Cutting the Cord - the Streaming TV thread

[Mike S]

Thursday I am officially divorcing Comcast/Xfinity. I have actually been happy with their service as they have improved immensely over the last five years. With that said, Google Fiber is now available and I am scheduled for a Thursday instllation.

As an avid sports fan this is a huge step for me because even though it is offered, I am not shelling out the extra $90 per month for Google's cable tv service. Instead, I am subscribing for the gig speed internet service for $70 per month, which includes modem rental, fees, etc and no contract. Comcast offered me ther 100mbps(which is what I have now anyway) with no contract and no TV for $80 per month, plus $11 monthly modem rental, plus taxes and fees. The decision was easy.

After much comparison shopping I decided on YouTube TV to feed my sports addiction. None of the other options(Sling, Hulu, DirecTV Now, PS Vue) could give me what I want at the price Youtube is offering. This also includes unlimited cloud storage for DVR purposes, 6 log in accounts with up to 3 that can stream simultaneously.

I figured I would start this thread so we can share our cord cutting experiences, pros and cons of different services, discuss new services, discuss new movies or series that a service has released and anything else to do with the direction home viewership is moving in.

 

[Mike S]

BTW - for comparison purposes I am paying Comast $174 per month(now my promo is over) for 100mbps internet and cable TV with HD DVR only on one TV. Don't get me wrong, it is an outstanding service with voice remote and one button push that brings up sports scores with direct link therein to switch to the particular game you are checking on(assuming it is televised).

With this switch, I will now be paying $110. So $64 less with much, much faster internet service. I am also about to change my T-Mobile phone plan and will now get Netflix free, which takes away the sting of Comcast now offering Netflix at no additional charge.

I won't have all the channels that I had previously, but most I never watched to begin with.

 

[barcncpt44]

I am a cord cutter. First, you can buy an antenna and get your local stations for free. You can get ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, CW, PBS, and many other subchannels that come with it. I do this and get the Birmingham stations. Second, I subscribe to Sling TV and only pay $20 per month for a bunch of cable TV channels that stream online. I also have Netflix as well. As for me with my local cable company, Cable One, there is a data limit of 300 GB per month for their cheapest plan. Some cable companies do this, keep that in mind.

 

[Mike S]

I wanted to go with Sling but I'd have to get their top package and it still doesn't have all the channels I want, where as Youtube does and I believe you have to pay extra for the DVR service.

Google Fiber has no data caps.

 

[maroonedinhsv]

I use Directv Now. I signed up when it first came out, so I'm grandfathered into their Go Big package for $35/month. It was a bumpy start to the service, but they have most issues ironed out now. Tons of sports, and the DVR option will be arriving very soon (I already have it as a beta tester). For local channels, I have an antenna connected to a networked receiver, and I then have plex which acts as a DVR and a live tv broadcaster (so I can watch from my phone or any other internet connected device).

 

[Mike S]

I need to check into Plex a little more. I wanted the DVR function integrated with whatever streaming service I used, so that ixnayed Directv Now for me.

One drawback to the Youtube TV DVR service(and others I've read) is if you record a weekly show and it is available on their on demand service you are forced to watch on demand and can't fast forward through any commercials. I only record a couple of shows so its not that big of a deal, but when you can cut out 18 minutes of commercials on an hour long show and you have 5 or 6 episodes to catch up on that's a lot of time savings when you can FF.

As for OTA, I bought a cheap digital antenna for all of my TV's a few years ago. They stay plugged in and sit behind the TV. When I want to use one I just hang it on something and it works great.

 

[KoD]

When I was younger I was more into online streaming of TV shows. It was nice getting everything Sling, Hulu or Netflix offers for free and with no ads.. Now I pay out the wazoo for cable, Netflix and Hulu. I use streaming services 75% of the time I'm watching TV and spend 4x more for the extra 25% I watch on live TV... Cable companies charge absurd amounts of money for the service they offer IMO. Definitely not enough competition in that market. I'll likely end up getting an internet only package and dropping the cable TV. It's just not worth it.

 

[Mike S]

I was hoping Google would have had a stronger cable TV package. What they have isn't bad but it isn't worth keeping cable.

 

[maroonedinhsv]

I need to check into Plex a little more. I wanted the DVR function integrated with whatever streaming service I used, so that ixnayed Directv Now for me.

One drawback to the Youtube TV DVR service(and others I've read) is if you record a weekly show and it is available on their on demand service you are forced to watch on demand and can't fast forward through any commercials. I only record a couple of shows so its not that big of a deal, but when you can cut out 18 minutes of commercials on an hour long show and you have 5 or 6 episodes to catch up on that's a lot of time savings when you can FF.

As for OTA, I bought a cheap digital antenna for all of my TV's a few years ago. They stay plugged in and sit behind the TV. When I want to use one I just hang it on something and it works great.

The DVR service is integrated into Directv Now if you're an approved beta tester (which many, many users are). I only use Plex DVR for OTA - and, to be honest, that's all I ever DVR except for the occasional sports event.

 

[Kory]

When I was younger I was more into online streaming of TV shows. It was nice getting everything Sling, Hulu or Netflix offers for free and with no ads.. Now I pay out the wazoo for cable, Netflix and Hulu. I use streaming services 75% of the time I'm watching TV and spend 4x more for the extra 25% I watch on live TV... Cable companies charge absurd amounts of money for the service they offer IMO. Definitely not enough competition in that market. I'll likely end up getting an internet only package and dropping the cable TV. It's just not worth it.

Someone has to maintain the infrastructure. That's why when people brag about Boost Mobile being so much cheaper, it is because they're using the infrastructure of the big companies.

 

[Mike S]

The DVR service is integrated into Directv Now if you're an approved beta tester (which many, many users are). I only use Plex DVR for OTA - and, to be honest, that's all I ever DVR except for the occasional sports event.

I'll look into it some more. Recording OTA would be nice.

 

[jmills]

Troy used to provide cable for students, but this October they cut it for the cheaper dorms and is only keeping it in the more expensive ones. I bought an over the air antenna and with a little fiddling, got it to where I can pick up most Montgomery and Dothan stations. It's not bad, and the quality is great, but I do miss a lot of the channels that I used to get. I've never experimented with any of the streaming services like Sling (but I do use Netflix some)

 

[Mike S]

curve ball - signed up for Sling TV's top package with DVR and the sports package because it is free for 7 days. I figure I might as well get free TV for a few days before signing up for YoutubeTV long term.

 

[KoD]

Someone has to maintain the infrastructure. That's why when people brag about Boost Mobile being so much cheaper, it is because they're using the infrastructure of the big companies.

I get that they have operating costs and TV stations charge cable companies a fee to use their programs. But I can simultaneously stream tv/movies in UHD over a wireless phone network with no buffer pauses and that doesn't require being hardwired to the grid. TV networks also get most of their revenue from the ads that interrupt us every 10-12 minutes. With the internet being all that you need to watch anything you want, what's the point in giving a company like Xfinity/Comcast all this money for adding an extra step to access TV networks? Broadcasters could easily work with the consumer directly and companies like Comcast could still be useful by providing homes with internet needed to transmit the data. I just don't see how their service is worth $120/mo when I could get a 200mB/s internet connection for $40-50/mo and that be all that's actually needed for data transmission. The extra $840/yr is for their software to allow me to scroll through the channels on a GUI and hundreds of channels I don't want? Smart TVs have their own GUI for Netflix, Hulu, hbo, shotime, etc... And could easily perform the same functions as a cable box - just need a modem/router with internet.
Then there's the extra $20 for an upgraded cable box that records shows, an extra $10 for HD, an extra this, extra that, for something that you'd expect from a $70/mo fee.
It just doesn't add up to me. I know at one time it was an innovative and useful idea to get all the major tv broadcasting products and bundle them up and offer it to consumers as a package. But things have changed. The technology of communications has evolved past the need for a third party to compile the service into a package for the consumer. However they still provide a valuable infrastructure of connectivity and they certainly should charge for that to be maintained and still get a good profit. I'd rather have a more intuitive system where I pay for a connection and then pay the people who make & broadcast what I watch - and not for 140 channels I don't because the people who connect me can force me to if I want cable at all. I suppose that's what this is all about though. People now pay to be connected, save big bucks watching TV by going directly to the source of the programming and paying them.