Cordcutting Thread

[roamer_1]

I have free air antenna and an internet connection...

Antenna does not work very much here, according to what I am told. But I think I am going to delve into that myself, even if I only get the two local channels... That's probably worth the $50, and gives e something for when the cable internet doesn't work.

very little I can't watch with a little looking around... I like to download movies/shows and burn them to DVD disk... I probable have 3000 movies now on disk (I can fit anywhere to 5-7 movies on a disk). They ain't dvd quality, but better than old tv reception most the time. There is only so much HQ at my age a person needs... I don't have to see the freckle on some young lady's breast to get the idea it is time to skip ahead a minute or so.

I did much the same - my video library and my music was originally ripped from my CDs and DVDs...
For a while there, I was buying used CDs by the box full at garage sales, and going through to rip em down to electronic media. And that which I could not find - like albums that I owned, led me to the torrent, where mp3s were already ripped down...

The same for DVD - I know how to rip a DVD down, and i have the hardware to handle it... But it's just silly to spend all that time, when the exact same thing I would produce is available online.

The difference - I never ground em back into CD or DVD... That's a step backward. My entire library remains electronic and is not only backed up here in two places, but also online in a family repository. and periodically sync'd onto a HDD that is kept at a safe deposit box.

I long ago pitched the cds and dvds.

[Applewood]

@roamer_1

The problem with the "Smart TV" is that the picture and sound are both going bad.  Not good for a tv.  At first, it was only one channel.  Now it's spreading to others.  The picture wrinkles and the sound cuts in and out.  So far, the only services where I don't have this problem are Amazon Prime and Netflix.  I thought it was the cable, but no.   The tv is more than 5 years old and like every other appliance or electronic device, after five years it's living on borrowed time. 

@Sanguine

Thanks for the info regarding HughesNet.  Guess I will scratch them off the list. 

@The Ghost

I was interested in Century Link, but alas, it doesn't serve my area. 

[Wingnut]

@roamer_1

The problem with the "Smart TV" is that the picture and sound are both going bad.  Not good for a tv.  At first, it was only one channel.  Now it's spreading to others.  The picture wrinkles and the sound cuts in and out.  So far, the only services where I don't have this problem are Amazon Prime and Netflix.  I thought it was the cable, but no.   The tv is more than 5 years old and like every other appliance or electronic device, after five years it's living on borrowed time. 



@The Ghost

I was interested in Century Link, but alas, it doesn't serve my area.

How about Mediacom.  Are they out your way?   Their service sucks in our hood.  But YMMV.

[Applewood]

How about Mediacom.  Are they out your way?   Their service sucks in our hood.  But YMMV.

Apparently not.  There are only a few providers out my way.    Just the ones I listed. 

[roamer_1]

The problem with the "Smart TV" is that the picture and sound are both going bad.  Not good for a tv.  At first, it was only one channel.  Now it's spreading to others.  The picture wrinkles and the sound cuts in and out.  So far, the only services where I don't have this problem are Amazon Prime and Netflix.  I thought it was the cable, but no.   The tv is more than 5 years old and like every other appliance or electronic device, after five years it's living on borrowed time. 

@Applewood
That sounds like a soft problem not hardware - That it works reliably at all indicates the hardware is not the issue. It is probably the crappy smart operating system, which might be repaired by setting back to factory specs.

Note that the Android operating system in TVs is incredibly crappy, seldom upgradable, and so poorly maintained that I literally never encourage a client to go through the smart interface... The newer ones are not so bad - the built-in ROKU ones - But even then, you are usually better off to disable it and go with a separate unit through the hdmi, or at least, do so at the first sign of trouble.

Let me ask you, do you have anything plugged in through the hdmi ports, like a roku or an amazon fire stick?  Is the machine reliable if operating from the hdmi ports?

If you don't have anything plugged in that way, it would be fairly cheap to test - If your laptop has an hdmi_out port, simply buying a cable to hook it up and changing the source on the TV to HDM1 (or whichever)... Or buy a cheap ROKU and plug it in just to see.

And I do disagree with you about appliances and electronics. Much if not most of my hardware is over 5 years old and running strong. Since I don't buy it new, but rather used (and maybe busted) I am never in it hard enough to worry even if it does leave.

[Applewood]

Thanks @roamer_1   I'll try what you said, but really, if the tv is a goner, I won't lose sleep.  I'd like to get rid of cable tv anyway and just have Wi-Fi for the laptop.  Cable TV has become so expensive.  I even gave up then super deluxe plan and went for basic.  Basic and Wi-Fi were $90 initially for the intro price.  But now it's over $150. I don't need the extra expense for tv I don't even watch most of the time.  About all I view is local news and even that I can stream on my laptop.  The old shows and movies I love I can get through Netflix and Amazon Prime.  I also have Sling for some channels.  All of those run on my laptop.  Don't need a tv.

Thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions. 

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Thanks @roamer_1   I'll try what you said, but really, if the tv is a goner, I won't lose sleep.  I'd like to get rid of cable tv anyway and just have Wi-Fi for the laptop.  Cable TV has become so expensive.  I even gave up then super deluxe plan and went for basic.  Basic and Wi-Fi were $90 initially for the intro price.  But now it's over $150. I don't need the extra expense for tv I don't even watch most of the time.  About all I view is local news and even that I can stream on my laptop.  The old shows and movies I love I can get through Netflix and Amazon Prime.  I also have Sling for some channels.  All of those run on my laptop.  Don't need a tv.

Thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions.

I agree that if one input (probably ethernet) works and one has problems, there's a good chance the TV is okay.  The cable was my first thought, too.  What's hooked up to the other side of the cable?   If it's the cable box, you could have them replace it for you.

If you're not using HDMI, you might hook your laptop up and try that.  These days I use TVs as monitors anyway, as my laptop screen keeps getting smaller.

You mention wifi, but then list verizon (fios) as an option, which confused me a bit.  What you do in your own home is one thing, how you get your service to your home is another.  For the latter, I'd personally be leery of anything over the air.  I had satellite TV once, and every thunderstorm pretty much took it out for the duration.  Not sure how this would affect wifi (802.11...), but I'd definitely ask some neighbors and make sure any contract I signed had a trial period.

I have fios, but from Frontier which bought it from verizon (anti-trust issues) in some areas.  The tech has certainly been very reliable.

[sneakypete]

Antenna does not work very much here, according to what I am told. But I think I am going to delve into that myself, even if I only get the two local channels... That's probably worth the $50, and gives e something for when the cable internet doesn't work.

 @roamer_1

FWIW,I have two HD antennas. One for my house,and one for my workshop. Both are RCA (made in America!) and are so tiny you would think they would be useless. IIRC,each weighs around 4 lbs.

In fact,I hesitated to buy the first one because it was only rated for reception out to 45 miles,and the closest tv station to me is 54 miles away in a straight line.

Got it in,hooked it up to a steel pole (maybe 12 feet off the ground) in the ground for a good ground,and used a compass to point it  to the middle of the area where the closest tv broadcast channels had their towers.

Picked up something like 43 channels,and do NOT have a booster of any sort. Most were channels I had no idea even existed that belonged to the local regular broadcast tv stations,and mostly play tv series from the 50's to last year.

Got mine from Amazon because of the free shipping and because they aren't Wal-Mart.

[roamer_1]

Got mine from Amazon because of the free shipping and because they aren't Wal-Mart.

@sneakypete
Can you send me a link to that when you find the time Pete?

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete
Can you send me a link to that when you find the time Pete?

@roamer_1

Here ya go. They even dropped the price to $39.99 w/free shipping.

https://www.tvfool.com/

BTW,for best reception go to https://www.tvfool.com/ and type in your address for compass headings and distances to the nearest tv broadcast towers,and then use a compass to point your antenna in the right direction. Doesn't have to be a fancy one,but one with a degree wheel is REALLY useful.

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1

Here ya go. They even dropped the price to $39.99 w/free shipping.

https://www.tvfool.com/

BTW,for best reception go to https://www.tvfool.com/ and type in your address for compass headings and distances to the nearest tv broadcast towers,and then use a compass to point your antenna in the right direction. Doesn't have to be a fancy one,but one with a degree wheel is REALLY useful.

@sneakypete

Thanks!
 

[jmyrlefuller]

Ok, boys and girls.  My "Smart TV' is on its last leg and I've been thinking for some time that instead of getting a new one, I would like to just scrap the tv and do any tv watching on my laptop.  I'm the only one in this house and I don't entertain, so why do I need a tv?  My laptop is wide and big enough to run any tv programming (including local news).

Right now I have Comcast (Xfinity) for tv and Wi-Fi.  I would like to ditch the tv service and just have Wi-Fi, but I don't believe Comcast (Xfinity) will allow it.  They are already unhappy because I discontinued the phone service a few years ago.  With these guys, everything is  a "bundle."  Those packages make the cable companies a lot of money.

So now my question:  Has anyone had experience with a standalone Wi-Fi and if so, what companies are best?   In my neck of the woods, Comcast (Xfinnity), Verizon, Viasat, Hughesnet and Toast are listed as the only providers.  Toast is DSL, so no to that one.  Hughes and ViaSat are satellite providers, Verizon is fibre and Comcast is cable.  I hate Comcast.  Verizon is overly aggressive in their sales approach, plus they probably are scammers like Xfinity where you sign up  for some low introductory price, but after the intro price expires, the regular price just goes up and up.  So that leaves ViaSat and Hughes. 

Anyone have any experience with ViaSat or Hughes?  Neither has the speeds of Comcast or Verizon, but I'm not so sure I need all that.  Presumably both will work for streaming on one device, uploading and playing entertainment and some gaming.  I'm not much of a gamer except for solitaire and I can get by with one device at a time.  I would like to have reliable streaming without the annoying buffering. 

Any help you guys can give me would be appreciated.

The thing with Viasat and Hughesnet is, 1) there are no truly unlimited plans with them. You're cut back to ultra-slow after a certain number of gigabytes per month, depending on how much you pay. 2) because it's satellite, you'll have a delay of some number of seconds since every bit of data has to travel 45,000 miles or so. That's more of an issue with gaming than TV but, if you're watching sports for example, it might be an issue. 3) Viasat, and I believe Hughesnet as well, both prohibit HD streaming in an effort to conserve bandwidth. They will automatically cut you back to 360p or 480p.

If you're willing to accept those compromises, and you're really, really eager to make a clean break from the cable company, then it might be a good idea. But if you want HD and responsive speeds, you'll probably need a land-wire service... so that means, alas, you're either going to have to go with Verizon or Xfinity.

And good luck cancelling. I have heard Comcast is a nightmare to deal with in that regard. They use Internet as the bait to get you signed up for the cable service now.

[Applewood]

I agree that if one input (probably ethernet) works and one has problems, there's a good chance the TV is okay.  The cable was my first thought, too.  What's hooked up to the other side of the cable?   If it's the cable box, you could have them replace it for you.

If you're not using HDMI, you might hook your laptop up and try that.  These days I use TVs as monitors anyway, as my laptop screen keeps getting smaller.

You mention wifi, but then list verizon (fios) as an option, which confused me a bit.  What you do in your own home is one thing, how you get your service to your home is another.  For the latter, I'd personally be leery of anything over the air.  I had satellite TV once, and every thunderstorm pretty much took it out for the duration.  Not sure how this would affect wifi (802.11...), but I'd definitely ask some neighbors and make sure any contract I signed had a trial period.

I have fios, but from Frontier which bought it from verizon (anti-trust issues) in some areas.  The tech has certainly been very reliable.

@InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

Thanks for your response.  Come to think of it, Comcast was supposed to replace both my cable box and modem last year, but never did.  I even called for a serviceman twice since then and both times I was told by the customer service person that when the repairman came out, he would also bring and install the new cable box and modem.  Well, both times, neither repairmen knew anything about that.  I should have called Comcast just to specifically arrange for delivery and installation of the cable box and modem, but I never got around to it.  But I was told by Comcast that the wrinkled picture and bad sound I'm getting is not their fault.  What do I know? 

As for Fios, FWIW, I have a friend who lives nearby and she has had no trouble with FIOS.  I just didn't like Verizon FIOS because I had a bad experience with one of their door-to-door salesmen trying to talk me into one of their introductory specials that almost certainly would have ended up costing me as much as cable.  I don't like pushy salesmen.

I am reluctant to get satellite because of the weather-related problems you mentioned.  Also, I once was told that if you live in a valley as I do, reception can be iffy.  I have had that problem with antennas too, although that was years ago.  Maybe antennas are better now? 

This stuff is all way over my head.  I appreciate yours and everyone else's help and advice in all of this.

[Applewood]

The thing with Viasat and Hughesnet is, 1) there are no truly unlimited plans with them. You're cut back to ultra-slow after a certain number of gigabytes per month, depending on how much you pay. 2) because it's satellite, you'll have a delay of some number of seconds since every bit of data has to travel 45,000 miles or so. That's more of an issue with gaming than TV but, if you're watching sports for example, it might be an issue. 3) Viasat, and I believe Hughesnet as well, both prohibit HD streaming in an effort to conserve bandwidth. They will automatically cut you back to 360p or 480p.

If you're willing to accept those compromises, and you're really, really eager to make a clean break from the cable company, then it might be a good idea. But if you want HD and responsive speeds, you'll probably need a land-wire service... so that means, alas, you're either going to have to go with Verizon or Xfinity.

And good luck cancelling. I have heard Comcast is a nightmare to deal with in that regard. They use Internet as the bait to get you signed up for the cable service now.

Thank you @jmyrlefuller   You are right about canceling Comcast.  I used to have the bundle -- tv, internet and phone.  When I wanted out of the phone service, the Comcast guy actually argued with me for almost 15 minutes.  And I guess Comcast outsources its customer service to some foreign country because the guy couldn't speak good English and half the time I didn't understand him.  It wasn't until I demanded to speak with his supervisor that he finally gave up  and canceled the phone service.

Comcast is just awful.  For a lot of years they were the only game in town, but now that there is competition from Veriizon and all the others, they still act like a monopoly.  I will not shed a tear if Comcast goes under.

[jmyrlefuller]

@InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

Thanks for your response.  Come to think of it, Comcast was supposed to replace both my cable box and modem last year, but never did.  I even called for a serviceman twice since then and both times I was told by the customer service person that when the repairman came out, he would also bring and install the new cable box and modem.  Well, both times, neither repairmen knew anything about that.  I should have called Comcast just to specifically arrange for delivery and installation of the cable box and modem, but I never got around to it.  But I was told by Comcast that the wrinkled picture and bad sound I'm getting is not their fault.  What do I know? 

As for Fios, FWIW, I have a friend who lives nearby and she has had no trouble with FIOS.  I just didn't like Verizon FIOS because I had a bad experience with one of their door-to-door salesmen trying to talk me into one of their introductory specials that almost certainly would have ended up costing me as much as cable.  I don't like pushy salesmen.

I am reluctant to get satellite because of the weather-related problems you mentioned.  Also, I once was told that if you live in a valley as I do, reception can be iffy.  I have had that problem with antennas too, although that was years ago.  Maybe antennas are better now? 

This stuff is all way over my head.  I appreciate yours and everyone else's help and advice in all of this.

Satellite's not nearly as bad in valleys as antennas—you have to be right next to a pretty steep hill to not be able to get satellite reception (I remember as a kid having satellite about 20 years ago now and we had a fairly large hill right in the direction of the satellite but we got service just fine) since you're pointing it at an object about 22,000 miles up in the sky.

Antennas are a lot tougher than they used to be. It's not that they're any worse (the basic technology hasn't changed much since Yagi and Uda invented the directional antenna in the 1920s), it's that the signals are worse. I'm still annoyed that the federal government chose a digital standard that requires line-of-sight to receive it when it went digital ten years ago. I think you previously said you lived in PA, most of which has a lot of hills... and while an antenna's not entirely useless in most situations, you will almost certainly need one with a booster. I live about 40-50 miles from the nearest station, down in the valley, and was able to use a store-brand $25 Yagi-Uda with a booster from Walmart to pick up two stations (plus subchannels), more than I was expecting.

[bigheadfred]

Years ago we signed up for the full pack from Cableone. Phone, TV, Internet. I am trailer trash. I own my "house" on a rented lot. Time goes by and I buy the trailer across the street. My son and his family moves into the second until that went to crap. Traded out so the wife and I live in the second and my son in the first.(long story) .Cut the cord back to internet only. Bought Prime and Netflix. From my "main" cable link I got a wifi extender in my "new" home. So I am running two houses off from one subscription.

The new DIL works for CenturyLink and they switched over. So I had me Cableone switched over to where I live now.

Cableone is now Sparklite. There have been weird data spikes since Sparklite took over. In a running 12 month period if you top the 300GB cap they kick you to the next plan. So we did that twice thru the last holiday season. Two big spikes at the end of July. and then more at the beginning of August.

With 4 devices running we don't usually hit over 8 GB a day. But they are saying we are hitting 30G a day. I called them and told them if we exceed our data cap this month, cancel our subscription. They said we will double your cap at no extra cost. Yeah. ok.

We wanted to go to CenturyLink cause the DIL could get us the price for life at $35/month compared to the $55 at Sparklite.

Century link comes out and tells us the cable people cut and pulled our phone lines when they installed ur cable internet. so they can't hook us up.

The rest of the story is a shitshow.

[Wingnut]

Frndly TV, a New $5.99/Month Live TV Streaming Service is Now Officially Available for Cord Cutters

Frndly TV, the family friendly, live and on-demand streaming service, officially launched today. Frndly had a soft launch a few weeks ago but today they are officially launching as a new live TV streaming service.

Subscriptions to Frndly TV, starting at $5.99, offer live and on-demand content, a linear TV guide, unlimited DVR storage, and more.

The core subscription costs $5.99/month. With the core subscription, viewers will get the ability to view content in standard definition and on one device at a time, plus access to the “Look Back” feature, allowing viewers to go back 72 hours in the guide, start a live show over from the beginning or access more than 1,000 titles on-demand.

For $7.99/month, viewers will get access to high definition content, the ability to watch on two devices simultaneously and unlimited Cloud DVR that stores your favorite shows for up to 30 days – plus look back and on-demand access, similar to the core service.

And for $9.99/month, viewers will get everything previously mentioned plus the ability to stream on four devices simultaneously and unlimited Cloud DVR that stores all recordings for 90 days.

“While more live streaming services have become available over the last few years, none of them focus on the American family the way Frndly TV does,” said Bassil El-Khatib, CEO, Frndly TV. “We’ve heard many times from consumers that they wanted a more affordable TV service with the channels they can actually watch together as a family.”

At launch, Frndly TV includes 12 channels. The lineup will expand to 20 channels over the next year.

These are the 12 channels available now:

Hallmark Channel
Game Show Network
The Weather Channel
Outdoor Channel
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
Hallmark Drama
PixL
Light TV
BabyFirst TV
QVC
Sportsman Channel
World Fishing Network.

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/frndly-tv-a-new-5-99-month-live-tv-streaming-service-is-now-officially-available/

[Elderberry]

An end in Vue: Sony will shutter its streaming video service

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/10/sony-will-shut-down-its-playstation-vue-live-tv-service/

Sony today announced that it will soon shut down PlayStation Vue, its streaming TV service that served as a lighter alternative to traditional cable for live-TV viewers. The company's short blog post on the subject says that Vue will continue to operate until January 30, 2020, but that it will become inoperable after that date.

"Unfortunately, the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected," Sony wrote. "Because of this, we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business."

Sony will continue to offer movies and TV episodes for purchase on-demand through the PlayStation Store, however; this closure only affects the live-TV service, which licensed channels traditionally found on cable for streaming in an interface that was available on PlayStation game consoles, Roku, Apple TV, and other platforms.

PlayStation Vue was the first major service of its type when it launched in the United States in 2015. It was followed by offerings from Hulu, YouTube, and others that sought to provide the basic live-TV cable experience streaming over the Internet with more modern interfaces and built-in features like cloud-based DVR and without long-term contract commitments. However, despite its early start, the Vue service lagged competitors in terms of subscribers. And since Sony had less leverage in the entertainment business than say, Disney (which is the majority owner of Hulu), it reportedly found itself paying more than competitors for already extremely pricy content deals with TV networks.

[kevindavis007]

An end in Vue: Sony will shutter its streaming video service

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/10/sony-will-shut-down-its-playstation-vue-live-tv-service/

I'm not surprised...


Out of all streaming services, this one was the most exspensive. They should sell it to Amazon.

[Sighlass]

Bookmark, got gifted a Roku and wanna see the suggestions.... especially the hidden channel options...

[Wingnut]

Bookmark, got gifted a Roku and wanna see the suggestions.... especially the hidden channel options...

I don't have a sugestion but I found info on the hidden ones.

https://www.roku-private-channels.net/

[sneakypete]

Bookmark, got gifted a Roku and wanna see the suggestions.... especially the hidden channel options...

@Sighlass

Someone did you a big favor. You now have access to more channels than any sat service,and you pay nothing for 90 percent of them,and for the premium channels like HBO,you only pay for the ones you want and use. I am paying @10.66 per month for Netflix,$7.46 per month for BritBox,$16 per month for HBO,and I can view whatever I want at any time of the day or night. I get all the video on Amazon for free because I am a Amazon Prime member.

I keep a file folder on my computer screen named "tv programs" to keep track of this stuff. I didn't do this at first,and ended up paying for the same subscriptions multiple times. I solved that problem with the file list on my desktop,and by paying for them all through my ROKU,using PayPal. That way I don't have to worry about some temp employee from one of the fringe services stealing my bank info,and ALL payments are listed every month in the same place for me to review easily to make sure I am not being overcharged or subscribing twice to the same service.

I even keep a "watching now" file on my desktop to keep track of what series I am watching,what channel it is on,and the season and episode I watched last so I don't waste time flipping through episodes to see if I have already seen them.

On the newer ROKU's there is a button on the remote that looks like a microphone. Let's assume you want to watch Shameless,and don't know where it's playing and don't want to waste time manually typing in the name on ROKU's excellent search engine. Just press that microphone button and say "Shameless",and a list will appear on your tv screen of every service that is showing it.

This is important,so pay attention. If,for example,you have never watched "Homeland",one of the best thrillers to EVER air anywhere,and want to start,using the ROKU search engine or saying "Homeland" into the remote will not only list ever channel that broadcasts Homeless,they list the ones that do not require a subscription so you can watch it for free there. Say that series has been on for 10 years. You will be able to watch the first 3 or 4 years for free,and by the time you are done watching them,chances are there will be a couple more seasons old enough you can watch them for free,also.

Use the ROKU search engine often. It pays and saves you time,too.

[sneakypete]

I don't have a sugestion but I found info on the hidden ones.

https://www.roku-private-channels.net/

@The Ghost

Thanks for the tip. I had never even heard of the hidden channels.

[bigheadfred]

@The Ghost

Thanks for the tip. I had never even heard of the hidden channels.

The reason some of those channels are hidden is that they are for adults only. @Sighlass @The Ghost

[Wingnut]

The reason some of those channels are hidden is that they are for adults only. @Sighlass @The Ghost

Some say "we" are adults Fred.   So it's okay!