Home entertainment for less

When we were trying to decide on what we can cut down on about a year ago - our premium cable service was the first one to go.
That was a difficult one to let go since we are both homebodies and enjoy watching films. We occasionally go to the theaters to watch a film but it's very seldom.

My main gripe about it was that we were at work all the time and by the time we got home, we were too tired to watch much of anything.
The cost of the service just wasn't justified anymore. Besides, half the time it's the same old repeats and movies on rotation. The only thing was that it was bundled with internet and phone so we had to reconfigure those too (I'll save that for another post).

With the cable gone - annual savings = $1800-$2000

We bought a digital converter using the two $40 coupons that the gov't. was giving away. After doing some research we decided on the Digital Stream DTX9950. The total for the two boxes were $80 after the combined $40 savings. It picks up all the major networks well considering we live pretty far out in the country.

We subscribed to Netflix for their 1 DVD/month unlimited service which also allows us to stream select movies and TV shows via internet. (Cost: $8.99)

We also use Hulu.com , Veoh.com, and Modernfeed.com to expand our viewing selections. (Cost: free, if you don't include the internet service)

We also have a growing DVD collection of our favorite movies bought at our local used cd/dvd warehouse, bought at a sale price or given to us as gifts. The best thing about this is that we get to enjoy it over and over. It's nice to have a library of your favorite films. (Cost: around $60 every 2-3 mos.)

Cost-wise it's still pretty good compared to the accumulated cost of going out to the theaters once a week and paying for cable.