Cutting the (Cable) Cord?

[rjolley]

Does TiVo or some DIY solution work as a DVR with the online streaming apps?

[ISiddiqui]

You can DVR OTA broadcasts with a Tivo and it can also search streaming apps (like Hulu or Netflix) for episodes of shows (It's called a "OnePass").

Tivo doesn't support the SlingTV, PSVue type of apps.

[Vegas Vic]

We cut the cord last week, after our $50 per month credit expired on DirecTV. We had the Choice Extra package, which was the lowest package that had all of the channels that we wanted, but also had about 120 channels that we never watched. So when the credit expired and the bill went from $76 per month to $126 per month, I called to see if we could get the discount renewed. The CSR said all he could do was knock $10 per month off my bill, and I said no thanks and cancelled.

I paid $260 to “Mr. Antenna” to install an HD antenna (included parts, labor, setup and warranty), and the installer also removed the DirecTV dish. We now get all of our local channels for free in crystal clear HD, plus about 50 more channels.

I subscribed to the PlayStation Vue “Core Slim” package for $34.99 per month. It has almost all of the channels that my wife and I are interested in. For diehard sports fans like me, it has all of the ESPN channels, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network (plus alternate feeds), SEC Network, BeIn Sports, and all of our regional sports networks (FS West, FS San Diego, FS Prime Ticket, NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California). It comes with full access the mobile apps (WatchESPN, Fox Sports Go, etc.).

We were already paying for Cox Internet, and I’ve got an Apple TV hard wired to the router with an ethernet cable on the downstairs TV. The resolution on the Vue app has been superb, and I’ve had no issues with buffering or other technical problems. Upstairs, we have an Amazon Fire box connected over the wifi, and it’s been working without any issues as well. The cloud DVR is working fine so far. We have recorded multiple episodes and watched them with no issues.

We’re now saving over $1,000 per year, so it won’t take long to recoup the money we spent to get set up.

[sovereignstar v2]

Vue is pretty good for sports, which is why I'm using it. You are using two of the better streaming devices for it so shouldn't have too many quality issues. Make sure you check the settings and turn off the setting that shows scores in progress if you like to record things. It spoiled the Manchester derby for me the other week as it was enabled by default in my firetv.

[MizzouRah]

We had Direct TV for the last 8 years and have to play the game of calling in every 6 months so we can get our bill reduced back to where it was when we first got it. It typically takes me threatening to leave them before I can get anywhere.

Our bill came in for this month and shot back up $30, so I called them and was not able to get anywhere, even threatening to leave.

I called Dish Network and not only do we have 20 more channels, 6 receivers (4 are wireless) and the new Hopper 3, but our bill is $35 less per month guaranteed for 2 years. We have TV's in all 6 rooms, but only had 5 receivers with Direct TV. Now we have all rooms with TV and still pay less!

So far we LOVE the Hopper 3, we can tape 16 shows at once, it has built in apps so all TV's now have Netflix access and the HD is 2 TB. My wife and daughters watch/tape a lot of TV. Plus we get HBO free for 1 year and some other perks.

It's a shame that cell phone companies and satellite companies never reward their paying customers who always pay their bills on time. All they care about is NEW customers. Direct TV lost a valuable customer yesterday and Dish gained a new one. The funny thing is... you can play this game with either company.. it's just a pain to learn new channels and what not.

[sovereignstar v2]

God damn Vue is dropping BeIN Sport on Friday. No explanation has been given but the timing eerily gives the impression it could have something to do with the politics in Qatar. Big blow as getting it in a package that has been costing me only 35 bucks a month was pretty awesome. Might take a look at fuboTV again as all I need is sports and primarily soccer at that. Looks like they are missing the ESPN channels, but I could probably live without them.

[kingfc22]

We're moving this weekend and will be cutting the cord off of Comcast after previously ditching Uverse due to internet speeds.

I tried out Vue, DirecTv and Sling and for the channels we'd want to watch Vue is hands down the best option. Now we just need to get used to the UI.

[Neuqua]

Officially cut my cable today, first day out of contract.

Now have $30/month internet and planning on signing up for the $45vue package.

[Dr. Sak]

I was wondering if someone could help me with my set up. I just bought an over the air antenna that I want to use in addition to my internet to get rid of Comcast cable. Does anyone know of any splitters where you can have two inputs (one for the internet and one for the antenna) and two outputs?

If not does anyone have any other suggestions for how I can do it? I have two TVs, one in our living room and one in our bedroom that I want to be able to get the local channels plus a streaming service on.

[Router Help]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

I was wondering if someone could help me with my set up. I just bought an over the air antenna that I want to use in addition to my internet to get rid of Comcast cable. Does anyone know of any splitters where you can have two inputs (one for the internet and one for the antenna) and two outputs?

If not does anyone have any other suggestions for how I can do it? I have two TVs, one in our living room and one in our bedroom that I want to be able to get the local channels plus a streaming service on.

You might be able to do what I did. Comcast cable came in to my house at one point and then split off into all the different rooms in the house. I put my antenna at that split point and now get all the locals in all the rooms over the formerly comcast cable line.

I have ethernet run through my house with a Roku on each TV. No reason you couldn't put a Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, whatever on each TV with wifi.

[RainMaker]

Comcast just raised the price per cable box so I think I'm out. I like having TVs in multiple rooms but it's just getting too expensive. Cheaper to just buy a Roku and antenna for each room.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Router Help

You might be able to do what I did. Comcast cable came in to my house at one point and then split off into all the different rooms in the house. I put my antenna at that split point and now get all the locals in all the rooms over the formerly comcast cable line.

I have ethernet run through my house with a Roku on each TV. No reason you couldn't put a Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, whatever on each TV with wifi.

That was my thought but where it comes in my house will also be needed for the Comcast internet. Sounds like I am going to have to run a separate connection into the house somewhere for the internet and use my existing wiring for the antenna.

[thesloppy]

I canceled my cable about 3-4 months ago and have been kind of floating in the wind ever since. Apparently I'd already seen most of Netflix's content, so Amazon is mostly what keeps me afloat these days though it's really cut down on my TV viewing entirely. I find that I what I miss most is just the constant white/background noise aspect of (relatively) live tv that's become a cultural norm. It's actually been kind of relaxing to remove the constant chatter of virtual company, but it's also kind of uncomfortable suddenly having all that silence in my life.

[cougarfreak]

I just have one box, and I can use a roku for my other TVs, and use the cable app. to get the cable content. I have spectrum, does comcast do that?

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I find that I what I miss most is just the constant white/background noise aspect of (relatively) live tv that's become a cultural norm. It's actually been kind of relaxing to remove the constant chatter of virtual company, but it's also kind of uncomfortable suddenly having all that silence in my life.

If you want a lot of meaningless chatter in the background, you can always set "Gilmore Girls" on Netflix and turn on auto play .

[SteveM58]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

I was wondering if someone could help me with my set up. I just bought an over the air antenna that I want to use in addition to my internet to get rid of Comcast cable. Does anyone know of any splitters where you can have two inputs (one for the internet and one for the antenna) and two outputs?

If not does anyone have any other suggestions for how I can do it? I have two TVs, one in our living room and one in our bedroom that I want to be able to get the local channels plus a streaming service on.

They can be combined with a regular CATV splitter and then distributed over your house on the same splitters you have, in theory. But this is probably not going to be practical unless you're willing to be very involved with this setup.

The biggest issue you will run into is that Comcast is likely using the frequencies you want from your OTA antenna. So if you combine them, they will essentially cancel each other out and be unusable (where they are both using them). There are other ancillary problems of different signal levels which could be problematic if there is a large disparity between the two inputs.

The real solution would require a notch filter applied to the Comcast input at the uhf/vhf frequencies. Or a low pass and high pass filter which does the same thing. There are companies that can do custom ranges as well, but you'll have to be diligent if/when Comcast changes their system as you may wake up one day and not have internet.

I think your best bet is to dedicate 1 outlet for your Comcast modem and isolate that from the other outlets. Even if that means you need to run a cable from outside to wherever your outlets begin (or add a new outlet for the modem.....whichever is easier).

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

If you want a lot of meaningless chatter in the background, you can always set "Gilmore Girls" on Netflix and turn on auto play .

Heh!

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by SteveM58

They can be combined with a regular CATV splitter and then distributed over your house on the same splitters you have, in theory. But this is probably not going to be practical unless you're willing to be very involved with this setup.

The biggest issue you will run into is that Comcast is likely using the frequencies you want from your OTA antenna. So if you combine them, they will essentially cancel each other out and be unusable (where they are both using them). There are other ancillary problems of different signal levels which could be problematic if there is a large disparity between the two inputs.

The real solution would require a notch filter applied to the Comcast input at the uhf/vhf frequencies. Or a low pass and high pass filter which does the same thing. There are companies that can do custom ranges as well, but you'll have to be diligent if/when Comcast changes their system as you may wake up one day and not have internet.

I think your best bet is to dedicate 1 outlet for your Comcast modem and isolate that from the other outlets. Even if that means you need to run a cable from outside to wherever your outlets begin (or add a new outlet for the modem.....whichever is easier).

Thanks for your advice Steve. I am going to do what you suggested and have on dedicate line run upstairs to the office just for the modem and then use the existing structure for the antenna.

[Kodos]

Thinking of going with Playstation Vue after my DirecTV contract expires. Looks like the Core package has BTN and the other sports channels that are needed. Anyone have more thoughts on PS Vue? Seems like from comments in this thread that most people are pretty happy with it.

[Butter]

They just jumped up the price by $10, so your timing is not great. And lack of Viacom channels still bothers me. But it is a solid service. And it has a good DVR functionality, which many of the others just don't have.

[Kodos]

Not too worried about the price jump.

[Neuqua]

I like the Vue. I'm in the Chicago area so the price didn't jump up for me. I noticed it is faster when I use it through my PS4 compared to my fire stick.

Right now Amazon has the nvidia Shield on sale during their Prime day promotion and that's considered the gold standard when it comes to using a device for these sort of things.

[sovereignstar v2]

I have been using Vue for almost a year now and many of the hiccups I've had with it are gone. I only use it for sports so losing beIN sport and having 10 dollars added in the span of a month has been shitty. Just don't think any of the alternatives are up to my standards. I'd try fubo but their service isn't much cheaper, they lack ESPN, and I'm too lazy to try out something I'm pretty sure isn't as good. Sony does need to do something to prevent their user base from believing it'll go under because losing channels and raising prices seems familiar to, oh I don't know, fucking cable.

[Kodos]

Does the Vue DVR let you increase the recording time now (e.g., for sports events that run past their finish time)?

[Easy Mac]

No. Still have to "record" the next show and hope it isn't replaced with a "Catchup" version before you watch it.

I'm not sure I even use the Vue app. We use it to get into the Disney/Jr/ESPN/Fox Sports apps.

[sovereignstar v2]

Kodos, I did some searching on Reddit and apparently sports events automatically record for 50 minutes extra. There is no manual tweaking at this point and I can't vouch for the 50m thing as I have only DVRd soccer matches that finish in the 120 minute slot. I think Vue still offers a trial, but perhaps you don't have a device to try it with.

[Kodos]

I do. I have PS4, PS3, and several Rokus. I'll do the 7-day trial.

[Kodos]

So this is pretty sad. Just the equipment fees and "other charges" for DirecTV cost the same amount as the entire monthly fee for PS Vue.

I've been testing PS Vue for the past week and a half. It seems pretty solid. Channel lineup is good. No major omissions. I do wish it was easier to start a DVR recording of a show that is currently live without starting at the current time in the broadcast (I watch almost all shows, especially sports, on tape delay), but overall I'm impressed. And saving $100 per month is pretty sweet. When my DirecTV contract is up next month, it's bye-bye time.

[molson]

I found the change from DirecTV DVR to Vue DVR too maddening, and I rarely watch live TV. This was about a year and a half ago, maybe the software has improved. Plus the internet in my neighborhood isn't great and it becomes very expensive if I have to increase the bandwidth cap too much. So I re-attached the cord. I happily pay double the Vue price for DISH now, I think they actually provide a pretty great service. But I'll have to consider alternatives again if they bump me up to triple the Vue price like DirectTV did.

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by molson

I found the change from DirecTV DVR to Vue DVR too maddening, and I rarely watch live TV. This was about a year and a half ago, maybe the software has improved. Plus the internet in my neighborhood isn't great and it becomes very expensive if I have to increase the bandwidth cap too much. So I re-attached the cord. I happily pay double the Vue price for DISH now, I think they actually provide a pretty great service. But I'll have to consider alternatives again if they bump me up to triple the Vue price like DirectTV did.

There's certainly concessions you have to make to save yourself $1200 a year.

[molson]

Originally Posted by INDalltheway

There's certainly concessions you have to make to save yourself $1200 a year.

It'd be more like $350/year saved for me if I went to the lowest Vue package. DISH only costs me about $56/month for now plus occasional HBO and Showtime. And that doesn't include having to move up to the next internet tier with a higher bandwidth cap. Maybe there will be better options when my DISH package is up at the end of 2018, or maybe I can cancel-threat them into keeping the price low.

[Kodos]

So my first big gripe with the Vue is that I can't watch college football games on ABC apparently because all Vue has is the on-demand shows for ABC. Is there an easy solution out there, or do I need to get an antenna? Looks like Sling TV has the same issue?

[tarcone]

We have an antenna. I would get one. You get about 30 stations these days.

How do you like Vue?

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by Kodos

So my first big gripe with the Vue is that I can't watch college football games on ABC apparently because all Vue has is the on-demand shows for ABC. Is there an easy solution out there, or do I need to get an antenna? Looks like Sling TV has the same issue?

If you're close to a tv market, get a mohu leaf indoor antenna. They're cheap and the newest ones have something like a 65 mile radius.

[Kodos]

I like it for the most part. My only notable gripes are:

1. Missing sports on ABC
2. Not being able to adjust recording lengths for sports

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

If you're close to a tv market, get a mohu leaf indoor antenna. They're cheap and the newest ones have something like a 65 mile radius.

I will give that a try. Thanks for the tip. If it works well, I will get a Tivo Roamio to pair it with.

[jaygr]

Originally Posted by Kodos

So my first big gripe with the Vue is that I can't watch college football games on ABC apparently because all Vue has is the on-demand shows for ABC. Is there an easy solution out there, or do I need to get an antenna? Looks like Sling TV has the same issue?

The ABC games are available through the WatchESPN app. You can use the Vue credentials to log in.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by jaygr

The ABC games are available through the WatchESPN app. You can use the Vue credentials to log in.

Good tip. Although I think I saw some people trashing the WatchESPN app this weekend for being laggy/crashy.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

If you're close to a tv market, get a mohu leaf indoor antenna. They're cheap and the newest ones have something like a 65 mile radius.

Gave it a try. It only pulls in 4 channels, and 2 of them are Spanish. On the plus side, the girls all wore skimpy outfits on the one Spanish channel. If the WatchESPN app doesn't work out, may try to get a roof-mounted antenna. Was hoping the mohu leaf would be an easier solution.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Gave it a try. It only pulls in 4 channels, and 2 of them are Spanish. On the plus side, the girls all wore skimpy outfits on the one Spanish channel. If the WatchESPN app doesn't work out, may try to get a roof-mounted antenna. Was hoping the mohu leaf would be an easier solution.

Mohu does a roof/attic version. Did you try that yet?

[Kodos]

Not yet. It sounds like WatchESPN might be the solution to my issue.

[ISiddiqui]

Yeah, when I cut the cord, I used an antenna for broadcast channels, because, yeah, you can use WatchESPN for ABC games (and probably FSGO for Fox games, but that app sucks), but you can't do anything for CBS games.

[Easy Mac]

If conditions are perfect, I can pick up a local ABC at my house, so WatchESPN has been a godsend. CBS can be finicky at times because its literally the complete opposite direction of every other local. I love that I can get 3 different PBS affiliates perfectly, but none for ABC. And that's with an attic antenna at my house.

Also, don't know if anyone uses Kodi for their... uh... media, but there are plugins for PS Vue, ESPN3, FoxSportsGo and NBCSN. For whatever reason, the streams are much more stable for me through Kodi than through any of the apps on my Roku/AndroidTV/FireTV. Through Kodi for each site, the streams are crystal clear, 60 fps, no buffering or downsampling, ever. I sometimes have issues with losing a Vue stream on Roku, but no issues on Kodi. I don't know if it just buffers better than the Vue app or what.

[Kodos]

How well does Vue work on a Kindle Fire? Thinking about getting one to put on our treadmill.

[Toddzilla]

Oh man, I want to kick DISH to the curb so badly, but the last time I did (in favor of FIOS) I found myself longing for the simple DVR and channel lineup and ended up switching back in 6 months.

Now that my bill is north of $130, I'm ready to give Vue a shot, but I'm really gun shy.

[kingfc22]

Been using Vue for 6 months now and am not looking back.

[Marc Vaughan]

My DirectTV setup was $149/month - I replaced it six months ago with SlingTV and NBC Gold (Premiership Soccer) and haven't missed it at all since .. my current setup is $28/month (SlingTV - Soccer+TV) and $59.99/year for the NBC Gold ...

My setup gives me around 95% coverage of all the Premiership matches, there are a a fair few which NBC block unless you have a cable subscription but most of those are covered on SlingTV ...

[Logan]

I noticed my cable/internet bill went up from about $195/month to $215 this past cycle. I have the midrange Optimum package and two boxes. It's at the point where I'm ready to make a change just out of principle.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Oh man, I want to kick DISH to the curb so badly, but the last time I did (in favor of FIOS) I found myself longing for the simple DVR and channel lineup and ended up switching back in 6 months.

Now that my bill is north of $130, I'm ready to give Vue a shot, but I'm really gun shy.

Same here (except I switched from DirecTV to DISH after a few months of cutting the cord) Maybe I'm too old, but Vue and Sling is just not the TV experience I want. I missed the better DVR functionality and having everything in one place. Plus I'd probably have to upgrade internet packages so I wouldn't really save much, at least in the first two years of intro DISH pricing. My bill is $76/month now after starting at $65.

[Grammaticus]

Originally Posted by molson

Same here (except I switched from DirecTV to DISH after a few months of cutting the cord) Maybe I'm too old, but Vue and Sling is just not the TV experience I want. I missed the better DVR functionality and having everything in one place. Plus I'd probably have to upgrade internet packages so I wouldn't really save much, at least in the first two years of intro DISH pricing. My bill is $76/month now after starting at $65.

Does the internet service come through DISH too?