Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

[REWahoo]

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.

FWIW, I saw where the $0.99/mo Hulu offer was extended through today: https://www.hulu.com/welcome

 

[audreyh1]

FWIW, I saw where the $0.99/mo Hulu offer was extended through today: https://www.hulu.com/welcome

We haven't found anything interesting yet to watch on Hulu. But we're enjoying their big discount on Showtime.

 

[stephenson]

I signed up for the 0.99 deal ... commercials are less obtrusive and easy to mute.

Found several items to catch up on ... worth a couple of bucks so far this month.

Check out this list of adds and losses for Dec 2018 - lots of movies, but mostly ones you might want to enjoy a second time ...

https://www.hulu.com/press/hulu-whats-coming-and-going-in-december/

 

[Bestwifeever]

Old news to others and might work on many streamers, maybe, but news to me—I just added Hoopla as a channel and can now watch downloaded movies from our public library. I may never leave my house again!

 

[timo2]

Old news to others and might work on many streamers, maybe, but news to me—I just added Hoopla as a channel and can now watch downloaded movies from our public library. I may never leave my house again!

Thanks. They have a roku channel the site says.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Old news to others and might work on many streamers, maybe, but news to me—I just added Hoopla as a channel and can now watch downloaded movies from our public library. I may never leave my house again!

Our local library gives us a free Kanopy subscription, which is nice.

 

[NoMoreJob]

Thanks for the site info.

Playstation Vue is my best fit. $49.99.
There is an old Playstation 3 in the house, I presume it would work.

Now I need fast internet. Comcast would be about $60 a month. So I'm at $110 a month for TV and internet. I'm paying $129 for TV/internet/security right now. Almost worth it to make the jump.

I see that DVRing is possible and I can skip the ads. That's nice.

Hmmm....

You don't really need all that 'fast' of internet to stream. For normal HD broadcasts you need about 5 Mbps per stream, maybe even a bit less.

I have 15Mbps service on which I reliably achieve that speed (usually 17-18 Mbps). My service is fiber optic so probably more consistent in speed and quality than Cable internet. We can run two simultaneous streams plus surf on our laptops, talk on our VoIP phone etc. with no issues whatsoever. I do have Google Wifi which I think helps as well.

Of course our internet provider tells all of their new customers that they need 100 Mbps if they're going to stream.

 

[RonBoyd]

Of course our internet provider tells all of their new customers that they need 100 Mbps if they're going to stream.

The consensus is you only need 25 mbps for the most demanding streaming, 4K video.

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...55...........0.M2YvNWw6PVw&qscrl=1&gws_rd=ssl

 

[stephenson]

Cosmic,

Shoot - thought there was something there for me ... my local library system does not connect with Kanopy ...!!

 

[Bestwifeever]

Our local library gives us a free Kanopy subscription, which is nice.

It gets better and better—mine does too! Thanks for mentioning this.

 

[Midpack]

The consensus is you only need 25 mbps for the most demanding streaming, 4K video.

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...55...........0.M2YvNWw6PVw&qscrl=1&gws_rd=ssl

Probably as long as you're only streaming 4K to one device/TV.

Rule of thumb I've seen is 10mbps for full HD (1080p) + 5mbps for each additional device/TV simultaneous streaming. We have 25 mbps and stream to 2 TV's or even 3 devices without any issue, but much of broadcast TV is only 720p HD...

There isn't any broadcast TV at 4K that I know of, but there are movies and videos.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Can anyone tell me how far behind being "live" the streaming sports events truly are? If it's coming from the cloud, it must be a bit delayed. Ten seconds? Thirty seconds? A minute?

 

[RonBoyd]

There isn't any broadcast TV at 4K that I know of, but there are movies and videos.

I am not sure what you mean by "broadcast"... OTA?

Anyway, there is much to be found streaming in 4K -- and even 4K HDR, For instance,

. (Yeah, you can watch it on your computer but streamed to a 4K HDR capable TV is quite impressive.) There are, of course, many other YouTube 4K videos and very few others but they are becoming more common.

 

[jim584672]

I am not sure what you mean by "broadcast"... OTA?

Anyway, there is much to be found streaming in 4K -- and even 4K HDR, For instance,

. (Yeah, you can watch it on your computer but streamed to a 4K HDR capable TV is quite impressive.) There are, of course, many other YouTube 4K videos and very few others but they are becoming more common.

OTA = over the air
The OTA HD standard is either 1080i or 720p.

 

[audreyh1]

The consensus is you only need 25 mbps for the most demanding streaming, 4K video.

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...55...........0.M2YvNWw6PVw&qscrl=1&gws_rd=ssl

We get away with 4K streaming on 20mbps.

 

[frank]

I notice a lot are going to over the air antennaes. I live abouut 70 miles from the broadcast centers and have numerous trees in my yard. is there anyone with the same problems that can recommend a basement, wall or any other antennae that works well with these problems?

 

[REWahoo]

I notice a lot are going to over the air antennaes. I live abouut 70 miles from the broadcast centers and have numerous trees in my yard. is there anyone with the same problems that can recommend a basement, wall or any other antennae that works well with these problems?

My experience says at that distance you will need an outdoor antenna mounted high on a mast to get a signal. Plug your address into this website and it should provide you with information on what type of antenna you'll need. https://www.antennasdirect.com/transmitter-locator.html

 

[RonBoyd]

My experience says at that distance you will need an outdoor antenna mounted high on a mast to get a signal.

10 things you need to know about Digital TV Antennas

8. Hills, trees, and buildings bend, deflect, and weaken signals.

The digital TV signal is a ‘line of sight’ signal. Typically, the higher you have your antenna, the better the reception. While signals pass through walls and other surfaces, the more obstructions the signal encounters, the weaker the signal and this causes signal disruption. The clearest, most unobstructed view to the broadcast towers will allow the antenna to perform at the highest level.

 

[mpeirce]

I'm not 70 miles from the tower, but even so it helps a lot to locate your antennae as high as possible.

We placed a TiVo in second story bedroom and get good reception there. In our family room we use the little TiVo mini to drive our main TV. Basically it streams from the upstairs TiVo, but works like it's live TV.

When the antennae is on the first floor we don't receive all the channels.

 

[Midpack]

I'm not 70 miles from the tower, but even so it helps a lot to locate your antennae as high as possible.

We placed a TiVo in second story bedroom and get good reception there. In our family room we use the little TiVo mini to drive our main TV. Basically it streams from the upstairs TiVo, but works like it's live TV.

When the antennae is on the first floor we don't receive all the channels.

Same here. 40+ channels with antenna upstairs, 9 channels downstairs with the same antenna. Not everyone will see that kind of variation, but it's worth checking at your home before making a big decision regarding OTA. It's not enough to look at your general area or even your neighborhood necessarily, depends on topography.

 

[jim584672]

Height is so important, especially at more distant locales.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Old news to others and might work on many streamers, maybe, but news to me—I just added Hoopla as a channel and can now watch downloaded movies from our public library. I may never leave my house again!

Thanks, BWE, I didn't know my library card got me free movies on my streaming device. They also say that I can get music, too.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Improve in what way? What do you feel you're missing?

I use SageTV and not Tablo. Tablo is distant second to SageTV as far as features but would be my first choice if not for STV. I am a bigger fan of PLEX than I am of KODI. PlayOn is pretty handy for recording streaming programming. (Oh! yeah. DSL through CenturyLink,)

I have >80 channels OTA available but, also, subscribe to DirecTV NOW (HBO comes with DTVN), Hulu, PBS, Prime, Acorn TV, & Showtime.

Would like to hear more about how you use SageTV and PlayOn. Looks like PlayOn will record Spectrum shows, which is good. Looks like with both SageTV and PlayOn you need some kind of PC with a tuner hardware. Is that what you do?

 

[Chuckanut]

Thanks, BWE, I didn't know my library card got me free movies on my streaming device. They also say that I can get music, too.

Mine and probably your library card probably also gets us free DVDs. Not as hi-tech as streaming and often I have to wait a few weeks, but I am half way through the 9th season of the 'new' Dr. Who thanks to DVDs.

 

[ncbill]

Probably as long as you're only streaming 4K to one device/TV.

Rule of thumb I've seen is 10mbps for full HD (1080p) + 5mbps for each additional device/TV simultaneous streaming. We have 25 mbps and stream to 2 TV's or even 3 devices without any issue, but much of broadcast TV is only 720p HD...

There isn't any broadcast TV at 4K that I know of, but there are movies and videos.

Before Verizon caught on & shut them all off I was able to stream Amazon/Netflix/Hulu, etc. to my HDTV over an "unlimited 3G" MiFi device ($5/month) I used as backup to my main internet.