(02-16-2016 11:47 AM)memphistiger89 Wrote:  Anybody use Roku? I am researching options as well. I'm sick of paying through the nose and getting crappy customer service.

Roku 3 is wonderful.

(02-16-2016 11:47 AM)memphistiger89 Wrote:  Anybody use Roku? I am researching options as well. I'm sick of paying through the nose and getting crappy customer service.

I have a Roku 2 and it works great. The only thing is that you have to reset it about once a week. Just unplug the power cord connection in the back of the box and plug it back in and you're good.

I also have Apple TV and it's pretty good too but no Amazon Instant Video.

We have cable and are almost done with our contract. Our big thing was ESPN and food network. Now SlingTV solves that.

I pay $130 a month to have nothing to watch on DirecTV. Time to save a little money.

CBS is coming out with an app that will allow you to watch all their new shows and past shows like CSI and others.

I've got HBONow, Netflix, Amazon Prime, but will add SlingTV and HuluPlus.

That should cover it.

(02-17-2016 07:54 AM)JTiger Wrote:  CBS is coming out with an app that will allow you to watch all their new shows and past shows like CSI and others.

I've got HBONow, Netflix, Amazon Prime, but will add SlingTV and HuluPlus.

That should cover it.

but is it worth it? That's a lot of add ons. I thought about doing it last year, but once I added all it up it was only about $10 more to get real TV. (Netflix, Hulu, internet vs. 2 yr. comcast package deal)

Looking at your lineup above it seems it would cost more than getting a regular package. How much are you paying each month for all that? (I estimate ~$105 per month including internet but excluding Prime?)

I've got Amazon Prime (80 bucks a year I think so roughly 7 a month), HBONOW is 15, Netflix with UHD which is 13, and I usually have a couple of different subscriptions to other channels floating around like Smithsonian or ABC for maybe 7 a month total. I have Charter cable (it's the only service in my area and I use it for local channels and ESPN) at the very lowest tier and their fastest internet at 110 a month. I have a couple of Apple TV units and one of my TV's is on Android OS. The other I have a PS4 hooked up to so it acts like any other streaming unit. That's a total of 152 a month.

Before I made these changes, I had Dish on their middle tier with two Hoppers (one had a bad hard drive so it wasn't really anything other than a plain old receiver) and 4 Joeys. That was costing me 152 a month and the internet alone was 70.

So, total savings of 70 a month and I still get the best of both worlds. The Charter service has no contract so I could cancel that anytime. I've got 4K streaming from Netflix and I imagine more providers will start providing it as the year progresses.

I like having the ability to control my subscriptions at will. If I watch everything I want to on HBO, I can cut it and go to Showtime. Or vice versa.

Choice is a beautiful thing.

Was paying $120 for direcTv with no frills. The package itself was like $59 per month, but all the add-ons to the bill made it about $120 per month. Plus, I was paying $40 for ATT internet already. So $160/month. Not only that, but we still paid for Amazon Prime for shipping purposes, and Netflix for certain shows and watching on the go. Already had a HD antenna for Tiger Lane.

When we "cut the cord", we dropped the $120 direcTV bill, and added $25/month on Sling, plus about $11/month on Hulu, and a one time purchase of the Amazon Fire Stick for $40. Saves us a ton of $ per month, over $80.

Sling is garbage. But the Watch ESPN app is very good quality. So we use the Sling login to watch all games on Watch ESPN. Great thing about Sling is that there is absolutely no contract. So once the NCAA tournament is over, I will cancel it until college football season starts up.

Biggest drawback to my current setup is no Cardinals/Grizzlies on Fox Sports Networks. But I sacrificed that, and wife sacrificed HBO. And we have zero complaints.

My uncle has a big house. His satellite fed to all the rooms from the attic. When he cut the cord, he bought a large outdoor antenna that fit in his attic. He attached that cord to where the satellite previously hit the splitter, and the one antenna feeds all his rooms with great picture quality. I just use one antenna at every TV. But his setup is much better for network television.

(02-17-2016 10:09 AM)UpperTiger Wrote:  Was paying $120 for direcTv with no frills. The package itself was like $59 per month, but all the add-ons to the bill made it about $120 per month. Plus, I was paying $40 for ATT internet already. So $160/month. Not only that, but we still paid for Amazon Prime for shipping purposes, and Netflix for certain shows and watching on the go. Already had a HD antenna for Tiger Lane.

When we "cut the cord", we dropped the $120 direcTV bill, and added $25/month on Sling, plus about $11/month on Hulu, and a one time purchase of the Amazon Fire Stick for $40. Saves us a ton of $ per month, over $80.

Sling is garbage. But the Watch ESPN app is very good quality. So we use the Sling login to watch all games on Watch ESPN. Great thing about Sling is that there is absolutely no contract. So once the NCAA tournament is over, I will cancel it until college football season starts up.

Biggest drawback to my current setup is no Cardinals/Grizzlies on Fox Sports Networks. But I sacrificed that, and wife sacrificed HBO. And we have zero complaints.

My uncle has a big house. His satellite fed to all the rooms from the attic. When he cut the cord, he bought a large outdoor antenna that fit in his attic. He attached that cord to where the satellite previously hit the splitter, and the one antenna feeds all his rooms with great picture quality. I just use one antenna at every TV. But his setup is much better for network television.

Direct TV just raised their prices across the board for all customers.

(02-17-2016 08:49 AM)MemTigerFan Wrote:  

(02-17-2016 07:54 AM)JTiger Wrote:  CBS is coming out with an app that will allow you to watch all their new shows and past shows like CSI and others.

I've got HBONow, Netflix, Amazon Prime, but will add SlingTV and HuluPlus.

That should cover it.

but is it worth it? That's a lot of add ons. I thought about doing it last year, but once I added all it up it was only about $10 more to get real TV. (Netflix, Hulu, internet vs. 2 yr. comcast package deal)

Looking at your lineup above it seems it would cost more than getting a regular package. How much are you paying each month for all that? (I estimate ~$105 per month including internet but excluding Prime?)

Even with DirecTV I have Netflix, HBO, and Amazon anyway so I'm only adding $30 or so with Sling and Hulu.

I already have an HD Antenna for local channels so I'm set there. The only real drawback for me is no DVR.

I looked into geting a TiVo box but it's pretty expensive and not worth it.

KODI stream your sports for free on an android player, as well as movies, etc

(02-16-2016 10:23 AM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 10:21 AM)tiger2000 Wrote:  You also may want to look into your ISP's policy on data caps.

Yep, Xfinity/Comcast in my market has a 300 gig cap which is garbage but I stream exclusively in my household and we stay under this.

Yeah, this sux.

I had ATT DSL (no u-verse in my area yet). My wife complained about it being to slow so I switched to Xfinity. I never saw the 300 gig cap notice. Had I been aware, I'd still be using DSL.

I got a text today:

You've reached 80% of your 300 GB XFINITY Internet monthly data plan, with 60 GB remaining until addl. charges may apply... yada, yada, yada.

Today is 2/17/16. With 29 days this month we've completed 59% of the month and I'm at 80% of my data plan.

Not looking good.

I want to cut the cord but that's going to push up data usage.

If you go over your data cap it's not that expensive. I can't remember the fee but we hit it last summer when the kids were all home streaming netflix all day long

(02-17-2016 02:04 PM)umbluegray Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 10:23 AM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 10:21 AM)tiger2000 Wrote:  You also may want to look into your ISP's policy on data caps.

Yep, Xfinity/Comcast in my market has a 300 gig cap which is garbage but I stream exclusively in my household and we stay under this.

Yeah, this sux.

I had ATT DSL (no u-verse in my area yet). My wife complained about it being to slow so I switched to Xfinity. I never saw the 300 gig cap notice. Had I been aware, I'd still be using DSL.

I got a text today:

You've reached 80% of your 300 GB XFINITY Internet monthly data plan, with 60 GB remaining until addl. charges may apply... yada, yada, yada.

Today is 2/17/16. With 29 days this month we've completed 59% of the month and I'm at 80% of my data plan.

Not looking good.

I want to cut the cord but that's going to push up data usage.

I can't think of a need for this except to push back on cord cutters.

I have only had Xfinity for about a month and I went over the data cap that month. They never told me about the cap either. When I get my bill I plan to raise holy hell.

(02-17-2016 02:41 PM)JTiger Wrote:  If you go over your data cap it's not that expensive. I can't remember the fee but we hit it last summer when the kids were all home streaming netflix all day long

go into your Netflix settings and set down the visual quality down to a lower settings.
The picture may look a bit crappy at times, but it would take longer to get near your data cap that way.

(02-16-2016 10:23 AM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 10:21 AM)tiger2000 Wrote:  You also may want to look into your ISP's policy on data caps.

Yep, Xfinity/Comcast in my market has a 300 gig cap which is garbage but I stream exclusively in my household and we stay under this.

I went over several times. It's $10 for each additional 50 gig

(02-16-2016 12:08 PM)SouthernBoiNOLA Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 11:47 AM)memphistiger89 Wrote:  Anybody use Roku? I am researching options as well. I'm sick of paying through the nose and getting crappy customer service.

We have been using Roku for about 3 years now. Love it!!! We have Hulu Plus (8 bucks), Netflix (8 bucks), Amazon Prime (about 8 bucks, even though I watch it the least). We also give a friend 10 bucks a month for their password for Watch ESPN, HBO, Starz, and Showtime. So our bill is about 35 bucks not counting our internet connection.

I do recommend getting at least a Roku 3. We had it on a 5mb DSL connection on 4 tv's, and it was serviceable. We went up to a 25 mb cable connection, and it is great.

My biggest problem with Hulu is comercials. I will pay double or more just to get rid of them.

Netflix is great for steaming. I wish they would do away with the DVD already. Again, I would pay more, a lot more just to get everything to stream.

(02-19-2016 02:20 AM)Tanyaskees Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 12:08 PM)SouthernBoiNOLA Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 11:47 AM)memphistiger89 Wrote:  Anybody use Roku? I am researching options as well. I'm sick of paying through the nose and getting crappy customer service.

We have been using Roku for about 3 years now. Love it!!! We have Hulu Plus (8 bucks), Netflix (8 bucks), Amazon Prime (about 8 bucks, even though I watch it the least). We also give a friend 10 bucks a month for their password for Watch ESPN, HBO, Starz, and Showtime. So our bill is about 35 bucks not counting our internet connection.

I do recommend getting at least a Roku 3. We had it on a 5mb DSL connection on 4 tv's, and it was serviceable. We went up to a 25 mb cable connection, and it is great.

My biggest problem with Hulu is comercials. I will pay double or more just to get rid of them.

Netflix is great for steaming. I wish they would do away with the DVD already. Again, I would pay more, a lot more just to get everything to stream.

HuluPlus has a subscription for $12 per month that gets rid of the ads

(02-19-2016 08:38 AM)JTiger Wrote:  

(02-19-2016 02:20 AM)Tanyaskees Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 12:08 PM)SouthernBoiNOLA Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 11:47 AM)memphistiger89 Wrote:  Anybody use Roku? I am researching options as well. I'm sick of paying through the nose and getting crappy customer service.

We have been using Roku for about 3 years now. Love it!!! We have Hulu Plus (8 bucks), Netflix (8 bucks), Amazon Prime (about 8 bucks, even though I watch it the least). We also give a friend 10 bucks a month for their password for Watch ESPN, HBO, Starz, and Showtime. So our bill is about 35 bucks not counting our internet connection.

I do recommend getting at least a Roku 3. We had it on a 5mb DSL connection on 4 tv's, and it was serviceable. We went up to a 25 mb cable connection, and it is great.

My biggest problem with Hulu is comercials. I will pay double or more just to get rid of them.

Netflix is great for steaming. I wish they would do away with the DVD already. Again, I would pay more, a lot more just to get everything to stream.

HuluPlus has a subscription for $12 per month that gets rid of the ads

Really? That's awesome. Must be fairly new cause when I looked at it a year or so ago, they still had commercials.

http://www.geek.com/mobile/netflix-vs-hu...g-1530507/

Quote:Advertising
One of Hulu’s biggest downsides is their dependency on advertising. Even if you pay for the service, shows are interrupted multiple times for unskippable video advertisements, many of which can repeat over and over during a watching session. These breaks can be as long as two minutes and include up to three ads. There is no way to eliminate them, although many people have said that if there was a slightly more expensive subscription plan that did so they would opt for it.

Netflix does not interrupt any content with ads. However, they have recently started playing trailers for Netflix original programming in the screen after you finish watching a movie or season of a TV show. This is relatively unobtrusive and you can skip them or exit out at will.

Edit:

Quote:Netflix costs individuals from $8-9 (depending on whether or not you’re a new subscriber) and Hulu costs $8 for the regular service, and a whopping $12 for the new commercial free option.

Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theate...z40eFs5x9I
Follow us: @digitaltrends on Twitter | digitaltrendsftw on Facebook

The streaming experience here in Huntsville is about to get better. Google fiber should be live in about 1 year. 1 gig speeds for $75/month.