Dumping Cable & Getting a Roku - Advice Needed

[Sakrysta]

^It all depends on what you want to do with it. The first one I bought was the higher-end one available at the time, and I got it because it had the USB jack. But I rarely used it, and frankly, it didn't work very well in recognizing the files I wanted to use it to view. What I have now is the cheaper purple one (2 of them, actually). I found the newest incarnation really tempting, as the remote includes a headphone jack. I would love it to be able to run music apps and walk around the house with headphones in my ears. It's marketed as being great for watching late at night without disturbing someone else, which sounds great except that I live alone and don't have to worry about that.

Glancing at the product list, really the choice is between the least and most expensive models. If you don't need what the most expensive one has to offer, buy the least expensive purple one. Plus you could get two of them for the cost of the one higher-end model, which you WILL want if you have more than one TV, because you will love it and end up watching all your TV in one room.

At least, that's what happened to me.

 

[Roshi]

We have an Apple tv box a few years old but don't really use it. Where can I learn how to use it? Hubby is of no help on this, I have to teach him how to program a dvr. Smart man but easily frustrated by things that don't interest him.

Type "Apple TV demo" on YouTube. I thought its use was intuitive.

 

[Amaris]

^It all depends on what you want to do with it. The first one I bought was the higher-end one available at the time, and I got it because it had the USB jack. But I rarely used it, and frankly, it didn't work very well in recognizing the files I wanted to use it to view. What I have now is the cheaper purple one (2 of them, actually). I found the newest incarnation really tempting, as the remote includes a headphone jack. I would love it to be able to run music apps and walk around the house with headphones in my ears. It's marketed as being great for watching late at night without disturbing someone else, which sounds great except that I live alone and don't have to worry about that.

Glancing at the product list, really the choice is between the least and most expensive models. If you don't need what the most expensive one has to offer, buy the least expensive purple one. Plus you could get two of them for the cost of the one higher-end model, which you WILL want if you have more than one TV, because you will love it and end up watching all your TV in one room.

At least, that's what happened to me.

I'm still using the N1000, and I'm not missing a thing by sticking with it. I do plan on getting another one, and giving my parents my first one. I paid $99 for it 4 years ago. I've got my money's worth.

 

[tighr]

Welcome to the cord cutters club!

In addition to my roku (dead simple, as others have said), I also have a custom built HTPC running windows 7 with a tv-tuner card. This connects to my antenna, and using 7MC I can record all my locals. Very easy to use.

 

[HaventGotALife]

I don't have an HD television or a Roku, but I cut the cord about six months ago. I enjoyed it. I was able to watch all my shows, I gained an entire library with Netflix and bought NBA League Pass to follow my sport. The big thing was choosing when to watch what I wanted. If I wanted to watch six nights of Charlie Rose at 8PM, binge on Star Trek episodes until I went to bed (about 1AM), and then spend all day on Sunday watching NBA basketball (an actual week of what I did), I could do that and I enjoyed it. It's like I was programming my own network. I just searched online to check which shows were where and then bookmarked them. No need to worry about whether the DVR was recording during a show or worrying about if the DVR was full. The entire library is online. As time moved on, I started watching less and less television, even the internet television, but I think that was because of my equipment.

I still would be without cable if it weren't for the NBA playoffs. My cable company sent me a notice they would cut me a deal, and I was back in. They cut the price from 250 dollars a month which caused me to cut the cord, to 90 overnight. I was essentially getting television service for 15 dollars a month over what I was already paying. So if you cut the cord, and find it's not working, your cable company may be able to help you get it back.

I didn't set up a television in my house (no HD) with an antenna. No need. hate cop shows, daytime TV, and reality television. It was weird at first, but it really got to the point that I loved it and you can get most of that stuff online anyway, not through an affiliate. I just couldn't watch basketball games that were on cable stations. Unlike MLB (and NHL I think) they don't offer postseason streaming of games for a fee. If they did, I still would be without cable, even with the deal they cut me.

 

[Sakrysta]

^ Yeah, sadly, if you're a sports fan, it's still not quite there in terms of cutting cable and being able to watch everything you want. There are some services out there, but if you follow multiple sports, you might end up paying close to what you pay now just in subscription fees.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I pay a fair amount for MLB.TV, but at least it's only annual. And even then it's less than what I used to pay for cable every month - plus, barring the occasional blackout rules (I live in Royals territory so every time the Yankees play them, I either listen to the radio feed or wait for 2 hours after the game), I'm guaranteed to get EVERY GAME, whereas with cable I'd be lucky if MLB Network, ESPN or (gack) Fox just happens to show a Yankee or Met game.

(MLB.TV is a massively useful service, by the way. I don't think there's a football equivalent, but there are for hockey and basketball - at least during the regular season.)

 

[HaventGotALife]

^ I pay a fair amount for MLB.TV, but at least it's only annual. And even then it's less than what I used to pay for cable every month - plus, barring the occasional blackout rules (I live in Royals territory so every time the Yankees play them, I either listen to the radio feed or wait for 2 hours after the game), I'm guaranteed to get EVERY GAME, whereas with cable I'd be lucky if MLB Network, ESPN or (gack) Fox just happens to show a Yankee or Met game.

(MLB.TV is a massively useful service, by the way. I don't think there's a football equivalent, but there are for hockey and basketball - at least during the regular season.)

I had a 4-month blackout of my Pistons. Not particularly depressing considering how much they won this past season, but the fact remains that if Jose Calderon doesn't re-sign with the Pistons, I never saw him with the Detroit Pistons. Blackouts are permanent, not a delay. So I couldn't watch any Pistons games. Not that useful. It was fun to see the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, and Milwaukee Bucks throughout that time frame, however. I think that the NBA rules are not that conducive to those living in a market with a major franchise. They seemed determined to keep fans paying through cable. Maybe that has something to do with Time Warner running NBA.com.

 

[Sakrysta]

Spot's Meow, Amazon's deal of the day today takes $10 off the Roku LT making it $39. If you want one, I'd say this is a great day to take the plunge!

 

[Spot's Meow]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[CorporalClegg]

Apologies for thread necro, but didn't want to start another...

Anyhoo, I've been thinking about "cutting the cord" for some time now. The only things really standing in my way were sports and (political) news.

The only sports I'm really interested in are football and baseball. Both Roku and Apple have the MLB package, so that's not a problem. Sunday Ticket is still DirectTV exclusive. I decided not to pick it up this year and just cancelled it today--which is what prompted this post. It's just way too expensive now for what I get out of it. The other sports (hockey, basketball, footie) I will miss, but can live without.

So the only real issue is news. At this point, the only actual "TV" I watch anymore is either msnbc or CNN. I always have one or the other on when I'm cleaning/cooking or whatever. From what I understand, Roku doesn't have a CNN channel and the NBC channel is only segment clips/pod casts, correct?

Also, is there a price list for some of the channels? I couldn't find anything on the Roku or AppleTV web pages. I did various Googles, but couldn't find anything definitive. I'd like to do some sort of cost analysis.

Oh, and I know there's an HBO channel, but I read somewhere you need an existing cable provider account to access it. Is that true? The only things I'd want it for are GoT and Real Time, but I can always get those someplace else.

 

[Spot's Meow]

This thread coming back up is good timing. I ended up not getting a Roku, because really what I want is something to allow me to watch any old video on the internet on my TV. I already have other ways of watching Netflix on the TV and have no desire for a Hulu membership. So no Roku. But at my old place my TV was very close to my desktop, so I used the DVI to HDMI cable to watch things on the TV. It worked out well, but I moved shortly after and now my furniture configuration doesn't allow for that.

I just heard about and purchased a Chromecast from Google. The reviews of the internet video streaming capabilities are mixed, but at $35 its worth a shot. It's also pretty new, and services and enhancements are sure to be coming along shortly. You plug it into the back of your TV and use apps on your smartphone or Chrome on your computer's browser to control what video plays on the TV. It's on backorder so I have had to wait 4 weeks for it to ship!

 

[tighr]

I just heard about and purchased a Chromecast from Google. The reviews of the internet video streaming capabilities are mixed, but at $35 its worth a shot.

I like the idea of the Chromecast, especially due to it's simplicity, but I would prefer something like the Roku designed by Google (which essentially would be an AppleTV). The ability to "fling" video instantly, play youtube videos, surf the web on your TV, use the phone as a remote, all seemlessly. All current options out there are limited (including Twonky or PlayOn on the Roku, AppleTV as mentioned, etc). I have faith that something will come along some day.

So the only real issue is news. At this point, the only actual "TV" I watch anymore is either msnbc or CNN.

That depends, do you want the news, or do you want what MSNBC and CNN call the news? I get my news from Google News, which aggregates various news sources, and includes broadcast clips from the major networks that post them online. I don't need political panels or talkshows.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Sadly, I'm a political panel junky. I've tried to attend meetings, but they just turn into shouting matches.

 

[PKerr]

I haven't had cable for two years. Between Amazon Prime and Netflix (which both stream right to my TV via my DVD player) I'm pretty much covered for 90% of what I would want to watch. For the other 10%, I have..... alternative methods.

That being said, I watch almost nothing on network television anyway, I prefer to wait until the end of a season and watch the whole thing, and I've never been one to channel surf, so that might not work for you.

Pretty much this but I cut the cord 5 years ago.

A lot of network shows replay the episodes right on their internet site too so that is another option.

I also do the laptop/Xbox/ 360/PS3 to TV as well, got the whole thing networked.

 

[bigdaddy]

Sadly, I'm a political panel junky. I've tried to attend meetings, but they just turn into shouting matches.

Isn't that what cable news turns into too?

 

[DarthTom]

The problem I'm having dumping cable is shows like The Walking Dead and others only play on cable and aren't available on another device until much later after the original air date. Does anyone have a solution to that?

Also, in terms of pricing - once you add Hulu for some channels, Netflix for other programming and Roku I'm pretty much up to my ~ $100/month with ATT Uverse regardless. And even if I got rid of the cable portion of their service I'd still have to pay for internet service. And the way they price internet only v. internet cable doesn't make sense to not have cable for a few $$ more.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Legal ones? Not really, other than some are available on PS3/iTunes/Xbox paid sooner, but that's only a limited few.

 

[DarthTom]

Legal ones? Not really, other than some are available on PS3/iTunes/Xbox paid sooner, but that's only a limited few.

Exactly. Even Amazon [which is the only net service to offer TWD] runs the shows 1-2 days behind at $2-$3 per episode. No good solution to dump cable if you're a WD fan.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Legal ones? Not really, other than some are available on PS3/iTunes/Xbox paid sooner, but that's only a limited few.

Exactly. Even Amazon [which is the only net service to offer TWD] runs the shows 1-2 days behind at $2-$3 per episode. No good solution to dump cable if you're a WD fan.

I'm watching on Channel 5 here in the UK, and season 3 is still airing. So I'm forever months behind.