Titanium app android devices, hulu ,Netflix and antenna for local your done for under 20 bucks a month. I've cut cable for over 5 years now would never pay for TV again.
(Topic ID: 236041)
Quoted from Schabs81:Titanium app android devices , hulu ,Netflix and antenna for local your done for under 20 bucks a month
If anybody with a philo account wants to PM me their referral link, I'm going to sign up later today.
Got one. Thanks, homegameroom!
Sullivan, WI
Quoted from mcluvin:If anybody with a philo account wants to PM me their referral link, I'm going to sign up later today.
Nice.... if anyone else needs a Philo referral, I will be your huckleberry... 
EDIT...I mean I already have Philo, but like free stuff..... LOL
PS Mint Mobile is offering a "Buy 3 months, get 3 month's free" promo (you can wind up with 6 months of excellent service for $60!). I've had them for a few months and am incredibly happy - and saving a ton of $$$!
I'm happy to prepay my cellular to save big bucks! I do the $25/month plan and have never gone over my 12gig data cap. (yes, they do limit data, but you can buy more if you need it).
I can't believe I waited this long to get a Roku. There is so much free content. So far, Philo has worked great. It kills me that my cable only Tivo with lifetime is not worth much right now, but I got a good 5 years out of it so it did pay for itself and then some.
Quoted from mcluvin:I can't believe I waited this long to get a Roku. There is so much free content. So far, Philo has worked great. It kills me that my cable only Tivo with lifetime is not worth much right now, but I got a good 5 years out of it so it did pay for itself and then some.
Yeah, Rokus are my favorite for sure. Philo is awesome, the best part of Philo for me is the cloud DVR offerings. No limit at all. I spend more time watching cloud content rather than real-time guide content. The other nice feature is watching every show from the beginning rather than real time. Last but not least, it seems like Philo offers far more shows where you can skip commercials than any other the other providers do. My kids and I love Battlebots and had to sit through the whole two hours each week to watch 20 minutes worth of Battles with Charter on Demand. Now we can breeze through it in 20-30 minutes with Philo.
Quoted from mcluvin:I can't believe I waited this long to get a Roku. There is so much free content. So far, Philo has worked great. It kills me that my cable only Tivo with lifetime is not worth much right now, but I got a good 5 years out of it so it did pay for itself and then some.
Wish I would have bought their stock. Somewhat of of an early adopter with Roku, Netflix, etc.....then never bought a cent of their stock while realizing their potential. Ditto w/Apple when it was cheap.
Roku started out working with Netflix and they went their separate ways for some reason. Roku, having worked on a streamer decide to sell as a stand alone device.
Here's a very short Roku/Netflix interview from 2008: https://hothardware.com/news/inside-the-tech-of-the-netflix-player-with-roku1 Thinking about it - that's probably when Netflix was still mostly a 'get a DVD in the mail' service.
If I'm not mistaken, Philo started out selling their low cost service to students at schools. BTW, I believe Philo is either owned buy the some of the cable channels, or at least is funded by them.
Ralph - ditto on Philo's 'DVR' service. Really works great.
Quoted from TronGuy:Quick question. We don’t have cable as it is, but our roku just broke.
Does anyone use/recommend the amazon fire stick? If so, do I just buy any random one on ebay?
I'd stick with Roku. Or, better yet, talk yourself into upgrading your TV to one with Roku built in. We have been really happy with the series 4 & 5 TCL-brand Roku TV sets. Very high bang-for-buck ratio.
Quoted from mrbillishere:I'd stick with Roku. Or, better yet, talk yourself into upgrading your TV to one with Roku built in. We have been really happy with the series 4 & 5 TCL-brand Roku TV sets. Very high bang-for-buck ratio.
That was our next move. Either buy a roku tv, or the fire stick. Guess thats one vote for roku tv.
I never get rid of anything. Found an old Hauppauge Dual Tuner card from 10 or so years ago. Going to try to get it working with Plex and build a badass omnidirectional antenna as well. Thank you, Hauppauge for keeping the drivers updated.
Have any of you built one of these?
Quoted from mrbillishere:I'd stick with Roku. Or, better yet, talk yourself into upgrading your TV to one with Roku built in. We have been really happy with the series 4 & 5 TCL-brand Roku TV sets. Very high bang-for-buck ratio.
That's not bad advice but I tend to stick with the external Roku's since obsolescence might be an issue. Regardless, you can get built in then switch over to the latest and greatest Roku later. I do tend to prefer Roku over Amazon, lots of free content. Some of the smart TVs tend to be slower compared to the external Roku's.
Quoted from mbwalker:That's not bad advice but I tend to stick with the external Roku's since obsolescence might be an issue. Regardless, you can get built in then switch over to the latest and greatest Roku later. I do tend to prefer Roku over Amazon, lots of free content. Some of the smart TVs tend to be slower compared to the external Roku's.
Agreed. I have a Sharp Roku TV and a bunch of other Roku devices. The TV is sluggish and has a lot of glitchy issues that require reboots often. The Roku sticks and boxes are far faster and more responsive. Also, the TVs require line of sight and use IR remotes. The sticks use RF and I prefer that.
The only benefits I find with the TV is the integration of the over the air HD antenna if you have one and HDMI ARC which will let you control the volume of a separate receiver with the Roku TV remote. Again, this may not apply to you if you don’t use a receiver.
Quoted from mbwalker:That's not bad advice but I tend to stick with the external Roku's since obsolescence might be an issue. Regardless, you can get built in then switch over to the latest and greatest Roku later. I do tend to prefer Roku over Amazon, lots of free content. Some of the smart TVs tend to be slower compared to the external Roku's.
I agree with all of this. TV hardware doesn’t seem to be as robust as dedicated Roku. If the TV itself is a good deal and has the Smart features, go ahead and grab it. Having one remote for everything is nice, but definitely not necessary.
I am still not sold on the Fire line for multimedia. While I think their tablets are the best bang for the buck out there, I find Rokus just work with everything out there, while the Amazon line of products tends to be lagging.
Quoted from ralphwiggum:...I am still not sold on the Fire line for multimedia. While I think their tablets are the best bang for the buck out there, I find Rokus just work with everything out there, while the Amazon line of products tends to be lagging.
Couldn't agree more. I still have a fair amount of the FireSticks (bought 2 more on Prime day at a great price) and if you want to watch Prime, then they're a great bargain. No faulting them there. But if you are keen on loading channels with free stuff, then I tend to favor the Roku's. Plus I do like the Roku's interface vs. a FireStick. On a side note, last time I checked, FireStick's do allow Kodi to be side loaded - and Kodi will play about any video format thrown at it. Sort of the 'Wild, Wild West' of internet video. Not the case with Roku. Having said that, I really don't use Kodi - just too much to watch between Roku free stuff, Netflix, Philo, and Plex for the DVR.
I have had Roku for a while and recently converted to firesticks.
I tended to not watch the free stuff on Roku (though the Roku channel is pretty good). The biggest benefit to the Firestick is that I can watch OTA TV on any TV (and even on my iPhone) WITHOUT running an antenna wire to each TV AS LONG AS you also have the Amazon Recast.
The amount of commercials on the free Roku stuff kind of took the bloom off of that rose for me....
Quoted from PismoArcade:Day three of cutting the cord and subscribing to YouTube TV and we're absolutely loving it.
We still havent bothered much with paying for anything extra at this point in our cord cutting process. Weve been playing with our roku a bunch, so much free content. Weve been using our hulu free trial a lot. I may end up paying for the ad free version after the trial is up. Keep hulu until I get tired of their content then move on.
Quoted from homegameroom:I have had Roku for a while and recently converted to firesticks.
I tended to not watch the free stuff on Roku (though the Roku channel is pretty good). The biggest benefit to the Firestick is that I can watch OTA TV on any TV (and even on my iPhone) WITHOUT running an antenna wire to each TV AS LONG AS you also have the Amazon Recast.
The amount of commercials on the free Roku stuff kind of took the bloom off of that rose for me....
Still need to get on that roof....lol
I just cant do it with amazon. Its too much. They have taken over enough stuff already. There are other boxes that will stream your ota antenna without selling your soul to bezos.
The only appeal I saw from firestick was ability to “hack” and install kodi. Otherwise Im staying away from the big A as much as I can these days.
Quoted from Chitownpinball:...The only appeal I saw from firestick was ability to “hack” and install kodi. Otherwise Im staying away from the big A as much as I can these days.
Take a look at the Nvidia Shield. I run Plex on that for the DVR. Seriously fast hardware and 4K. You can also play Zen Pinball (or whatever it is called), MAME and Kodi. Best Buy has them.
Almost forgot...Roku and Firestick have Plex apps. The Shield acts as the server.
Quoted from Chitownpinball:We still havent bothered much with paying for anything extra at this point in our cord cutting process. Weve been playing with our roku a bunch, so much free content. Weve been using our hulu free trial a lot. I may end up paying for the ad free version after the trial is up. Keep hulu until I get tired of their content then move on.
Still need to get on that roof....lol
I just cant do it with amazon. Its too much. They have taken over enough stuff already. There are other boxes that will stream your ota antenna without selling your soul to bezos.
The only appeal I saw from firestick was ability to “hack” and install kodi. Otherwise Im staying away from the big A as much as I can these days.
We live in a valley and get zero OTA channels from our HD antenna. My wife loves local news and stuff and YouTube TV provides that and a bunch of channels.
Quoted from mbwalker:Take a look at the Nvidia Shield. I run Plex on that for the DVR. Seriously fast hardware and 4K. You can also play Zen Pinball (or whatever it is called), MAME and Kodi. Best Buy has them.
Almost forgot...Roku and Firestick have Plex apps. The Shield acts as the server.
I have an original release shield tablet actually. Its my only android device in the house. Ill have to check this out. Thank you.
Quoted from Chitownpinball:I have an original release shield tablet actually. Its my only android device in the house. Ill have to check this out. Thank you.
So if you are interested in Plex and Shield as a DVR, look at Homerun for OTA tuner.
Quoted from Chitownpinball:I have an original release shield tablet actually. Its my only android device in the house. Ill have to check this out. Thank you.
Plex Server on a Shield Tablet? I don't think that's going to work well.
Quoted from mcluvin:Plex Server on a Shield Tablet? I don't think that's going to work well.
Oh..good point, I didn't spot that in his comment. Shield
TV (note:TV!)
I finally cut the cord. New bill is $65.99 for internet and I'm paying $20 for Philo. There are no taxes or fees for internet service so that's nice. Check your bills. They've (Spectrum) been charging me for internet+wifi forever and I've always used my own equipment, so there should not have been a monthly wifi charge.
I'm still undecided on OTA recording. I'm not even sure I really need to bother. My region gets ATSC 3 next year, so thinking I may hold off. Are any of you guys in an ATSC 3 test area?
We cut the cable & kept internet..... saving over $115 a month.
I put a antenna on the roof & used a splitter to all 4 tvs. Picture from antenna is true hd.... better than from cable or satellite.
We wanted to watch the Twins/Wild/Timberwolves games & were going to pay $25 per month to get Sling but they decided to cut Fox Sports channels.
So... I did some research & we got Hulu live plus for $45 per month & did the unlimited screens for another $10 so my Mom etc could watch everything we have. The deal is she/they can only watch on their handheld/phones etc but they can easily cast to their tv via Chromecast.
We are VERY happy with this setup.
Quoted from mcluvin:I finally cut the cord. New bill is $65.99 for internet and I'm paying $20 for Philo. There are no taxes or fees for internet service so that's nice. Check your bills. They've (Spectrum) been charging me for internet+wifi forever and I've always used my own equipment, so there should not have been a monthly wifi charge.
I'm still undecided on OTA recording. I'm not even sure I really need to bother. My region gets ATSC 3 next year, so thinking I may hold off. Are any of you guys in an ATSC 3 test area?
I like my Amazon Fire Recast DVR. It records OTA broadcasts, has a decent TV Guide, and even shows a guide for Philo. The best part is that you can view OTA broadcasts anywhere on any TV (this may or may not work if you have a Fire TV stick on a different wifi network in a different home, but I bet it will) as long as you have a Fire TV stick in the TV (so you will not have to run an antenna wire to every TV). You can even watch on your smart phone with the Fire TV app.
If anyone is interested in an Apple 4K TV device, I have one that I used about 10 times. I bought it about 6 months ago.
$100 shipped?
I don’t have the original packaging, if that matters to anyone at all.
Oof.
I recently got YouTubeTV (which I love) and was surprised that you can give a free account to 5 other people. So I hooked up my friends and family and settled in to watch some TV.
Didn't read the fine print that says although you get 6 accounts for the price, only 3 can be running at the same time. Now I'm getting bounced off and I'm the guy paying for it.
Entirely my fault for not reading closer. Gonna have to cut a couple of people which should be awkward.
Besides that, YouTubeTV has been terrific.
Quoted from homegameroom:I like my Amazon Fire Recast DVR. It records OTA broadcasts, has a decent TV Guide, and even shows a guide for Philo. The best part is that you can view OTA broadcasts anywhere on any TV (this may or may not work if you have a Fire TV stick on a different wifi network in a different home, but I bet it will) as long as you have a Fire TV stick in the TV (so you will not have to run an antenna wire to every TV). You can even watch on your smart phone with the Fire TV app.
If I had grabbed some of those $25 4K Firesticks a couple of weeks ago, I'd probably have bought a Recast from BestBuy this week. I don't have a huge need to record OTA though.
like a lot of people I am trying to run a vacation home and main residence on one account. Right now I am doing so with direct tv but my equipment is antiquated and expensive. When I/if I upgrade I do not think they will let me do so. Is there a best option for doing so?
I need nbc sports for warriors games, bravo for my wife’s smut, and nick/Disney for the kids. Everything else is negotiable.
Thanks,
Mike
Mike, you have 2 main services that stream ABC, CBS, and NBC, If you arent installing an Antenna.
That would be Hulu, and YouTube TV.
I went with You Tube TV, as it has 3 streams at one time over Hulu, which has 2.
(Hulu does have an unlimited plan if you need more)
I chose You Tube, and was surprised at the amount of Sports, but did not make an in depth Sports comparison.
CNET has a Spreadsheet, with all the channels, and comparison.
Smart TVs work fine, Add ons like ROKU, Amazon, etc, allow streaming to older devices, but there are differences, depending on streaming choice.
Additionally, Streaming companies are checking location, to ensure that there arent too many users on one account, so On Occasion, Home Location, and viewing location need "updates" and an important thing to look into, for 2 locations.
I have done the same, and ended up with Philo, because of some stations like Comedy Central, that arent otherwise available, and Youtube.
I did this last week and am thrilled.
I am however, not happy with stand alone Android boxes that are not google certified, as this has caused issues with NetFlix....
4 months later
Hulu - recently increased the cost of "no advertising" was it worth it ... no (better than cable..) at this point getting better but.. NO
Netflix - couple good shows - still seems a decent deal
Amazon Prime - decent though if you don't use Amazon like me and watch a lot of movies not sure
Disney + = Watch Mandalorian then unsubscribe - but still a bargain
Charter has lowered its pricing and pretty much cost the same as Hulu so what's the point? You can get the same streaming service
here at about 10 dollars less.
They pretty much got your money. I got a Smart TV & XBOX have no need of ROKU
Think I am spending MUCH MUCH more streaming but "That is the future"
Quoted from TechnicalSteam:Think I am spending MUCH MUCH more streaming but "That is the future"
Some people do spend more.
Here's what I'm subbed to:
Netflix ($9 a month basic plan for one stream. I don't watch anything on there but my wife and daughter do else I'd cancel it)
Prime ($13 a month. I don't watch anything here either but we buy stuff off of Amazon throughout the year)
ESPN+ ($5 a month - will cancel once NHL season is over)
Sling ($25 signed up to get ESPN for college bowl season. Will cancel a week from now since college football will officially be over)
Curiosity Stream ($12 for the YEAR. Will cancel towards the end of the year)
Disney+ (free. will cancel when the year is up)
MLB.tv (around $125 for the season)
If we take Sling out of the picture, next month I will be spending $28 for streaming services.
Once baseball season starts that's a little over $20 a month extra but cheaper than paying YouTube TV $300+ for the season just to follow my regional MLB team and with MLB.tv I can watch a lot more games.
On top of that I watch and record stuff free over the air, free ad-supported channels like Pluto TV and utilize the public library to check out movies/TV DVDs for free. There's always something to watch.
I suppose technically I cut the cord when I moved out of my parents house a few years ago and just never got cable or satellite. Right now the only subscription service I have is Netflix, which I'm considering cancelling as I never really use it. Aside from that I run my own Plex Server for the small handful of movies or TV shows I want to watch. I'm lucky I'm not into sports since that seems to be the big issue with cutting the cord.
Quoted from VectorGamer:ESPN+ ($5 a month - will cancel once NHL season is over)
Sling ($25 signed up to get ESPN for college bowl season. Will cancel a week from now since college football will officially be over)
Tell me more about ESPN+?
We cut a couple months ago, wife is struggling with not having live TV. Currently have:
Sling - Got primarily for Redzone to watch Sunday football, wife likes having some live channels like CNN, HGTV, and such
HULU - Got to watch TV shows we'll miss (SNL, Seth Meyers, catching up on Third Rock, etc.)
Amazon Prime - Already had it
Netflix - Already had it but rarely use (other than Strangers Things binge)
Disney+ - Currently free and will likely keep, looking forward to Marvel shows and like having Disney/Marvel/SW movies
I hooked an antenna to outside TV, can get ABC and CBS I think if needed. Main thing I'm missing is NFL/College football. Redzone is fun for Sundays, but don't get Monday night games or Playoffs (Sling appears to have some), and I had to watch the Clemson game on my phone, need something for the Title game! Don't care about Baseball/Hockey/Basketball, so ESPN+ is probably not needed outside of Football season?
Quoted from Rando:Tell me more about ESPN+?
Once the baseball postseason was over I was looking into watching the NHL during the week. I was looking into NHL.tv for the season then discovered that ESPN+ broadcasts at least one game almost every night of the week. I consider myself a casual hockey fan so I went with ESPN+ since it's only $5 a month and I really have no preference as to what team I'm watching.
I also watch soccer Saturday and Sunday mornings. This past weekend they had a ton of English FA Cup matches on, although they typically broadcast Serie A or the English 2nd division on the weekends. They'll be getting Bundesliga for the 2020-21 season.
Plus they have NFL Primetime on Sunday nights with TJ and Chris Berman which is awesome - 45 minutes with no commercials and over just in time for Sunday night football.
Well worth the $5 per month.
They have a shit ton of basketball on also, but I don't like to watch basketball. Google "watch ESPN" and you can see the upcoming broadcast schedule.
Quoted from atrainn:I'm lucky I'm not into sports since that seems to be the big issue with cutting the cord.
And spouses. I'd cut the cord if it weren't for my wife.
Quoted from VectorGamer:Some people do spend more.
Disney+ (free. will cancel when the year is up)
Free Year - How - I got a free Month or 10 days
For football, YouTubeTV is great - I record ALL NCAA and NFL games received in my area and fast forward thru commercials. The only thing it doesn't have is NFL Network, which this season only hurt on Week 17 Saturday.
Quoted from henrydwh:include local channels.
Unlimited dvr/on demand movies plus haven’t had many connection issues either
Quoted from TechnicalSteam:Free Year - How - I got a free Month or 10 days
Verizon customers got a free year
Quoted from DaMoib:For football, YouTubeTV is great - I record ALL NCAA and NFL games received in my area and fast forward thru commercials. The only thing it doesn't have is NFL Network, which this season only hurt on Week 17 Saturday.
Antenna is sufficient for me. A lot of college football is broadcast OTA on Saturday and mostly they are marquee matchups. Of course if you're unlike me and follow a specific school then maybe a streaming service is a necessity. I signed up with Sling just in time for bowl season so I could get ESPN.
I get all the NFL games on Thursdays and Sundays OTA. The only thing I'm missing is Monday Night Football. If the Eagles happen to be playing on a Monday night, I fire up one of those online streams and watch the game on my laptop. As far as that Saturday NFL Network exclusive slate of games, ESPN had a triple header of bowl games that same day which I watched instead.
I wish I had more reliable OTA in Central Jersey... although I do like the accessibility of a streaming service - any screen, anywhere, anytime (DVR)
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