Dropped Cable TV Today

[NoiseBoy]

Both usga.org and masters.com can be viewed on the iPad or iPhone and sent to the Apple TV using AirPlay if you want to view on a large screen.

Google's Chromecast works in a similar way (from Android phones and tablets) - you send the video to a Chromecast device which plugs into a HDMI port.

Thanks for the information. I have a follow up question; if I'm streaming the Masters on my iPad (don't own one yet) and sending that to my Apple TV (don't own one yet!), can I still browse other websites and play games on the iPad at the same time? That is one of the hangups with using my laptop's HDMI port today. It works fine, but it ties up my laptop to perform the tv tuner function.

 

[easysurfer]

I took steps on Friday to cut the cord. We really like our DVR and a number of mainstream programs but the $100/mo cable bill is really high. Here's the new set-up -

- Tablo OTA DVR
- 2 tb Hard Drive
- OTA Antenna (have a $20 one from Best Buy that works great)
- Roku's (2 Roku 2 units and 1 Roku Streaming Stick)

We will get all the OTA channels, Netflix and Sling TV. Our cost/mo should go down to $25/mo (save $900/year). We still get to record all of our favorite shows, wife gets HGTV, I get ESPN and all of the Vikings games. My biggest regret is missing out on hockey. First year cost of $450 for hardware has a 6 month payback.

Congrats on cutting the cord.

Looks like you have a nice set up. Did you place the antenna outdoors or just by a window or up in the attic?

 

[NoiseBoy]

I'm a big sports fan so I get the double play bundle from Comcast for $100 a month. 75Mb HSI + all cable channels + HBO.
Every time my promo expires I just call them up, select the cancel/downgrade service option, then get some retention rep that can offer me the new customer deal. Hasn't failed me yet in the over 10 years that I've had them.

Do you get ESPN, TBS & FoxSports1? Do you get them in HD? I am paying $96 for just the basic channels in HD (none of the above) and slower internet. If my bill was ~$100 a month, but it included those necessary sports tier channels, then I would view it as a fair deal. After all, roughly 1/2 the monthly cost is for broadband service. Perhaps I need to become a better negotiator!

 

[Danmar]

We have generally dropped all land lines and cable/satellite TV at all our places. Really a no brainer. The thing I wonder about though is won't the telco's just jack up their internet fees to make up their revenue shortfalls? I own a lot of telco stock and figure this might be a good reason to keep them.
I suspect we will always be caught in the trap of initial benefits (lower cost more convenience) morphing into higher cost models once the cost to switch gets high enough? Hard to keep ahead of these guys.

 

[Fishingmn]

Congrats on cutting the cord.

Looks like you have a nice set up. Did you place the antenna outdoors or just by a window or up in the attic?

I was actually going to go with a fancy outdoor model but on a whim tried a cheap one on the floor of the bedroom and it brought in 30 channels even though we are 25 miles away from the source. Picture quality seemed identical to cable from the naked eye.

 

[easysurfer]

I was actually going to go with a fancy outdoor model but on a whim tried a cheap one on the floor of the bedroom and it brought in 30 channels even though we are 25 miles away from the source. Picture quality seemed identical to cable from the naked eye.

Nice. As long as you get a good reception.

I have an antenna, indoor on a stand and pole facing out my balcony window.

 

[hesperus]

W've had cord cut for 4 years now. We had rabbit ears setup for a several years, but in stormy weather the signal would pixelate terribly, or just go out. We finally installed a rooftop antenna this spring and the difference is significant. Solid consistent signal for all channels but one, where trees in summer leaf will sort of interfere with that signal. No way I'm going back to the cord or sat signal. And I keep hearing about the cable companies now wanting to enter the streaming TV service. Just this morning I heard comcast is going to enter the fray. But I know what they want to do is dominate and control pricing like they do with cable today.

 

[Marita40]

For you who don't have cable TV, what service do you use for internet? I am planning to cut cable TV and the landline, but I do need internet and don't want to pay a "single play" Comcast cost for it. I've heard of earthlink and others but can't seem to find anyone who uses them. In short, what cheap alternatives, if any, are out there for internet only?

 

[Meadbh]

We have generally dropped all land lines and cable/satellite TV at all our places. Really a no brainer. The thing I wonder about though is won't the telco's just jack up their internet fees to make up their revenue shortfalls? I own a lot of telco stock and figure this might be a good reason to keep them.
I suspect we will always be caught in the trap of initial benefits (lower cost more convenience) morphing into higher cost models once the cost to switch gets high enough? Hard to keep ahead of these guys.

That's what I wonder about too. Providers will follow the market demand and create new demand. We, as customers, can get the best value by regularly reevaluating what is important to us.

 

[W2R]

For you who don't have cable TV, what service do you use for internet? I am planning to cut cable TV and the landline, but I do need internet and don't want to pay a "single play" Comcast cost for it. I've heard of earthlink and others but can't seem to find anyone who uses them. In short, what cheap alternatives, if any, are out there for internet only?

I don't know of any cheap high speed internet options here.

I am paying $66.99/month for cable internet from Cox. Still, I was paying nearly $200/month to Cox when cable TV was included, so the savings is significant.

As for the discussion of OTA channels, I get just short of 30 channels clearly and quite a few more if I am willing to fiddle with my homemade indoor antenna that rests just behind my TV (on the same table). I get all of the major networks and local channels clearly. I wouldn't get this many channels if I was living in rural Louisiana, for example, instead of living in New Orleans. To me the availability of OTA television channels at any given retirement location is just another plus or minus that might influence one when choosing a retirement location.

 

[imoldernu]

... icon... a little embarrassed...

I rationalize this way... a full year of connection to everything, for less than the cost of a three day cruise (that we don't want to take, and wouldn't enjoy).

Senility has its own rewards.

 

[Meadbh]

... icon... a little embarrassed...

I rationalize this way... a full year of connection to everything, for less than the cost of a three day cruise (that we don't want to take, and wouldn't enjoy).

Senility has its own rewards.

Why be embarrassed? It's your choice.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

WARNING! This will not work for you as I live on a mountaintop! But...

I have two antennae in my attic. Each points to a different big city. Then they combine and feed into my house wiring. You can read online that two antennae have a degraded signal. But for me, it is not much. Last time I scanned, I picked up 77 channels. I am currently watching a station that is about 100 miles away. Most of the HD channels I watch are more than 50 miles away. Last night I tuned in a station that comes from a city 200 miles away. I know, the curvature of the Earth won't allow it, but there it was. Obviously, weather will not allow these 150 plus mile away stations to come in very frequently, but it is amazing.

I use TitanTV and TabloTV for programming (www.titantv.com). Other than the two antennae, I have the same hardware setup as Fishingmn - Roku's and TabloTV. We have 7 TV's hooked up (two Roku's).

The picture quality is far superior to cable. It did take some work and I have invested maybe $500 in hardware, but I am saving $125 a month in cable bills. I still have a land line and internet through the cable provider.

I cut the cord in November. I love college and pro football. Don't know if I can do with only having 15 to 20 games a weekend. May have to go with Sling during season.

We mostly watch Netflix and TabloTV recordings. Find that I don't miss the cable news stations (MSNBC, FOX, CNBC). Don't miss the profanity and nudity on cable. We have access to enough romance, drama, hunky men shows to satisfy my DW's emotional needs (?). Oh, TabloTV allows streaming wirelessly so DW can watch "her shows" (Bomb Girls, Blue Bloods, Downton Abbey, Drop Dead Divas and a whole host of NCIS hunks) on her tablet while she dreamily drifts off to sleep.

Instead of the cable music stations, I do Pandora and YouTube. Am currently listening to Blackfoot - Highway Song.

I must have too much time on my hands.

 

[karen1972]

Its the MSNBC, CNBC that is stopping me from cutting, wish they would figure out a way to live stream or be part of the local package...kind of ridiculous since HBO and SHOWTIME have figured it out. I have everything else covered.

 

[FIREd]

We dropped cable TV a few months ago and I am surprised how little we miss it. We used to watch TV a lot, 5+ hours a day, and I thought that after dropping cable we would be watching a constant stream of Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, etc... I had even purchased a HDTV antenna to get OTA local channels. But we actually just stopped watching TV almost entirely - and with the TV staying off, there has been a noticeable drop in our electric bill too!

 

[ERD50]

...

I use TitanTV and TabloTV for programming (www.titantv.com). ...

Question - does TitanTV provide a convenient method to schedule the TableTV without paying a monthly fee? I see that TitanTV has a 'Record This Program" button that will create a little text file on the computer. Do you just transfer these files to the drive on the TabloTV?

I'm currently using a Mediasonics PVR, which is limited, clunky interface, and somewhat glitchy. But it is cheap ($35 - add your own hard drive), does no compression so the picture quality is perfect, and it gets the job done for me. But I'd consider a step up if I can avoid a monthly fee.

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HW-150PVR-HomeWorx-Converter-Recording/dp/B00I2ZBD1U

-ERD50

 

[Nunthewiser]

I am not much of a sports junkie at all, but we all enjoy March Madness which had been for years available OTA on CBS. To my dismay, next year most all of it will be only on TBS. I see that Sling carries TBS, so I think we have that problem solved. I doubt that we will keep Sling very long, but being able to flip it on and off monthly is nice.

 

[hesperus]

Question - does TitanTV provide a convenient method to schedule the TableTV without paying a monthly fee? I see that TitanTV has a 'Record This Program" button that will create a little text file on the computer. Do you just transfer these files to the drive on the TabloTV?

I'm currently using a Mediasonics PVR, which is limited, clunky interface, and somewhat glitchy. But it is cheap ($35 - add your own hard drive), does no compression so the picture quality is perfect, and it gets the job done for me. But I'd consider a step up if I can avoid a monthly fee.

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HW-150PVR-HomeWorx-Converter-Recording/dp/B00I2ZBD1U

-ERD50

I use TitanTV with a Hauppage 1250 TV capture card on my PC. It works flawlessly. You click the record button which automatically coordinates with my hauppage software to schedule the recording. Once I set it, it will record and save to a folder of my choice. I then use an editing program to autodetect commercials and remove those, too. It works just like a DVR

 

[hesperus]

We have generally dropped all land lines and cable/satellite TV at all our places. Really a no brainer. The thing I wonder about though is won't the telco's just jack up their internet fees to make up their revenue shortfalls? I own a lot of telco stock and figure this might be a good reason to keep them.
I suspect we will always be caught in the trap of initial benefits (lower cost more convenience) morphing into higher cost models once the cost to switch gets high enough? Hard to keep ahead of these guys.

It is hard to keep ahead of these guys.... It's started already with Charter Communications in our area. We have seen a 20% cost increase in high speed over the last 18 months, just after they bought out a local provider. There are other options, but for high speed (60 MB/s) they are the only choice right now. Another company has been laying fiber in the area, but it is not available yet to anyone but businesses.

 

[Fishingmn]

Question - does TitanTV provide a convenient method to schedule the TableTV without paying a monthly fee? I see that TitanTV has a 'Record This Program" button that will create a little text file on the computer. Do you just transfer these files to the drive on the TabloTV?

-ERD50

Personally, I just ordered a Tablo but I plan to spend the $5/mo for the programming option so it will work seamlessly. There is a $150 lifetime option but not sure that will be worthwhile with the pace of technology change.

 

[Danmar]

It is hard to keep ahead of these guys.... It's started already with Charter Communications in our area. We have seen a 20% cost increase in high speed over the last 18 months, just after they bought out a local provider.

Yes, it takes a lot of effort. Good deals gradually get whittled away and before you know it you are back to a couple hundred bucks a month again. My DW spends at least an hour a month with the various "retention depts" trying to keep the costs down. Especially a pain given our multiple homes with different providers. Couple of years ago, I capitulated and just bought a bunch of stock. Now I am not as concerned about the monthly cost.

 

[kcowan]

Dan
Have you considered a Slingbox? That rebroadcasts from your home base to wherever you are at the time. As long as no one is back home using the TV. Records and replays too.

 

[Mulligan]

I am not much of a sports junkie at all, but we all enjoy March Madness which had been for years available OTA on CBS. To my dismay, next year most all of it will be only on TBS. I see that Sling carries TBS, so I think we have that problem solved. I doubt that we will keep Sling very long, but being able to flip it on and off monthly is nice.

Sling is the closest I could come up with that would make a savings meaningful as I do watch most shows in their packages. However I do not live close enough to receive OTA broadcasts. And I would need that to piece enough of the missing links to make me accept losing the NFL package. I have noticed CBS can be bought on internet, but I dont know about the others. But $5-$10 here and there add up and eventually you are back near the original cost.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[easysurfer]

I had a Sling Box for a while. This was when I was away from home often and NEEDED to watch the broadcast of my favorite football team. I did the set up a bit tricky with having to get at the router and do some port forwarding. But, the box worked for the intending purpose.

 

[tulak]

Personally, I just ordered a Tablo but I plan to spend the $5/mo for the programming option so it will work seamlessly. There is a $150 lifetime option but not sure that will be worthwhile with the pace of technology change.

I'm using the Tablo without a subscription. I thought about paying the one time fee, but I'm not sure it's worth it. Even without the subscription you can schedule manual recordings, which works well enough for us.

I'm using the Tablo with the Amazon Fire stick and my only complaint is that it could be a little bit more responsive. It works fine, just a bit of lag. Using the iPad or PC there's very little lag, so it could be that the Fire stick is too slow or the app isn't well optimized for that platform.

Other than that, I've been happy with the purchase. It let me retire our old Windows Media Center PC using Media Center Extenders. There's one less box at each TV and no more having to change inputs on the TV.