CFB51 College Football Fan Community

Off Topic Boards => Off Topic and General Discussions => Topic started by: betarhoalphadelta on July 13, 2017, 05:56:08 PM

Title: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 13, 2017, 05:56:08 PM
So, I've been a cord-cutter since the end of 2015 March Madness. The biggest impediment to most people cutting the cord is the lack of live sports, as it was for me prior to the introduction of SlingTV.

I had wanted to take at least one season to see if it worked for me, but since it was Apr 2015 when I did it, that means I've made it through two football seasons and two basketball seasons since ditching DirecTV.

I thought I'd post some thoughts on what I've done and how it's working out so far.



First things first, you need a broadband internet connection. I would expect that most of you already have one, of course, so your cost for internet should NOT be considered a "cord-cutting cost". However, if you have the lowest tier of service, or if your internet provider will jack your rates due to no longer bundling with TV, you may have to factor in the cost of your internet increasing.

The key to remember is that you DON'T need blazing-fast internet. You probably don't want anything south of ~25 Mbps, but unless you're regularly streaming UHD (4K) content, anything in the 25-50 Mbps downstream rate is just fine. If someone tells you that you're going to need the 150 Mbps or 300 Mbps tier of internet, they're lying.



Okay, step #2. Local OTA channels. For some people this matters. For others it doesn't. For me, it didn't, until I started getting into NFL and found myself unable to watch a lot of games. For college basketball, and some college football games (SEC on CBS, prime-time ABC game*, Fox games), having your locals is really helpful.

For most people, if you're in a city you already have locals. You may need to buy an antenna as a one-time purchase, but you will get them. You can go to the TV Fool (http://www.tvfool.com/) website to determine what you will receive.

For me, I'm about 50 miles from the broadcast towers. That meant I couldn't get by with a simple indoor window antenna. But for under $50, I bought this model off Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Amplified-Mounting-Extremely-Performance/dp/B01KUXVKK0/), and it works beautifully.

One thing you'll notice: TV looks better over the air! OTA transmission is now all digital, which means that you don't have the static and noise of the old-school analog OTA signals. The reason it looks better, then, is that cable/satellite streams are highly compressed in order to save bandwidth. OTA signals are not. So the picture is actually better OTA than it is on cable/satellite.

(* I put the asterisk by ABC, as getting ESPN through other sources will still get you streaming access to the ABC game even w/o antenna.)



Next is your non-live streaming services. I'll go over this briefly since I'm primarily writing this for sports fans. But once you cut the cord, if you still want to watch TV, you probably want access to the main streaming services. Here's what I use:

Amazon Prime Instant Video ($8.25/mo*): A lot of content here. Not as much original content as some of the other services, but getting better. You can rent movies that aren't available on Prime, but I rarely need to do that (once every 4-6 months).

Hulu ($7.99/mo): Biggest claim to fame is next-day access to network sit-coms and dramas, although they've been coming along with a lot of original content lately.

Netflix ($10/mo HD, $12/mo UHD): GREAT original content and decent library of non-original. Oh, and a lot of their newer stuff is in UHD. Sure, you bought that fancy UHD television on Black Friday, but you can't watch any content from your cable company? Well, now you can.

Oh, and for those of you with kids? Kids do *JUST* fine on the streaming services. In fact, kids are instant gratification by default, so they like the on demand viewing more than waiting around for a program to start and then sitting through commercials.

(* I asterisk the Amazon Prime cost because I was a Prime member for the shipping benefits LONG before I ever started watching video content.)



And now the big one: live TV. This has exploded over the last 2 years. The first key enabler for sports fans was SlingTV, which brought along ESPN. Now you add DirecTV Now, Playstation View, Hulu Live, and there are others in the works.

You can see their channel lineups compared here (https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-tv-vs-sling-tv-vs-directv-now-vs-playstation-vue-channel-lineups-compared/), along with the base package costs.

Keys:

SlingTV gets you access to ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN3 (as well as streaming access to ABC sports) for $20/month. For added tiers you can have additional sports options.

I believe Playstation Vue is the only one with Big Ten Network that I can tell. It also includes local channels if you're in a market with them, but prices recently jumped and it's about $50/month.

DirecTV Now is about $35/month for their base plan, but that doesn't include BTN. For BTN you need to get into a bigger package.

Hulu Live includes BTN in its base package, but looks to be about $40/month.

Now, some of those look pricy. But I argue it's better than traditional cable/satellite for two reasons:


So although the live packages aren't as compelling as SlingTV at $20/mo was originally, I think they're still a better deal than cable.



After this, there *is* an equipment cost... Maybe. A lot of you probably already have a Smart TV that has these apps. If not, a Roku Streaming Stick is pretty cheap, as is the Amazon Fire TV stick. I personally eventually upgraded to a Roku Ultra, as I found the higher-performance CPU improved responsiveness and I wanted the 4K UHD support. But this is a one-time cost, not a rental.



The only thing that doesn't easily stream is NFL, so for that you need either an antenna or a streaming service with local channels. But some of these live services include locals, so at least that's an option now -- it wasn't when SlingTV was the only one in the game.

All told, I ended up spending a little more on my internet (due to lack of bundling), and add $20 offseason and maybe $40-60 during the sports season depending on what service I choose. These services might actually start competing more aggressively now that there are more of them around, though, in which case I might be able to TRULY do a more a la carte channel selection (i.e. the ESPN's and BTN only and leave everything else out).

That's my take on it. I'm sure the rest of you might add to this with your own thoughts, but I've basically been able to get 90% of the sports content I want, and plenty of other streaming video content, and cut out a huge bill otherwise.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Drew4UTk on July 13, 2017, 06:09:37 PM
interesting that you post this today. 

FuboTV may advertise here- and after reading on them, it makes sense.

their BLUF:

"Never miss a game with fuboTV live streaming right to you. fuboTV brings you an extensive sports lineup giving you access to 70+ HD channels including NBC and Fox Sports (with their RSN’s), beIN Sports (English & Spanish) NBA TV, and many more.

70+ National Channel Lineup including beIN Sports, Big Ten Network, FOX Deportes, FOX Soccer Plus, FS1, FS2, Golf Channel, GolTV, NBA TV, NBCSN, Univision, Univision Deportes Network and more.

The most comprehensive Soccer lineup anywhere! - English Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Primeira Liga, Liga MX, Copa Libertadores, MLS, FIFA World Cup Qualifying and Final, and more.

Marquee Event Coverage - Summer & Winter Olympics, NFL Kickoff Game on NBC, NFL Playoffs on NBC and FOX, MLB All-Star Game on FOX, MLB World Series on FOX, NHL Playoffs on NBC, NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on NBC and more.

Additional Coverage - Roland Garros, NCAA Football & Basketball, NCAA Big East Basketball Tournament, U.S. Open and British (Golf), NASCAR, Daytona 500, UFC, the Triple Crown and more.

News and Entertainment Networks - A&E, Bravo, CNBC, E!, El Rey Network, FX, MSNBC, History Channel, Lifetime, National Geographic, USA and more.

Watch unlimited programming across multiple devices: Roku, iPhone/iPad, Android Phone/Tablet, PC/Mac, Amazon Fire TV, Kindle Fire and Chromecast."


I roku out in the pool house, and i don't miss not having access to channels i have in the house (via DirectTV)... I've strongly considered cutting out cable/satellite- and I may just do it.  Even aside from OTA channels, most the major networks have free online streaming- so a $100 chromebook w/HDMI and wireless allows me to slap it on a TV, a monitor, or on a projector.  A matter of fact, I imagine some of my early season games will be on the chromebook's screen tethered to a cell while on a sandbar. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Riffraft on July 14, 2017, 11:08:44 AM
What it doesn't do is give you the NFL game of your favorite team when you no longer live in the market for that team. Overall a good thing. My niece did basically the same thing you did, but she has her mother's NFL package to watch her football games over there or uses the app on her phone and project it on her TV.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 14, 2017, 01:46:58 PM
What it doesn't do is give you the NFL game of your favorite team when you no longer live in the market for that team. Overall a good thing. My niece did basically the same thing you did, but she has her mother's NFL package to watch her football games over there or uses the app on her phone and project it on her TV.

Yeah, I don't quite have a favorite team... I was a Bears fan at one point, but they've lost me. I might have become a Chargers fan, but I hate teams that hold their cities hostage for a stadium and then move because the city says no. So I just like to have NFL to watch whatever game is on.

But truthfully, unless you have NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV, I thought there was no way to truly get all the out-of-market games anyway. I thought generic cable or satellite service would only show you the games that were on your local broadcast channels, which is exactly what you can get with OTA. This was IMHO the primary draw of NFL Sunday Ticket -- ALL the games.

That said, there's quite a bit of games on.

Thursday: Twitter streams some of the Thursday night games free.
Sunday: Typically between CBS, Fox, and NBC, there are games from 1 PM ET until the night game on NBC. Sometimes multiple at once. So you get all the local games cable would give you.
Monday: ESPN now has MNF, so if you are already on one of the live services mentioned above, you get MNF.

And it appears that NFL Sunday Ticket is available without DirecTV as a streaming option (http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-sunday-ticket-available-to-more-viewers-without-directv-subscription/), but I don't know the limitations of that.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: CatsbyAZ on July 14, 2017, 03:04:28 PM
I went through a bit of a sports viewer's identity crisis after cutting the cord. I ended up spending more Saturday's at the sports bar, the only advantage of watching multiple games simultaneously severely outweighed by running up a huge tab, surrounding by drunks accumulating as the day when on, and not being able to drive myself home.

Streaming worked pretty well, but still, not as easy to switch back and forth between games.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 14, 2017, 03:54:40 PM
I went through a bit of a sports viewer's identity crisis after cutting the cord. I ended up spending more Saturday's at the sports bar, the only advantage of watching multiple games simultaneously severely outweighed by running up a huge tab, surrounding by drunks accumulating as the day when on, and not being able to drive myself home.

Streaming worked pretty well, but still, not as easy to switch back and forth between games.

Yeah, that's one reason I haven't brought up the "well if you want to watch a specific game that you can't stream, you can always go to the sports bar!"

I can pretty much rack up the equivalent of a monthly cable bill pretty quickly that way  :singing:
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: CatsbyAZ on July 15, 2017, 06:29:51 AM
The other thing about nixing the cord (back in 2015) is finding out what I really didn't miss, in a very good way. I don't for one second miss the baseball games I used to watch (radio is better for baseball anyway), or even Monday Night Football. Or Storage Wars.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 15, 2017, 12:33:12 PM
Cord Cutters News had a nice article today specifically about streaming college football (http://cordcuttersnews.com/watch-college-football-without-paying-cable-tv/).

They showed FuboTV has BTN and FS1. But I did make a look at the FuboTV site and it's $35/mo, and *doesn't* include ESPN. It looks to me like FuboTV will carry a lot of other sports content, if you're into some of the 2nd-tier sports that don't get a lot of airplay.

But it looks to me like PS Vue and DirecTV NOW are the most complete options. SlingTV is the only one with the PAC-12 network (but doesn't have ESPN and you need the $40/mo package if you want ESPN *and* FS1.)

I'll have to do some more research and figure out exactly what the cost is based on which channels are included with which package.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on July 18, 2017, 03:02:04 PM
I went with DirecTV Now.  I was one of the early adopters and got their "Go Big" package for $35.  Now it is $60.  The package I have has ESPN, ESPN2, EspnNews, ESPNU, FS1, FS2, BTN, SEC Network.  It had the LHN for awhile but it went back to regional.  I get the local channels over the air with an antenna so I'm pretty well set.  As a bonus, Directv Now threw in HBO for free.
One thing lacking is a DVR which is supposed to be available this fall.  I use a service called Playon Desktop which provides some DVR functionality.  It actually downloads whatever streaming video I request and saves it to a disk on my home network.  It also removes commercials so that is pretty good.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MichiFan87 on July 23, 2017, 01:01:46 AM
Obviously, going to the bar for games is more practical / cost-effective and even desirable if you live in/near a city where there's transit and an alumni bar / club for your school.

Youtube TV is expanding and seems to be the most compelling deal in terms of cost, channels provided, and functionality. I don't know anyone who has it, but I'd be curious to get reviews:

http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-tv-expands-us-footprint-2017-7
Title: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: MaximumSam on July 24, 2017, 01:20:27 PM
All right troops.  I finally cut the cord and no longer pay for cable.  However, being able to watch college football is a priority.  What are my best options?

At first I was going to roll with Sling TV.  However, it doesn't appear they have ABC, CBS, or the B1G Network, so that cuts out a lot of games.  The website isn't all that user friendly so I was having a hard time figuring out what they did and didn't offer.

Does anyone use Playstation Vue?  They appear to offer more channels (at a steeper price), but seem to have BTN as well as ABC.  What say you?

The priority channels would be Fox (OSU v. Oklahoma, OSU v. PSU, OSU v. Michigan) and then ESPN, but would like to have BTN, ABC, and CBS if possible.  Then all the other stuff like ACC network and piddly stuff like that.  The more options the better.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: FearlessF on July 24, 2017, 01:46:14 PM
I'm with the cable company, so no help here

I am curious if you are able to get all the live football content you are looking for.  You may need multiple subscriptions.  Also, curious as to how much that might cost in total.

I could be a cord cutter when I retire  ;)
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: Anonymous Coward on July 24, 2017, 02:28:54 PM
For sports-watchers at home, I'm beginning to believe the more ideal option (than a true cut cord) is in the middle.

A YouTube TV subscription costs $30 per month. It includes practically endless "on demand" programming but also comes with the advantage of being paired with every ESPN channel plus BTN, Fox and ABC for sports.

It is growing as fast as any alternative I know of. It premiered in these cities in April:

New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

And it has already grown to these ones since then:

Washington D.C., Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

I hear Detroit is coming in the next month.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: FearlessF on July 24, 2017, 02:37:52 PM
BTN President Mark Silverman kicked off the 2017 Big Ten media days Monday with a quick rundown of updates and advancements in the network.

>> BTN will be available on Hulu, YouTube TV, PlayStation Vue, Sling and DirecTV Now — all over-the-top, Internet broadcasters — coming in the fall, a decision that addresses the declining numbers in cable subscribers, particularly those younger Americans who are “cutting the cord” or not signing up for cable at all.

>> For the first year, BTN will feature a woman, Lisa Byington, calling play-by-play during a football telecast. Byington will do the Sept. 16 Northwestern-Bowling Green game.

>> The BTN tailgate show will go to two hours and visit ten campuses.


>> BTN games will be televised on the Fox Sports Go app as well as the BTN2Go app.

>> BTN is a co-collaborator with ESPN on the upcoming four-part documentary on Minnesota coach PJ Fleck. "BEING PJ Fleck" will debut Aug. 2.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: medinabuckeye1 on July 24, 2017, 03:10:41 PM
I cut the cord years ago and there were not nearly as many options back then. 

I did it when my cable bill got over $50/month and still did NOT include BTN. 

For me, the alternative was simple, go to a sportsbar.  I figured that there were no more than 3-4 games per month that I really wanted to watch and couldn't get on broadcast TV so I could go to the bar with a budget of $12.50-16.67 per game.  I might not actually break even on this deal but I would have had food and beer at home and I probably would have gone to a bar for one or two games a month anyway.  Overall I'd rather spend the money on food and beer than cable. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 24, 2017, 03:40:01 PM
Interesting... There appears to be an antenna streaming option that must include some sort of onboard flash, because it allows pause/rewind... Basically time-shifting of up to 1 hour.

http://cordcuttersnews.com/antenna-direct-release-new-streaming-stick-stream-antenna-device/

This can help if you have the antenna in a strange location in the house, and want to view live OTA TV without running cable to every location.

Only downside is that it's a single tuner... So if multiple people in the house at the same time wanted to watch different channels, you're SOL. But if that doesn't apply to you, it's worth checking out.

Edit--one thing I didn't think about is that this might affect quality, since it will probably compress the OTA signal to send it over WiFi... So you may give back the signal improvement that you get from going OTA by using this...
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: MrNubbz on July 24, 2017, 03:41:39 PM
My bar tab every week would supersede the amount of any subscription.Factoring in cab fare that's not an option - for me anyway   ??? Plus at home I can participate in the "Stream of Conscientious"Thread
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: TyphonInc on July 24, 2017, 03:45:38 PM
Well First off all your local channels are available for a 1 time purchase of $20-30, in the form of a Powered HD Antenna (https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=hd+antenna). Over the air HD signal is awesome, they don't compress their signal to save band with like all the cable/internet companies do, and once you have the antenna you never have to buy anything again.
Channels I get for *free: ABC (National B1G, SEC, ACC games, plus regional coverage), CBS (Notre Dame, SEC), FOX (B1G, B12, P12)


Lots of other options have been given to get those other channels, the easiest for us was for a family member (who doesn't use their online part of their cable) to give us their login. I have ESPN, BTN, and FoxSports all bookmarked and ready to go. We have a chrome-cast (https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/chromecast/tv/chromecast/) (1 time purchase for $35) to get the streaming sports media from the computer to TV.


All in all we spent $65 one time for TV, and another $50 ($10 Netflix + $40 ISP) a month for internet.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: Drew4UTk on July 24, 2017, 03:55:27 PM
FuboTV just sent me this a few minutes ago... they want some ad space here...

Cord-Cutter General LP / https://www.fubo.tv/lp/StreamTV/

check out the sports channels... not to shabby? 
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 24, 2017, 03:59:56 PM
Well, I did post a long and detailed thing on cord-cutting here on this very site 11 days ago (http://www.cfb51.com/index.php/topic,110.0.html)... But I put it in the "general" forum as I thought it would be applicable to all conferences...

First question: where do you live? If you put your address into tvfool.com (http://www.tvfool.com), it'll tell you what networks you can pick up OTA. Some of the live streaming services include locals; some don't. If you know you can pick up your locals OTA, you have less limitations as to which live streaming service you choose. And BTW the signal OTA is actually MUCH better than over cable, as they don't have to compress it.

I like SlingTV, and it does give you the ability to stream the ABC prime-time game through the ESPN app on Roku, as well as all the ESPN3 content. But since it doesn't have BTN, I might go elsewhere this season. I cancelled SlingTV right after the NCAA tournament because I don't really need sports outside of CFB and NCAAB...

In the other thread, I linked to this post at Cord Cutters News (http://cordcuttersnews.com/watch-college-football-without-paying-cable-tv/) which breaks down which services carry which sports networks. It looks like device compatibility is best for Sling, DirecTV Now, and PS Vue. Hulu is a bit behind IMHO and YouTube doesn't have Roku *or* Apple TV support, which rules it out for me.

For me it will come down to two things:


I might be moving shortly, and so I'll need to make sure the next property has LOS to the broadcast towers in Los Angeles for my antenna to work. If not, I'm basically ruled out of SlingTV as I'll need locals for NFL. That puts me into DirecTV now or PS Vue, which although being more expensive will be worth it to get BTN as well.

If I stay where I am *or* if the new place has good reception via antenna, I might stick with SlingTV to keep the cost down to $20/month... I haven't enjoyed watching Purdue lose in depressing fashion enough to justify BTN for football season, and there were quite a few Boiler basketball games on ESPN/ESPN3/CBS that didn't really justify a huge increase for BTN.

SlingTV: $20/mo, gets you ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN3, but no ESPNU and you'll need an antenna for locals, but no BTN, and have to pay extra for FS1 (different package)

PSVue: $45/mo if you want BTN/FS1, includes locals, ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPNNews, and I believe ESPN3 signon.

DirecTV Now: $50/mo if you want BTN/FS1, includes locals, ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPNNews, and I believe ESPN3 signon.

So if you don't want to pay for an antenna (or can't / don't want to put one up), it looks like PS Vue and DirecTV Now are your best bets. If you can use an antenna and are willing to forego BTN, SlingTV will save some money and get you the four-letter sports network.

And given the number of OSU games (as you're an OSU fan) that will be on bigger networks than BTN, it might be worth saving the money and going with Sling.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 24, 2017, 04:02:17 PM
FuboTV just sent me this a few minutes ago... they want some ad space here...

Cord-Cutter General LP / https://www.fubo.tv/lp/StreamTV/

check out the sports channels... not to shabby?

Fubo doesn't have ESPN... That's pretty much a dealbreaker for me when it comes to CFB content.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: MaximumSam on July 24, 2017, 04:15:27 PM
Thank you.

I have a question about the antenna.  I did buy a little flatenna that hangs just above the tv.  I bought the cheapest one I could find, as I wasn't sure what type of signals I would get.  It actually gets quite a few, but Fox can be kind of choppy.  If I invest in a better antenna, what do I look for to increase performance?  I'm not looking to put one on top of the house, but would be interested in a better one that connects to the tv. 

Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 24, 2017, 04:16:22 PM
At first I was going to roll with Sling TV.  However, it doesn't appear they have ABC, CBS, or the B1G Network, so that cuts out a lot of games.  The website isn't all that user friendly so I was having a hard time figuring out what they did and didn't offer.

Just read Fearless' post regarding what was announced at B1G media days. Supposedly BTN will be on Sling by this fall... So for me it'll depend whether they pair it with the ESPN package (Sling Orange, $20/mo) or with the Fox Sports package (Sling Blue, $25/mo), or put it in the sports tier and charge extra (currently $5/mo extra for the sports tier with either of the above). If I can do Sling Orange + $5 sports to get BTN, I'm sold.

Sam, since you said the site isn't that friendly, I copied down the sports channels for their various tiers below... So if you can get an OTA antenna, this might be cheaper overall than the other two.

Sling Orange
ESPN
ESPN2
ESPN3

Sling Blue
FOX
FOX regional sports networks
FOX Sports 1
FOX Sports 2
NBC
NBC regional sports networks
NBC Sports Network
NFL Network

Sports Extra package ($5/mo in addition to either of the above)
beIN Sports
Campus Insiders
ESPN Bases Loaded
ESPN Goal Line
ESPNNews
ESPNU
Motorsport TV
NBA TV
NHL Network
Outside Television
PAC-12 Network
SEC Network
SEC Network+
Univision Deportes
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 24, 2017, 04:24:12 PM
Thank you.

I have a question about the antenna.  I did buy a little flatenna that hangs just above the tv.  I bought the cheapest one I could find, as I wasn't sure what type of signals I would get.  It actually gets quite a few, but Fox can be kind of choppy.  If I invest in a better antenna, what do I look for to increase performance?  I'm not looking to put one on top of the house, but would be interested in a better one that connects to the tv.

Well, you may be able to make that one work if you mount it differently. Again, look at TVFool.com and figure out how far away your transmitters are, *and* which direction. You may be able to get by with a simple indoor antenna if you can put it in the right part of the house. When I first tried this (at my old house) I got one of those cheap flat antennas. It didn't work AT ALL inside the house but I put it up on the outside of my chimney and it got everything except CBS, which is the one difficult channel for me to get where I live. So you may be able to use this antenna as-is.

And this morning Cord Cutters News had a post (http://cordcuttersnews.com/antenna-direct-release-new-streaming-stick-stream-antenna-device/) about WiFi antennas and antenna receiver products. With something like that, you can put it anywhere in the house that you get reception and just use the WiFi to stream it to the TV.

I ended up buying an antenna for $46 from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Amplified-Mounting-Extremely-Performance/dp/B01KUXVKK0/) that is an outdoor powered antenna with claimed 85 mile range. I live ~50 miles from the Los Angeles broadcast towers, which is too far for a standard indoor antenna. So you don't need to break the bank even if you need a better one.

But until you go to TVFool, I wouldn't think you should look at other antennas. It could be that the antenna you have is mounted on the opposite side of the house from the tower, in which case maybe moving it, or putting it in a window, or something like that is enough. And if it works for some channels, you may also be able to get an more effictive attic-mounted antenna so you don't have to mount it *outside* the house...
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 24, 2017, 07:13:23 PM
And the correction... BTN not coming to Sling (http://cordcuttersnews.com/sorry-btn-not-coming-sling-tv/) after all...

 :03:
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: FearlessF on July 24, 2017, 07:19:23 PM
while the rules of TV have changed..........

you will pay for premium content

live sports are the top of the premium level
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: FearlessF on July 24, 2017, 07:22:06 PM
And the correction... BTN not coming to Sling (http://cordcuttersnews.com/sorry-btn-not-coming-sling-tv/) after all...

Sling not willing to pay the big price, unfortunately
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: utee94 on July 24, 2017, 07:29:35 PM
Sling not willing to pay the big price, unfortunately

The beginning of the end for the cable subscriber subsidy model.

Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: FearlessF on July 24, 2017, 08:08:08 PM
perhaps, since there will be a subscription to pay regardless, the big boys will have more leverage to negotiate prices.  Media delivery method isn't the silver bullet.

if and when Sling TV has enough subscribers to leverage pricing of content, they will be a player
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: FearlessF on July 24, 2017, 08:20:02 PM
these OTT options do get a subscriber closer to ala carte programming, but from the previous posts we are clearly not there yet.

Not even if you select multiple media delivery options, over the air, Cable, Satellite, and over the top choices such as hulu, sling, netflix, youtube

I hope we can get to not only paying only for the channels you prefer, but down to the specific game or program you prefer.

Why pay for the Rutgers/Maryland game if you're only interested in Nebraska/Wisconsin big ten games?
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: bayareabadger on July 24, 2017, 08:57:40 PM
This was a good guide from a few years ago. You'd have to double check some things, but it's a start.

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/9/1/12684186/ncaa-football-without-tv-cord-cutting
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: TyphonInc on July 24, 2017, 10:03:41 PM
or putting it in a window,

The amount of channels I now get has doubled by this simple action.

For us it was the CW and ABC that were spotty. Moving the antenna to a window cleared those 2 up and added 8 more channels we never use.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: FearlessF on July 24, 2017, 10:36:48 PM
Enjoy the relatively "free" over the air locals while you can

I assume they will be going away some day.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: MarqHusker on July 24, 2017, 11:04:13 PM
I love the HDTV rooftop antenna AD which appeared below this thread.  Where are the rabbit ear ADs?
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: Brutus Buckeye on July 25, 2017, 12:41:13 AM
I didn't have cable for a short stint. You can stream any game on shady sites, but the picture quality sucks and you'll need ad blocker, which is a free download that you should have regardless.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: Temp430 on July 25, 2017, 08:13:18 AM
I can't imagine the bandwidth you would need to deliver HDTV live.  Much more than the 15 Mbps I get via ADSL or 35 Mbps via cellular.  Where I live satellite HDTV is the only option and I doubt that will change anytime soon.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 25, 2017, 01:22:04 PM
Enjoy the relatively "free" over the air locals while you can

I assume they will be going away some day.

Why? They currently are locals through the cable/satellite companies, but they've actually had a resurgence in "OTA" popularity due to cord-cutting.

The picture quality is much better with an antenna than EITHER cable/satellite or streaming due to the heavy compression that that TV/streaming solutions have to use. Most people don't truly understand the difference between analog and digital transmission, and remember to the old days when they got fuzzy low-quality broadcasts. But the simplest way to explain it as that with digital you basically either have perfect reception or zero reception. And perfect reception with a basically uncompressed HD signal is better than cable/satellite.

The industry isn't just "not going away", it's doubling down with ATSC 3.0, which will bring OTA 4K broadcasts. Cable/satellite are just barely coming along with 4K, again due to the bandwidth, whereas OTA doesn't have that issue. And the streaming solutions (Netflix/Amazon) have 4K content, but again it is still relatively heavily compressed due to bandwidth. That's why 4K on Netflix doesn't look as amazing as the pristine 4K content you see in the story where you bought your TV. The "demonstration" content is uncompressed.

OTA is here to stay IMHO.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 25, 2017, 01:31:53 PM
I can't imagine the bandwidth you would need to deliver HDTV live.  Much more than the 15 Mbps I get via ADSL or 35 Mbps via cellular.  Where I live satellite HDTV is the only option and I doubt that will change anytime soon.

You don't need as much as you'd think. HD compressed using MPEG-4 has a max bitrate of about 9.5 Mbps IIRC. Average bitrates for most sources are much lower. Netflix recommends a minimum of 5 Mbps downstream speed for HD video. A quick web search suggests youtube compresses 1080p to ~2.5 Mbps.

As long as you're not trying to stream multiple things at once, 15 Mbps would be fine for HD. Not enough for UHD though (Netflix recommends 25 Mbps for UHD).

This will get better when HEVC (the newer compression algorithm) really takes over. And the advantage of IP streaming technologies (relative to cable/satellite) is that IP streaming is point-to-point. The cable/satellite operators need to support older set top boxes with older compression (a lot are stuck on MPEG-2), so they are forced to send the data compressed much less efficiently than is possible. With a point-to-point protocol like IP, if you're playing back content on a whiz-bang new box with HEVC, the provider streaming you the content can send it in HEVC compression while your neighbor with an older box gets the same content with MPEG-4...

But yeah, I think you have enough bandwidth for HD streaming.

Now with ADSL I don't know if you have any issues with data caps...
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: Hawkinole on July 26, 2017, 12:01:32 AM
Two questions:

(1) Will there be a way on here to search for threads using keyword searches?

(2) I don't have time to digest this material today, but it could have future value. Can a thread such as this be pinned?
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 26, 2017, 12:43:21 PM
(2) I don't have time to digest this material today, but it could have future value. Can a thread such as this be pinned?

To be honest, I would prefer this get merged into the thread that already exists in the General / Off Topic board... It might make sense to pin it there, as I'm sure there will be more people interested in this over the next few years.
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: utee94 on July 26, 2017, 01:01:12 PM
I get closer to cutting the cord every day.  The two major things holding me back are

1) Having to navigate multiple providers/services and potentially separate hardware, to get all the things the cable box currently provides.  I know that I can manage it, but I'm not sure my wife can.  She has a hard enough time switching between cable and Bluray, bless her heart.  :)

2) Access to all of the sports that I want.  Which is mostly college football through Disney/Fox, but I also follow Formula 1 which is primarily on NBCSN right now.

I
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: PSUinNC on July 26, 2017, 01:31:51 PM
I literally only have DirecTV for one reason - I still have  .5meg up, .5meg down DSL.  If I can ever get better internet, I'm gone. 

I get closer to cutting the cord every day.  The two major things holding me back are

1) Having to navigate multiple providers/services and potentially separate hardware, to get all the things the cable box currently provides.  I know that I can manage it, but I'm not sure my wife can.  She has a hard enough time switching between cable and Bluray, bless her heart.  :)

2) Access to all of the sports that I want.  Which is mostly college football through Disney/Fox, but I also follow Formula 1 which is primarily on NBCSN right now.

I
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: iahawk15 on July 26, 2017, 02:30:46 PM
I literally only have DirecTV for one reason - I still have  .5meg up, .5meg down DSL.  If I can ever get better internet, I'm gone.
(https://www.cfb51.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F25.media.tumblr.com%2Fc0932d53ec33ef309f3c168a7fd48633%2Ftumblr_mwshkrnDKo1rhmne4o1_500.gif&hash=4b308341f3c29710d93e82d3134abc4c)
Title: Re: Cord cutting football watching
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 26, 2017, 02:49:34 PM
I get closer to cutting the cord every day.  The two major things holding me back are

1) Having to navigate multiple providers/services and potentially separate hardware, to get all the things the cable box currently provides.  I know that I can manage it, but I'm not sure my wife can.  She has a hard enough time switching between cable and Bluray, bless her heart.  :)

2) Access to all of the sports that I want.  Which is mostly college football through Disney/Fox, but I also follow Formula 1 which is primarily on NBCSN right now.

Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 27, 2017, 01:34:50 PM
And now there's apparently a way to watch BTN with your Sling subscription (http://cordcuttersnews.com/watch-big-ten-network-sling-tv-subscription/)... Not sure whether this is a "glitch" that will go away...
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on July 28, 2017, 03:01:37 PM
Interesting... There appears to be an antenna streaming option that must include some sort of onboard flash, because it allows pause/rewind... Basically time-shifting of up to 1 hour.

http://cordcuttersnews.com/antenna-direct-release-new-streaming-stick-stream-antenna-device/

This can help if you have the antenna in a strange location in the house, and want to view live OTA TV without running cable to every location.

Only downside is that it's a single tuner... So if multiple people in the house at the same time wanted to watch different channels, you're SOL. But if that doesn't apply to you, it's worth checking out.

Edit--one thing I didn't think about is that this might affect quality, since it will probably compress the OTA signal to send it over WiFi... So you may give back the signal improvement that you get from going OTA by using this...
There are various dvr devices that let you record/pause/rewind OTA TV.  I have a cheap Insignia TV with Roku built in.  It has a USB slot that lets me plug in a flash drive and I can time-shift up to 90 minutes of OTA TV.
For a more complete DVR capability there is Tablo https://www.tablotv.com/
It is becoming less of an issue as the local affiliates of Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS are allowing the networks to negotiate with the streaming providers in behalf of the local stations. This is speeding up the availability of the local stations.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on July 28, 2017, 03:04:39 PM
I literally only have DirecTV for one reason - I still have  .5meg up, .5meg down DSL.  If I can ever get better internet, I'm gone. 

Do you have 4G service from AT&T available?  If you sign up with one of their unlimited plans, they will throw in DirecTV Now for free and it won't count against your data.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on July 28, 2017, 03:12:55 PM
  • It's easier than you think. When I was still married, my ex figured it out and she's about as non-techie as they come. Now, my girlfriend has ZERO difficulty navigating either our Roku (main TV) or the Apple TV (bedroom). Heck, my kids have no trouble with it. If you actually care about local channels, the biggest streaming services include locals so you don't need to get crazy about switching inputs all the time if you're worried about swapping between antenna and the streaming box. And a Roku is the only box you really need--you don't need to switch between 3 different boxes to find your content.
  • DirecTV Now has NBCSN in its base $35/mo package, along with ESPN/ESPN2. Playstation Vue has the same, in its $39.99/mo package. Both include locals.


This.  Roku is the king of compatibility with services and extremely simple to use. Get the top end model and you get 4K and UHD compatibility along with voice search across multiple providers.  My wife is very non-techie and she has no problems with it.  I did add a Sideclick to the Roku remote so there is only one remote to navigate all devices.
If your TV doesn't support screen mirroring, Roku will add that function so you can cast video from other devices to your TV.  Very handy as you can use your headphones in your phone to listen quietly while watching.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: CatsbyAZ on July 30, 2017, 08:14:29 AM
The Mountain West considering cutting the cord with major networks, cites a disappointment in lack of control over kickoff/tipoff times: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MrNubbz on July 30, 2017, 11:05:15 AM
Is there any chance cable providers may see the writing on the wall and offer up competitive ala carte packages? :96:
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 30, 2017, 12:24:14 PM
Is there any chance cable providers may see the writing on the wall and offer up competitive ala carte packages? :96:

(https://www.cfb51.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.quickmeme.com%2Fimg%2F97%2F976809c111e493db7698d7a4c7d17f782297ecb974d6990248c91dc9c3562b40.jpg&hash=46b88c0ba42a69391cd8c8aac3074801) (http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/97/976809c111e493db7698d7a4c7d17f782297ecb974d6990248c91dc9c3562b40.jpg)
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Drew4UTk on July 31, 2017, 10:07:30 AM
have any of you guys used a rooted firestick? 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on July 31, 2017, 11:58:03 AM
have any of you guys used a rooted firestick? 

I tried to use the rooted Fire stick to run Kodi for a while. It did not work well on a good day, and on a bad day was such a nightmare as to be unusable. It wasn't the Fire stick that was the problem, either. I tried the Kodi platform on a PC and had the same issues. They just didn't have reliable streams at all, and they were also all terrible quality.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MarqHusker on August 03, 2017, 10:05:49 PM
Great wsj article today on the resurgence of the rabbit ear antenna for purposes of viewing OTA networks.   Despite this, 29% adults said they were unaware that network tv stations broadcast over the air for free.  I'm feeling old.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on August 04, 2017, 02:41:05 PM
Great wsj article today on the resurgence of the rabbit ear antenna for purposes of viewing OTA networks.   Despite this, 29% adults said they were unaware that network tv stations broadcast over the air for free.  I'm feeling old.

I liked the headline lol:

Millennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV: the Antenna (https://www.wsj.com/articles/millennials-unearth-an-amazing-hack-to-get-free-tv-the-antenna-1501686958)

I did think they overlooked the point I keep making, that with digital transmission all the bad reception problem of old-school analog antennas go away. And that with the ability to send less-compressed broadcasts than cable/satellite, picture quality is IMPROVED by going OTA.

Most people of our generation that grew up with an antenna and then switched to cable did so partly for more channels, but partly also because the signal was much cleaner. That's no longer the case, and that's something I don't think people recognize.

Especially since 29% of them don't even realize free OTA TV exists lol.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MikeDeTiger on August 04, 2017, 05:09:14 PM
Ah geez.....i JUST yesterday spent like 3 hours researching all this crap and TODAY I find this handy article.  Of course that's how it works. 

Anyway....

Thanks for writing this.  Good to get some input from someone already doing it.  Here's a couple points important to me I didn't see you address.  May or may not be correct, may or may not be useful to others here.

The Sports Extra package from Sling TV is $10/mo, not $5, as per their website yesterday.  For me that means Sling Blue ($25/mo, + $10/mo during football season, for a total of $35/mo.) because Sling Orange doesn't have enough of the non-sports channels I want.  Gotta have the Sports package since Blue doesn't include the ESPN family natively. 

DirecTV NOW probably has the most impressive channel lineup in the lower tiers, and their cheapest, as you mentioned, is $35.  However two things are steering me to Sling.  Sling Blue + SP has more channels (sports channels, I think....I believe non-sports channels were comparable as far as the ones I watch) than DTV Now, and Sling now has online DVR capability.  Honestly, recording has been a primary reason I haven't cut the cord before now.  As far as I can tell with DTV Now, they don't currently offer that, but I'd be very surprised if they don't offer it soon.  That said, in order to get all the channels I want with DTV Now, I'd have to get the $50/mo package, and I believe I can get it all for $35 with Sling. 

Recording OTA networks is still an issue.  I've had a digital antenna for years, but appointment viewing almost never happens with me.  I notice there are now several manufacturers who make DVR devices with no monthly subscription fees like TiVo used to do, so if you or anyone has any experience with them, please give input/recommendations.  Especially need the ability to record CBS during football season. 

But it's roughly ~$25/mo for Netflix + AmazonPrime + Hulu, which gives me access to like, almost everything that's not in the realm of live TV.  Plus another $35/mo. in football season and probably $25/mo outside of football season (I don't ever watch ESPN or FSN etc except for cfb) for Sling.  Together, it's still half the price of the $100/mo DirecTV costs, and that's for pretty much the cheapest tier they have.  Our local cable company isn't really any better.  So this is probably going to happen soon. 

Even if someone can't access ABC for any reason, multiple sites assure Sling credentials work to verify access the WatchESPN app, so you can easily get ABC games even if you can't get ABC itself. 

Also, there's AirWave and AirTV which I don't fully understand yet (https://www.wired.com/2017/01/airwave-airtv-cordcutting-cable/), but other than the confusing nature (at the moment) of front-end setup, these could be solutions to watch for as far as issues like the one utee94 brought up.....my gf is in the same boat, she has a hard enough time grasping that we do most things via Chromecast, and we have to switch that out for FireTV Stick when we want to watch anything on Prime (because effing Google and Amazon can't stop flipping each other off for the time being, ugh.) 

Also, how the heck do you do links on this board?
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MikeDeTiger on August 04, 2017, 05:20:48 PM
And of course Netflix/Hulu/Prime is basically just me being generous and not using Kodi add-ons for everything   :67:

The specific way I used it was not illegal, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't probably immoral.  That said, the FCC has nixed Exodus for now, so until I find an alternate source that good and set up a VPN, I am no longer using it for anything, and frankly ~$25-30/mo for all those services ain't much, and gets you nearly everything other than current HBO shows.  Plus my ISP won't send me letters in the mail.  I can't be prosecuted for the way I used Kodi, but my ISP theoretically has the right to refuse me service. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MikeDeTiger on August 04, 2017, 05:29:48 PM
Also, here's my other plug for Sling, or more accurately, against DTV Now.  It's owned by AT&T who along with Verizon is leading the charge against Net Neutrality.  For which they can both eat a dick.  I feel filthy enough having a Verizon phone right now, and I'm not inclined to help the schmucks at AT&T in their battle to own (and cripple) the InterWebz.  This place, among millions of others, would rot to nothing.  I'd steer people away from VZ's go90 also, but......go90, LOLz

Sling is owned by Dish, and as far as I know, they're not involved in that insanity. 

If the FCC doesn't have the same common sense they had in 2009, I guess we'll ALL be switching to DTV Now.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on August 06, 2017, 02:57:50 PM
Also, here's my other plug for Sling, or more accurately, against DTV Now.  It's owned by AT&T who along with Verizon is leading the charge against Net Neutrality.  For which they can both eat a dick.  I feel filthy enough having a Verizon phone right now, and I'm not inclined to help the schmucks at AT&T in their battle to own (and cripple) the InterWebz.  This place, among millions of others, would rot to nothing.  I'd steer people away from VZ's go90 also, but......go90, LOLz

Sling is owned by Dish, and as far as I know, they're not involved in that insanity. 

If the FCC doesn't have the same common sense they had in 2009, I guess we'll ALL be switching to DTV Now.

Your research is pretty much spot on.  One you didn't cover was Playstation Vue, you might want to check that.  Sling is the most mature platform at the moment and is probably the way I would go if I hadn't gotten in on the early offer on DirecTV Now.  I get the Go Big package + HBO for $35 per month.  Now it it $65 and not worth it IMO.  DirecTV Now has a cloud DVR in Beta and is supposed to be available to all subscribers in the fall.
I have a lifetime subscription to Playon Desktop which allows me to record any streaming video (not OTA) to a PC and play back whenever.  It also skips all commercials.
I have Netflix and Amazon Prime but I had them even when I had satellite TV so I don't consider them as an additional cost.
AirWave is an antenna with built in Wifi so it can transmit to all your devices without running coax cable everywhere.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: rolltidefan2 on August 10, 2017, 01:00:58 PM
Tvfool says I need an attic mounted antenna.  My cable if run through my crawlspace.

How do I get the antenna signal through to my TVs?  Run the cable through to the crawlspace?

Anyone have a beginner's checklist as I'm not sure how these things work
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on August 10, 2017, 03:27:51 PM
Tvfool says I need an attic mounted antenna.  My cable if run through my crawlspace.

How do I get the antenna signal through to my TVs?  Run the cable through to the crawlspace?

Anyone have a beginner's checklist as I'm not sure how these things work

Some of these antennas can connect to your WiFi... Of course you'll need power in your attic for that. And for that you then need a box (Roku or similar) that can connect via WiFi to the antenna signal.

I'm assuming you also have cable internet, yes? I don't know what happens if you try to put your antenna signal and your internet signal on the same cable, so if you have cable internet you may have to split that off at the incoming cable signal to the house.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on August 10, 2017, 06:58:14 PM
The Mohu AirWave (http://airwave.gomohu.com/#how-it-works) is one many have been waiting for.  It was supposed to be available at Best Buy for $150 last June.  IF it is a good antenna and has decent wifi capabilities, it looks close to ideal.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MikeDeTiger on August 14, 2017, 11:41:06 AM
I still don't quite get it with that thing.  I think I'd have to see one set up and in action, because the descriptions are either currently inadequate or I'm too old and dumb to understand these new-fangled gizmos. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on August 14, 2017, 11:53:42 AM
It's quite simple, actually. It's an antenna with a built-in tuner. So it can decode the OTA signals all on its own. It then connects to your WiFi.

Other devices (phone/tablet, Roku/Amazon Fire TV/Apple TV, some Smart TV's) can connect to the antenna through an app just like they connect to Netflix or Hulu. That app will play the OTA channels on the device.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on August 16, 2017, 01:21:35 PM
Article talking about the free options for watching streaming college football:

http://cordcuttersnews.com/legally-watch-college-football-free/

As most of us are P5 fans, this doesn't give us a great deal of help. But if you're a fan of some of the smaller conferences (C-USA and MWC being the G5, a few smaller FCS conferences as well), there are options to stream some of those games.

And of course, they highlight that over 100 games will be free OTA on the major networks. And for my money the picture quality watching via antenna makes that the best way to watch those games, rather than streaming them, even if streaming is an option.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on August 21, 2017, 06:41:46 PM
So I made my decision... Signed back up for Sling Orange today.

I want BTN, but every place I looked at that would have BTN would also be $45-50/month. Instead Sling is $20. With the antenna, I don't need locals, so there's no benefit for me with the ones that provide locals.

While I'll miss out on BTN as well as FS1/FS2 there, I don't think that Purdue will be good enough that I'll care if I miss a game here or there. Maybe next year I'll make BTN a priority.

I managed to somehow get the new signup deal and get a Roku Streaming Stick for free... Going to pass that along to my girlfriend's dad who is looking into cutting the cord himself...
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MikeDeTiger on August 24, 2017, 03:21:47 PM
I don't have the guts to do this right before football season, so it's probably going to be January-ish for me. 

I had originally looked at DTV Now, Sling, and to a lesser extent Vue, and I thought Sling was going to be my pick, but I read how the sports add-ons work wrong, and then I also read Sling is 30 fps (although it's 60 for the ESPN family).  After re-evaluating, I think Vue would be my choice right now, and I'm currently doing the 5 day free trial this week just to check it out and see how it works, how I like it, etc.  It is a different world than cable/satellite, and there are a few ways in which it's clunkier than tradition TV, but most of those aren't problems for me with the way I consume television.  Channel surfing is the most obvious glaring difference to me.  But I don't channel surf, hardly at all.  This could be an issue on football days, when I absolutely do a lot of that, and it's just not nearly as convenient with Vue.  But I don't know that it's enough of a drawback to offset the big savings. 

I've also looked into Hulu Live TV and YouTube TV since my last posts.  Hulu seems ideal if they'd get the AMC family of networks (and I'm hopeful that maybe that will be done by the end of the year).  YouTube TV looks wonderful, but it's simply not available where I live, and who knows how long until it will be.  I'll re-evaluate in December/January and see where they all stand at that time, and probably make a decision. 

bwarbiany, let me know how it goes for you.  Also what platform you're using Sling on and what your comments are about it.  From what I read, platform/device can be critical to different services, and that's no surprise.  There's a lot more moving parts here than cable/satellite which is end-to-end handled by one company.  I've read that most people prefer boxes to sticks, for example, and prefer to hardwire them instead of streaming wirelessly.  But, I'm testing Vue this week on a FireStick (wireless of course) and I've had no problems.  I'd just like to collect more info from people actually doing it on what they find works best with what. 

Also, if you (or others) have a way to track your data usage, I'm curious about that as well.  My ISP has a data cap of 1 TB/mo., which I've never even come close to before.  But I'm unsure as to how much internet TV would bump that up. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on August 24, 2017, 04:28:31 PM
bwarbiany, let me know how it goes for you.  Also what platform you're using Sling on and what your comments are about it.


I used Sling from mid-2015 up until this spring on a Roku Streaming Stick. I just recently restarted Sling and it's on a Roku Premiere+.


I've found Sling has been consistently upgrading their UI over this time. I've generally been happy with it. The streaming stick can be slow when navigating the Sling app, which I think is more likely due to inherent processing power limitation on the stick. So far (only a few days now) it seems snappier on the Premiere+.

Quote
I've read that most people prefer boxes to sticks, for example,

Yes, but only because the boxes tend to have more powerful processors, more RAM, etc. User experience is HUGELY impacted on waiting for things, and you'll wait less on the box rather than the stick. The stick for both cost, power supply (they sometimes must be fed by the TV's USB output port), and cooling HAS to have a lower-end processor. So the user experience from a stick will have a very difficult time being as responsive as the box.

Quote
and prefer to hardwire them instead of streaming wirelessly.  But, I'm testing Vue this week on a FireStick (wireless of course) and I've had no problems.

I like it hardwired, but never has a problem with the stick via wireless on my main TV. I will state that in the bedroom, I was having trouble getting a reliable wireless connection on the Roku stick. Part of this might be that it was stuck behind the TV which may have interfered. We now use my girlfriend's Apple TV, which although connected wirelessly, gets a much better signal (and it's not blocked by the TV).


I think it's just a personal preference that if I can hook something up wired, I'd prefer to.


But wifi is plenty fast enough for anything you need to do, as long as it's 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.11ac. The only one that might be questionable is 802.11b.

Quote
Also, if you (or others) have a way to track your data usage, I'm curious about that as well.  My ISP has a data cap of 1 TB/mo., which I've never even come close to before.  But I'm unsure as to how much internet TV would bump that up. 


Don't worry about it. Here's my last 3 billing cycles. I'm not going to get anywhere near 1 TB/month from this.

(Note: not sure why this is only showing up as a thumbnail. But I'm not going over 100 GB in any individual month.)

(https://www.cfb51.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fthumb.ibb.co%2FfirHwk%2Fdatausage.png&hash=b39780bb922dc66c0a5fb5d40fbaf280) (http://thumb.ibb.co/firHwk/datausage.png)
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MikeDeTiger on August 25, 2017, 12:00:09 PM
Thanks!  I'm learning a lot here. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: DevilFroggy on August 25, 2017, 11:24:15 PM
Well with the Pac-12 Network being available on Sling that made cutting the cord that much easier for me, along with moving back to Phoenix where I get plentiful OTA channels (crystal clear even at 31.8 miles from the nearest towers).
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on August 28, 2017, 02:19:28 PM
Ready to kick off the cord free season and encountered the first glitch.  I have CBS All Access which I thought included CBS Sports.  Nope.  It includes NFL Live which I don't watch.  
Next up is Oklahoma State v Tulsa this Thursday on FS1.  I get FS1 with DirectvNow so it shouldn't be an issue.
Saturday, OU v UTEP is on Fox.  DirectvNow doesn't have my local Fox station yet so I will use my antenna to watch that one.
All other games I want to watch are covered by channels included with DTVNow so I'm good.  With PlayOn I can record any game and play it back without commercials.

MDT asked about data cap.  I have a 1 TB cap also and it has never been an issue.  I work from home as does my wife so we have multiple computers going 24/7.  We stream a lot of video after work and we use 300-400 GB per month.  

Update:  DirectvNow includes FoxSportsGo so I loaded the app on my Roku and I do not need the antenna.  It also includes some regional Fox Sports so things are cool.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on September 18, 2017, 01:13:41 PM
3 weeks into the season and things are going very well.  Every game I've been interested in has been available except for PPV only and I could have used some dodgy streams for those.
DirectvNow gives me access to the FoxSportsGo and watchESPN apps which gives me many more games than what are on the TV channels.  This includes games on ABC and Fox channels.  The BTN and SEC Networks are channels on DirectvNow.  DTVNow doesn't have the local stations in my area yet but they are getting close.
I can watch games on CBS via my CBS All Access service for now.  I have not had to use my antenna for any games so far.
Here is a tip:  DirectvNow allows 5 streams so it is easy to have one game on the big screen while keeping tabs on others on a tablet and or smartphone.  
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on September 18, 2017, 02:05:34 PM
FYI, I added the "Sports Extra" package on Sling for $4.99/mo in order to get the SEC Network for the Purdue @ Mizzou game yesterday. Glad I did :)

When I added it, it said it was going to be $7.18, basically (I assume) covering the remainder of September and then the month of October (ending the 28th, which I assume is the end of my monthly billing cycle). Which is fine, I figured I might keep an eye on what's on ESPNU during that time anyway.

But I figured maybe I'd try to cancel today, and get most of that $7 back. Turns out Sling doesn't allow this. If I cancel today, I still own the channels until October 28. 

So just for other people's reference, you can't add/drop on a daily/weekly basis. If you add a package on Sling, you end up paying a prorated amount for that month and then the whole next month.

So I paid about the equivalent of a pint and a half of beer at a bar for the game, which is still worth it IMHO because if I'd gone to a bar to watch the game, I would have drank WAY more than that lol.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 09, 2018, 02:51:16 PM
OK, with football season over and Game of Thrones Season 8 a year away, now's the time for me to dip my toe into cord-cutting and see how the hardware works, while figuring out which combination of services I'll ultimately need to cover the football games and shows I want to watch.

It may have already been covered, but what options are there for DVR for programs that I'm streaming?  I know I can get DVR coverage for OTA television, but what about covering "cable" programs that I'm getting through various streaming services?

I've finally convinced my i s c & a aggie wife that this is the way to go, but she likes to DVR various shows that come on AMC and other "cable" networks, and don't have a handle on how to get that done.

Thanks in advance! :)
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on January 09, 2018, 04:12:54 PM
DVR for streaming is a rapidly moving target.  I use DirecTV now and it gives me a cloud DVR BUT it doesn't work with my Roku players, just with my Android devices.  It also works with Apple TV but I gave that to my daughter.  Bottom line, I don't use it.
I use a separate service called Playon Desktop.  It was around $50 for a lifetime subscription.  It works for all my streaming services (DirecTV Now, Netfix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Go, CBS All Access, etc) and records whatever program I want to a PC on my home network as a standard MP4 file and it cuts out commercials.  A couple of pluses is that the shows remain on the PC even if you cancel or switch services.  The shows can be copied to a portable drive and taken along to places you may not have internet access.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on January 09, 2018, 04:32:36 PM
It may have already been covered, but what options are there for DVR for programs that I'm streaming?  I know I can get DVR coverage for OTA television, but what about covering "cable" programs that I'm getting through various streaming services?
First things first, look into some of the streaming services that offer a "cloud DVR" option. I know Sling has this, and I think many of the other streaming live TV services have done it as well. Not sure what all the other services charge for this (it's $5/mo on Sling), but it's usually a separate charge.

The only thing you might want to look at is whether they restrict certain programs from DVR based on their agreements with the content providers. For example I know on Sling that they have some VOD content, but usually the VOD content doesn't allow rewind/fastforward. And ESPN doesn't allow rewind/fastforward either. Yet some of their other channels do allow these functions.
Also you might want to ask your wife if she's willing to try without it at first. There are a few reasons for this:

Cord-cutting is a change of TV-watching lifestyle. While these services are all falling over themselves to offer "cloud DVR" for those users initially trying to switch from cable/satellite, the truth is also that it raises the price of the service which is one of the things we all were trying to get away from by ditching cable/satellite. I always recommend starting with the minimum baseline and then seeing what you value enough to add, rather than starting with the top-end package because it replaces most of what cable offered you. If you start with the top package, good luck dropping to a lower package later.

For me, I went without network TV for a while, but especially with the NFL, realized I need the local networks. I get them through an antenna rather than one of the streaming services which includes locals, so it was a one-time cost. But I feel like it was a better option to start without the networks and then add it back in when I realized there were programs I wanted to see but was missing. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on January 10, 2018, 07:43:21 AM
The thing with streaming is most shows are on demand.  Let's take AMC for exmple.  If you don't watch a show when it airs, after 24 hours it is available to be streamed whenever you like.  No DVR necessary.  Usually shows are available for a couple of weeks to a couple of months after they air.  Cloud DVRs also have limits for how long they store shows.  That is one of the reasons I like Playon, there is no expiration limit.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 10, 2018, 08:40:23 AM
Thanks guys.

As Thumper stated, some of the shows On-Demand, are only available for a short period of time, maybe 4-8 weeks.  And that's already been a problem for us.

For example, my kids love Supergirl, and we tend to watch it as a family and it's actually some really great family time for us.  We typically record it because we're seldom able to watch it live, but last Fall my DVR screwed up and missed a few episodes for reasons I don't know.  I thought, "no problem, it's available on demand."  But lo and behold, once we finally got around to trying to watch some of those older episodes, they'd already fallen off the list of available on-demand shows.  Another example is the Shannara Chronicles (yeah, I know it's a cheesy MTV production for teenagers, but I grew up reading the Terry Brooks novels and really loved them, so sue me ;) ).  Same thing happened, the DVR missed the first few episodes and when I realized it, the entire first half of the season was already killed for on-demand availability.

As for TV habits, I'm not really worried about the surfing or browsing.  I don't do that at all myself, and I think my wife is ready (and perhaps relieved) to move on from it.

But there are still some specific "cable" shows that we DVR and time-shift our viewing, and as stated above, they don't always stick around for long on the on-demand lists.

We do have Amazon Prime so all of that content is already available to us.  Eventually I'll be ready to try the various options like Sling or DTVN or any of the others that you geniuses have already figured out!  But ultimately I still foresee a need for some kind of recording capability for cable programming, due to the lack of total widespread on-demand capability for some of those shows.

Thanks again, fun discussion!
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on January 10, 2018, 02:54:35 PM
This is a good example where PlayOn Desktop works well. It will record any show that is streamed such as those from TV channel websites like AMC, the CW, etc.   You can schedule to record a whole series just like a DVR.  You don't have to subscribe to any streaming services to use it and the videos never expire or go away if you change providers or streaming services.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on January 10, 2018, 06:45:18 PM
This is a good example where PlayOn Desktop works well. It will record any show that is streamed such as those from TV channel websites like AMC, the CW, etc.   You can schedule to record a whole series just like a DVR.  You don't have to subscribe to any streaming services to use it and the videos never expire or go away if you change providers or streaming services.
Interesting... I might have to check it out. Are you able to record streamed ESPN content through either WatchESPN or the DirecTV Now app? That would be really helpful.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have a Linux version. The only always-on PC I keep in my house is an Ubuntu server. I'd hate to have to pick up a dedicated PC of any sort to run one app. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 10, 2018, 11:38:15 PM
Interesting... I might have to check it out. Are you able to record streamed ESPN content through either WatchESPN or the DirecTV Now app? That would be really helpful.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have a Linux version. The only always-on PC I keep in my house is an Ubuntu server. I'd hate to have to pick up a dedicated PC of any sort to run one app.
That's the easy part for me.  Working as I do for the extremely large computer company based in the Austin area, I have an almost-embarrassing amount of PC-based hardware lying around, much of it completely unused.

I also have two 34" curved WQHD Ultrasharp monitors from work for my home office.  My recent move into Marketing for flat panels has really paid off... :)

Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on January 11, 2018, 08:32:34 AM
They have channels for ESPN but I haven't tried it.  All the games I want to rewatch are on YouTube with all the commercials, TOs and halftime removed.  
Actually, I haven't used it for a long time now as DirecTV has gotten so much better with more apps for channels.  I'm glad you mentioned no Linux version.  I was planning to change the laptop that is running Playon to Linux.  

utee, those 34" monitors are sweet.  I'm jealous!
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on January 11, 2018, 08:34:30 AM
Just a quick thought, could you run Windows on a VM on the Ubuntu server?
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 11, 2018, 08:48:00 AM
Just a quick thought, could you run Windows on a VM on the Ubuntu server?
My extremely large computer company also (sort-of) owns VMWare, which I believe should be able to run a virtual machine version of Windows within Ubuntu.  I used to have an old dedicated x86 box running a very old version of linux that I used for various things (firewall, gateway, etc.) and I would dual-boot to Windoes, but never ran a VM for it.  I long since ran out of time for toying around with that stuff, which is one reason I've put up with cable for so long rather than researching and experimenting with the tech for cord-cutting.
But now that my cable (plus internet and home phone) sub has crept back up to the $230/month range, it's once again caught my attention.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 11, 2018, 08:50:56 AM
Oh, and I tried to get dual 38" curved Ultrasharps, but the execs took all of those.  My boss has a 40" monitor sitting on his desk.  Which is kind of ridiculous actually, you have to sit back to see it clearly... :)
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on January 11, 2018, 06:23:26 PM
LOL... I recently got a new laptop at work and was talking about how I needed all the adapter cables for my monitors for the docking station. The old monitors were kinda flaky too. The IT guy said "well, those are old, and they're not corporate issue. Why don't I bring you some new 27" monitors from [utee's extremely large computer company] to replace them?"

So now I've got two 27" on the desk. Which isn't as nice as what utee's got, but hey, at least I can get SSDs and HDDs real cheap from my company ;-) 

Before I posted about Linux, I did some research on PlayOn. Apparently you can run it in a VM, but people have had some issues running it in a VM successfully due to resource needs. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 17, 2018, 01:43:52 PM
Nice.  I've got twin 27s at the office, but I haven't actually been to my office cube in a couple of weeks.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on January 21, 2018, 10:08:55 AM
I work from home only.  The company supplies a laptop with docking station and three 27" monitors.  The monitor size is OK but I could use two or three more.  I probably won't bother changing the setup as this I will be retiring in 14 months.

I moved into this house a little over a year ago and it has been streaming only.  My previous cable was $127/mo which I replace with DirecTV Now for $40 with tax.  DTV Now includes HBO which I didn't have before so that is a big plus.  I got in early and got the Go Big package for that price.  I believe it is $65 now.

I have Netflix and Amazon Prime but I had those when I had cable so it isn't an additional cost.  I added PlayOn for a $50 one time charge and I have CBS All Access for $6/mo.  DirecTV Now has local stations for 75% of it's viewers but I'm in the 25%.  For the rare occasion I want to watch something on the other network stations, I just use the free apps.  DirecTV Now does include NBC Sports and Fox Sports and I can watch ABC Sports via the watchESPN apps.  I didn't miss any games I wanted to see so it was a successful first year IMO.

Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 23, 2018, 10:58:30 AM
How much is your Internet-only access?  That factors into your total cost as well, not just the DTVN expense.

If I unbundle from my current Spectrum (formerly Time Warner) cable package, the internet climbs from around $30/month to around $60/month.  So adding another $50-$65/month or so for one of the streaming services, takes me back up to the $110-$125 range. I just rearranged and renegotiated by Spectrum package down to $132/month all-in, so at this point unless I could save $30 or more per month, I'll jut stick with the convenience, ease, and reliability of the cable package.

Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on January 23, 2018, 06:58:35 PM
Internet prices here (Cox) are awful.  This year mine went up to $80/mo.  $132/mo for internet and cable sounds really good.  Cox bundles are about $139 for the first year then goes up to $179.  That doesn't count their bogus "broadcast fee" of $9.99 and "sports rebroadcast fee" of $6 then the adder for HD of $5 per TV and set top box rental after the first year.  Add taxes and everyone here with Cox is paying $200/mo.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 23, 2018, 08:13:00 PM
Well, to your point, who knows what Spectrum is going to decide to charge me NEXT year.  The constant monitoring and haggling is certainly tiresome and one of the major reasons I've considered cord-cutting.

For now $132/month isn't bad.  I can actually cut that another $6/mo by getting rid of the one NON-DVR set top box I have.  I've been testing the Spectrum app and it works pretty well through my Smart TVs.  I have one TV that's not Smart, but a $30 Roku express works well and will pay for itself in 5 months, so that's my next cut.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on January 23, 2018, 09:39:38 PM
Cox is terrible here as well. I think I spend about $98/mo on Internet, but I do have a higher-end speed plan. Even so, internet-only if I dropped speeds would only *maybe* drop to ~$60-70, and for that I'd have to buy a modem (which I have been planning but putting off) so I don't have to pay their stupid modem rental fee.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on January 23, 2018, 09:40:51 PM
I would point out, however, that I wouldn't live without internet, so it's not like internet itself is an added cost. But yes, sometimes internet cost do go up when you're not bundling. I'm not sure it goes up enough to be worth it.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 23, 2018, 09:55:28 PM
I would point out, however, that I wouldn't live without internet, so it's not like internet itself is an added cost. But yes, sometimes internet cost do go up when you're not bundling. I'm not sure it goes up enough to be worth it.
Yeah, like I said above, for me if I unbundle, the internet-only price goes up about $30/month, which just about eliminates the savings I'd get from dumping the cable TV portion and going with streaming options.
It's almost as if this giant corporation has performed some type of analysis and determined the optimal price for keeping me and other would-be cord-cutters... ;)
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on January 23, 2018, 10:21:29 PM
Yeah, like I said above, for me if I unbundle, the internet-only price goes up about $30/month, which just about eliminates the savings I'd get from dumping the cable TV portion and going with streaming options.
It's almost as if this giant corporation has performed some type of analysis and determined the optimal price for keeping me and other would-be cord-cutters... ;)

Remember three things when you do the cost analysis:
1) The cable TV portion (and the phone portion if you're paying home phone) may have a bunch of added taxes, fees, etc that often don't get included in these cost analyses. 
2) If you're already paying for Netflix, or Amazon Prime, don't count those in your switching costs. Because you're paying for them on top of cable today.
3) Depending on your watching plans (particularly with the live streaming TV), if you are going to subscribe seasonally, as I do for CFB/NCAAB, make sure that you only account for the months you're paying for the streaming plans. You can't just add/drop with cable the way you can with streaming. If you're not going to make use of that, so be it. But if you're going to drop the live streaming TV services during offseason for sports, you need to include that in the analysis.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 24, 2018, 10:23:45 AM
I get what you're saying, but it's not really a factor for me.

1) $132 (soon to be $126) is my all-in price including all taxes and fees.  If I dropped cable TV, my all-in price for internet-only would be about $62 including all taxes and fees.  So adding $50 worth of streaming services from Sling or DTVN or Vue or whichever, takes me back up to at least $112.  At that point, I'm not saving enough money to put up with the additional complexities and idiosyncrasies of streaming.  I'd be fine with it, but my i s c & a aggie wife already has a hard enough time simply switching the TV to watch a BluRay.  So it would need to be a very large savings for me to sign myself up for being the sole channel-changing agent in the house. :)

2) I already have Amazon Prime and am not figuring it into the financial discussion above.  I do not have Netflix and have no interest in adding it.  My wife would probably like it but she already has access to and watches more than enough crap TV.

3) If it were just me then I'd likely drop TV during the offseason (though there isn't really much of that since I watch Formula 1 starting in March, and watch football through December).  But there's no way my wife would go for dropping the streaming TV, so it's a year-round decision for me.

Like I said, they've done some pretty careful analysis to make sure they're priced exactly where they are, for those who would consider cord-cutting.  If I had a Google or AT&T fiber option for internet-only I'd have more options, but currently at my house, I don't have that.

But I do appreciate the continued discussion and insights.  There will likely come a time when I'll cut the cord anyway.




Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on January 24, 2018, 09:49:21 PM
$126 is a smokin' deal and I would go for that as well.  My last cable bill was $127, did not include HBO or internet and that was over a year ago.





Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: utee94 on January 25, 2018, 10:14:01 AM
Yeah, it's not bad.  Spectrum has dropped prices from where Time Warner was, at least in my area.

I should mention that this is the very most basic package, no HBO or other premiums.  It has ESPN and ESPN2, FS1 and FS2, NBCSN, and CBSSN, plus LHN, and all locals.  So it covers my sports desires well enough.  It also has AMC and most of the channels my i s c & a aggie wife likes, so it should do, for a while.

But they will inevitably try to start bumping up the price, and renegotiating (aka threatening to leave) gets pretty tiresome year after year.



Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MrNubbz on January 29, 2018, 03:23:46 PM
I'm convinced these companies are monopolies under one umbrella.Perhaps separate but fixing behind closed doors.How much after initial installation & equipment rental can it cost monthly?Beaming/sending signals added hidden fees that just don't add up.Dropping cable then they up the price on remaining services.Any competitive competition is bought up by the Giants.Congress fiddles while the country burns.What ever happened to ala carte/package cable that Congress was suppose to implement?Same going on with utilities
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Entropy on November 16, 2018, 12:27:20 PM
as we end 2018.... any updated suggestions to this thread?    We have not cut the cord, but are considering it.   We don't watch many professional sports outside of the Royals and soccer...  We also leverage a handful of stations centered around kid friendly content.   Just wondering if thoughts/ideas have changed.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: MrNubbz on November 16, 2018, 01:38:27 PM
I happened to be perusing the Big 12 Board and utee94 brought up something interesting.he was mentioning that if you still have that old gangly analog antenna on the house keep it.It'll work on over the air digital signals also - who knew?.Of course I had the roofers tear mine off 10 years back.But I still might smite the cable companies and get some rabbit ears.If everyone did this for even a year you'd see prices drop back in line.I think I'm going Amish
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on March 27, 2019, 02:26:14 PM
Antennas work great for some people.  There are DVRs for OTA signals that let you record/pause live TV so it is much more convenient.
DirecTV Now finally got all our local channels so I can pack away the indoor antenna I was using when a sporting event was on one of the locals only.
Speaking of DirecTV Now, they recently came out with price hikes that hurt them in comparison with other streaming services unless you want HBO.  They did exactly what they promised they would not do if they were allowed to buy Time Warner.  They promised not to raise rates and not to punish competitors by charging them more for HBO than their own customers.  HBO is included in the DirecTV Now plans but is a $15 or more add on to other services.  My grandfathered plan will go up $10 per month in August but is still in line with other services with the special rate.
After cutting the cord more than 2 years ago, I would not go back.  The complete absence of contracts and the ability to add/drop services almost instantly is huge for me.  
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on March 27, 2019, 02:29:46 PM
Antennas work great for some people.  There are DVRs for OTA signals that let you record/pause live TV so it is much more convenient.
FYI Sling was running a promotion--I believe still active--that if you sign up for Sling they'll come and professionally install an antenna for you. Sling doesn't offer local channels, so they are trying to help people who may not want to do installation (and as a division of Dish, they have professional installers for their satellite stuff).
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Entropy on April 01, 2019, 01:52:13 PM
are you a slinger?
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: betarhoalphadelta on April 01, 2019, 02:08:18 PM
are you a slinger?
I was, but that was before I was married... 
(Ok, it was just coincidence that I left Sling for Hulu before getting hitched...)
When Purdue's football team started to show signs of life, I dropped Sling for Hulu. Hulu has BTN; Sling does not. 
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Brutus Buckeye on January 26, 2020, 11:30:53 AM
Okay. Just sorta jumping in here without reading through the entire thread. So I just cut ties with ATT because they cranked up the price, and then quoted me a price for "just internet" that was close to what I was previously paying for the whole ball of wax. I will worry about how to watch live sports once we get closer to football season, but in the meantime I need to get internet on my laptop. Is there a good way to do that without having to go through another cable company? If so, what is the board consensus regarding what is the best/easiest/most economical way to do it? Thanks.
Title: Re: Cut the cord!
Post by: Thumper on March 02, 2020, 08:30:12 AM
Okay. Just sorta jumping in here without reading through the entire thread. So I just cut ties with ATT because they cranked up the price, and then quoted me a price for "just internet" that was close to what I was previously paying for the whole ball of wax. I will worry about how to watch live sports once we get closer to football season, but in the meantime I need to get internet on my laptop. Is there a good way to do that without having to go through another cable company? If so, what is the board consensus regarding what is the best/easiest/most economical way to do it? Thanks.
This is one of the big rubs for cord cutting.  Broadband internet coverage for the US sucks and the majority of it comes from cable companies as ATT & Verizon are phasing out fiber and DSL is on life support.  Comcast is a big supplier and is ranked as the worst service of any company in the US (actually they are rated lower than cockroaches and US Congress as well).  As you have seen, they want to make up for lost profit from TV by jacking up the price for internet to cover it.  I have internet from Cox and I have been satisfied with it.  I pay $80/mo for a 150mb connection.  It is kind of pricey but it has been rock solid.  That is important as I work from home.
Here is the good point.  YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE A CONTRACT FOR STREAMING SERVICES.  If you only want sports for the football season, you can turn the subscription on and off anytime you want. This is opposed to cable services or the new ATT TV which require 2 year contracts with a big jump in year 2 and all kinds of hidden fees.