Cut the cord, now the options.

mbalbritton

mbalbritton

#@$%!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Lakeland, FL
So we got pissed at SpectrumTV and their bull shit. We ditched TV service and have just internet through them now.

I know this has been discussed a few hundred times on here, but so has the “how to beef up my Dana35” topic.

We currently use our old ass First gen Wii to watch Netflix. Our TV is just a basic old LCD that’s actually showing signs of needing replacement. It’s probably 10 y/o.

So with that, I’m looking at options of other equipment and service. Amazon?, Roku? Sling, replace TV with Smart TV and surf the shows and things I want.

Part of it the issue is I really don’t know how any of it works anymore. Never really cared to find out. And when I search online, they don’t tell you shit, they just want you to sign up. WTF am I signing up for? What does it come with?

Anyone have a cliffs Notes of this crap?
 
roku and a laptop Openloadmovies and stream to tv through HDMI cable.
 
We were paying charter 48.00 a month for 8 channels. We had to have some kind of service so I could have my Fox news fix. At that time I could not find Fox streaming because they don't stream for free like other news networks. Finally I found a site called free internet tv and they stream fox live 24/7.

As far as channels/shows we have netflix through our abox and abox has Kodi which streams basically all movies from current to the 40's and all popular tv shows...Drama,reality...

The abox was 35.00 through amazon and has no monthly fees.
 
Just went through this. We ended up going with the lowest tier of Spectrum internet ($49/mo), got PSVue, and SlingTV Orange (already had Amazon Prime and Netflix). Net savings $80/mo over our TW/Spectrum triple play (which they forced us into) and still get all the channels we watched before. Add a digital antenna and you get local stations too. No issues streaming even with the lowest speed Internet. YMMV.
 
Also, you need a Roku box or something like it to watch on a TV. But I've seen SlingTV offer deals where you get a free Roku when you sign up for a period of time.
 
If you’re in the market for a tv why not buy a smart tv. They come preloaded with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and all sorts of channel apps. All you need is WiFi. You can also download channels if you like such as Red Bull TV, YouTube, and so on.
 
I dislike smart tv's because they are typically limited to future upgrades. If you get one, make sure it's an android tv. Otherwise get a good tv and a roku/fire tv.

IMO, Chromecast isn't worth it. Don't get a stick, the processors are junk. I prefer the roku to firetv.

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If you're thinking about Sling, do a little research. The supported hardware is spotty, including not being able to use the Chrome operating system for Sling. I've got Chrome devices on all the TV's (not Chromecast), and the wife's laptop is a Chromebook, so we can't use Sling at all without attaching a second device to the TV's (like a Roku), or by using my Windows laptop.
My current setup works with all of the other streaming services that I know of, so we would be getting a completely new set of hardware just for one of the streaming services.

My point: Know what you're getting when shopping for streaming services.
 
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We've run the gamut of options. Right now, we have spectrum for cable. After haggling with them for a while, our cable bill is now around $80/mo, which is less than it would be for internet service and the sling bill. We still have Amazon. Netflix is about played out, IMHO.

The cable package we have has fewer channels than the $25 sling sports package but I don't care enough to spend the extra $$. We only have spectrum for Internet here, and they know it $$$$!

We use a Roku for streaming. It is relatively new. The old one we had would lock up. One thing I didn't like about sling was the inability to fast forward through commercials with a show streamed on demand
 
We use Chromecast and the barter system with a circle of friends. We have the amazon prime account, one set has the netflix account, the other has the hbonow account and we all share each account with each other. Works perfect and cuts cost for everyone.
 
Nothing to add other than I'm an electronics dunce and wish someone would create like a hotels.com or lendingtree to compare all these tv options. The wife and I utilize maybe 4 channels and watch 4-5 hours of tv a week cumulatively (outside of college football season)...and everything I've looked in to either requires I buy multiple tiers of service to get the 'premiums' I want, or charge about the same because I go a la carte.
 
If ya got Amazon prime membership they have a bunch of stuff available to watch that is included. We had sling but canceled it. Wife likes Hulu for current shows. If you get a smart tv or Apple TV or Ruku they have most of the "apps" you can try them out to see what fits yalls needs. I hear Netflix is gonna raise their price soon.


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We cut the cord years ago. Every TV has a chromecast and typically stream netflix or hulu, when we do watch tv. We have amazon prime as well. Friends have HBOnow and we have their login information. We only have a two shows we watch regularly(GoT/Walking Dead). Everything else is streamed.
 
Get a Roku3 or whatever their newest device is. You can stream pretty much any service through that.
Between the Roku and antenna, and occasionally using an old PC that's connected to the TV, we are perfectly happy.
 
We have Roku and use it mostly in our bedroom. We share sling along with my parents and it works good for most of what we watch on normal cable. We also have the most basic cable available, not even digital. We also have Amazon. Between all of them we can watch just about whatever we want for cheaper than cable would cost for the same options.

I like Roku but I think most of what the Roku has can be had with an Amazon fire stick.
 
I guess I am the lucky one that only pays $20/month for spectrum internet. It was their lowest service a few year back at $15/month but they finally raised it to $20, I am surprised they haven't canceled it completely.

We have internet/Netflix/Amazon. Using my mom's Netflix account so it is free. We do have an antenna so we have a few channels, but rarely watch them, I watch the news maybe once a week.
 
So if we itemize this and I'm looking at this correctly, my Spectrum bill is $170/mo. That's $10 for a landline we don't even have. That's $50 for 100mbps internet. Meaning my tv bill is $110/month for every channel Spectrum offers. If you break that down, I have 3 HD boxes, with one that has DVR...all 3 for $25/mo. So for the actual tv channels, I'm paying $85/mo. Quick google search says Sling is $20-40/month...and firestick is $39-99/mo...PSvue is $65/mo...and google didn't pull a monthly fee for Roku. When I was looking at cutting the cord 2-3 years ago, the issues were watching 'premium channels' in real time and live streaming any sports was pretty crappy at best, and there were no options for DVR, correct? Is all this still accurate??? Strictly looking at price point, firestick and Roku are the only real cost savers (and savings goes down if you currently have a basic Spectrum tv package), but do they offer the same functionality? Then when you don't bundle for internet/phone, the prices on those went up, lowering net savings. Might be rambling, but I would be interested in seeing what folks are actually paying currently and what kind of recording/live streaming sports (college football in particular) options are out there.
 
mbalbritton said:
which are the services and which are the devices/hardware?
Click to expand...

Devices:
Amazon Fire stick
Roku
Chromecast
SkyStream
HDHomeRun
plus any number of "smart" add-ons to Blue-ray players, TVs, DVRs, etc.

Services: (these are independent of the above devices)
Amazon Prime Video
Hulu
Netflix
SlingTV
PlayStation Network
AcornTV
VuDu
FandangoNow
USTVNow
FuboTV Premier
*Kodi
... and about 100 other things.

Generally speaking, you can use most service on most different kinds of devices. In most cases they (the services) just have an app that you install on the device in order to stream their service. For example you can use a SlingTV app installed on a phone, or a Roku, or a Windows PC to watch their TV content. Same w/ Netflix.

A lot of the devices also come in different versions/packages, like Roku has a little stick you can plug directly into the HDMI port on the TV, as well as a little separate set-top box (Roku3) that you run a video cable for. The little box has a faster processor and is a little smoother, and can use a real Ethernet cable for better data throughput. Same with Amazon, they have a stick, and a box.

Not surprisingly, the OS for the Amazon Fire can accept lots of streaming services, but is sort of centered around assuming you prefer Amazon's service. Which BTW if you already have Amazon Prime shipping, you already also get their Video service.

Most streaming devices do NOT also do DVR, as this would require a hard drive, and people like them to be small. IMO that is a shame b/c it makes it difficult to record stuff. I suppose one could use a separate DVR device to still record shows just like the olden days when we used VCRs or separate DVR boxes with TVs but I've never tried it.
However, *some* streaming services have their own built-in DVR functionality - or at least pause, rewind, FF, just depending on the content. For example on Sling TV, you can do this on some channels - like Epix - but not others, like AMC. I suspect this is some licensing agreement between Sling and AMC so that people will HAVE to watch their channel live - including commercials - or come directly to them later to get content (again so they can control commercials).
 
UTfball68 said:
So if we itemize this and I'm looking at this correctly, my Spectrum bill is $170/mo. That's $10 for a landline we don't even have. That's $50 for 100mbps internet. Meaning my tv bill is $110/month for every channel Spectrum offers. If you break that down, I have 3 HD boxes, with one that has DVR...all 3 for $25/mo. So for the actual tv channels, I'm paying $85/mo. Quick google search says Sling is $20-40/month...and firestick is $39-99/mo...PSvue is $65/mo...and google didn't pull a monthly fee for Roku. When I was looking at cutting the cord 2-3 years ago, the issues were watching 'premium channels' in real time and live streaming any sports was pretty crappy at best, and there were no options for DVR, correct? Is all this still accurate??? Strictly looking at price point, firestick and Roku are the only real cost savers (and savings goes down if you currently have a basic Spectrum tv package), but do they offer the same functionality? Then when you don't bundle for internet/phone, the prices on those went up, lowering net savings. Might be rambling, but I would be interested in seeing what folks are actually paying currently and what kind of recording/live streaming sports (college football in particular) options are out there.
Click to expand...

Holy shit man.
We pay $39.99 for internet access. Then $20 for Sling and $10 for Netflix. No renting of boxes or anything. Making our total monthly non-internet only $30. The Roku box, Amazon Fire stick etc are a 1-time purchase. Not sure where you saw "firestick" for $39-$99.

DVR is the big loss. Unless you have a separate recording device, most of the little gizmos don't offer it. I got an old PC and an HDHomeRun TV tuner, and use a media center program to record TV shows on the PC hard drive.

I don't really watch sports but I know this is an issue for some. SlingTV has some sports packages to get multiple networks. Warning though, some people complain about Sling's service not being 100% reliable.
 
we use amazon firebox here. we tried all of them except roku which is boycotted in our house
 
Not sure if it has been mentioned but Play Station Vue is another alternative. All you need is a PS4 and internet. I pay $40 for their second level package and get all channels I ever watch (minus Comedy Central). Plus it has DVR and on demand features.


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