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Cutting the Cable... Advice sought on getting rid of Cable TV

Started by twatts, May 06, 2013, 12:58:04 AM

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twatts

My wife has asked me to look into getting rid of our cable TV and getting a Streaming service instead...

Few questions:

1.  Is a media PC better than a Roku/AppleTv/etc.  If so, should I upgrade my vidcard/soundcard/etc???  If not, which box should I get?
2.  Which service do you use?  Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, what else?
3.  Monday Nite Football - does ESPN stream this?  How about other NFL games???  I was thinking of using an HDTV antenna for the Sunday Games - what do you use???
4.  Ease of use for kids - I like being able to turn on Nick Jr. and having it baby-sit my son for the 30min. after dinner when I bathe my daughter and my wife cleans the kitchen... 

Any thought, recommendations, stories of total failure and success, things to avoid, things to make sure I do, etc...  Hit me with your best shot!!!

Terry
Oh! That! No, no, no, you're not ready to step into The Court of the Crimson King. At this stage in your training an album like that could turn you into an evil scientist.

----------------------

I want super-human will
I want better than average skill
I want a million dollar bill
And I want it all in a Pill

rowjimmy

If you want live football, get an antenna or head to a bar.

I use Netflix via my blu-ray player. This unit also connects to both network and USB attached storage. This covers most things except for Hulu (which requires a sub to watch anywhere but a computer) and shows purchased via iTunes. I'd use AppleTV but my old HDTV does not have hdmi.

I've saved a ton of cash not paying for television to the point that paying a la carte for some shows is way reasonable.

mistercharlie

This is something my wife is wanting us to do also. We already have Netflix and I have an Amazon Prime account. Plus we have to use eztv.it in order to watch our Game Of Thrones. I know that this would save us a lot of money, but I've been a cable addict for so long now that it is going to be hard to kick the habit.
"I used to be 'with it', but then they changed what 'it' was and now what I'm with isn't 'it' and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me"
Quote from: kellerb on August 02, 2009, 02:29:05 AM
You haven't lived until you've had a robot shart in your ear and followed along in the live setlist thread while it happens. 

DoW

ESPN3 does not stream Monday night football.  NBC does stream Sunday night football if that helps any.

I've considered this as well.  I haven't done the research yet though.  They've inflated cable prices way too much.
there is something coming t Boston soon which is like $8/month and somehow restreams some channels, mostly a few local channels.  it has successfully withstood some court challenges thus far.  I forgot the name of it but will try and look it up.
Music is meant to be heard
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mattstick

Elgato makes a cool product called EyeTV which has a PVR type interface for OTA TV, just connect your coax off the antennae, then USB into the computer. You can then convert the recorded files to Apple TV format, sync those onto all your devices too.

I cut the cable in 08 and haven't looked back. Lots of shady streaming sites for sports, as well as legit services.

Buffalo Budd

Been thinking about doing this as soon as my contract runs out on my current cable.  Thanks for asking all of the questions I would have most likely asked Terry.  :beers:
Everything is connected, because it's all being created by this one consciousness. And we are tiny reflections of the mind that is creating the universe.

nab

I've been without cable for some time and I never lack for something to watch between Netflix, Hulu, the Local Broadcast Channels, web streaming (PBS in particular has a large volume of shows ready to stream on their site), and through various streaming services on my phone (NFL app for NFL Channel games).   

I go the media pc route, with a wireless keyboard and mouse for my remote.  Since I decided not to buy into the next console gaming systems, I built a gaming/media pc just for these purposes.  This includes a video card with an HDMI out which feeds into my stereo system as well.  So my media pc serves a threefold purpose; gaming, streaming, and media server (mostly for my digital music collection). 

The bonus: I set my media pc up as the house server, so I can stream my media content over my phone.  I can work in my yard and have access to all of the media stored or connected to my media pc.  Secondly, I can actually share the internet with my wife.  We can watch the same short videos and read the same articles if we are discussing something and want to reference some net resource. 

I did use an Xbox 360 as a streamer for some time and that worked fine for just accessing established streaming services (Netflix etc.), but for the added functionality, I'd advocate tricking out a pc or mac as a media server.   


ETA:  The ESPN/NFL bottleneck does suck.  I usually have to find a friend or a bar for games I really want to see; which isn't always a bad thing since it gets me out of the house and social.  Small price to pay for all the other functionality imo. 

Bobafett

Vipbox.tv for sports.   Also myrtv.eu for other channels( Comedy Central, CNN, etc.).
The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order; the continuous thread of revelation.

Lifeboy

Since I have a cable/internet bundle, cable really isn't expensive for me, and getting rid of it wouldn't make much sense. I could definitely go without though...
Quote from: mistercharlie on March 10, 2010, 10:41:36 PMTo know me is to know my love of Phish.  :smoke:

rowjimmy

Having all those channels is the worst.

I used to sit and watch pure garbage just because I could.

mattstick


So, Lifeboy, are you actually suggesting that you couldn't just get internet cheaper than your internet/cable bundle?


antelope19

Quote from: rowjimmy on May 06, 2013, 09:48:42 PM
Having all those channels is the worst.

I sit and watch pure garbage just because I can.

:|

Fypfm
Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

VDB

I dream of a day when cable companies provide a la carte channel pricing. As it is, you pay for channels whether you watch them or not. But since this would result in a lowering of your cable bill, providers will only do this after enough people have quit cable that it's worth lowering everyone's bill for the sake of adding that many new subscribers to make up the difference.
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Lifeboy

Quote from: mattstick on May 06, 2013, 10:00:35 PM

So, Lifeboy, are you actually suggesting that you couldn't just get internet cheaper than your internet/cable bundle?

No. Of course it would be cheaper to just have internet. I said/meant, in my situation, considering how much use I get out of having cable (sports, tv shows, news), it wouldn't make much sense to just pay for internet when it isn't much more expensive to add cable to it.

That said, I'm sure twatts' situation is different than mine, so it may make sense for him to get rid of cable. I was just giving my $.02
Quote from: mistercharlie on March 10, 2010, 10:41:36 PMTo know me is to know my love of Phish.  :smoke:

mopper_smurf

Quote from: rowjimmy on May 06, 2013, 09:48:42 PM
Having all those channels is the worst.

I used to sit and watch pure garbage just because I could.

13 channels was a lot back then ...

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