Innocent Bystander 958 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Cable bill has grown out of control for less and less desirable content. Tired of the crap at high cost. YouTube TV at $50/month plus a couple of add ones, keep Netflix and Prime and it doesn’t look like I lose anything but Weather Channel and I can live without 24x7 overly dramatic coverage of the latest cold front. Anything better than YouTube TV that includes cloud based DVR and a decent channel lineup? I can save about $100/ month dumping the cable company, keeping high bandwidth internet and shifting to a streaming service. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bmiller 773 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 I hear you, our service has gotten very expensive and unreliable. There has to be a better way. I will be following this since I really dont have a clue how it works. For instance what type of hardware is involved? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikewof 1,004 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 29 minutes ago, Innocent Bystander said: Anything better than YouTube TV that includes cloud based DVR and a decent channel lineup? I can save about $100/ month dumping the cable company, keeping high bandwidth internet and shifting to a streaming service. It's a little more expensive than internet, but have you looked into replacing your TV viewing with a Capuchin Monkey? They're about $5k, and only legal in a few states, but I suspect that if you have a monkey in your living room, you won't really want to watch any television shows. They can supposedly get hooked on nicotine, weed and alcohol too, just like us! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chester 767 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Tequila, mike? Or craft beer? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bump-n-Grind 867 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 cut the cord this summer. 3 roku sticks on 3 tvs on which reside Netflix, Amazon, Sling, Motortrend, CBS all access and several other channels that are either free or on a month to month for some particular show or other... went from well north of $250 on Verizon fios to right around 100 for internet and the tv stuff Dont miss anything anymore.. a couple not bad weather channels free on Roku Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 cut the cord years ago.... have a small outdoor antenna and pick up everything local.. roku stick... netflix, but about to get rid of it as their movie selection sucks waiting for the streaming wars to settle down.. and they didn't list espn+ which is about $5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 and just a search turned up this.. posted aug 7th, but it's the hulu with ads.. Quote Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu will be bundled for $12.99. Netflix should be worried. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bump-n-Grind 867 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Netflix is sorta losing it's shine. I've watched most of the movies on there I want to watch. and theyve dropped a few documentaries that I used to watch over and over as background noise. I think the quality of their content has dropped a bit in the last couple years. Amazon has come up with some really good original stuff. and some good recycled scifi. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Innocent Bystander 958 Posted November 7, 2019 Author Share Posted November 7, 2019 8 hours ago, Grande Mastere Dreade said: cut the cord years ago.... have a small outdoor antenna and pick up everything local.. roku stick... netflix, but about to get rid of it as their movie selection sucks waiting for the streaming wars to settle down.. and they didn't list espn+ which is about $5 Unfortunately, I'm not in a location where hi def antennas give any decent service so I need either cable or streaming. Also not interested in totally a la cart streaming as SWMBO needs to be able to turn on the news or watch a movie or show without a 10 step menu. We have 2 Roku units already and stream NetFlix and Prime through that as well as some other "single streams" . Friend just signed up his mother for Youtube TV and touts is as "simple enough for an 84 YO to navigate. " I can get Youtube TV, Showtime and Starz (she wants "Outlander") for about $65/month and keep my "family shared" Netflix and my Prime subscription for marginally pennies. From the channel lists, that will cut my $265 cable bill (for crap programming) to about $60 for 120MB internet only. Bascally, more usable content and give up channels I don't use anyway. Already dumped Verizon LL and use OOMA VoIP so phone is $5/month. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
QBF 527 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 I own a Roku which provides much of what I watch. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
luminary 34 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 9 hours ago, Grande Mastere Dreade said: cut the cord years ago.... have a small outdoor antenna and pick up everything local.. roku stick... netflix, but about to get rid of it as their movie selection sucks waiting for the streaming wars to settle down.. and they didn't list espn+ which is about $5 + VPN 10.00 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sailingk8 113 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 HD antennas in my neighborhood are useless too so I have basic/basic cable (only local channels) with out a box. This runs me about $10mo and is cheaper than what they would charge me for internet only. This lets me load up and stream the local channels except CBS (wankers). To be honest I mostly use that for PBS, and NBC and Fox sports. The few shows on local channels I watch like Modern Family I watch the next day on HULU with out ads. I quit watching the news. I get alerts on my email from several global sources. On Roku I added Hulu, HBO and NHL.tv Any Netflix shows I hear are good I'll order online then pick up the DVDs at our local drive-thru city library. If there is a game on tv that I can't get (CBS wankers) that I really want to see I'll go to the pub. And I agree... most shows aired to the masses these days are crap. My current binge is LetterKenny on HULU. How are ya now... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Snore 260 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Hulu + and Netflix. Downgraded to 100mbs and very happy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MisterMoon 307 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Youtube TV, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime. We also stream a lot Pandora (free) and Spotify (Paid family plan). YoutubeTV was a great deal at $35mo, now it's $50. I justify the cost because I can have five accounts on it. My mom and two kids are getting theirs for free. Amazon Prime is my daughter's account that we use as a family. So it's not really costing me anything except the temptation to buy lots of stuff on Amazon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bcubed 16 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Never had cable; to me the cost FAR exceeded the value. Using an antenna for local stuff, and Netflix and Amazon prime account on a Roku for the rest. I'm beginning to question the value of the Netflix due to low usage, but I catch flak if I mention it to my better half. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bump-n-Grind 867 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 25 minutes ago, Bcubed said: Never had cable; to me the cost FAR exceeded the value. Using an antenna for local stuff, and Netflix and Amazon prime account on a Roku for the rest. I'm beginning to question the value of the Netflix due to low usage, but I catch flak if I mention it to my better half. you dont have any gray hair do ya? LOL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Quote HD antennas really no such thing... it's all UHF / VHF ... an antenna from the 60's will pull in current tv signals.. i'm using an rca an751 and a channel master titan 2 pre-amp.. check this site www.tvfool.com / signal analysis for signal direction and possible antenna type.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sailingk8 113 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 30 minutes ago, Grande Mastere Dreade said: really no such thing... it's all UHF / VHF ... an antenna from the 60's will pull in current tv signals.. i'm using an rca an751 and a channel master titan 2 pre-amp.. check this site www.tvfool.com / signal analysis for signal direction and possible antenna type.. I started on the low end, then went a bit higher with same result. Then I looked into the signals and it said it was sketchy so I didn't bother spending more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rum Runner 329 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 We never had cable. (Didn't want the kids to have it and then just stayed that way.) The only thing I miss are some sporting events but I go to the neighborhood bar or a friend's house if I need to see something. Total cost is at most a six-pack of beer for these. We have 2 Roku boxes and have Netflix and Hulu. Amazon Prime comes with the membership that the wife has. Overall we never have a problem finding something to watch. (I'm very happy I don't have to see Fox News and CNN as well.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
redboat 45 Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Roku and Youtube TV. Tried Sling, Hulu and Fubo. The latter was attractive due to all the sports programming but the service was frustratingly inconsistent. Two other accounts share my Youtube feed so that more than offsets sightly higher monthly cost. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
atoyot 120 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 I'd be interested in knowing what people are paying for their ISP, as in internet alone. You know, so that streaming will stream. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 2 hours ago, atoyot said: I'd be interested in knowing what people are paying for their ISP, as in internet alone. You know, so that streaming will stream. that's complicated as everything is "bundled" / new customer "special rates" etc.. never understood that philosophy, we give new customers better rates ( to draw them in ) but we shaft all our current customers.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bcubed 16 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 23 hours ago, Bump-n-Grind said: you dont have any gray hair do ya? LOL Of course I do! Most of the young'uns today don't even know that you can pull TV out of thin air with just a few appropriately configured metal rods. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bump-n-Grind 867 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 1 minute ago, Bcubed said: Of course I do! Most of the young'uns today don't even know that you can pull TV out of thin air with just a few appropriately configured metal rods. heheheh I remember my mom sending me up into the attic to spin the antenna when they were changing channels.. Our neighbors had just installed a new one that had a motor . Just about the time I got the built, they started running cable through our neighborhood. We were probably the last subdivision in No VA to get cable. Just prior to that there was something called super TV that charged a monthly fee for a decoder box. they broadcast stuffon UHF like HBO and ESPN that were only available over cable.. I think they had a couple scramblevision soft porn channels too Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ishmael 6,419 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 I put an antenna on the roof last week, we get excellent reception of Vancouver broadcasts, and could get Seattle as well if it pointed that way. We have a Roku stick and we're exploring various streaming services through the free month offers. Acorn is the leader by far for our interests, Amazon Prime serves us StackTV, which has some interesting shows like the Food Channel, Home& Garden, etc. We'll keep Prime, not sure about Stack yet. We're still exploring. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
atoyot 120 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Grande Mastere Dreade said: that's complicated as everything is "bundled" / new customer "special rates" etc.. never understood that philosophy, we give new customers better rates ( to draw them in ) but we shaft all our current customers.. Well, that's just it. Try for just internet services (Comcast/Xfinity) & they charge the internet fee and for basic cable, period. Kind of defeats the point, though it is cheaper than internet plus their Basic Digital or HD packages.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 15 minutes ago, atoyot said: Well, that's just it. Try for just internet services (Comcast/Xfinity) & they charge the internet fee and for basic cable, period. Kind of defeats the point, though it is cheaper than internet plus their Basic Digital or HD packages.... i'm trying to get rid of the stupid phone off the bundle (waiting on the wife to decide what she's going to do) and convert it to very basic cable and then use that cable access to pull in what i want off of roku.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Henley Hornbrook 13 Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 23 hours ago, atoyot said: I'd be interested in knowing what people are paying for their ISP, as in internet alone. You know, so that streaming will stream. I am lucky, my neighborhood has fiber connections to all the houses. I pay $50/mo for gigabit up and down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
QBF 527 Posted November 16, 2019 Share Posted November 16, 2019 From the BabylonBee.com https://babylonbee.com/news/more-households-saving-money-by-replacing-cable-television-with-47-different-streaming-services Households Saving Money By Replacing Cable TV With Streaming Services A new report indicates more and more households in the US are replacing expensive cable television with up to 47 different streaming services. "No longer do people have to pay upwards of $150 per month for a collection of channels," wrote one tech expert in Polygon. "Now you can subscribe to a bunch of different channels separately for like $300 a month. It's much more efficient." Historians believe Americans used to have to rely on a wide variety of cable channels to play what they wanted, but now, they can subscribe to a wide variety of separate streaming services to watch what they want. "You used to have to have like 300 channels just to be sure you could watch a particular Disney movie," wrote the expert. "Now, you just subscribe to Disney+ for the Disney movies, and like 299 other channels for all the other shows and movies. Isn't the streaming revolution so much better and more frugal than the way we used to do things?" "We were looking for ways to cut costs, so we immediately got rid of the $200 cable bill," said one man in Montana. "Why would I pay that much money for all these channels when I can spend roughly the same amount of money on a bunch of different streaming services?" At publishing time, Disney had announced a separate streaming service for every single one of its shows and movies. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Innocent Bystander 958 Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 Between travelling, Christmas and the like, i waited a bit while a friend adopted YouTubeTV. After camping on his account for a while, I pulled the plug on cable this weekend. Already had Netflix, Prime and F-1TV so no change in cost there. Old. Cable HD plus Multi-room DVR plus Showtime. Includes $276.50/Month. Included 100MB Down/5MB up. New. 100MB Down/5 MB UP - $61.50, YouTube TV with Showtime and Starz $69.99. Total $131.49. A savings of $149/month plus added a channel the wife wanted. You do need a later model Roku to stream YoutubeTV and F-1 TV so I bought new ROKUs with the first month;s savings. YouTube TV is pretty good. Great picture quality. Menus a bit clunky. Haven't found a way to direct access a channel other than its memory from the home screen of your "favorites" so have to scroll through the options most of the time. We did a 2-3 week trial where we only used the streaming and took a vote. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BravoBravo 666 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 I was just researching TV antennae yesterday ! last cable bill was $230...coming in thru the same cable they strung a few months after we bought this house 37 years ago....it was $9.99/month then .... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Innocent Bystander 958 Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 Pretty telling that when I walked into the cable company with a back full of equipment and remotes and said “I want to cancel all TV services and go to internet only, the response was “put the equipment right here in the counter.” No questions of what I was dropping them, if they could offer some special deal or anything. Just “ OK. Can do.” Reminds me of when I cut the land line 6 or 7 years go. On that, Verizon only fought me on the demand that they come out and remove the telephone poles and wire from my property but they did it my way after a short discussion. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IStream 2,417 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Were you represented by Stihl and Associates? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Innocent Bystander 958 Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 1 minute ago, IStream said: Were you represented by Stihl and Associates? That might have entered the discussion. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gissie 1,100 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Internet only down here, plus dish for local free to air. Watch everything on dodgy streaming sites, just takes a bit to get through all the side roads they try and steer you down. So NZD72/mth for whatever we want. Fibre just being laid at the door. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 11 hours ago, BravoBravo said: I was just researching TV antennae yesterday ! last cable bill was $230...coming in thru the same cable they strung a few months after we bought this house 37 years ago....it was $9.99/month then .... start here https://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 12 hours ago, Innocent Bystander said: Between travelling, Christmas and the like, i waited a bit while a friend adopted YouTubeTV. After camping on his account for a while, I pulled the plug on cable this weekend. Already had Netflix, Prime and F-1TV so no change in cost there. Old. Cable HD plus Multi-room DVR plus Showtime. Includes $276.50/Month. Included 100MB Down/5MB up. New. 100MB Down/5 MB UP - $61.50, YouTube TV with Showtime and Starz $69.99. Total $131.49. A savings of $149/month plus added a channel the wife wanted. You do need a later model Roku to stream YoutubeTV and F-1 TV so I bought new ROKUs with the first month;s savings. YouTube TV is pretty good. Great picture quality. Menus a bit clunky. Haven't found a way to direct access a channel other than its memory from the home screen of your "favorites" so have to scroll through the options most of the time. We did a 2-3 week trial where we only used the streaming and took a vote. on roku, add pluto tv channel, it has mulitple stations within it.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 On 3/2/2020 at 7:27 AM, BravoBravo said: I was just researching TV antennae yesterday ! last cable bill was $230...coming in thru the same cable they strung a few months after we bought this house 37 years ago....it was $9.99/month then .... btw, i got this https://www.rcaantennas.net/outdoor/?sku=ANT751E very happy with it... i'm pulling in close to 70 channels, though about 30 of them are spanish.. i have it mounted outdoors on a pole about 15' up, i have 60' trees between me and the broadcast antennas.. also added one of these , https://www.channelmaster.com/TV_Antenna_Preamplifier_p/cm-7778v3.htm because i have 100' run of cable from the pole into the house.. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
basketcase 436 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 On 11/7/2019 at 12:27 AM, Grande Mastere Dreade said: This, but with a $100 usd vpn, and add in eztv Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 good source for antennas https://www.solidsignal.com/ when buying an antenna, be sure to read the specs for size, some of these are huge.. the rca i have is petty compact.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 here's an article describing all the latest offerings.. the Hulu+ bundle with no ads at $19 looks promising.. https://gizmodo.com/the-best-streaming-service-you-can-subscribe-to-right-n-1839778412 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SCARECROW 591 Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 VPN set to give you an Italian IP address will give you unlimited premium porn hub for the next few months. Should have most the programming you need. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 well that sucks balls... i dropped netflix as there wasn't anything worth watching and the movie selection was worse everyday.. so i just picked up the disney+/hulu/espn+ bundle to replace it.. so it seems espn+ will limit you on the live content , thus no college football / nfl live stream.. if i want live stream I have to sign up for hulu live at $65 a month because i don't pay for cable.. greedy bastards... guess i'm going to have to put my pirate hat on.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
luminary 34 Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 14 hours ago, Grande Mastere Dreade said: well that sucks balls... i dropped netflix as there wasn't anything worth watching and the movie selection was worse everyday.. so i just picked up the disney+/hulu/espn+ bundle to replace it.. so it seems espn+ will limit you on the live content , thus no college football / nfl live stream.. if i want live stream I have to sign up for hulu live at $65 a month because i don't pay for cable.. greedy bastards... guess i'm going to have to put my pirate hat on.. get a VPN Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grande Mastere Dreade 2,292 Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 1 hour ago, luminary said: get a VPN i've got a vpn... not going to help with a streaming service. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
luminary 34 Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 if you want to be a pirate... that said, lots of streaming services can recognize vpn addresses (how?) and block. Eg Netflix if I leave the VPN on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GMiller 34 Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 What quality are the sports streaming services? Is it true HD that you get with the “digital” channels at the upper end of the dial? I.e I have a cable box that I had to purchase/ rent when I decided my tv should deliver a better picture. I have my regular channel lineup from channels 2-80 in (sd?), a bunch of filler til 200 and the channel lineup from lower on “the dial” is repeated with much better clarity. If I remove the box from the equation I get picture quality of sd. I get hd picture quality from the app based stuff like Netflix and amazon prime. I am totally cool with shedding the fucking kardashians and the fucking drivel most tv today seems to be, but I will never watch sports at lower definition again if I can help it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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