Internet TV options

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Greetings,

I am ready to drop Comcast, and try internet TV,
I am going to keep their internet service for about $50 a month.

What we watch:
1. Kids watch Disney/kids shows, movies
2. me science/diy channel/out door channels.
3. won't mind some French/german channels too

Are there any viable options in lieu of camcast/direct tv?
 
I don't know anything about internet TV. I know with Netflix, you can't watch it all. Has a lot of Disney, kids, nature/science stuff.
 
Best thing I ever did was drop Comcast 8 years ago. I watch aerial channels (20 of them here locally) as well as have internet and Netflix and Amazon Prime. I pay the $8.95 for Netflix and my friend also watches it using my account, she pays for Amazon and I watch free on her account. I've saved $4000 cutting Comcast loose, use that money for taking interesting and educational car trips.
 
We cut the cord, or dish, over a year and a half ago. The services we subscribe to are:
Amazon Prime
Netflix
Hulu
Sling TV.

Of those, Sling TV is the most like having cable or having a dish. It's also the most expensive.

You'll need a media hub unless you have a smart TV that offers all those apps. We use the Fire TV, Fire TV stick and our PS3. Great thing about the Fire Stick is you can take it on vacation with you. As long as you have access to high speed wifi, you can use the stick.

I also installed a HDTV antenna on our dish mast. I have an in line booster in the basement just before my 4-way splitter. We live 27 miles from the city in a rural area and our picture is top-notch.
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Greetings,

I am ready to drop Comcast, and try internet TV,
I am going to keep their internet service for about $50 a month.

How many hours of TV do watch per day?

The reason I ask is that if you stream a lot of video in HD quality, you can easily hit your monthly bandwidth cap. I think Comcast currently has a 300GB/month cap on their lower tiers, although it's not actively enforced in many markets yet.
 
I don't think there a good option. I was thinking like you a while ago. Good luck if you find something.

Comcast isn't stupid.
 
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Even though the 2 TV sets have "Smart TV" options have a Roku3 which gives a lot more options.

Between the Roku and over the air TV plenty of selections. Pay a total of $7.99 a month for Hulu +.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Greetings,

I am ready to drop Comcast, and try internet TV,
I am going to keep their internet service for about $50 a month.

How many hours of TV do watch per day?

The reason I ask is that if you stream a lot of video in HD quality, you can easily hit your monthly bandwidth cap. I think Comcast currently has a 300GB/month cap on their lower tiers, although it's not actively enforced in many markets yet.



If you have any halfway decent router you can throttle your TV device; it will get by with less. I've got netflix at 2 MBits/sec. Still better than fuzzy analog TV over rabbit ears which I also found economically acceptable.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Greetings,

I am ready to drop Comcast, and try internet TV,
I am going to keep their internet service for about $50 a month.

How many hours of TV do watch per day?

The reason I ask is that if you stream a lot of video in HD quality, you can easily hit your monthly bandwidth cap. I think Comcast currently has a 300GB/month cap on their lower tiers, although it's not actively enforced in many markets yet.


yikes, Comcast has a data cap? on cable internet? what the flip,
I did not know that.

I watch probably 1 hour at supper time at most but the girls, well even if they don't watch they leave it on a lot.
 
HD Antenna in the attic
Netflix
Amazon Prime
Roku's on 2 tv's
Tivo HD with lifetime subscription and huge hard drive

Dumped Comcast years ago and only kept their internet...can usually work a deal for $20-$30 a month

Always something to watch....
 
Antenna on roof, Roku box with Netflix and about 12 other channels on the favorites/home page.
Timewarner $20 a month internet. I have never noticed any limitations.
Channel total about 40. I have a smart tv but the Roku is far better.
 
Buy an Amazon Fire Stick. It's on sale right now at BestBuy and Amazon for $35. There's a reason there is 60k reviews at Amazon on it because it is very good.

I had a Roku 1, and the Fire Stick is way faster to load every thing. It just plugs into a HMDI port, so if you plug it in the back you will never see it. You can sit on the toilet, and use your remote if you wanted.

I had a Samsung smart TV that I just returned that had the latest Tizen operating system. The Fire Stick blows it away.

I like and use Netflix, but I am very seriously considering Amazon Prime now not to replace Netflix, but to add to what is available to me. I also watch over the air channels a lot too.
 
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Originally Posted By: Al
I don't think there a good option. I was thinking like you a while ago. Good luck if you find something.

Comcast isn't stupid.


I got rid of cable over two years ago and I watch more TV than I ever have (I'm not proud of that, its just better). I share accounts with friends so it further cuts down on costs. If you have a friend with a cable subscription and they're willing to share you can get free HBO, Showtime, History, FX, A&E, Lifetime, etc...... Hipster cable.
 
Originally Posted By: BigD1
Buy an Amazon Fire Stick. It's on sale right now at BestBuy and Amazon for $35. There's a reason there is 60k reviews at Amazon on it because it is very good.

Lots of reviews for an Amazon product on Amazon's website? Shocking.
smile.gif



Quote:
I had a Roku 1, and the Fire Stick is way faster to load every thing.

Roku supports more apps/streaming services and doesn't have the pushy Amazon-centric interface that Fire Stick does. Spend a little more and get the new Roku 2 (4210R) instead of the stick - you'll get much snappier performance thanks to better hardware, and it's still very tiny.

http://www.cnet.com/news/chromecast-vs-apple-tv-vs-roku-3-which-media-streamer-should-you-buy/
 
We called Time Warner to cut the cable but they offered a year of free cable as a teaser. That ends next month, so I have the hi-def antenna ready to go. We have Amazon Prime (mainly for free shipping), Netflix, and Roku. I listen to my favorite college team on the radio just like I did many years ago. I still like my flip phone too. The best thing about Roku is no commercials. Our Saturday night splurge may be a $4 dollar movie on Amazon. Sometimes going retro really is better.
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Greetings,

I am ready to drop Comcast, and try internet TV,
I am going to keep their internet service for about $50 a month.

How many hours of TV do watch per day?

The reason I ask is that if you stream a lot of video in HD quality, you can easily hit your monthly bandwidth cap. I think Comcast currently has a 300GB/month cap on their lower tiers, although it's not actively enforced in many markets yet.


yikes, Comcast has a data cap? on cable internet? what the flip,
I did not know that.

I watch probably 1 hour at supper time at most but the girls, well even if they don't watch they leave it on a lot.


Comcast has suspended their data cap. It's been that way for at least the past three years I have been with them.

Don't worry too much about data usage. While we are not huge consumers of television, I'd even say we're less than average, we do have two kids and that means lots of streamed Disney Jr. and Netflix in the background. Everything my wife and I watch is on HBO Go, Netflix, or streamed from iTunes.

We have yet to break 100 GB in a month.
 
I have an Apple TV, and my TV is a smart TV so I can get to my Amazon Prime account with its apps.

I subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, and Crunchyroll and I never have a shortage of things to watch.

Youtube also has a number of great things to suck up the time.

I cut cable years ago and don't miss it.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Lots of reviews for an Amazon product on Amazon's website? Shocking.
smile.gif



Best Buy's website has lots and lots of reviews of the Fire Stick too.

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Roku supports more apps/streaming services and doesn't have the pushy Amazon-centric interface that Fire Stick does. Spend a little more and get the new Roku 2 (4210R) instead of the stick - you'll get much snappier performance thanks to better hardware, and it's still very tiny.


Fire Stick has a dual core processor as does the Roku 2. Fire Stick dual core Cortex A9 @1 GHz, and Roku 2 dual core Cortex A9 @900. Your snappier performance due to hardware does not hold water here. The Fire Stick has more memory too. It's just extra money a person does not need to spend unless one needs a specific function like wired ethernet that a Fire Stick does not have.
 
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