Cutting Cable.
 

I know there are already several threads but I’m adding to it.

Our DTV bill is about to go up $60 a month to $133. We’re looking at cutting cable. We’d like to add Hulu live TV, netflix, and MLB.TV. I know I can stream all three through my Xbox. It looks like I won’t have AMC, NFL Network or NBC. NFL Network I can stream the Thursday night games through my xbox.

How is the quality? We have to upgrade our internet to unlimited for an extra $20/month. Provider said we’d also get faster speeds.
Does anyone have MLB.Tv and use it through your Xbox?
What about DVR services?

It looks like I can get all three for around $64 a month.

Quality depends on what you're watching. Normally nothing below 720p.
You absolutely don't have to upgrade your internet. Providers will tell you if they know you're going digital, just to squeeze a few more bucks out of you. I highly recommend sticking with your current plan and testing that out with the new services before bothering with upgrading your internet. If it turns out to be slow, you can always upgrade later, and that's something they just switch on their end it doesn't cost anything.
I've not used MLB.tv in a long time, and when I did it wasn't Xbox. Not sure about that.
Hulu with LiveTV comes with an online DVR service. But it's only 50hrs worth. They keep it low because for an extra $15 you can upgrade to unlimited DVR. HuluTV also limits the number of streams to 2 at a time, so keep that in mind. You can upgrade that as well for another extra fee. Hulu kind of nickel and dimes you like that.

Thanks. We only have one tv and don’t really stream stuff on our devices. Our girls stick to YouTube.

As far as upgrading internet. We’ve bn warned a couple times that we’re close to being over our limit. We have a low package since we don’t stream much now. Provider said it’s $20 more for unlimited.

Be prepared to pay extra, either now (for the unlimited) or in the near future. The repeal of the net neutrality act was not a good thing for consumers, ISP's can change their pricing model to whatever they want. You want to stream video? new video package pricing. want youtube and facebook, twitter, etc? social media package. I know it seems far fetched, and some ISP's said they would NOT be doing this, but they can deep packet inspect and throttle accordingly to get you to pay more.

The only way you'd have to upgrade your internet is the amount of people you have.

When we cut cable I had 4 teenagers, I had to upgrade my speed because 6 people pulling shit at once is impossible if you have a low speed especially when several of those people are streaming/gaming/downloading.

As far as internet limit goes, I have to pay to be uncapped because I am always over the limit but I'll ask this. Do you download a lot of things? If you have like PS plus and Xbox live and download games or just buy games digital in general that will kill your usage numbers. And if you stream in 4k that'll jump you up too.

Oldest son went to college and our daughter moved out and that made my average monthly usage go down but I'm still over the cap. I use to average about 3500 gigs a month now it's at about 2200, limit is 1024.

It's going to depend a lot on people and what you do. I work from home as well, and kids use a ton of net. If you don't have kids and no one is home all day you're usage will be way less.

We use YouTube and I watch prime a lot of nights. There’s four of us with two being 6-3.

I checked MLB.TV and I cant get Royals games in Oklahoma. Says it’s blacked out. You’d think I would get FSKC for free if they considered me regional.

I called DTV and they could lower my bill $133-$92.

Now, if I can figure out how to watch Royals games on my TV I’d go ahead and cancel DTV.

Google Reddit MLB streams. I'm sure they're out there. I've watched the Chiefs on Reddit streams this season when the game hasn't been televised and I haven't had any issues.

Do. It.

Youtube.tv is $40 and covers pretty much everything. We also switched to T-Mobile, which included Netflix. We pay $10 for Hulu, which is worth it, and also have Amazon Prime. That pretty much covers streaming.

If you live outside of the KC area and want to watch Chiefs games not provided in your region, check out Reddit. All streams are linked there.

**** cable companies and the donkeys they rode in on ;)

That's odd that MLB.tv is blacked out. Generally, if you're blacked out on MLB.tv, that should indicate that you would get FSKC as part of your regional sports package.

But yeah, reddit is a solid option if nothing else.

I was able to stream almost every St Louis Cardinals game in HD quality through Reddit last year, so baseball shouldn’t be a concern.

+1

you keep the hell away from me!!!

One would think. I pay $15 monthly for FSKC on my DTV. I get FSsouth with my regional channels.

I cut the cord in 2018 and have been very happy with the result. I use Firestick to stream on 3 TV's. We have an antenna in the attic for locals. I recently added the firetv recast, which is a DVR for my locals. I ran the antenna to it, ran a channel scan, and connected it with my Firestick. Now, I get my locals anywhere that I have a Firestick, plus I get the guide and DVR ability. As far as my streaming services, I use DirecTV Now for most of my viewing. I have Amazon Prime, so I get all of their stuff. I also have Netflix and am trying out Hulu. I get pretty much everything that I had with DirecTV for a lot less money. I also have CBS all access and a VPN. With the VPN, I can select a KC IP address and get KC programming. That may work for your Royals games. I haven't tried that. But, if your streaming service thinks that you're in KC, then you should be able to get KC version of Fox Sports.

We use a firestick for Netflix and Sling. Get the sports packages, and watch whatever events you want.

Has anyone tried Vaderstreams? I found it while doing some research on streaming services. I'm looking to kick DTV to the curb, but want to be able to watch live channels and be able to get reliable NFL streams to catch the Chiefs games. So far Vaders isn't too bad costs $140/year, doesn't do DVR from what I can tell though.

That's the only reason I haven't cut DTV - Sunday ticket.

I know it's face rape but I want access to all the games...

Posted this in another cord cutting thread but if you are wondering what options you have you can try this site.



https://www.suppose.tv/tv

I gotta have The DVR.

SO...I called Dish and was going to cancel (switch to Direct...or cut the cord again altogether); they sent a tech out (for free) who upgraded my box, hooked up the TV in my bedroom to the box in the living room (both TVs have an individual feed off the new box - genius). He then installed a converter that allows me to hook my over the air antenna to the box, so all the locals show up on the box AND CAN BE RECORDED TO THE DVR. So I don't have to pay for locals.

THEN...they gave me the Multi-Sport package for free for a year - Jan 2019 - Jan 2020. Free Showtimes for a year...and FOUR FREE MONTHS. Period.

I dont have to pay a Dish bill until April.

They know how to keepanicka.

Since I always watch Chiefs, and they usually play early, I realized that I was usually paying for my choice of 3 - 5 afternoon games...and Redzone does a great job of covering the late games that isn't a head-spinning whirlwind like 6-9 early games can sometimes be. No commercials.

The Dish deal is cheaper, and the multi sport pack is awesome, so I'm rolling with that.

Directv gave me two months for free. But then they removed some of the channels that I actually watch. Which pisses me off.

If I can figure out how to watch Royals games then I’m out. MLB.TV says I’m in the blackout region.

I was able to watch every Chiefs game this season OTA (thanks FOX!) save for MNF (thank Reerun!). I'll never have cable/satellite again. BIG waste of money.

The "cord cutting" thread looked like a good place to put this....

Charter Spectrum-Tribune dispute causes TV channel blackout that hits millions across US

Another new year, another TV carriage dispute.

About 6 million Spectrum TV subscribers have lost local channels in New York, Los Angeles, Denver, St. Louis and 20 other markets amid a contract standoff between pay-TV provider Charter and the Tribune Media broadcast group.

Tribune's 33 channels went dark Wednesday across Charter's Spectrum TV system, which serves 41 cities. The two companies had only temporarily extended the contract, which expired Monday. In addition to subscribers in Seattle, Denver and St. Louis losing Fox channels – and Indianapolis losing Fox and CBS channels – just as NFL playoffs approach this weekend, more than 14 million subscribers also lost WGN America, Tribune Media says.

“We’ve offered Spectrum fair market rates for our top-rated local news, live sports and high-quality entertainment programming, and similarly fair rates for our cable network, WGN America,” Gary Weitman, Tribune Media’s senior vice president for corporate relations, said in a statement. “Spectrum has refused our offer and failed to negotiate in a meaningful fashion.”

Tribune is demanding an increase of more than double what Charter currently pays for the broadcaster's stations, Charter said in a statement. "That is more than we pay any other broadcaster. They’re not being reasonable."


Media company Nexstar last month said it would pay $4.1 billion to acquire Tribune Media's 42 stations, giving the Texas-headquartered broadcaster the largest collection of local TV stations with 216 stations, covering nearly half of the U.S. upon completion of the deal.

NFL fans caught up in the dispute can stream games free on the NFL and Yahoo Sports apps.

This is just the latest outage caused by contract disputes between pay-TV providers and broadcasters. More than 1 million Verizon Fios subscribers in Washington, Baltimore, Norfolk, Virginia, and Buffalo, New York, lost local channels Monday in a standoff between the TV and broadband provider and broadcast group Tegna.

Verizon on Sunday settled a dispute with Disney that kept channels such as ESPN and the Disney Channel, as well as ABC stations in New York and Philadelphia, available.

Now going on two months is a dispute between HBO and Dish Network, when began when HBO took its channels from the satellite TV provider and its broadband-delivered TV service Sling TV on Nov. 1.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...ls/2470752002/

We have Youtube tv and like it! I do with it had HGTV and Food Network, but it's got everything else.

I don't know what the PBS situation is in your area, but we have Create, which more than makes up for not having those two. The cooking shows are top notch, actually. My daughter loves America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Country.

Do people have MLB games streaming on Reddit?

Google Fiber = $50 YoutubeTV = $40 which has unlimited DVR. Shared Netflix,Hulu and AmazonPrime subscriptions = approx $25

I got pissed at cable and ended up just buying a Roku for each TV that I wanted to watch TV on and cut the cord.

So I am in the final stages of my house build. My intent is not to have dish (cable won't run where I will be).

What do I need to know? What is the best antenna? What other equipment will I need? I have been too dependent upon cable for too long.

That's why my wife insisted on Hulu, cuz it has those, but no NFL network...which ain't that big of a deal, but the PSVue had it and it was nice, but their local chanel stream sucked bad. No problems with Hulu. Just no NFL network. Meh.

What channel have they removed? I never noticed any unless it's one of those sports channels in the 600's, can't keep track of all them. I saw they just made HSN a HD channel, so now everything is just about in HD. They added the Scientology Channel, not too interested in that.

I've had Directv since 2008 and had NFL Sunday Ticket add since 2011 when I moved to Florida. I can't complain, they gave me the ticket free the last two years.

My neighbor just got a streaming system called SkyStream 3, it has 600 channels, he had to buy the box for $160 and then he pays $30 a month. He usually asks for my password for NFL Ticket to watch his Eagles on his computer. I said did the games work OK on your computer this year, he said I don't need it anymore. Then he showed me he had every Philadelphia channel and watched the games on the CBS and Fox Philly channels, and we're in central Florida. I said, then you don't get the local Orlando channels, he said yes he did, he got both Orlando and Philly. I'm thinking about looking into that once football is over.

https://www.skystreamx.com/blogs/lat...se-information

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/03...g?v=1541706411

I noticed FXM and DIY network were removed from our programming package. Two channels we actually do watch. There were a few others.

Of course. Works just like NFL and all the other major sports.

http://reddit.com/r/mlbstreams/

That's AT&T trying to get more money hoping you upgrade. I've got the Premier package, so nothing has changed. I liked that they finally put FXM as HD channel. I've got everything including NFL Ticket, the last two seasons they gave me the ticket for free. I pay $185 a month. Basically since I've been with them ten years, and I got my latest box 4 years ago, an HD DVR, I'm no longer under contract of any kind. So all I do is call about every six months and say what deals do you have and they'll knock $25 or $40 off for six months. That's how I got the NFL Ticket, I just called and said, take the NFL Ticket off my bill. They use to give me a discount, so I paid about $150 to $200, but the last two times, they said it's free.

I have been really happy with YoutubeTV. The quality has gone up in the last year or so.

Most of the sports are at 1080 or 720 at 60FPS. I really noticed when the the hockey games went from 30 to 60. And I don't get the glitches that I used to.

My internet bill alone is 120 dollars....that's what happens when I have to have the 200 mbps down and the 50 bucks uncapped...comcast ****ing asses man.

Man, I have been considering going all streaming and being done with Directv. I looked at youtubetv but they are not available in my market (Topeka, KS). I wish I knew if/when they will be available here.

I don't have it and I do fine, if you have a laptop and an HDMI cord along with an amazon fire box and kodi you'll be fine.

Guess I didn’t notice this.

Has anyone used these streams for Royals games?
How is the quality?
Are all Royals games streamed?

Yes.
Usually 720p.
No.

Thanks.

How many do you think get streamed? I usually catch probably 3/4’s of them.

Unless there's something different about Royals games specifically (I watch Rockies games), it's basically any game that would be available on MLB.TV. Which is probably 95% of them.

That sounds way too complicated. BTW, I do have a laptop but it seems to have just crashed the other day. I'm contemplating whether I even need it. I rarely used it these days.

I signed up for the free trial of YouTube TV. They just made it available for my market. I was thinking of having it and Sling TV. Only reason for doing Sling is NFL Network and Food Network (for the wife). I also recently started watching a series on ID called Body Cam but I could live without that. Wife watches a lot of Food Network but she said she could live without that if it means we could save some bucks. But I am not gonna go without the chiefs games that are on NFL Network. I haven't been able to find them anywhere else that isn't a TV service such as Directv. Anyone got any suggestions. I thought I saw something about being on Xbox. Is that true?

I think PlayStation Vue might have NFL Network. NFL Network doesn't have many exclusive games anymore. Most of them are also broadcast on a local channel. I want to say last year it was just weeks 2,3 Thursday and the 3rd thanksgiving game that were NFL Network exclusive.

Are you not in the KC viewing area or something? Cause every Chiefs game was on YoutubeTV the last 2 seasons. NFL Network is only available with Sling, DirectTV Now, or Fubo.

Hulu with LiveTV is good other than NFL Network. It's very similar to YoutubeTV, and they include Food Network and HGTV.

We’re going with Hulu. YouTubetv doesn’t have the history channel.

I'm in Topeka. I have been reading up on it and all the NFL Network games were broadcast on locals. So I would be able to watch them. YouTube TV has my locals plus I also have an antenna. I decided to go with YouTube TV because the channels are mostly what we want and also the unlimited DVR. I wanted to try Hulu but am having trouble signing on. I don't know if I had signed up in the past but I tried the send password reset to my email and I got nothing. The other day I had tried to access their site from work and it wouldn't come up at all.

If you're in Topeka, then you'd get all Chiefs games through YoutubeTV for sure. Same for Royals. In YoutubeTV, search for Kansas City Chiefs, click the "+" button to record, and it will record all Chiefs games.

Hulu is proving to be a good alternative at the moment. They currently have more channels. But the DVR is limited and there's several other limitations. Not sure what you'd have to do to fix your account. Likely have to contact them or create a new one.

I love Hulu's selection, but they need to completely blow up their interface and start again. It's abysmal.

Agreed. I'd imagine a 7th grader with a weekend could do better.

Please explain. My DTV end this Friday. Leaning towards Hulu Live.

Also, no NFL Network? ****, just when I thought my decision was made. Other ways to watch NFL Network?

Completely agree. Interface across platforms is horribad.

Look at Direct TV Now, streaming service. For $55 you can get the same package that includes NFL Network.

I honestly don't see the need for NFL Network these days though...

They have a free trial, so you can try it out and see for yourself. It's just a really confusing way of approaching everything. They really try to de-emphasize the "live" part of TV at all. Originally, there wasn't really even a "guide." You just had to search for the show you wanted to watch. They've backed off of that these days, but the guide is still slow to navigate (on Roku at least), and it's hard to see what's on in the future.

You don't "record" things. You add them to "my stuff" and in theory it just records every episode. But some things are available on demand, so sometimes it just uses that version. And eventually things get deleted from your DVR, but it's not really set up to make it obvious what you're in danger of losing.

In short, they've really just tried to blend the "live TV" part and the "streaming TV shows" part, and I personally just find it to be far more confusing.

Plus the app navigation sucks, and you can't fast forward through commercials on stuff you've recorded on your DVR.

Once you actually start watching something, it generally works fine. It's just a giant pain in the ass to find stuff in the first place.

If it weren't for the fact that my wife loves Food Network, I'd dump it for YouTube TV.

Exactly all of this. They try way too hard to make their old "Normal" Hulu content relative(but separate) to the point it makes it really confusing. It's actually somehow unintuitive to easily record something as a series. Which is just silly.

Yeah, I have had nothing but trouble with Hulu. And this is a trial. Not looking good for them. I actually downloaded the app last night and was able to start the free trail. Now I can't log in. And when it says reset the password to my email, I never get an email. On a chat with Hulu now to get them to just cancel. This is a big freakin' hassle.

Edit: Finally figured it out. I apparently had to use my wife's email last night when I signed up on their app. I guess I forgot that part as I was watching the KU game as well as being a little sick. Still, I would not want to have the service simply because I can get mostly the same with Youtube tv with free dvr whereas Hulu wants to charge $15 a month extra for 200 hours? What a joke.

!@#$ Directv is an okay company overall, but some of their practices are shady. Here's what I mean by that. Today, I called to cancel their service and they said that I would have a early cancelation fee because I was under an agreement until December of 2020. SAY WHAT!!!!????!!!! I was told that this was due to a couple of Genie mini receivers that I had just received a couple months ago. They had been bugging me and bugging me with emails about needing to switch out my old receiver because it might not be able to get my local channels when they made some kind of system change this spring. So, last December I finally got around to having them send me those receivers, but I ended up only hooking up one. This was because my daughter is on her own DVR and I don't want her BS teen girl programs cluttering up my DVR (Genie mini's access one main/central DVR). That is why she has her own DVR receiver. I tried to make that clear to them at the time but they sent me two anyway.

But here is the kicker. Nobody ever once mentioned to me that by hooking up the Genie mini that I was signing up for a 24 month agreement. If they had told me that I would definitely have declined. I was already looking into the prospect of cutting the cord so why would I agree to another 24 month contract? After about 30 minutes on the phone with them (which I went off on the poor lady when she first told me I was under contract until 12/20) I finally managed to get them to waive that cancelation fee. I apologized to her because I know it's not her fault but I did tell her that was a shady practice and let her know that I was not accepting that BS.

I suppose that I should have known. They did the same thing to me a few years ago when I upgraded my daughter's receiver to a DVR. But I kept my service with them at the time because they were willing to give me some discounts. But they really should just make that clear to customers at the time they get new equipment. I have been with Directv for probably a decade and always pay my bill on time (auto payment). So it's not like I'm some deadbeat customer. Anyway, I just canceled my Directv service because they just keep getting more and more expensive. My bill this month is $103, and that's with the $30 off per month for 12 months that I managed to talk them into giving me last year at this time when I called to complain about how expensive my bill was getting. It would be $133 per month starting next month if I had stayed with them. And I don't even subscribe to premium channels. Bye Directv. Hello Youtube TV.

The satellite companies are now every bit as bad as the cable companies.

Yep. And I'm not sorry to see them go.

Now I just have to figure out what Roku devices I need. It seems that the 2.4Ghz band is so cluttered in my area that I want to try to avoid that. But I only want to spend as little as possible (duh). I have a main living room smart TV but it does not have Youtube tv. I have one in my bedroom that is not a smart tv but has a firestick. Again, no youtube tv on that stick. And then one for my daughter's tv. Any suggestions?

Here is what I'm looking at currently:
1 of these https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...VY0JGHJA&psc=1

and 2 of these
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...VY0JGHJA&psc=1

Have you tested 5Ghz to make sure you have adequate signal everywhere you need it? 2.4Ghz is crowded by has a much farther effective range.

If 5Ghz works in all of the locations you need, you want to use it for sure.

I have decided to cut the cord. Does anyone have Fubo TV?

I cut the cord today. DTV couldn’t come close to matching Hulu Live TV $45/month. Our DTV bill was going to be $99/month. Not worth it for the 15-20 channels we do watch.

We still have DTV until March 1st, then I’ll make the switch to Hulu.

I sure hope Reddit shows a lot of the Royals games (in KC broadcast) or I’m going to have to go back to DTV.

thats because 5 companies own 80% of everything in the entertainment field.

generally no contracts with cable companies. some instances there are. but not like with dish/dirct.........

Dunit look at mlb tv it a good deal i was smart enough to get a deal where i could get just the royals games for 21 dollar last year and pay 21 dollars this year. So my days off work and west coast night game swing will be me watching the royals.

reddit.com/r/mlbstreams will have all your games. I watched most every Braves game last season with no issues.

That’s what I’m rolling with.

I can’t get mlbtv. We are considered in their region so it’s blacked out. Makes no sense.

Yes, 5Ghz works fine everywhere in my house. My 3 Rokus are working well. Also, I realize now that I don't need that Amazon Firestick that I just bought last November or December. I have a 4th TV (spare room/man room/music room) but I can get all the apps I need on my Xbox One that is connected to that tv.

One other thing that I found and just started a trial on yesterday is Philo tv. It is $16/mo. and gives me those other channels such as Food Network, ID, Science, AXS, and several others.

So right now I'm just rolling with Youtube tv and Philo tv. That's $56 total plus tax. Not bad. I get pretty much all of the channels I wanted except NFL Network. But I can still catch all the Chiefs games that are on that so I'm fine with that.

I looked at that one. It seems that service is geared toward sports programming, amongst other things. The problem is that they charge an additional $10/mo. for DVR. Only 2 devices are allowed to stream at the same time unless you add the Family Share for $6/mo, then you can do 3 at a time.

Edit: It seems that you get 30 hours cloud DVR with any basic package. You have to pay $10/mo. for 500 hours cloud DVR.

PC Mag - The Best Video Streaming Services for 2019
 

Antenna, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon prime are all I really need. Tubi has had a few decent surprises for a free service.

Understand that. Only problem with antenna for us is that there will be no DVR for locals. We watch a few shows on the major networks but not always able to watch at broadcast time.

Technically, you could get a device like HDHomerun, which connects to the antenna and provides a network-based DVR for over the air programming like that. It's not anywhere close to being as easy and intuitive as YoutubeTV makes it. But it works.

TiVo makes an antenna friendly DVR. That's what we use and love it.

If you use use Firestick, then I highly recommend the Amazon FireTV recast. I bought it and love it. I only had the antenna ran to the living room TV and was going to have to run it to the other TV's. But the recast allowed me to have it available on any TV with a Firestick. I have a guide and plenty of recording ability with no monthly fee. It costs around $200. But it's well worth it. No monthly fee will because that out soon enough. I was getting so sick of commercials. It's nice being able to fast forward through them again. One push on the button goes forward 30 seconds. If you go too far, rewind goes 10 seconds per push until you get back to where you want to be. Holding the button down goes faster.

Yeah. I looked into that. It's what? $15/ month or $500 for a lifetime subscription if I remember correctly. There's better options out there than that.

Contract with Comcast runs out in June, price is guaranteed for another year after that but thinking of moving to google fiber and youtube tv. All the tv's already have roku devices so it shouldn't be a big deal. Probably going to disconnect the cable boxes and do the free trial to make sure the wife can function.

They have them in sale for under$300 quite often. The OTA DVR includes the lifetime subscription . You don't pay extra for that.


http://pages.email.tivo.com/presiden...7213997&jb=685


They put a deal like this up every President's day and Christmas.

I just nuked Netflix. The only thing I have left is Amazon Prime to go along with my $70 a month internet. Right now my 1TB per month bandwidth is taking care of my TV needs along with a VPN.

That said, we are looking at moving out into the sticks and that would mean that I would be left with shitty satellite internet with low bandwidth and limits meaning I can't d/l to my heart's content. I'm gonna look into Tivo but I gotta think there is some DVR software available out there that I can just use a spare PC and a tuner card that will let me do this on the cheap.