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Old     (baitkiller)      Join Date: Jan 2010       04-29-2013, 1:47 PM Reply   
I dont understand this.
We have an X box, a new one with 200 something gig HD and wireless.
i have home wifi and broadband via Comcast.

I dont even know how to turn the thing on. My kids play it.
The wife says i can cancel the cable TV and use the Xbox for all viewing, including news and sports.
When i research it all I find is basically adverts for either side.

Football? Fox and CNN? what about networks?

Can somebody please give the skinny? Cliff notes for old game challnged techno deprived working dude?

Thanks.
Old     (steezyshots)      Join Date: Feb 2008       04-29-2013, 2:04 PM Reply   
Get the apple TV box and with that and xbox you can pretty much watch whatever you want at anytime without cable.

If your kids are on it all the time they can explain to you how it works.
Old     (phatboypimp)      Join Date: Apr 2005       04-30-2013, 12:09 PM Reply   
We are getting there but there really is no substitute for sports.

Netflix and Amazon and the others are ok with current television content. Some channels will let you watch on a browser - which is just a pain honestly to watch on your tv but it is doable.

But the reality is that if you watch sports you are screwed. Here is an article that lays it out for you.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-t...t-cable-2013-3

The studios still control when movies/shows are released to online viewing channels. It really depends on what you watch and when you want to watch it. I suspect we are 5+ years away from being able to cut the cable/dish subscriptions.

Studio's need the carrier revenue (subscription and advertising) and are doing everything they can to stop online distribution of current/valuable content. It is changing but ever so slowly.
Old     (kamighazi)      Join Date: Nov 2008       04-30-2013, 1:11 PM Reply   
Not as [wife] advertised. We cut the cord over a year ago. Sports is tricky. ESPN you have to have a subscription to a major carrier to access online stuff.

Getting off the major carrier [teet] is a fledgling movement. You have to understand that it will not be the same, ways of getting content can be hokey at times, and you simply wont get some content. But that being said, all the goofy cable show you [ your house hold] watch will be replace with either other goofy shows or time actually worth while.

I paid about $100 - $110 in cable costs, now its $15 = $8/mo to HULU + $75/yr to Amazon prime (which has other great benifits). Netflix online sucks, waste of money. As well you have to have high enough bandwidth to stream HD video. Blueray is out of the question.

All that being said, we really dont feel it and still happy with the decision so far. Of course we have a 7 month old, so TV time is at an all time low.
Old     (kamighazi)      Join Date: Nov 2008       04-30-2013, 1:25 PM Reply   
Oh, and you probably wont use XBOX as much as plain old antenna. Digital Antenna signal is actually very good. i think our picture got better after switch from cable to antenna.
Old     (magic)      Join Date: Mar 2002       04-30-2013, 2:23 PM Reply   
We are starting to look into doing the same.
I hate TV (in general)
I hate what my wife watches (CSI, Biggest Looser, anything with supernatural stuff in it, Fox News... meh meh meh).
Our kiddo is quite happy with internet content sources (YouTube and Netflix for the most part)
I don't watch mainstream sports (no pro or college baseball, football, hokey, basketball..) in the house, I do watch some sports like MLS and pro cycling but I can get internet sources for these.

We have DirectTV and I'm totally happy with the product (picture and sound quality), I just don't care for most of the content. Hulu+ and Netflix along with other sources like HBO To Go are not there yet as a replacement for traditional cable/satellite service. If you want mainstream sports, you will not be that happy without DirectTV or cable. There is emerging original content starting to come from more and more sources, it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the next few years.

As mentioned the content owners control the delivery channels, so till they open up the ecosystem is pretty closed. It gets worse outside of the US too as every country will have different distribution.

I'd like to use an HD antenna but all of the maps and planning stuff I have looked at say where we live we are out of luck for local broadcast HD. I might still try and see what happens, but I'd be quite happy traditional TV free at home.
Old     (sidekicknicholas)      Join Date: Mar 2007       05-01-2013, 7:45 AM Reply   
What I currently have for a setup for our new place -

Slingbox HD @ my mom's house - With this I can access 100% of her directTV service and give her $10/mo. for the extra cable box she added dedicated to my slingbox. If you have family/friend with directTV I highly suggest going this route. Kick them a few bucks, hook it up to their system and then you get a stupid amount of entertainment for next to nothing. Picture quality is very good and android/iOS apps are nice too.

PS3 / Wii / etc - all running netflix

HTPC - tied into the receiver so I can google search, stream, download anything I want

Raspberry Pi - running XBMC to access HTPC library in bedroom

.... These all together cost me like $20/mo. and I can watch everything under the sun.
Old     (jason_ssr)      Join Date: Apr 2001       05-02-2013, 6:47 AM Reply   
Digital antenna is better than cable HD. Use this for locals, which gets you news and most sports.

Get a media player like GoogleTV, AppleTV, or Roku, etc, and torrent the rest of the stuff to a PC in the house set up as a media server (basically a share). Operates similar to a DVR where you arent watching the live broadcast. Youre watching after the fact. Google TV is the most flexible with most features, while Apple TV is the most easy to use but limited in file type and everything has to be washed through itunes.

Web-stream the rest of the obscure live stuff (if you MUST watch the cricket championship at 3am) with a web browser. Google TV does this natively, but you could add an HTPC for this.
Old     (jhartt3)      Join Date: Jan 2012       05-02-2013, 10:20 AM Reply   
I just did this in the fall
If you are somewhat computer savvy you can turn your desktop into a DVR to record OTA shows. Not too difficult here is a link to build your own HTPC if you dont have one.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/General...t-1-Assessment

I use that in combination with a PS3 and 2 roku devices. I also like baseball so i just bought MLB.TV premium. I live in network but that is easily surpassed with a VPN for 30 bucks a year. So i can catch all the royals games and my wife can catch all her cards games. so for 15 a month hulu/netflix. +160 for MLB.TV and the VPN i save myself the 110+ i used to spend on cable.

AppleTV is a joke and overpriced... the only value it brings is if everything you own is apple and you want an easy way to throw things from your devices to the TV. Most of the other set top boxes are much better.
Old     (sidekicknicholas)      Join Date: Mar 2007       05-03-2013, 8:09 AM Reply   
Quote:
AppleTV is a joke and overpriced...
Agreed, but you can jailbreak them and run XBMC, which is the only way I could ever see using one.
Old     (kamighazi)      Join Date: Nov 2008       05-03-2013, 8:45 AM Reply   
See what i mean about fledgling and hokey?

The funny thing is i would pay a premium to a la carte channels that i want, as long as there is a reasonable discount @ EOD. I dig it though, no excuse to be a couch potato.
Old    alanp            05-05-2013, 9:27 AM Reply   
great thread. just had this conversation with the wife a couple of weeks ago. im sick of paying 100 bux a month for sat tv when everything we watch can be seen on hulu and amazon. i like the idea of roku to direct tv box.
Old     (King12)      Join Date: Jul 2012       05-08-2013, 9:41 PM Reply   
Im a college student and I dont have cable at home for the summer, just an xbox and an apple tv, it works okay, if the shows you watch are on netflix and you dont have to have the newest releases its fine. No commercials is awesome.

Problems
Apple TV remote (you can literally loose it while looking at it, its small, and i loose it every 5 minutes, so annoying) in fact i lost it just now- but i love my apple tv
NETFLIX WILL MAKE YOU SIT ON YOUR ASS AND WASTE DAYS ON END-really, the next episode is right there, you might as well watch it, dont you want to know what happens?
SPORTS- the biggest dealbreaker for me. I want to watch the NBA finals, so I end up streaming TNT overtime to my apple tv, and while it gets the job done, streaming sports online is always a bit glitchy and when you miss that 3 at the buzzer youre going to be so pissed that youre streaming it online, also tntovertime has the stupidest camera angles
and college sports are even harder

so, why dont you get the super duper cheapo cable package, I think we quoted a 22 channel one at like 7 bucks, **** thats less than netflix
Old     (waese)      Join Date: Feb 2014       02-25-2014, 7:28 PM Reply   
Generally speaking, I use Xbox to play online games, like WoW and Diablo 3. so I don't know it has the other functions. sorry.
Old     (brichter14)      Join Date: Jul 2010       02-25-2014, 7:46 PM Reply   
U cant play WoW on xbox. Duh.

Oh and your comment wasnt useful to the conversation
Old     (diamonddad)      Join Date: Mar 2010       03-22-2015, 8:08 AM Reply   
Free digital HD TV over the air is pretty good for the local channels if it is available in your area. HDTV antennas are simple and cheap too. This plus internet and a smart TV or a smart dongle (Chromcast, Firestick, AppleTV, Roku) will give you access to a lot of content. The only thing missing for me is NFL network, Discovery Channel, History Channel and Food Network but it's hard to justify $100/mo for cable for those.

Last edited by diamonddad; 03-22-2015 at 8:09 AM. Reason: .

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