Originally Posted by DadAgain (Post 7949113)

We ditched foxtel years ago - found we were paying a fortune and only watching adverts and endless cross-promotions.

The smart move was putting the money we saved into a dedicated Home Theatre PC and getting a bit fat internet connection. We record plenty of bits and pieces of FTA tv and automatically strip out adverts to make it watchable (theres actually some decent stuff on at strange hours) - and we have a pretty constant lot of stuff being pulled down on BitTorrent for the things that either dont get shown locally, or schedules get stuffed around so much they are made unwatchable locally.

I'd say unless you're a mad keen premier league supporter that there are MUCH better options available if you're prepared to think outside the square.

:D

For the record: I have 4 tuners and 2TB of disk in my machine, my photo galleries are viewable by the folks back home (no need to upload to some limited hosting site), I can stream recordings from the HTPC to a laptop if necessary and it sits in a neat HiFi component looking black box under the TV. I built it all for ~$800 (so paid for itself in less than 8 months of non-foxtel payments)

Originally Posted by Jen1977ni (Post 7947510)

Would be nice to have a little bit of home on the tele...the OH loves sky, as he watches a serious amount of sh1te lol

We'll see, I'll let him decide, then he can pay for it! lol

Originally Posted by DadAgain (Post 7949113)

We ditched foxtel years ago - found we were paying a fortune and only watching adverts and endless cross-promotions.

The smart move was putting the money we saved into a dedicated Home Theatre PC and getting a bit fat internet connection. We record plenty of bits and pieces of FTA tv and automatically strip out adverts to make it watchable (theres actually some decent stuff on at strange hours) - and we have a pretty constant lot of stuff being pulled down on BitTorrent for the things that either dont get shown locally, or schedules get stuffed around so much they are made unwatchable locally.

I'd say unless you're a mad keen premier league supporter that there are MUCH better options available if you're prepared to think outside the square.

:D

For the record: I have 4 tuners and 2TB of disk in my machine, my photo galleries are viewable by the folks back home (no need to upload to some limited hosting site), I can stream recordings from the HTPC to a laptop if necessary and it sits in a neat HiFi component looking black box under the TV. I built it all for ~$800 (so paid for itself in less than 8 months of non-foxtel payments)

Originally Posted by Amazulu (Post 7949152)

I'm also setting up a home media network. I've been running Cat6 around the house during our renovations, and running it back to a walk in storage cupboard where I will have a 19" rack with servers, NAS etc. Around the house I will have media PCs, network tanks, a touchscreen PC in the kitchen, PS3 etc - all networked. I'm also going to integrate a home security system as well. It's a bit OTT but what the heck. :)

Originally Posted by DadAgain (Post 7949159)

Awesome - does your data-cupboard have a dedicated air conditioner? Do you have a massive UPS with a diesel generator on standby? lol :D

Originally Posted by Centurion (Post 7949252)

I'll go against the grain. I like Foxtel. I like my IQ2 box that I can series link and record stuff.

We don't sit in front of the TV all the time and when I do I like to be able to catch up on my favorite shows etc.

I find it no different whatsoever to UK cable or Sky, its still more channels than I will ever find the time of inclination to watch.