Cutting the Cable cord

[ixcuincle]

If you have a PS4 you can get Vue. I know I've talked about this before but you can also watch on mobile and your computer too. 

 

Sometimes they block football and local networks like CSN on your PC / phone, but you can still watch them on your PS. And there doesn't seem to be much of a delay either. 

Edited January 22, 2017 by ixcuincle

[Malapropismic Depository]

This is a request for help, please.

I got a Roku device. And trying to add channels to it.

Some of these channels advertise as free, but when you try to add them, the TV screen says to go to the website for that particular channel, and enter in the "activation code" that appears on the TV screen. After the code is entered into the website, the next webpage says."Please select your TV provider and sign in with your credentials". But I do not have a TV provider. That's the whole idea behind getting a Roku device ; is to use the internet to stream TV, so you do not have to get a TV provider.

So, without a TV provider, it won't let me go any further because you need login credentials supplied by that TV provider, such as your email/password with Cox Cable, etc.

So, what do people do about Roku channels, if they don't have a TV provider ?

 

[No Excuses]

Yeah you need a cable subscription for some of those channels. It's basically their on demand feature. 

 

It sucks as a cord cutter, but if you know someone who has cable, you can try to get their subscription. I offered a friend of mine my Hulu and HBO accounts in return.

[Malapropismic Depository]

55 minutes ago, No Excuses said:

Yeah you need a cable subscription for some of those channels. It's basically their on demand feature. 

 

It sucks as a cord cutter, but if you know someone who has cable, you can try to get their subscription. I offered a friend of mine my Hulu and HBO accounts in return.

 

 

Yeah, you're right. Looks like if I want free TV with Roku, I'm stuck with the Popcorn Channel, whose highlight is 50 year old reruns of the Dick Van Dyke show.

[PokerPacker]

4 hours ago, Malapropismic Depository said:

Yeah, you're right. Looks like if I want free TV with Roku, I'm stuck with the Popcorn Channel, whose highlight is 50 year old reruns of the Dick Van Dyke show.

Crackle's another free streaming option you should be able to get on a Roku.  The selection isn't Netflix, for sure, but it's got some good titles on its rotation.

[grego]

So I posted a week or two ago about canceling fios due to increasing rates ($200 + monthly my second year). 

 

I got $60 a month 200 mbps Comcast Internet, a few rokus and sling TV. The downside to roku is that you can't access most of the actual content with Comcast (thanks Comcast). Hopefully that will change soon - it's apparently been forthcoming for nearly a year.*

 

Edit - Comcast announced today they now have a roku app. Or, roku has a Comcast app. One of those. 

 

Still, I got the roku just to use sling TV anyway, which brings me to downside number 2. You get NBC and fox but no CBS or ABC. And the live content besides that is just 'OK' . It seems that after a couple of weeks,  I've watched most of the on demand episodes of beachfront bargain hunt they have. 

 

I've always thought that I couldn't get over the air TV because I live in germantown behind a giant ****ing hill, facing south to DC. Being that I was two local channels away from  TV satisfaction, I decided to give it a shot. I spent $30 on this allegedly 80 mile range antenna that got really good reviews and put it on my roof, which is just above the top of the hill. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Digital-Amplified-Extremely-Performance/dp/B00ZI9LWS2

 

According to antenna web.Org, I should be able to get a maximum of 43 channels at my house. I got 65, including all the local channels, in glorious Hi def. Couldn't be happier. 

 

I am- winning off the field. 

Edited January 31, 2017 by grego

[LadySkinsFan]

Thanks for the antenna suggestion! I will be in an RV, so will probably get the 70 ft. amplified version.

[grego]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/hey-comcast-subscribers-now-you-can-use-roku-xfinity-app-instead-of-a-cable-box/?client=ms-android-google

 

Good news for all the Comcast Internet customers with roku (all 3 of us) or subscribers to other Internet providers who you may not be happy with- Looks like Comcast is finally rolling out roku compatible service (just complained about it literally a few hours ago. Guess they read the board ) 

 

Looking forward to seeing what kind of stuff I can now access. 

[ExoDus84]

On 1/21/2017 at 5:51 PM, ixcuincle said:

If you have a PS4 you can get Vue. I know I've talked about this before but you can also watch on mobile and your computer too. 

 

Sometimes they block football and local networks like CSN on your PC / phone, but you can still watch them on your PS. And there doesn't seem to be much of a delay either. 

 

You don't have to have a PS4 to get Vue. It'll work on an amazon fire TV/TV stick, as well as a few other boxes like Roku. I've been looking into this one myself. Base subscription is $40, and has like 60+ HD channels and a web-based DVR built in. It also has (in most markets) all the local channels live.

[twa]

4 hours ago, LadySkinsFan said:

Thanks for the antenna suggestion! I will be in an RV, so will probably get the 70 ft. amplified version.

 

with that you will probably get Dallas, Houston and some others 

[LadySkinsFan]

4 hours ago, twa said:

 

with that you will probably get Dallas, Houston and some others 

 

I plan on traveling around the Western states, so it will probably be helpful in more sparse areas too. I'll look into Vue also. Good information in this thread!

[skinsmarydu]

Hubby bought Roku system, hasn't hooked it up.  I do not want this.  I like my Dish network.  How do I talk him into keeping Dish and taking the Roku back? 

[PokerPacker]

13 minutes ago, skinsmarydu said:

Hubby bought Roku system, hasn't hooked it up.  I do not want this.  I like my Dish network.  How do I talk him into keeping Dish and taking the Roku back? 

Tell him that if he cuts the cord, you'll cut his cord.

[skinsmarydu]

Just now, PokerPacker said:

Tell him that if he cuts the cord, you'll cut his cord.

Ouch.

[twa]

18 minutes ago, skinsmarydu said:

Hubby bought Roku system, hasn't hooked it up.  I do not want this.  I like my Dish network.  How do I talk him into keeping Dish and taking the Roku back? 

 

My wife prefers the firestick.... once she got used to it. 

 

 

[Taylor703]

6 hours ago, grego said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/hey-comcast-subscribers-now-you-can-use-roku-xfinity-app-instead-of-a-cable-box/?client=ms-android-google

 

Good news for all the Comcast Internet customers with roku (all 3 of us) or subscribers to other Internet providers who you may not be happy with- Looks like Comcast is finally rolling out roku compatible service (just complained about it literally a few hours ago. Guess they read the board ) 

 

Looking forward to seeing what kind of stuff I can now access. 

https://www.google.com/amp/variety.com/2017/digital/news/comcast-xfinity-app-roku-1201974253/amp/?client=safari

 

And Comcast is finding a way to **** this up too. They're going to charge you to use your roku lmao. 

[ixcuincle]

20 hours ago, ExoDus84 said:

 

You don't have to have a PS4 to get Vue. It'll work on an amazon fire TV/TV stick, as well as a few other boxes like Roku. I've been looking into this one myself. Base subscription is $40, and has like 60+ HD channels and a web-based DVR built in. It also has (in most markets) all the local channels live.

Thanks. Did you have any issue watching wizards games? I know they constantly get blocked on web or mobile. 

 

If I can watch from these sources you mention with reduced blackouts that'd be nice. 

[ExoDus84]

1 hour ago, ixcuincle said:

Thanks. Did you have any issue watching wizards games? I know they constantly get blocked on web or mobile. 

 

If I can watch from these sources you mention with reduced blackouts that'd be nice. 

I'm on the west coast, so unless they're playing the Lakers or the Clippers, chances are I didn't get the game.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

i cut the cord a while ago and got a VPN to watch nats games.  It worked last year fine.  this year, if i chromecast to my tv, the chromecast seems to be telling MLB my location.  

 

First, anyone experiencing this?

 

Second, does anyone know of a third party router/wifi that works with fios?  i could maybe put the vpn on the router.  expressvpn.com

 

[TK]

Anyone tried Hulu Live or YouTube Live yet? I was leaning towards Sling until I saw that those two new options had just became available. 

 

I haven't cut the cable yet but it's getting close. I picked up a Mohu Mini Leaf package at Sam's yesterday. It's got the 50 mile with the amplifier & the mini 30 mile antenna. They had it in the store (no sale price on their website) for $39.00 while it's normally $59. BestBuy sells just the 30 mile for $39.00 & the 50 mile for $50-60. It's picking up 20 channels though it's not grabbing ABC which is in Lynchburg & about 50 miles out. Though I can get my ABC shows the next day on Hulu. 

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

2 minutes ago, TK said:

Anyone tried Hulu Live or YouTube Live yet? I was leaning towards Sling until I saw that those two new options had just became available. 

 

I haven't cut the cable yet but it's getting close. I picked up a Mohu Mini Leaf package at Sam's yesterday. It's got the 50 mile with the amplifier & the mini 30 mile antenna. They had it in the store (no sale price on their website) for $39.00 while it's normally $59. BestBuy sells just the 30 mile for $39.00 & the 50 mile for $50-60. It's picking up 20 channels though it's not grabbing ABC which is in Lynchburg & about 50 miles out. Though I can get my ABC shows the next day on Hulu. 

 

I haven't tried out Hulu Live yet, but have a subscription to Hulu Plus.  Looked at the options to upgrade and they have two options, Hulu Live with commercials for $39.99/mo  or commercial free for 43.99/mo.  But it appears its limited to phones/tablets for Apple iOS or Android, Xbox One, 4th generation Apple TV and Chromecast with it becoming available to Roku, Samsung TVs, etc. in the future.

 

Channel line-up goes by zip-code, for me it has a pretty decent line-up but CBS, NBC and ABC are on-demand only.  Allows DVR through the cloud storage for 50 hours.  A few channels we watch shows on regularly don't appear to be available like CW, Fox, AMC, etc.

 

Very interesting to see if this takes off and becomes the next big thing.

 

 

[Bang]

trying to cut costs, clipped cable to the basic so i can get local news, live football games, and the O's on MASN.

GOT to keep the internet, so no matter how hard i hack at the cable, i can't get away from it. Even with basic, after add'l box fees, HD fee, other bull**** fees and taxes, and i'm still close to 200 per month. 
(Which is BETTER, I was close to 300)

I bought a Roku, have a netflix subscription and Amazon Prime.. i figure on buying Hulu for 8 bucks a month, and then I want to get sling in the fall, just for Red Zone. (I'll still have to pay 35 per month to do that.) I'll cancel it in January, pick up again in the fall..  they'll let me do that, right?

Frankly, as with the cable, 90% of the channels the Sling offers i don't care about. i don't want to buy an annual subscription to get 4 months of what I want on the one channel i want. (I will pay for those 4 months tho.)

I like abut 80 miles from the closest TV transmitters and i really don't feel like rigging up a big giant antenna on my roof.

 

Is there ANY other way to get broadcast channels and live football?

 

~Bang

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

19 minutes ago, Bang said:

trying to cut costs, clipped cable to the basic so i can get local news, live football games, and the O's on MASN.

GOT to keep the internet, so no matter how hard i hack at the cable, i can't get away from it. Even with basic, after add'l box fees, HD fee, other bull**** fees and taxes, and i'm still close to 200 per month. 
(Which is BETTER, I was close to 300)

I bought a Roku, have a netflix subscription and Amazon Prime.. i figure on buying Hulu for 8 bucks a month, and then I want to get sling in the fall, just for Red Zone. (I'll still have to pay 35 per month to do that.) I'll cancel it in January, pick up again in the fall..  they'll let me do that, right?

Frankly, as with the cable, 90% of the channels the Sling offers i don't care about. i don't want to buy an annual subscription to get 4 months of what I want on the one channel i want. (I will pay for those 4 months tho.)

I like abut 80 miles from the closest TV transmitters and i really don't feel like rigging up a big giant antenna on my roof.

 

Is there ANY other way to get broadcast channels and live football?

 

~Bang

 

That is what I had to do, cut back on the programming we were paying for.  I cut all the premium channels we had except HBO and dropped down to the next to lowest tier package with Direct TV.   Saved a ton of money and with Showtime, Cinemax and Starz (HBO too) being available either stand alone or through subs via Amazon or standalone (HBO Now), we decided to just wait until the shows we want to watch start back up and get 3/4 of the way complete, add it for one month and binge watch and cancel again until the next show starts, that way we are only paying for 3-4 months of premium shows.

 

 

[TK]

1 hour ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

Channel line-up goes by zip-code, for me it has a pretty decent line-up but CBS, NBC and ABC are on-demand only.  Allows DVR through the cloud storage for 50 hours.  A few channels we watch shows on regularly don't appear to be available like CW, Fox, AMC, etc.

I don't know why but it took me forever to realize that I don't need a DVR if I can stream it on Hulu. 

 

Im actually picking up CW with the antennae. 

 

I dont think Hulu has all the streaming/broadcasting rights for AMC. They have Preacher & Fear The Walking Dead but do not have The Walking Dead or Better Call Saul. They also don't have **** from USA. I believe I saw that it's Sling that got the AMC rights for live streaming & word was that Hulu was a few months behind Sling in also having the AMC live stream. 

 

Ive also noticed that Hulu has the Blacklist spin off show that just got cancelled but they don't have the original Blacklist. They're also missing a bunch of CBS nightly shows like NCIS. The CBS stuff you can get from the CBS app for free if you catch them fast enough before they go behind their pay wall. 

 

@Bang about that cable internet- I turned mine off a few months back because I've got an unlimited hotspot LTE contract from Sprint. I've burned through over 100 gigs the first 2 weeks of a month & with 5 devices connected to it, haven't had any buffering issues while streaming or surfing teh innerwebz.

[TimmySmith]

2 hours ago, Bang said:

Is there ANY other way to get broadcast channels and live football?

 

Assuming you have tried a medium sized antenna and it's a no go (distance has less to do with it than direction), download Kodi to the roku and find streams. It's how I watch football on some Sundays.  Can be hit and miss as far as quality goes. the best is if you can find/get someone to stream the game on their Youtube channel.