Fuck Comcast unto death. Help me cut the cord! (Streaming TV options)

[MahrinSkel]

One thing not mentioned so far is sound support. Sling TV, PS Vue, and Hulu are only Stereo. Only Netflix consistently has 5.1 or better audio. Amazon can be hit or miss. The reason of course is that Netflix can spend days encoding what the live TV streamers have to do in seconds.

Is the sound of anything other than movies coming over cable at better than stereo, anyway? We'll set aside the question of whether 5.1 sound is actually worth the cost of the equipment, is it even a factor for 95%+ of the channels?

--Dave

[Reg]

For those of you without decent antenna service I just saw a new channel on my Roku that has all of the main Canadian channels streaming live for $1.99 a month. I'm sure there must be equivalent channels available in the US.

[Chimpy]

For those of you without decent antenna service I just saw a new channel on my Roku that has all of the main Canadian channels streaming live for $1.99 a month. I'm sure there must be equivalent channels available in the US.

There isn't thanks to the Aereo decision.

[taolurker]

Again, I'll say doing streams through a browser is the cheaper thing.

Everyone here is recommending something that's an additional cost above the charges for broadband, and if you use "illicit" sites and some smart browsing you can eliminate those extra boxes, monthly fees, and assorted extra crap. I don't recommend it for everyone, but you guys are smart enough about pop-ups/pop-unders and browsing that watching EVERYTHING via the net on a PC is the best (and cheapest) alternatives.

For those of you without decent antenna service I just saw a new channel on my Roku that has all of the main Canadian channels streaming live for $1.99 a month. I'm sure there must be equivalent channels available in the US.

There isn't thanks to the Aereo decision.

If all you want is "antenna" service and the basic channels, use USTVNOW dot COM. Create a log in, and you get those channels free. They have a pay service for additional channels, but again there are other ways + sites, and I still am too poor to pay for TV (let alone back surgeries).

[Logain]

Again, I'll say doing streams through a browser is the cheaper thing.

Everyone here is recommending something that's an additional cost above the charges for broadband, and if you use "illicit" sites and some smart browsing you can eliminate those extra boxes, monthly fees, and assorted extra crap. I don't recommend it for everyone, but you guys are smart enough about pop-ups/pop-unders and browsing that watching EVERYTHING via the net on a PC is the best (and cheapest) alternatives.

I mentioned it earlier in the thread but everyone's dead set on set top boxes and dongles of one sort or another. Hook a fully functioning PC up to the big screen and you're set for just about anything, legit and illicit feeds alike. I've never had cable television in my adult life, and this is the setup that has always worked best for me.

[Draegan]

I don't have room for a pc in my kitchen dining room where the kids watch cartoons in the morning.

I don't have time to fish for illegal streams all the time when they want to watch the Disney channel.

[Viin]

My Samsung SmartTV works really well for watching Netflix or Amazon or Hulu. I wish it had PBS Kids (and maybe HBO Go) (like Apple TV does) but otherwise it works great as a self contained unit.

[MisterNoisy]

For those of you without decent antenna service I just saw a new channel on my Roku that has all of the main Canadian channels streaming live for $1.99 a month. I'm sure there must be equivalent channels available in the US.

There isn't thanks to the Aereo decision.

That decision was such a giant load of horseshit.

My favorite non-PC/legal solution is either one of the newer consoles or the Roku (I'm still using the 3 and can't see a reason to replace it) and Amazon Prime.  You can add Starz to Prime which will get you a bunch of Disney stuff alongside some good movie and series content and turn it off easily when needed.  Add Netflix and HBO Now, and you've got enough stuff to watch for damn near anyone.

[Reg]

I just read that the company I mentioned earlier streaming local channels in Canada is in the process of being sued by Bell Media that owns about half of them. I guess we can't have nice things up here either.

[vos]

One thing not mentioned so far is sound support. Sling TV, PS Vue, and Hulu are only Stereo. Only Netflix consistently has 5.1 or better audio. Amazon can be hit or miss. The reason of course is that Netflix can spend days encoding what the live TV streamers have to do in seconds.

Is the sound of anything other than movies coming over cable at better than stereo, anyway? We'll set aside the question of whether 5.1 sound is actually worth the cost of the equipment, is it even a factor for 95%+ of the channels?

--Dave

Most of your Major Broadcast TV is in 5.1 a la your NCIS or your Blacklist...   Sports is another area where it arguably makes a big difference...  It is noticeable on Football and Basketball, not so much to me on Baseball. There are however people who vehemently hate it on sports, so ymmv anyway. I probably only care cause I just blew a bunch of money on a new 5.1 setup...


For those of you using PS vue or SlingTv, how cheap would cable TV have to be for you to go back? At a certain point these services are just as much as cable (at least in my area). The PS4 service ends up being about $7 a month cheaper than a comparable cable package. After dicking around with Kodi for 5 hours this weekend, I almost broke down and ordered Cable TV.

[Draegan]

 Cables smallest package was about 50 plus box rental which is 10 for a regular box and 20 for a DVR. I have at least 2 TVs. Then other fees and taxes.

That's fios.

[Sky]

Football can be hilarious depending on who is sitting near the mics for the rear channel 'ambient crowd noise'. There have been games where I turn up a specific back speaker because someone is just hilariously yelling the whole game and it's never (to my knowledge) censored.

[MahrinSkel]

Rise!

So Hulu has a new "Live TV" service that is essentially basic cable for $40/month, no contracts. They have some premium stuff (like HBO) a la carte, and it includes everything you get from Hulu+, and CBS/NBC/Fox/CW (ABC is apparently their on demand stuff only).

https://www.hulu.com/live-tv

--Dave

[Yegolev]

Waiting for football.

[Signe]

Rise!

So Hulu has a new "Live TV" service that is essentially basic cable for $40/month, no contracts. They have some premium stuff (like HBO) a la carte, and it includes everything you get from Hulu+, and CBS/NBC/Fox/CW (ABC is apparently their on demand stuff only).

https://www.hulu.com/live-tv

--Dave

Have you given this a go?  We're finally out of contract with FIOS and eventually would LOVE to ween off of them.  We've been having issues for months.  Our service freezes, stutters, pixelates and plays catch up with the remote... which I guess is lag, maybe?  It would awesome if we could ditch FIOS completely but there is the pesky internet to consider.  And DVR, too, although I suppose we could do without that if necessary.

[schild]

I still use PS Vue and its still awesome.

[Hawkbit]

I still use PS Vue and its still awesome.

Yep, we use it during football season and it's solid. So great to be able to use the service on a monthly basis.

[Cheddar]

Waiting for football.

Did my eyes deceive me?  Football on Amazon Prime?

[Draegan]

I still use PS Vue and its still awesome.

Same here.

[Yegolev]

Waiting for football.

Did my eyes deceive me?  Football on Amazon Prime?

I think we both saw this.  Thursday Night on Amazon.

[Morat20]

I still use PS Vue and its still awesome.

I've been looking at that. TV wise, I really just want the local channels, BBC, HBO -- and then I have Amazon Prime, Starz (American Gods), Neflix and Hulu.

[Sky]

We're talking about getting NFL GamePass, she just wants to watch the Pats every week :)

So...it's screen limited, I don't have a device that will let me watch it on the big screen...I was planning on getting an xbox scorpio, which is a supported device.

Still a bunch of random junk tv we like to watch that is stopping us, though.

[Yegolev]

We're talking about getting NFL GamePass, she just wants to watch the Pats every week :)

Bah.

[Sky]

I've created a monster. She has a Patriots app on her phone and tells me offseason trades and whatnot.

I don't even follow any football stuff in the offseason!

Anyway, point is as long as you have an approved device, the NFL isn't the showstopper for cord-cutting.

[Yegolev]

I agree, I need football on the big TV, or the bedroom TV.  Not a phone or tablet.

[Draegan]

You can get the NFL streamed if you can trick it to say you're out of the country. Otherwise it's illigal streams or direct TV.

There are local broadcasting options.

Or you can watch games hours after they are over with game pass.

[taolurker]

FEED2ALL DOT EU

All the sports streams u need, every NFL game.

[WayAbvPar]

Well look at me. Not even 2 years later and I finally cancelled my TV package. The HD DVR I had went bad  and wouldn't reboot. We literally almost never use the TV there, so I bought a Fire Stick and an HD antenna, then returned the box today. Xfinity rep tells me I have to bring a cable box home with me (I knew this was going to happen, so I was prepared). I told him I didn't want it. I have a cable card, and that is the only TV receiver I really need. He insisted I must have at least a basic box as 'primary equipment', which is just fucking clownshoes stupid, and also completely bullshit. There is literally no technical reason for it. They just want a foothold in my house. 

So I said "Well, let's just cancel it then. Keep the internet, but dump the TV. I will return my cable card". He was mildly shocked, and kept recommending more ways for me to give them money. I told him I had plenty of streaming devices and would be just fine. God that felt good.

So- now I am going to be experimenting with streaming trials. Anyone have favorites? I would like a DVR of some kind (cloud based it fine). Looking at YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV, and Sling TV as my first trials.

[Draegan]

PlayStation Vue

Then whatever streaming services you like, netflix, Hulu, amazon video etc.

Also get an Nvidia shield and set up a Plex server.

[Samwise]

So I said "Well, let's just cancel it then. Keep the internet, but dump the TV. I will return my cable card". He was mildly shocked, and kept recommending more ways for me to give them money. I told him I had plenty of streaming devices and would be just fine. God that felt good.

 

Welcome to freedom.

[Sir T]

May I interest you in some economical bitcoin mining server cabinets.

[Shannow]

How much does standard internet cost from Comast per month?

[Rendakor]

I think I pay $60/month for 250 Mbps down.

[Teleku]

About $120 a month here for 10 mbps down, for ETL Lao Telecom.   

[WayAbvPar]

$66.95 + tax and fees for 60mbs down. Speed is fine, but I am worried about the 1TB cap every month. We have come up against it a couple of times already, and that was before we were strictly a streaming household. I am sure they will find every single way they can to screw me, since that is their business motto.