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Cutting the Cable Cord, need suggestions - Page 2

post #31 of 120
7/20/12 at 8:27pm
I dropped cable (about 5 years ago) because my rates were about $100/mo for "deluxe" cable with HBO and I felt like it was just costing too much. I dropped HBO and went down to a basic package which was about $60/mo. Within 3 months of doing that, my rates had rose so I was now paying over $80/mo! I said screw it and just canceled. I haven't looked back. It's not about being able to afford it -- it's about not feeling like a sucker.

I've been primarily watching OTA digital when I watch TV (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, ION). I find myself watching about the same amount of TV as before. I do toss $20/mo to PBS because that's the channel(s) I watch the most and that's how they support themselves. I have also signed up to Netflix (streaming only) and Hulu and I have been a member of Amazon prime since 2005, so I don't really count paying for that since I would have it anyway. So, I pay about $36/mo for my programming (if I wanted to cut-off PBS it would only be $16/mo). Yes, you suffer when it comes to current season cable shows and sports, but I can live with that, there's plenty of good, year-old programming out there to keep you occupied. If I have to wait to see the 5th season of Breaking Bad, it's not a problem, there's plenty else to watch in the meantime. And the only sports that suffer (for me) are college basketball and, to a lesser extent, college and pro football. I miss ESPN but I'm getting by just fine without it and I never had NFL Sunday Ticket anyway.

I have 2 TVs: The living room TV has OTA, PS3 (blu-ray, dvd, netflix, hulu, amazon) and a Popcorn Hour for my media files (AVI/MP4/MKV/etc). In the bedroom I have OTA and a Roku (netflix, hulu, amazon). Again, aside from maybe the Roku, these are devices that I would own even if I still had cable/sat.

I don't ever see myself going back and eventually there won't be anything to go back to. Someday (soon hopefully) all channels will be streamed and you will be able to pay for them individually or at least a la carte through a streaming service of some sort. Of course, I plan on moving out into the sticks next time I uproot myself, so I'll just have to live with OTA and recordings. Dial-up/Cellular Internet access will be potentially slow/non-existent and/or expensive -- I probably will not be able to stream video. How will I survive eh? Actually, I like my odds. wink.gif
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post #32 of 120
7/21/12 at 12:46pm
Like cigarettes, the best way to stop cable is to never start smile.gif.
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post #33 of 120
7/21/12 at 5:52pm
What a waste of a nice HD set.
Or is everyone getting all HD content via streaming now?
And we are streaming without broadband?
It will be $60 for that without a TV service attached.
if you really want to cut usless features, start with your contract cell phone plan.
$100 a month for THAT is ridiculous. I would rather take that $100 for a triple play package myself.
Edited by bootman_head_fi - 7/21/12 at 6:01pm
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post #34 of 120
7/21/12 at 6:14pm
Old plan:
$90 DirecTV
$65 Comcast internet service
$21 Qwest phone (for alarm)
$176 total

New plan:
$35 CenturyLink DSL+phone
$8 Netflix
$20 TiVo (drops to $15 after one year)
$63 total

Absolutely no regrets. I have two Apple TV boxes for netflix (TiVo sucks at netflix). OTA antenna hooked to the bedroom tv. Silicon Dust network tuner so I can watch TV on any computer in the house. HTPC in the theater.

But as others have said, I am not a sports junkie. I enjoy NFL and a bit of NASCAR. I'll take in a few baseball games during the season and watch playoffs and the series. My biggest withdrawal was from not having fair and balanced news.
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post #35 of 120
7/21/12 at 7:39pm
CNN? Couldn't resist.
I would like to get rid of cable,too, but here on Kauai we only have Oceanic time warner and Hawaii telecom, that's it. maybe dish just got here but regardless the internet connection is $39 and the basic plan is $13 so don't see any way around it. I could live with OTA but gotta have the ISP.

This having to pay for everything with fewer and fewer options was figured out by the suits and got legislation passed a few years back. Just sayin:mad:
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post #36 of 120
7/22/12 at 7:55am
I cut the cord a little over three years ago. Had Direct TV and was paying 95 bucks a month. I'm also a Netflix Subscriber. I also had an OTA Antenna installed and found myself watching more Primetime programming from the major Networks than what was on Satellite. I dropped DTV, signed up for a 6 meg Cable Modem connection, and haven't looked back.

This was a learning process so I would warn people considering this change to do your homework, be patient, and understand that you will more than likely be paying more 'Up Front" to achieve your goal. I bought an HTPC last year, two USB Tuners, and I'm more than happy with what I have. I'm using Windows Media Center as my Main OS, with a 2TB External Drive to store all of my HD Programming. I recently purchased an HD HomeRun Network tuner to add an additional two tuners to the set up. These tuners allow for me to view content with Apps such as Orb and Remote Potato on my Iphone, Ipad, and my Android Devices while at home, or on the go.

Next Month I will be purchasing a larger antenna, and I also my purchase another HD HomeRun Network tuner because it appears that this device works much faster with regards to tuning in to stations as I change channels compared to my two USB Hauppage tuners.

Along with Netflix, I also have Amazon Prime Streaming, and I only use the Basic Hulu format. I recently dropped my Netflix Blu Ray subscription and just kept the streaming part. I found myself ordering newer movies through Amazon Prime compared to waiting in the mail for Netflix Blu Ray discs. I also increased my internet connection to 12 megs to support all of my devices with regards to streaming. I use the basic subscription of Hulu for a few shows and I don't feel the need to subscribe to the Hulu Plus subscription, considering the fact that what I watch is found on my DVR.

For Sports, my ISP is an affiliate with ESPN3, right now I'm watching The Open live and in HD on my Xbox 360. I've found that using the ESPN3 app on the 360 is much better than using the browser on my HTPC. During the fall College Football season, I have the major networks for games live in HD, as well as a GANG of games streaming live from ESPN3 in Standard Def and High Def. NFL games coming from three networks live and in HD, but I do not have the chance to watch Monday Night Football on ESPN3 because they don't broadcast the game on that channel. Not a big baseball fan but again ESPN3 is there to supply the programming. Wimbledon, no problem, ESPN3 is the ticket.

I'm very content with the way things have turned out. I have some extra cash in the bank, one less subsidized two-year contract to deal with, I OWN all my devices rather than renting them, and I have total control over what I want to watch and how many devices I can use to watch programming.
Edited by groove93 - 7/22/12 at 9:52am
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post #37 of 120
7/22/12 at 8:13am
A rambling reply to topic starter....

I cut the cord many years ago.
Curently have a OTA tuner SageTV back end. (x2 OTA Tuners)
2 HD200 clients + all the PCs in the house as clients.
Netflix streaming (used by my kids more than anyone) + Amazon prime (default access to Amazon streaming used almost never)

I picked up a Silicon Dust 3 tuner M-Card box from woot just in case I go crazy some day and decide to go back on the Time Warner Teet.
But I have no regrets so far.

True sports nuts probably can not get by without cable or Sat. I typically watch my market's NFL franchise, and a few Nascar races, the Olympics, and occasional Tennis final. So, for me, OTA is adequate.
Time for watching just the stuff I manage to record via OTA can get limited. I had the entire last season of House, 30Rock, Office, and more un-watched for months. So I dunno how I would watch all the other stuff I might record if I had 200 channels.
Over the week of the fourth I was exposed to my folks Samsung DVR on Time Warner Cable - and thought the compression artifacts were way too prominent. (Big Cat Diaries...any action sequence turned into a jigsaw puzzle). So if that is time warner over-compressing - I would not like paying top dollar for that. Satellite? The last two times I was in a bar with Sat screens everywhere, once it started raining, all I could watch was the DirectTV logo bouncing from edge to edge. OTA can suffer when there is lighting, but it's never a complete lack of picture / audio.

So, no premium content, no first run cable shows....I'll tell you what fills in the void nicely around this place (albeit probably a tabboo subject....still I am surprised no-one has mentioned it thus far): Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Usenet
Yeah I said it: Usenet
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post #38 of 120
7/22/12 at 8:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by groove93 View Post

I cut the cord a little over three years ago. Had Direct TV and was paying 95 bucks a month. I'm also a Netflix Subscriber. I also had an OTA Antenna installed and found myself watching more Primetime programming from the major Networks than what was on Satellite. I dropped DTV, signed up for a 6 meg Cable Modem connection, and haven't looked back.
This was a learning process so I would warn people considering this change to do our homework, be patient, and understand that you will more than likely be paying more 'Up Front" to achieve your goal. I bought an HTPC last year, two USB Tuners, and I'm more than happy with what I have. I'm using Windows Media Center as my Main OS, with a 2TB External Drive to store all of my HD Programming. I recently purchased an HD HomeRun Network tuner to add an additional two tuners to the set up. These tuners allow for me to view content with Apps such as Orb and Remote Potato on my Iphone, Ipad, and my Android Devices while at home, or on the go.
Next Month I will be purchasing a larger antenna, and I also my purchase another HD HomeRun Network tuner because I appears that this device works much faster with regards to tuning in to stations as I change channels compared to my two USB Hauppage tuners.
Along with Netflix, I also have Amazon Prime Streaming, and I only use the Basic Hulu format. I recently dropped my Netflix Blu Ray subscription and just kept the streaming part. I found myself ordering newer movies through Amazon Prime compared to waiting in the mail for Netflix Blu Ray discs. I also increased my internet conneection to 12 megs to support all of my devices with regards to streaming. I use the basic subscription of Hulu for a few shows and I don't feel the need to subscribe to the Hulu Plus subscription, considering the fact that what I watch is found on my DVR.
For Sports, my ISP is an affiliate with ESPN3, right now I'm watching The Open live and in HD on my Xbox 360. I've found that using the ESPN3 app on the 360 is much better than using the browser on my HTPC. During the fall College Football season, I have the major networks for games live in HD, as well as a GANG of games streaming live from ESPN3 in Standard Def and High Def. NFL games coming from three networks live and in HD, but I do not have the chance to watch Monday Night Football on ESPN3 because they don't broadcast the game on that channel. Not a big baseball fan but again ESPN3 is there to supply the programming. Wimbledon, no problem, ESPN3 is the ticket.
I'm very content with the way things have turned out. I have some extra cash in the bank, one less subsidized two-year contract to deal with, I OWN all my devices rather than renting them, and I have total control over what I want to watch and how many devices I can use to watch programming.

Good solid advice if this fits your viewing style.
I wonder how many here who complain about their SAT/Cable/FiOS bill will watch as you do?
$150 a month for TV only is crazy.
$100 (in many cases less) for phone/internet and TV isn't as much.
People need to get smarter on getting those deals. They are out there.
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post #39 of 120
7/22/12 at 12:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mastermaybe View Post

Right. You would be amongst the very small percentage I alluded to. Show me how many red-blooded American males can go without PRO/college football, baseball,basketball, and hockey. Now throw in those prime time cable and network shows no one in your household (seemingly) watches.
You are an outlier. I'm happy it works for you and I have nothing inherently against it. I just caution people to examine it carefully.
James

I disagree about the outlier part when you factor in that most local sports can be seen OTA for free. Personally I'm not a big sports person either, but I do watch the occasional football game. All in all though I would give up watching football if I could save $50+ a month. Not to mention that I can easily go to a friends house that is getting a game that I can't see for some reason :-)

For the most part for the last few years I was living with the cord cut and haven't had an issue, but when I moved just now the offer fios made was so good I decided to take their TV services again.
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post #40 of 120
7/23/12 at 9:07am
Most local pro/college sports can be seen for free OTA? No way. Perhaps in the MASSIVE NYC/LA markets, but elsewhere, forget about it.

MOST cities are extremely similar to mine:

Milwaukee Brewers? Exclusive contract with FSN. Cable and Sat ONLY.

Milwaukee Bucks? See above.

Wisconsin Badger Football/Basketball games? Virtually none broadcasted locally.

Outside of the 16 local (Packer) NFL football games, you can forget it, 9 out of 10 times...or more.

James
Edited by mastermaybe - 7/23/12 at 9:14am
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post #41 of 120
7/23/12 at 9:08am
Finally, if you (rightly) dump the premium channels, there's no way you should be paying over $70 for solid HD programming for two rooms. If you are, you're doing something wrong.


Oh, and I'm nearly due for my "annual" 6 month "re-try" with Netflix. I have had it FOUR times now and every time considered it laughably lacking in content (and quality, with a 6 mbps connection) I and my wife actually want to watch. Maybe this time things will be different. rolleyes.gif

James
Edited by mastermaybe - 7/23/12 at 9:16am
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post #42 of 120
7/23/12 at 9:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bootman_head_fi View Post

Good solid advice if this fits your viewing style.
I wonder how many here who complain about their SAT/Cable/FiOS bill will watch as you do?
$150 a month for TV only is crazy.
$100 (in many cases less) for phone/internet and TV isn't as much.
People need to get smarter on getting those deals. They are out there.

Precisely. If people spent half the energy (and time) extracting fantastic deals out of SAT and cable as they do all-but obsessing over dumping them in favor of streaming/OTA, they'd quickly realize that it's a much more competitive option than they formerly thought...again, especially considering some of the additional benes of the former over the latter.

James
Edited by mastermaybe - 7/23/12 at 9:26am
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post #43 of 120
7/23/12 at 9:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slack View Post

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Usenet
Yeah I said it: Usenet

Shhhhhh! First rule of Usenet is..... smile.gif
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post #44 of 120
7/23/12 at 10:01am
It appears to be a futile case to some who are promoting cable/satellite deals, but I see it as another means of removing one's self from subsidized contracts which can also affect one's credit. I'd rather pay the money upfront for all of my equipment and gadgets, rather than pay a discounted price and be latched on to some two-year contract with a large ETF. God forbid something bad happens where your finances may take a hit for some unforeseen reason such as a medical bill or loss of a job, I'd rather not worry about needing to pay a balance on a bill, and how it will affect my credit.

Now I know my set up may not be Ideal for many, plus it is simply a fact that many cannot receive OTA reception because of their location as well.

One thing I always read about detractors of the "Cutting The Cord" movement is the lack of time, research, and patience they put in to managing this task. It never fails, one writer complains about this, or his wife complains about that, so they concede and get stuck paying 80 plus dollars to a cable or satellite company.

The bottom line is this, everyone wants some extra cash in their pockets, just because you can afford to have cable/satellite, doesn't mean you SHOULD get it. When one's bill decreases from 200 dollars to just 50 to 80 dollars a month because they took the time to get a working system to their liking, if you ask me, that's smart thinking.
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post #45 of 120
7/23/12 at 10:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mastermaybe View Post

Most local pro/college sports can be seen for free OTA? No way. Perhaps in the MASSIVE NYC/LA markets, but elsewhere, forget about it.
MOST cities are extremely similar to mine:
Milwaukee Brewers? Exclusive contract with FSN. Cable and Sat ONLY.
Milwaukee Bucks? See above.
Wisconsin Badger Football/Basketball games? Virtually none broadcasted locally.
Outside of the 16 local (Packer) NFL football games, you can forget it, 9 out of 10 times...or more.
James


Where I live, South East Georgia, I can get College Football on ABC, CBS, NBC (Notre Dame), Fox (which shows SEC Network games), plus a Raycom feed from both the CBS and the local CW Affiliate.
And YES, you can watch a gang of College football games using ESPN3, which tells me that you have not done your own research.

Many of us are not concerned about watching 15 NFL games simultaneously and are just content with our regional coverage. Again, I watch NFL on NBC, CBS, and Fox on Sundays, but no Monday Night Football on ESPN. Those OTA games are FREE, can't beat that.
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post #46 of 120
7/23/12 at 10:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by groove93 View Post

Where I live, South East Georgia, I can get College Football on ABC, CBS, NBC (Notre Dame), Fox (which shows SEC Network games), plus a Raycom feed from both the CBS and the local CW Affiliate.
And YES, you can watch a gang of College football games using ESPN3, which tells me that you have not done your own research.
Many of us are not concerned about watching 15 NFL games simultaneously and are just content with our regional coverage. Again, I watch NFL on NBC, CBS, and Fox on Sundays, but no Monday Night Football on ESPN. Those OTA games are FREE, can't beat that.

Ummm sir, I never said anything about watching "generic/non-regional sports programming" on outlets like ESPN 3 (that I'm well aware of, by the way, thanks). And I'm not remotely contending ANYTHING about watching 15 games at once.

The contention IS that MOST LOCAL, pro and college sports utilize cable/satellite contracts that disallow one from viewing them (the games) online/elsewhere. Simple as that.

The NFL is a bit different. At just 16 games, 90% of which fall on a Sunday afternoon, yes, THOSE are generally available, OTA. I would bet the Braves, Hawks games are not.


James
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post #47 of 120
7/23/12 at 10:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by groove93 View Post

It appears to be a futile case to some who are promoting cable/satellite deals, but I see it as another means of removing one's self from subsidized contracts which can also affect one's credit. I'd rather pay the money upfront for all of my equipment and gadgets, rather than pay a discounted price and be latched on to some two-year contract with a large ETF. God forbid something bad happens where your finances may take a hit for some unforeseen reason such as a medical bill or loss of a job, I'd rather not worry about needing to pay a balance on a bill, and how it will affect my credit.
Now I know my set up may not be Ideal for many, plus it is simply a fact that many cannot receive OTA reception because of their location as well.
One thing I always read about detractors of the "Cutting The Cord" movement is the lack of time, research, and patience they put in to managing this task. It never fails, one writer complains about this, or his wife complains about that, so they concede and get stuck paying 80 plus dollars to a cable or satellite company.
The bottom line is this, everyone wants some extra cash in their pockets, just because you can afford to have cable/satellite, doesn't mean you SHOULD get it. When one's bill decreases from 200 dollars to just 50 to 80 dollars a month because they took the time to get a working system to their liking, if you ask me, that's smart thinking.


Hey: by no means am I telling people to run out and sign up for satellite or cable service. What I AM saying is to view it (cable/sat vs. OTA/online) a bit more apples to apples than many seem to.

My brother got cute (in my own personal opinion) about the matter and quickly found out that between losing 90+% of local sports and other programming, he also spent $40+ a month on netflix, amazon, and PPV's. So now- a year later- he's back to a $65 DirecTV bill. Go figure.

If you can do without local sports, have sufficient internet bandwidth, and are able to retain enough of the stuff you watch, you would of course be foolish to continue ahead with SAT or cable. Again, I'd just advise to conduct an honest, comprehensive, appraisal.

It is YOUR money. But it's also YOUR entertainment.


James
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post #48 of 120
7/23/12 at 4:04pm
For those NFL fans out there this may be an option. $35 for one team is not bad. You can't watch it live however Sunday games are available after Sunday night football and Monday games are available ~24 hours after broadcast.

https://gamerewind.nfl.com/nflgr/secure/packages?ttv=7&ttp=2 (work safe link).

With the ESPN3 options already mentioned that provides a good amount of sports.
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post #49 of 120
7/23/12 at 7:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mastermaybe View Post

First. The most abysmal, cringe-worthy phrases, circa July 2012:
3. "Not so much."
2. "Cutting the cord."
1. "It is what it is."
Please avoid all three of them like they're toothless, drunken, zombies barreling down the road in a dump-trunk.
Boy, I have a $75 monthly DirecTV (for 2 rooms, whole-home DVR) that allows me to see ALL of my local sports teams in addition to other broadcast and cable programming that is nowhere to be found elsewhere.
By the time you add in the cost of the devices, PPV's, consider the quality of what's out there, and tally what you will no longer be able to view, I get less and less enchanted with the idea of dumping cable/sat service.
That may be just me though, perhaps Comcast is as insufferable as you claim.
Good luck.
James

I personally hope the vast majority of Americans continue to feel like you do. Because my fear is that if more and more people "cut the cord" (HA!), the prices for streaming services will go up and/or the content will be greatly reduced. I like what I am paying and the content I am able to get. So please do keep paying for direct TV. You are helping me out quite a bit.
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post #50 of 120
7/23/12 at 7:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mastermaybe View Post

Finally, if you (rightly) dump the premium channels, there's no way you should be paying over $70 for solid HD programming for two rooms. If you are, you're doing something wrong.
Oh, and I'm nearly due for my "annual" 6 month "re-try" with Netflix. I have had it FOUR times now and every time considered it laughably lacking in content (and quality, with a 6 mbps connection) I and my wife actually want to watch. Maybe this time things will be different. rolleyes.gif
James

6Mbps does not get it done. I used to have DSL, but it's too slow and too expensive, so I switched to Charter Cable Internet and got nearly 3 times the speed at 2/3 the price. Now streaming content via Netflix, Vudu, Amazon, etc. looks superior to DishNet programming every day of the week.
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post #51 of 120
7/23/12 at 7:18pm
For the record, here is what I pay:

20 Digital OTA stations (free) -- includes all the major networks, plus the PBS multi-cast and a variety of music stations, local weather station, several independent stations.

Netflix (8 bucks a month) -- If you have kids, this is an absolute no brainer. The amount of kids programming is fantastic. Every night before bed my little one watches Curious George. I also watch lots of older TV series (right now I am working my way through the X files) and often check out TV shows that I never watched before for whatever reason (the first four seasons of Breaking Bad, for example). Lots of great content, on par with what you can find on basic cable for much less. I also enjoy the documentaries and science programs. Every now and then they get a blockbuster movie, but I don't count on that.

Vudu and/or Amazon -- maybe 60 bucks per TV season, depending upon what I want to watch. For example, this year I will buy season 5 of Breaking Bad and Season 3 of The Walking Dead. Plus, tack on maybe an extra 5 bucks per month for the odd rental here and there.

I like watching my Cardinals play, but I never purchased the sports programming tier on sattelite and I'm not about to pay to watch them now. I can listen on the radio. To me, it always seems like the cable companies have their tiers set up specifically to screw the sports fan (for example, to watch my Blues play during the playoffs, I needed their most expensive programming package because the games were spread out over several channels). So screw that noise. They can get bent.
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post #52 of 120
7/23/12 at 7:42pm
Increases in streaming prices will be inevitable. Companies like Comcast, eating up NBC Universal, so now you have one Big Company owning the Pipes and the Content. Just like the Cable and Satellite Companies having to negotiate Prices for content, most recently Direct TV and Viacom, it will happen to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. If you ask me, I think Amazon is in a better position to handle future deals. They may increase their Annual Subscription, but a one shot payment is still a great deal.
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post #53 of 120
7/23/12 at 7:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by groove93 View Post

Increases in streaming prices will be inevitable.
Let's not forget bandwidth caps in addition to content costs. Eventually bandwidth will be treated to a tiered pricing model and people who stream more and consume more bandwidth with HD streaming, will have to pay more. They are more than willing to increase your speed so you can stream HD and consume bandwidth more rapidly.
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post #54 of 120
7/23/12 at 8:17pm
So far, no bandwidth caps from Charter. Plus, they still offer Internet as a standalone service. So far so good.

There are ways they can pinch us, of course, but my thinking is that the fewer people we have streaming, the less bandwidth gets used overall, and the less likely we will see a universal bandwidth cap across the board at every carrier. That's not to say streaming is the only bandwidth hog, but it is a relevant one. I am also hoping that free enterprise being what it is, that there will be some carrier out there without a cap... If that's the case, we can only hope it's a carrier with fast speeds.

Like I said, so far Charter fits the bill. Internet is the only thing they do well IMO, and here's to hoping they continue to do so.

Also, as long as Cable and Satellite are making good money and perceive streaming as "fringe," we're likely to get away with more for longer. I realize it's a fuzzy line either way.
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post #55 of 120
7/23/12 at 8:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gremmy View Post

Lots of great content, on par with what you can find on basic cable for much less.

 

When I first started streaming (several years ago) I found more content than pay-TV. Although, after x period of time the content more or less ran out. It's not replenished at the rate of pay-TV and to a large degree new content isn't appearing which is some what covered in your subscribing to various series. Going forward it appears to be getting worse and the wealth of older content continues to get older and less demanding.

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post #56 of 120
7/24/12 at 8:17am
It's impossible for me to relate any "cord-cutting" experience since I haven't had pay-TV for over 24 yrs -- always been OTA. I'm fortunate to live on high ground in northern DE with 20 mi line-of-site to the Philly towers. Most of DE is not so fortunate and is in a no-man's land between Philly and Baltimore with terrain that prevents OTA reception from either. I don't consider anything analog-OTA worth mentioning any more so my relevant story starts 4 yr ago when we bought a 50" plasma HDTV, a TiVo HD and went all digital OTA/HD -- things grew from there to where we are today -- NAS units, media-PC, WD Live streamers.

For my family, we find that there is far more of interest on the big-4 networks during the regular season than we could possibly have time to watch -- and we watch very little that is not time-shifted. I've taken to collecting the episodes of series of interest we don't have time for and transferring them from the TiVo to my NAS units. They become our summertime viewing and are much more enjoyable when you don't have to wait through the 2 month Dec-Jan hiatus that seems to be standard for the networks. This practice is very useful for new series that seem to get canceled at random. For example, I collected Alcatraz, The River and Terra Nova -- all three were canceled and so I flushed them from the NAS without ever watching an episode -- saves us the time and frustration of getting invested in a new series just to have it terminated. I recently added a dual-tuner module to my media-PC to take over the series collecting duties from my TiVo.

In addition to network TV there is a wealth of cable shows available to us from either Netflix or the public library. We make very heavy use of that. When Netflix streaming was available as part of the normal subscription price, we used it -- infrequently. The catalog was not impressive and I found the PQ was lacking -- and truth be told, there is so much unwatched content on my NAS units that streaming was just another source we didn't need. When Netflix split the services, we dumped the streaming and only kept the disk subscription.

As for sports, my wife and I are NFL and MLB fans (and she likes NASCAR). During the season, all 16 of our Eagles games are broadcast and more than enough Philly games (more than we would have time to watch).

There is lots of content available without pay-TV, it's just a matter of what paradigm you want to select to view it. In our case there is the up-front cap-cost of the TiVo, NAS units, media streamers etc. You could probably make a case for including the TV in there also which begs the question of since I would have bought it all anyway is it fair to count it as a cap-cost for OTA viewing. But as far as recurring monthly costs, I only pay $11/month for Netflix/BluRay and $25/yr for guide service for my media-PC.
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post #57 of 120
7/24/12 at 12:03pm
Interested on how this developed. I built a HTPC last year to cut the cord due to Knology's monopoly in our complex and I relapse due to my politics/news addiction. I love the news commentary shows and most of the good ones don't have much of a digital presence. So I bought a TV tuner and get all of the analog cable channels free and the unencrypted digital ones. Hulu and Netflix round out my experience, but Netflix HD video is a slide show on my AMD E-350 powered HTPC.
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post #58 of 120
7/24/12 at 12:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by azaze View Post

For those NFL fans out there this may be an option. $35 for one team is not bad. You can't watch it live however Sunday games are available after Sunday night football and Monday games are available ~24 hours after broadcast.
https://gamerewind.nfl.com/nflgr/secure/packages?ttv=7&ttp=2 (work safe link).
With the ESPN3 options already mentioned that provides a good amount of sports.
Who in the hell would want to do that unless they lived in Australia during NFL football season? After all of the games go off, I usually spend an hour watching the NFL news shows about all of the games.
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post #59 of 120
7/24/12 at 12:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles R View Post

When I first started streaming (several years ago) I found more content than pay-TV. Although, after x period of time the content more or less ran out. It's not replenished at the rate of pay-TV and to a large degree new content isn't appearing which is some what covered in your subscribing to various series. Going forward it appears to be getting worse and the wealth of older content continues to get older and less demanding.

I've been streaming for about a year now, which perhaps is not long enough for me to have tested your thesis. I'd promise to give you my assessment in a couple of years, but by then I'm quite sure I will have forgotten this conversation... so all I can say for now is that... perhaps this depends upon how much TV a person watches. I only get hooked on one or maybe two shows per season (typically the same ones from one season to the next). Also, I tend to watch older shows from Netflix at a very slow rate (maybe 2 or 3 episodes per week). Meanwhile, netflix keeps adding new TV series, many of which I have never seen (some of which I have never even heard of), and so far, it always seems that I end up enjoying quite a few of these. I discovered a couple of british shows that I never would have found otherwise.
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post #60 of 120
7/24/12 at 1:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by the crane View Post

Finally fed up with Comcast and I'm officially cutting the cord.
We stream netflix, hulu and HBOGo. Want to be able to store shows on the device and also hook up a terrestrial antenna to watch local shows.
Does anything like this exist?

Youre not the first to feel this way..but thats an easy fix.

get yourself a usenet account. Then setup sabnzbd, sickbeard, couchpotato and an [insert your media lib manager of choice here, my personal favorite is an AppleTV2 running XBMC] to front end it all. done deal..

just my 2c
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