Alternative methods to watching TV besides Cable/Satelite

[Gone Fission]

We did kind of a gastric bypass equivalent for cable. Switched from Fios to Comcrap's "Internet Plus" bundle, which is high-speed cable internet, very limited local channels, and HBO for $55-ish a month after taxes. No modem rental charges since we bought our own, and we don't really use the one cable box nor need a DVR, so no piling on extra equipment charges. We use a smart TV and a Roku box with our dumb TV. HBO Go is free with the Comcrap subscription, PBS has a Roku channel, and we subscribe to Hulu Plus and Netflix streaming. Watch plenty of TV without much deprivation compared to a pretty full cable package that we had. Missing some Showtime and AMC originals until they get picked up by the services we get, but we sprung for a season pass of Madmen.

Not cheap cheap, but that's a lot less than we were used to paying. After we dumped Fios, they started offering basically the same deal. So when the price goes up after a year, if Comcrap won't negotiate down, we can just start flipping back and forth annually.

The one hang up is that if you're all about sports, this arrangement will probably not work for you at all. I could care less about that.

[odontophobia]

amazon prime, mlb.tv, netflix, torrents, antenna

I have the amazon fire tv box. it's basically the same as apple tv, roku, etc. of course amazon's video offerings are the main thing, so if you don't have prime, it's probably not the way to go. the box works well, overall. only downside for me is that there's no native DLNA support, so I have to use Plex to stream videos from my computer.

of course, my PS3 can handle all of those streaming services too, but it's getting noisy in its old age.

Yeah,

Plex can be an awesome alternative. I keep meaning to get Plex because you can use it with Chromecast if you buy the upgraded Plex... not sure if I'm willing to do that for the few shows I keep on my computer.

[neonblack]

amazon prime, mlb.tv, netflix, torrents, antenna

I have the amazon fire tv box. it's basically the same as apple tv, roku, etc. of course amazon's video offerings are the main thing, so if you don't have prime, it's probably not the way to go. the box works well, overall. only downside for me is that there's no native DLNA support, so I have to use Plex to stream videos from my computer.

of course, my PS3 can handle all of those streaming services too, but it's getting noisy in its old age.

Yeah,

Plex can be an awesome alternative. I keep meaning to get Plex because you can use it with Chromecast if you buy the upgraded Plex... not sure if I'm willing to do that for the few shows I keep on my computer.

Pretty sure you can pirate it. We use it with Chromecast and I'm pretty sure we never paid for anything. My wife set it all up, but I'm pretty sure there are ways around paying.

Unless you have some moral opposition to it.

[odontophobia]

amazon prime, mlb.tv, netflix, torrents, antenna

I have the amazon fire tv box. it's basically the same as apple tv, roku, etc. of course amazon's video offerings are the main thing, so if you don't have prime, it's probably not the way to go. the box works well, overall. only downside for me is that there's no native DLNA support, so I have to use Plex to stream videos from my computer.

of course, my PS3 can handle all of those streaming services too, but it's getting noisy in its old age.

Yeah,

Plex can be an awesome alternative. I keep meaning to get Plex because you can use it with Chromecast if you buy the upgraded Plex... not sure if I'm willing to do that for the few shows I keep on my computer.

Pretty sure you can pirate it. We use it with Chromecast and I'm pretty sure we never paid for anything. My wife set it all up, but I'm pretty sure there are ways around paying.

Unless you have some moral opposition to it.

My moral compass is so fucked up.....

No opposition.

[skullservant]

When my I moved in with my now wife a few years ago, we made the agreement going into living together that we didn't want cable. So we just pay for internet, Hulu, and Netflix. We stream both of those through our Wii that we got on Black Friday a few years ago for dirt cheap. We only end up paying about $90ish between the internet, Netflix, and Hulu, and have an antenna for our TV for the news

[GardenoftheDead]

Hey want to hear a trick? Ask a friend who trusts you to use their cable account for HBO Go. I'm fairly sure there's no limit to how many different computers you can use it on and it's not in violation of any agreements.

[t-rey]

Hey want to hear a trick? Ask a friend who trusts you to use their cable account for HBO Go. I'm fairly sure there's no limit to how many different computers you can use it on and it's not in violation of any agreements.

Truth. The owner of HBO even said that he doesn't mind if people share passwords for it.

[Warpsmasher]

We got rid of cable a few months ago, and now just do antenna for local stations, and downloading/netflix/chromecast for everything else. Chromecast is great, I just wish it had more. More screensaver options, like music with a visualizer, more big name compatible apps, chrome browser page-casting, etc. Google has pretty much won the battle for my living room, but it's not as huge of a victory as it could have been. For $35 though, it's a great toy/extra/accessory that I'd recommend to anybody. It's the best youtube and netflix app for TV by far, the ones that make you use your TV remote fucking suck balls, and the cellphone control is just beautiful. Volume control, ff/rew for playlists, full control via cellphone apps, bluetoothed straight to HDMI. Plays 100+ song youtube playlists with very few ads, and right now I'm an hour into this awesomeness, looking glorious on my living room TV:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi2PPHEqXsw[/youtube]

[frigid midget]

I still have cabe, but I stream movies and HBO stuff that I otherwhise wouldn't be able to watch for -almost- free, using my Rasberry Pi
Pi2 actually, which is a lot faster it seems.

[sonidero]

Old thread is old and football sucks...

I have a free 55' Fujitsu monitor that I use a lil box for input that gets two channels right now; MTV2 and El Rey Network (!!!) so I've been watching Hulu Kung Fu for the past month... I really think my styles have improved though...