The road to cable cutting: part I

The number on the cable bill just kept getting scarier.  That really could cost you a car payment each month.  So flirting with the idea of cable cutting at some point became inevitable.  Of course it's not like I'll throw out Verizon for good.  FiOS will still be my Internet provider, may be phone too.  So it's about $45 a month off if the cable TV portion is out.  Then, we'll have to get some entertainment on the little screen.  The question is, where?  The search is on.

As the options go, all roads go through the Internet without doubt.  I've heard about the following:

• Hulu Plus
• Amazon Prime (one of its benefits is lots of included Amazon Instant Videos, which have both TV and movie contents)
• Google TV
• Apple TV

 Starting with the service I have the most direct experience with - Amazon Prime.  Here's the basics:

• cost: $79/year
• device support: great, but with one important deficiency - any non-Kindle Android device.
• media content: plenty.  On 2/17/2013, here's what's available:
  -13,377 SD movies and 268 HD movies
  -1,719 SD and 622 HD TV items (including individual series/seasons counted as single items)
  One complaint I have about the movies is that HD movies can't be watched on the Web (I bet that's the result of DRM)
• tryout: 30 day free trail (not bad at all!)

(To be continued...)