Cutting the cable, looking for some advice.

[FlaChief58]

The Mrs and I have decided to take the leap and cut off cable TV and start streaming. Along with vudu, prime video, Pluto tv and a couple other free streaming apps, I want to get an outdoor HD antenna for local channels.

My main questions for anyone who has done this are, what should I look for in an HD antenna (brand, range etc.) and of Hulu, sling, which one would give me the most similar channels to cable.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Lzen]

Also, Firestick just recently added the Youtube TV app.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Lzen

I have Cox internet and the deal I got was 3 years for $45/month for 150 down and 10 up. It is capped at 1024 GBs/month but I cut the cord back in February and I haven't run over yet.

When I lived in KC or down here in Florida, I've never even been offered a cheaper version but capped. Any device gets the speed you pay for. Maybe there is a cap but I use a shit ton on bandwith with Skype calls and videos. Son's a big gamer with flashy graphics, wife uses a lot to. We use Disney+, Netflix and Prime to stream content too. Seems that if there was a cap, we would have hit it at some point?

Originally Posted by Lzen

We already had Amazon Prime and Netflix. And my son let me use his Hulu. I got Youtube TV because it has most of every channel that we wanted plus unlimited DVR. That unlimited DVR was the big thing for me. Try it out for free. Most of these services you can try for free for 7 or 14 days.

When I threatened to leave last year they gave me a DVR with 120 hours of storage and record 6 shows at the same time. When I was in KC I remember it as recording 2 shows and watching 1 and only 30 hours of storage. Unlimited storage sounds fantastic, Jealous.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

When I lived in KC or down here in Florida, I've never even been offered a cheaper version but capped. Any device gets the speed you pay for. Maybe there is a cap but I use a shit ton on bandwith with Skype calls and videos. Son's a big gamer with flashy graphics, wife uses a lot to. Seems that if there was a cap, we would have hit it at some point?
When I threatened to leave last year they gave me a DVR with 120 hours of storage and record 6 shows at the same time. When I was in KC I remember it as recording 2 shows and watching 1 and only 30 hours of storage. Unlimited storage sounds fantastic, Jealous.

Some people do need uncapped internet. I understand that. For me, it wasn't necessary. I just looked at my internet usage and we're at just under 600Gbs for the month with the billing cycle ending in 3 days. And that's with my daughter being home for Christmas break and gaming all day long. My advice to anyone would be to estimate how much you use and then choose from there. Heck, you could go with the lower-priced capped internet initially and then change it if you end up going over every month.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Lzen

In the 10 months that I have had Youtube TV, I have not had any problem watching a Chiefs or KU game. This doesn't include the KU games that are on ESPN+, of course.

That's great. I've got ESPN+ as well so those are covered. Just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be struggling to find the games to watch.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Some people do need uncapped internet. I understand that. For me, it wasn't necessary. I just looked at my internet usage and we're at just under 600Gbs for the month with the billing cycle ending in 3 days. And that's with my daughter being home for Christmas break and gaming all day long. My advice to anyone would be to estimate how much you use and then choose from there. Heck, you could go with the lower-priced capped internet initially and then change it if you end up going over every month.

I was curious to see what we were using in comparison to you. We're currently at 1,301GB for the month.

Thank God I pay for unlimited.

[kepp]

If you're planning on getting an OTA antenna, go to antennaweb.org, enter your zip, and it will tell you what channels you can get and even what type of antenna to get.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

Here's my situation - I'm hoping that someone can give me some direction.

The only live TV anyone in the house watches is sports - KU & Chiefs. With all the gaming & streaming we do, I have to pay for unlimited data with Cox. We have several of the Amazon Fire TV box, a Cube, and a Stick which is what we use to watch everything. There is no reason for us to have cable.

I've been reluctant to cut cable 100% because I don't want to have to worry about being able to watch my sports. I don't want to have to go to a bar to watch, or try to find a stream that will work efficiently, etc.

I haven't looked at Youtube TV until today, but it appears that it would have all the channels that would carry 90% of the games I want to watch. Has anyone with Youtube TV had issues being able to watch the games? Or are there cheaper alternatives that would work better for sports?

You might want to look at the FireTV Recast device. It's a FireTV device with an OTA DVR. You plug your OTA antenna into the box, and set your DVR to record your local OTA channels. Your other Fire devices in the house can then communicate with that DVR to play recorded stuff so you can share the DVR.

Regarding YoutubeTV, the only reason I got it was for local sports. And for that, it kicks ass. Unlimited DVR is very cool too. You can simply tell it to record all NCAAM/NFL/MLB/NBA/etc games, and watch the entire weekend of sports whenever you want.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Also, Firestick just recently added the Youtube TV app.

Only for 2nd gen devices and newer. But it's the best YoutubeTV interface by far.

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

with TWC/Spectrum I was at $230 for basically the same thing except for 75meg of bandwidth. FIOS came in and I switched. Got down to $175 with the switch and then after a year threatened to leave and got down to the $140.

Yeah, that's pretty good.

My provider is Grande Communications. My Internet was 200 megs and the TV service was fairly basic stuff (maybe 100 channels). At one point it was $120 or so after tax for the TV/Internet bundle. Pretty good price. But over time it just kept going up. My billing history on Grande website only goes back to December 2018, but this gives you idea of how it went:

Dec. 2018 - $190 (too much)
Jan. 2019 - $215 (ridiculous)
May 2019 - $245 (INSANE)

So now I'm paying $59 for 300 Meg Internet, plus $54 for YouTube TV. I'm back in the price range that I had many years ago with my Grande bundle around $120. I could understand $245 if I had all the movie channels, but I had NONE of them.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by sedated

I bought my antenna for (I think) around $30 and it works fine. As long as you are in or near a city, don't stress about it or spend too much.

If you want OTA in multiple rooms, I'd recommend AirTV, which broadcasts 1 antenna to multiple devices. Cost $100, no monthly cost.

(I also don't think there is such thing as an "HD" antenna, since that is how everything is broadcast. Just wanted to mention that in case it saves a couple bucks)

Do you have to mount an OTA antenna on the roof or are there internal ones that work well?

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Do you have to mount an OTA antenna on the roof or are there internal ones that work well?

I should have read the thread first.

Originally Posted by Shaid

Antennae advise - to get the most channels, etc.

Here's a decent one that you can put in an attic or outside. I did a lot of research and this is one of the better options. Personally I'd recommend attic mounting to protect it but I'm always a bit extra cautious. I have it mounted in my Attic and get I think 42 channels at this point.
https://amzn.to/2QgIMzR

Here's an amplifier that I used to help boost my signal. Helped me fix some static I had on a couple channels and gave me a couple more.
https://amzn.to/2QBcuhW

I use an HD Homerun quatro to broadcast the antennae signal wirelessly to every room in the house. I have firesticks so just installed the app on them and I get a guide with listings, etc. Supposedly your supposed to need to pay for the guide, but I never had to.
https://amzn.to/2MRsyuZ

Now, with that said, I'd probably prefer to use the firetv recast because the dvr and integration with the firesticks is pretty nice. That's extra money I haven't spent yet since the Quatro works fine but I think it would have nicer DVR features, etc. I heard that it only records in like 720p though so waiting for a new version to come out before I consider moving to it instead.
https://amzn.to/35ld5tg

I got the Quatro when it was on a deal, so $100. Firesticks you can find for $35 normally, $25 occasionally. Antennae and amplifier ran around $85-$90 combined when I got them. I have a bunch of extra cable and connections from when I finished the basement of my house so I didn't have any cost there.

I already had the firesticks in most places so really I spent close to $200 to get the antennae, etc. all up and running and broadcasting to the whole house. You can hook the antennae directly into your cable to spread it through the house but it can weaken the signal so that's up to you on how you want to mess with it. I prefer having the app with guide on all the tvs so it's a pretty decent setup that is totally free once you set it up.

Originally Posted by kepp

If you're planning on getting an OTA antenna, go to antennaweb.org, enter your zip, and it will tell you what channels you can get and even what type of antenna to get.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

I was curious to see what we were using in comparison to you. We're currently at 1,301GB for the month.

Thank God I pay for unlimited.

Teenagers, am I right?

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Fish

You might want to look at the FireTV Recast device. It's a FireTV device with an OTA DVR. You plug your OTA antenna into the box, and set your DVR to record your local OTA channels. Your other Fire devices in the house can then communicate with that DVR to play recorded stuff so you can share the DVR.

Regarding YoutubeTV, the only reason I got it was for local sports. And for that, it kicks ass. Unlimited DVR is very cool too. You can simply tell it to record all NCAAM/NFL/MLB/NBA/etc games, and watch the entire weekend of sports whenever you want.

Thanks Fish! I'll check it out.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Teenagers, am I right?

I only wish I could blame it all on them.

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by 58-4ever

I'm tired of Google Fiber... is Spectrum any better? Why do you hate it?

1. There is no more wall to tv basic cable, so add $8 per box + $13 for DVR service in my living room. I have 4 tv's.

2. I've had to replace 4 of the " new and improved" boxes and my DVR in the past 6 months.

3. Keeps freezing

4. Voice is not synced with the picture

5. They've raised my bill by $8 per month over the last 3 months for no apparent reason other than they know they can.

6. Customer service?

7. I watch a lot of the science/discovery/home improvement channels. They've split them up to where if I want them all, it'll cost me $60 more than it used to