OT: Cable Cutting
In a fit of rage I cancelled Directv because they did not carry the British Open on NBC. While it felt good to break away from that big monthly bill I quickly realized that I need a replacement service.
What is everyone using that broke away from the cable? Directv was expensive but they pretty much had every college football game available.
PS Vue.
In the future, I would recommend not making big decisions in a fit of rage.
PS Vue + Roku. Hands down.
I keep exploring alternatives and keep coming back to this.
That's what I have, but how much is this guy paying for internet?
The other day I was in Sam's Club. The guy who tries to sell you DirecTV came up to me asking who my cable provider was. I told him it was PS Vue. He told me to have a great day. That was the end of the conversation.
Dropped them when they were bought by att. I hate that company. Psvue has been good, but prices seem to be jumping yearly.
I just signed up in October, upgrading from Charter Spectrum. I was paying around $160/mo for cable (including HBO, but no other premium channels or sports networks aside from the basic lineup). My PS Vue package has so much more than I ever had at Charter and it's $79.99/mo. If I can save a few bucks by picking and choosing different services, I'll just pass and stick with Vue. I can't imagine beating both that price and the convenience of it.
Who provides your internet connection & how much?
We get enough cord cutting posts during every OT season that the mods may as well make it a sticky.
Make this a sticky too...
When streaming games online folks, do so in private mode, with ad blocker, and the following as a custom filter:
##div#adblockplus
##div[id^="adv1"]
You'll next to zero popups, redirects, and commercials. I get zero commercials on Hulu as well using that setup.
It would make an interesting long-lived post for sure. Stuff is changing quickly. Today’s deal is soon tomorrow’s ripoff
Is PS PlayStation?
Yes.
I had PS Vue but when you DVR a colege football game you get all of them. With Hulu live you can pick just the game you want.
It does dvr all the games but I don’t see the problem with that considering that you have unlimited dvr space.
Seconded.
I have been using Vue on an Amazon Firestick for about a year an a half. I was so impressed with it that when I was ready for a TV upgrade I bout a 55" Insignia with the FireTV built in. The remote even has a PS Vue button on it.
Note that the one issue some people have with Vue is that it does not carry Viacom stations so you won't get MTV, Nickelodeon, TVLand, etc. but my kids are grown and out of the house and MTV has aired nothing but garbage for the last 20 years or so.
For the price (Most expensive package is just shy of $60) It is perfect for my wife and I.
Prior to that I had tried the DirectTV Now streaming app, and it was nothing but pain and heartache. Constantly buffering and other issues.
How is that possible? You don't have NBC ?
Contract battle.... there are a couple other channels but NBC is the big one.
I am affected on U-verse too. This is why I have an old fashioned over the air antenna in the attic. In my view of the signal strength is good enough, the over the air HDTV picture and sound quality is actually better.
You could have connected to your old rooftop antenna
I’m lucky to have the best of both worlds. Use a streaming Roku player for our Netflix and Hulu accounts but also have parents’ password for cable. When they finally quit cable I’m thinking YouTube TV will be the answer for me.
You should have just bought an antenna.
I’m in a rural area. It would have to be a big antenna.
If you get a good, external, amplified digital antenna, you can get up to 70 mile range if that helps.
THIS!
Antenna life is the way to go. Everyone can get to a friends house or a bar to watch the game you really need to see, and the big ones are basically over air anyways.
Plus if you have the internet you can find a game on a site if you really need to. Or borrow a friends login.
No cable forces you to focus on other things in life that bring more value anyways. Haven’t had it for 7 years and will never get it.
Serious question here: is there a reliable way to record events using the antenna? I'm a slave to the DVR - I rarely watch live sports because I loath commercials. Any advice on digitally recording antenna feeds would be greatly appreciated.
Amazon Recast. You plug your antenna into it and it works seamlessly through a FireStick. It's really quite beautiful.
Heard good things about YouTube tv.
If you buy more than the basic package (which you’ll have to to have sports channels), you’re not really saving that much money over a traditional bundled package. You’re basically just paying a little less for a slightly crappier version of regular cable.
You get get what you pay for, as they say
Not true at all, friend. Went to YTTV several weeks ago and so far so good. All the ESPNs, BTN, several fox sports, etc. recommend it highly. $50/mo.
I second bighouse chris. I am kicking myself for not realizing what a great deal YouTube TV is. I was paying north of $130 for what was essentially "basic" Dish Network, and at the same time paying $70 for Charter internet service. YouTube TV is $50 and there is not a single channel that I miss from my Dish lineup. I run it with a Roku streaming stick and I actually like the YouTube TV interface better plus it has unlimited DVR. HIGHLY recommend YouTube TV
Does YouTube TV have the "alternate" BigTen Network channels?
I had YouTube TV for a time, but dropped it as I had problems with it, but I may try it again assuming they have improved some of the quality and my Comcast Charter data limits isn't out to get me.
Yes, Youtube has the extra BTN channels, but they only show up on the live guide when there is alternate programming happening. The picture shows the customize able channel guide available in the app to add/subtract/sort your live guide.
UTTV ($/50mo) w/ Roku and 100MB internet ($70/mon) replaced $180/mon TWC/Spectrum. Much happier. Roku TV's are cheap - can pull one out to the back porch and watch baseball, etc. around a campfire. UUTV is also nice when you are traveling.
/Ohio YMMV
YTTV works for me. Streams to all my devices so if out when a game is on, I can check out the live game. Much cheaper and Roku gives many options. BTN, ESPN and others. I will say the only option I get on devices other than the tv [cel- lap top] is YTTV. But it handles most of the sports I want.
This is the catch with cable cutting- It is by far and away the better way to go for everything...other than live sports. Either steal your buddies cable login so you can watch the game on that channel's app, or find a favorite sports bar.
I love a good old fashioned rage quit. That's my story as well, but with Comcast.
I have Hulu Live. Carries ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, ESPN2, BTN. I like that it includes the Hulu library and original content. I run it through Apple TVs via Google Fiber.
UI is intuitive. No complaints on Hulu Live except one time there was a time change on a CBS event and they didn't carry it due to some local agreement nonsense. Only real complaints are on Google Fiber. Gigabit speeds, my ass.
EDIT: which reminds me...if you're cord cutting, invest in the fastest speed you can afford. It will pay off for live sports.
The Hulu Live UI is terrible. There is no grid to show you what is upcoming on all channels. An own-goal, if you will.
That said, I live with it as I'm paying $45/mo for Hulu, $39 to Sprint for 30MB internet + $12 for the router, and I believe $13 for Netflix.
(I got stuck w/ Sprint at $39 for 30MB after letting the family handle the switch from Verizon for a purported 100mb bandwidth offer for $45/mo. After switching, I found ourselves at 30 MB for $39. Sprint wants $70+ for 100MB now, and so I'm living with 30mb for now.)
So far I'm good with "you get what you pay for" at this price-tier.
Edit: with a one-time $39 Firestick. Also have a one-time ~$25 over-the-air antenna just in case.
Hulu Live TV here also. Cut Xfinity a few months ago and haven't missed it at all. Really like Hulu Live and the fact that it comes with the standard Hulu included. Using the app on a Samsung TV as well as the Roku app on other TVs. All good.
Hulu
I have directv and I watched it on NBC.
I get the local NBC channel out of Grand Rapids owned by Nexstar..... not sure of the whole story. I do know that I couldn’t watch the open until me buddy gave me his Dish password.
Nexstar is being a bunch of cunts is the short story. My local ABC station is owned by Nexstar and they are basically asking double their current rates to be carried on cable despite the fact they've lost like half of their primetime viewers in the last few years. DirecTV and DirecTV Now are telling them to piss off.
In general, I don't really understand how something that is free over the air requires a subscriber fee the same way ESPN, AMC, TNT, etc does. Probably some sort of dumb precedent that came up during the glory days of cable.
I did a lot of research on this a few months ago because I was tired of the Xfinity bill. I settled on YouTubeTV based largely on the channel lineup and DVR capability. Then I gave it a try before cancelling cable. I wound up staying with cable because their user interface is really so much better (guide, DVR, on demand). Also, it was annoying waiting about a minute for my smart TV to log on to my wifi network when I turned it on.
Also, it was annoying waiting about a minute for my smart TV to log on to my wifi network when I turned it on.
That would be annoying. But it's not normal. I can promise you the rest of the cord cutting universe isn't experiencing that and just willing to put up with it.
Ummm - Have you thought about the fact that you went into a "fit of rage" because you couldn't watch golf on TV? Perhaps you have other issues more important to deal with than who is going to provide your cable. Just sayin...
Definitely was a over reaction but I’m a avid golfer and really get into the majors.
It was available on Channels 702-705, I was in the same boat and bought an antenna ahead of time, but was able to get it on those channels.
I want my M-TV
Good lecture from the tower.
How many of these threads can there be? You want to tell your cool story about how you got angry whatever but the internet is this crazy beautiful thing where you could search this and get all the options and most likely how to instructions. In my opinion you can cut the cord but within two years all these other avenues will cost the same as cable does now in a very short time
It seems like the options are changing constantly so I wanted some fresh takes... my bad