Movie channels (ie. HBO...etc)

[stiltman]

Do you all pay extra for these channels. I've been watching the their TV listings lately while looking at my normal channels. Looks to me like everything they have on is WAY old or crap. I know they have the Sapranos and stuff, but is it really worth paying extra for the crap movies they offer now?

[thecoalman]

Do you all pay extra for these channels. I've been watching the their TV listings lately while looking at my normal channels. Looks to me like everything they have on is WAY old or crap. I know they have the Sapranos and stuff, but is it really worth paying extra for the crap movies they offer now?

Nope they suck, you get about 2 or 3 good movies a month per channel if your lucky.

[Craig Tucker]

I used to pay for the movie channels but cancelled them ages ago. The films are mostly pretty old and repeated ad nauseum.

[Conquest10]

Don't get them here. Comcast removed all premium channels and now you have to pay an extra $20 a month for digital cable then the cost of the reciever then what the premium channels cost.

[Rookie64]

I used to, but most of what they show keeps repeating for a 2 year span.


I like more variety than what those channels offer - even Sundance doesn't offer much variety.


I prefer renting DVDs from the online rental outlets.


For 2 months so far, I've been getting the whole Starz package free - don't know if it was turned on accidently or what, but I get it and I'm not being charged for it...so I won't complain

Though, seriously, it's very rare that I even watch anything on those channels.

Also don't like their station logos/watermarks on the screen during a movie - it's distracting and annoying.

[northcat_8]

I pay for them. HBO and Cinemax.

I've gotten alot of requests for DVDs of older movies, so I just DVR them and.... ... perhaps I've said too much....

Seriously, I do pay for them, are they worth it? Probably not...but we do like watching some older movies.

[ViRaL1]

There's always something on Skinemax at night. :P

[thecoalman]

There's always something on Skinemax at night. :P

Yea the same scene, over and over and over....

[yoda313]

Hello,

No cable/satellite for me. I just finally got DSL so I'm not complaining. Besides there's not enough on tv to PAY for it.

Kevin

[zzyzzx]

No. I cancelled cable over a year ago and I don't miss it. In fact, even basic cable was only worth paying for when it was all analog and I could descramble PPV.....

[Dr. DOS]

Yea... about 6 months ago wife and decided to get rid of HBO when on one Saturday nite, the feature presentation (8:00 pm movie) was Urban Cowboy. WTF

[Conquest10]

Isn't it supposed to be new movie night?

[stiltman]

new movie

[Roundabout]

No. I cancelled cable over a year ago and I don't miss it. In fact, even basic cable was only worth paying for when it was all analog and I could descramble PPV.....

Heh, the good old days when everyone I knew had their own cable box...

and every channel was analog. Including PPV.

I had so-called digital cable for about a year ($24.95/mo. introductory offer for a year), dumped it last July and don't miss it at all. Now I have basic cable, just local channels and the extras that bleed through their cheap filter (TV Land, Nat'l Geo, Spike, AMC, and a couple of others). But the upside is, I only pay $16.00 a month, whereas before they wanted many times that amount for full service. I hardly watch it anyway, but it's necessary here because of the local mountains blocking the signal from Mt. Wilson.

[Conquest10]

$16 a month?!

3000! Yay!

[Roundabout]

$16 a month?!

3000! Yay!

Does that seem high or low to you? I think the full "standard" service of the usual analog channels (75 channels or so) is about $45.00/mo. That's without HBO and other pay channels. They've moved all the movie channels to Digital, so you can't get them unless you have a digital cable box, and they charge to rent that plus the cost of the channels on top of that. Could easily be over $100.00/mo if you get HBO and Cinemax.

I just downgraded to the lowest service, with local channels (here in LA, about 20-some odd channels) plus the ones I mentioned that bleed through their trap, so I'm happy with what I have for the $16.00/mo. The little I watch it, even that is high

It was only $13.50 until a couple of months ago, then they raised it to $16.00. Probably a lot of people downgrade to that basic service when they see how much full service costs after the "introductory special" ends

Waiting for aftermarket digital boxes...

[Guest]

I pay a lot for HBO,but it is worth the HD.Now Comcast offers a dvr box for $10/month.It records HDTV unlike tivo.

[Conquest10]

Does that seem high or low to you?

Mine is $40 for basic.

[zzyzzx]

Waiting for aftermarket digital boxes...

I don't expect to see these anytime soon, or maybe ever.

[Gorganzola]

Somehow the satellite and cable providers know that there is just one channel you want that is in the next higher priced package. I have Dish "America's Favorite 180" package and would be perfectly satisfied with the next lower package except for Fox News. For that one channel I pay for another 60 or 80 channels that I don't want (in addition to the 60 or 80 channels in the cheaper package that I don't want. Maybe once every two or 3 months there will be a movie on one of the Encore or TMC channels, but usually they're stinkers.

[Roundabout]

Waiting for aftermarket digital boxes...

I don't expect to see these anytime soon, or maybe ever.

Yeah, it's been a while and SA (Scientific Atlanta) and Motorola, etc. have done a pretty good job of keeping them off the market - so far.

What we may see, instead, is the ol' home brew type units. I built many different descramblers in my day, all I need is a good set of plans. In the past, with the analog units, you could just use a cheapo cable tuner from RS or wherever, and run the output to a homebuilt box. No need for addressable converters. Maybe the same will be true of digiboxes.

We can always hope... 8)