NT, convince me "cutting the cord" is a good idea

[al audi]

I cannot wait till we see the day where we can pay a la carte for cable.

id have cable right now if that were the case

 

[shoelyesses]

You're right, I use streams a lot myself. They're getting better and better in quality, pretty soon we'll have crystal clear HD streams. And there are some kind people on sites like reddit who will host their own streams in perfect quality for free.

But the quality isn't good enough yet where I'd wanna watch a stream on my TV (in the event that I had other people over) over watching Hi-Def 720p cable

a lot of the streams on xmbc are 720p only thing is they tend to buffer a lot... and often times don't even offer 1080p.... when I first moved I used it for about a month until cable was available...and I use it time to time when on military leave...

It has its ups and downs...like sometimes channels aren't available due to the person not streaming, or sometimes the person turns the stream off early, A good thing is sometimes you can watch shows from diff coast thus seeing it earlier. A negative is the channel guide isn't as smooth and fluid as cable and often times you have to switch servers/repos to go to a different channel which can be annoying.

If streams were more reliable and if there was some type of super repo that covered all channels/movies etc... with a great channel guide etc... Id completely get rid of cable.

and as far as internet providers doing a cap....actually most of them do. The benchmark is usually high...I know xfinity caps out at 350GB a month before charging extra for additional 50GB a month.

 

[ballinsam23]

I dont have cable. This is what I have for the NBA, its 1000x better than league pass.


Ballsteams.com--- paid $70 for the year and it has every single NBA game in HD, you can DVR it, watch replays, pause it, watch on mobile devises, ipad, etc. Also it has both the AWAY and HOME feeds. Yes that means MSG is included.


For evyerthing else, buy a jailbroken Apple TV.

Didnt even know such a thing existed

Its absolutely awesome man. Gotta credit Nt'er Don Ramon for putting me on. You can also HDMI it straight to your TV and its crystal clear HD. Plus if i'm not home I can use the mobile site and tune in into pretty much any close game on the spot (LTE recommended for this).

 

[babam11218719]

I recommend cutting the cord but ONLY if you have access to someone else's account to stream sports. I cut the cord but I have my mom's xfinity login which includes every sports channel streaming live and free on the xfinity website. Plug my laptop to my tv through HDMI and I'm watching live sports on tv. So easy.

 

[dabossofbosses]

G box midnight with xbmc is all you need. To dude above about buffering if you pic the right links you rarely buffer.. I use mostly the Mashup repo cause it has absolutely everything you need watched the Bulls/heat game the other day didn't buffer one time far as live streams quality even

 

[tsamshox]

Ain't no damn way I am cutting out ESPN/Sports on a 60' HDTV with surround sound....NO WAY. Especially with football season and sunday ticket....ohh weeee that's a big sacrifice

I agree though if cable ever does an "a la carte" all i'll need is ESPN, NBCSports, Local Sports affiliate channel, and HBO.

 

[crcballer55]

Honestly Hank, you're the type that can't cut the cable. In your line of work, CNBC & Bloomberg actually make you money so those are more than paying the cost of the subscription (Although you can watch Bloomberg online free). On top of that, if you have people over to watch sports, no online stream will work well enough. Don't worry about being a "cord cutter" and keep what you have. If anything, more companies are moving to an internet based cable model. Basically having a "cable box" with built in DVR that uses your internet connection to stream the content directly to your TV.

 

[cubanref]

If I had wifi where I live now I would have been cut cable out...you can find damn near everything on the internet now anyways

 

[shoelyesses]

G box midnight with xbmc is all you need. To dude above about buffering if you pic the right links you rarely buffer.. I use mostly the Mashup repo cause it has absolutely everything you need watched the Bulls/heat game the other day didn't buffer one time far as live streams quality even

yea it doesn't do it all the time....but the fact remains it still does it as oppose to cable not doing it at all ever... Then sometimes again not all the time links are dead etc.... really it is the instantaneous and right now factor that truly separates cable/satellite tv from streaming...

Plus long term I believe the more atv etc gains popularity cable/networks etc will find a way to charge for it.... Its only a matter of time. especially with things like navi-x...its basically more or less basic/premium cable...

 

[Top Boy]

You just have to slowly ween yourself off of it.

I don't even watch TV anymore, seriously. Im following two series, I just download them both.

Last thing I watched was Cosmos because of my dude NDT, but other than that I can't even recall the last time my TV input has been set to my cable box.

Went from watching it a majority of the day as a young teen to not at all since I've been in college.

 

[rustlenomics]

i had direct tv with all the movie channels and we cut that ish off.

i mean they were playing ish like harry and the hendersons then they would play the same new movie every 4 hours.

total waste of money, not to mention they kept upping the fees, we were paying 120 a month.

we have a roku, apple tv,ps3 and also a smart tv with hulu and netflix loaded in it.

theres alot of cheaper alternatives that lets you decide what and when you want to watch things.

i also download movies. 

 

[jonwin]

Is it awkward that I've done the exact opposite of this trend of "cutting the chord"

For the longest time through my adult years, I went without cable/satellite TV (about 2007-late 2013) and also grew up primarily in a household that didn't have cable/satellite. It was as you could imagine, nothing odd and just "normal" to me since I was so used to it. Most of the main sports I watch are on regular TV anyway aside from certain playoff games/rounds and eventually how college football went to ESPN so I was never really missing out on sports in my opinion.

Up until late last year, I thought I was good too on not having cable as I had Netflix that I streamed from my HDMI to my TV but then in a stroke of random bad luck and just laziness on my part to investigate, the free digital TV box just stopped working for me so I couldn't even watch the free local channels which would eventually affect me watching sports (NFL season was coming up in a few weeks) and the online streams I used were just too crappy for me to be content with so I said F it and finally installed cable.

I'm not much of a TV watcher in general (especially due to how I lived w/o cable for most of my life) but it was nice during the fall/winter when I have the most free time from work to be able to chill and watch TV.

The beginning of the year (right now) is hectic as hell for my work so I haven't really watched TV at all aside from The Walking Dead since the Niners-Seahawks NFC Title game. So now it does kinda seem like a waste of money for me

 

[superb]

For some odd reason in my room is a small digital converter box from Comcast. This thing gets all the channels.

Now the he box in main room only get digital economy channels...I'm subscribed to digital economy.

I have no ideal how my converter box get every channel except Orem channels but I ain't complaining

I would put it in the living room but it isn't a he box

 

[superb]

Cut the chord.
For the Sports people:

http://feed2all.eu/

View media item 852689

How do you watch it, I don't think my Xbox will play it if it need flash

 

[shoelyesses]

How do you watch it, I don't think my Xbox will play it if it need flash

just use xbmc

 

[mez 0ne]

In my building I'm forced to use TWC.

I called to cut off cable for good since I pay for Netflix (and have Hulu Plus and HBOGo for free), but they offered me a basic package for only 30$ extra on top of my bill since my 50mbps internet connection is about 60$.

I don't mind paying the $30 because I get two HD boxes and I don't have to miss any of my local teams.

I hope one day we will have a sports alternative, because I rarely even watch any TV.

 

[Mark Antony]

I sorta have cable, it's how i'd want it though. It's a cox flex watch package, 67 a month for internet and local and some other channels and dvr. Like I have TBS but no TNT, no A&E but I have the travel channel and bbc, no espn but there's espnnews, nba tv, nfl network, nbc sports, fox sports etc. The big draw though is it also has HBO and STARZ. Hell of a deal, and netflix, hulu plus, amazon prime, tnt overtime for nba games etc supplement the other things. Like someone else I head out for big games, good reason to get out the house and I have studying and reading to keep me occupied so all's good. I don't miss ****.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Honestly Hank, you're the type that can't cut the cable. In your line of work, CNBC & Bloomberg actually make you money so those are more than paying the cost of the subscription (Although you can watch Bloomberg online free). On top of that, if you have people over to watch sports, no online stream will work well enough. Don't worry about being a "cord cutter" and keep what you have. If anything, more companies are moving to an internet based cable model. Basically having a "cable box" with built in DVR that uses your internet connection to stream the content directly to your TV.

This is the sentiment that I'm concluding after reading so many responses. I don't think It's a good idea to "cut the cord". Like someone said, "sports is the achilles heel".

You just have to slowly ween yourself off of it.

I don't even watch TV anymore, seriously. Im following two series, I just download them both.

Last thing I watched was Cosmos because of my dude NDT, but other than that I can't even recall the last time my TV input has been set to my cable box.

Went from watching it a majority of the day as a young teen to not at all since I've been in college.

I'm already this way. I only follow a handful of shows, and the shows I do watch--I get them online for free.

In my building I'm forced to use TWC.

I called to cut off cable for good since I pay for Netflix (and have Hulu Plus and HBOGo for free), but they offered me a basic package for only 30$ extra on top of my bill since my 50mbps internet connection is about 60$.

I don't mind paying the $30 because I get two HD boxes and I don't have to miss any of my local teams.

I hope one day we will have a sports alternative, because I rarely even watch any TV.

I know what you mean. I fall under the same category, but it's the sports man. I can't give up the sports.

The $30 package gives you MSG though? Part of the reason why I can't get rid of cable is because of MSG and ESPN.

I also totally forgot about TNT. I never watch anything on that channel unless they're showing a basketball game. Having NBA TV would also be nice to have.

 

[jimmybeanz]

Ironically, one of the biggest reasons cable is sooooo high is.....live sports. ESPN charges the cable providers more than any other channel/network. And this is fact, not something I pulled out of my ***. They know most dudes (as evidenced within the thread) gotta get their sports fix.

I've basically gotten by with basic (basic) cable for years. Personally, the only channel I HAVE to have is HBO. Another ironic thing is, if you have basic cable with Comcast (meaning no ESPN), you can still get the ESPN web stream with a lot of games for free.

 

[fontaine]

Only 6.99 today for this

HomeWorx Flat UHF & VHF HDTV Antenna (HW110AN) [meritline.com]
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This little thing has a better HD signal than Dtv or Time Warner for the local channels. Only negative is it depends where you live and you gotta mess around tweaking it up/down, etc..

Yes if you need to watch Live Sports, you CANNOT cut the cord. You'll be subscribing for the rest of your life as a slave to the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc...

At this point in my life, I am definitely moving away from watching sports period. Starting to be a waste of time sitting there for 3 hours (12 hours on NFL Sundays) watching the same crap year in year out.

I get crushed for this when I bring this up to the homeys.

Its nothing more than reality TV for the dudes. Lol.

 

[sonoftony]

^^ at least it ain't scripted like actual reality shows

 

[secretzofwar]

It's an easy cost benefit analysis for me.

Realistically, if I cut cable, I'd go watch 2-3 games a week at a bar. Typically, this is going to cost me between $15-$40, depending on where the night may take me. Thus, the $47/mo for cable saves me money. Boom. Unless of course I quit watching sports, but I just don't see that happening.

 

[shoelyesses]

^^ at least it ain't scripted like actual reality shows

and there is an actual level of skill talent and work associated with sports.... and it also isn't predictable for the most part... and there is a level of respect admiration for the self discipline and hard work and dedication required to be an athlete...none of this applies to reality (which is an oxymoron in itself) tv

 

[superb]

 
just use xbmc

 on da xbox? How do i do that

 

[shoelyesses]

 
 on da xbox? How do i do that

http://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/

http://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/wiki/Installing_XBMC

http://www.xbmchub.com/blog/ for advise and list for repos aka channels/servers etc...

http://forum.xbmc.org/ same a forum etc...ie like niketalk but is up to date with new releases updates on repos and custom builds...