Buy a home theatre, keep more of your money
I don’t pay for cable or satellite TV, but I do have a great home theatre set-up. LCD TV, 5.1 surround sound, up-converting DVD player, and more.
In fact, having this set-up is what is allowing me to save money by cutting the premium cable TV.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that, with an HDTV, you can pick up all local channels in full digital high definition quality with nothing but a set of standard rabbit ear antennas. That’s right, the same antennas that were powering TVs in the mid-20th century are the same beasts that can pick up full HD signals of your local stations.
“Local stations” of course refer to the big guys — ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, PBS, and so on — and include all the most-watched shows in American television. Big sporting events are aired on the same stations.
In the United States, all HDTVs are, by law, required to have a tuner built-in. What this means is that, once you have your TV purchased, rabbit ear antennas are all you’ll need to start picking up high definition TV shows.
Because I don’t pay between $600 and $1000 a year in cable TV costs, I can easily justify my home theatre purchase. One can easily find good 5.1 speakers for around $300, a 37″ LCD TV can be had for $600, great DVD players around $50, and a strong antenna will set you back $30.
My set-up will last me for many, many years. I don’t see upgrading my speakers or TV anytime soon. For the one-year cost of cable TV, I was able to get a brand new, high-definition home theatre, and I can still watch most of my favorite shows — including big, live sporting events, like the Super Bowl, all in high definition.
Seems worth it to cut the cable, huh?
