Ennui Blog

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Today was a harder day to fill with no TV or Internet. We were stuck mostly around the house and didn’t have much to do. So, we spent the day tidying the house and decorating for Christmas.

We kept the computer hooked up to the home theater and watching movies and downloaded TV (downloaded pre-shutoff). We also took a trip to the grocery store, which is what we were able to do since we didn’t pay the Comcast bill.

It felt much better to fill the cart with food (and subsequently our bellies) despite not being able to feel the warm glow of Comcast High Speed Internet and TV.

Sunday night was difficult to fill. My wife had to watch a movie that I had no desire to watch, so I had to busy myself while she used the home theater to watch it. I read, surfed what I could of the web on my iPhone (read a really interesting article about Cuba) and read Alan Moore’s Watchmen.

It was quiet. It was nice.

Still no word from @comcastcares.

I spent the day away from home, so I didn’t really miss not having the internet or TV. My wife and I went with the family to the Christmas Open Houses in Kouts, Indiana.

After that we drove on through the country and came across Hessler Tree Farm - where we got our Christmas Tree. It was only $15! Pretty cheap. Thankfully my parents bankrolled the whole day, which was nice since we obviously didn’t have money!

We then made our way to North Judson, Indiana and paid a visit to Baily’s Discount Center and Richard’s of Toto. We needed lights for the tree and got a couple cheap things we needed for the house.

It was snowy and pleasant, the drive home was nice. When we got home, we spent the evening decorating our tree then watched some Christmas movies.

Overall, we had a pretty fulfilling day without Comcast.

I never heard back from @comcastcares on Twitter. I don’t expect to.

Friday night is a tough day to be without Comcast. No leisurely Friday night net surfing or pay per view movies.

No biggie. We opted to fire up the home theater and snuggle up to watch Christmas movies instead. It was very nice.

So, we lived without Comcast on a Friday night. Not too bad so far.

Today we’re gonna go for a car trip with my parents to the Christmas Homes in Kouts, Indiana. We made it very clear that we had no money and that they would have to bankroll the day. They said OK.

After Kouts we’re going on to Bailey’s Discount Center in North Judson, Indiana then to the famous Fingerhut Bakery and the fun that is Toto, Indiana. Should be a fun day. It’s snowing and it feels Christmasy.

We won’t need Comcast today. Tomorrow will be a whole other story…

Stay tuned for more of Adventures Without Comcast.

I’m going to be getting my hands on a rather large 38″ TV this week and my wife and I have resolved to turn it into a home theater. The only problem is that the TV is from circa 1998. The picture is great and the TV works great but it doesn’t have any of the new fancy connectors such as HDMI or Component Video.

I’ve been jonesing for an Apple TV. It would work well with my Mac and my existing collection of Apple videos and the network integration is seamless. The only problem is that an Apple TV requires HDMI or Component inputs in order to work. The only solution I can find it to buy an expensive ($130) Composite Video to Component video converter. You can pick up an Apple TV for about $200 reburbed, but combined with the required converter (which may not work) it pushes the cost up significantly. So much, that I’m now considering going the extra mile and getting a Mac Mini.

A Mac mini would provide pretty much the same functionality as an Apple TV. It comes with Front Row for viewing videos and DVD’s. It has a built in DVD player and if we wanted to, we could surf the net, giving our house a valuable second computer. However, Mac Mini’s can be pricey, about $400+. The benefits are clear though, you can hook up a Mac Mini using old school analog hookups. Not only that, we can get a TV tuner for the Mac Mini and use at a free PVR.

Previously, I had hooked up my Aluminum iMac to our other analog TV using an adapter and 50 feet of S-Video cable. The solution worked pretty good. The picture was nice and the sound was excellent. The only problem was that the 50 foot S-Video cables were very fragile and would break after very little use. It was a very unreliable connection that we had to abandon.

Western Digital has just released a product that may do the job I want. It’s the WD TV, it’s a set top box that allows you to hook up your external hard drive to your TV and watch video with a Front Row like interface. This may be the solution we need and it only costs $100 and it will work with ancient connectors. It also supports a myriad of media formats, which is perfect for my video collection.

I’m open to any other TV set top box solution for watching videos from my computer on my TV. I’d like to spend as little as possible and have access to my huge collection of video on my home network.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Here’s a video demonstrating the WDTV: