How To Pull plug on paid/cable TV in 2021?

[knarfeng]

My cable TV provider announced another price hike. We think we're about done with cable TV. We think we just want to shut down the cable TV and keep the internet service, then find a cheaper way to feed a signal to the TV.
>We own our modem and router. They are in my work room upstairs. So, nothing needed there.
>I have an Ethernet cable running downstairs to a gigabit switch so that the cable from the modem can feed both a computer and the TV. (TV wants to phone home for software updates and it does not connect well to the WiFi, so that's why the Ethernet cable feed.)
>I have a Win 10 machine within HDMI cabling distance of the TV. I could switch the computer monitor to feed from the VGA port, then feed an HDMI cable from the computer to the TV.

But I suspect my age is showing. Is there something better and easier than to going to the computer to change the channel? What devices/services should I be investigating?

 

[BilboBaggins]

I'm using a number of roku sticks plugged into various tv's. Super easy and bypasses the built in tv UI. My house wireless is strong. Then we hop around from streaming service to streaming service for a month or more at a time depending on whatever we're watching and whether it's football season. Prime TV and Netflix are the constants. I've tried a bit of everything at times.

 

[knarfeng]

I'm using a number of roku sticks plugged into various tv's. Super easy and bypasses the built in tv UI. My house wireless is strong. Then we hop around from streaming service to streaming service for a month or more at a time depending on whatever we're watching and whether it's football season. Prime TV and Netflix are the constants. I've tried a bit of everything at times.

So... if I already have a Netflix account, do I pay Roku an additional charge?

 

[MolokaiRider]

I’m not gonna be much help but I can understand wanting to cut the cord.

I used to pay for cable and or/dish service. About seven years ago I got rid of them, and just use Prime and Netflix. I don’t really miss much, as I can get the news off the internet, and I don’t watch sports like I used to.

I use smart televisions that can connect to my WiFi, and also use an Xbox 360 for another, and an Xbox One for my main Television.

I am able to use my two service apps, along with YouTube, and a few other free apps. I can also search the web, but it’s kinda clunky.

So let’s see. Prime is about $12 a month, Netflix is about $13 per month, and my ISP is about $45 a month. I can’t watch any of the network stations. But I don’t miss them at all.

 

[JAB]

So... if I already have a Netflix account, do I pay Roku an additional charge?

Nope. Watching on a Roku is no different than any other device - just download the Netflix app if it isn’t already pre-installed and enter your id & password and you’ll be good to go.

 

[Redmeadow Knives]

So... if I already have a Netflix account, do I pay Roku an additional charge?

I'm not tech savvy and will be watching this thread right along with you but the answer to that question is No, other than purchasing the Roku box there isn't a monthly Roku fee.

My understanding is that newer smart TV's will connect directly to your WiFi and you sign in to your Netflix and other accounts via the TV.

We disconnected from Cable quite a few years ago and at first we just paused the service in case we wanted to resume without having to pay new startup fees. It was maybe four days later that we cancelled it for good because we realized immediately that the TV was on for background noise and we didn't miss it a bit.

 

[flylock]

I’m thinking about ditching the cable tv as well. I do like my local news but there just not much else I need on it

 

[Ace Rimmer]

I'm fortunate to live in an area with lots of over-the-air (OTA) stations, and for years we have supplemented that with a Roku box and a Chromecast. The Roku handles most any streaming service you want (Netflix, Hulu, Prime, PBS, etc.) and the Chromecast allows you to stream from your computer, tablet, phone, etc. For OTA we use a digital video recorder (DVR) from ChannelMaster, which allows us to schedule recordings and skip commercials during playback, and can also pause and rewind live TV because it caches to a hard drive. Don't think we have watched a TV show in real time in years! When our previous TV started to fail we replaced it with a smart TV that has all the streaming apps (including Chromecast) built in. Another service we recently discovered is Hoopla. One of the nearby libraries includes Hoopla access with our library cards, which gives access not only to ebooks and audio books, but we also can check out movies and TV shows (but limited to ten per month per card).

As far as local news and weather, a lot of stations have that on their websites, which you can stream from your computer to your TV with Chromecast.

When I was quite young I remember hearing about this new-fangled thing called "pay TV." I thought that was the dumbest thing I had ever heard of! Who would pay for TV when it came for free over the air? Turns out lots of people do, of course, but we've been fortunate to never have had to do that -- one of the many benefits of rural living! Several years ago they started talking about IPTV (Internet Protocol TV). At the time I thought, "That'll never work!". Wrong again. That's our major source now, despite fairly limited ADSL bandwidth (one of the disadvantages of rural living).

 

[Sergeua]

Computer connected to a TV already? What more do you need?
A small wireless keyboard with a trackpad.

 

[BilboBaggins]

You can subscribe to different services using your Roku account or you can subscribe directly to those services and access them through the roku device. Doesn't matter. Adding the payment of channels through Roku makes it convenient (for me) to add and drop services as we skip around to different streaming services/content providers. Fairly certain you can accomplish the same thing using a Fire Stick, Chromecast, or other device. I'm just fond of Roku's UI.

For example, I have HBO Max for this month, but will not have it next month. I will likely add another channel and them burn through it's content before dropping it again. The beauty of the current streaming environment is that almost nothing involves a long contract and you can turn stuff on and off to suit you. I had YouTube TV through the football season so that I could get the Red Zone. I've done the same in previous years with Sling. I don't care about the local channels, so I don't use an antenna.

 

[killgar]

I don't have answers for you Knarfeng, I'm not tech-savy.

I thought I'd share my experience "cutting the cord".

I had cable here in San Diego (Cox Cable) for decades, with every premium movie channel they had to offer, was spending close to $300 a month near the end before I cancelled it back in 2016 (part of my downsizing plan for early retirement).

I switched to a set of rabbit ear antenna from Best Buy for $13. After stringing some wire extensions around the room connected to the antenna, I get all locally available US channels (around 20) crystal clear (and a lot of channels from south of the border).

For movies, cable and internet shows, I take full advantage of the vast selection of DVD's offered by the public library system, both here in San Diego county, and all over the state of California.

A small example- In 2017 I started watching "Game of Thrones" on DVD from the library. I watched the entire series beginning to end and it didn't cost me a dime. I've seen all three seasons of "True Detective", and I'm on season 5 of "Better Call Saul" right now.

The library purchases new-release DVD movies. To give an example- two days after "The Joker" was released on DVD I checked it out from the library for free (got to keep it for a week, standard checkout time). Same with "John Wick 3". I just watched the new release "Unhinged" a few nights ago. I'm on the waiting list for "Tenet" (should be any day now).

They also have a vast collection of old movies. I've seen movies I haven't seen for decades, some very obscure, that I thought I'd never see again, but to my incredible surprise the library had them. They have old tv shows as well. I watched the entire "Crime Story" tv series on DVD, and a few seasons of the original "The Equalizer" series.

As for internet shows- I've seen the first 2 seasons of "Jack Ryan", the entire series "Orange is the New Black", the entire "Narcos" series, The first 2 seasons of "Stranger Things", and I watched the first, and halfway through the second season of "Cobra Kai" before I bailed (didn't like it). All FOR FREE.

Again, that's just a small example.

The public library system here in California is AWESOME. The San Diego county library system has an online database of all the DVD's they have. You can go online, search for the ones you want, reserve them online, have them delivered to any library in the county you wish, and when they're ready for pickup you get an email and a notice on your online library account page. AND IT'S ALL 100% FREE.

And then there's the California state online library database (all libraries in the state are connected). So if there is a DVD you want to see, and your county library system doesn't have it, you can do a statewide search, and if the DVD (or Bluray) exists at a library outside your county, you can make an online request, and when it's available the library that has it will mail it to the local library of your choice just like the county system. And again, it's all 100% FREE (well, our tax dollars do pay for it ).

For news, I listen to the radio. I have only contempt for television news. Fortunately I've found programs on the radio that feature what I consider to be intelligent and honest people to keep me informed about local, world and current events.

It's been over 4 years since I ditched cable, and I haven't regretted it for one second .

 

[RoyalHolic]

My cable TV provider announced another price hike. We think we're about done with cable TV. We think we just want to shut down the cable TV and keep the internet service, then find a cheaper way to feed a signal to the TV.
>We own our modem and router. They are in my work room upstairs. So, nothing needed there.
>I have an Ethernet cable running downstairs to a gigabit switch so that the cable from the modem can feed both a computer and the TV. (TV wants to phone home for software updates and it does not connect well to the WiFi, so that's why the Ethernet cable feed.)
>I have a Win 10 machine within HDMI cabling distance of the TV. I could switch the computer monitor to feed from the VGA port, then feed an HDMI cable from the computer to the TV.

But I suspect my age is showing. Is there something better and easier than to going to the computer to change the channel? What devices/services should I be investigating?

I run a plex server, look up how to run a plex server and you can download the app on most boxes "roku, fire stick, chromecast etc". You would run plex on your computer and set it up for your account on your box for your tv.

Youtube and the plex website have all the information you need! 1,000's+ of channels even local.

 

[ferider]

(TV wants to phone home for software updates and it does not connect well to the WiFi, so that's why the Ethernet cable feed.)

Sounds like you use Dish ? We had dish and satellite internet. Dish is cr*p, for several reasons. 4 months ago, we switched to xfinity internet and cable tv, saved quite a bit of money, and are happy, its reliable, better gui, well connected to multiple movie providers, can be used on the road, etc. Just saying.

 

[Stelth]

I have a Vizio smart TV. I watch a lot of free content via Wi-Fi. I like Tubi, Pluto, and Crackle. Tubi is on-demand and totally free. You can even watch on your phone. Pluto is also free and has some on-demand but mostly streaming. They all have commercials but it is free.

 

[knarfeng]

Sounds like you use Dish ? We had dish and satellite internet. Dish is cr*p, for several reasons. 4 months ago, we switched to xfinity internet and cable tv, saved quite a bit of money, and are happy, its reliable, better gui, well connected to multiple movie providers, can be used on the road, etc. Just saying.

No, we run through cable. Reliable, but pricey.

I run a plex server, look up how to run a plex server and you can download the app on most boxes "roku, fire stick, chromecast etc". You would run plex on your computer and set it up for your account on your box for your tv.

Youtube and the plex website have all the information you need! 1,000's+ of channels even local.

Thanks. Interesting stuff, but I think it's more than what we're looking for. We seldom watch videos on anything other than the TV and don't have a lot of video content that we want to access on other devices.

...I had cable here in San Diego (Cox Cable) for decades, with every premium movie channel they had to offer, was spending close to $300 a month near the end before I cancelled it back in 2016 (part of my downsizing plan for early retirement).

...It's been over 4 years since I ditched cable, and I haven't regretted it for one second .

Thanks. I have friends who have done similar and are happy with their choice. Probably not going to go that far at this point, though.

 

[RoyalHolic]

Thanks. Interesting stuff, but I think it's more than what we're looking for. We seldom watch videos on anything other than the TV and don't have a lot of video content that we want to access on other devices.

The plex server would be from your laptop/pc all you do is download plex and then download the app on the device you use for netflix.

But yeah it requires a lot of plugins and what not, it's not something you can do in 5 minutes.

 

[RayseM]

Has been about 8 years now that we took that leap. I put up a good roof antenna, bought a Samsung "smart" TV and signed up for streaming Netflix. All we need. The local channels are only for watching news and weather. Entertainment is off NF. There are times when I would like to have more than the Netflix library available but I don't want to pay another monthly fee. We had A Prime for a brief time but that is another expense and service we don't need.

The "smart" in quotation marks is because our 8 year old model - when new and worse now - has a ponderous interface for surfing to watch an occasional Youtube or Hulu. Tried it a few times but gave up. Netflix is cheap enough and utterly reliable and a simple one click choice with the remote.

The roof antenna can bring in up to 26 channels though most stations have 2 or 3 channels that they broadcast so the 26 is kind of an illusion. Still we get the 4 or 5 locals that we used to pay extra for on DISH and that was good enough. Antenna was about $ 112.00 all set up with me doing all the climbing and associated work.

We are a household of 2 adults with similar tastes so our situation may not work for you. We both have computers for watching the YouTube or other streaming services if desired. A high speed internet is important for any content streaming. You can't get off for free.

 

[GB940Rookie]

Been without cable for at least 15 years. Have an outdoor antenna which supplies our weather and some sports. I don’t do main stream media. We run Netflix for entertainment and YouTube for alternative news on our smart TV through WiFi. I like listening to ballgames on the radio too.
I stay pretty busy, love the outdoors, so I don’t watch much tv anyway.

 

[Bigfattyt]

I've had cable, and satelite. Now we just have a handful of streaming services. Amazon, Disney plus, Hulu, Netflix. Still, less than half what we were paying for satelite.

 

[DangerZone98]

Not TV savvy as well (digital or analog lol). If you think you can do without cable though, I think it’s a good idea. Our family walked away from cable years ago. There are plenty of streaming services nowadays that lets you watch the shows you actually want when you want. My biggest gripe with cable is that there’s a lot of channels that you don’t really need anyway, and the stuff you actually watch aren’t always in convenient time slots. It’s like 80% channel flipping, 10% looking for the remote, and 10% actually watching something.

IMHO, streaming services have better cost-benefit ratio and you can usually cancel the subscription any time.