I've finally kicked a terrible habit

[Omaroo]

.... Foxtel!

My Foxtel IQ, associated dish and cabling is sitting by my front door, ready for Mr Foxtel to pick it up. Jeez it feels good...

Being suddenly single again a couple of years back, I became a habitual Foxtel watcher - whether there was anything decent on or not. I've seen the error of my ways and will now save about $130 a month by turfing the damn thing. While there were a couple of really decent series on, easily 95% of what is offered on Foxtel is utter garbage or repeats of that garbage. I came to loathe the Discovery-esque "in your face" urgent style of delivery - where not catching their program was a matter of life or death. Just awful. I also can't stomach the fact that the more "interesting" channels are cleverly grouped with channels you wouldn't care less about - meaning that you had to take the entire package set to get those that you did want. If you could order and pay or just what you wanted it might have been worthwhile.

I bought a great 500Gb Samsung 3D/Bluray PVR the other day, and will go back to free to air. A once-off charge and I'm finally free from ongoing costs. Programming my set today resulted in 16 or so channels to choose from including a couple of radio channels. With more digital channels coming on every year, I think that FTA will challenge Foxtel services soon. In addition to the FTA services, I also run an AppleTV - so my movies come in at $5.99 and I only pay for those I choose. The "movie of the week" is only 99c, which is brilliant.

Ah... what a great feeling. Foxtel - beaten. Be off with you, swine! :thumbsup:

[Octane]

Nice one, mate. : )

I've been TV free since 2001. : D

H

[mozzie]

hi chris
we've austar same as foxtel.we rang them up to disconnect and they couldn't do enough to keep us connected.and so they should free tv is getting more channels all the time.austar has some good kids channels which is one reason to stay with them for the time being (not that my kids watch a lot of tv)..but i think there going to have to pick there act up or customers are going to walk in droves..

[koputai]

Chris, whilst I totally agree with your views on Foxtel and their programming, going FTA is not the answer!

My wife said to me just last night (whilst we were watching the BBC Blu-Ray 'Life'), "We should get rid of Foxtel and just buy more DVD's".

I think maybe the answer lies in pay per view downloads, when the content finally becomes available.

Cheers,
Jason.

[jjjnettie]

TV free here too.
The few times I do get to see some FTA, all it does is remind me why I don't want it.

[tlgerdes]

I gave it up 5 years ago. Bought a mediacentre PC, and havent looked back. I only watch stuff that I record and want to watch, dont have to contend with adds, and can record 3 different channels simultaneously. Stores home movies, photos and music...... and some contraband.

Kids dont know what a TV ad is as they are so used to hitting the FF button.

FTA now has a much greater selection now, especially some of the older stuff from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Channel 10 introduces their new extra channel in 2 weeks. As you say 16 channels of good stuff is better than 120 of rubbish.

[Barrykgerdes]

I get Foxtel pests around every week plus junk mail. I used to tell them give me a cable (for internet) and I will think about it or why should I pay for something I can get better free.

I have a large collection of DVD movies (generally oldies) and TV series that I liked from the 60, 70, 80 and 90's, mostly picked up on the bargain counters.

The new TV channels have a great selection of the old favourites as well.

Barry

[Omaroo]

I couldn't do that. I need to see the news, not just hear it on radio. Maybe one day when I move to Cooma.

[iceman]

We got rid of Foxtel about 5 years ago (maybe more!) too. Like you, we just ended up watching too much television and the kids watched it for nickelodeon and that's about it.

There's heaps of choice on FTA digital TV now, plenty of channels.

I watch maybe 1-2 hours of TV a day - not enough to justify paying foxtel.

[kustard]

I like foxtel but still being semi-unemployed we might have to can it any way as it's such a big expense.

[taminga16]

Groucho Marx once said.

"I find television very educational. Everytime somebody turns on the set, I go to another room and read a book".

Cheers.
Greg.

[M110]

I would be lost without my doco channels on austar, FTA TV is such rubbish. I don't like tv dramas or reality shows, I only ever watch the news. Nope, I will be keeping mine.

[Kevnool]

I went to my neighbors house a while ago and told him i could cut his austar bill completely in half he went away.

Then he must of pondered on it all arvo till he came over and said how then i told him you install a second box then when its up and running i come over take the second box over to my house and i will set it up.

Anyway he agreed to it and they came and i took the second box and now it shares a connection on Optus B3 with Central 7 and Imparja.

He pays half and i pay the other half he is happy and i,m happy.

Cheers Kev.

[pgc hunter]

As much as I hate Poxtel, with their 5 minute ad-breaks, frequent service drop outs, and paying outta my behind for those endless ads and crap service, I still couldn't live without my sitcoms, comedy channels and docos. But for the mind-melting prices these highway robbers charge, there should be NO ad breaks whatsoever on ANY channel

UNtil FTA TV becomes not a boring Dr Phil, Oprah, Ricki Lake and infomercial snore fest outside those couple hours primetime in the evening, Poxtel stays.

[snowyskiesau]

I've managed to do without Foxtel even though I already have the cable installed (Bigpond).

I couldn't however do without by set top box/PVR!
I have an IceTV (http://www.icetv.com.au/) subscription as a program guide and software installed on my computer to manage the recording of programs of interest.

The only problems I have with it are that the inbuilt 400GB disk is not big enough and that when you have 400GB of TV recorded, it takes a long time to catch up.:)

If only it could automatically handle skipping ads and extending recording time when programs run over schedule (always!)...

[supernova1965]

You would be better off getting a Dual Hd Digital recorder for your PC I just bought 2 VUE USB Dual HD digital TV sticks one for my PC and one for My wifes pc so we can record 4 programs between us for $90 on sale at WOW that mean I can record two simultanious programs to the pc and then encode to DVD to free up Disk space

[snowyskiesau]

A few years ago, I ran MythTV on a Linux system and it worked well. This was with an analogue tuner, single channel. Rather than buy a digital tuner for it, I got the set top box (Topfield PVRT5000) as it was well supported and there was a progam API to allow the creation of applications to run on the set top box. I can record 2 channels while watching a third - only in SD. It was bought over 5 years ago and things have changed a lot since then.
When the current box dies, I'll go the MythTV route.

[supernova1965]

You have done better than me I have never been able to get the tuners working with MythTV I have trouble getting hardware working with linux as I don't have the command line knowledge you need

[jakob]

Unfortunateley we don't get FTA reception.
Now I'm trying to register for VAST access. All ABC and SBS channels allready connected, just waiting registration of the other channels.
I'm using exiting dish and bought Videosat box for $300.

[RB]

Haven't had TV since 1993 and I don't miss it.
I just pick what I want to watch on DVD or video now and then.

:)

[supernova1965]

Yes I agree there is not much on TV these days that is any good but I have noticed an increase in science related programing in the last few years which is the only reason I check the Program Guide anymore:thumbsup:

[Omaroo]

I still find that both the ABC and SBS have lots on which is still worth watching - in particular science-based programming (as Warren has said) such as ABC's "Sleek Geeks" and the Brian Cox program on fusion power that was on last night on SBS. Apart from that there is, I agree, little on that tickles the "broin".

[M54]

ABC and SBS are the only two channels we watch (apart from Big Bang Theory:lol::P).

[snowyskiesau]

Prior to the Christmas/new year shutdown for television, there were some good scifi shows on 7mate (Warehouse 13, Stargate) and Go! (Fringe).
Hopefully they'll be back in the new year.

[koputai]

In Kellyville? You're kidding right?

Cheers,
Jason.

[rogerg]

$130/month!! wow, I had no idea it was THAT expensive. That's more expensive than our most expensive bill. Money I'd rather going on the home loan or astro toys.

[Gas Giant]

Why pay for all the repeats when you get them fot nothing on the digital channels?
Not that I do, of course - well maybe on cloudy nights, a bit;)

[mithrandir]

I get SBS from Wollongong because the Old Northern Rd ridge so degrades UHF to my part of Castle Hill it can be unwatchable, and that is with a 5 metre antenna mast on the garage roof. Depending on which part of Kellyville he's in he could have the same problem.

Andrew

[TrevorW]

Never had Foxtel and probably never will for just the reasons Chris pointed out you ie: you can't select what you want and it's overpriced

[jakob]

We used to get 0, 2, 7 & 9.
When SBS moved to 28 that was the end!
We have tall mast, amp & Arial rotater, long beam and multy array, all nbg.
I think they lowered VHF arials to mount UHF. The auto-tune picks nothing.
I'm on Cattai Creek in the shadow of Castle hill. Therefore Satellite is the only reliable answer.

And ADSL is limited too, as we are too far from the exchange!

[ShuttleAU]

Hi

This is a little off topic for the thread but here goes. For those struggling with Mythtv tuner cards , I now use the HDHomeRun ethernet connected dual digital tuner. My internal tuner cards are now in a box on the top shelf. My myth box runs cooler without the cards.

It integrates seamlessly with the latest version of Mythtv ( via ethernet ) , provides two tuners, and my kids can watch TV via Media Centre on their notebooks if there is a spare tuner not recording.

The myth box does not need to be near the antenna coax.

The tuner performance is way ahead of any internal card I have tried.

http://www.hdhomerun.com.au/

Shuttle.

[Jen]

:thumbsup: yes i agree Peter i am thinking of giving it the flick too (im with austar) now that there is more free tv to choose from they need to lift their game and give us all the austar/foxtel channels for the same price as a basic package ;) They must be loosing customers now as i know a few people that have given it the flick :P

[Barrykgerdes]

I am in the kellyville area also and TV was unusable with rabbits ears. I got reasonable reception of analogue TV with an aerial in the roof plus an amplifier. However when digital arrived about 5 years ago I had to put the aerial on the roof with a masthead amp. to get a reliable signal. Most people get better reception from Wollongong.

Digital is unwatchable during storms although we can still get a noisy signal from the analogue stations. The Sydney staions still use VHF and I would assume transmit their digital and analogue from the same aerials with diplexers allthough The ABC had to use a new system for Digital as their digital is on channel 12.

However the poor FTA reception was still not enough incentive to go pay TV.

Barry

[snowyskiesau]

While it looks like a neat solution, it's a little expensive (and out of stock).
I could get a couple of dual channel internal cards for that price.

[4 years for your first post! Must be a record. :welcome:]

[RobF]

Only watch Austar when on hols, and amazed at all the adds that still come up (unless you're watching movies). I've been too lazy to get a digital set top box yet. Must get my act together....

[Suzy]

I've had pay tv since they first started, first with Galaxy and then when Foxtel took over - probably12 yrs I think. For the first time a few months ago I went from the "everything" package to dropping a couple - price was getting ridiculous. And the price for the high def. package was ridiculous esp. as not many channels of hd anyway,:shrug: so that got the boot too.
I can never give up Foxtel, I'm too scared & weak to do it,:face: I have to have my fix of Gossip Girl, Trinnie & Sussanah, Super Nanny and Tori Spelling's reality show. And lots of docos thrown in of course, so I don't seem too much of an airhead :screwy: :lol:. And my cat remains glued solid to the Nat Geo channel :rolleyes:. I have pics for proof :rolleyes:. Also I just saw an ad that their bringing back "Prisoner" - bring it on - I've watched the re-runs 3 times in their entirety, and I'm ready for the fourth. :D:doh: I'm a girly girl, ok?! :screwy: :lol: Errr, I think some of my intelligence took a dive in this post :question:. Oh what the heck, I've got nothing to loose now, I'll admit that I have two foxtel boxes and my other two tvs pump out foxtel through sending transmitters. I don't watch "much" tv (let's not define "much") really I don't .. :question:

[barx1963]

Never had pay TV and there is more on the Free to Air than we can ever watch so don't see the point! Use a Topfield PVR with 120gb drive to record things but we record lots that we just don't have time to watch and end up deleting. Besides, time in front of the box is only redusing time to look through the eyepiece or post on IIS;)

[pgc hunter]

They have more ads than bloody FTA TV. Seriously, I've sat thru 5 minute ad blocks. Sometimes, the ads come on barely a minute into the show :mad2:

Hopefully these new digital channels will be the eventual death knell for poxtel and put their highway robbers out of business.