Just cut the direct tv bill..... it is gone. Am looking at adding rabbit tv. So far all the reviews I've seen (that I remotely 'trust') list the 'cons' as things that I can and would accept. For example- I know they don't have your standard tv channels. Programs are not live..... i get it.

That aside....anyone have any personal experience? Thanks.

CJK... I live about 35miles north of Tampa on the coast... I have a "rabbit ear" antenna as part of my hurricane supplies if that is what you are referring to... with a small digital portable TV I get about 8 channels (a couple in Spanish)

No, but thanks.I'm referring to Rabbit TV. A small 10 dollar USB drive that gives you 'access' to free online TV. It is basically a USB with the links to the sites. I know you could get it all for free by doing it yourself but for 10 dollars, the ease of it is a better option in my book. Thanks for the reply. BTW what TV is that in the pic. Is it good? Does it take standard batteries? Where did you get it? I'm looking for that too. Thanks.

CJK... sorry, I'm from the older generation that doesn't keep up with technology, but assumed it was not what you were referring to...the TV is an Insignia LCD model NSL7HTV-10A... the LiIon battery does not appear to be serviceable without completely removing the back panel...I got it after the transition from analog to digital service, so have only used it for trial...

I would investigate:

(1) Buy a Roku. The "Roku 1" model is sufficient for most folks needs and is only $49 http://www.roku.com You can typically buy a Roku locally, at a Best buy or a Walmart, if you don't want to order online.

(2) Install "Plex Media Server" (free) on your PC. http://www.plex.tv

(3) Then go to places like these (and there are many others available):

(3a) http://watchseries.lt/
(3b) http://www.solarmovie.so/
(3c) http://watchfreemovies.unblocked.co/
(3d) http://watch32.com/

... and download movies, TV shows, etc. to your local PC. This is easiest to do using Firefox as your web browser with one of the many available "downloader" Firefox plugins. Personally, I like "Flash Video Downloader", which despite it's name, does much more than just Flash.

(4) Install the (free) Plex channel on your Roku.

(5) Stream those downloaded movies/shows from your PC running Plex Media Server to the Roku device hooked up to your TV.

Of course the Roku can stream stuff from NetFlix, Hulu, etc. directly, all by itself, without needing Plex Media Server. But there are things you can't get there that you may well find in the (3) websites above.

Once you get into Plex, you can learn more advanced stuff like having it transcode videos that are of wrong formats for your target device (the Roku), channels like "Let Me Watch This" and "IceFilms", etc. That comes a little later as you learn.

p.s. - I used to have a "Rabbit" years (decades?) ago to send stuff from downstairs to my upstairs TVs. That was a very old Rabbit, before they were wireless (I had to run a wire pair from downstairs to upstairs). It worked "OK" for what it was, and for the technology available at the time. I'm sure the new Rabbits are unrecognizeable from the old Rabbit I used to have.

Biggest scam in the market.

If you want to stream free tv, go to the network sites (e.g. NBC.com, CBS.com) or use Hulu.com.

It's spyware, too. Really, don't use this thing. We got one as a joke at work (a big chunk of my work is in media and entertainment) and it installs all kinds of crap on your system.

MartinFocazio - Are you saying that the Rabbit is a scam/spyware, or that Plex/Roku that I mentioned is spyware?

If it's the latter, then I will say that I've never had any issues with Plex. But then I run Linux, and spyware/malware doesn't normally exist there (technically it could, you just don't see it much in real life). Besides, Plex comes as a Linux-native application, it's not a Windows-native application being emulated on Linux like some other things are.

Rabbit is a "scam" in that it does nothing you can't do at www.canistreamit.com for free, it installs stuff on your hard drive that monitors what you're doing and it's typically way out of date.

Plex and Roku are the best thing that ever could happen to a television. I'm a HUGE Roku fan, and Plex is very popular in my office.

If you're looking to get away from the pay TV bundle model and move into the free and pay-per-program model, you can't do much better than a Roku box.

If anyone wants to know more about living without cable TV, please let me know.

I wish I could, but we have to have internet and the wife insists on a home phone. So it turns on that buying all three services is about the same price as buying two. But it sure gets frustrating paying for and flipping through hundreds of channels with nothing worth watching.