The Writer’s Coin

When M and I bought our new TV, it was a big deal. We usually don’t spend that kind of money (even though it wasn’t ours) and it felt weird since we’re usually pretty frugal. But it also meant we had to get the HD box, which they didn’t have. They only had the HD/DVR combo box, which we ended up getting (and paying extra for). This was tough because before we moved in I wasn’t paying for cable (I didn’t have it), and then I went to paying half of a $35 bill for regular cable. Then to go up to the HD package and the DVR box, we started getting billed around $70. So the frugal part of me grumbled and complained, but watching the Cubs and any DVD in HD eventually calmed Mr. Frugal down. The DVR was great for taping shows on a regular basis, when we weren’t home, fast forwarding through commercials, and so on.

Then a couple of days ago we got a notice that the monthly fee for renting that box is going up a few dollars. This after I called and got us a $10/month credit on our bill. I was trying to get that bill down as much as possible and now RCN has managed to cut into that savings too.

Crap.

Then it hit me out of the blue and for no reason — I could use DVR for something different altogether. Turns out that when we got the HD/DVR box, RCN also gave us some free HD channels: HBO, Cinemax, Starz, Showtime, etc. Not all of the different HBOs and Starz channels, just the basic ones. But it had never occurred to me before that these free movie channels were sitting there, waiting to be plucked. And thanks to DVR, I could pluck them whenever I wanted.

So I went on the guide and scrolled ahead a few days to see what movies were showing. I found a couple I wanted to watch: 300 and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. So I told the DVR box to record them for me — one was playing at 2:30am and the other at some point on Friday. And it hit me: this is like having a mini-Blockbuster attached to my TV. These movies are pretty new and all I have to do is scroll ahead to see what will be on, press a button, and that’s it — free movies.

I haven’t figured out how far I can take this since I don’t have an external hard drive or if the DVR box has any kind of security measures to prevent it, but eventually I think I could store these movies somewhere if my box gets full. This would give me a virtual library of movies (in HD, mind you) that don’t take up shelf space like DVDs do. This “saving” part of it isn’t that important to me — once I watch a movie it’s usually enough, I don’t need to see it twice. But that frugal part of me is again trying to get something more out of this added expense to make it more “worth it.”

Does anyone else have any tricks like this, whether it’s with DVR or any other service? I can’t believe it took me a few months to figure this out and put it into practice. What am I, Stupid?

Tags: 300, cable, DVR, leaving las vegas, movies, RCN