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Calling all cord cutters

azgreg

Chicks dig the long ball
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I searched and found a few older threads but I decided to start a new one instead. I'm a COX subscriber but I've about had it. They are going digital and I will need to lease a few "mini boxes" for a couple of our TV's. This just might be the straw that broke the camel's back.

I've been looking at a jailbroken Firestick with Kodi or something similar. Any other ideas?
 
Also looking at the TechLife I68 Octa-Core Android Box. Anybody have any experience with it?
 
azgreg said:
Also looking at the TechLife I68 Octa-Core Android Box. Anybody have any experience with it?
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I have really been thinking about it, but was going to wait till the Game of Thrones season is over.
I like having a DVR capability, and am trying to duplicate my current uverse access.
 
subscribed
i want to know, too
 
Subscribed here, too!

I'm thinking of researching Roku, but how can a political junky survive without CNN/MSNBC/FOX? :shock:
 
Chomsky said:
Subscribed here, too!

I'm thinking of researching Roku, but how can a political junky survive without CNN/MSNBC/FOX? :shock:
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CBS News app, 24/7 live streaming for cord cutters.

Youan watch clips on most of the others.
 
Winchester said:
CBS News app, 24/7 live streaming for cord cutters.

Youan watch clips on most of the others.
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I dunno.

Not the same as watching the real-time coverage & commentary on primary and election nights.

It's kinda' like saying: "Why watch the Super Bowl & Stanely Cup live, when they can be taped"? <-- my non-sportsfan wife actually used this once on me & my son

Edit: Ah, but I suppose CBS does live primary/election coverage?
 

It should.

You can explore it a bit here on the internet.

CBSN - Live Streaming Video News Channel - CBS News

Edit to add:

Smart on CBS's part, start a new 24/7 news station not subject to all the cable/satellite agreements/contracts. IMO poising themselves to take over news coverage as people transition and cut the cord.
 
Thanks.

I'll try to keep it running for tonight's returns, and see how they do.
 
Chomsky said:
Thanks.

I'll try to keep it running for tonight's returns, and see how they do.
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Also I haven't had a problem watching any of the debates live, most of the hosts open it up live. A few (for the debates) won't work on the Roku/Amazon apps but work on tablet apps and I can screencast from the tablet to my TV. Where there's a will there's a way.
 
For 10-25 bucks a month you can sign onto a premium usenet provider. That will allow you to pick up whatever you've missed with the Roku stick. It's all posted, in fact if you live on the West Coast you'll often get it first, before it airs in your location. Not to mention the few wildfeed items that are still posted.
 
Yeah, I hear you.

Cable, in my instance Comcast, is such a double edged sword, and I'm torn on them. I personally dislike them and their business practices, but they work so dayem well and dependably!
 

The law was passed years ago that all tv is going to have to go to digital. That is actually in the customer's best interest, although I'm sure the cable providers didn't foresee that.

Because most stations are digital now, we have options to receive excellent tv for free, depending on where you live.

Checked out antennaweb.org and tvfool.com. Also check out antennapoint.com to find where the towers are in your area.

I cut the cord two or more years ago and have been very happy with that decision. I had to get used to a new way of watching tv. And I did just fine w/that.

I have:
DIGITAL ANTENNA for each tv.
ROKU 2 for each tv (don't get the Roku stick...it has a slower processor) The Roku 3 is best. But I got the Roku 2 on sale, and it has the same speed processor as the 3 version.
I subscribe to Netflix. ($8.65/month)
I subscribe to Amazon Prime, which has a streaming service. ($99/year)

I lived in Dallas, TX and got about 20 GOOD stations (many stations have sub-stations, so if you see 5 stations listed, that may mean you actually will get 10 or 15 stations, with the sub-stations).

I LOVE my Roku. THOUSANDS of "stations," most of which are free. It has all the paid subscriber stations, too. It has movie stations, tv stations, fitness stations, news stations, etc. Check out NETFLIX, AMAZON, TUBI TV, CRACKLE. Tubi TV and Crackle are free.

Check out Rokuguide.com. It's a guide to all the thousands of Roku stations. Awesome.

What broadcast stations (over the air free stations you will get with your digital antenna) you will get depends on how far away the tv towers are, how strong their signals are, the terrain between you and the towers, and of course the weather at times. You can actually sometimes get a better signal from a tower farther away than a nearer one, because its signal is stronger.

Your reception will vary within your house. If the towers are south of you, you will get more stations if your tv & antenna are in a south facing room than a north facing room. OR you could you put in an antenna in your attic or on your roof.

Which digital antenna you get matters. The sites I noted above will describe the different antennas. I use only interior nice looking square "Leaf" antenna taped to a wall or window (multi-directional), since that gets me enough to watch. I may do an attic or roof antenna in the future, though.

THE SIGNAL FROM OVER THE AIR ("OTA") FREE BROADCAST STATIONS WILL ACTUALLY BE BETTER THAN YOU GET WITH A CABLE PROVIDER. That's because cable providers compress the signal, while you will get the signal directly.

I love it! I don't plan on ever having cable again.

Be aware that your internet bill may go up, if you have a cap, since you will be streaming a lot more and use more data. Streaming video uses a lot of data.

I don't know why you'd need boxes to receive a digital signal from Comcast, unless you have an old tv that can't receive digital? A LAW WAS PASSED RECENTLY REQUIRING CABLE COMPANIES TO ALLOW CUSTOMERS TO BUY THEIR OWN CABLE BOXES, instead of forcing customers to lease them from the cable co. I don't know if that applies to the boxes you mentioned, but if it does, you save money in the long run by buying your own boxes, which are inexpensive.

With digital antennas, you can also get an amp to strengthen the signal you get. (Search Amazon for ChannelMaster amp for tv) That doesn't always help, but it helped me.

Try it and see if you like it. I quit cable/satellite and tried it, and I loved it. You can always go back to cable if you don't get enough broadcast tv, and get a good deal they give to new customers.

One word of caution: It's hard to really know what stations you get until you get an antenna and give it a try. I'm staying in another small town temporarily. When I set up the antenna on my tv, to my surprise, I'm getting more stations than just the very few local stations. Because of the flat terrain and strong signals, I'm picking up several stations at different times of the day and night from two larger cities. It's not consistent, but I'll take it! That was a nice surprise. And there is no way to know that, except to hook it up and give it a try.
 


For election nights, you should be able to get NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX on your local OTA stations, for coverage. You can't get CNN or MSNBC, though...except for clips, after the fact. EXCEPT that CNN and some other stations now have a "live TV" option on Sling TV, which I discuss below. I haven't tried this "station" on my Roku yet, to know how well it works.

Most of the debates, but not all, were available online or on OTA stations. CNN opened up its subscriber-only video service online for debates. I don't think Foxnews did, though. (Foxnews being different from Fox, I think...it was something like that)

You know you can plug an HDMI cord from your computer to your tv to view. That's how I watched one of the debates.

One thing I can't get that I used to watch all the time is the Morning Joe show. I can see clips of it on MSNBC online, or on the NBC news "station" on my Roku, but a clip is not a show. I have, however, gotten used to that.

I get all the major stations, plus several PBS stations. I get to see a lot of political shows, like The McLaughlin Group, Meet the Press, Stephanapolous, etc. In addition to the OTA stations locally, NBC and some other stations have free stations on Roku, with clips of the stories it has aired. You can run them to play automatically consecutively, to be sort of like a news show. The clips are already-aired clips instead of new, though.

There are financial stations on Roku, like CNBC, Bloomberg, and others. They are not the same as their cable counterparts, but are useful.

I love being free of the cable monkey on my back. I don't plan on going back.

Note: There are free stations on Roku springing up to replace live tv. There is Sling TV (check it out online). It has a CNN station, ESPN, and others. It has a special add-on package for sports or movies, etc.

Streaming and OTA broadcasts are a rapidly evolving media. Big things are in the works. Cable will always be there, but it seems there are these other avenues that will become permanent. BE AWARE THAT INTERNET BILLS MAY INCREASE WITH THE EXTRA DATA USED FOR STREAMING.
 
As soon as game of thrones is over I think I'm ditching my cable and signing up for Playstation Vue.
 


A year and a half ago Cox was going to raise our discounted bill from about $95 a month to $178 a month. We were ready to walk and took the box into the store. The service rep was a very good person and didn't balk one bit. Went into the computer system and pulled all the "discounts" he could find and it took the bill down to $125 a month. That was still a 30% jump.

So we determined what the bill would be (a) if we dropped the phone and (b) went to internet only at a medium tier that would meet out needs. Internet only was about $70. (I'd already checked with Verizon and an internet only FIOS line was about the same cost.)

In working through that we came upon another strategy. All the channels that we watch were on a lower tier selection (around 50 channels) instead of the preferred package we were on (150+ channels). The only thing we lost was "On Demand". We didn't have a DVR. And the price was about $25 a month more than the Internet only so we stayed right at $95.

So we kept the cord.

****************************************


With that said, I do almost all of my viewing through streaming. The $25 a month allows me to have logins to next day viewing of all the major channels without having to wait an additional week, that and streaming live CNN and Fox. So it's convenient.

I have an older laptop that I use for streaming with when in the Kitchen or Computer room. I connect it to the big TV in the family room via HDMI and stream what I want, when I want it and I haven't run into any problems. What I like is skipping 2 or 3 weeks on shows I like then make an evening of catching up on one series.



There are ways to save money on the cable bill.

1. Lower your tier for the channels you use, not the large number the cable company likes to advertise.

2. Since you can stream shows from the web either from the Broadcast Company's main site, NetFlix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime - does it make sense to rent a DVR? (It doesn't to me.)

3. Do you need "mini-boxes" in the bedrooms? Why? In my area a lot of local news channels stream via their website and again I can use another device to stream to those TV's or another device - so why pay an additional monthly fee. (I'll stream to my phone often when I'm just in a listening mood or will stream to an iPad/Tablet) when puttering around.)​


You can reduce cost and keep cable - if that's what you want. Or cut the cord semi-completely, you will still need high speed internet.


****************************************************

BTW ...

With dropping the phone landline, we picked up a new phone system at Costco. It connects to our cell phones via Bluetooth. When we come in we set the phones down on the counter next to the base station and there are remote handsets in the bedroom, upstairs, and in the Den. If someone calls either phone it rings the base/remote phones and you talk on the handsets just like on a land line.


>>>>
 
one of the reasons i have not looked into cutting the cord is to have access to Panthers/NFL football games
what is another option that would allow me to leave cable and still have the Panthers at a lower price point
 
azgreg said:
I watch Game of Thrones at gotwatch.net .
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I'd rather be able to watch it with my wife on our big screen TV. Plus my parents like to watch it too, and they can mooch off my HBO subscription to use HBO Go.
 

I use the roku 3 with sling TV. My stepson swears by Sony TV which, like sling TV, is like having a cable experience with just streaming.
 

Roku with sling TV. Sling is basic around $25 a month. Has live CNN.
 
longview said:
I have really been thinking about it, but was going to wait till the Game of Thrones season is over.
I like having a DVR capability, and am trying to duplicate my current uverse access.
Click to expand...

molten_dragon said:
As soon as game of thrones is over I think I'm ditching my cable and signing up for Playstation Vue.
Click to expand...

molten_dragon said:
I'd rather be able to watch it with my wife on our big screen TV. Plus my parents like to watch it too, and they can mooch off my HBO subscription to use HBO Go.
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Guys, you can get HBO Now for $15/mo, it gives you streaming access to shows like Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley.

I subscribe to Amazon Prime, Netflix, and HBO Now; all three can stream from my iphone to my chromecast without any issue.

My major beef with this kind of cord cutting is that the buffering/resolution can suffer from wifi bandwidth issues.

I also have a Steam Link box that can stream the display from any computer on the network that's running Steam.
 
I like the functionality of my DVR, whatever I get, I would like the retain some sort of DVR capability.
 
poweRob said:
Roku with sling TV. Sling is basic around $25 a month. Has live CNN.
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Really?

Thanks!

Believing I couldn't get cable news channels, I never pursued cutting the cord much.

I gotta' have Fox & MSNBC for those partisan moments, you know! :mrgreen:
 
Chomsky said:
Really?

Thanks!

Believing I couldn't get cable news channels, I never pursued cutting the cord much.

I gotta' have Fox & MSNBC for those partisan moments, you know! :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

MSNBC blows me away in that they have Microsoft right there in their name and they fight tooth and nail against any technological advancements. Good luck trying to find them live streaming anywhere.

They keep skewing more and more to the right anyways these days since Comcast bought them. Pretty soon it will be the 24 hour Scarborough channel.
 
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