Ping!
dvd, blu ray, netflix, and a few other less legal options, but I haven’t missed broadcast/cable/satellite since I killed it in 2006.
I cut the cable. I have a Roku stick for all of my tvs. I use it for several things.
1) Netflix....good for TV content
2) Amazon Prime...good for movies
3) Sling TV....live ESPN, SEC network, Food network, Disney, Cartoon, and more
4) Tablo....hooks to my over the air antenna for HD locals with a guide, streams to Roku, also acts as a DVR when you plug in an external hard drive
I can’t say I miss cable.
I put up an antenna and all I got was a Mexican network. I can choose my language on the computer. Dish is a waste of time and life.
FWIW, I was going to cancel Dish and they dropped my monthly payment from $90 to $30 for the next year. If you wait 3x, they might make you the offer. This is a reasonable price to keep live sports, IMO. I have spent years “cutting the cord” and years with cable/dish. Sports are the only thing I care about on cable/dish.
No cable over here.
If I want news, I check the internet. I can watch “old” tv shows on YouTube.
And I can always watch local news online and live as well.
Amazon Firestick...
I got rid of cable this year too. Not missing it, there’s plenty to read & do Online....
Ping, to LV Dave.
Now I get 20+ channels, all for free. That's all the local ones (NBC, CBS, ABC) in high definition, plus oldies channels (Andy Griffin Show, etc.), plus recent rerun channels (Big Bang Theory, etc.), plus a couple of movie channels. The movies are old, but are often good.
What I don't get is cable news (Fox, CNN, etc.) or any of the dedicated sports channels. Also no History Channel, etc. I can live with that.
Overall, I'm very happy with this. With the money I save, I can slowly build up a nice DVD collection.
Word of warning though. I bought the “50 mile” digital antenna. And since I live near a major city, I get quite a few channels. If you live out in the country, you might not do as well.
Dropped ALL TV in 2008. Don’t miss it a bit.
I subscribe to Netflix DVDs. Their service is outstanding. I can stick DVDs in the mail on Monday and have the next movies from my queue on Wed. One day turnaround is great.
We have a digktal antenna for lo al, Roku and Netflix for extras. Quite frankly, I don’t watch anything except the occasional Netflix. I despise the MSM that’s on digital antenna (but hubby loves it). I’m pretty much internet for everything.
My wife and I, married 26 years, have never had cable. Just a couple of years ago, we purchased all the essentials for a nice home theater so we could watch movies andI such from Netflix, Apple TV, etc., but also wanted access to network television (I haven’t watched for nearly two decades, though she does)
Bottom line: Just get a decent digital antenna, and if you already have a standard antenna on your house as we did, unscrew the cable, put up the new digital antenna and plug the cable back into the digital antenna. You need to figure out the best direction to point it in, but it isn’t that precise. Depending on how much you want to spend on an antenna, the more money you spend, the more “multi-directional they are. They have instructions, but basically you go to a website, plug in your zip code, and it gives you the direction to all the local stations, and you point it in the general compass point that gives you the best bang for the buck, usually the biggest city you are near, Plug the other end into your digital capable television, and when you turn it on, it will go through a setup to find all the available stations.
You will find more stations using digital than you had before.
We spent the money and got a basic computer (I use a mac-mini, but anything you like can be made to work) a good home theater receiver with lots of HDMI inputs, an Apple TV or Roku type of device, blu-ray/DVD, VCR, games like X-Box if you want them, wireless headphones, and tie them all in together with a Harmony remote. So you can watch movies from Apple, Amazon, Netflix or other providers, watch DVD/Blu-ray/VCR, or digital television from your new antenna.
But I really suggest the Harmony remote if you go this way.
Good luck!
Not every TV show is available on Netflix and Amazon and those that are tend to be a year behind. But that doesn't bother me much. I'm not one of those people who have to see TV shows in real time. I'm still working through older seasons of "Lost", "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men" and that's just fine with me. There's not enough hours in the day to watch all that's available anyhow.
Only thing I sometimes miss is NFL football games but over the past couple years, I've started to spend Sunday afternoons at the local sports bars. Great way to meet people and socialize a little while watching the games at the bar.
Also, I find that I'm able to get a lot more books read since cutting the cable. Since I only turn on the TV when I want to specifically stream something, it's off most of the time and I'm usually (like tonight) surfing the web on my laptop or reading a book while rediscovering my music collection on the stereo.
Netflix, Hulu et al push wacko leftwing Hollywoodite crap. If you are into that,then Amazon, Chromecast, AppleTV, etc. may be for you. Yes Dish is expensive but not as expensive as Direct TV. I don’t like the prices but if you’re a sports fan, none of the others hold a candle to satellite.
Vanities aside, overall program quality and variety by Dish, Direct TV, Time Warner, Comcast, ATT UVerse are far superior to penny pinching proposed 2nd tier programming advocated by most herein.
Netflix streaming is $11 now, I think, and worth it for a massive number of movies and tv series, commercial free.
Netflix app is on most ‘smart’ devices.
You do need a good internet service to stream, of course.
Just use your old TV antenna...no such thing as a “digital antenna”. There are still VHF/UHF bands, although they lopped off all the UHF channels above channel 51. The HQ of FR is still primarily a UHF market, with only one channel moving to VHF during the digital switchover (channel 53 is now on channel 7).
I get 17 local channels with just a $20 Radio Shack rabbit ears antenna. Transmitters are at least 20 miles away but get excellent hi-def reception.
Have multiple homes and cut the cable in half of them but still kept high-speed broadband and mobile hotspots in service. Like many have mentioned, I have free HD Over-The-Air broadcast functioning in all homes using inexpensive indoor HD antennas.
In the homes with no cable, I augment the OTA broadcasts with SiriusXM for content on Fox News Channel, CNBC, Bloomberg, CSPAN, etc. You rarely need video for these channels - just the audio is satisfactory.
I also take advantage of these On-Demand services:
- Netflix (subscription)
- Amazon Live (Pay Per View)
- YouTube
- The Blaze TV (subscription)
- Vimeo
And finally, I sometimes use Redbox for the occasional DVD rental.