Anyone cut the cable cord and move to streaming everything?
I was looking at buying my own modem, HD antenna's, and Amazon firesticks for our TV's.
On top of the above I was looking at subscribing to Hulu+ & Sling TV. Only thing that sucks is I won't get all of my live sports.
Anyone have any experience with the above? Thoughts/suggestions?
Thanks!
This is exactly what I've done:
Equipment:
- SlingTV subscription for ESPN access, local TV
- Mohu Antenna + Tablo TV + external HD for infrequent DVR usage
- Hulu & Netflix subscriptions
- Rokus for living room, bedroom and guest room (stream thru PC in office)
- HDTV living room
- 27" PC monitor on side table in living room - marital bliss. Game, watch sports, or have random SEC game on in background.
- Old school TV in bedroom to make low-def movies look good
Sports:
The main downside is the loss of the BTN, though they're working on a standalone package from what I've read. Your only option here would be to borrow a login from a friend that pays for cable. Missing out on BTN was easier to stomach this year with such a weak basketball team
Also note, I don't think a cable-subscriber BTN login gets you access to all live content, just like some ESPN content is not visible on WatchESPN (or it is on one device but not another). This problem became less frequent on ESPN over the years and I imagine the same will be true for BTN, especially as their package is developed.
Access to ESPN programming is a must as a huge college football fan. Being able to stream that to the TV, my second screen (I've preached constantly about the value of this), tablet or smartphone is huge. I'm also under no compulsion to watch it live if the wife and I have other plans. The only inconvenience is having to wait for the event to finish to watch the game on the WatchESPN app, but this is a rare problem (usually we're gone for the whole game).
SlingTV has some nice a la carte add-ons, like the SEC network and others, but no BTN. This is likely because they're creating their own gateway. The B1G may be stodgy but their network is cutting edge and there will be a subscription model (for all sports). The problem is how long we'll have to wait for it to be ready for launch.
I like having the local TV stations via antenna but almost never use it. I bought it in October. We've literally used it a half dozen times, B1G CCG, NFL playoffs, super bowl and an O'Bama speech. Now if I were an NFL nut (and not a numb Redskins fan), that would probably be much higher.
Consumption habits:
Ever since cancelling cable, I find my consumption habits have changed drastically. Last decade, we used to watch a ton of shows and frankly the options were much better: Office, Chuck, Community, 30 Rock, Parks & Rec, Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Fringe, House, NCIS, Arrested Development, Colbert Report, Daily Show before Jon became Taos, cartoons before they wore out (South Park, American Dad, Family Guy)). etc.
In the past few years when the above were gone (or really weak), I found that we watched some alright shows like Suits, Covert Affairs, NCIS LA and felt compelled to keep up to avoid a painful backlog to slog through. Since cutting the cord, I've had zero interest in watching shows like this. We still watch NCIS via CBS.com plugged into a laptop, but once that show dies this fall, we'll have zero shows.
My wife and I had very similar tastes and watched shows together. This meant that when I wanted to play a video game, it would keep her from watching these shows (or be forced to watch them twice). Now we only watch shows when we feel like it. NCIS is the only show we share, though we do rewatch epic shows together like Psych, The IT Crowd, Better Off Ted and many classic sitcoms (Seinfeld, Raymond, Bernie Mac, Malcolm, 70s show). Our Hulu & Netflix subscription means that my wife can binge watch tons of great old shows (X-Files, FNL), girly shows (Gilmore Girls, Felicity) and go back and watch more recent shows she missed (Bones, Flashpoint, Once Upon a Time). Likewise I can watch shows she hates like Star Trek TNG, Seinfeld (she has very few flaws, but between this and hating some great, obscure Bill Murray comedies, there are challenges in marriage
).
