Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

[explanade]

I guess they wouldn't want 9-year olds to access TVMA shows or rated R movies.

 

[audreyh1]

There's a little question mark icon by it that explains why. They say they want to tailor your viewing, and age can play a part in that. Maybe there are real reasons. I normally put the right year but not the actual date for things like this.

Same here. I put in a date close but not actual and a year off.

 

[Chuckanut]

Same here. I put in a date close but not actual and a year off.

Sheesh! The way this data is shared between business, government institutions and credit bureaus you are messed up for life. Did you ever see the episode of Grace and Frankie where Frankie had to deal with the consequences of having told some organization she was deceased?

 

[audreyh1]

Sheesh! The way this data is shared between business, government institutions and credit bureaus you are messed up for life. Did you ever see the episode of Grace and Frankie where Frankie had to deal with the consequences of having told some organization she was deceased?

LOL - they don’t have my real name either nor same cc, nor same email.

 

[pb4uski]

I took the bait and put a note in my calendar to review in a year before the full price kicks in. I don’t think we’ll use it enough to pay the full price but we’ll try it!

+1

 

[wmc1000]

We've had hulu at 7.99 for years and only watched sporadically if some show we watch was pre-empted locally or if we recorded it for later and for some reason it didn't we could watch on hulu. Additionally, DD who lives in the sticks and doesn't get much local reception uses it fairly regularly so that was another reason to keep it.


Called DD and told her to sign up and I would give her the $12 it costs for the year! We do watch The Handmaids Tale so that is worth the money for us. I'll cancel our service tomorrow.

 

[Carpediem]

To our surprise, we got upgraded to the Elite Package (reg $79.99/mo) 97 channels including HBO, ShowTime on Wed! First time we've seen an upgrade promo with PS Vue. It ends Sunday, but it's been fun to have a few channels we lost coming from Dish (at over twice the price)...we can't imagine ever going back to cable or satellite.

How did you learn about the upgrade? I haven't received anything from PSV yet and I am a Core plan customer. Thanks.

 

[Cobra9777]

How did you learn about the upgrade? I haven't received anything from PSV yet and I am a Core plan customer. Thanks.

You won't get anything from PSV. It's just a temporary promotional upgrade for the Black Friday weekend. They did the same thing last year. And what's weird is that not all customers get the upgrade. It's rather random. Here's an article that explains it.

 

[bUU]

If you've got more than one credit card try a different one. Worked for me.

So thinking about it a bit more, now, in light of perhaps getting the deal...

99c a month for 12 months is still $12 year. Doing the math, I cannot imagine subscribing for more than one month over the next year. This past year, we watched for three weeks before exhausting all it offered that we wanted (11.22.63, Castle Rock, Handmaid's Tale, Unreal, and the first few minutes of Harlots and Chance, both of which we didn't like). That was after skipping a year to let some content stack up. This coming year, we'll maybe watch Castle Rock (it was meh), The First, Handmaid's Tale, and Veronica Mars. That'll all still fit in one month of binge watching. I would rather pay $12 for one month commercial free than $12 for a year with commercials.

Now, of course, that's us: With Netflix and Hulu, HBO and Showtime, we binge watch originals (only). As such, a full year of access is not worth any more than how many months it would take to binge watch a full year of their original programming. For Hulu, for us, that's still less than one month.

 

[bobandsherry]

Thanks for the tip. For .99 cents a month why not sign up.......

After signing up and browsing the movie selection, it's obvious where the "B" movies go to die. Don't think I'd pay more than 99 cents a month. But that's me, YMMV.

 

[audreyh1]

Looks like we’re only going to be watching the Showtime content via Hulu. Found several good things. Watching Homeland and Billions now. Probably will just watch the first two seasons of each. Showtime $4.99 discount rate is through end of Feb.

 

[Bestwifeever]

...

Now, of course, that's us: With Netflix and Hulu, HBO and Showtime, we binge watch originals (only). As such, a full year of access is not worth any more than how many months it would take to binge watch a full year of their original programming. For Hulu, for us, that's still less than one month.

This $0.99 a month (probably no longer available?) is charged monthly and one can cancel at any time. So a small investment for Hulu newbies to see if they like it.

 

[audreyh1]

This $0.99 a month (probably no longer available?) is charged monthly and one can cancel at any time. So a small investment for Hulu newbies to see if they like it.

Yeah, really the only reason to try it for us. We haven’t seen anything yet that draws our interest. Are we overlooking something (non Showtime)?

It may still be available

Offer valid through November 26, 2018 or while promotion last.

 

[steelyman]

I’m really pleased with the HD OTA reception I get in my current home and not having to pay for basic cable to receive the standard stations.

Not everyone gets the same signals though and I’ve lent out a spare indoor antenna to a few friends so that they can see how they might do in their location.

I wonder: are there reliable hand-held devices that can check signal strength (without actually hooking up an antenna)? If so, any experience/recommendations?

 

[Dawg52]

After signing up and browsing the movie selection, it's obvious where the "B" movies go to die. Don't think I'd pay more than 99 cents a month. But that's me, YMMV.

I don't find a ton of stuff on Netflix that interest me. There are a couple of series I like there and I binged watched those last month, but just dropped the service. So I will always be a short term subscriber on most of these. I will stay with Hula for the year promo as I'm sure I will find enough value in the deal. More than likely I will drop when it ends tho.

 

[bobandsherry]

I don't find a ton of stuff on Netflix that interest me. There are a couple of series I like there and I binged watched those last month, but just dropped the service. So I will always be a short term subscriber on most of these. I will stay with Hula for the year promo as I'm sure I will find enough value in the deal. More than likely I will drop when it ends tho.

Yeah, I hear ya on Netflix. I get it for free (Tmobile) and know I wouldn't pay for it. I guess I'm not in the demographics for Hulu, Netflix, et al.

 

[RunningBum]

I wonder: are there reliable hand-held devices that can check signal strength (without actually hooking up an antenna)? If so, any experience/recommendations?

I can't imagine there would be one that would really work well, since not all antennas are equal. I've tried out a number different antennas in my house as I'm a long distance from the towers, with mountains to work around. I got very different results in the different antennas, influenced by exactly where I positioned it. I can't imagine a hand held device giving me a useful answer. I need to know how well a specific antenna works.

https://antennaweb.org/Address may give you enough info. It even shows you what type of antenna you'll need. I either missed it or it wasn't there when I last used it, and I just tried different ones and kept the best, but I think I do get all the stations they list, and it doesn't list other nearby stations that I haven't been able to pick up. I'm in a funny area that have 4 different areas that seem possible to receive from and the best is furthest away--probably a stronger signal, and it is in the largest city.

 

[RunningBum]

https://antennaweb.org/Address may give you enough info. It even shows you what type of antenna you'll need.

I looked up a couple of antennas on Amazon and neither had any kind of information matching what antennaweb specified (CTA certification color) I'd need. They just give mileage range, which isn't very useful because I can pick up stations from 78 miles away better than I can ones 25 miles away.

 

[steelyman]

I can't imagine there would be one that would really work well, since not all antennas are equal.

Thanks, this makes perfect sense to me. I guess you can’t really know without trying your actual equipment. I lucked out here, just hung a flat amplified antenna (“Amazon Basics”, I think advertised 50 miles), scanned, and it just worked.

AntennaWeb helps a lot in learning about your particular location and tower positioning. It happens that my antenna faces east and that’s the source of the signals.

I have a splitter on the antenna coax that directs one output directly to the TV and the other to an inexpensive DVR-like box called an “iView” made by Exuby. That box has an option to display the current strength on a per-channel basis.

 

[Gotadimple]

Yeah, I hear ya on Netflix. I get it for free (Tmobile) and know I wouldn't pay for it. I guess I'm not in the demographics for Hulu, Netflix, et al.

Hulu has an arrangement with several networks (ABC, TNT) to air current series a few days after broadcast. If you like to stream and don't want to record, it's one way to get on demand without paying the cable company.
Certainly not the best for movies, I agree.

Netflix created series are among the best, and they do get better movies.
All a matter of personal preference.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

I can't imagine there would be one that would really work well, since not all antennas are equal. I've tried out a number different antennas in my house as I'm a long distance from the towers, with mountains to work around. I got very different results in the different antennas, influenced by exactly where I positioned it. I can't imagine a hand held device giving me a useful answer. I need to know how well a specific antenna works.

https://antennaweb.org/Address may give you enough info. It even shows you what type of antenna you'll need. I either missed it or it wasn't there when I last used it, and I just tried different ones and kept the best, but I think I do get all the stations they list, and it doesn't list other nearby stations that I haven't been able to pick up. I'm in a funny area that have 4 different areas that seem possible to receive from and the best is furthest away--probably a stronger signal, and it is in the largest city.

Use TV Fool instead of AntennaWeb. TV Fool accounts for the terrain and the Earths curvature should that apply. IMO TV Fool will give you a much more accurate result of what you can receive OTA. I have played with TV signals for years, and this is from my experience.


Well, sometimes AntennaWeb is accurate, as to your situation, but by and large, in the majority of cases, TV Fool does a better job IMO.


I find antennaweb too conservative. TV Fool is more technical.

 

[steelyman]

Use TV Fool instead of AntennaWeb. TV Fool accounts for the terrain and the Earths curvature should that apply. IMO TV Fool will give you a much more accurate result of what you can receive OTA. I have played with TV signals for years, and this is from my experience.


Well, sometimes AntennaWeb is accurate, as to your situation, but by and large, in the majority of cases, TV Fool does a better job IMO.

Another score for the collective wisdom and experience of the ERFools. Never heard of this, thanks!

 

[Chuckanut]

I They just give mileage range, which isn't very useful because I can pick up stations from 78 miles away better than I can ones 25 miles away.

There is a certain amount of Voodoo involved with picking up OTA signals. So many things can interfere with a signal.

One of my favorite stations come is sharp and loud in the summer on my 2nd floor antenna, but is wonky on the 1st floor antenna. Come Winter the 1st floor antenna reception gets very good and the 2nd floor gets wonky.

Something must be happening in the atmosphere to cause signals to bounce around differently. What?

Like I said - Voodoo.

 

[RunningBum]

Use TV Fool instead of AntennaWeb. TV Fool accounts for the terrain and the Earths curvature should that apply. IMO TV Fool will give you a much more accurate result of what you can receive OTA. I have played with TV signals for years, and this is from my experience.


Well, sometimes AntennaWeb is accurate, as to your situation, but by and large, in the majority of cases, TV Fool does a better job IMO.


I find antennaweb too conservative. TV Fool is more technical.

Oddly, TV Fool shows more possibilities, but totally misses on 3 I get very well, out of the same town I get others. NBC, Fox, and UPN locals, and they don't seem to be known by another name. And it claims I can get one, might become a WB affiliate?, that I can't get.

I have my antenna connected to my Dish receiver so I can record, and that gives me a signal strength number between 0-100. It helps a lot to get the one shaky local station I really want, without losing the stronger ones. Once i got that, I try not to touch my Leaf antenna.

 

[pb4uski]

Back when we had an OTA we used a booster to enhance the signal... many years ago... pre digital so not sure if the concept still applies.... but it worked well.