I couldn't find a thread specific to it, but this one migrated over that way:
Netflix consumers continue to trend away from conventional TV...... - Front Office Football Central
We're in the market for a house and this seemed like a good time to examine some of our spending and living habits. I've gotten tired of the constantly creeping contracts, the bi-annual fight with the cable company, and the bills that seem really high for what we're getting. We have a fairly basic package, internet, no phone, and a single DVR from AT&T and it's been the same story everywhere I've lived with Verizon and Comcast as well.
I'm going through this category by category and would apprciate help on any of these from people who have cut the cord.
Our setup will be fairly simple: 3 tvs but only the living room and possibly the bedroom need a DVR. It was nice to have Verizon's multi-room DVR where we could watch something on the DVR in either room but we could just adjust our behavior to record things in the room we watch the most. The tv in the game room would be nice to have cable for, but it's a lower priority as it's an older 27" tube tv thatis hooked up to about 10 video game systems and newer tvs don't have some of the connectors I need (plus, playing an NES on a 42" tv just kindof looks ugly). If we have a simple system, then I might add a cheap 4th tv in an office but it's strictly extra.
Satellite as an Alternative- I'm just going to assume that dealing with them is like dealing with a cable company: "Intro $30 for a billion stations and then it's up to $100 a month after a year or $60 if you just want 5 stations and a DVR rental is another $25 a month on top of it". Am I wrong here?
- Installation and disconnect costs probably suck, too, right? And the house we rented in Indy, the previous owners had run satellite and they had to put down an entirely different set of cable since they couldn't tie into the cable in the house or something so the owner got to spend a couple of days pulling cabling out of the house.
Networks- Can't use rabbit ears any more and at least one of the tvs doesn't have a digital tuner so I'll need to get one or more of the converter boxes. No big deal: it's a $40 one time expense. Any complications I'm not seeing there? Is the quality decent for anyone going this route?
- We still watch a decent chunk of our shows off of network tv. If we end up with that setup, is there a good way to DVR things off of network?
- I don't really want to hook up another computer to the box as I want something my wife can comfortably use. Is there some sort of appliance for DVR over the air like this?
Premium Streaming Television
There seem to be 3 big streaming providers: Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix
- The advice I've always heard is that to get a majority of the shows you watch, it's likely you'll need to pick 2 of the 3 to get near complete coverage. Does that sound accurate?
- How often does a show "fall off" of Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, or Netflix? Sometimes, we'll get behind on our tv shows and the DVR is useful because, for instance, CBS will keep shows up on their website for 3 weeks and then it's gone. If you want it after that, you have to go pay for it, skip the episode, or watch it through more unsavory means.
- How about hardware: Roku boxes seem pretty popular. This is a streaming appliance, right? Does it have DVR features? Do you need DVR features with a streaming appliance (previous question kindof covers that)?
Sports
Damn you, ESPN (Fox Sports, etc)! They're the big problem. And I don't think Ben would appreciate streaming pirate suggestions here so let's move past that. Going out to a bar to see a big game with some fans is fun. Having to go somewhere for every Big Monday game that ends at 11 against Baylor is not an option.
- MLB and NFL are covered. I don't get to see the Royals as is, what with their big national presence, but I like to flip on a Cubs game or Sunday Night Baseball or whatnot. I already subscribe to MLB Audio so I'd probably just bump that up to MLB.tv. Or just live with the MLB.tv free game of the day, which is pretty cool. The only annoyance comes in that I won't be able to see Astros or Rangers games due to MLB's stupid blackout rules. Most NFL games are on broadcast networks except for the occasional NFL Network or MNF and the list I get most weeks are good enough for me.
- NBA or NHL are more problematic. I don't watch enough to justify a yearly subscription if they have one but I do like flipping on a good NBA or NHL game. I will catch pretty much every Rockets game on ESPN/TNT. However, Comcast is fighting all the cable providers here so no one is getting Rockets or Astros games anyway right now (seriously: only about 20% of Houston gets Comcast Sports Houston right now so no one gets to see them). What is pricing like for NBA.tv? And, more importantly, what are the blackout rules? If I can't see the Rockets, I definitely don't care.
- NCAA Sports are the other big stumbling point: Kansas football (hah!) and basketball. I can watch a good 75% of those games on ESPN3 in some fashion (or ESPN2/ESPN). ESPN has some odd rules about blackouts: like if something is on ESPN, you can't get it on ESPN3: I haven't quite deciphered those yet. But this is a huge consideration for me: can I get ESPN3, especially KU games, in any way without subscribing to ESPN on cable?
SI