The TV tuner card with HDMI arrived from UPS today.  I was very excited about it and, as soon as I had the time to do it, went to install it in the computer I’d already put in our entertainment center.

Imagine my shock when I discovered that PCI slots have changed over the years.  Man, I was so, so bummed.  I’ve been out of the computer world so long that I didn’t even think to think about something like that.

It’s a pretty major setback.  Now I have to decide if I can find another suitable alternative to getting a good video feed from my computer to the TV, if I need to buy a brand new computer like that Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150 I mentioned before or if I just need to scrap the idea of using a computer entirely and just go with a Roku.

This setback didn’t stop Amanda from calling the cable company to discuss dropping us to basic cable with the DVR and getting rid of our home phone line.  We’d been in a contract with a price freeze for two years and it had just expired, kicking our bill up about $20.

Strangely enough, we were going to barely save any money by doing this because having all three services (cable, phone and internet) is so heavily discounted.  However, we ended up getting a new package deal where we have everything we had before plus faster internet plus a year of Showtime for less than we were paying with our last deal.  We wouldn’t have gone for it, but there was no contract and we were told we could drop it at any time.

That at least gives me some breathing room to figure out our next step.