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Health & Fitness

Ditching Cable? How to Still Get Your Fix of Movies/TV

Quick how-to on "Cutting The Cable Ties".

Hello fine folks!   recently had a great post about "".  As someone who basically lives all of this I thought I'd write up a response to her post that goes through some of the ways you can actually do this.

1) Netflix

This is probably the most well known way to get your fix of TV/Movies. You can access Netflix through a myriad of devices that connect to your TV from the Xbox 360 and Wii to some TV's and stereo systems. Check here for all devices that are compatible. My family recently cut out the physical DVD part and just went streaming only for $7.99. If you must have the absolute latest movie I'd still go streaming and just do RedBox.

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2) HD Antenna

OK, so you got some of the TV/Movies taken care of with Netflix, but what about local programming? You're going to need an HD antenna for that. Here's a great site to learn more about HD antennas and what to look for. Once you have an HD antenna setup you can get all the local channels so you don't miss the news or the game on Sunday.

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3) TV Meet Computer

If you have a HDTV at home most likely you have a VGA port in the back. This is good since you can use that VGA port to connect your laptop or old computer to it via a VGA cable. This will allow you to see whatever you are seeing on your laptop on your TV screen. So you can stream Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc. 

4) Dedicated Computer

This is the most powerful of the solutions and when coupled with the other things I've mentioned you can pretty much get whatever you want. If you have a dedicated computer that you can add to your entertainment center and connect it directly to your TV all the better, but you can use it for a lot more than that. One of my favorite applications that I've recently used is PlayOn. It allows you to stream from 38 different online video sites like Hulu, Cartoon Network, CBS, and Nick. You can access them on your Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, iPad, iPhone, Android phone, Roku and many more devices (full list here). It does have a subscription model, but you can pay a one time lifetime fee of $79.99. They also offer an annual and monthly option. The nice thing is that you can download a 14 day trial to see if it's going to work for you.

There are other ways to get movies and such with a computer but many of them are considered illegal and you may get in trouble with your ISP so do so at your own risk.  

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial about how you can get a ton of TV/Movies at home or on the go without cable. Hit me up with any questions in the comments!

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