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Advice needed: Cutting Cable TV

#21
MJ5150 said:
Why do you need so many?

-Mike
Click to expand...
FWIW, I have HULU and am thinking about adding NETFLIX.
At least for those two, the word is that HULU is more for TV shows while NETFLIX is more for movies.
I suppose the others each have unique characteristics that a viewer may want.
At about 8-ish bucks a month, per, vs cable having a couple or three is much less.

One thing to consider is what happens to your bundle pricing if you have a Phone/Internet/TV bundle and drop the TV?
Do you get a price bump because your only bundling two services instead of three?
 
#23
Old Garage-Bander said:
FWIW, I have HULU and am thinking about adding NETFLIX.
At least for those two, the word is that HULU is more for TV shows while NETFLIX is more for movies.
I suppose the others each have unique characteristics that a viewer may want.
At about 8-ish bucks a month, per, vs cable having a couple or three is much less.

One thing to consider is what happens to your bundle pricing if you have a Phone/Internet/TV bundle and drop the TV?
Do you get a price bump because your only bundling two services instead of three?
Click to expand...

We only have Hulu. The only thing I found so far that Netflix has that I wanted was a Jim Gaffigan special.
In that case, we just went to a friends house who has Netflix and watched it there.
If Hulu doesn't have it, we don't watch it. A simple, and cost effective, compromise.

We never got sucked into the bundles from Comcast/Xfinity. We had internet and TV service from them.
I shut off all the TV stuff, but oddly enough, even as cable only subscribers we get HBOGO. Commercial free access to HBO, which has a couple cool series I like and sometimes a movie here and there.
We're down to $58 after tax for 50Mb service. I'm actually about to drop that and use the internet from the folks we are renting the land our tiny home sits on. They are long time friends of ours.
I'll lose my Comcast e-mail account, but we may migrate that account and my wifes to their account or just let them go.

-Mike
 
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#24
Killed_by_Death said:
If you go with an indoor antenna, it's like real estate, location, Location, LOCATION
We went through several before finally settling on a spot where only two channels had issues (NBC & the CW). They would just not be available some nights, blipping in and out or just completely off (black screen).

Then a new couple moved in next door & they're using some device during primetime that was completely blocking those channels, so I moved it again & this time all channels are clear MOST of the time. We still get outages of NBC/CW from time to time, sometimes lasting whole days. I think that's at the station's end, though, and that station is over a mountain about 50 miles away (really testing the limits of this antenna).

My parents, on the other hand, have the same channels as I do on one side of their home & on the other corner they're getting at least a dozen more channels (with the same model of antenna) :wideyed:
I think their primary advantage is that they're at a higher elevation & also in a more rural area, no interference from the folks next door.
Click to expand...
It is illegal for someone to have a device that interferes with your TV reception like that.
Any kind of device like that is covered under FCC part 15 regulations is not allowed such interference.
Or they bought some thing not intended for import to the US and it is totally illegal to use.
You might start by asking if it has an FCC Part 15 label of any kind on it, or other documentation that came with it that states it is FCC accepted.
Or get the model number and make and see if you can find a manual.
The FCC also has a web site to check certification of part 15 devices. (Or at least they used to.)
I used it a few years ago to find out about some computer sound card I had.
On the other hand your device, under part 15 is supposed to accept any interference, but interference to and from involves licensed (not accepted) transmitters vs unlicensed ( but FCC accepted) devices.
I think you might be able to work with the couple next door to see if the thing they have is legal to use in the US or not.
 
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#25
We're not on speaking terms after I had to call the cops on them for disturbing the peace constantly.


J.G. is hilarious!

Jim_Gaffigan.jpg
 
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#26
OK, so does anyone have any suggestions for outdoor HD aerials? With the TV downstairs I'd really like to have the antenna up on the roof gable on the side of our house. It's a discreet location, and I can easily run the cable to the family room.
 
#27
We cut the cord earlier this year. First DirecTV Now - I liked it, but it would not get all the NFL games, so we went to Hulu. Both were less that half of cable. Different plans have some different channels. My biggest issue with Hulu is you can't get a regular listing of all the channels - it makes recommendations based on your viewing habits, and sometimes you have to hunt and peck to find things. You also get occasional delays with buffering, but nothing major. One nice thing is you don't sign a contract - you can switch after a month if you aren't happy.
 
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#28
buldog5151bass said:
We cut the cord earlier this year. First DirecTV Now - I liked it, but it would not get all the NFL games, so we went to Hulu. Both were less that half of cable. Different plans have some different channels. My biggest issue with Hulu is you can't get a regular listing of all the channels - it makes recommendations based on your viewing habits, and sometimes you have to hunt and peck to find things. You also get occasional delays with buffering, but nothing major. One nice thing is you don't sign a contract - you can switch after a month if you aren't happy.
Click to expand...

See that's what I'm worried about. I need to find a streaming service with NESN on it so I can drop the MLB internet package and still see Red Sox games.
 
#31
we haven't had cable in over 5 years, but we do have netflix streaming plus the 3 DVD plan. it's much cheaper than cable, there's lots to watch. if you go with just streaming, you can watch on 2 TVs including HD for $10.99 per month. some studios want some of their videos on DVD, not streaming, but there's still a lot and even if you add 2 DVDs at a time, it costs less than a third of what we paid for cable.

if you have amazon prime, you already have access to lots of free videos - movies, tv shows ad exclusive content with the included with prime videos. just be careful not to click videos with a price next to them.
 
#33
bassplayer2014 said:
Download the "Kodi" app for your Amazon Fire Stick or similar device. It's 100%, free, requires zero cable TV and you can watch nearly anything such as current episodes of: Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Star Trek Discovery and new movies too.
Click to expand...

Let’s be clear. You can do all that using the standard Kodi app? Or it requires 3rd party plugins not endorsed by Kodi?

And stream that content from where? What source?

Apparently I’m in a dimishing minority of viewers who attaches some value to being able to watch something in real-time when it’s brand new, not a day or month or year later when it’s officially available on some other media. Also value the ability to easily fast forward, reverse, and skip commercials (TiVo). Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, Fargo, etc.
 
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#34
Alkali Ike said:
Let’s be clear. You can do all that using the standard Kodi app? Or it requires 3rd party plugins not endorsed by Kodi?

And stream that content from where? What source?

Apparently I’m in a dimishing minority of viewers who attaches some value to being able to watch something in real-time when it’s brand new, not a day or month or year later when it’s officially available on some other media. Also value the ability to easily fast forward, reverse, and skip commercials (TiVo). Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, Fargo, etc.
Click to expand...

I'm not a technical expert and with my closet analogy Kodi appears to be similar, but not quite, like Limewire was way back when.

Yes I do from the Kodi App.
 
#36
Alkali Ike said:
Let’s be clear. You can do all that using the standard Kodi app? Or it requires 3rd party plugins not endorsed by Kodi?

And stream that content from where? What source?

Apparently I’m in a dimishing minority of viewers who attaches some value to being able to watch something in real-time when it’s brand new, not a day or month or year later when it’s officially available on some other media. Also value the ability to easily fast forward, reverse, and skip commercials (TiVo). Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, Fargo, etc.
Click to expand...

Plugins or as Kodi calls it "add-ons".
 
#37
two fingers said:
See that's what I'm worried about. I need to find a streaming service with NESN on it so I can drop the MLB internet package and still see Red Sox games.
Click to expand...

Unlikely. All the services I see go with local for regional channels. I'm in Connecticut. I get NYC network channels (largest in the area), national channels, and New England Cable News.
 
#38
As has been said, HD are a couple of initials used for nothing more than raising the price of an antenna. Any old aerial works. If you're a DIYer, there are a number of websites that have plans for making your own out of wood and wire.

After customer "service" at Dish had me pacing my own living room floor screaming obscenities into my phone, I swore I'd never pay for cable again. I first got an internet-enabled Bluray player. Then I got a Roku. Finally, and this is what gets 99.44% of the use, is a Raspberry Pi running Kodi. This is not for someone that needs a plug-and-play solution, and while I think real-time programming may be available with the right configuration, I've not dug into that. I can usually watch a show within an hour of it having ended its regular broadcast, though. The real appeal for us is being able to dig back and watch old programs (for instance, we're watching Doctor Who starting back in 1963).
 
#39
Just this week dropped cable. We’re using YouTube TV for live streaming most cable channels we got with cable plus all local stations except the NBC affiliate and PBS. We also have Netflix for movies, old TV shows and original content. For less than a quarter of the price of csble TV and internet, I upgraded to 100mb fiber.

I tried DirecTV now, but it was more expensive than YouTube TV and had a bit fewer channels, and they charge extra for crappy DVR service with limited capacity. SlingTV was even worse.

The YouTube TV has a free DVR included with unlimited capacity. The only downside is that if you want to watch TV on your TV rather than a phone or tablet, you have to buy a chromecast device for your TV. The other downside (not for me,) is that it’s limited in the areas served. Up until about 2 months ago it was only available in the 5 cities (NY, Plilly, LA, Bay Area and one other I can’t recall.) it’s now available in about 30 more cities. I think it was because they had to make deals with the local stations individually and it just took awhile to do it.

The only thing I really miss is being able to watch the PBS News Hour live. I can watch it the next day on the PBS app, but watching the news a day late is like getting the local newspaper. You’ve already heard it all before. I might get an antenna, but probably not; I’ll just get used to it.
 
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