We've cut the cable (5 Viewers)

[Otis]

New to the thread, looking for advice.

@Righetti and our other buddy have cut the cable.  I think @OC Zed may have as well?

Anyway, I pay something like $280 a month for Verizon FiOS triple play.  We are not huge television people, but we have a few basic "must haves":

- Kids networks: Nick Junior and Disney Junior at a minimum; (Sprout would be good too).

- CNN, HBO, AMC, HGTV

- We need On Demand, especially for the kids shows on the channels above

- We need DVR.

I'm told I can instead pay Optimum $50/month for solid internet service; get either DirecTVNow or Sling for like $40 a month, with HBO; and cancel the stupid house phone we never use other than to curse out telemarketers.  So for $90, I am told I can replace everything that matters.  Looking on DirecTV now channel listing, looks like I can get all I want for $40 a month.

Is that right?  Any recommendations for someone in my situation?  Should I be looking at Sling over DirecTVNow?

By the way, any downsides to all this?  If this is all true, why the hell isn't all of America switching right this minute and putting FioS out of business??

 

[John Kreese]

New to the thread, looking for advice.

@Righetti and our other buddy have cut the cable.  I think @OC Zed may have as well?

Anyway, I pay something like $280 a month for Verizon FiOS triple play.  We are not huge television people, but we have a few basic "must haves":

- Kids networks: Nick Junior and Disney Junior at a minimum; (Sprout would be good too).

- CNN, HBO, AMC, HGTV

- We need On Demand, especially for the kids shows on the channels above

- We need DVR.

I'm told I can instead pay Optimum $50/month for solid internet service; get either DirecTVNow or Sling for like $40 a month, with HBO; and cancel the stupid house phone we never use other than to curse out telemarketers.  So for $90, I am told I can replace everything that matters.  Looking on DirecTV now channel listing, looks like I can get all I want for $40 a month.

Is that right?  Any recommendations for someone in my situation?  Should I be looking at Sling over DirecTVNow?

By the way, any downsides to all this?  If this is all true, why the hell isn't all of America switching right this minute and putting FioS out of business??

Couple things to consider -

DirecTVNow does not currently have DVR and the on demand is a pretty ####ty offering. That may eliminate that option for you right off the bat. Also I had issues with freezing, etc. Finally you can only watch on 2 devices concurrently.

Sling has DVR although it is unavailable on all Disney and ESPN channels. Also a few Fox stations. For the channels you are looking for figure $50 minimum.

PSVue is another option for a similar price which would have all the channels you are looking for along with DVR. A potential drawback (although you didn't list these) is that there are no Viacom channels available so no Comedy Central, MTV, etc.

Finally depending on your location you may not receive local channels with some or all of the streaming options.

I'd recommend signing up for a free trial of each service. Try using it exclusively for a week or so and see if you can live with it vs your current Fios service. Personally after trying them all I stuck with my current set up - Fios internet and playing the cancel / re-up game with DirecTV every other year. I currently pay $90/month for both.

ETA - you can add a Kodi setup and ditch HBO etc to save a few more bucks.

 

[Otis]

Couple things to consider -

DirecTVNow does not currently have DVR and the on demand is a pretty ####ty offering. That may eliminate that option for you right off the bat. Also I had issues with freezing, etc. Finally you can only watch on 2 devices concurrently.

Sling has DVR although it is unavailable on all Disney and ESPN channels. Also a few Fox stations. For the channels you are looking for figure $50 minimum.

PSVue is another option for a similar price which would have all the channels you are looking for along with DVR. A potential drawback (although you didn't list these) is that there are no Viacom channels available so no Comedy Central, MTV, etc.

Finally depending on your location you may not receive local channels with some or all of the streaming options.

I'd recommend signing up for a free trial of each service. Try using it exclusively for a week or so and see if you can live with it vs your current Fios service. Personally after trying them all I stuck with my current set up - Fios internet and playing the cancel / re-up game with DirecTV every other year. I currently pay $90/month for both.

ETA - you can add a Kodi setup and ditch HBO etc to save a few more bucks.

Yeah I was just reading that about DirecTVNow not having a DVR service.  And also lots of performance complaints online.

So frustrating.  Each of these options is so close, but each is flawed in some significant way for my family's uses.  PSVue I think gives me the same problem as Hulu -- no Viacom channels means no Nick Jr.  WHAT THE HELL WILL I DO WITHOUT PEPPA PIG????

 

[shadyridr]

New to the thread, looking for advice.

@Righetti and our other buddy have cut the cable.  I think @OC Zed may have as well?

Anyway, I pay something like $280 a month for Verizon FiOS triple play.  We are not huge television people, but we have a few basic "must haves":

- Kids networks: Nick Junior and Disney Junior at a minimum; (Sprout would be good too).

- CNN, HBO, AMC, HGTV

- We need On Demand, especially for the kids shows on the channels above

- We need DVR.

I'm told I can instead pay Optimum $50/month for solid internet service; get either DirecTVNow or Sling for like $40 a month, with HBO; and cancel the stupid house phone we never use other than to curse out telemarketers.  So for $90, I am told I can replace everything that matters.  Looking on DirecTV now channel listing, looks like I can get all I want for $40 a month.

Is that right?  Any recommendations for someone in my situation?  Should I be looking at Sling over DirecTVNow?

By the way, any downsides to all this?  If this is all true, why the hell isn't all of America switching right this minute and putting FioS out of business??

We pay about $180/ month for fios triple play which includes all the premium channels. I've done the math several times and for all the channels we'd want we would barely save any money. The people that save money don't need as many channels or dvr services we do. 

 

[John Kreese]

Exactly the problem I had. Your options are to fill the holes with something like Kodi or do what I do and play the game with your service provider (threaten to cancel, etc). By the way $280 seems insane for a Fios triple play. They have gigabit service promo for $69 currently. Just cancel everything and re-up with that and either do a new triple play or go with something like DirecTv for cheap in the first year and revisit after your promos run out.

If you don't need gigabit I have 50/50 for 40/month.

 

[rascal]

You don't need any cable...it's a choice.

 

[Politician Spock]

New to the thread, looking for advice.

@Righetti and our other buddy have cut the cable.  I think @OC Zed may have as well?

Anyway, I pay something like $280 a month for Verizon FiOS triple play.  We are not huge television people, but we have a few basic "must haves":

- Kids networks: Nick Junior and Disney Junior at a minimum; (Sprout would be good too).

- CNN, HBO, AMC, HGTV

- We need On Demand, especially for the kids shows on the channels above

- We need DVR.

I'm told I can instead pay Optimum $50/month for solid internet service; get either DirecTVNow or Sling for like $40 a month, with HBO; and cancel the stupid house phone we never use other than to curse out telemarketers.  So for $90, I am told I can replace everything that matters.  Looking on DirecTV now channel listing, looks like I can get all I want for $40 a month.

Is that right?  Any recommendations for someone in my situation?  Should I be looking at Sling over DirecTVNow?

By the way, any downsides to all this?  If this is all true, why the hell isn't all of America switching right this minute and putting FioS out of business??

We cut the cord (dumped DirecTV) back in 2012 when our kids were 10, 8 and 5. We thought for sure that the experiment would fail due to the kids losing the kids networks. Turns out they liked Netflix more than the kids networks. There were some specific shows they wished they could get, but nothing worth going back to the ridiculous cable bill. I remember the DirecTV blimp was hovering above a golf tournament here and my wife told the kids to look at the blimp. The 8 year old looks out and says "Netflix is better than DirecTV". That was the moment we realized we were never going back.

Losing AMC meant I couldn't watch Breaking Bad when it aired. So I bought each season on Amazon and could watch each new episode the day after it aired. My wife did the same with Project Runway. We would have had to buy dozens of seasons of shows before it would justify the price of cable/satellite subscription. 

We did hook up our TV antenna to a Tivo with a lifetime subscription. So we DVR a lot from the free OTA channels. 

That worked well for us for about three years. Sling TV then came out, which meant I could get ESPN for $20 per month. Jumped on it. Got AMC and CNN back and my wife got HGTV back. My wife watched HGTV a lot for a few weeks, but now maybe once a month. 

We've since switched over to PS Vue so that we get the regional Fox Sports (I like to watch the Reds) and the Big Ten Network (Ohio State). Sports is really the only reason we need to subscribe to anything. If it weren't for sports, I could get 99% of anything we'd want to watch using OTA, Amazon, and Netflix. In fact I thought you could get an HBO subscription direct from them. 

So in a nutshell, subscribe to whatever streaming service gives you the sports channels you want. All the other stuff is going on demand, if it isn't already there. 

 

[tonydead]

New to the thread, looking for advice.

@Righetti and our other buddy have cut the cable.  I think @OC Zed may have as well?

Anyway, I pay something like $280 a month for Verizon FiOS triple play.  We are not huge television people, but we have a few basic "must haves":

- Kids networks: Nick Junior and Disney Junior at a minimum; (Sprout would be good too).

- CNN, HBO, AMC, HGTV

- We need On Demand, especially for the kids shows on the channels above

- We need DVR.

I'm told I can instead pay Optimum $50/month for solid internet service; get either DirecTVNow or Sling for like $40 a month, with HBO; and cancel the stupid house phone we never use other than to curse out telemarketers.  So for $90, I am told I can replace everything that matters.  Looking on DirecTV now channel listing, looks like I can get all I want for $40 a month.

Is that right?  Any recommendations for someone in my situation?  Should I be looking at Sling over DirecTVNow?

By the way, any downsides to all this?  If this is all true, why the hell isn't all of America switching right this minute and putting FioS out of business??

Yes, that's right.  Don't forget to try Hulu Live TV too in addition to PS Vue already mentioned.  It reportedly has pretty much everything basic cable has, just $40 for 50 channels.  Yes it has DVR (that isn't going to be an excuse for much longer).  Also, watch for YoutubeTV launching soon.

Downsides are local channels may or may not be available (yet) in your area depending on which streaming service you choose.  This problem is solved with OTA antenna for an estimated 90% of people.  If you live close to a large city chances are you can get 30-50 HD channels for free OTA that you probably never knew existed.  The only other downside is if you are a sports junkie and have to watch every single game of every sport you may not find everything you want in the service of your choice.

To answer your last question: They are, in record numbers and the cable companies are bleeding like the stuck pigs they are.  Analysts estimate that the cable companies lost a record 762,000 pay TV subscribers last quarter, their worst in history, roughly five times more than the total number of lost subscribers during the same quarter last year.  The number of cord cutters is moving from 1 of every 4 households to 1 in every 3. 

 

[tonydead]

Yeah I was just reading that about DirecTVNow not having a DVR service.  And also lots of performance complaints online.

So frustrating.  Each of these options is so close, but each is flawed in some significant way for my family's uses.  PSVue I think gives me the same problem as Hulu -- no Viacom channels means no Nick Jr.  WHAT THE HELL WILL I DO WITHOUT PEPPA PIG????

If you find yourself willing to pay $280 a month because you just can't give up that one show you can likely stream every episode of every season with Kodi.

 

[Tick]

@Otis, try something that doesn't have everything you say you need.  You'll probably find that you don't really miss it, or that you can get it in another way.  Don't wimp out because you think the kids won't be able to find some specific show or won't be able to navigate - they'll figure it out in 30s and find a new show they like.  The wife is the only real variable.

 

[shadyridr]

Hmm PlayStation vue is 75/ month for all the channels including local where I live.  Only thing missing is mtv which my wife watches. Now if I add internet for around $50/ month that's 125 a month,  saving 55 a month. My wife is bugging out of course. Is 55/ month worth the aggravation of her complaining? Anything else I need. I need two devices for my upstairs tv's? My basement tv I have a ps4 already.

 

[VA703]

Kodi with iptv service

new monthly bill

internet ($70) + iptv ($15) = all channels including ppv and enough pr0n until your penis breaks

 

[shadyridr]

Apparently mtv is worth $60/ month to my wife. Women

 

[mquinnjr]

Kodi with iptv service

new monthly bill

internet ($70) + iptv ($15) = all channels including ppv and enough pr0n until your penis breaks

My buddy texted me the other night re: my $15 IPTV service during the Manchester attack and goes, "You probably helped finance this." Makes me wonder with paid IPTV. Probably will migrate over to a Hulu Live, etc. at some point, I honestly have no idea where that money is heading or who it's headed to.

 

[Otis]

Yeah, I'm not doing anything illegal.  The paid IPTV stuff is so sketchy...as is anything on KODI.  Some dudes feel like it's OK to pirate, and that's fine for them.  I'd rather pay my way.

All good advice in here.  I downloaded YoutubeTV -- it's pretty good, though I could sure use CNN and some more stations here.  But it's close. Also going to give Sling and DirecTV a whirl, and see if any of this can work well for us.

 

[tonydead]

Apparently mtv is worth $60/ month to my wife. Women

Someone better tell mtv, they might want to start up a streaming service.

 

[shadyridr]

Figured ill give the ps vue a free trial tonight and watch the Yankee game

 

[mquinnjr]

Yeah, I'm not doing anything illegal.  The paid IPTV stuff is so sketchy...as is anything on KODI.  Some dudes feel like it's OK to pirate, and that's fine for them.  I'd rather pay my way.

All good advice in here.  I downloaded YoutubeTV -- it's pretty good, though I could sure use CNN and some more stations here.  But it's close. Also going to give Sling and DirecTV a whirl, and see if any of this can work well for us.

From a money aspect, just streaming non-live source material is a grey area. You're not paying for it, and the other side isn't making money on it. You're technically not paying the rights holders, but not ponying up to the black market.

Paid IPTV is basically the 2017 version of the hot box from back in the day. Now people re-stream a paid TV subscription over the internet and collect money so that you have a little to no buffering experience on a paid member only server. There's no bones about the latter. I do the latter currently and it's pretty flawless, but the whole "where is that money really going?" aspect, especially in light of the attacks this week, are making me second guess it. I could be way off, but you never truly know.

I'm going to start getting trials of the legit live streaming services and clip the IPTV one, will still be way cheaper than a traditional cable sub.

 

[VA703]

I Havnt gone down the iptv path yet

currently running basic cable & internet $80

Kodi netflix Hulu & Prime

working out pretty well. Saving $100 a month on crap I wasn't watching

 

[Tick]

Yeah, I'm not doing anything illegal.  The paid IPTV stuff is so sketchy...as is anything on KODI.  Some dudes feel like it's OK to pirate, and that's fine for them.  I'd rather pay my way.

All good advice in here.  I downloaded YoutubeTV -- it's pretty good, though I could sure use CNN and some more stations here.  But it's close. Also going to give Sling and DirecTV a whirl, and see if any of this can work well for us.

When I cut something like five years ago, I went with a Fire TV, Amazon Prime (for the shipping - the TV is just a bonus), Netflix, and Kodi.  It turns out I very rarely use Kodi - since I don't get antenna reception, I used Kodi to watch USTVNow, which is legal anyway (designed for overseas troops, but open to anyone who can't get antenna reception).

By far the most surprising thing about it for me was how my family just quit watching almost everything.  It's been nice.  The kids each have a show they're wading through on Netflix, and we watch documentaries on Netflix together... that's about it.

I did get cable for a month for the World Cup, and signed up for a month of Sling for the Summer Olympics.

 

[saintfool]

so i use a Roku device and got to thinking. is there any way to construct a "playlist" with my device? instead of having to go into each channel, i'd like to just go to my playlist and watch the shows that i have tagged. i'm willing to go periodically go into each channel to tag shows that i want to watch. i'd just like to have a channel or playlist of shows handy that i am currently interested in or watching. this feels like something that could have been solved 5 years ago but isn't as far as i know.

 

[MattFancy]

Thinking about getting rid of my DirecTV and going with Play Station Vue. Those of you that use Vue, what are some pros/cons you have seen?

 

[saintfool]

so i use a Roku device and got to thinking. is there any way to construct a "playlist" with my device? instead of having to go into each channel, i'd like to just go to my playlist and watch the shows that i have tagged. i'm willing to go periodically go into each channel to tag shows that i want to watch. i'd just like to have a channel or playlist of shows handy that i am currently interested in or watching. this feels like something that could have been solved 5 years ago but isn't as far as i know.

 

[shadyridr]

First night of PS Vue was solid. Picture isnt as perfect as Fios and there was some "lag" while watching the Yankee game. Other than that no hiccups. That being said, I HATE the guide and I HATE the fact you can't just switch channels without the guide.

 

[Otis]

First night of PS Vue was solid. Picture isnt as perfect as Fios and there was some "lag" while watching the Yankee game. Other than that no hiccups. That being said, I HATE the guide and I HATE the fact you can't just switch channels without the guide.

I started experimenting with Hulu and Sling, and this is the same thing I noticed.  The guides on these things are AWFUL.  I want to be able to keep watching my show and bring up a guide to browse whatever else is on TV while I'm watching.  These are bad.

I'll give DirecTVNow a whirl and hope for better...

 

[otb_lifer]

By far the most surprising thing about it for me was how my family just quit watching almost everything.  It's been nice.  The kids each have a show they're wading through on Netflix, and we watch documentaries on Netflix together... that's about it.

this. 

since the cut, and switching to Kodi/Mobdro, boob tube time has been slashed almost in half .. my daughter is serial watching stuff that was not available on Netflix/Hulu - as am i - commercial free also aids in time slashed.  it's a godsend. 

movie night also takes on a whole new dimension when your choices are literally limitless.  i'm scrolling through flicks that i never thought i'd see offered anywhere again, and first crack at new releases is just filthy good. 

when you have the freedom to watch what you want/when you want/for the cost you want, well ...

 

[John Kreese]

I started experimenting with Hulu and Sling, and this is the same thing I noticed.  The guides on these things are AWFUL.  I want to be able to keep watching my show and bring up a guide to browse whatever else is on TV while I'm watching.  These are bad.

I'll give DirecTVNow a whirl and hope for better...

DTVNow is no better. And there is no "previous channel" button. Pretty awful.

 

[Politician Spock]

I started experimenting with Hulu and Sling, and this is the same thing I noticed.  The guides on these things are AWFUL.  I want to be able to keep watching my show and bring up a guide to browse whatever else is on TV while I'm watching.  These are bad.

I'll give DirecTVNow a whirl and hope for better...

As much heat as I get for being a Tivo fan, this is a big reason why my wife and I love Tivo. We still get the same feel as before from the two dozen Antenna channels we get. I can do just what you said, keep watching my show and bring up a guide to browse. Granted I can't browse the channels I'm getting from PS Vue from the Tivo, but most of the stuff we watch is coming from the antenna. I typically only watch PS Vue for live sports or streaming Better Call Saul. 

Sling TV has a device called an AirTV that combines their Sling TV channels with OTA Antenna channels so that you don't have to toggle input devices on the TV, but I don't think you can keep watching a show and browse the guide at the same time. Here is a review of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVq5diDf_-I

 

[matttyl]

Any good solutions for watching out of market NFL games?

Know anyone with a .edu e-mail address?  I've been going the "student" route for the last few years. 

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

Know anyone with a .edu e-mail address?  I've been going the "student" route for the last few years. 

go on....

 

[Don't Noonan]

Apparently mtv is worth $60/ month to my wife. Women

Interesting, I don't think I have watched MTV for about 20 years

 

[pollardsvision]

I started experimenting with Hulu and Sling, and this is the same thing I noticed.  The guides on these things are AWFUL.  I want to be able to keep watching my show and bring up a guide to browse whatever else is on TV while I'm watching.  These are bad.

I'll give DirecTVNow a whirl and hope for better...

FWIW, Sling does allow you to browse other channels while still watching. On the Roku, at least, and it does cut the picture in half while doing it, but it's possible (press "up" instead of "down" to browse channels). Sling also has a previous channel function (press OK twice on Roku remote).

But yeah, my experience that the interface does stink compared to Direct TV. Can't speak to other streaming services (I like Sling so it's the only one I've ever used). Worth it for the price savings, but pretty terrible.

 

[tonydead]

go on....

Students and certain living areas like high rise apartment buildings where they can't mount a dish can get a streaming package for the NFL ticket.

Pretty stupid huh?  If we absolutely can't do it the hard way we will let you do it the easy way.

 

[matttyl]

go on....

Yeah, as tony says above.  It's through DirecTV, and they will sell you their NFL Ticket online (streaming through computer, tablet, smartphone, I think even roku and apple TV type things now) for $99 for the season if you have a "valid .edu email address."  Crazy enough, I know someone who does.  Once you've purchased it with that e-mail address, you can "log on" to the service anywhere with your user name and password.  To me, it's a little bit more legal, and possibly moral, than any of that VPN stuff or Kodi.  The person with the .edu e-mail often comes over to my house to watch the games - I just pay for it on their behalf. 

 

[shadyridr]

Day 2 of ps vue and I have to say the picture is definitely not as clear as fios. Also sports are very choppy. Not a big fan so far. Not sure I'm ready to make the leap yet. As my wife says, you get what you pay for. 

 

[mquinnjr]

Apparently mtv is worth $60/ month to my wife. Women

How else can you cozy up to Teen Mom season 16 on the couch with a glass of wine?

I chose the wrong career path. Marketing to women was clearly the way to go.

 

[cockroach]

go on....

Yeah, as tony says above.  It's through DirecTV, and they will sell you their NFL Ticket online (streaming through computer, tablet, smartphone, I think even roku and apple TV type things now) for $99 for the season if you have a "valid .edu email address."  Crazy enough, I know someone who does.  Once you've purchased it with that e-mail address, you can "log on" to the service anywhere with your user name and password.  To me, it's a little bit more legal, and possibly moral, than any of that VPN stuff or Kodi.  The person with the .edu e-mail often comes over to my house to watch the games - I just pay for it on their behalf. 

and then...

 

[eoMMan]

Interesting, I don't think I have watched MTV for about 20 years

I don't watch it much but the stuff put out by Rob Dyrdek has been great (Ridiculousness, Rob & Big, etc).

 

[matttyl]

and then...

and then what?

 

[CletiusMaximus]

First night of PS Vue was solid. Picture isnt as perfect as Fios and there was some "lag" while watching the Yankee game. Other than that no hiccups. That being said, I HATE the guide and I HATE the fact you can't just switch channels without the guide.

I started experimenting with Hulu and Sling, and this is the same thing I noticed.  The guides on these things are AWFUL.  I want to be able to keep watching my show and bring up a guide to browse whatever else is on TV while I'm watching.  These are bad.

I'll give DirecTVNow a whirl and hope for better...

Some have mentioned in this thread that cutting cable tends to change the way you watch tv, for better or worse. For most, I think the main difference is we don't channel surf much anymore, but only turn on the tv to watch a particular show. When the kids pull out their tablets, they know they've got a certain amount of limited time and they know what they're going to watch. My wife exclusively binges shows on netflix and prime. I use the PSVue favorite feature so I know when I collapse on the couch after the kids are in bed there are several shows saved up I can watch. We also subscribe to HBO a la carte. I hated the PSVue guide at first, then got used to it, then stopped using it completely because I don't care anymore what shows are on at any specific time, other than live sports.

 

[shadyridr]

Some have mentioned in this thread that cutting cable tends to change the way you watch tv, for better or worse. For most, I think the main difference is we don't channel surf much anymore, but only turn on the tv to watch a particular show. When the kids pull out their tablets, they know they've got a certain amount of limited time and they know what they're going to watch. My wife exclusively binges shows on netflix and prime. I use the PSVue favorite feature so I know when I collapse on the couch after the kids are in bed there are several shows saved up I can watch. We also subscribe to HBO a la carte. I hated the PSVue guide at first, then got used to it, then stopped using it completely because I don't care anymore what shows are on at any specific time, other than live sports.

That's fair but I dont think we are ready for that just yet. Maybe in the future. I think I will be sticking with Fios for now.

 

[matttyl]

How else can you cozy up to Teen Mom season 16 on the couch with a glass of wine?

Is that wrong?  Should I not be doing that? 

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Some have mentioned in this thread that cutting cable tends to change the way you watch tv, for better or worse. For most, I think the main difference is we don't channel surf much anymore, but only turn on the tv to watch a particular show. When the kids pull out their tablets, they know they've got a certain amount of limited time and they know what they're going to watch. My wife exclusively binges shows on netflix and prime. I use the PSVue favorite feature so I know when I collapse on the couch after the kids are in bed there are several shows saved up I can watch. We also subscribe to HBO a la carte. I hated the PSVue guide at first, then got used to it, then stopped using it completely because I don't care anymore what shows are on at any specific time, other than live sports.

This is how it's been with me. I might do some upfront research, say, if I feel like watching a music doc but once I pick one I watch that. Even live shows - settle on one and I go to it.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

This is how it's been with me. I might do some upfront research, say, if I feel like watching a music doc but once I pick one I watch that. Even live shows - settle on one and I go to it.

I've started using the Amazon Fire's voice command function on the remote, which I honestly never thought I'd use. I'll say "Archer" or whatever, and I don't know or care whether I'm watching it through Netflix or prime or Vue.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I've started using the Amazon Fire's voice command function on the remote, which I honestly never thought I'd use. I'll say "Archer" or whatever, and I don't know or care whether I'm watching it through Netflix or prime or Vue.

I'm still using an older generation Roku (a 3, IIRC), but I can type in a show/actor/film of the homescreen and it'll take me to whatever app has it. 

I replaced my dumb TV about a year ago for a smart Sony, but I still use the Roku because I'm used to it. I've never even tried to use the smart functions on the TV 

 

[tonydead]

Any good solutions for watching out of market NFL games?

@tonydead knows the Turkey method.

Know anyone with a .edu e-mail address?  I've been going the "student" route for the last few years. 

go on....

and then...

Hello there fellas, so this morning I set out to find out how to get a .edu email address.  Looking around the shady side of the web I found that there are a couple ways you can get a .edu email: Most involve fake registering for an online college to the point where you get assigned a student ID# and then using that to sign up for the campus's email account.  Or you can buy one from people who whom I'm assuming just do the fake registering for you.

BUT THEN..I stumbled across the fact that most Colleges and Universities continue to offer their email services to Alumni.  So, I went to my old university's website and found indeed that the FAQ states that email services are available to all current students and Alumni.  Now in my case we didn't have email back when I attended college so simply signing up with my usual info (including my student number) wouldn't work right off the bat so I started to make a few phone calls.  It took a few minutes but after talking to the following departments I now have a 100% legitimate .edu email address:

1- Alumni Services (to obtain my student ID#)

2- Admissions (to get in the computer system as an Alumni)

3- IT (to set up my .edu email address)

If you have ever attended a college or community college there is a good chance that they will provide this service to you legitimately.  

Also, in addition to being able to get NFL Ticket streaming package on the cheap there are other discounts available if you have a student email address (Disclaimer: I haven't tried any of these just yet.):

Amazon Prime 50% off, only $49 per year.  

50% of Spotify

50% of Apple Music Subscription

60% off Adobe Products

Apple Hardware Discounted

Microsoft Office Free or Discounted

Extra 2GB at Dropbox

Prezi Free

Microsoft Design Image Free

NYT & Wall Street Journal Free

Discounts at Sam's Club, Best Buy, etc.

 

[tonydead]

Know anyone with a .edu e-mail address?  I've been going the "student" route for the last few years. 

Hey mattty, going this route are there any regional or playoff blackouts?  Do you get Redzone and NFL Network too?  Just want to make sure it's worth the extra $30 savings compared going the VPN route before I switch over.  Thanks.

 

[tonydead]

Whoa, a regular google mail storage is 15GB.  My .edu email account storage (powered by google) has unlimited storage.  

ETA: that means google drive (not just email).

 

[matttyl]

Hey mattty, going this route are there any regional or playoff blackouts?  Do you get Redzone and NFL Network too?  Just want to make sure it's worth the extra $30 savings compared going the VPN route before I switch over.  Thanks.

Well, we won't know until (and unless) they say they are doing it again for 2017 and under what rules and such.  Last year, there were regional blackouts - which didn't matter to me as I have regular cable.  You DO GET REDZONE, which was the big thing to me.  You don't get the NFL Network.  I didn't use it during the playoffs, but I don't think it would have had those anyway - the sunday ticket is only for the 17 week regular season, right?

 

[tonydead]

Well, we won't know until (and unless) they say they are doing it again for 2017 and under what rules and such.  Last year, there were regional blackouts - which didn't matter to me as I have regular cable.  You DO GET REDZONE, which was the big thing to me.  You don't get the NFL Network.  I didn't use it during the playoffs, but I don't think it would have had those anyway - the sunday ticket is only for the 17 week regular season, right?

The new gamepass that I got through the VPN route last year included the playoffs (not sure about the SB).  I think that was the first year for that, but, yeah they are all broadcast nation wide anyway.  

Another question; are there any issues watching on tablet and phone?   I kept having trouble with an iPad because the "foreign" gamepass app wasn't available in the US Apple store.