Cord Cutters Thread

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

41 minutes ago, Okie State said:

Fucking bullshit. I don't fucking want more channels. I want a low rate and the three channels I actually watch. We're going to end up right back where we were paying $100/month for bullshit.

Correct.  

[Okie State 3809]

I think this is where the no contract will be nice. Think I'll cancel during this dead period for sports and sign back up in the Fall. Netflix and Prime are enough to keep the kids happy.

[Dahobbs 17526]

1 hour ago, Okie State said:

Fucking bullshit. I don't fucking want more channels. I want a low rate and the three channels I actually watch. We're going to end up right back where we were paying $100/month for bullshit.

Eh, popular set of channels. Makes the wives happy. If they added another 3 to 5 dollars and lhn I'd be pretty satisfied.

[Okie State 3809]

Lol, charge me for LHN and I'm definitely out.

[jimmyjazz 45887]

I'm pretty sure a random MBA from A&M-Commerce could put together a more profitable a la carte model than the current "you get every channel, You get every channel, YOU get every channel!!!" bullshit.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Fucking bullshit. I don't fucking want more channels. I want a low rate and the three channels I actually watch. We're going to end up right back where we were paying $100/month for bullshit.

It's trending that way. On the bright side ive saved thousands cutting the cord. If it's just going to cost the same to run cable or direct/ dish.. I'll be jumping back to the other stuff and put the shitty apple tv somewhere else

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

I dunno, I don’t ever want to use a “cable box” ever again.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

For me the best part of cord cutting is not that I saved money, I’ve dropped tv viewing by at least 50%.  If I have to drop it closer to 100%, not sure I will miss it.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Nice Guy Eddie

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

I dunno, I don’t ever want to use a “cable box” ever again.

Really? Over an apple tv and its shitty remote?

I'd also jump back because of the 45 second delay.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

7 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Really? Over an apple tv and its shitty remote?

Buy a Harmony hub and the basic remote and never look back.  $50 or so on sale.  You can use your phone (although you can already do that somewhat if you have an iPhone.)

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

13 hours ago, Okie State said:

Fucking bullshit. I don't fucking want more channels. I want a low rate and the three channels I actually watch. We're going to end up right back where we were paying $100/month for bullshit.

But that’s not how the model works.  For every ESPN or other channel that costs money, there are 4 or 5 channels the carrier is actually getting paid to air in some way.  That’s why you have all that shit you never heard of. 

[Francisco 2.0 32386]

Still using my Day 1 grandfathered DTV Now account...but signed up for Youtube TV a month ago on a whim, to see how it worked and to possibly jump ship when DTVNow raised their prices the second time in 8 months.  The YTTV price increase now  has me level with what I'm paying for my grandfathered DTV Now, and fewer channels.  BUT.  The performance of Youtube TV is better for us, plus 3 streams, etc.

Wife is now pleased that the channels she enjoys are on YTTV now, so we could ditch DTVNow completely.  

At any rate, paying for both of them combined is still cheaper by $50 than what my last TV bill from Cox was, plus infinitely more flexible.  One of the two will be shut down by the end of the weekend.  

 

[Okie State 3809]

But that’s not how the model works.  For every ESPN or other channel that costs money, there are 4 or 5 channels the carrier is actually getting paid to air in some way.  That’s why you have all that shit you never heard of. 

Right...and the model is bullshit.

[Dahobbs 17526]

21 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Still using my Day 1 grandfathered DTV Now account...but signed up for Youtube TV a month ago on a whim, to see how it worked and to possibly jump ship when DTVNow raised their prices the second time in 8 months.  The YTTV price increase now  has me level with what I'm paying for my grandfathered DTV Now, and fewer channels.  BUT.  The performance of Youtube TV is better for us, plus 3 streams, etc.

Wife is now pleased that the channels she enjoys are on YTTV now, so we could ditch DTVNow completely.  

At any rate, paying for both of them combined is still cheaper by $50 than what my last TV bill from Cox was, plus infinitely more flexible.  One of the two will be shut down by the end of the weekend.  

 

Yeah, the flexibility is real nice. I can watch on my devices when traveling, including anything I've DVR'd. I can locate my TVs anywhere with a power outlet. The interface is clean and quick, not clunky and terrible like every cable box I've ever had.  No contracts means I can switch easily if they really jack up the price. Less channels, but basically all the ones I want means it is easier to find what I actually want to watch. And, again, it is still like 1/3rd the price of what I was paying with cable/satellite. 

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

Really? Over an apple tv and its shitty remote?

I'd also jump back because of the 45 second delay.

Yeah, it honestly doesn’t really bother me. I understand why others don’t like it though. The Apple TV 4K is a solid device itself. The color and HDR output is very good. My delay is more like 20-30 seconds but I have noticed for some events it is almost live.

YouTube TV did have issues with their app on it but it works pretty great now.

Also, Plex on Apple TV works really well.

[Francisco 2.0 32386]

44 minutes ago, Anton Chigurh said:

 

Yeah, it honestly doesn’t really bother me. I understand why others don’t like it though. The Apple TV 4K is a solid device itself. The color and HDR output is very good. My delay is more like 20-30 seconds but I have noticed for some events it is almost live.

YouTube TV did have issues with their app on it but it works pretty great now.

Also, Plex on Apple TV works really well.

 

FYI to everyone RE: apple remote.

 

The old apple remotes work just fine with the 4K Apple TV.  You can find them on eBay if you don't want to go the Logitech route.

 

[tbone_ 14110]

Pretty soon all video is going to come over the data pipe to your house. When that happens you’re cable company or whoever provides your internet is going to jack the shit out of the price. You watch.

[ChickenSandwich 9826]

On 4/9/2019 at 11:42 AM, Liquor and Poker said:

When I was testing all of them simultaneously I noticed that YouTube and Hulu had issues with really popular live programs - cutouts, freezes, the dreaded "loading," etc.  Things like the Oscars as well as sports.  It was one of the deal killers for me at the time. 

DTVN used to have them as well but less often - during the 2018 NC game (Bama-UGa), I was running DTVN, YouTube, Hulu and PSVue simultaneously on 2 separate gigabit connections, and PSVue was the only one that didn't have those issues.

DTVN seems to have sorted that out - but it may be due to the huge drop in subscribers. 

Not sure about Sling because I could never find a package that didn't cost $30-$40 more for what I wanted.

I have had the exact opposite experience between PSVUE (live viewing cut outs and DVR not working) vs near perfect performance from YouTube during March madness.  Who the hell knows??

[tokamak 6391]

18 hours ago, Okie State said:

I think this is where the no contract will be nice. Think I'll cancel during this dead period for sports and sign back up in the Fall. Netflix and Prime are enough to keep the kids happy.

Contracts are coming back, too, it's just a matter of time. They'll start it by doing shit where the regular price is $50/month, but if you sign up for a year, you can get it for $40/mo. After that, they'll heavily de-emphasize the month-to-month option on their websites and then eventually it will disappear altogether. "We have recently updated our pricing options to better reflect customer choice. Have a nice day!"

I'm like @Nice Guy Eddie, I just watch a lot less TV. Cutting the cord helped me realize that I can survive just fine without watching 3 hours of TV every night like I used to.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

2 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

I have had the exact opposite experience between PSVUE (live viewing cut outs and DVR not working) vs near perfect performance from YouTube during March madness.  Who the hell knows??

Yeah, this was 13-14 months ago when I did that test.  May need to do it again if DTVN kills off my grandfathered Go big in favor of their new "Please unsubscribe" plans.  But I am leaning toward PSVue due to the content - both YouTube and Hulu miss a few boxes on channels.

[ChickenSandwich 9826]

I use Vue for Football because of the Longhorn Network and Red Zone channel (and NFL network)

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

1 hour ago, tokamak said:

Contracts are coming back, too, it's just a matter of time. They'll start it by doing shit where the regular price is $50/month, but if you sign up for a year, you can get it for $40/mo. After that, they'll heavily de-emphasize the month-to-month option on their websites and then eventually it will disappear altogether. "We have recently updated our pricing options to better reflect customer choice. Have a nice day!"

I'm like @Nice Guy Eddie, I just watch a lot less TV. Cutting the cord helped me realize that I can survive just fine without watching 3 hours of TV every night like I used to.

Yep.  I recall that Uverse was very customer friendly with their contract options in the beginning, then they enticed you to sign contracts, and then no-contract was either too expensive or not available. They claimed it was in the customers' advantage to sign a contract.

[Hozz 1017]

22 hours ago, Okie State said:

Fucking bullshit. I don't fucking want more channels. I want a low rate and the three channels I actually watch. We're going to end up right back where we were paying $100/month for bullshit.

This.  Second price hike in 13 months and both were after licensing more channels.

I am not sure what they are thinking here.  Depending on whether or not you had the pre March 13 2018 $35/month price or the post $40/month price your rate is going up either 43 or 25 percent.  That is pretty steep when most people probably don't give much of a shit about what they are adding or else they would have been on another provider that offered what they were missing.

This will definitely cost them business and I would not be surprised to see them dial it back some.  $5 is one thing, $15 is the cost of a Netflix sub.  All that said, for me, its still competitively priced with the market and for what I want from it, but for the same price I can move to PS VUE and get LHN.  So that is what I am going to do.  I am sure plenty of people that don't watch a ton of sports will move to Sling TV or Philo or one of the other cheaper offerings.

[Francisco 2.0 32386]

19 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Pretty soon all video is going to come over the data pipe to your house. When that happens you’re cable company or whoever provides your internet is going to jack the shit out of the price. You watch.

 

When you consider I pay $100 a month for 300/30, which is laughable compared to cost/connection in most other developed countries in the world, we are already there.

Data caps.  That's the new frontier to attempt to curb cord cutting.  So, for an extra $50 or so, they will give you unlimited.

 

[tbone_ 14110]

Yea however you slice it.

[Machinator 32099]

The Mouse has announced their streaming service ($6.99/mo or $69.99/year):

Disney+ app and worldwide rollout plans revealed

Quote

In the fall of 2017 Disney announced plans for a subscription streaming service of its own that could compete with the likes of Netflix. Last fall, it revealed a name -- Disney+ -- and that it would launch in late 2019. Today we're finally getting more official information about what it's like as Disney makes a presentation for its investors explaining the company's overall internet video strategy, including ESPN+ and Hulu, which will "likely" be offered as part of a bundle at a discounted price.

Update: After several hours, Disney finally revealed the price: $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year, launching November 12th.

We already know that the company's plans include plenty of expansions on content it owns from properties like Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, as well as the Disney vault of well-loved family films. But what people are hoping to find out today is how much it will cost, how it will work and what, other than exclusives, it might use to draw customers who are already shelling out for one or more video subscriptions.

Disney quickly revealed that all of the content on Disney+ will be ready for subscribers to download and view offline as long as they have a subscription. That's a feature Netflix only added in the last couple of years, and still doesn't apply to everything on its service. It's also going to support 4K and HDR video.

Content
As we knew, Captain Marvel will be a streaming exclusive on Disney+ from day one, and the company said all of the Cars movies will be there also. Disney also showed off the Falcon & Winter Soldier spinoff show we'd heard about, and revealed a new show from Jeff Goldblum produced by National Geographic that's in development. Frozen 2 will be a streaming exclusive by the time it comes home next, and the first one, along with the rest of Disney's Signature movies will be streaming on day one.

Kevin Feige came out to announce Marvel's plans, and also revealed another short series on the way, WandaVision starring Scarlet Witch and Vision, and an unnamed series that will bring back Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios will also explore the MCU in "fresh and exciting ways" with animated series that use the same voices as the films, including one that explores what-if Peggy Carter had received the super soldier serum.

Lucasfilm exec Kathleen Kennedy announced that Star Wars live-action show The Mandalorian has finished filming and will be available at launch with the new service. She also confirmed another show starring Diego Luna, as well as the new season of The Clone Wars it's making for Disney+.

Disney itself is also making several live-action entries for the service, including the holiday film Noelle starring Anna Kendrick, and a live-action version of Lady & the Tramp, with a cast that includes Tessa Thompson, Justin Theroux, Sam Elliott and Janelle Monae.

National Geographic will bring many shows from its library to the service from day one, and two exclusive new shows. One is The World According to Jeff Goldblum, as the actor goes in-depth with various items and ideas. The other one is called Magic of the Animal Kingdom, which is set at Disney's Animal Kingdom and Epcot Seabase Aquarium, providing an "all access pass" at the work going on there and around the world to protect the animals.

Even Disney Channel is getting into the act. There's a new Phineas and Ferb movie on the way plus High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, to go along with 5,000 episodes of Disney Channel content and 100 Disney Channel movies ready to stream from day one.

Just to recap: In year one Disney is promising all of the Pixar library, everything Star Wars, a lot of the MCU, and much more. By year five, it expects 50+ original series, 10,000+ past episodes and 500+ movies in the library. It closed the content announce by revealing that The Simpsons will be a Disney Plus streaming exclusive when the service launches.

As far as where you'll be able to watch, we saw the app running in a smart TV UI that looked like most Apple TV apps, as well as a tablet interface. The goal is to have it everywhere, and while Disney announced Roku and PS4 as partners by name, it plans to have availability on the usual list of TVs, set-top boxes, dongles and game consoles when it launches.

Disney revealed its plans for a "worldwide" rollout touching all of the "major" regions in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America over the next couple of years. It doesn't sound like it will touch Netflix's actual worldwide ability that skips only a few countries, but should reach most of the larger markets by 2021.

Disney execs confirmed that going forward, all of their theatrical releases will be exclusive to Disney+ in their streaming windows, which includes all of the big movies that have yet to debut in 2019, like The Lion King and Avengers: Endgame.

 

[Machinator 32099]

[Gator Dave 14]

21 hours ago, tokamak said:

Contracts are coming back, too, it's just a matter of time. They'll start it by doing shit where the regular price is $50/month, but if you sign up for a year, you can get it for $40/mo. After that, they'll heavily de-emphasize the month-to-month option on their websites and then eventually it will disappear altogether. "We have recently updated our pricing options to better reflect customer choice. Have a nice day!"

I'm like @Nice Guy Eddie, I just watch a lot less TV. Cutting the cord helped me realize that I can survive just fine without watching 3 hours of TV every night like I used to.

This has been the biggest unintended benefit I've seen from cord-cutting. It's been extremely liberating not feeling like there was something I 'had' to watch. Way more free time in the evenings. Got a guitar for Christmas and strum on that for a while every night, tons more satisfying.

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

I actually started to watch more channels on YouTube that are really good and that are much more educational than most of the crap on TV.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

52 minutes ago, Anton Chigurh said:

I actually started to watch more channels on YouTube that are really good and that are much more educational than most of the crap on TV.

I'm the same as well. the amount of content on youtube is crazy.  For a long time, youtube had many documentaries that were pirated from the discovery channel or whatever. Now people are creating more daily content than I could watch in a lifetime. 

[Tap 58]

I finally ditched uverse a couple weeks ago. Using prime, Netflix, and hulu live. What's the best option for LHN? That's the only thing I miss.

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

By reading this thread it seems the market needs a streaming “consultant” for cord cutters. Maybe I’ll do that. F my current Job.

Could franchise it out. Call it c3. Core cutting consultants...oh wait...
Well maybe I’ll call it something else.

[Dahobbs 17526]

14 hours ago, Tap said:

I finally ditched uverse a couple weeks ago. Using prime, Netflix, and hulu live. What's the best option for LHN? That's the only thing I miss.

Psvue. 

[NoName 16351]

On 4/10/2019 at 6:42 PM, Okie State said:

Fucking bullshit. I don't fucking want more channels. I want a low rate and the three channels I actually watch. We're going to end up right back where we were paying $100/month for bullshit.

i get where you are coming from and like you i hate it...

BUT there are a ton of people this will draw in or who were subscribing to YTTV and Philo for some of those channels. overall i get why they did it, i just hate that it increased my cost this much

[NoName 16351]

On 4/14/2019 at 1:13 AM, Tap said:

I finally ditched uverse a couple weeks ago. Using prime, Netflix, and hulu live. What's the best option for LHN? That's the only thing I miss.

honestly, cheapest is to pay a buddy who pays for cable to get access to his ESPN anywhere account and use that to stream LHN (or ask someone you know for it that doesn't use it)

[nolongerU2horn 760]

I'm gonna try to sort through this whole thread but can Austin people tell me what you do for watching sports on the local network affiiliates? That's the only thing that's kept me from switch to PS Vue months ago. From what I understand we don't get Fox or NBC here. How do I watch Cowboys games? 

[UnivTex34 1763]

Just now, nolongerU2horn said:

I'm gonna try to sort through this whole thread but can Austin people tell me what you do for watching sports on the local network affiiliates? That's the only thing that's kept me from switch to PS Vue months ago. From what I understand we don't get Fox or NBC here. How do I watch Cowboys games? 

Antenna? 

[nolongerU2horn 760]

What if I like to record/watch later? I guess I would need a TiVo? Then do I need to subscribe to get guide service?

 

[NoName 16351]

4 hours ago, nolongerU2horn said:

I'm gonna try to sort through this whole thread but can Austin people tell me what you do for watching sports on the local network affiiliates? That's the only thing that's kept me from switch to PS Vue months ago. From what I understand we don't get Fox or NBC here. How do I watch Cowboys games? 

YoutubeTV has it all, with unlimited DVR?

[nolongerU2horn 760]

Ah! I didn't know they had all the locals. Some articles I read seemed to indicate they didn't have CBS at least but that appears to not be the case. Looks like that's the winner

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

Now that some of the streaming services are basically filling out their lineup with the basics and offering DVR capabilities, I'm more inclined to pay $50/mo.   I actually haven't had a live streaming subscription for 18 months now.

[Nonbryan 173]

DTVNOW eating a big bag o' diks right now!  

[SDG 3319]

5 minutes ago, Nonbryan said:

DTVNOW eating a big bag o' diks right now!  

Yep, they upped by bill to $50 bucks a month the day before they crash.  Not only that; they keep charging my data plan when I'm supposed to get free streaming with ATT.  

 

It's time to move on...

[Okie State 3809]

Went ahead and paused YouTube TV at the end of my last $35 billing cycle. About to install an antenna in my attic to see how many channels I can pick up. If we get the main channels, I don't think we go back to streaming outside of Netflix and Prime. We just don't watch enough TV to justify it anymore.

[dcbc 14465]

On 5/1/2019 at 12:30 PM, nolongerU2horn said:

What if I like to record/watch later? I guess I would need a TiVo? Then do I need to subscribe to get guide service?

 

If you go with an antenna for locals, Tablo works well.  Plug a hard drive into it and you have a DVR.  No subscription unless you want more than 24 hours of guide.  Best part is that you don't have to hard wire your TVs to the antenna.  Just download the Tablo App or Plex and stream your locals to any TV.

[Okie State 3809]

Went ahead and paused YouTube TV at the end of my last $35 billing cycle. About to install an antenna in my attic to see how many channels I can pick up. If we get the main channels, I don't think we go back to streaming outside of Netflix and Prime. We just don't watch enough TV to justify it anymore.

Follow-up to this. Picked up over 100 channels on the scan. Most are garbage. Kept the majors and all are in crystal clear HD. I think this will work just fine for us.

[usmc0331horn 953]

On 4/11/2019 at 5:28 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

For me the best part of cord cutting is not that I saved money, I’ve dropped tv viewing by at least 50%.  If I have to drop it closer to 100%, not sure I will miss it.

While also watching on any device, being able to cancel anytime, never talking to anyone about it or going to the stupid office and talking to people about it, and having a dvr that is unlimited and on a cloud. 50/month sounds about right at this point. I can watch a ton of content for that.

[Buzzrock 14902]

i get where you are coming from and like you i hate it...
BUT there are a ton of people this will draw in or who were subscribing to YTTV and Philo for some of those channels. overall i get why they did it, i just hate that it increased my cost this much

That was me. I was able to ditch Philo so the $10 bump from YTTV was actually a money saver for me.

[NoName 16351]

8 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

 

That was me. I was able to ditch Philo so the $10 bump from YTTV was actually a money saver for me.

 

seriously, it has been a huge rec for me for people whose wives must have some of those channels but don't care how they get it - while i am not super happy with the increase, it is absolutely a game changer for a ton of folks

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

Disney taking over full control of Hulu. I wonder how that will fit the original Hulu programming like Harlots, Futureman or Runaways. Might be too non family friendly for Mickey.