Well we can't all work for 'the man' now can we? No, seriously... can we? He hiring? lolQuote:
Originally Posted by 00tec
Why you sunofa!Quote:
Originally Posted by buffalobo
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Well we can't all work for 'the man' now can we? No, seriously... can we? He hiring? lolQuote:
Originally Posted by 00tec
Why you sunofa!Quote:
Originally Posted by buffalobo
[emoji106] Mom says to got outside and play. TV will rot our brains.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jer
HahaQuote:
Originally Posted by buffalobo
Bumping this back up for newer technology and more companies offering online streaming products. We are in the market to "cut the cord", and are weighing our options for content providers, currently doing a free trial of Sling, and will be looking at Direct tv now, thought about Hulu Live, but they don't seem to offer a couple of the channels we like. Any feedback good or bad on these services, mainly the Sling and Direct options, is greatly appreciated.
I decided that I don't like Sling. Too many commercials, and very little variety. The commercials are 50% louder than the show, can't fast forward through them. Only popular shows have good sound, but also ridiculous commercials. Some stuff is edited for TV as well. It's like paying for crappy 1990's basic cable.
My mother and I have PlayStation vue. Works good and has a bunch of channels that the others don’t offer.
We don't use it, but Hulu started offering the cable stations like Sling does at an additional cost. Not sure if it's any different, but it's another option.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irving
We have had tv for the last 2 years, this friday at 12:00am it is cancled and we got prime and netflix to take its place. My wife likes TV but I have never really been a huge fan, especially now that everything is so PC.
If you want variety, an abundance of content, no fees, no bull poop, you need to get an Android streaming box that runs Kodi. Streamstation is one of them and their are many others. Some googling will get you a lot of info. Way too much info to post here.
I've thought about Kodi, but I've heard mixed reviews on it, i.e. it's not really a set it and forget it type of program. I'm not opposed to paying a little bit for TV, but cable cost is ridiculous.Quote:
Originally Posted by colorider
kodi is not plug-and-play... lots of fiddling, customizing, upgrading constantly... Mobdro (for stations) and Terrarium TV (for on-demand shows) are much easier to maintain.
Price?
Mobdro and Terrarium TV are apps that run on multiple platforms, Google is your friend. They can even run on an Amazon Firestick.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irving
Where I live, it's either Satellite, a 100' tower for antenna TV, or internet based.
This is what I'm trying to avoid.Quote:
Originally Posted by 68Charger
I’m in the same boat. Looking to significantly downgrade our cable TV package, but still need high-speed internet, and it seems like Comcast has that market cornered.
We went with Qwest and have 60MB internet. We save about $200 a month having cut the cord.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fentonite
We tried Qwest more than once (admittedly, not in several years), but the lines in my neighborhood are such crap, that our internet connection would just drop randomly, and otherwise was too slow to be of any use. Maybe I’ll see if things have changed.Quote:
Originally Posted by mattiooo
Yeah. That's the downside to DSL. Even with a good line, if you're too far down the line, you suffer. We seem to be in a good spot. We've had outages at times, but to me, it doesn't seem much worse than Xfinity was.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fentonite
Dropping comcast since we've relocated going with local cable co for internet service. Qwest/ century link based on people i know who work there is off the table. Been in areas where dish & direct tv are sporadic during anything other than clear skies, so a cable line is our first choice. I have roku & an azm firestick to bounce between, using the kids hulu account to see if that works. If not i will probably add a tv package to the account, maybe.
ETA: besides the local cable co, that offers month-month service, everyone else in the area want a 2 yr contract.
Roku, Hulu, Amazon and Netflix. We've got DSL, which has gotten a little more stable over the years. We also got a Mohu leaf antenna to help pull in the local digital channels.
Sometimes, internet is flaky, but it's less than 1/2 of what we were paying to those extortionistic $%#@@## at Comcast.
IMHO, you're not going to find a magic pill when you cut the cord, just like you're not going to find the "perfect/ideal" cable/sat package at a comfortable price.
***ETA: I'm not trying to talk you out of cutting the cord. ***
All the streaming services will eventually cost you, unless you want deal with the commercials. On the plus side, you can usually do trials and month to month commitments to try them out.
We are currently using roku for Netflix, etc., and a directnow package. Direct is better now than it was at the outset (a TON of buffering issues, directly attributable to their app). It seems to have gotten slightly better, but we don't watch it as much, so that may be perception (and maybe less bandwidth load on their end due to summer?)
They are raising their prices this month's billing cycle, so they are gone in about a week for us. You're going to be looking at at least $35/month for their basic service, but you may get a free roku, or other device out of them depending on current promos.
If it matters, I have comcast internet, and though it has gotten pricey, I have always had good service and performance from them (I have had the same broadband service at my house for over 20 years. The pay-to name on the bill has changed several times, and it's now over twice the $$ from when I started, but it works for me).
I have a deep-seated hatred for CenturyLink, but that's a whole other issue.
Sent from somewhere...
Regarding Kodi. Finicky to say the least, if it's not on an area your wifi has good signal strength watching something can be a chore . Like 20 min before the end of a Blockbuster 2 hr event, it freezes up. To the point you can go shopping on line and still catch the ending 2 hrs later. That's if it doesn't try restarting or freezes up 1/2 way through.
If you're not the one who installed it and there's an issue, like unable to update specific services, pass.
Cut the cord a few years ago... Started out with Kodi, and got tired of it, it's a little bit of work. Installed an antenna in the attic, and got the Sony Vue app on my playstation going... between those two and Netflix I'm doing ok. Lots of options out there...
Look at Thorstream. It's a one time payment to buy the box which runs Kodi. The box is always being updated with new add ons and removing dead ones. It takes the work of setting up add ons on your own. Works great for me. Especially sports.Quote:
Originally Posted by wyome
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Gave up TV in 2006. We have Amazon Prime that we watch on a laptop from time to time as the wife gets it for half-off but every time I am subjected to TV I am reminded why I gave up on that box.
I just dumped Amazon Prime. They increased their annual fee to over $123 (with fees/taxes/whatever), so I didn’t renew. Actually, they renewed me without notification, but didn’t balk when I cancelled, and refunded me the charge. I never watched their TV offerings much, and their price with “free shipping” is usually the same or worse than other vendors within their own site. One less option if I cut the cord.Quote:
Originally Posted by hatidua
We haven't had cable in quite a while. Got a quad-network tuner from SiliconDust (about $100 right now) on the network. Homemade antenna in the attic (Made using parts laying around and a single $5 part from Radio Shack). Large HDDs capable of storing all of our recorded and downloaded movies and TV shows (sky is the limit depending on how much storage you want). We then run Plex (one-time lifetime purchase at discount of $75) on all front-end devices and basically watch anything we want anywhere we want in the house/world anytime we want. Pretty sweet setup that requires no annual/monthly fees after a small initial hardware buy-in. Even our smart TVs have the Plex app built-in and the other devices it can be installed as it's quite popular these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by wyome
The big thing with cord cutting is that you have to understand that how you consume media will be drastically changed. Sitting and just channel surfing is not something you'll really do anymore. You tend to watch what you want, when you want so if you just want to mindlessly veg its more difficult. And if you're into live sports that too will be more difficult.Quote:
Originally Posted by crays
I've been very happy with my Roku devices running YouTube, Netflix, CRTV and Plex.
Plex is similar to Kodi but its more oriented toward media you have stored locally on your network (you have to run a Plex server on a computer). I download* a lot of movies and TV that I keep stored on a NAS and run Plex off of my wife's Mac (you can run it on Windows, Mac or Linux ... I keep saying I'm going to build a Linux box to be a Plex server, but never seem to get around to it :p ). Plex is easier to set up than Kodi (which I messed with back when it was still called XBMC. so maybe its gotten easier).
*no, I'm not going to explain how/where I download stuff ... y'all need to figure that out on your own [Muaha]
Radio Shack? I seem to recall seeing one next to the Five and Dime that I used to get S&H Green Stamps at when buying Grape Nehi ... was just up the street from the AMC dealer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jer
Lots of good replies so far. I should have mentioned, we had cut the cord years ago, when Netflix and Hulu were the main game for streaming, so we've been there before. I think the "mindless vegging" is what has me hanging on to some version of cable provider. So far Sling is proving to be really good, we watched a movie on SyFy and there didn't seem to be any more commercials than regular cable. Direct tv now gives quite a few more channels at only $5 a month more than the Sling, however, the Sling offers all the channels I like to watch, so it may come down to which interface we like better.
We have one Chromecast we currently use in the living room, so we will likely buy something newer for that area, and transfer the Chromecast to the bedroom.
The Thorstream and the Streamstation seem to be VERY similar. The box developers do all the updating. All the end user has to do is click the update button or refresh the media player. Walla, all the add ons are updated. If anyone chooses that path, DO NOT pay their online retail price. The resellers will get one to you for half the price. I've had an android / Kodi box for 4 years and love it. Watch any tv station, cable channel and movie you want. Any time and no commercials when watching movies. Last night I watched a few old Land of the Lost episodes with my 12yr old son what a kick in the pants explaining to him that the show was a big hit when I was a kid. . I'm lucky as I was able to hook my box up directly to my internet and don't have to use wifi. I get mega fast speeds.
I also used a metal hanger to give you an idea how long ago that was. ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Zundfolge
I also made no mention of how we "acquire" the movies & TV programs that we download intentionally.
Between Plex apps & Chromecasts we have pretty much all the bases covered for anything we could want to do.
I could cut the cord easily. I've been trying to ween my wife off of the satellite dish. Took it down for roof repairs on June 5th and haven't made time to put the dish back up. We have a Roku on each television. Been watching mostly Netflix and Amazon recently. Probably my only problem with dumping my DirecTV is that I like having the option to stream stuff that I pay for anyways like HBO, Showtime, A&E, etc. The Roku lets me stream just about everything I pay for through my satellite provider and I'd rather watch shows and movies streaming because I can watch them whenever I want instead of having to wait for them to come on at certain times.
Netflix, Prime, and HBO Go for me. There are a handful of shows I miss on Cable, but most make their way to Netflix or Prime a year after they're aired. I don't mind waiting for most. The shows that I don't want to wait for can be bought on iTunes or Amazon for about $30 per season. The biggest reason I'll never go back to cable/satellite channels is because I hate commercials. The only time I'm willing to put up with them is when I watch sports.
Oh I know, whenever we go to my mom's place or anyone else still watching cable or OTA TV the commercials start to drive me insane quite quickly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Honey Badger282.8
I have had DSL for years, at my old house i was getting 12 megs and i could stream on two tv’s while my son played xbox online. Now i get 25 megs and we constantly have 2-3 tv’s streaming and 2 teenage boys playing online games, using a cheap DSL modem, a cisco 5506 and a good Ubiquitu AP. Never have buffering and the boys are yet to complain about lag. DSL is cheaper and way more reliable then comcast in most areas, i worked for them as a tech for 12 years and now i work for a company doing phone and IT work for businesses, we make a lot of money showing up when customers call only to tell them their modems are offline and they need to call comcast.
We have netflix and hulu now, used to use kodi. I just need to find a way to get Packers games this fall for my GF.
So far liking Sling quite a bit, will let the free trial finish and try Direct next, before making a decision. Now if only the newer Galaxy phones had the IR feature like the S4 and S5, I'd never have to pick up the remote lol.
Are you watching very popular shows on Sling? I loved it for stuff that wasn't popular. I feel like the more popular the show, the worse the viewing experience. Nice thing is that it's just month to month so you can ditch it once your show is over and pick it up when you want.
Has anybody heard of or tried “WiFiHood”? $50/month for 50mbps. Microwave radio internet, no actual TV channels. Gotta provide your own router. Since I don’t do any gaming, I think this might be enough for us. Add an over-the-air antenna for local channels, probably all I need. Thoughts?
http://wifihood.com/plan/wifihood-home/
If it delivers 50mbps for $60 per month, I would drop Comcast in a heartbeat. Sadly, it has not expanded far enough for me to consider.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fentonite
You may want to call them and see if they already have any customers in your neighborhood. Then you can ask them about their experience.
I was really hoping for fiber at some point but that just doesn't seem to be coming either.
Century Link spent a few months updating my entire neighborhood with Fiber. They must not have gotten up to the nice part of Thornton yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by cstone