Cutting the Cord from Cable company

[crays]

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...

[Great-Kazoo]

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.

[wyome]

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...

[Madeinhb]

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.


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[hatidua]

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.

[Fentonite]

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.

[Jer]

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...

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.

[Zundfolge]

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.

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.

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 ). 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

Homemade antenna in the attic (Made using parts laying around and a single $5 part from Radio Shack). .

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.

[hurley842002]

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.

[colorider]

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.