Hanging around the various Media Center forums I often find people like myself with the same, well shall we call them "special hangups"... In this case I'm talking about my addiction to collecting media. Several years ago I used to record every movie I could get my tuner to record. It was only logical I though that I should use that high-powered DVR (and later HTPC) to make sure I got every movie played on every channel including HBO and the other premium cable channels.
Well, just the other day I ran across a post on the SageTV forums of someone just like me (actually someone who I know reads GeekTonic so I'll keep the name anonymous to protect the innocent...) He said he was trying to "get his monies worth" and record a lot of movies in HD from those premium channels. After a while, he like me before him came to the conclusion "that just because I can record movies from premium channels. I have been deleting movies halfway through because I realize that was a mistake." Yeah there are some good movies on those channels, but theres a ton of garbage as well. That behaviour leads to using up too much disk space and thinking your premium service is worth more than it really is.
THE THREE-STEP PROCESS TO CONSUME THE MOVIES YOU WANT AND STILL AVOID THOSE EXPENSIVE PREMIUM MOVIE CHANNELS
A few years ago I came to that same conclusion. To supplement my desire for movies and even some of the pay channel shows like Sopranos I follow the three-step movie process:
1. Use the one-out-at-a-time Netflix subscription. Gives me online streaming and a movie once in a while.
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2. Purchase the movies I think I'll watch more than once. Blu-Ray or DVD.
3. If I want a movie in a pinch without waiting for snail mail I use redbox or in worst case scenarios Blockbuster.
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Other options include Boxee (some movies available mostly via Hulu), Vudu, Roku Netflix Player (soon to get Amazon VOD) and other similar solutions.
In the end, I spend much less than I did with the pay channels and get only the stuff I want. Some day I may do the same thing with cable altogether although sports (college sports in particular) kind of keeps me with cable for the time being.