Cut The Cable

[Methos1979]

The cost of cable TV is ridiculous these days. I can't believe the numbers I hear thrown out. We go rid of cable TV probably a decade ago when reality TV took over. We do still have cable internet but even that's creeped up from initially just $40/mo back then to $70/mo now. If 5G competes in speed then we'll likely just get rid of cable altogether and go with a monthly hotspot in the house which last time I checked was only $10/mo.

We currently stream three services - Netflix, Prime (bought for Prime shipping but also use the streaming) and just recently added Disney Plus for Hamilton but kept it for The Mandalorian plus all the Star Wars and Marvel content. At least for now. Probably going to let Netflix go as it just keeps creeping up in price. My son recently go YouTube TV and shared one of his lines with us. It's actually pretty good. I used it to watch all the debates and now I use it to watch the NFL but that's about it. I've been without cable TV for so long that I can't stand all the commercials!

[Photojeep]

I think it was about 2 years ago when we cut the TV cable. We have Amazon Prime and CBS All Access and dropped Netflix about a month ago.

End result:

I have not missed all the cable stuff I was paying for (but never watched.)

I'm reading more.

I'm practicing my guitar (a little) more.

Saving around $1,800 per month.

Nope, don't miss cable TV at all.

Best,
PJ

[Earl49]

The last time I had cable was Gulf War I, because it came active with the new house and was free for the first three months. We kept it for a while because they were charging only $7 a month for basic cable (in a poor antenna reception area) and billed for two months at a time. But once it jumped to $19 every month, I shut it off. I have never needed -- or wanted -- the twelve shopping channels that are always in the total channel count.

We are limited to 24 antenna channels over the air HD now and if I can't find anything to watch.... that is a clear signal it is time to do just about anything else. Now get off my lawn you darned kids!! [shaking cane]

[Jim Owen]

I just looked at my cable bill--it keeps on rising, and I watch few of the channels. I have to have highspeed internet because of my job, and we do stream a lot of content already (Prime, Amazon, Britbox). I'll checkout YoutubeTV.

[David Eastwood]

For those who are interested in exploring the alternatives for cord-cutting, I’ve found this to be a very useful resource.

https://www.techhive.com/article/321...v-service.html

[rokdog49]

We have our service through Armstrong Cable which is a regional provider out of Butler, Pa.
The service is excellent and always has been. They provide accessible 24/7 tech service by telephone and if need be, the in home techs are there in 24 hours 90% of the time.
To be clear “all our service” includes hard wire telephone, cable television with PVR, WiFi for our laptops, cell phones and iPads.
We have a package for television that covers most everything with tons of channels. We stream You Tube stuff and Netflix and of course Smart TV allows for linkup with my IPad.
It isn’t cheap, but when you consider the package combined with the second to none customer service it’s a pretty good buy.

[tinnitus]

Over the past 3-4 years, no one has been able to answer what I think is a simple question. Maybe I'm asking it wrong.

I use xfinity to record and save a handful of shows every week and watch them later, fast forwarding through commercials.

If I "cut the cable" and ditch xfinity, will I still be able to record and save mainstream network shows like Dateline, Voice, etc? (Please don't laugh/judge. As a performing amateur musician for over half a century, it's a guilty pleasure to watch singing hopefuls compete on TV.)

[Mr. Jelly]

The part of these discussions that I don't get, and I believe I know the answer, is that the signal has to get to you somehow. There is an expense to getting that sign above and beyond your YT or whatever. That needs to be included in the expense people are discussing. Plus the discussions almost assume everyone has a smart TV. If not that has to be included in the expense discussion also. A great deal on streaming would mean nothing if you can't get the signal or it doesn't work on your TV.

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by tinnitus

Over the past 3-4 years, no one has been able to answer what I think is a simple question. Maybe I'm asking it wrong.

I use xfinity to record and save a handful of shows every week and watch them later, fast forwarding through commercials.

If I "cut the cable" and ditch xfinity, will I still be able to record and save mainstream network shows like Dateline, Voice, etc? (Please don't laugh/judge. As an performing amateur musician for over half a century, it's a guilty pleasure to watch singing hopefuls compete on TV.)

The short answer is yes. Different services provide different options. YouTube TV gives you unlimited cloud storage, so you don’t need a physical recoding device. What you save is stored up to 9 months. Additionally, you can select a channel or network and search back to the date a show appeared live and play an older episode whenever you want. I don’t know if you can fast forward through commercials because I haven’t tried that yet. The other interesting feature is that you can pause a live show while you grab a snack and continue the show when you return to watch. There’s a lot I’m just learning about, since I’ve only had the service for a day.

[M19]

Originally Posted by Photojeep

Saving around $1,800 per month.

Nope, don't miss cable TV at all.

Best,
PJ

PJ, you GOTTA mean per year.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

The part of these discussions that I don't get, and I believe I know the answer, is that the signal has to get to you somehow. There is an expense to getting that sign above and beyond your YT or whatever. That needs to be included in the expense people are discussing. Plus the discussions almost assume everyone has a smart TV. If not that has to be included in the expense discussion also. A great deal on streaming would mean nothing if you can't get the signal or it doesn't work on your TV.

Of course - internet service is a prerequisite for any kind of streaming, and I think most people on this thread have acknowledged it, and called it out.

Also, a 'Smart TV' is not required. However, some sort of streaming device is - a Roku, for example, starts at around $25. That needs wi-fi, and a spare HDMI connector on the TV. Given those, there's a ton of free streaming content available before you even need to consider a streaming service.

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by tinnitus

Over the past 3-4 years, no one has been able to answer what I think is a simple question. Maybe I'm asking it wrong.

I use xfinity to record and save a handful of shows every week and watch them later, fast forwarding through commercials.

If I "cut the cable" and ditch xfinity, will I still be able to record and save mainstream network shows like Dateline, Voice, etc? (Please don't laugh/judge. As an performing amateur musician for over half a century, it's a guilty pleasure to watch singing hopefuls compete on TV.)

If you ditch xfinity, you'll need a streaming service that offers "cloud" recording. Currently, both YouTube TV and Hulu offer such a feature. I'm familiar with the former.

The YouTube TV DVR function allows you to record, but with some odd limitations. You can't record a single episode of a series unless the episode has a unique name. For example, if you want to record one episode of "Doc Martin", you have to record them all. But, I could record individual rounds of the Masters, because each had a unique name (e.g., Round 1, Round 2, etc.). Recorded programs on YouTube TV are stored for 9 months. I'm not sure how long xfinity stores recorded programs.

Playback is pretty much like xfinity, but the fast forward feature is a little different. On the cable version of xfinity, you can see what you're fast forwarding thru. On the streaming version of xfinity, you can't. You have to guess the length of the commercial. YouTube TV's fast forwarding feature has you moving in 15 second steps, and you can follow the image as it moves forward. If you want to fast forward an hour, however, it's a lot of steps.

Recording sports or any program that might run long is also different. On the cable version of xfinity, sports that run long usually auto-extend to accommodate the extra length. The streaming version of xfinity doesn't, so I routinely record the program after a event just to cover the possibility that the event I want to watch runs long.

YouTube TV automatically adds 30 minutes to recorded sports programs. If they run longer than that, you'll lose the ending.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by AX17609

The YouTube TV DVR function allows you to record, but with some odd limitations. You can't record a single episode of a series unless the episode has a unique name. For example, if you want to record one episode of "Doc Martin", you have to record them all. But, I could record individual rounds of the Masters, because each had a unique name (e.g., Round 1, Round 2, etc.). Recorded programs on YouTube TV are stored for 9 months. I'm not sure how long xfinity stores recorded programs.

This is a feature, not a bug. Because there's unlimited cloud recording, you just click one button and it records everything. Much simpler, since there's no space to worry about on a device. With one click I recorded every college football game ever, for as long as I want. I watch the ones I want, and can always pick up any game, at any point. I usually start an hour (or several) later and FF through all the commercials. The ones I don't care about don't matter, I never have to think about it.

Originally Posted by AX17609

Playback is pretty much like xfinity, but the fast forward feature is a little different. On the cable version of xfinity, you can see what you're fast forwarding thru. On the streaming version of xfinity, you can't. You have to guess the length of the commercial. YouTube TV's fast forwarding feature has you moving in 15 second steps, and you can follow the image as it moves forward. If you want to fast forward an hour, however, it's a lot of steps.

Unless you have AppleTV, in which case you press a button and say, "Fast forward one hour" and it works perfectly, every time. It's awesome. You can also drag scroll any amount of time, and while scrolling you get a thumbnail that shows the telecast, so you can stop when you get past the commercials or segment you don't care about (like halftime).

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

This is a feature, not a bug. Because there's unlimited cloud recording, you just click one button and it records everything. Much simpler, since there's no space to worry about on a device. With one click I recorded every college football game ever, for as long as I want. I watch the ones I want, and can always pick up any game, at any point. I usually start an hour (or several) later and FF through all the commercials. The ones I don't care about don't matter, I never have to think about it.



Unless you have AppleTV, in which case you press a button and say, "Fast forward one hour" and it works perfectly, every time. It's awesome. You can also drag scroll any amount of time, and while scrolling you get a thumbnail that shows the telecast, so you can stop when you get past the commercials or segment you don't care about (like halftime).

Your comments highlight the fact that the presentation of YouTube TV (and other services, as well) depends very much on the hardware you're using. For example, the YouTube TV user interface on my iPad is very different from the interface on my television when the signal is streamed thru a Roku. And both are different from the interface presented by the app built into my Sony Bravia television. Features available thru one interface are compromised or totally absent when using another interface thanks largely to the capabilities of whatever remote you have. The remote for a Roku Ultra, for example, is very primitive compared to the remote for a Sony Bravia or the remote for an Xfinity DVR.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by AX17609

Your comments highlight the fact that the presentation of YouTube TV (and other services, as well) depends very much on the hardware you're using. For example, the YouTube TV user interface on my iPad is very different from the interface on my television when the signal is streamed thru a Roku. And both are different from the interface presented by the app built into my Sony Bravia television.

For sure, and UI matters a lot to me, which is why I often choose Apple products. The experience matters to them and they usually get it right.