Cord-Cutting, Or How to Stream your Way to Success

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Brahma

Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
11,805
41,126
I'm really considering this. My Verizon FIOS billing contract is up, and they refuse to negotiate the price this time around. I REALLY like FIOS but have zero need for cable at this point, except my mother who is 67 MUST have those old black and white 50's TV shows, and the local news. Can I make this easy for her to use? She is pretty decent with technology, so anything from easy to moderate is OK.

What are the best services online for shows etc. What devices are there to get said content to the TV easily?

Thx in advance.
 
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Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
I just can't do it, I watch too much sports. I watch zero live television other than sports, but I watch a lot of ESPN, various regional Fox Sports, NFL network, etc.

And all of those shady streaming sports sites are crap quality. I don't want a 240p feed on my nice 55" Plasma.

If I didn't watch sports though, I would have ditched a TV service years ago.

Amazon Prime($8.25/mo), Netflix($7.99/mo) and a Chromecast/Fire TV would be all most people need(other than a good torrent site, too) if you don't watch live sports.
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
<Gold Donor>
30,274
22,008
Dish Network is offering all the ESPNs and a bunch of other channels as a streamed standalone service for 20 dollars a month.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
73,376
I use 100% streaming and downloading, but I only watch MMA. My inlaws came over on Sunday and wanted to see the Packer game so I worked some free streams, it was awful.
 

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
25,350
37,374
Yeah I cant do it either. Now since I got my roku player im watching it less and less, but I still watch it and Ill be damned if I actually convince the wife, which still watches prime time shit, some soaps and news religiously.
 

Column_sl

shitlord
9,833
7
I cut the cord last year, because we don't even watch live tv anymore, and downloading gives you everything commercial free. I can afford Cable I just want it to die

Have a HD antenna for everything else.

So easy to cut the cord now between Netflix, a 10 buck sub to MMA TV for every single sporting event, and just downloading movies.
 

Brahma

Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
11,805
41,126
Dish Network is offering all the ESPNs and a bunch of other channels as a streamed standalone service for 20 dollars a month.
I can't find this on their site. I see the damn "Hopper" but not the Sling TV everyone is citing. This would be absolutely perfect. I MUST have ESPN.

EDIT: Looks like Sling TV launches end of January. Dish will make a killing with this service. Especially at a 20 dollar price point.

Everyone has their PC with their chrome-cast/Firestick ready to go.Sling-TV for television and sports. Usenet/Plex for movies via NAS. HD antenna, for local. 100 bucks saved!
 

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
25,350
37,374
The problem is, when all done youre back to spending $150 per month on all those streaming services. $7 here, $20 there, etc... But at least with streaming, you watch what you want to watch when you want to watch, all commercial free, which is worth it IMO.
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,465
7,381
I cut the cable about 19 months ago. Between MMA-TV, Netflix, and Amazon Prime I don't need it. MMA-TV covers my sports (and I watch a fuckload) and the others take care of TV show binges and movies. I still torrent brand new TV shows.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
I cut the cable about 19 months ago. Between MMA-TV, Netflix, and Amazon Prime I don't need it. MMA-TV covers my sports (and I watch a fuckload) and the others take care of TV show binges and movies. I still torrent brand new TV shows.
How is the quality with MMA-TV streaming? I watched it once at a friends house and it seemed to be 480p/standard def at BEST, but that was a couple years ago, maybe they've improved since then.

Also, beware the $20 Dish ESPN offer. The Watch ESPN app is HORRIBLE in my experience. I don't think I've ever watched 2 games in a row where one of them didnt lag and buffer all the time. One viewing will be great, another will be nearly unwatchable. ESPN really needs to upgrade their app or servers or something, because as of right now it is really hit or miss. It's nowhere near the quality of something like HBO Go.
 

Brahma

Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
11,805
41,126
The problem is, when all done youre back to spending $150 per month on all those streaming services. $7 here, $20 there, etc... But at least with streaming, you watch what you want to watch when you want to watch, all commercial free, which is worth it IMO.
It looks like Sling TV will be 100% all I need. That's a huge channel lineup they have planned. Only secondary service I need is usenet and Crunchyroll, which I pay for now anyway.

My bill is 175 bucks a month for all 3 services. I get 75/75 from Verizon for 50 bucks. 20 bucks for Sling-TV. Lets say 75 after taxes? That isn't too bad at all!
 

Column_sl

shitlord
9,833
7
How is the quality with MMA-TV streaming? I watched it once at a friends house and it seemed to be 480p/standard def at BEST, but that was a couple years ago, maybe they've improved since then.

Also, beware the $20 Dish ESPN offer. The Watch ESPN app is HORRIBLE in my experience. I don't think I've ever watched 2 games in a row where one of them didnt lag and buffer all the time. One viewing will be great, another will be nearly unwatchable. ESPN really needs to upgrade their app or servers or something, because as of right now it is really hit or miss. It's nowhere near the quality of something like HBO Go.
They've improved. Its around 720 p right now depending on if your connection can handle it.
 

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
39,938
166,821
I haven't had cable for years, but I am able to watch any sports I want to via streaming. There are plenty of options for that, and plug the computer right into the TV and sound system, all is well. I haven't missed cable at all. Look at sites like couchtuner and hulu and even just plain old youtube for your mother to get the shows she wants.
 

fris

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,973
2,140
been w/o cable for about 3 years, never looked back. we don't watch much sports, so that's a hurdle we didn't have to bother. if you want espn daily, you won't be happy.

longer description. it got to the point where our DVR was full of kid shows and we were mostly watching crap when the kids went to bed, felt obligated to clear out shows we didn't really enjoy. i built a media pc for the living room, logitech has a great wireless keyboard w/ touch pad. my 5 year old can play video games on PBS's website with it. we're paying for Hulu Plus and Netflix. most of the shows the kids watch are on Amazon Prime, but we would have that w/o streaming. there's still the annoyance of some shows not being online right away or ever. Walking dead wont show up on Netflix till next season starts. Game Of Thrones will never be online unless you buy it (Amazon or Google Play). Hopefully HBO has stand alone web streaming before next season.

overall, we're paying ~$45 per month for 200/20, plus netflix (8?) and hulu plus(8?). after a few months, the media PC was paid for. now we just buy movies or series we wouldn't be able to stream and still come out ahead.

occasionally, i'll find one of thosequestionalblesteaming sites for shows, ppv, etc. quality is hit or miss, usually miss.
 

Vaclav

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
12,650
877
How much are ya'll paying for internet only service though? Both my areas since I've considered it the difference between cable only and cable + TV + phone was like $20/mo where if you went single they gouged the hell out of you so there's no real savings.
 

Mario Speedwagon

Gold Recognition
<Prior Amod>
18,801
67,743
How is the quality with MMA-TV streaming? I watched it once at a friends house and it seemed to be 480p/standard def at BEST, but that was a couple years ago, maybe they've improved since then.

Also, beware the $20 Dish ESPN offer. The Watch ESPN app is HORRIBLE in my experience. I don't think I've ever watched 2 games in a row where one of them didnt lag and buffer all the time. One viewing will be great, another will be nearly unwatchable. ESPN really needs to upgrade their app or servers or something, because as of right now it is really hit or miss. It's nowhere near the quality of something like HBO Go.
I watch mmatv through xbmc on my fire TV and it is pretty much indistinguishable from a regular HD network broadcast.
 

Column_sl

shitlord
9,833
7
Comcast is 45 bucks for 150 down 20 up in my area.

So grand total is Netflix/MMA-tv/Data = 63 bucks.

With Cable ( every channel/multiple cable boxes) and Data alone was paying over 150 with Comcast.
 

Abefroman

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
12,586
11,901
How the fuck does one sub to MMA-tv. Do you need some supersekret ip to access the regestration or some shit? That shit has been broken every time I check for over a year now.
 

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,045
113,819
I did it in August last year.

Bought an over the air HD antenna for $40 or so on Amazon. That covers me for locally broadcast sports (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox).
Went with usenet over torrents (due to DMCA notices). $6/month for my provider, and I think $20/year for my indexer (which is on the expensive side).
Already had Amazon Prime, but rarely stream with it. Also have Netflix at $7/month or whatever it is.
Use XBMC (now Kodi) on my HTPC with the SportsDevil app. It allows for "ok" streaming of sports that I don't get locally. Occasionally I get something that looks 480p. This is free though. I wish MMA-tv would open registrations back up, as that was my original plan for cutting the cord.

My internet plan stayed the same. Unfortunately like 18 months ago they implemented a 250 gig cap. I've gone over it once (and they forgave the first time), but I worry a lot about it now. If I don't download movies I never get close. It's 10/5 for $60 a month though, so fuck all of you with shit like Column is paying.

All in all that makes it about $74 a month for everything, although internet shouldn't be included since I'd do that anyway. Previously I had DirecTV and it was like $70 by itself with 1 receiver, HD, DVR and the lowest package (after all the introductory crap ran out).