Following my last post, I thought I would explain my personal cord-cut situation and highlight what is working for me (and what isn’t) as I try to enjoy TV without cable.
First off, the main source of video entertainment (both TV and movies) is Netflix accessed via a Roku box. Yes, we don’t get the latest content and yes, the selection is somewhat restricted, but there is enough there that keeps our interest.
I’m also a huge fan of webTV, which I access on Roku or online from my computer (my wife thinks I’m nuts, for a bunch of reasons of course, but my webTV hobby is one of them.)
The big gap here is sports. I get around this because I’m simply not a sports fan, so even if I had cable I wouldn’t watch a lot (or any) sports. (Full disclosure: I saw, and loved, the Vancouver Olympics on cable before I cut it)
I did get an MLB.com account (and jump on the bandwagon) to watch the SF Giants in the World Series. I loved the experimentation of it all and found the experience to be good.
The one sport I do enjoy (and miss dearly) is Formula 1 racing. Right now, I have no good way to follow my favorite fast cars. I read some of the updates online but that is a very sad alternative to watching a thrilling race live.
Also, HBO… That is another huge gap in my viewing pleasure that I miss. We get a lot of the shows on DVD via Netflix but it would be beyond fantastic to have a streaming solution.
As far as news and current events, I get that online, in magazines (I love magazines) and increasingly via electronic magazine purchases on my iPad.
My next moves? Well, I’ll be getting an HD antenna soon to watch over-the-air TV. This will let us watch some interesting shows and hopefully some big events, like the Oscars. I was considering Hulu Plus on Roku but it sounds like that offering isn’t as complete as it could be, so I may wait it out.
Two other disclosures:
1) I’m actually skeptical that this whole cord-cutter thing is a really huge trend. I think people will come back to cable once the economy improves and once cable companies up their PPV game. Cord-cutting will increasingly be a viable option, but it won’t have huge adoption in the mainstream.
2) For the record, I’m not a cord-cutter out of some religous hatred for cable companies. They aren’t my favorite companies in the world but they’re better than oil companies. I’m a cord-cutter for fun. I think it is fun to fiddle with gadgets and find ways to watch TV on my own terms.
Plus I’m super-cheap and I love saving the $60 a month. (If you cancel Comcast Xfinity triple play and get Internet and a landline separate, the savings is about $70… not a lot but I’ll take it.) Factor in the $10/month for Netflix and you walk away with $60 in your pocket and a chance to play with all the inputs on the back of your HDTV.
We actually don’t want you to know about all the religious hatred this early on, but as a fellow cord cutter I welcome you to the cult. My advice is to go with the fixed outdoor antenna over the indoor antenna if you have that option. You’ll pick up more channels, more reliably. I also recommend some kind of DVR to go with it. OTA alone is disappointing. OTA with DVR = just as good as cable = you will never go back. Finally, if you have a laptop that is HDMI enabled, it’s even better than a DVR. There are lots of cool boxes, but too many are disabled because the content owners don’t want the internet on TV. The only way to ensure you get full access to the maximum digital content is to trick the content companies into thinking that you’re really using a laptop.
So Davis, what DVR option are you using or recommend if one doesn’t have a laptop? And, how do you “trick” the content companies? Thanks
Yeah, you need to figure out some form of free DVR for this setup and definitely do the outdoor OTA antennae for HDTV. That will go a long way to getting updated programming of choice.
I honestly don’t know why CNN and ESPN don’t put more of their stream online. I know one can get MSNBC online (right, but who really wants to) and others.
As for savings, for me for example, it would be more like 110$, what with D* charging x, plus y for DVR, plus receivers, etc. I could probably get myself up to speed with some HTPC or other homelan version of in LAN sharing of content, get rid of all those additional box fees, etc.
BTW, one of my slingboxes is ALWAYS streaming the formual 1 practice, qualifying and races – if you need a fix!
Personally, I use the TiVo premiere, but I also have a media center that I can tap into with the Xbox. SageTV is probably a better interface than media center, but you can’t compete with free. The way I’m fooling the content companies is by using an HDMI laptop to connect directly to the LCD> This gives me access to everything without having to worry about being blocked. It’s also convenient because it makes it easier to take my TV to go with me. If I had to choose between the laptop and the TiVo I’d probably go with the laptop because it offers more, but the combination of the two is a pretty good one two punch that keeps content inexpensive and seemingly endless.