How to Watch TV Without Cable

[RonBoyd]

"How to Watch TV Without Cable: A Complete Guide to Streaming & Free Over-the-Air TV" -- Kindle Edition

84-page book FREE at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Watch-Without-Cable-Over-Air-ebook/dp/B01MSIJTDC/

 

[RunningBum]

I'm not seeing it as free unless you have Kindle Unlimited, which is $9.99/month after a free trial. Seems like a lot of the info will be outdated pretty quickly as streaming sources are constantly changing.

 

[REWahoo]

An online, condensed version of essentially the same information - free: Cable TV Alternatives - A Guide to Cutting the Cord

 

[W2R]

I'm not seeing it as free unless you have Kindle Unlimited, which is $9.99/month after a free trial. Seems like a lot of the info will be outdated pretty quickly as streaming sources are constantly changing.

You're right; I see it as $2.99 without Kindle Unlimited, but that probably wouldn't break the bank for many of us.

Cutting the cable is pretty easy. Just take the box back if you have one, and tell the cable company to pound sand. Attach an indoor antenna if you want to.

Deciding on alternate services, if you want them, is harder I would imagine. I have Amazon Prime but almost never use it for streaming. In retirement, I have found there are so many entertainment options that it's kind of a relief to cut back on TV. Gives me more free time to do other things.

 

[Meadbh]

You're right; I see it as $2.99 without Kindle Unlimited, but that probably wouldn't break the bank for many of us.

Cutting the cable is pretty easy. Just take the box back if you have one, and tell the cable company to pound sand. Attach an indoor antenna if you want to.

Deciding on alternate services, if you want them, is harder I would imagine. I have Amazon Prime but almost never use it for streaming. In retirement, I have found there are so many entertainment options that it's kind of a relief to cut back on TV. Gives me more free time to do other things.

+1
It's been almost 5 years since I cut cable. I don't miss it.

 

[easysurfer]

I bought a paperback book recently that was free on Kindle (I don't have a Kindle). Paid about $16 for the book but this was more a pamphlet than a book so I ended up returning (after paying the return shipping fee). I'm sure not all Kindle books are pamphlets, but just wanted to share my experience.

As for going from cable to OTA, I switched over years ago. Did try various antennas (home built and various purchased ones) til I got one that I get all the major free local stations coming in clearly without having to readjust the antenna. Paired with a DVR that records OTA stations, I'm a happy camper. Oh, plus I do have an Amazon Fire TV too for streaming on the side.

 

[Chuckanut]

An online, condensed version of essentially the same information - free: Cable TV Alternatives - A Guide to Cutting the Cord

Great! People are rediscovering free Over The Air TV. Years ago if you wanted to watch TV at your own time, just hook up a VCR, pop a blank tape into it and set a timer. No need to even have an internet connection.

Today, I have a similar setup but the old VCR has been replaced by a very smart Tivo DVR. If I want to be very cheap I can even scrap the internet connection and just manually set recordings like I did with the VCR above - give it the date and times and it records.

I just woke up about 20 minutes after my morning news program started. No problem. The Tivo has a 30 minute buffer of the last channel watched which I set before going to bed. If I really wanted to sleep in a few pushes of the button last night and it would record the entire program. All for 'free' after I paid for the antenna and the Tivo.

Oh, the picture is the highest quality HD the station broadcasts.

Cable bills? Fugetaboutit!!!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Great!
Oh, the picture is the highest quality HD the station broadcasts.

Cable bills? Fugetaboutit!!!

This is a VERY good point. When I talk to people who cut the cord and watch OTA channels for the first time, they are AMAZED at how great the picture looks. I then explain that the cable companies (or streamers, doesn't matter) compress the signal which results in a degraded picture. But, when you get it straight from the source (OTA), it is not compressed (usually, although some of the "side channels" are) and looks GREAT! But of course, the cable companies sure as hell aren't going to tell you that.

My SIL just finally cut the cord a few days ago and she can't stop raving about how great it is and why she didn't do it sooner. It's fun to watch someone get off the um...cord.

 

[RunningBum]

I get OTA, but I want to watch more than that. Sports is the main thing, and while there are more solutions now, they don't seem to be complete for what I want. Reliable bandwidth is the biggest issue. 10MB seems like it should be enough, be in the evening when everyone else seems to be streaming, I'm often buffering. I get frustrated with that, so for a few bucks that aren't breaking my bank, I use satellite to do most everything I want, supplemented with streaming Amazon prime. I don't have a higher bandwidth option. If I could get fiber, I'd probably figure out how to make streaming work for me.


If I cared very little about sports, I'm sure I would cut the cord and use an OTA recorder to watch shows when I want and be able to skip commercials, and stream other content when I'm not having bandwidth issues.

 

[easysurfer]

I get OTA, but I want to watch more than that. Sports is the main thing, and while there are more solutions now, they don't seem to be complete for what I want. Reliable bandwidth is the biggest issue. 10MB seems like it should be enough, be in the evening when everyone else seems to be streaming, I'm often buffering. I get frustrated with that, so for a few bucks that aren't breaking my bank, I use satellite to do most everything I want, supplemented with streaming Amazon prime. I don't have a higher bandwidth option. If I could get fiber, I'd probably figure out how to make streaming work for me.


If I cared very little about sports, I'm sure I would cut the cord and use an OTA recorder to watch shows when I want and be able to skip commercials, and stream other content when I'm not having bandwidth issues.

Are you streaming to the computer or through a streaming device? I use the slowest bandwidth from Comcast (yep, I'm cheap ) and notice a difference when streaming to my computer or FireTV. On the old computer, a lot more buffering. On the FireTV device, pretty much works fine for movies.

With SlingTV during baseball playoffs, I do notice some slowness of the picture though. Acceptable, but noticeable.

 

[Midpack]

I'm ready. I need the book titled How to Get DW to Agree to Cut Cable/Satellite. I pick my battles carefully.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm ready. I need the book titled How to Get DW to Agree to Cut Cable/Satellite. I pick my battles carefully.

.

 

[RonBoyd]

Interesting. I went to Amazon and checked my "Memberships" and got this message: "You currently do not have Kindle Unlimited. Click here to join."


Oh! I see what happened... that silly "Gift Certificate" stuff from the Credit/Store card issue.


Now, I have to find where I was told it was Free... if I even care.


I apologize.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I bought a paperback book recently that was free on Kindle (I don't have a Kindle). Paid about $16 for the book but this was more a pamphlet than a book so I ended up returning (after paying the return shipping fee). I'm sure not all Kindle books are pamphlets, but just wanted to share my experience.

As for going from cable to OTA, I switched over years ago. Did try various antennas (home built and various purchased ones) til I got one that I get all the major free local stations coming in clearly without having to readjust the antenna. Paired with a DVR that records OTA stations, I'm a happy camper. Oh, plus I do have an Amazon Fire TV too for streaming on the side.

I have a kindle (nearly the oldest model) and Amazon Prime. I also have a library card. I can check out ebooks from the library onto my Kindle, and 2 weeks later they are no longer available. I can even place a hold on an ebook. If you like the classics, check our Project Gutenberg. These are out-of-copyright books that have been digitized and are online. I use an app called Stanza to access the books.

We have bundled internet and cable which is cheaper than internet alone. But we don't like the cable so we don't use it. We have satellite TV, but after a several year addiction to political shows, I realize that TV cannot match the multiple sources of news coverage, and even the most "objective" of news organizations feed into the sensational and the visual, and completely ignore important stuff. After the election, TV completely lost its appeal. So we are rethinking our TV watching. When a "How It's Made" marathon is the most useful thing on hundreds of channels, or a Facebook friend shares an interesting show on C-Span 3 hours after it ended, TV seems pointless.

 

[RunningBum]

Are you streaming to the computer or through a streaming device? I use the slowest bandwidth from Comcast (yep, I'm cheap ) and notice a difference when streaming to my computer or FireTV. On the old computer, a lot more buffering. On the FireTV device, pretty much works fine for movies.

With SlingTV during baseball playoffs, I do notice some slowness of the picture though. Acceptable, but noticeable.

Almost always to my Smart TV. That TV just went out last week. I'm replacing it this week, so I'll see if the TV interface was just slow. Maybe a FireStick or Roku would be faster.

 

[youbet]

.

Attach an indoor antenna if you want to.

If you live in an urban area. For rural folks, it'll take a substantial, elevated outdoor antenna. Or, if you're really out in the woods someplace, you'll get no OTA TV at all.

 

[tulak]

I'm ready. I need the book titled How to Get DW to Agree to Cut Cable/Satellite. I pick my battles carefully.

First step: get DW hooked on streaming content.

We haven't had cable for over a decade and DW is more than happy with whatever we get on Netflix.

During the last Winter Olympics, we signed up for cable and DW noted that she could never find anything interesting to watch and she hated all of the commercials. There were no issues cancelling cable after the Olympics were over.

A lot of this is about viewing habits. Once those are changed, then it's a lot easier to cut services. Having said that, DW is still hooked on watching local evening news in the morning. I bought a TabloTV to fill this gap (before we used Windows Media Center). This didn't go over without any issues (TabloTV was initially buggy), but there haven't been any complaints for the last year which makes us both happy. It's also nice to to have OTA for the occasional sporting event/PBS, even though PBS's steaming app is a good alternative.

 

[nun]

I bought a digital antenna that plugs into my TV. I get 30 channels completely free. I can't get things like "Honey Bo Bo" or "Duck Dynasty"......which is a positive IMHO. However, as I also don't have Netflix, Amazon prime etc I do miss some great shows, but that's not the end of the world.

 

[kcowan]

I guess you don't care about Australian tennis? Djokovic out, Murray out!

We get 1080p on satellite in Vancouver and Puerto Vallarta, plus Netflix.
One son has OTA plus Netflix in Toronto and downloads for cottage viewing.

 

[CaptTom]

Going on 2 years without cable TV. Don't miss it a bit.

I watch most of what I want right on the laptop, which isn't much. we have a Netflix subscription, and we have Amazon Prime and an Amazon set-top box. There's so much to watch, it's hard to find enough time. True, some specific shows aren't available this way, but there's always something to watch.

We got a free trial Hulu subscription, their lower-cost tier with commercials. I'd almost forgotten how awful commercials are. It's even worse on Hulu. They showed the same three commercials at every break, for days. Now I'll go out of my way NOT to do business with those three companies!

I remember when cable TV first came out. They advertised a clear picture for all the OTA programming, plus cable-only channels with no commercials, all for $10 a month.

Things sure have changed since then!

 

[kgtest]

I've never paid for cable, but spent a lot on beer.

Looks like we spend about $30/month for Netflix/split with another user, Amazon Prime and a newsgroup subscription...this includes 4 matinees a year,one every quarter. The others are downloaded. We watch the trash tv on Bravo...and catchup on some discovery and animal planet when we stay in hotels 30nights/yr

 

[John Galt III]

Going on 2 years without cable TV. Don't miss it a bit.

I remember when cable TV first came out. They advertised a clear picture for all the OTA programming, plus cable-only channels with no commercials, all for $10 a month.

Things sure have changed since then!

+1. The horrible and relentless commercials are what is making me want to dump cable. Paying for TV shows is one thing, but paying for commercials is just too much to bear. You know when you're channel surfing to find something without a commercial, and you've gone through 5 channels, and each one has a commercial blaring, it's just over.

 

[Youngster]

Just now experimenting with cutting the cable. Unfortunately, antenna channels availble in my area are not very many, unlike big cities.
I have a ROKU Express, and am doing free 30 day trials of NetFlix and Hulu (commercial free version). If it were up to me and not my wife, I would have cut cable long ago. I would be plenty satisfied with the limited antenna channels and with NetFlix and commercial free Hulu.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

I think it is an extension to the Firefox browser, or maybe a separate software program I discovered elsewhere, that creates a "Download" link immediately below every YouTube screen. I can click that and download any YouTube video I desire to a USB stick. I then insert that in the USB port of my DVD player, and watch tons of stuff on any TV at my leisure. (YouTube has seemingly everything these days--even soon-after videos of many TV shows.)

I have only OTA TV, and get some 40 channels in high HD. I don't have cable or streaming sources like Netflix and Hulu. I also watch lots of stuff available from my local library (DVDs and online).

 

[dasranger]

+1. The horrible and relentless commercials are what is making me want to dump cable. Paying for TV shows is one thing, but paying for commercials is just too much to bear. You know when you're channel surfing to find something without a commercial, and you've gone through 5 channels, and each one has a commercial blaring, it's just over.

We spend less than $135/month for cable/phone/internet. I'd get rid of the phone and the cable but my DW won't part with them. We also have a DVR. I haven't seen a commercial in 7 years.