Dumped the cable

[kajero]

My SO, Don, who passed away January 21, 2017, was so into TV! He had TV's in every room. Two in the computer room and that doesn't count the two monitors that also could be used as TVs.

So he had the best cable package and TIVO package you could buy. Since he passed away I have removed all the TVs except the one in the living room which I want to sell - I have no use for 55" inch curved tv -- and the one downstairs. As soon as the contract is up, the cable TV is going bye-bye! I rarely watch TV and what I watch is available on the basic channels that I don't need cable for.

[shootingstar]

How sad and am so sorry Kajero for your loss.

I haven't lived a home with any tv for past 7 years. I don't subscribe to Netflix and seldom watch shows on 'Net.

[kajero]

Shootingstar -- thank you for your condolences.

I don't know how to get Netflix or any other of that streaming stuff on Don's fancy TV. I tried to but all I did was mess things up so badly that I had Don's son come and fix it. So all I do is watch very basic television because three remotes are too hard for me to figure out. Oh wait, there are four. One for the TV, one for the cable company, the apple TV remote -- which is beyond me, and the Harmony remote for the sound bar. Of course the DVD player has a remote but seeing as I can't quite figure out to use it without messing up the TV, I don't use the DVD player.

I CAN figure out the ALEXA he bought. I just tell her to play public radio and she does. And she doesn't cost anything!

[Pax]

I totally get that about the remotes. At my brothers house at Christmas my SIL asked me to put on the channel showing "It's A Wonderful Life", couldn't even figure out what button to push to turn the thing on, four remotes and all sorts of components, nope.

[Crankin]

I am the same way. We only have 2 remotes, but I don't even know how to get the channel guide on. DH is always talking into the remote and then gets mad when the thing doesn't get his command correctly. He uses voice for everything. I just think it's dumb.
I do know how to get my DVD player to play a DVD, which I mostly use for yoga or other workout stuff. That involves 2 remotes, but I've been doing it a long time.
One time, many years ago, when my kids were away at camp and DH was on a business trip, I rented a movie (a tape). I couldn't get the movie to play, so I returned it within an hour. How pathetic is that?

[ny biker]

I am the same way. We only have 2 remotes, but I don't even know how to get the channel guide on. DH is always talking into the remote and then gets mad when the thing doesn't get his command correctly. He uses voice for everything. I just think it's dumb.

This is the point I tried to make to the Comcast people about the "upgraded" DVR they forced me to get. They added so many features that I have no interest in, and as a result the things that used to be simple now take multiple steps and drilling down through several menu layers. And the stupid voice command thing is of absolutely no interest to me. I have enough problems with sore throats and laryngitis, I don't want to have to talk to change the damn TV channel.

Some people just want it to be simple but they have decided they don't want those people (included me) as their customer.

I bought a new router which should give me faster download speeds but haven't had a chance to hook it up yet. And I was delaying the Roku purchase for a month or so because I've been spending too much money on other things lately. Meanwhile Comcast billed me $30 for the technician who came out to hook up the new DVR that I was forced to get, even though they had told me that I would not be charged anything for it. So I had to go back to them and ask them to refund the money. This is on top of the extra $10/month they billed me for two months after I bought my own modem and returned the one I was paying them for -- if I hadn't called to ask for that money back they never would have refunded it. I have more motivation than ever to find alternatives to getting cable TV from them.

As for remotes, with the old DVR that I was perfectly content with, I never bothered to program it so that I could use the DVR remote to control the TV. With the new hated DVR, the technician who was supposed to be there at no charge programmed it for me. Then he tried to show me how to use it, but I kept saying "I won't ever use that feature so you can skip it" and got increasingly annoyed at all the extra steps for doing what I did want to do, so by the time he left I'm pretty sure he thought I was crazy.

[Crankin]

That's why we don't have a DVR. We *never* used it when we had it. Even DH hated the thing.