I have been a cable subscriber for a long time now. However, recently, this has changed. I decided to ditch cable and experiment with a media center substitute. I have been running a media center only solution now for a few months and I have to say that I don’t miss cable that much at all.
The reason I wanted to try this out was for the cost savings. The price of cable in my area was up to $50 a month for a pretty basic plan. This does not even count any of the cool extras you always see advertised like a DVR or any premium channels. I was tired of paying this much money for a service that I only used a few times a week. When I switched to a media center solution, I was able to cancel cable. I signed up for Netflix after I cancelled cable, but all-in-all I am still saving over $40 per month. The media center itself only cost me around $400. So, the media center will pay itself off within 10 months of use.
What you can do with a Media Center
With a media center, you can still watch much of the same programming you would get with cable. I signed up for Netflix which has a pretty solid selection of TV shows and movies both via streaming and DVD. I also take advantage of free services such as HULU, ESPN3, ABC.com, CBS.com, etc. With the addition of a simple antenna, I rarely find myself missing cable. I live pretty close to a large city, so I get pretty good antenna reception. With the new digital TVs, antenna signals provide great quality as well versus the fuzzy analog signals of the past.
Windows Media Center Recorder
Another very cool feature of a Windows 7/Vista media center is the Windows Media Center software. This software allows you to record live TV and watch it later. Windows Media Center is just as good as or better than a Tivo when it comes to its recording abilities. Keep in mind that you will need a TV tuner card for this to work. Also, if you have a poor antenna signal, you may not get great quality recordings.
A Media Center may not be for Everyone
If you have a ton of shows that you watch on cable regularly and you like to keep up with these shows right when they happen, a media center may not be for you. It is tough to find every single show that is on cable right when it is happening. I also find myself missing ESPN every so often as well. ESPN3 is great, but it doesn’t always have everything. If you watch ESPN all