Cutting the Cable Coax?

javelinadave

Administrator
Staff member
I'm tired of paying over $100 a month to watch TV. What are you guys using instead of cable, DirectTV or Dish?
 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
Good Internet, Roku box to aggregate it all, then pick your poison.

Amazon, Netflix, Hulu just about covers it. Sling is a good add on too. We also get HBO and Showtime a few times a year to binge for a month or two, then drop it.

Local channels all run through HD antenna.
 

jymmiejamz

Founding Member
Callsign: KN4JHI
I haven't had cable in probably 8 years or so. Currently I only use Netflix and Amazon. I used to have Hulu, but cancelled it a couple years ago because I wasn't using it much. Occasionally we will rent a show, such as The Americans, if it is something we really want to see.

Sports seems like the only reason to have cable. I've been wanting to get into Formula 1, but that is kind of hard without cable as far as I know.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
Direct and Dish are not cheaper than cable.
Only difference is they work where cable is not offered.
 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
Sports seems like the only reason to have cable. I've been wanting to get into Formula 1, but that is kind of hard without cable as far as I know.

check out sling TV. they have a good assortment of "other" channels including sports that may fit the bill. F1 would be tough but you can likely find some overseas stuff online and broadcast to TV. Roku has a ton of free random channels as well.

8715
 

1of40

Well-known member
We went to basic cable for sports and local news and firestick for Netflix. We get Amazon free with their annual membership and Hulu free through our Sprint plan. Renting HBO/Showtime ad hoc is our plan if/when we find binge worthy stuff. Cable/high speed internet/Netflix is $140/month for us.
 

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
My College aged kids introduced me to reddit feeds but those are unreliable. I do use a VPN that enables access to geographically limited feeds. However content suppliers are getting smart to that so availability is shrinking
 

blueboy

Well-known member
I've been wanting to get into Formula 1, but that is kind of hard without cable as far as I know.

We are big F1 fans. Each year they change who gets the TV rights. This year it is ESPN Sports which we get with Direct TV. Sky TV had it one year.
 

pmatusov

Technical Excellence Contributor
Callsign: AK6PM
I cut the cable TV probably 3 years ago. Have not missed it a single second.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
SKY still is the F1 coverage network, ESPN carries their broadcasts. We have been able to watch F1 pretty much anywhere.
We watched the amazing German GP in a Mcdonalds (free wifi) while in Colorado on Trey's iphone.


Jealous of the options some have via high speed internet. In our rurual area we pay by the gb and go through 40gb monthly already. Pay tv is actually cheaper, but I'll take country life over that trade off.
 
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WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
To add to the convo, most of my friends/family that switched didn't know what to do for local channels. If you still want them, you can get something like Tablo, where a single coax antenna can feed all your TV's over IP. My Roku's have the tablo app just like Netflix, or Amazon, and I can watch any local HD channels on any device (even when i travel), and record as well. No need to have a coax splitter going to each TV all hooked to an antenna.
 

LostChord

Well-known member
We went to basic cable for sports and local news and firestick for Netflix. We get Amazon free with their annual membership and Hulu free through our Sprint plan. Renting HBO/Showtime ad hoc is our plan if/when we find binge worthy stuff. Cable/high speed internet/Netflix is $140/month for us.

Exactly what we did Clay, minus the Hulu/Sprint plan. We have been known to pay for additional channels during football season though :)
 

mgreenspan

Founding Member
It all depends on what you want to watch. I don’t watch sports so it was easy for us. Just Netflix Hulu and amazon prime. That plus internet is cheaper and almost too much TV to choose from.
 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
bummer, I put one of these in my attic pointed towards the highest saturation of towers (not the closest) and a high amount of hd channels. I'm about 25 miles line of sight from Philly though. Some great websites that help you map it out and get an azimuth and elevation.

TV Antenna - RCA Outdoor Yagi Satellite HD Antenna w/ 150 Mile Range (70+ Miles from Broadcast Epicenter) Attic or Roof Mount TV Antenna, Long Range Digital OTA Antenna for Clear Reception, 4K 1080P https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.4fuDbYSP0QSX
 
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