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Cutting the Cable Guide
- Thread starter Huntn
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I will pay whatever I have to in order to avoid ads. I get that it's a source of revenue for them but at the same time they get tons of other money through pay services, etc. Hulu makes you pay extra for their enhanced DVR, otherwise you cannot skip through ads. With YTTV all of that is included with unlimited DVR and it's still cheaper so in the end it's what I've ended up with.
June 2019
It will be interesting to see what kind of pressure all of the companies jumping on the streaming bandwagon will do to Cable Companies- Disney Plus and Apple TV+.
Two decades ago when I was subscribing to HBO, I just let it run month after month, but I recognized that there was only a few shows I watched. I think that what these services will see are a lot more hit and run subscribing. What I do now especially with 10 show seasons, when they are not all released at once, is to wait a few weeks and then subscribe so I can watch a season in a one month subscription.
Amazon could be the winner in the Disney-Netflix Battle
https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/06/25/amazon-could-be-the-winner-in-the-disney-netflix-b.aspx
Disney Plus streaming service: Release date, price, shows and movies to expect
https://www.cnet.com/news/disney-pl...-toy-story-avengers-marvel-star-wars-netflix/
Apple TV +
https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-plus...qa99n2zg0_pcrid_339999868554_&anonymizeip=set
It will be interesting to see what kind of pressure all of the companies jumping on the streaming bandwagon will do to Cable Companies- Disney Plus and Apple TV+.
Two decades ago when I was subscribing to HBO, I just let it run month after month, but I recognized that there was only a few shows I watched. I think that what these services will see are a lot more hit and run subscribing. What I do now especially with 10 show seasons, when they are not all released at once, is to wait a few weeks and then subscribe so I can watch a season in a one month subscription.
Amazon could be the winner in the Disney-Netflix Battle
https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/06/25/amazon-could-be-the-winner-in-the-disney-netflix-b.aspx
Disney Plus streaming service: Release date, price, shows and movies to expect
https://www.cnet.com/news/disney-pl...-toy-story-avengers-marvel-star-wars-netflix/
Apple TV +
https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-plus...qa99n2zg0_pcrid_339999868554_&anonymizeip=set
FX Now maybe on my sh*t list. They are in league with the Devil! 
First it made me sign in with my cable provider account and because I have a basic subscription with Suddenlnk (cable provider) and although I can see these 3 episodes of this season’s Legion listed, I get a message that my subscription does not allow me to view them! That is because my basic cable subscription does not include FX.
Now I do have FX channel on Sling TV, but those are live shows. I put that on to record all episodes, so it is possible I can catch some reruns. Worst comes to worse I could allows Season 3 to finish and then subscribe to FX+ for 1 month@ $5.99.
Update: I searched SlingTV and found the the Last 2 Episodes of Season 2 and the 3 episodes of Season 3. The mystery is that I don’t see these in Sling’s on demand section, but if I search, they appear and are watchable.
First it made me sign in with my cable provider account and because I have a basic subscription with Suddenlnk (cable provider) and although I can see these 3 episodes of this season’s Legion listed, I get a message that my subscription does not allow me to view them! That is because my basic cable subscription does not include FX.Now I do have FX channel on Sling TV, but those are live shows. I put that on to record all episodes, so it is possible I can catch some reruns. Worst comes to worse I could allows Season 3 to finish and then subscribe to FX+ for 1 month@ $5.99.
Update: I searched SlingTV and found the the Last 2 Episodes of Season 2 and the 3 episodes of Season 3. The mystery is that I don’t see these in Sling’s on demand section, but if I search, they appear and are watchable.
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What shows does FX have these days that are worth watching? There was the Americans and Breaking Bad, but I didn't like either show. I found Breaking Bad painfully boring. I tend to like some stuff USA puts out, but my interest in the shows wanes quickly. I remember liking that Nantucket show for a year or two before getting bored. Suits was alright the first 2 series before we found it boring.
There have been few shows where we both sat through for seasons on end. I still do cable (and foreign satellite), but I'm not at all impressed with these a la carte options. Prime Video and Netflix are winners in my book. I sincerely doubt Disney will be any good. But I do want to grab a 30 day sub on Hulu to watch the Catch 22 mini-series and then cancel. Though I believe I don't have to because of Spotify Premium.
Edit: It appears I've missed out on the time limited offer. Oh well. I'm sure there's other stuff on Hulu in between the riff raff to watch.
There have been few shows where we both sat through for seasons on end. I still do cable (and foreign satellite), but I'm not at all impressed with these a la carte options. Prime Video and Netflix are winners in my book. I sincerely doubt Disney will be any good. But I do want to grab a 30 day sub on Hulu to watch the Catch 22 mini-series and then cancel. Though I believe I don't have to because of Spotify Premium.
Edit: It appears I've missed out on the time limited offer. Oh well. I'm sure there's other stuff on Hulu in between the riff raff to watch.
Threads like this are so interesting to me...
I am 26 years old and I do not have a television. When I watch a show, I watch it on my computer or iPad. The only time I have lived with a television in my adult life is when a roommate has had a TV, which I didn't really watch as they did.
For my content, I have access to cable channels through a family member's login. I rarely watch anything that is currently airing on television. I do like Catfish from MTV.
I have Netflix. I have gotten sucked into the Vampire Diaries series, which has two spinoff series--The Originals & The Legacies. I'm in season 2 of The Originals now. Lots of content with a series that prolific.
I also have Amazon Prime, but I rarely watch that. I do a lot of good book reading, outside exercise, and I basically live at work. For now, it works for me. I have considered getting a small, cheap TV but I'm not even sure where I would put it. My living room is tiny and there is a closet door and bathroom door that would bump into the TV if I was to put it on any of the available wall space. I guess I could put it in my bedroom, but I'd have to do some reconfiguring. I'd want to get an Apple TV as well.
I am 26 years old and I do not have a television. When I watch a show, I watch it on my computer or iPad. The only time I have lived with a television in my adult life is when a roommate has had a TV, which I didn't really watch as they did.
For my content, I have access to cable channels through a family member's login. I rarely watch anything that is currently airing on television. I do like Catfish from MTV.
I have Netflix. I have gotten sucked into the Vampire Diaries series, which has two spinoff series--The Originals & The Legacies. I'm in season 2 of The Originals now. Lots of content with a series that prolific.
I also have Amazon Prime, but I rarely watch that. I do a lot of good book reading, outside exercise, and I basically live at work. For now, it works for me. I have considered getting a small, cheap TV but I'm not even sure where I would put it. My living room is tiny and there is a closet door and bathroom door that would bump into the TV if I was to put it on any of the available wall space. I guess I could put it in my bedroom, but I'd have to do some reconfiguring. I'd want to get an Apple TV as well.
Breaking Bad was AMC. It did not grab me at the beginning, turning me off watching this characters spiral down.
Were there reruns on FX? I know AMC did Into the Badlands and TWD, and that advertising show Mad Man. I've been wanting to watch Into the Badlands ever since I saw a trailer for the last series early this year but I'm not sure where to start.
I got rid of Spectrum cable TV/DVR and just kept my 100 mbps internet with a skinny bundle of streaming cable channels plus all local channels and other randoms that I can watch with their app. I get about 30 channels for $25 on top of the internet bill. It’s not bad but streaming on demand episodes can be a nightmare during evening hours so I may drop it and get an antenna.
I also like Pluto TV which seems to have greatly expanded their channel lineup and I can always find something watchable. MST3000 runs 24/7 on one of their channels. For free it isn’t bad. It reminds me of 90’s cable.
I also like Pluto TV which seems to have greatly expanded their channel lineup and I can always find something watchable. MST3000 runs 24/7 on one of their channels. For free it isn’t bad. It reminds me of 90’s cable.
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FX Now has this season of Legion on, but without an appropriate cable company log in, they say FYou. My impression is that they are pushing FX+, their subscription service, if you want to pay to see anything earlier than the current season. I found watchable episodes of this season 3, Legion, on Sling TV.
FOR AMC, I would not be surprised if it is the same arrangement there with AMC + or whatever they call their premium service, that is if you don’t want to buy individual episodes or the season on something like iTunes, or Amazon Prime.
Oh, another streaming service. The markets become so segmented that we're right where we were not long ago.
Right now I could cancel cable and take up all the streaming I want, but I'd be paying about the same. And these legacy networks moving full steam ahead towards streaming wonder why piracy is still an issue.
I have lived without TV for around 10 years, the only time I witness that load of rubbish is when I visit my dad. He doesn't even pay attention to it so what a waste of energy and money.
Seriously what's the appeal? Adverts are full of **** and unoriginal. Sport is constantly interrupted, it gets to the point where Snooker players are stood there waiting for the fooking things to finish.
I hear it's worse in the US.
Netflix and YouTube are all I need, and maybe that Disney one when it's had time to settle and add content.
Seriously what's the appeal? Adverts are full of **** and unoriginal. Sport is constantly interrupted, it gets to the point where Snooker players are stood there waiting for the fooking things to finish.
I hear it's worse in the US.
Netflix and YouTube are all I need, and maybe that Disney one when it's had time to settle and add content.
2019- Here are some advantages, of streaming and some observations:
- From what I can tell, the Cable company takes their cut, so you are paying a premium and paying for things you don’t want.
- Sling TV (or maybe Hulu and the like) is cheaper and carries most if not all of the cable channels I’ve watched in the past, like AMC, FX, of SyFy, that are included in the higher tier cable packages. So I can watch these shows live like I did with my cable company.
- Also for a case where you want to watch last year’s episodes, cable companies have the same limited access, most if not all older content will not be available in their on demand, as more networks try to monetize their old shows with plus streaming services.
- ...except I recorded most of them to watch later, many of the streaming services now include DVR which Suddenlink charged $20 a month just for that.
- For original content from other providers like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and soon to be Apple TV, you would be paying for these even with cable.
- We only watch one show on broadcast TV, Modern Family (ABC) which is in it’s last season, and practically everything else we watch is streamed, much of it dumped into the streaming trough in it’s entirety and able to be bing watched from the start.
- And finally with the skimpy seasons we have these days as short a 10 shows and sometimes less, if you don’t care when you watch a show, it’s easy to subscribe for 1 month, watch the season, and then unsubscribe. you’ll come out ahead versus paying the cable company for access all year long whether you are watching something or not.
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Someone in this thread mentioned the ability to watch paid content purchased on Apple TV, but without an Apple TV box. I looked back a couple of pages but could not locate the name of the app they mentioned. Is anyone doing this currently?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Added this section to post 1:
Is Your Smart TV the equivalent of having a Roku or Apple TV box?
2019- Smart TVs have the ability to install network apps on them, but it depends on the TV how robust they are as a streaming hub. Our new Visio 4k TV does not have access to all the network channel apps that dedicated Roku or Apple TV boxes have. The guy told us at Costco, the Visio TV it was the same, wrong!
Is Your Smart TV the equivalent of having a Roku or Apple TV box?
2019- Smart TVs have the ability to install network apps on them, but it depends on the TV how robust they are as a streaming hub. Our new Visio 4k TV does not have access to all the network channel apps that dedicated Roku or Apple TV boxes have. The guy told us at Costco, the Visio TV it was the same, wrong!
How abut keeping shows on cloud based DVR's ? No one can keep them forever as they expire. Yet people seem to think a DVR, even connected locally, would be the same as a PC's hard drive... What you "record", stays...
No, it doesn't... as you never have control over what goes, or stays there unlike a PC had drive.
Cloud based DVR's are good for convenience, but that's about it. If your intended goal is to keep some shows/movies forever, cable cutting is probably not for you (specially for these titles)
No, it doesn't... as you never have control over what goes, or stays there unlike a PC had drive.
Cloud based DVR's are good for convenience, but that's about it. If your intended goal is to keep some shows/movies forever, cable cutting is probably not for you (specially for these titles)
One of the best features of YTTV is the cloud based DVR IMO. No more managing it or running out of space, I agree that if one needs to hoard a show forever they're better off recording on their own somehow. Even cable is moving to this model so it's just a matter of time before they're all expiring.
Is there independent cloud based DVR that allows you to keep them independent of the streaming source? Sling offers cloud DVR but it would only last as long as you maintain your Sling subscription. Suddenlink offers a disk based DVR in their TIVO boxes and now, Altice boxes (Altice bought them). But that too is dependent on you maintaining your account with them, and if they ever break, all of your recording go poof, as it would be for cloud based DVR of any type I know of. The safest bet would be to purchase these items on disk, or through a streaming service and hope that service stays in business. I would not worry about the likes of Apple TV, or Amazon Prime Video.
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I was not happy when my Spectrum internet bill went up from $46 to $76 dollars / month. I guess they needed the money to pay off their Time Warner acquisition or to offset the people dropping cable
.I mostly end up watching Pluto TV.
The only complaint I have on Pluto TV is navigating the channels on my Roku.
With all the channels they have, it take forever switching between the channels I want to watch using the channel up / channel down buttons. They need a way to enter the channel numbers like a TV remote.
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I recently dropped Sling although I would recommend it.
I was not watching it enough and wanted to offset the increase in my Spectrum internet bill.
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I would say not.
I was not happy when my Spectrum internet bill went up from $46 to $76 dollars / month. I guess they needed the money to pay off their Time Warner acquisition or to offset the people dropping cable
I mostly end up watching Pluto TV.
The only complaint I have on Pluto TV is navigating the channels on my Roku.
With all the channels they have, it take forever switching between the channels I want to watch using the channel up / channel down buttons. They need a way to enter the channel numbers like a TV remote.
Yeah my Spectrum 100 mbps line is $75 also. I end up paying 102/month for that with the streaming channels. I had the internet/phone/cable for $99 introductory price but that was about to double and since I don’t watch much TV and never even plugged a phone into the modem I got rid of it.
The Pluto menu leaves something to be desired on Apple TV also. I guess we get what we pay for.
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That might work in the short run until all the streaming companies greatly increase their prices to make up for the revenue they are missing.
I can actually see where they might have a dramatic tiered pricing scheme.
If you pay month by month, it will be much more expensive.
If you pre-pay for six months to a year, the cost will be much less.
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Not if you subscribe to both
PRetty soon there are going to be a gazillion $10/mo services that will add up to $500/mo.