OT: Cutting the Cable?

[bikerbillone]

My observation is those who have saved a bundle by cutting the cord, be it cable or satellite, are the ones who were subscribing to a bunch of extras or premium services. Those of us who have tended to subscribe only to the minimums don't get any real savings without sacrificing content. For example, I dumped Dish satellite and saved about $60/mo. That savings was reduced by a subscription to Pandora to replace the music stream of Dish. But I don't get Discovery, History, Nat Geo, Fox, MSNBC, and so on. Fortunately I don't miss most of those since I seldom watched them. But I did have to sign up for the local PBS station membership, $60/yr, to watch many of the newer and/or better PBS programs.

You can save money by cutting the cord, but mostly only if you were spending it excessively to begin with! :thumbup:

For the record, I was not one of those that had foo foo 'premium' service, bare bones was my game, but still, I was not willing to contribute to the ongoing financial shenanigans of cable, Dish, etc. IMO, ya don't have be a 'premium user' to get fed up with cable, Dish, commercials every five mins, and financial manipulation, but as mentioned, that's just my opinion. Everybody has one. I totally respect anyone that chooses to buy into all the cable or satellite programs available.

 

[newbert]

I cut the cord with cable, tried Dish, that was a disaster that cost me dearly, never again, but that's just me. I have internet from the cable company, then I have Fire Stick from Amazon, works fine for me. I was totally fed up getting screwed over, paying the big bucks, the increases every couple months for whatever reason they could think of, the commercials, and the list goes on. I've been doing just fine for over half a year now. Nope, I was not paying another day for an addiction that was aggravating and cost money, that did not make sense.

Just received my FireStick today and am quite impressed with it! Very easy to set-up and picture quality over Wifi is excellent so far.

Got a few questions though:

1. Is there any way to watch local news on it? My local stations offer apps, so can these be accessed thru the FireStick?

2. For $$$ apps such as Hulu, SlingTV, etc, what are their monthly charges billed to? (Is it done thru Amazon somehow?) And is there a way of knowing what they will charge AFTER the free trial period expires? And will it automatically roll into a "charging" status after the trial expires, or do you get a warning before it happens?

Thanks!

 

[RapidSpyder]

As far as local channels go just get a good antenna from Best Buy or the like. I get 23 channels over the air for free.

 

[newbert]

Just received my FireStick today and am quite impressed with it! Very easy to set-up and picture quality over Wifi is excellent so far.

Got a few questions though:

1. Is there any way to watch local news on it? My local stations offer apps, so can these be accessed thru the FireStick?

2. For $$$ apps such as Hulu, SlingTV, etc, what are their monthly charges billed to? (Is it done thru Amazon somehow?) And is there a way of knowing what they will charge AFTER the free trial period expires? And will it automatically roll into a "charging" status after the trial expires, or do you get a warning before it happens?

Thanks!

Just a follow-up to my first reaction. Now that it's evening, I find that some of the streams (not all) are buffering - probably a lack of bandwidth with everyone home from work now.

My main experience tonight (first night of use) is that the whole paradigm is different from Cable TV. I'm used to pressing "menu" on the remote control to view a listing of what's playing on all available channels (Live TV) right now. Unless I'm mistaken, this doesn't seem possible with the FIreStick. I also don't see a way to record. These aren't complaints - just a new way of doing things for me to get used to. I'm still impressed as hell.

 

[RapidSpyder]

For recording you’d have to get a DVR still if I’m correct. I have a Channel Master to record off air programs, and it paid for itself within a few months. I really like Netflix, no commercials.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

1. Is there any way to watch local news on it? My local stations offer apps, so can these be accessed thru the FireStick?

2. For $$$ apps such as Hulu, SlingTV, etc, what are their monthly charges billed to? (Is it done thru Amazon somehow?) And is there a way of knowing what they will charge AFTER the free trial period expires? And will it automatically roll into a "charging" status after the trial expires, or do you get a warning before it happens?

Thanks!

As Rapid says, get an over the air digital antenna. Winegard makes good one. Go to https://antennaweb.org/Address to find out which direction and distance the local TV station transmitters are located. You need to point the antenna fairly close in the right direction.

As far as charges I believe most, if not all, charge your credit card directly. And they don't give you any warning when your trial expires. Why would they? They want your money and you already said when you signed up you'd let them charge you unless you cancel. Read the fine print and you'll be able to find how much they'll charge after the free trial. You should be able to find that pricing info just before you click on the "Stick it to me" button!!!

 

[newbert]

For recording you’d have to get a DVR still if I’m correct. I have a Channel Master to record off air programs, and it paid for itself within a few months. I really like Netflix, no commercials.

No commercials sounds really good to me!

Would you have a link to which cable channels are available on Netflix? I can't find this type of info anywhere on their website.

Ideally, I'd like to see Netflix content included on this comparison spreadsheet.

Thanks!

 

[jcthorne]

No commercials sounds really good to me!

Would you have a link to which cable channels are available on Netflix? I can't find this type of info anywhere on their website.

Ideally, I'd like to see Netflix content included on this comparison spreadsheet.

Thanks!

Netflix does not offer cable channels. They have a library of content. Both licence and self produced. All on demand, no linear programming.

 

[ByeSpyder]

As Rapid says, get an over the air digital antenna.

No such thing as a digital antenna. Check out the RF frequencies the surrounding stations are using and buy either a UHF or VHF (or combo) antenna. Most TV stations now broadcast in the UHF range.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

No such thing as a digital antenna. Check out the RF frequencies the surrounding stations are using and buy either a UHF or VHF (or combo) antenna. Most TV stations now broadcast in the UHF range.

Antennas designed specifically for receiving digital TV signals on the currently available VHF and UHF frequencies are commonly referred to as digital TV antennas. I suppose I should have referred to them as digital TV antennas.

From this page.http://www.winegard.com/flatwave?q=offair

Watch More Free HDTV Content
FlatWave antennas provide the maximum content available in your area. FlatWave digital TV antennas are capable of receiving both VHF and UHF signal from up to 60 miles away.