daisy, Spitfire Grill (wasn't widely circulated but I loved it)...
Ghost with Patrick Sweazy(sp) Really sad to see him suffer so horribly with his cancer.

Also love foreign films. Martha (Deutchland), A Girl from Paris (French), Zelary (Czech Repulic) just a few... Zelary was REALLY REALLY GOOD!!

oh bit of thread drift here.:p

[SadieKate]

Some of us, even if we don't watch TV much, are still not anti-TV. And there is some excellent stuff on there, like The Closer and Saving Grace.Here here. Discovery Channel, History Channel, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Madow, Jon Stewart, Public Broadcasting, American Experience, Mythbusters, classic movies, etc., etc., etc., all to the tune of my knitting needles clicking away. And I still manage to read quite a bit. Jared Diamond and The Third Chimpanzee is on the bedside table right now.

[wackyjacky1]

I am an unabashed TV-aholic. If I had to choose just one, though, internet access would win out over the TV. But I do love my TV... :D

BTW check out hulu.com to catch some of those TV shows that you may be missing now.

[surgtech1956]

I have to admit I like TV. My fav shows, CSI, The Closer, Bones, Saving Grace, In Plain Sight, Dexter, National Geographic(NatGeo), Court TV, football, women's basketball. There is alot of garbage on TV and understand being anti-TV.

[Crankin]

I mostly watch the news, local and national, along with the Today show on TV.
The only show I "need" to watch is NCIS, and there are a couple of others I like. I don't watch any of the hundred cable stations we have. We dropped HBO and all that after the free trial started, along with the DVR. We get 2 Netflix movies a month and at this time of year, sometimes it's weeks before we watch the one sitting on the counter.
I couldn't imagine watching anything, sitting here looking at my little lap top screen. Of course, I don't like reading the news on line, either and I still prefer and look forward to reading the newspaper each day. According to the news, I guess I am one of the few who still reads the Boston Globe.
I am pretty sure I could live without TV, but I don't want to.

[Zen]

I miss random old movies on TV. You'd never know what would show up (unless you were a devout TV Guide reader) Like Tarzan or ma & Pa Kettle or a Charlie Chan movie:p.
Even TV Guide is a relic now. Once upon a time it was indispensable.

[surgtech1956]

I love the Ma & Pa Kettle movies, Abbott & Castillo, and all the Elvis movies.

[emily_in_nc]

Now I would have liked to have seen the ABC special on year 2100 that GLC had pointed out. Is there a way to rent it on DVD??

I bet you can watch it on abc.com. Just about all their shows are available for viewing online after the fact.

[Blueberry]

DH is planning to make a homemade DTV antenna - apparently even though you can hook normal antennas up, they don't work as well. Our reception can be spotty (largely because of our plaster walls....) If it works, I'll post here as it may help some who are further away.

CA

[Fredwina]

I lost over half the channels in the switchover. Granted, I'm using the old "rabbit ears", but according to the dtv.gov website, I shouldn't count ever watching KCBS(2) over the air

[northstar]

You won't miss it as much as you think you will! We ditched TV in February and don't miss it. Like others, we watch shows online or do Netflix. It's much more fun arranging the living room furniture without the beast. :)

[smilingcat]

DH is planning to make a homemade DTV antenna - apparently even though you can hook normal antennas up, they don't work as well. Our reception can be spotty (largely because of our plaster walls....) If it works, I'll post here as it may help some who are further away.

CA

Ooo. your DH is an antenna engineer? I know nothing of the black magic. Like to know the physical dimension of his antenna the distances between the emitters and reflectors, width and the diameter of the beams...

Or is he an HAM operator with antenna know how.

KI6YMF (smilingcat)

[Blueberry]

Nope - it's quite easy to do (or so says you tube....) We'll see:)

[smilingcat]

Nope - it's quite easy to do (or so says you tube....) We'll see:)

I think your husband need to look up yagi antenna (multi element directional antenna), aperiodic log antenna (also directional antenna). These two types are what I see for rooftop antenna for regular TVs. Spacing of the elements and width are important in getting the right impedance matching for the frequency of interest. And I have no idea of how to figure all that out. It's black magic to me.

I got a pretty good chuckle on some of the contraption I saw. The coffee can. Wow I'm suprised it even picked up anything.

The old gentleman with hot side going to a dish and ground going to the chain link fence :eek::eek:

I'm wondering if the old fashioned multi-element TV antenna for your rooftop is still useable. Not sure what frequency the new DTV is being transmitted. If its the same frequency as the old TV channels 2-7 then you should be able to use it.

KI6YMF (my call sign) smilingcat

[Zen]

9453
We don't need special antennae at my house

[mjapple]

Hulu.com is a great way to watch pretty much any show you can think of, and probably many you've never heard of! I haven't owned a TV for years, but do keep up on a few of "my shows" with Hulu. Not as many commercials as regular TV, and no need to schedule your life around programming... nice :)

[tulip]

I was out of town last week when the change over happened, and so far I haven't missed not having my three channels. My little old TV with rabbit ears is in the closet where it normally resides. I simply refuse to pay for TV! So I'll use my little old TV for DVD-watching from the library, and perhaps I'll check out hulu.com for actual shows if I feel the need.

I don't like cable because you can't move the TV around--it has to remain where the cable is. Well, sometimes I like to watch it in the kitchen, sometimes in the livingroom, sometimes in my room...and I'm certainly not going to buy multiple TVs! I also really, really dislike seeing a TV in the room, even if it's off. I prefer to hide it when it's not in use.

I like to watch TV when I iron. I iron once a week for a couple of hours (yeah, I iron my sheets, so it takes a while). I find it strangely relaxing and gratifying. Maybe I'll catch up on my movie list while I iron, or maybe I'll watch something on the internet.