FREE - One Month Trials of Showtime, Starz and Epix at Roku Channel

The Roku Channel is offering a one month free trial for Showtime, Starz and Epix.


Link to the deal 


Its a free trial and auto subscribes at full price after the month expires.   
This free month offer ends on Sunday 3/31.   


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40% off Showtime, Starz for 3 Months via Amazon

Amazon is running a promotion for 40% off of select channels right now.

You can get 40% off for 3 months on :
Starz, Showtime, PBS Masterpiece, Lifetime Movie Club

Its a limited time offer through January 17th.   Also looks like its only for new subscribers via Amazon.


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This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Amex Offers for $15 back on fubutv, $5 back Hulu & 30% back CBS Online, Showtime & Sling TV (YMMV)

American Express has a number of offers currently for cash back on several online steaming services.


The deals I've got from them are :

30% back up to $15 on  Sirius XM Radio Inc. (including both internet-based and satellite-based), Pandora, Spotify, Sling TV, CBS All Access and Showtime. (expires 3/6/19)

Spend $5 or more get $5 back on Hulu up to 4x (expires 3/28/19)

Spend $35 and get $15 back on fubutv up to 3x  (expires 7/1/19)

Amex deals are YMMV so check your offers to see if you've go them or not.



Also Ebates currently offers $5 cash back on Hulu (new users)


Standard Ebates blurb: To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Two Months of Free TV via Streaming Service Free Trials

If you haven't cut the cord yet then one of the steps you should take is to try out the various online TV streaming services.    The major services all offer free trials usually for a week.    With so many services competing and all of them offering trials you can actually string together about two full months of free television by doing free trials back to back.

Here are the services and the free trial lengths plus the potentially available addon channels.

Hulu  live TV 7 days
possible addons : HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz

Philo 7 days
possible addons : none ?

Youtube TV 14 days
(possible + Showtime, Starz

Playstation Vue 5 days
HBO, Showtime, Cinemax

DirectTV Now 7 days
HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz

Sling TV 7 days
possible addons : showtime, starz ?

fuboTV 7 days
possible addons : Showtime, NBA league pass


You can follow the links to find the details on what channels each service offers and what devices they support.

For the addon channels I believe you can get those in your free trial as well in all cases but I am not 100% certain.   I've already tested each service myself and I can't remember the details on all services so sorry I can't go back and check it.    So this can potentially give you two months of free movie channels too and thats a good deal in itself.

Of courses it should be clear that the different services all have different offerings and you won't be able to watch every show every day if you're jumping around from service to service.

Note that Hulu Live TV is different than the plain Hulu service.    Basic Hulu does not carry live cable networks.    This is the Hulu Live TV version with over 55 channels for ~$40/mo

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Hulu + HBO for $13 for 6 months plus possible $15 cash from Ebates

Hulu is currently running a discount deal to add HBO for just $5 per month for 6 months.     You can add that to the $8 basic Hulu subscription for a total of $13 per month for both Hulu and HBO.    Thats a $2 monthly savings versus HBO Now alone and you get Hulu for free. 

Here's the link with the info on the Hulu deal

On top of that if you're a new Hulu subscriber you can also get $15 cash back via Ebates for signing up for Hulu.



Standard Ebates blurb: To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Cord Cutting - Mediasonic HOMEWORX : Is A Good Basic $30 OTA DVR

Just after Christmas I bought a Mediasonic Homeworx HW220STB*  DVR.   Right now they sell for $29.99 at Amazon.   My verdict on the device is that its a good value and works well.     However the interface is fairly simple and a bit clumsy.

I've found that we watch less and less cable television while our cable TV bill goes up and up.    The value we get out of paying for cable TV has dwindled.   At the same time the different choices and ways to watch TV has increased.     I've been testing out OTT (over the top) streaming TV services.   However most of the OTT options have limited broadcast network channels.   For example, Sling TV is pretty good but they only have ABC, NBC and Fox in select markets and where I live I can only get them on demand.   Of course you can watch the broadcast networks via an antennae but I've come dependent on a DVR.    Hence the personal desire for a OTA DVR.

So how well does the Mediasonic Homeworx HW220STB  work?     The main points good and not so good :

Features
- Works well
- Cheap
- Did I mention its cheap?
- Also functions as a karaoke box.  (programming not provided)

Limitations
- Only watch or records one channel at a time
- Very limited program guide based on info within the broadcast feeds.
- Requires USB media bought seperately
- Clumsy, crude interface and remote control
- Needs reliable TV signal to be effective as a DVR

If you want a well working OTA DVR for cheap then this is a good device and I'd recommend it.    The very reasonable $30 price tag makes this thing a great value.    However I would point out the limitations.     

The box records fine and I've had no problems other than signal issues (see point on that below).    Reception is good and it tunes networks as well as my TV does with the same antenna.    

The interface is functional enough but its not fancy looking and reminds me of something from 20 years ago.    Some of the controls on the remote and the functions are't intuitive.     It will take a bit of getting used to and I still find myself searching on the remote for the right button sometimes.

The program guide only gives you maybe 24 hours of information and its totally dependent on what the broadcast network imbeds in their signal.    If you want to set a few recordings days in advance before you go on vacation you'll have to look up the air times somewhere else and set them manually.   

The box comes with no storage and you need to provide a USB drive to store your shows on.   I used a USB hard drive that I had handy and it works fine.     The maker recommends using a HDD with it but it does support USB flash.   Users report mixed results with USB flash so you might want to make sure you've got a better speed device if you try USB flash.    And lastly a big point: 

You need a good and consistent TV signal

I figured out after buying the DVR that a poor or unreliable TV signal makes an OTA DVR  worthless.    Well not exactly worthless but not really good enough.     As much as people praise cord cutting and the great channel selections now available OTA I don't recall anyone pointing out that TV reception can be unreliable.    Some of us will remember having to get up in the middle of a TV show to adjust the TV antennae.     Well that hasn't changed in the 21st century with HD TV.    TV signals are still variable and you can still get random interference that causes your signal quality to fluctuate.    This isn't so much of an issue if you're watching a show live.   It may be an inconvenience to have to adjust your antenna a little but its just that - a bit of an inconvenience.    However if you're recording a show via DVR and your signal goes bad you're not there to adjust the antenna and the DVR records a pile of digital garbage instead.  If your TV signal is prone to random fluctuations then it could make recording programs with a DVR a pretty frustrating and unreliable experience.      To be clear this has nothing to do with the DVR box itself of course.   It can only record the signal it gets. 


While I recommend this box and do think its a great value the last point really hobbles its usefulness for me.  I don't know about you but I really don't want to sit down hit 'play' to watch a recording, get 10 minutes into it and then get hit with 50 minutes of a screen full of recorded digital garbage because the TV signal went wonkey two nights ago in the middle of the show while it was being recorded.

Update - May 7, 2018 : 
After writing this I figured out my antenna problem and my reception is now very dependable.   I've been using the Mediasonic box a little bit over the past few months and it has been ~90-99% reliable.   I have had it mess up my programming schedule a few times and it failed to record a show because of it.   The box does also occasionally lock up and crash but it is easily fixed with a power cycle.   I've successfully recorded dozens of hours of TV with it and it works great but its not 100% dependable.


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* yes thats a commission link, if you like my articles and decide to buy one of these please follow my link.   The commission isn't impacting the nature of my review at all. 

DirectTV Now + Ebates = Make $6 and Get a FREE Month of TV

DirectTV Now has a discount right now for $25 off of their normal $35 monthly subscription.   This makes the cost just $10.     Ebates  has $16 cash back for DirecTV now.   

If you combine the two deals you can get a free month of TV and make $6.   

$10 for the service with $16 cash back nets $6.

The deal is for new customers and negates the 7 day free trial.   But its better than 7 days anyway as you end up getting a full month for free.
Its a "limited time offer" but I don't see anything about when it expires exactly.   However this deal is for their birthday of the service so I expect it won't last too long.


Here is the fine print on the DirecTV now offer:

$25 Off First Month: Enter promo code BDAY2017 at checkout to receive $25 off the price of the first month of any DIRECTV NOW package (premium add-ons optional). Second month will be at full price, and renews monthly (min. $35/mo.), charged to your payment method on file until you cancel. Limit 1 code per customer. New subscribers only. Not combinable with any free trial or certain other offers/discounts/credits. GENERAL: Compatible device & browser req’d. U.S. only (excludes Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). Pricing, channels, features, and terms subject to change & may be modified or discontinued at any time without notice. Cancellation: View, modify or cancel at any time at directvnow.com. Once canceled you can access DIRECTV NOW through the remaining monthly period. No refunds or credits for any partial-month periods or unwatched content. Limit 2 concurrent streams per account. Programming subject to blackout restrictions. Taxes may apply.


Standard Ebates blurb: To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  

-- This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Review of PlayStation Vue

I've been toying with the idea of using a Over The Top (OTT) cable TV service.    Our cable bill keeps going up and up and up.   I call them periodically to argue myself a discount but I'm having less success with that tactic lately.   At the same time, there have been a boom in OTT providers.   Sling TV, Hulu TV, Youtube TV, DirectTV Now and Playstation Vue are the five current major players.

I started a 5 day free trial with Playstation Vue to check out the service and see how well it would work.  Here are my thoughts.

I tested Vue on my Playstation 3 console and on my Android phone.   It generally worked well on both devices.   The interface and guide worked pretty well in general.  

On the PS3 I did run into some major lags and random buffering.   However, I should qualify that and detail the actual amount of lag that I saw.    One time while browsing around the interface in PS3 it kind of hung for about 30 seconds.    I remember some other misc. hangs and delays but nothing more significant than that 30 second pause.    I also put the service to a critical test by watching the entire first episode of Game of Thrones Season 7 off the DVR / on demand function.   During the entire show I recall it pausing for a few times for a fraction of a second in apparent buffering.   Most of the problems I ran into on the PS3 were in the browsing interface or in the guide and not while watching a program.     Its also possible that the issues I saw on PS3 could be because my console is old or running a little hot and not specific to the Vue software.     Or the problems could have been internet related too, its always hard to tell.    I do use that same PS3 to watch Netflix regularly and I never see problems with Netflix that aren't the fault of the network.

I did not see any problems with the interface in my Android phone.   However performance may vary based on the specific phone and if you have an underpowered, or older phone it may not work quite as well.   I don't have a high end phone but its only about a year old and not underpowered.     Its possible my issues in the PS3 were device specific then.

I've heard that ESPN does not allow DVR recording of their live content on services like Playstation Vue or Sling.   I haven't confirmed it but I'm guessing this applies to the other OTT providers as well.
This detail throws a major wrench into my plan to investigate OTT as a possible TV alternative to my cable service.     However it seems you can use Playon to record ESPN directly from the ESPN site using your service credentials.   So this might work as a workaround to record games off ESPN.
Update : 12/04/17 -  I found an FAQ entry on Playstation Vue that lists channel restrictions on DVR use.   FAQ item : ARE THERE ANY DVR RESTRICTIONS?       ESPN is NOT on the list of channels restricted from DVR use so that should mean you CAN record ESPN.


Overall I did like the Vue service.    I'd give it a thumbs up with the minor qualification of some delays or lag on the PS3.

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Build Your own DVR for ~$200

The normal price for our HD DVR from Comcast is $20 a month.   Thats  pretty pricey.   You could buy a TiVo Roamio for $150 and buy lifetime service for $500 but thats $650 total and pretty pricey too.  

Another solution is to use a CableCard tuner with your computer and make your own DVR.   You can get a setup working to replace a DVR for $100-$200.    This does require that you already have a computer and internet connection at home but I'm guessing thats a safe assumption.

One such CableCard tuner is the SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME    Currently those run about $100 on Amazon or Newegg, but you can watch for sales and discounts and probably get one a bit cheaper.


Here is a YouTube video about setting up the HDHomeRun Prime to work as a cable TV decoder and a DVR.   He also has a follow up updated video
 
If you want you can connect your TV directly to your computer and watch the programming like that but that may not be convenient or work well if your TV and computer aren't usually in the same rooms. The video recommends using media extenders like either a Ceton Echo ($100) or a Xbox 360 4GB ($176) to watch the programs on individual TVs.    You can also pick up a refurbished Xbox 360 from Gamestop for $90-$120.

Between a HDHomeRun PRIME and a Ceton Echo you're in for about $200 total to make your own DVR setup on one TV.   You can cover more TVs with more Echos for $100 each.


Note the video also recommends using wired ethernet connections instead of wireless.   So that  means you would have to have physical wired network cables connecting the HDHomeRun and the media extenders.   Depending on your setup that may be more cumbersome.   You can try wireless to see how well it works of course  but note their recommendation is for wired connection.

This kind of solution takes a little bit of technical savvy but its not nearly as complex as building a Linux based PC DVR.   The boxes are designed to be more user friendly and are compatible with typical Windows OS systems that more of us are familiar with.  

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This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Is the Disney Movie Club a Good Deal?

I saw a mailing the other day for a The Disney Movie Club.   Its similar to the old Columbia movie club or BMC record clubs    You get a bunch of discs for cheap up front then you're obligated to buy a few more at 'regular club prices' over a couple years.    Then they also hook you in with the automatic mailings of future movies"If you want the featured title, do nothing - it will be sent to you automatically and your account will be charged."    If you don't want it you have to send back a mailer to say you don't want it.   The trick with these clubs is to buy the bare minimum and then quit.  Otherwise you pay more per disc in the long run... probably.

Who doesn't love Disney movies?   Communists and fascists?  They probably love em too!   But is the Disney Movie Club a good deal??

Note: I'm not a member (yet) and I don't have first hand experience with the club.
2nd Note :  The deal in the mail was obligating you to buy 4 movies but if you just go to their website they say you have to buy 5 total.   To get the better 4 movie deal you need a promo code included in the mailer.  But you can also find those promo codes online at places like Retailmenot.com  
They also throw in a free Frozen 36" x 50" blanket when you sign up for the current promo deal.

Their website has the full terms and conditions on the program.

The deal I saw was 5 movies for 99¢ each.   You're obligated to buy 4 movies at 'regular club prices' But in your initial order you can buy your 1st movie of the 4 you're obligated to buy for $11.95 and then another 'bonus' movie for $8.95.   The first shipment has free shipping.     Then you'd have to buy 3 more movies for "as low as $19.95" for DVD or $29.95 for Blu-ray.  $3.95 shipping each disc.    That would be $25.85 for the first 7 movies.   The 3 DVDs would be $23.90 each for a total of $71.70 more or for Blu-ray its $33.90 for 3 each or $101.70.   If you pay with credit card for the initial order AND authorize them to bill your CC for additional orders they give you a $3.95 discount.  
Total cost is :
DVD = $25.85 - 3.95 + 71.70 = $93.60
Blu-Ray = $25.85 - 3.95 + 101.70 = $123.60

So you're looking at $9.36 per DVD or $12.36 per Blu-ray. 

Comparing that to the prices of individual movies on Amazon.com I find :

DVD prices on Amazon
Frozen is $19.96
The Little Mermaid (Diamond Edition)  is $19.96
Toy Story is $19.96
Brave is $19.96
Tangled is $19.96
= $99.80

Blu-Ray prices :
Frozen (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD + Digital Copy) is $24.96
The Little Mermaid (Three-Disc Diamond Edition) (Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD + Digital Copy + Music) is $28.99
Toy Story (Two-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) is $29.12
Brave (Three-Disc Collector's Edition: Blu-ray / DVD) is $25.75
Tangled (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) is $26.90
=  $135.72

 So you'd pay more for just 5 movies via Amazon than you pay for 10 movies through the Disney movie club.

But after you've bought the first 10 movies (7 initial order + 3 obligation) the prices on the Disney club end up higher than you'd get off Amazon generally assuming you can qualify for free shipping at Amazon.

Now you can probably find some of those Disney titles cheaper elsewhere.   I did a couple quick searches and found a Toy Story DVD for $10 plus $3.95 shipping  and The Little Mermaid DVD for $7.88 plus $3.95   and if you want to buy from Amazon Marketplace I can find Frozen for $18.88 plus 3.99 or $22.87 while the Frozen blu-ray is $18.72 plus 3.99 or $22.71.   These prices put me around $14 per DVD or $22 and change per Blu-ray.   Still more than the per movie price at the Disney club.

Once you've met your obligation of movies to buy with the Disney Movie Club it is probably smartest to cancel your membership.   However I don't know if they then start offering promotional discount deals, like buy 1 get 1 free type deals.  If they do that then you'd have to decide if those kind of deals are worth it.

And this all assumes you want a bunch of Disney movies.   Would you buy $100 worth of Disney movies if you didn't sign up for this club?    If not then don't sign up for the club and just go buy your favorites.   If you were going to buy half a dozen DVDs then it may be worth signing up since that would likely cost you north of $100 so the club will get you 10 movies for what you'd have paid for 6.

 Bottom Line :  Yes the Disney Movie club is a good deal.   However you need to be careful to only buy the minimum obligation and make sure to decline the monthly selections assuming you dont' want them.  



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The amazon links above are commission links but the Disney club link is not.   I'm not shilling for Disney, but if you wanna pay more at Amazon then feel free.

Virtually All Vegas Casino Resorts Charge Daily Resort Fees of $10-25

I wrote Beware Las Vegas Resort Fees about how Vegas hotels charge resort fees a few years ago.


At the time not all hotels had resort fees.   In fact if my memory is right it seems that a good number of the major casinos did not.   But that has changed.   Vegas.com has a handy list of all the resort fees.

Now its pretty much a given that a Vegas hotel casino will have a resort fee.   

The charges range from $10 to $25 typically.    There are a handful of casinos that do charge less than $10.   Silver Nugget is only $5.      The average fee is about $17.   The only major casinos that don't charge a fee are Four Queens and Fremont.

A selection of major hotels and their fees are :
Bellagio, Ceasars Palace, MGM Grand, Palms, Treasure Island, Venetian = $25
Tropicana, Ballys, Hard Rock, Luxor, Monte Carlo, New York, NY, Rio = $20-22
Circus Circus, Stratosphere, Riviera, Excalibur, Harrahs, LVH = $14.50 - $18


Fees have gone up a lot in the past few years.   I don't have a full record from 2010 but in my previous article I did capture a few examples.   Comparing those hotels from 2010 and today we can see the average has more than doubled :

	2010	2014
Excalibur	$10.00	$18.00
Riviera	$0.00	$15.00
Stratosphere	$7.50	$14.99
Tropicana	$8.00	$19.99

One annoying part about these fees is that they are not included in the booking price of the hotels when you shop for rates.  For example if you search on Orbitz you'll get a list of hotels and prices.  But the resort fee isn't shown there and you have to click on the 'see details' button for each hotel to actually get the resort fee totals.    For example I just did a random search for later in April and Riviera came up at just $15 a night.  What a bargain!      And only when you go to the 'book room' option do they point out the $15 resort fee which doubles the cost.


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Can I Cut Cable and Watch All MY Sports?

One of the common themes in personal finance is the idea of cutting cable.   Cable is expensive and a luxury expense so its a natural candidate for cost cutting.    I've said before that I'm happy to spend a lot of money on cable.    We enjoy watching TV and even though it is pricey cable is really a pretty reasonable cost considering the amount of entertainment you can get from it.  Even though I have certainly looked at ways to cut that cost by going to cheaper alternatives like Netflix and Hulu.    One of the key reasons we don't cut cable is sports.   Live sports are hard to find anywhere but cable.  

Any time this discussion plays out on the net it seems that someone will step in and argue that you can cut cable and still watch all the sports you want.   The arguments go like this :

Just get an antennae and watch it over the air!   
Why don't you go to a friends house and watch the game there?  
I'm sure you can see those games at a local bar.   
You can use MLB.com or EPSN3 online to see all the games.

Now those can all be reasonably good solutions for some people.    But they really don't work for me or a lot of other sports fans.   My wife and I watch two teams : a football team and a basketball team.  The football team has 13 games a year and basket ball is 82 or more.

Over the air -  We could actually see 2 football games & 18 basketball games on the local networks over the air.    Thats actually quite a lot of games.   However I'd be missing 11 football games and 64 basketball games. 

Friends house - Its an imposition on my friends.  I don't always want to spend evenings and afternoons at a friends house away from my own home to catch games.    While I certainly do find watching sports with my friends its not always convenient and sometimes I simply prefer to stay in the comfort of my own home.  None of my friends are basketball fans so theres nowhere to watch those games.   Its also not totally free.  I'd have to travel to my friends house and to be a good guest I should bring snacks and/or beverage.

Local bars - I could absolutely see every basketball game at a local bar.     My football team is not a local team and doesn't get much if any playtime in local bars.   Bars generally expect you to spend money so I'd have to buy stuff.   Bars are not always convenient or comfortable.   I'd also have to travel to the bar and back which is extra time.    This is not a free option.   If I spend just $3 per game on a beverage to watch 64 games then thats $192.   If I travel 10 minutes to the bar each way then that ads up to 21 hours of travel time.   At $10 an hour thats $210.   Gasoline would cost me about $90 in total, not to mention the wear and tear on my car.   Altogether I'd be spending $300 - $500 in time and money to go to a bar and watch the 64 games.

Online games - There are NO ways to see our teams online.   None.  Trust me on this..   Yes you can often view many sports teams online, but our teams are simply not online.    NBA league pass online version would work if we weren't in the local market but since we watch the local team we can not see our games online.  My football team has no online viewing options.    If online options were available they generally wouldn't be free.     NBA's online pass is $65.

Honestly I could watch games over the air, impose on my friend to watch football at his house then spend dozens of evenings sitting in a bar nursing a drink like a cheapskate and catch all the games for our teams.   But I do not want to.


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Build Your Own DVR

A bit ago I bemoaned how I should have bought a Tivo.   SteveD commented how he was getting $500 of PC parts and a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime tuner.   The HDHomeRun is a device I've looked at myself as a interesting alternative to set top box DVRs.      If you buy a Tivo or use your cable company DVR then you have to pay for the service.   But if you build your own DVR then there are no service fees.   A Tivo plus lifetime subscription currently runs about $700.   You can instead build your own DVR for around $500.

The basic idea here is to get a TV tuner to hook up to your computer and then use computer software to act as a DVR.   You connect your computer to your TV and now you have DVR functionality via your computer.  On the computer running Windows 7/ 8 you can use Windows Media Center to view and record TV.   That functionality is built into the OS.   I'm not going to go into all the details of how to setup a DVR since thats a giant topic in itself.  

You'll need a TV tuner

The SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime is a TV tuner box that uses a CableCard adapter to receive your cable TV signal.   The HDHomeRUn then sits on your homes computer network and can broadcast 3 streams of TV to different connected devices within your home.       The Prime model uses the CableCard which allows you decode all the cable channels including encrypted stuff like HBO.   Some cable or satellite providers encrypt everything now so you may need a CableCard to see any any of your channels.   They also have a standard HDHomeRun that can receive broadcast TV via antennae and decode the unencrypted cable signal.    HDHomeRun isn't the only option out there for TV on your computer, but it seems to be one of the better reviewed choices and I like the flexibility of their stand alone network connected box.  

HDHomeRun is not the only option though.   You could also get a Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650 Dual Tuner Cable Card TV Tuner for $123.



If you ONLY have an antennae and no cable subscription then there are even cheaper DVR options.  One example is the AVerMedia AVerTVHD Duet PCTV tuner  PCIe addin card for about $40.   Or if you have a laptop then they have USB version too for $48.   These tuners will handle both over the air TV as well as clear-QAM (unencrypted cable).

CableCard

Assuming you use something like the HDhomeRun Prime then you need to get a CableCard.   The CableCard comes from the TV company.   There might be a small fee for the card and those policies vary depending on who you get your TV from.    Once you've got all the parts you'll have to setup the CableCard and that will likely require a phone call to tech support for the cable company and I've heard sometimes getting it all setup might be a hassle.

Simple system configuration :

Basically what you need is a PC and the HDHomeRun tuner.   You could use your existing computer and just get the HDHomeRun box.   That would the absolute cheapest route.  However that would mean tying your computer to the TV or connecting/disconnecting it all the time.  It would be easier to have a dedicated computer to act as your DVR.


You could get those off  shelf by buying :

Dell Inspiron 660s for $300
+
SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME = $147

total = $447

If you want to upgrade to a 660s with an i3 processor and 1TB drive then that would be another $100 for $547 total.

DIY PC option

You could also build your own computer to give yourself more flexibility on parts and upgrades.  Now I've said before that building your own entry level PC isn't going to save you money and I stick by that.  But You might want to consider it here to give yourself some flexibility to pick the exact combination of parts specifically for your DVR.  

Example Part list :

SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME = $147
Seagate Barracuda 1 TB HDD ST1000DM003 = $64
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD Burner= $17
Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB DDR3 1600 = $33

Foxconn H61S Mini ITX Motherboard = $50

Intel Celeron G1620 2.70GHz Processor = $43
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) = $89

Logisys 368 SOHO Case with 480 Watt Power Supply = $35

Total cost = $478

Most of those parts are from Amazon since thats where I found the cheapest prices.   The DVD burner and RAM are at Newegg because they were cheaper there.    Shipping should be free on all these parts.  

There is nothing too fancy in that HW list.   I tried to pick good brands with acceptable performance for cheap.   But you can of course mix/match however you want with other parts.   I'm honestly not sure if the system specs above will have adequate power for a good DVR.     The minimum specs for the HDHomeRun are met with the system build so it should be good enough.  But I've not tested it so I can't say for certain.  I tried to find examples of HW builds on the net to see what other people are using with HDHomeRun's and couldn't find much of anything.

Windows or Linux?   : If you build your own and want to get your total price down to $389 then you can use Linux instead of Windows.   Linux is free and they have DVR software.  MythTV is a popular option for DVR on Linux.   Most people however will find it a lot easier to use Windows and if you're not familiar with Linux nor itching to learn all about a new OS then I'd recommend you cough up the extra $89 for Windows.


That gives us Several options : 

Use existing PC and buy the tuner = $147
DIY PC with Linux = $389
Simple Dell + tuner = $447
DIY PC with Windows = $478
Better Dell = $547


Pros / Cons versus Tivo

Is it worth it to build your own?   Maybe or maybe not.  The basic pros / cons are compared to simply buying a Tivo are :   

Tivo is definitely easier
DIY DVR will be cheaper over all
DIY DVR is more expandable

If you want to spend a bit of time and effort you can save some money.   Thats usually the basic game in frugality though isn't it?   If you just get a tuner you could save about $550 versus a Tivo with lifetime.   Thats pretty big savings.


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I Should Have Bought a Tivo

Its now been over 5.5 years since I wrote about Why spending $700 on a HD TIVO is a good idea 
At the time I could have bought a HD Tivo with lifetime subscription for $700 total.   My Comcast DVR was running me $12 a month.   I figured the break even point would be 3.5 years.   That was about 5.5 years ago.

Then a couple years ago I wrote $449 for a Tivo with Lifetime service and Why I should have bought one 4 Years ago  My Comcast DVR was running $16 a month.   I figured I"d break even in 3 years if I bought the Tivo.   At that time you couldn't get on-demand content via the Tivo so that was one legitimate way the Comcast DVR would be better.  

If I'd bought a Tivo in 2008 I would have spent $700 and I could probably resell it for $100 today.  So that would be $600 total out of pocket cost.   In that time I've spent something around $800 to $900 on fees for my comcast DVR.   (I'll have to estimate it cause I"m not going to go try and find all the past bills and and it up even if I could.)   I would have saved myself $200-$300 total if I'd bought a Tivo in 2008.

Then the last time I looked at it 2 years ago I'd have spent $449 for one and could also resell it for $100 today.  So that would be only $349 for the past 2 years.   I've easily spent that much in Comcast fees in that 2 year period.   So my estimate of 3 years to break even was high and its only been about 2 years.

Should I buy a Tivo today?   Well of course I should.

The current Tivo Roamio box is $200 plus $500 for lifetime subscription so its once again about $700 to buy the box.   The Tivo will also record 4 shows which is better than our Comcast box.  Plus you can now get on demand content from Comcast with a Tivo.   So its the same $700 outlay for a Tivo versus now about $20 a month for my DVR and the Tivo is even better than it was 5.5 years ago.  


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Buy 1 : 1,000,000 th Share of a Football Player

For $10 a share you can buy ownership in the profit of Arian Foster.    You can read the S-1 filing on the investment deal for details.  One share will entitle you to your portion of 20% of Fosters earnings.    Sounds like fun if you're a Foster fan but it doesn't look like a great investment to me.   NFL careers are risky and can be cut short at a moments notice.   I wouldn't invest in a single NFL player since its putting all your eggs in a single risky basket financially speaking.  Foster is a very talented player so its not like betting on a random average player, but the risk is still pretty high.

This kind of investment is apparently allowed by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS).   I'm not sure if this kind of novelty speculation is what they really had in mind.   Hopefully this kind of thing will be seen for what it is :  a novelty.   I don't expect this kind of investment will get much serious consideration or be treated as a serious investment.   But who knows.


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Why we Don't Have A La Carte Cable TV Programming

Have you ever wished you could just pay for the TV channels you watch?   You probably have.   Most of us watch probably less than 5% of the 100's of cable TV channels available.   Why pay $50 or $70 or whatever for 100+ channels if you really only like watching 7 of them?   Can't we just pay for the 7 channels we do want?   Makes perfect sense right?

The problem with that concept is that everyone would only pay for a handful of channels and so you'd either end up paying $10 per channel or cable TV revenue would plummet.   And what would happen to the more obscure channels that most people never watch?   They'd die because their handful of viewers willing to pay couldn't support an entire channel.

They're trying A La Carte in Canada right now so we'll see how it goes.   But that article about Canada has this explanation:

"Needham Research estimates that a purely a la carte model would wipe out $70 billion in revenue for the U.S. TV industry and that fewer than 20 U.S. channels would survive if consumers had to pay for each one separately."
  
Another report on that study from Needham says that  the total revenue is about $150B and that doing away with bundling would wipe out 50% of it.

Hard to say how accurate that report is really.   I imagine if they did go to an A La Carte system you'd still have bundles available and a lot of people would just stick to the status quo and keep the whole 100+ channels for $70 or whatever.   People are lazy and they like variety.   Maybe that wouldn't be a big factor and the vast majority would  catch on quick and get rid of all the channels they never watch.

But in my opinion its hard to see how we'd all come out ahead financially in the end.   The cable / satellite TV companies would not want to lose revenue so they'd figure out the pricing that would keep their revenue the same.   I assume that we'd then end up paying $5-10 per channel and the net cost would be flat.
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Electricity Cost of Using a Kindle

I while ago someone on The Simple Dollar made a comment questioning the electricity usage of a Kindle.   At the time I thought to myself that a Kindle couldn't possibly use much electricity.   Small electronics like cell phones and tables and the like really don't use much power and their small batteries require little electricity to charge them.   But I like to have actual facts rather than just simple assumptions.    Therefore I set off to find out how much electricity a Kindle actually uses and how much the electricity it would cost to operate one.

Amazon's Kindle Fire is probably the worst case as far as Kindle models go.   It has color screen and a more powerful processor so it will use more electricity than the other models.   I'm going to just look at the Fire since its the worst case, the other simpler black and white models will be cheaper to operate.

The Kindle Fire has a battery with 16.28 Wh  capacity.   Thats 0.1628 kWh.   The average cost of a single kWh is about 11¢/.   Based on these numbers it would cost 0.17908¢ to charge the battery of a Kindle Fire.

You can charge the battery in a Kindle Fire 5.58 times for a single penny worth of electricity.


Amazon says that the Kindle Fire will last 8 hours of reading on a single charge.   One penny worth of electricity will get you 44.64 hours worth of reading on a Fire.

 An average book is approximately 70,000 words.   An average adult reads about 250 words a minute.

1 penny = 44.64 hours reading = 2678.4 minutes reading = 669,600 words = 9.565 books.

For the cost of 1 penny worth of electricity an average speed reader can read approximately 9 1/2 average size books on a Fire.

The Kindle Fire will also play movies and videos.    The Amazon specs say that the Fire will play 7.5 hours of video on a battery charge.   Nearly as much as the reading time on a single battery charge.

Since a penny of electricity will charge a Fire 5.58 times and a single charge will give you 7.5 hours of video you can get 41.85 hours of video playback on a Fire for 1 penny worth of electricity.

Of course all of these numbers are just averages and your mileage will vary. 

Bottom Line :  A Kindle is very cheap to operate and the electricity bill should be almost negligible.
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$5 MP3 for FREE by Depositing $20 in Coinstar

If you deposit $20 in coins at a Coinstar location and reimburse it for an Amazon gift card then you can get credit for $5 of MP3's for free.

Follow this link for the deal on Amazon :
Pour $20 for any Amazon.com Gift Card at Coinstar, get $5 in MP3s

The deal is good from August 27th to September 23rd.

Not all Coinstar locations give out

I found this deal on Fatwallet
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FREE - $2 MP3 credit from Amazon for Tweeting

Amazon is giving out yet another free $2 MP3 credit.   For this one you do have to send a tweet about Amazon.

Here is the link with the info :

Tweet and get $2 MP3 Credit

The Amazon page says : This credit can only be used towards MP3 purchases and will expire at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on July 27, 2012.


I heard about this one on Slickdeals.net

- - This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

What Percent of Homes have Cable, Satellite, Fiber or Antennea only?

Used to be that there were only 2 options for TV.  You could use the bunny ears antennae or you could pay for cable TV service.    Many markets now have multiple choices for pay TV.    I could get cable from Comcat, fiber from the phone company or satellite service from DISH or DirectTV.  Since the Satellite companies came around they have steadily eaten into the market of the cable companies.   The phone companies have also gradually been gaining customers.  Today the cable companies are holding onto a slim majority of the market.

I found the data from this 2011 article by the Consumer Electronics Association.   Their data is from 2010 but this is the latest source that I could find with the breakdown.

Cable means a traditional cable TV service which has a copper wire that comes to your home.  Satellite is either DISH or DirectTV service via the small satellite dish on your roof.   Fiber service is the fiberoptic service from a telephone company like Verizon or AT&T.   The figure for antenna is the houses that only have antenna.   

My father and uncle are in that small minority since they don't watch much TV and/or they are both cheapskates.    As far as I can think, everyone else I know has some form of pay TV service.  One of my friends only has cable TV because having the 'basic' service makes his internet service via Comcast cheaper or maybe it was that he got the cheap TV package essentially for free if he had Internet with them.  

If you do the math you'll find that those numbers add up to 103%.   Thats because apparently a few households have multiple pay TV services.  I would guess some of the people with more than one pay service do so to get programming only available on certain providers.   Other people may have unusual circumstances that warrant more than one pay service, like for example they may have signed up for minimum cable TV service just to get a good price on internet via cable plus satellite service for their television.   But thats just guesswork, I don't really know why people would have multiple services.

The CEA report also has data going back year by year from 2005 to 2010.   Whats interesting to see is how the market has changed in just 5 years.

	2005	2010	Diff
Cable	62%	53%	-9%
Satellite	24%	32%	8%
Fiber	0%	10%	10%
Antenna	13%	8%	-5%

The telephone companies have grabbed 10% in just a few years.   Satellite has gained almost as much.  Cable has lost a similar chunk of the market. Interestingly fewer people in '10 had antenna only service compared to '05.  My suspicion may be that was partially due to the digital transition that happened which made some peoples old non-digital TVs obsolete and might have spurred them into getting a pay service.  But thats just a guess.

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