Cutting the Cable on Cable TV with the Help of Apple and Amazon

The heart of my cable-cutting experience starts with my Motorola SURFboard wireless cable modem gateway, the SBG900. The SURFboard let me cut the cord on monthly cable company equipment rental costs.

My Samsung LN32A550 32-inch 1080p LCD TV (I personally bought all the equipment used in this segment) is not located near the cable outlet in my apartment, so cutting the cable and going wireless let me position the TV where I wanted it without expensive—and often damaging— internal wiring changes.

I’ve been a longtime subscriber to Netflix and am a delighted user of the “watch instant” service. The Roku box talks to my wireless network to get content from my Netflix watch instant queue.

As of early March, Roku started offering content from Amazon. This relatively inexpensive service works well and nicely augments the Netflix catalog offering current TV shows and new release movies.

I still own DVDs, although I only buy movies that have special meaning for me. For DVD watching, I got the Samsung DVD-1080P8 DVD Player. Connecting the TV and the DVD player with an HDMI cable got me Samsung’s AnyNet connectivity, which enables me to use one remote to control the TV and player.

Using a first-generation 802.11b/g Airport Express in client mode, I have a wireless connection to my powered speakers so that I can stream my iTunes library to my living/dining area. I’ll include more on the cable-cutting music experience in the segment next week when I’ll talk about my HD over-the-air setup.