internet on your TV

In our last post, we talked about ditching cable. Which is a good way to save money, but how do you watch those few good shows that were on cable? We do not recommend stealing cable, so don't even think about it! You could rent the season when it comes out on DVD... a year later. No, we here at P.S. like to watch the shows shortly after the air date. The almighty internet offers that solution. But how do you get around watching the shows you miss on a tiny screen? Hook your computer to your TV! You can play too, here's how!

Current equipment:

• Old desktop or laptop computer (with internet access)
• TV with a "PC In" port; either a VGA or DVI connection (could get a DVI to HDMI to go into an HDMI port)
• Spare 'Audio In' port on a stereo (if your TV has 'Audio In' under the 'PC In', you can use that)
  
• Monitor cord (VGA or DVI)
  

The rules:

• Total equipment cost should not be more than one month's cable bill. In our case, not more than $92
  
• No additional monthly charges (I'm talking about you Apple TV)
  

What to buy:

• Wireless keyboard and mouse (we found a ?? for $29.44)
• audio out (headphone connection) to left/right RCA cord (25ft of cord cost us $10.19)
• wireless internet connector if a network drop is not near your tv/computer setup (linksys $39.99)
• Monitor cord extension (VGA $11.49)
  

Instructions:

1. Install the wireless keyboard and mouse on your old computer. Follow any instructions they provide
2. Install the wireless internet connector if you computer is not near a network drop. Again, follow the instructions for that device.
3. Plug the RCA cord into your TV or stereo. Find a spare "audio in" section. Remember which section the cord is plugged. You will need to change the stereo to that function/source to hear sound.
4. Plug the 'headphones' end of the audio cord into your computer. Look for an icon that has sound waves coming out both sides (i.e., the stereo out).
5. Plug the video cord into the 'PC In' section of your TV and plug the other end into your video card.
6. Tune the TV to the PC channel and stereo to the external audio option.
7. Start your computer
8. Enjoy
   

The score:

Total cost for a month of cable: $91.42
Total cost for equipment (one time fee): $91.17

SUCCESS! Good luck!

*You could go out and by a new computer, or by expensive video and audio cards that would have better connectors, but that would defeat the purpose of saving money.

Kicking out cable!

Have you ever been flipping through the cable channels, not finding a thing to watch? What is that all about? Since we moved out to Portland, we have been paying over $90 a month for the extended digital cable tier (plus DVR and sports extras). We don't even know how many channels we had, but most of them were garbage. We found ourselves only watching an occasional cable program, but were mostly watching "over the air" shows.

We started to reconsider our subscription to cable. But what would we do about the few shows that we would watch on cable? Well, in comes the good ol' internet. With a little searching, we found that most of our shows are available to watch online. So, through the magic of computers, and our condo's fiber-optic internet access, we decided to drop cable.

Dropping cable is not a new idea. CNN recently did a story about people canceling cable (link). Internet TV is on the rise with sites like hulu - hulu allows people to watch current and even classic television shows (not all mind you, but a good selection). Most of the big TV networks have episodes to watch on the web, many ready to watch shortly after the original air date. The advantages to these websites are the option to watch shows when you want and not need to sit through 4 minute commercial breaks. Most sites will have an ad banner outside the window or a 30 second break every quarter of the show.

Concerns about dropping cable and just watching TV on the web could go like this: 1) The computer screen is too small. 2) I sit in front of a computer screen all day, I need a break from it. Well, why not hook a computer up to a television? In our next post, we will outline how we now watch many shows on the internet, through our TV AND for a one-time cost less than a month's worth of cable.