Any Cord Cutters?

[Dpadre]

Hey, I had Dirrectv for 13 years and became a cord cutter. Why not, I'm already paying for Internet and Cell phone data. An ice storm took out my house antenna but I still get a few channels. I need to buy another home antenna. I use an app called LiveStream to watch a couple of my local news staions live.
I do have Verizon, so I get some NFL games on the NFL mobile app for free.

I use Netflix, Crackle and YouTube and cast them to ChromeCast. I wish Google would quit dragging their feet on adding more devices to screen mirror to it. I also rent movies from VuDu.

I also download movies and my favorite TV shows and use Real Cloud Player app. Oh yeah, I cant leave out my Twit Cast app where I watch Leo Laporte and staff for my tech fix and my Double Twist Podcast player. All of them I stream to my Chromecast.

I also use a Miracast dongle to screen mirror my phone and it works ok, but it lags and skips while sending live streams.

There are apps on my Blu Ray Player that I use.

Here is the most recent thing. I found an app called Live USA channels and it has you download MX player. I'm not to sure how they get away with it without paying rebroadcasting fees or how long it will be around without getting pulled down. I noticed there are many apps just like it but I don't know what content or channels they carry. It has a bunch of stations like ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, NFL Network, FOX, CW, FX USA, AMC, USA Network, TNT, Discovery Channel, TBS, HBO, MTV, ESPN, ESPN2, NBA TV, TLC, FOX Sports, National Geographic channel, TSN, Fox News, A&E, ABC Family, Animal Planet, SyFy, Bravo, and 66 other channels in which some are from other countries but some are good ones like a bunch of Sky sports and Sky movies. I had to go into my MX player and unclick some of the decoder settings to get it to work, not sure if it would have worked without unchecking them.


Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

[breadnatty08]

An older thread (which has links to even more threads ):
http://androidforums.com/tv-film/745957-roku.html

We're cord cutters as well, been a few years now. Roku is pretty much our go to device. Since adding YT, we hardly ever use the Chromecast (though YT for Roku is SLOW).
Only other thing I could recommend, and it depends on your location, is a regular digital antenna for OTA broadcasts. We get a lot of channels in DC, but not sure what you'd get "way out" in Kansas.

As to apps, I feel like all the ones who have to fall under legal restrictions, have such scarce content that it's hard to really find what you want. However, if you're trying to cut out home broadband, yikes, no way we could do it!

 

[zuben el genub]

Never had a cord to cut. Since I couldn't get just baseball only, I told Comcast where to go. Refused to let them put wires to the house. Got called UnAmerican since I don't care for movies. I read, and prefer my imagination, not someone else's.

Even travelling where cable is available, we wind up watching baseball or football anyway.

Now we have a Roku - I got it for MLB and PBS. The Vulcan grabbed the remote.
I have to use At Bat on the tablet.

 

[Dngrsone]

I cut Dish off about ten years ago when I realized that I was paying some $35-41 for two channels.

I used some of that money to upgrade my internet connection, otherwise my wife uses Netflix and Amazon Prime.

I'd just as soon read books, myself.

 

[nickdalzell]

I use a Antennas Direct $100 outdoor antenna to pickup the distant MeTV station which I hardly ever change. The lineup of classic TV is too good to need any other channel. I also use Netflix, YouTube, and sometimes download movies to my MyCloud drive for offline streaming. I still pay a ton for my data plan though since there are no other options for home Internet where I choose to live.

 

[bjacks12]

Back home, we always had DirectTV(eventually switched to Dish) until about 2 years ago when my folks decided to get a Roku and cut the cord. They have a digital antenna for local TV, and Netflix & Hulu for movies and tv on demand.

At my place, my landlord/roommate used to have cable but got tired of it(I don't blame him). I've thought about getting an antenna, but I'm not invested enough emotionally into Las Vegas to care about the local news, so I just watch movies and tv via Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. I have a Chromecast in my room and we have a Roku in the living room. I haven't missed cable at all(I usually just used it to watch Fox News. I do still miss the eye candy from the Five, lol).

 

[mikedt]

I cut the cable cord a long time ago, everything I watch is online or downloaded. When I moved into the new place a couple of months ago, only thing had installed was fibre internet, no telephone, no cable TV.

 

[nickdalzell]

I cannot stream much video online since all I have is a 3G connection (which varies wildly between 56K and 500Kbps, with a 1Mbps maximum only if the weather is PERFECT and zero wind and no leaves on the trees)

so all my videos are purchased, downloaded locally to my phone at a public wifi hotspot nearby, then uploaded to Mycloud and streamed via DLNA after that. it's cumbersome but I have zero options for stable internet at home. i'm not moving to the city to get perfect internet.

I can for some odd reason, via one older tablet still running Android 4.1.2 (a Galaxy Tab 3 7.0) cast Google Play Movies to my Chromecast device, where it tends to play in super HQ mode, even though the movies are standard def, and it hardly if ever rebuffers. I sadly, cannot use Netflix or YouTube. they're both unplayable in their current versions which offer zero means to reduce the quality and rely entirely on 'auto' quality that I cannot disable. not on my TV, Xbox One or PlayStation 3. The only workaround for YouTube is to use Internet Explorer on the Xbox One, the mobile site on the PS3, or my tablet, and force 240p mode. quite cumbersome as it needs to be done for every single video manually. that's the only way they play.

Thankfully there's one channel here called 'MeTV' that is all-classic shows, most of what would normally be in my Netflix queue anyway, and it's one of the last channels known to have commercial breaks in the 15-minute interval, while most channels these days edit out parts of shows to accommodate 5-minute commercial intervals.

 

[Dpadre]

I cannot stream much video online since all I have is a 3G connection (which varies wildly between 56K and 500Kbps, with a 1Mbps maximum only if the weather is PERFECT and zero wind and no leaves on the trees)

so all my videos are purchased, downloaded locally to my phone at a public wifi hotspot nearby, then uploaded to Mycloud and streamed via DLNA after that. it's cumbersome but I have zero options for stable internet at home. i'm not moving to the city to get perfect internet.

I can for some odd reason, via one older tablet still running Android 4.1.2 (a Galaxy Tab 3 7.0) cast Google Play Movies to my Chromecast device, where it tends to play in super HQ mode, even though the movies are standard def, and it hardly if ever rebuffers. I sadly, cannot use Netflix or YouTube. they're both unplayable in their current versions which offer zero means to reduce the quality and rely entirely on 'auto' quality that I cannot disable. not on my TV, Xbox One or PlayStation 3. The only workaround for YouTube is to use Internet Explorer on the Xbox One, the mobile site on the PS3, or my tablet, and force 240p mode. quite cumbersome as it needs to be done for every single video manually. that's the only way they play.

Thankfully there's one channel here called 'MeTV' that is all-classic shows, most of what would normally be in my Netflix queue anyway, and it's one of the last channels known to have commercial breaks in the 15-minute interval, while most channels these days edit out parts of shows to accommodate 5-minute commercial intervals.

Wow, No Home Internet, that has to be tough. I understand that the Netflix app tells a Wi-Fi router with internet to push the movies to the Chromecast, So even though you don't have internet at home. Can you still use a Wi-Fi router to connect your phone and Chromecast together? I sometimes download movies to my phone and then I use to load them up to the Cloud. But now I just download them on to my phone ( and skip loading to the cloud) and use any app that is Chromecast supported to play those movies from my phone to the Chromecast. RealCloud Player is what I use most.

I hated the day when all I had was crap Edge network on AT&T, so I switched to 4G Verizon and pay out the ass for it.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I've had DirecTV for 20 years, and don't see a future without it any time soon. I don't do commercials, so I record everything I'm even remotely interested in watching, and then zap through the ads if/when I do watch it.

When I got DirecTV 20 years ago, it was because I was living out-of-state and hated not being able to watch my beloved Lakers. So I tossed cable and got DirecTV, signed up for its NBA League Pass, and happily watched all the Lakers games as if I were back here/home. I'm *SO* glad I did that, too, because the incomparable Chick Hearn died along the way; I'm extremely glad I got to see/hear his inimitable style game after game, even though I was living in another state. I also had NFL Sunday Ticket so I could watch all the 49ers games.

I'm back home now so I don't need those sports packages any more, but I stick with DirecTV for its huge selection of channels and programming, its picture quality, its reliability, etc. When I was living in Tornado Alley, I'd lose my picture ALL THE TIME due to 'rain fade.' Ugh. That hasn't happened a single time since I moved back to SoCal eight years ago!

 

[nickdalzell]

I have internet at home, albeit through a Verizon jetpack attached to a WiFi extender with physical ethernet ports for wired devices (such as a launch xbox 360). But the jetpack has fried the 4G radio and goes into permenant dormant mode so I can only use 3g speeds. 3g speeds are super slow even with three bars. Speeds vary wildly and are not stable enough for video streaming. Not sure why but Play Movies doesn't seem to require the bandwidth of Netflix or youtube which keep attempting to play in higher quality.

Rain fade, super high latency, expensive data plans, and unusable video streaming speeds has kept satellite Internet from being considered. For now it's 3g Hotspot or no internet.

It's weird, as my new Xbox One can download a 1GB game in an hour, yet refuses to play a youtube video...

 

[mikedt]

This is really why I'm a cord cutter.
http://www.lostlaowai.com/guides/basics/watching-english-tv-china-online-free/

"you very likely suffer through China’s basic (and we do mean basic) cable packages. 40+ channels of shite packaged in one of four basic flavours: Japanese occupation drama, Dynastic period drama, cheesy variety show or heavily (ahem) “focused” news."

When I got DirecTV 20 years ago, it was because I was living out-of-state and hated not being able to watch my beloved Lakers. So I tossed cable and got DirecTV, signed up for its NBA League Pass, and happily watched all the Lakers games as if I were back here/home. I'm *SO* glad I did that, too, because the incomparable Chick Hearn died along the way; I'm extremely glad I got to see/hear his inimitable style game after game, even though I was living in another state. I also had NFL Sunday Ticket so I could watch all the 49ers games.

Even living completely out of the country and on the other side of the world, we can still watch our beloved Lakers....

...or Lekars...

...and no DirectTV or cable TV required. :thumbup:

 

[Dpadre]

I have internet at home, albeit through a Verizon jetpack attached to a WiFi extender with physical ethernet ports for wired devices (such as a launch xbox 360). But the jetpack has fried the 4G radio and goes into permenant dormant mode so I can only use 3g speeds. 3g speeds are super slow even with three bars. Speeds vary wildly and are not stable enough for video streaming. Not sure why but Play Movies doesn't seem to require the bandwidth of Netflix or youtube which keep attempting to play in higher quality.

Rain fade, super high latency, expensive data plans, and unusable video streaming speeds has kept satellite Internet from being considered. For now it's 3g Hotspot or no internet.

It's weird, as my new Xbox One can download a 1GB game in an hour, yet refuses to play a youtube video...

I didn't know what a Verizon jetpack was, so I googled it. I see they cost $50. Wouldn't you want 4G back?

 

[nickdalzell]

Free for Verizon edge.

But I'm out of the 14 day return window. A month after I got it, the 4G died and got stuck in 'dormant' forever, even after a hard reset. Forcing it into CDMA only mode through the website configuration (Similar to a router, which enables 3g only) was the only way to restore service. What apparently happened in 4G was a time sync failure. When it goes dormant it displays the time as Jan 1 1980 with tons of 'invalid timestamp' logs. Switching to CDMA gets time correct and service back, albeit in slow 3g.

 

[Dpadre]

I see that the Verizon Jetpack is $49.99 on a 2 year contract, thats $599.88 over the contract and they sell them outright for $229.99. a huge savings, but ouch! I found one Refurbished (go figure) for $49.99. Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4620L Wireless Router Deal of the Day | Groupon

I buy refurbished from the companies who make them all the time and save a ton. I'd get 4G up and running again

 

[MoodyBlues]

Even living completely out of the country and on the other side of the world, we can still watch our beloved Lakers....

...or Lekars...

Hey, at least they didn't transpose Kobe's number...well, wait, that might not be a bad thing...bring back fond memories of Showtime and Big Game James!

 

[nickdalzell]

For the record, after the umpteenth hard reset of the Jetpack 4620LE, it seems to hold 4G LTE.

While low signal, and slower than normal, 4mbps down is way better than 256kbps down.

EDIT: ok, so my 4510L Jetpack went dormant again, pulled battery, worked extremely well for 20 minutes, then got super red hot, dormant, got stuck in dormant, then I hard reset, then it just died. No power, zero sign of life. Got a newer Mifi 5510L, a newer model, which seems OK so far. No sign of dormant status yet. Still quite hot to touch though. Really thinking they need a better cooling method or a fan, this thing is hot!

 

[Dpadre]

i just read some reviews online for the 4510L Jetpack and it looks like it was just a quick way for Verizon to make a buck. Real bad reviews and most have short life span or dont work properly.

 

[nickdalzell]

I just replaced it with a 5510l. The 4620 just up and turned itself off and refused to power on again, and was very hot to touch. Probably overheated.

The new device works much better, picks up 4G no problem and maintains a very stable, 20mbps speed. Quite satisfied.

The 4620LE has a firmware bug that never got fixed. It tends to go 'dormant' often, usually right in the middle of a large download or streaming a movie. Requires a battery pull to fix. The 'dormant' issue spanned quite a lengthy thread on Verizon Community forums.

 

[boathead]

i'm a cord cutter.

hd antennae to pick up giants games.
roku on all the tv's.
plex media server
netflix

landline phone: net talk voip calling $2/month
cell: republic wireless $10/month unlimited calls and texts. no data.

i'm not cheap....simply poor.

 

[zipred]

I cut the cable cord a long time ago, everything I watch is online or downloaded. When I moved into the new place a couple of months ago, only thing had installed was fibre internet, no telephone, no cable TV.

Same for me. I have zero use for a land line telephone or cable TV.

A BIG FAT Internet pipe is all I need

 

[trophynuts]

#jealous...

i wish I could cut the cord. the wife would ship her flit if I did though.

 

[Dpadre]

Well, Since CBS and HBO are moving over to internet based subscriptions, it won't be longer till others do. I suspect that Verizon and Comcast and others will offer all channels you want that get on board and give it to you over the internet. But the problem will get worse before it gets better with bundles and price gouging before we see third tier company’s give it to us cheaper. People will want a la cart and only want to watch certain shows. I’m glad to hear that the younger generation doesn’t even buy into big cable or satellite providers and that the subscriptions are starting to decrease and go away from them. Internet subscriptions are on the rise. Welcome competition and low prices and may the cord cutters win and get what they want and when they want it and in the long haul at the prices they want

 

[zipred]

I cut the cord one year ago. It's worked out better than expected and I was feeling very positive about it from the beginning. It's just a matter of good preparation. I'm saving well over a staggering $1200 per year. Considering I have better content than before I began this project I'm very happy with the outcome.