Off topic - cable TV, etc help needed

[Markbo]

We are looking to change cable TV companies. Purely due to ever increasing cost. I have a couple of questions. Where we live there are only 2 cable providers so what about alternatives? Can anyone comment on how happy they are with Direct TV?

My othef question is about Netflix. Are they a provider or do they supply "only" movies? What about internet service with these 2? I am happy with my current wireless and don't want slower service. I live in SE Texas and it rains here. A lot.

I appreciate any input, experience and advice.
Thanks
Mark

[44man]

I have Dish, expensive but cheaper then cable or Direct.
We lose TV with clouds of course. Not enough to worry about. I don't know about Netflix. My Daughter gets it on Dish and I don't know if it costs more.

[bubba.50]

I have Dish & pay about 80 bucks a month to watch probably less than 2 dozen channels but, they now have what they call a flex-pack where ya pay 40 bucks a month for 50 channels plus one "package" of channels that are broke down in groups. the extra packages(such as sports or local channels or news packs) cost 6 to 10 bucks & can be added, dropped, or changed from month to month at your choosin'. and if ya don't want any of the packages you can get the 50 channels for 30 bucks per month. I'm changin' mine to the 30 buck pack & puttin' an antenna on the TV for local channels.

[2wheelDuke]

Cable has a monopoly here, but the phone company has a TV service too. It's terrible from what my uncle told me. I'm not fond of the cable service either. I had DirecTV before, and I hated it. If it was cloudy, the picture would freeze here and there. If it was raining, forget it. I had a DVR to record shows, but it got really old watching a recorded show because the signal was out, only to find that the recording was just pixelated gibberish because it was raining when the show recorded.

Netflix is for movies and TV shows. You won't see anything really current on there.

[bob208]

we dropped all tv 10 years ago. we just use one of the antennas. as for movies we have net flex. we get three movies at a time. if you watch and mail them back right away you get three more. we have had as many as 6 a week. you don't have to mail all three back at one time.

[OS OK]

We swapped over to Roku and have more than we had with Dish...only without all the commercials. It's wifi, we have a separate phone no. just for the wifi connection.

[longranger]

Have not had cable or satellite for 5 yrs. now. I went with ROKU and Apple TV. All you need is a wifi connection,I will explain how it works and the ups and downs as I see them.
Apple TV, Only reason I have Apple TV is for my iTunes and is connected to my stereo and 50" digital smart T.V. I prefer the Apple T.V. for my purchased movies as opposed to buying DVD's or renting DVD's.Do understand that you never really own anything you purchase from Apple either music or movies, you basically have unlimited use of the purchases.If you have a huge CD collection as I do you can upload them to iTunes and have it available on any Apple device that supports iTunes.Apple channel selection is not as prolific as ROKU but it does have a few decent channels.There are subscription channels for both Apple and ROKU.prices vary from $2.00 to $10.00 a month per channel with both having free channels as well.
I prefer ROKU for general T.V. watching and subscription channels,ROKU just keeps getting better every day with some free live streaming channels such as CBS. I watched the debate last night on ROKU/CBS. I generally dislike most letter channels if not all of them,I make exceptions for important events.
More and more channels you are familiar with are adding channels to ROKU and to lesser degree Apple T.V. I was able to watch the Super Bowl last year on CBS/Sports on ROKU, it is a free streaming channel and no subscription.
ROKU also has a channel called SLING for $20.00 a month you get 20+ live streaming channels the only letter channel is CNN the rest HGTV, couple ESPN's,HX, a few other known channels. I tried it a few mos. and decided it was the same **** I was wanting to get away from.The only subscription channels I have are MLB,LevinTV,Showtime and the BLAZE.Amazon has a decent channel for movies if you have Amazon Prime 90% are free and newer are for rent or purchase.If I have a complaint it would be once in a while the wifi gets a bit weak and some channels have difficulty streaming but is usually short lived.Overall I am very satisfied with less than $40.00 a month for what I want to watch when I want.I have been checking out a new channel PLUTO that has about 20 live streaming channels I've never watched and is a free channel. This the future of television as more and more people cut the cable and go ala carte,pay for what you actually watch. Hope this makes sense and is helpful.

[waksupi]

Try Amazon Prime with a Blueray player. Free shipping on just about anything you buy, plus movies, TV shows, music, books, cloud storage. With my Sony Bluray, I have quite a few free internet movie, entertainment, weather, Pandora, etc, channels. All for $99 per year.

[DerekP Houston]

I dumped tv until this year. Xfinity gave us a better deal on faster internet than AT&T would even offer, cable came bundled as part of the package. I still rarely watch it, I use netflix, amazon prime, or hulu for a majority of my shows and the DVD player we have connects to all the services for free. Once the promotion is over we will cancel again and switch back to internet only.

Roku is a good alternative if you want to access those free app's and don't have a smart tv or dvd player with them built in already. You still have to pay for a separate internet connection to use it.

[dragon813gt]

I was an early cord cutter. Signed up for Netflix streaming the week it went online. If I only I had followed my gut and invested everything I had in their stock

Anyway, you still need internet service. Netflix is mostly TV shows of some sort. Lots of bad shows and documentaries on there. They are a year behind on shows. So when season three goes on the air season two is available on Netflix. There is a ton of stuff to watch but like I said. A lot of it isn't worth your time. Almost forgot their original programming has a lot of good shows.

I subscribe to Hulu, Amazon Prime and HBO Now as well. Hulu is good for current season TV shows. It's worth the extra $3 for commercial free. They have a large selection of movies and original programming that is good. You can also add Showtime and a few other services for more money.

I have Amazon Prime for the shipping so the video service is a bonus. Prime is limited compared to their full catalog. You have the option of renting and buying movies which you don't have w/ Netflix or Hulu. They have a good selection of children's programming if that's of interest to your family. They have access to a lot, but not all, HBO original series. Sopranos, Deadwood and Curb Your Enthusiasm to name a few.

HBO Now is self explanatory. It costs the most out of all the services and has the smallest library. But that's the price I pay to watch Game of Thrones. Same movies available they run on cable but on demand. I think it should cost less but oh well.

Roku is a great option to stream all of these services and hundreds more. Most of them want to much money for extremely limited content. But it will give you access to YouTube, Crackle and music services like Pandora. Vudu is a great channel. If you buy a DVD/Blu-Ray these days you usually get a code for a free digital version. Vudu is where you access them. You can also buy/rent movies that just came out and are available for rental at Redbox. But you pay $5 per rental. I drive the half mile to Redbox and get one out of the machine for $1.59

I can't speak about the satellite services because I've never had one. My total cost comes out to less than what basic cable/internet plus HBO would cost. It's not a big savings but I have access to a lot more content, nothing is on a schedule and all but a few are commercial free. The only things you give up are live sporting events and propagandized news. I could go into detail on each service as well as how to access them but this is already long winded.

[KA0811]

I have recently cancelled my cable TV again and went back to internet based TV. There are many options now. Amazon prime. Netflix ,Hulu. PlayStation VUE has liveTV and DVR and you pick the channels you want. Same with Sling from what I've been told. Theres a bit of a learning curve depending on how you set it up. If you don't have the programs built into the TV set itself you'll need something like Chrome Cast for instance to stream to the TV from your PC phone or tablet. That's how I used to use Netflix Hulu etc. Now I use my ps4. I had AT&T uverse for last two years but finally ended it month or two ago.

[longranger]

You still have to pay for a separate internet connection to use it.

No you don't,just have internet wifi capababilty as nearly all internet connections have very good wifi.Connects like any other wifi device. I have 2 Roku's,Apple T.V.,my Sony T.V.,phone,laptop, hell my garage door opener and refrigerator are all connected to 1 wifi connection.

[DerekP Houston]

No you don't,just have internet wifi capababilty as nearly all internet connections have very good wifi.Connects like any other wifi device. I have 2 Roku's,Apple T.V.,my Sony T.V.,phone, hell my garage door opener and refrigerator are all connected to 1 wifi connection.

Sorry I didn't mean a "separate" internet connection, just one in general.

[higgins]

I've had Direct TV for three years now. I'd had cable in our other house for about 30 years. We moved to a semi-rural area and I knew I didn't want Charter cable TV because of bad service quality. When my new subscriber discount period with DTV ended, I waited a couple of months and called them to see if they could offer me a better price than the full-cost price. They tried to downgrade my package, but I told them I didn't want to do that. I told them I had other options and I wanted to give them a chance to keep my subscription. I already had a Charter email address on my DTV account, so they knew that was a real option. They transferred me to another department, and the person there put me back on the introductory price for my existing package for 12 months, which was about $30/month less. At the end of the 12 months I'll try the same thing again. If they won't budge I'll probably drop DTV and go the ROKU route. You should be able to negotiate a good discount with whoever you go with because satellite and cable companies are losing so many subscribers to streaming services.

I've been happy with DTV service. the only time we lose the signal is when there's very hard rain, which seldom lasts more than a few minutes. I've never experienced losing signal just because of clouds. My wife and I have tried the free Netflix trial, and weren't all that thrilled with it. We will need some of the TV channels carried by satellite and cable providers to amuse us. I have a disabled friend who loves Netflix because he binge watches all the original programming they provide.

Both of my sons have cut the cable. One has Netflix and broadcast channels, and the other goes with Netflix, broadcast channels, and subscribes to Sling TV during football season for the sports channels. The small antennas that receive broadcast channels are nothing like the old rabbit ears or even rooftop antennas. Pictures are crystal clear. Both already had high speed internet with a wireless router, so no big deal there.

[xs11jack]

Had cable a long time ago, it was bad. Switched to Direct TV it is very good, I only loose the signal in a hard rainstorm. No one in my neighborhood has Dish or Charter cable.
I don't watch TV but my wife would kill me if she couldn't watch Fox News and of course game shows and mushy movies on Hallmark.
Ole Jack

[Markbo]

Wow, a lot of unexpected i formation! Derek I am in Tomball so have those same chices. Ive never heard of ROKU and we dont have a smart TV so I am guessing all the streaming services are out? Can you receive streaming and get it to an older/tube TV?

I have AT&T + now and the 2 year "special" from Xfinity is literally $5 less/month for the same total number of channls AND they don't offer Sportsman or Outdoor channels. They all want to offer sport packages and stuff I don't care about. I watch football. Broadcast and ESPN cover that. Golf on broadcast occasionally and I could care less about Tennis, MLB, NBA, etc which they are both pushing.

If you could confirm what I can get/use with a dumb TV I can check them out from there. FWIW i have never heard the word ROKU before. So are they, Netflix, Hulu, etc all movies and specialty? i.e. I still have to have a provider for broadcast and all the others like history, sci fi, nat geo, etc?

[dragon813gt]

Roku is a box like you're cable box. But instead of having channels it has apps on it. The apps are essentially channels. It's very easy to use. Only one of the models has analog outputs. They literally just announced a new product lineup yesterday. They aren't all out at this time.

[bdicki]

I cancelled my cable phone and TV and kept only the internet. $52 a month. They have to keep the cable connection to the house for the internet, so basic cable is still there. Just need a splitter to connect the TV

[rancher1913]

I must be still in the stone ages, we have an antenna and get several channels but have to have one of those government converter boxs to make it work with our tv.

[bdicki]

I must be still in the stone ages, we have an antenna and get several channels but have to have one of those government converter boxs to make it work with our tv.