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The Official "I dont have dish or cable" anymore thread - Page 46

post #1351 of 1660
11/23/12 at 11:58am
Not to mention that a lot of networks will go on hiatus again this December and series will start back up again in mid-January. Sometimes I feel like asking the cable company for a rebate for the "dead months." Even some of the cable and premium networks will have nothing on for a couple months that I want to watch. Even FX often has long breaks between their hit series lineup. So the old argument you aren't saving money by renting these streaming does not necessarily hold up.
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post #1352 of 1660
11/24/12 at 5:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Conrad View Post

Not to mention that a lot of networks will go on hiatus again this December and series will start back up again in mid-January. Sometimes I feel like asking the cable company for a rebate for the "dead months." Even some of the cable and premium networks will have nothing on for a couple months that I want to watch. Even FX often has long breaks between their hit series lineup. So the old argument you aren't saving money by renting these streaming does not necessarily hold up.
I don't know about the cable operators, but with D* you can put your service on hold for a month or so without officially cancelling.
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post #1353 of 1660
11/25/12 at 5:16pm
can someone please help me. I am looking to finally move over to internet tv!! i wish to have hbo, showtime, and cinemax and all standard channels that come with cable or satellite, without the monthly fees. I've been looking at external hardware for my laptop including antennas but i would like something without the use of cable cards which you have to acquire from a service provider. i see a lot of good products but im not sure if i would be able to get all the channels listed above with them. can someone please recommend how i get all all my channels for free with a external hardware product
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post #1354 of 1660
11/25/12 at 7:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by poorstudent View Post

can someone please help me. I am looking to finally move over to internet tv!! i wish to have hbo, showtime, and cinemax and all standard channels that come with cable or satellite, without the monthly fees. I've been looking at external hardware for my laptop including antennas but i would like something without the use of cable cards which you have to acquire from a service provider. i see a lot of good products but im not sure if i would be able to get all the channels listed above with them. can someone please recommend how i get all all my channels for free with a external hardware product

You can't, period. Either pay for cable to get those channels or pick and choose from streaming options but none of the channels you want are free.
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post #1355 of 1660
11/25/12 at 10:04pm
dang ok thank you. what would you recommend my best/cheapest option?
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post #1356 of 1660
11/25/12 at 10:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by poorstudent View Post

can someone please help me. I am looking to finally move over to internet tv!! i wish to have hbo, showtime, and cinemax and all standard channels that come with cable or satellite, without the monthly fees. I've been looking at external hardware for my laptop including antennas but i would like something without the use of cable cards which you have to acquire from a service provider. i see a lot of good products but im not sure if i would be able to get all the channels listed above with them. can someone please recommend how i get all all my channels for free with a external hardware product

Like Nayan said, it can't be done. I've tried a lot of streaming devices and the Rokus are my favorite because they're pretty cheap and have a ton of content, far more than any other device I've heard of. There are some pay channels (Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Hulu Plus, MLB, NBA, NHL, Hulu Plus, etc...) but hundreds of free channels as well. Roku also is open to developers so private channels can also be created and added. New channels are added weekly. http://www.roku.com/
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post #1357 of 1660
11/26/12 at 12:05am
awesome thank you. Is it possible to access HBO, showtime and starz through roku? i understand that there will be an added cost if so.

I primarily would like to use my laptop as my tv and DVR as i have more room to record and save shows, plus i travel alot with sport and take my laptop with me. i would like to run windows media player to do my recording. (i know that roku is directly linked to my tv) i also have my laptop hooked up to my tv. what are my other options for external hardware where i can still purchase and watch HBO starz, ect while traveling but still connected through wifi or ethernet? cable card are a possibility but what devices would give me these options?
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post #1358 of 1660
11/26/12 at 3:56am
Those channels are only available through cable or satellite. Both Netflix and Amazon offer movies for $7.99/month, but they are not newer releases. I would suggest browsing both sites to see if they offer what you're looking for.
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post #1359 of 1660
11/26/12 at 4:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by poorstudent View Post

awesome thank you. Is it possible to access HBO, showtime and starz through roku? i understand that there will be an added cost if so.
I primarily would like to use my laptop as my tv and DVR as i have more room to record and save shows, plus i travel alot with sport and take my laptop with me. i would like to run windows media player to do my recording. (i know that roku is directly linked to my tv) i also have my laptop hooked up to my tv. what are my other options for external hardware where i can still purchase and watch HBO starz, ect while traveling but still connected through wifi or ethernet? cable card are a possibility but what devices would give me these options?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nayan View Post

Those channels are only available through cable or satellite. Both Netflix and Amazon offer movies for $7.99/month, but they are not newer releases. I would suggest browsing both sites to see if they offer what you're looking for.
You can buy or rent individual episodes of some of their shows on Vudu or Amazon Instant Video. HBO is accessible (HBO GO) through Roku but only with a validated cable or satellite subscription from a participating provider.
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post #1360 of 1660
11/26/12 at 4:59am
LOL, this is hilarious. 'I want all this good stuff for free, or at least cheap!!!' Wah.
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post #1361 of 1660
11/26/12 at 5:28am
"Internet" equals "Free"....didn't ya' get th' memo? biggrin.gif
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post #1362 of 1660
11/26/12 at 9:48pm
I still have to pay for internet, but it's a better value than cable. Cable doesn't let me talk back to it smile.gif
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post #1363 of 1660
11/27/12 at 12:54am
If you want free content hook up an antenna and get CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, and PBS in HD and classic channels like MeTV. Regular Hulu and Youtube are also free.
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post #1364 of 1660
11/27/12 at 9:03am
I can get Hulu and YouTube with an antenna?
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post #1365 of 1660
11/27/12 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 8traxrule View Post

I can get Hulu and YouTube with an antenna?

Sure, just connect that antenna to a wifi card! wink.gif
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post #1366 of 1660
11/28/12 at 8:22am
Don't confuse him with the facts, everything should be free.
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post #1367 of 1660
11/29/12 at 9:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by slowbiscuit View Post

Don't confuse him with the facts, everything should be free.

Why are you still in this thread? I thought you were tired of hearing about cord cutting.
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post #1368 of 1660
11/30/12 at 7:00am

Home Theater PC - Free OTA channels via antenna (NBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, PBS, and a bunch of subchannels like This TV) coupled with Hulu gets you most stuff for free.  You can pay for Hulu Plus ($7.99/mo) to get more programming and Netflix as well for $7.99/mo for even more.  So for $16/mo you can get just about everything you pay $90+/mo for cable other then some live sports (depends on what sports you watch) and you may have to wait for some shows to be available (some are on 30 day delay before posted online).  Fire up a web browser and get all TNT shows for free on their web site posted day of airing.  

 

Of course there are other more "shady" ways to get the programming sooner but we won't talk about those here.

 

And you can also pay per episode/season for shows via sources like iTunes, Vudu or Amazon if you so choose.

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post #1369 of 1660
11/30/12 at 9:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bonscott87 View Post

 Fire up a web browser and get all TNT shows for free on their web site posted day of airing.
 
You need to register at both TNT and TBS with a pay-tv provider account to watch full episodes.
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post #1370 of 1660
11/30/12 at 1:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhufnagel View Post

 
You need to register at both TNT and TBS with a pay-tv provider account to watch full episodes.

 

True.  Since I have Uverse for Internet that's all I need, even if I don't actually subscribe to TV.  At least in the past anyway when I've done it.  I'm dumping the TV part of Uverse at the end of December and going back to just OTA and Internet so unless something has changed, I'm all good.  Hopefully.  :)

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post #1371 of 1660
11/30/12 at 3:02pm
It did change. You need to have TNT and/or TBS on a cable package in order to view them online. I just tried it.
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post #1372 of 1660
11/30/12 at 6:27pm
I'm coming up on 2 years since I cut the cord and I can say I'm 99.9% satisfied with the experience. That's dropping a bit now that ESPN3 has been moving towards requiring a TV cable/sat provider ID to watch more and more events. Also, many ESPN3 events can't be viewed at all anymore.

When I started this experiment I expected things to move that way and I expect it will continue. We adjusted our viewing habits and are still very happy at this point. We only have the "normal" OTA shows and the occasional Netflix DVD/stream, yet still struggle to watch everything we record.

Someone invited us to watch a bunch of those shows about the duck call guys.

Yeah, great TV, I really miss cable biggrin.gif
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post #1373 of 1660
12/3/12 at 1:18am
Out of Alabama's 13 games this year 8 of them have been on free OTA TV, 3 on ESPN, and 2 of them weren't televised. The 3 that were on ESPN I watched the replay on ESPN 3 later on. I'm going to a sports bar to watch the National Championship game and all it will cost is my dinner. Not bad to see my favorite team win the SEC and advance to the National Championship game for free. My favorite NFL team the Dallas Cowboys have been on OTA a lot this year but the way they are playing I have seen enough.
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post #1374 of 1660
12/3/12 at 1:27am
DirecTV has been sending me several letters a month trying to get me to subscribe. They even called me the other day and some idiot with broken English tried to tell me about a so called great deal and I just hung up on him. The other day I got a card that looked like a Christmas card in the mail. I opened it up and it said this was an exclusive inventation to join DirecTV. How greedy and desperate are these people. When will they get the hint that I'm not interested in their crappy overpriced service.
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post #1375 of 1660
12/3/12 at 4:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jedi Master View Post

DirecTV has been sending me several letters a month trying to get me to subscribe. They even called me the other day and some idiot with broken English tried to tell me about a so called great deal and I just hung up on him. The other day I got a card that looked like a Christmas card in the mail. I opened it up and it said this was an exclusive inventation to join DirecTV. How greedy and desperate are these people. When will they get the hint that I'm not interested in their crappy overpriced service.
Dude, I'm starting to wonder about you now. Sending stuff every couple of weeks is SOP for consumer service companies, nothing desperate about it. Cell providers do the same thing. If you look in the Sunday paper, you'll see ads from DirectTV and Dish Network every week. And I get letters from Comcast a few times a month and I've never subscribed to their service.

We get it, free ota tv is the greatest thing around. You're starting to remind me of reformed drug users talking about the evils of heroin. rolleyes.gif
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post #1376 of 1660
12/3/12 at 4:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhufnagel View Post

Dude, I'm starting to wonder about you now. Sending stuff every couple of weeks is SOP for consumer service companies, nothing desperate about it. Cell providers do the same thing. If you look in the Sunday paper, you'll see ads from DirectTV and Dish Network every week. And I get letters from Comcast a few times a month and I've never subscribed to their service.
We get it, free ota tv is the greatest thing around. You're starting to remind me of reformed drug users talking about the evils of heroin. rolleyes.gif

They stopped sending me flyers ages ago. I don't know if they call me anymore either. Whenever the phone rings the first thing I do is check the Caller Id. Displays such as "Unknown Caller", "Toll-Free Number", "Private Caller" and the like are immediately relegated to my answering machine. mad.gif I have 21 Holiday Movies lined up between now and the big day, along with over 50 Holiday-Themed TV Shows on DVD. smile.gif I saw three Parades and a Concert this past weekend, I have two more Parades and two more Concerts lined up for this upcoming weekend, then some more Holiday Events lined up for the next weekend. I LOVE this time of the year! biggrin.gif

PS. I did my Xmas Shopping this past May! tongue.gif
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post #1377 of 1660
12/4/12 at 1:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhufnagel View Post


We get it, free ota tv is the greatest thing around. You're starting to remind me of reformed drug users talking about the evils of heroin. rolleyes.gif

Free OTA TV and DVDs are the best thing around. You don't have to pay for reality shows, commercials and other bad programming. By the way, this is the thread where you read about stuff like this. rolleyes.gif

Video games are great too. This fall I've been playing my NCAA 12 single player dynasty with Alabama on the Xbox 360.
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post #1378 of 1660
12/4/12 at 2:16am
Rising sports programming costs could have consumers crying foul
Quote:
Nearly half of the monthly cable or satellite bill goes to sports channels. Escalating prices are triggering worries that subscribers will start walking away.

The average household already spends about $90 a month for cable or satellite TV, and nearly half of that amount pays for the sports channels packaged into most services. Massive deals for marquee sports franchises like the Dodgers and Lakers are driving those costs even higher. Over the next three years, monthly cable and satellite bills are expected to rise an average of nearly 40%, to $125, according to the market research company NPD Group.

So far, people seem willing to pay. But the escalating costs are triggering worries that, at some point, consumers will begin ditching their cable and satellite subscriptions.

"We've got runaway sports rights, runaway sports salaries and what is essentially a high tax on a lot of households that don't have a lot of interest in sports," said John Malone, the cable industry pioneer and chairman of Liberty Media. "The consumer is really getting squeezed, as is the cable operator."

A key concern is that the higher bills driven by sports are being shouldered by subscribers whether they watch sports or not. National and local sports networks typically require cable and satellite companies to make their channels available to all customers.


http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/01/business/la-fi-1202-ct-sports-cost-20121202
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post #1379 of 1660
12/4/12 at 4:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jedi Master View Post

Rising sports programming costs could have consumers crying foul

Here in Florida, Basic would go from $129.00 a month to $173.00 a month! eek.gifmad.gif

I refuse! tongue.gif
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post #1380 of 1660
12/4/12 at 7:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by borntocoast View Post

Here in Florida, Basic would go from $129.00 a month to $173.00 a month! eek.gifmad.gif
I refuse! tongue.gif

I highly doubt it would go up that much. I've had the same plan for years and for both cable and internet I've been paying roughly $100/month with quite a few bells and whistles.
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