I am ready to cut the cord with cable, need help!

[DSouthr]

OK, I have had enough of Time Warner and their over priced nonsense, I am ready to cut everything I have with them other than my internet cable modem. Now have considered a dish, used to really like Direct TV but not sold that is the best option today. These subscription services are really turning my head. I am paying well over $200 a month for cable right now, I have HBO, Showtime, TMC, Starzs cause when I want to watch a movie well, I want to watch a movie. But I can get really good movies from Hulu or Rabbit or any of several subscription services.

I can handle watching movies with something like the above and a digital antenna will handle the local channels. I really love History channel, Discovery, Turner Movie classic, SiFy, and the news outlets especially Fox. Big deal for me is being able to get the sports channels, specifically ESPN and Fox sports. Noticed that ESPN is doing more and more streaming of what they have on all their outlets and thinking I could maybe tack on to that streaming and not need to buy it from TW.

I don't know if I would have to buy new TVs, I do not have "smart TVs" but is there a converter box I could buy that would serve the same purpose? Best i can understand the new way of doing things pretty much is to turn your TV in to a monster desk top computer with a huge screen. Then access your TV viewing via apps thru your computer? Would miss the channel guide that I surf channels to see what is on with. Would take getting used to in order to swap my remote for a key board to watch TV with but but if I can get what I want and only have to pay TW $55 a month for cable internet then why keep paying over $200 a month. Is there a DVR unit I could add in to the mix because I do DVR a lot? I am also thinking that by going to a more subscription based service my TV viewing could become portable, I could take it with me via my lap top?

I have laid out what I am wanting to do and what I want to have access to, really could use input on the best way to achieve all of this.

 

[chick_bleeds_carolina_blue]

OK, I have had enough of Time Warner and their over priced nonsense, I am ready to cut everything I have with them other than my internet cable modem. Now have considered a dish, used to really like Direct TV but not sold that is the best option today. These subscription services are really turning my head. I am paying well over $200 a month for cable right now, I have HBO, Showtime, TMC, Starzs cause when I want to watch a movie well, I want to watch a movie. But I can get really good movies from Hulu or Rabbit or any of several subscription services.

I can handle watching movies with something like the above and a digital antenna will handle the local channels. I really love History channel, Discovery, Turner Movie classic, SiFy, and the news outlets especially Fox. Big deal for me is being able to get the sports channels, specifically ESPN and Fox sports. Noticed that ESPN is doing more and more streaming of what they have on all their outlets and thinking I could maybe tack on to that streaming and not need to buy it from TW.

I don't know if I would have to buy new TVs, I do not have "smart TVs" but is there a converter box I could buy that would serve the same purpose? Best i can understand the new way of doing things pretty much is to turn your TV in to a monster desk top computer with a huge screen. Then access your TV viewing via apps thru your computer? Would miss the channel guide that I surf channels to see what is on with. Would take getting used to in order to swap my remote for a key board to watch TV with but but if I can get what I want and only have to pay TW $55 a month for cable internet then why keep paying over $200 a month. Is there a DVR unit I could add in to the mix because I do DVR a lot? I am also thinking that by going to a more subscription based service my TV viewing could become portable, I could take it with me via my lap top?

I have laid out what I am wanting to do and what I want to have access to, really could use input on the best way to achieve all of this.

Get a Roku. That will give you all the channels. Now you may have to subscribe to some like HBO, History channel etc. I'd just look at what Roku offers and see what your fave channels offer without a cable tv subscription.

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

Here's a thread @Raising Heel started that is on the same topic and might have some useful tidbits for you: https://northcarolina.forums.rivals.com/threads/cutting-the-cord.36786/


*I don't expect RH to see that @ tag, as he's on his quest to break the notification flag. (I'm at 276 right now by the way - I hardly ever check that thing anyways).

 

[JuleZ '02 HEEL]

From what you've said I'm not sure you're ready. You can access everything you want but it's kind of piecemeal and there's no one-stop-shop like the onscreen guide once you cut the cord.

You can get something like a Roku, Amazon Fire, or Chromecast in order to stream content through any TV, so you don't need a smart TV. You can also connect a computer to your TV through an HDMI cable and view online content that way.

You can get content from pretty much any of those channels you mentioned either through individual subscriptions or through Netflix/Hulu/Crackle etc. ESPN content is available along with a few other channels through Sling TV.

If you are keeping TW internet service you can also still view standard cable channels by keeping your coax plugged in to the TV (not HD quality but they're still there).

So you can get everything you want with your internet service and maybe another $30-$50/month in subscriptions. But it's not going to be as simple and easy as going to the Guide and recording what you want, and watching everything all in one place. You kind of have to learn what you want, where to find it, and the best way to access each different piece of the puzzle.

With that said, it sounds like TIVO has a new product that may come a step closer to that one-stop ideal - it allows you to access streaming content as well as record over-the-air broadcasts. That may be the ticket for you if you do decide to cut the cord.

Hope that's helpful. We canceled our DirecTV in Jan. '15 and are glad we did.

 

[DSouthr]

From what you've said I'm not sure you're ready. You can access everything you want but it's kind of piecemeal and there's no one-stop-shop like the onscreen guide once you cut the cord.

You can get something like a Roku, Amazon Fire, or Chromecast in order to stream content through any TV, so you don't need a smart TV. You can also connect a computer to your TV through an HDMI cable and view online content that way.

You can get content from pretty much any of those channels you mentioned either through individual subscriptions or through Netflix/Hulu/Crackle etc. ESPN content is available along with a few other channels through Sling TV.

If you are keeping TW internet service you can also still view standard cable channels by keeping your coax plugged in to the TV (not HD quality but they're still there).

So you can get everything you want with your internet service and maybe another $30-$50/month in subscriptions. But it's not going to be as simple and easy as going to the Guide and recording what you want, and watching everything all in one place. You kind of have to learn what you want, where to find it, and the best way to access each different piece of the puzzle.

With that said, it sounds like TIVO has a new product that may come a step closer to that one-stop ideal - it allows you to access streaming content as well as record over-the-air broadcasts. That may be the ticket for you if you do decide to cut the cord.

Hope that's helpful. We canceled our DirecTV in Jan. '15 and are glad we did.

Thanks Jules, so sling could handle my ESPN needs? Cool, gonna read RHs thread before I ask more questions but I have a ton of them! LOL

 

[Raising Heel]

*I don't expect RH to see that @ tag, as he's on his quest to break the notification flag. (I'm at 276 right now by the way - I hardly ever check that thing anyways).

I don't believe you. Pic or it didn't happen.

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

I don't believe you. Pic or it didn't happen.

I feel like a grandpa trying to figure out a smartphone: but I can't figure out how to poast it. I can take the screenshot just fine, but when I go to copy the cropped screenshot, it doesn't let me paste here. I could save the screenshot, but I'm not sure how to poast a saved picture from my computer either. Help me!

 

[JuleZ '02 HEEL]

Any picture you want to post from your computer must first be uploaded to a hosting site like postimage.org or photobucket or whatever the kids are using these days.

 

[Raising Heel]

Any picture you want to post from your computer must first be uploaded to a hosting site like postimage.org or photobucket or whatever the kids are using these days.

After trying about a dozen different sites, I finally found one I can use at work called Cloudinary.

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

Ok, so clearly I'm an amateur with this. But I took the screenshot, cropped it, uploaded to photobucket, then realized that it somehow got uploaded as the uncropped version, so then I had to recrop it. But since it was cropping an already set image, the cropped version was small - and when I blew it up, it got all potato quality. But I've posted below. And since that took much longer than it should have to do - I will refrain from doing it too often. The number is 316 though since its probably tough to discern (up to 323 now, in the time it took to save this damn thing down on photobucket)

ETA: I outsmarted it, and took a screenshot of the blown up screenshot - much clearer now:

 

[JuleZ '02 HEEL]

Knows the term "potato quality"

Can't upload a photo

 

[Raising Heel]

Ok, so clearly I'm an amateur with this. But I took the screenshot, cropped it, uploaded to photobucket, then realized that it somehow got uploaded as the uncropped version, so then I had to recrop it. But since it was cropping an already set image, the cropped version was small - and when I blew it up, it got all potato quality. But I've posted below. And since that took much longer than it should have to do - I will refrain from doing it too often. The number is 316 though since its probably tough to discern (up to 323 now, in the time it took to save this damn thing down on photobucket)

ETA: I outsmarted it, and took a screenshot of the blown up screenshot - much clearer now:

Jeez, I was only kidding about the "didn't happen" thing.

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

Jeez, I was only kidding about the "didn't happen" thing.

It became a personal issue that I had to conquer...