OT: Is cable TV needed anymore (help)?

[TheGoat.sixpack]

U-verse contract is about to expire and I'm in the process of putting together another 2-year (around $120/month) package with them or, God forbid, calling Comcast. My question is, can you make it these days without cable? Do the WatchESPN apps include most MSU sports? Other than SEC sports, Saints football, and a little news, my TV is only used for streaming.

THANKS in advance.

 

[57stratdawg]

I believe ESPN is now offering their programming on a steaming only platform. That would help things.

 

[patdog]

If you're OK with no DVR type flexibility and being stuck watching events in real time, streaming isn't awful. Picture quality still isn't quite what cable is though. But for me, cable is just a much better product and is well worth the money (not to mention you need a cable account to access a lot of the streaming content legally).

 

[aTotal360]

Solely dependent on your ISP's data cap. If you're at 300gb and you have multiple rooms streaming, you're going to run into issues. Especially if someone leaves the TV streaming over night.

Looks like with ATT you are at either 300GB, 600GB, or 1 TB depending on your package.

http://arstechnica.com/business/201...s-for-home-internet-and-steps-up-enforcement/

Now that the ISPs and TV companies are all one, they can control what dollars they want to give up. If you cancel your TV plan, they'll just gouge you for the internet.

 

[Dawgzilla]

Playstation Vue. It's available now on Roku and Android devices. (has been on firestick for a while now). I'm trying it out for a month. It has a "cloud DVR" where you tell it to "save" programs for you and you can watch them for up to 28 days. Picture quality is very good, sometimes on par with what you can get with cable. The DVR features, such as pause/FF/RW, have been unreliable for me so far. They have three tiers, and the middle tier offers all the ESPN channels along with SECN. It's $35/month, which is about $75 less than what I pay for UVerse....I think I can put up with some less reliable DVR features for that price.

 

[Dawg1976]

I have Vue. Its outstanding. I also have Comcast internet and they just increased the cap to a 1000 GB. I'm good to go.

 

[tired]

I just bought the fire stick. Still trying to figure it out & get use to it. I want to install the app Kodi but seems a bit cumbersome.
Anyone know anything about it or is there another device that's easier to get apps like Kodi?
Sorry for the slight hijack.

 

[dickiedawg]

I could realistically cancel cable, while "borrowing" a watchESPN login. If the Sling gives you full access to watchESPN I think you're golden.
Did that last summer as a trial until football season. Watched a lot of Netflix and spent more time playing with my kid.

 

[The Peeper]

I dumped Comcast cable a year and a half ago in Reservoir area but kept their internet. I already had a Roku, Netflix and free Hulu using Bing rewards. I built an antenna out of a 1"x4" board and coat hangers and put it in my attic and get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, all of their sub channels, in all about 18 that I watch for free. (not counting the Mexican preachers, white preachers, black preachers, etc) The quality on the antenna channels is better than cable ever was. I've got aTablo dvr to record anything on antenna channels but seldom record anything. My mother in law has Comcast also so I made an online acct and use that for ESPN and all of the broadcast channels on Roku. Total cost now including internet is $39.99/mo I won't ever go back to cable but may add Vue so wife can watch "Absurd Housewives of Oxford" or whatever that crap is on Bravo.

 

[jakldawg]

Here's their plans.
It's primarily for "niche" leagues and select college sports.
Basically broadcasts of live major sporting events are the only thing that keep lots of people (okay, maybe just me) from cutting the cord.

 

[mstateglfr]

Buy a TIVO. $15/month gives you the ability to record over the air programming and all major video apps besides WATCHESPN are on there. It has Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, HBOGO, etc.
Buy a Roku or whatever other device to stream. I mention Roku because I have it and it had WATCHESPN.
Buy a digital antenna. Ours cost $70 and works fine. Bought it over 2 years ago and mounted it where the old dish was. I adjusted it an inch or so a few times in the 2 years.


WATCHESPN has all MSU sports. Its incredible and 10x better than ESPN on live TV due to convenience and access to other programming.

 

[TheGoat.sixpack]

Playstation Vue. It's available now on Roku and Android devices. (has been on firestick for a while now). I'm trying it out for a month. It has a "cloud DVR" where you tell it to "save" programs for you and you can watch them for up to 28 days. Picture quality is very good, sometimes on par with what you can get with cable. The DVR features, such as pause/FF/RW, have been unreliable for me so far. They have three tiers, and the middle tier offers all the ESPN channels along with SECN. It's $35/month, which is about $75 less than what I pay for UVerse....I think I can put up with some less reliable DVR features for that price.

I'm looking into this. THANKS!!!

 

[Captain Ron]

For what it is worth, I have been cable free for almost a year. We have 30 plus channels of over the air stations in Atlanta which helps. I also have a Dvr that can record the local stations. I use Sling TV streaming for $25 a month. (there are several other options as well like Vue) Sling also gives you a login for the Watch ESPN app, so most games are archived for quite a while for replay. There is a good cord cutters website with tons of info.

We are saving well over 100 bucks a month at this point.

 

[TheGoat.sixpack]

You guys are AWESOME. I'm learning a ton.

 

[Dawg1976]

Join this group on Facebook. Lot's of good info. https://www.facebook.com/groups/CordCuttingTechSupport/

 

[DerHntr]

Enter your address here:

https://www.antennaweb.org/Address

It will tell you how many and what stations you can get from your house with an antenna. There are other websites that can give you more info about the best direction to point it if you decide to buy or build one.

I built mine for about $5. The only thing I bought was the transformer and the rest was stuff I had laying around the house. It took about 45 minutes to build, set up, and start watching TV. Here are the plans I used:

http://www.diytvantennas.com/bowtie.php

 

[The Peeper]

www.tvfool.com is a good site as well as reddit.com, use subreddits /r/ota and /r/cordcutters

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Sling also changed their plans recently to offer more channels.

 

[Dawgzilla]

I didn't care for Sling, primarily due to the inability to pause live TV. The video wasn't always that great, either.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I got this: [h=1]1byone Amplified HDTV Antenna, use PSVue($35/mo) and AmazonFire Stick is on the way. I don't miss cable.[/h]