Jump to content
IGNORED

Cutting the Cord…


turtleback

Recommended Posts

When I retired a few months ago we moved, so we bought one of those Blu-Ray players that lets you access a variety of online streaming services, including Amazon Streaming.  And since we already have Amazon Prime, there is a lot of the Amazon streaming we get for "free".

And now I can see how people can talk of cutting the cord  Like a lot of others about the only holding me is live sports, NFL, BPL, and golf.  Other than that my wife and I prefer watching stuff we pick out.  So far we've had no need to venture beyond Amazon for video and Pandora for music.

Anyone out there cut the cord?  Anyone solved the live sports problem?

But then again, what the hell do I know?

Rich - in name only

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Administrator

Paging @nevets88 .

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

We just went with a satellite service provider, wireless internet,  and a ROKU device. The whole thing cost us about $80 a month. My wife wants the local news in the evenings, and I like to watch some MLB, and NFL every so often, so that why we have the sat dish. The ROKU device is my favorite because I can watch movies, and some of the old stuff. I am not much a fan of most of today's TV programming.

I also have a 200 mile, over the air TV antennae, and a converter which can receive up to 50+/- free channels depending where we are located at the time.

The best part of all these contraptions is I don't have to pay for electricity. I make my own using the sun. :dance:

In My Bag:
A whole bunch of Tour Edge golf stuff...... :beer:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

We just went with a satellite service provider, wireless internet,  and a ROKU device. The whole thing cost us about $80 a month. My wife wants the local news in the evenings, and I like to watch some MLB, and NFL every so often, so that why we have the sat dish. The ROKU device is my favorite because I can watch movies, and some of the old stuff. I am not much a fan of most of today's TV programming.

I also have a 200 mile, over the air TV antennae, and a converter which can receive up to 50+/- free channels depending where we are located at the time.

The best part of all these contraptions is I don't have to pay for electricity. I make my own using the sun.

Your internet is satellite or just a wireless p2p? I'm not sure I'd ever be able to go with either option due to the limited bandwidth and restrictions on usage I've read for every company I've seen that offers it. The local company here that does wireless internet has a maximum bandwidth of around 2.5 mbs... I will admit my area isn't exactly the highest of tech when it comes to internet technologies, we don't even have fiber to home service yet.

KICK THE FLIP!!

In the bag:
:srixon: Z355

:callaway: XR16 3 Wood
:tmade: Aeroburner 19* 3 hybrid
:ping: I e1 irons 4-PW
:vokey: SM5 50, 60
:wilsonstaff: Harmonized Sole Grind 56 and Windy City Putter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
When I retired a few months ago we moved, so we bought one of those Blu-Ray players that lets you access a variety of online streaming services, including Amazon Streaming.  And since we already have Amazon Prime, there is a lot of the Amazon streaming we get for "free".

And now I can see how people can talk of cutting the cord  Like a lot of others about the only holding me is live sports, NFL, BPL, and golf.  Other than that my wife and I prefer watching stuff we pick out.  So far we've had no need to venture beyond Amazon for video and Pandora for music.

Anyone out there cut the cord?  Anyone solved the live sports problem?

Paging @nevets88.

Ha ha. The sports problem. In a nutshell, not solved , but @dsc123 can help you out with the NFL. BPL, that's NBC Sports Live Extra, but you need a cable subscription to stream it. Golf, you need Golf Channel and ESPN and Fox subscriptions to stream as well. No go.

Now there are illegal streams for BPL and golf, but the picture quality can suck, or it can be decent, probably 360 to 480p, maybe 720p but who knows what malware you're dragging into your machine. I use a PC, a Mac Mini, to stream. It might be harder or not possible at all to find these streams on a Roku.

Now I'm a cordcutter and I get BPL and golf. How? My parents have cable, so I use their login to get access. Maybe you have a family member or close friend and you can offer him/her something in return for using his/her account. The picture quality is not bad, 480p ish or better, but if you have a big screen, gonna be a little lacking. I'll use OTA transmissions when I can on the weekend to get a sharper picture. Also, sometimes the stream might just stop or there might be technical problems and you get pixellation. What if you can't get access to an account? You have to keep using cable, thus, the not solved .

That's pretty much it, tl;dr if you want no technical issues sharp picture sports, stay with cable. If you can piggyback a cable account, are willing to deal with issues and the occasional blackout, attach a PC to the big tv, then it's doable.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

NFL:  If you're in your local team's market a $35 antenna will get you all the networks.  That gets you almost all the NFL you'd get with cable.  The only thing missing is the NFL network and ESPN.  If you're in a remote location you might need to get something bigger, but antennas are cheap.    If you're out of market your pretty much SOL even if you have cable.  I found a pretty simple way to purchase the online equivalent of Sunday Ticket, but it does require a minor and simple work-around that is likely not legal.  PM me if you want more information.

Using someone else's cable log in gives me, HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX, ESPN and others.  I pay for netflix ($8/mo) and hulu plus ($8) and I otherwise have amazon prime anyway.

For anything that doesn't work through your DVD player you just need to get a chromecast for $35.  Then you can stream anything from a computer/tablet/phone.  For example, FX and AMC don't have roku apps and you probably can't get it on your dvd player.  But I just go to their website on my phone and stream that to my TV.  Its actually easier than navigating most cable company menus.

I cut the cord in August.  My wife was a hard sell.  Last week we decided that after 3 months, we really didn't miss much and were very satisfied with the decision.  If I didn't have someone else's cable log in, I would definitely miss cable.  Not sure if I'd miss it enough to go back, though.

Dan

:tmade: R11s 10.5*, Adila RIP Phenom 60g Stiff
:ping: G20 3W
:callaway: Diablo 3H
:ping:
i20 4-U, KBS Tour Stiff
:vokey: Vokey SM4 54.14 
:vokey: Vokey :) 58.11

:scotty_cameron: Newport 2
:sunmountain: Four 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I cut the cord and went with an antenna and Roku about 18 months ago.  I do occasionally miss watching live sports, but much less than I thought I would.  Honestly, I realized how much time I was wasting watching sporting events that I had no control over.  I have spent the time saved reading, golfing, exercising, and sleeping more.  My quality of life has improved greatly since I dropped cable.  I still watch NFL games via antenna, and I'll go to my parents' house or a bar to catch a big playoff game now and then.  Otherwise I am content with my choice and will never go back.  Why spend precious time on this earth watching others do great things when I can go out and do my own.

- Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patch

We just went with a satellite service provider, wireless internet,  and a ROKU device. The whole thing cost us about $80 a month. My wife wants the local news in the evenings, and I like to watch some MLB, and NFL every so often, so that why we have the sat dish. The ROKU device is my favorite because I can watch movies, and some of the old stuff. I am not much a fan of most of today's TV programming.

I also have a 200 mile, over the air TV antennae, and a converter which can receive up to 50+/- free channels depending where we are located at the time.

The best part of all these contraptions is I don't have to pay for electricity. I make my own using the sun.

Your internet is satellite or just a wireless p2p? I'm not sure I'd ever be able to go with either option due to the limited bandwidth and restrictions on usage I've read for every company I've seen that offers it. The local company here that does wireless internet has a maximum bandwidth of around 2.5 mbs... I will admit my area isn't exactly the highest of tech when it comes to internet technologies, we don't even have fiber to home service yet.

Our internet is separate from our satellite. I don't know what p2p is. Sat cost us $39 a month, and our internet, (DSL) which is provided by the phone company is $35 a month. ROKU works off our internet, and we pay $16 a month for Netflix, and Hulu Plus. We are out in the sticks so to speak, and our long distance phone service is by Magic Jack @ $2.25 a month.

In My Bag:
A whole bunch of Tour Edge golf stuff...... :beer:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Our internet is separate from our satellite. I don't know what p2p is. Sat cost us $39 a month, and our internet, (DSL) which is provided by the phone company is $35 a month. ROKU works off our internet, and we pay $16 a month for Netflix, and Hulu Plus. We are out in the sticks so to speak, and our long distance phone service is by Magic Jack @ $2.25 a month.

p2p is "point to point" but that doesn't matter because what you have is a wired internet connection into a wireless router. While I'm not a huge fan of DSL it's far superior to the two other things I mentioned. I've been away from cable/satellite programming for several years and don't miss it. If anything I wait one day to watch new episodes I like via streaming options.

KICK THE FLIP!!

In the bag:
:srixon: Z355

:callaway: XR16 3 Wood
:tmade: Aeroburner 19* 3 hybrid
:ping: I e1 irons 4-PW
:vokey: SM5 50, 60
:wilsonstaff: Harmonized Sole Grind 56 and Windy City Putter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I just have an antenna for over the air channels. I've been using my Xbox 360 more often. I've heard good stuff about plex as a way to stream from computer to the TV. More sports channels might jump to streaming more on the internet. HBO is doing their own non TV subscriber internet streaming next year. So the dominos might fall on that. Still, i don't miss TV at all.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I haven't totally cut the cord, but I do love my Roku. Get good internet service from Comcast, and have cut back to only the basic channels over cable. Netflix works great, and I get the MLB package every year, which has a Roku channel as well (and not a fan of the local team, so local game blackouts don't usulally matter to me). I get both of those in good quality high definition. Occaisionally there's an issue where I have to reboot my router, the roku device, or the cable modem, which takes a couple of minutes. Other than that, if cable works, so does the internet.  The NBA seems to have similar options to MLB, but I wasn't enough a fan to pay for it.

I'll miss Golf channel and TCM a bit. Not much else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Moderator

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Moderator
I got the above Fire TV stick and gave it the full run during the Thanksgiving holiday. It's fast, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon video, Showtime, WatchEspn, YT all work well. Not bad for $20. The Roku stick has more options though.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I got the above Fire TV stick and gave it the full run during the Thanksgiving holiday.

It's fast, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon video, Showtime, WatchEspn, YT all work well. Not bad for $20. The Roku stick has more options though.

What is the advantage (if any?) of things like the Roku and the Fire Stick over a Blu-Ray player like the Sony that have the built-in streaming capablity?

But then again, what the hell do I know?

Rich - in name only

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Quote:

Originally Posted by nevets88

I got the above Fire TV stick and gave it the full run during the Thanksgiving holiday.

It's fast, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon video, Showtime, WatchEspn, YT all work well. Not bad for $20. The Roku stick has more options though.

What is the advantage (if any?) of things like the Roku and the Fire Stick over a Blu-Ray player like the Sony that have the built-in streaming capablity?

Portability and imho, the interface is better and probably faster, less laggier. If you need it away from home or want to put it on a tv in another room, real simple. I'm guessing you probably can't download a remote app to your Android/iOS phone to use on your BR player.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I purchased the GoogleCast a while back and use it to cast Google sites to the TV.

I use Windows, so not sure if Mac's OS works.

For watching live sports I've searched for live streams and found it difficult to actually get a stream.

Fumbled through mostly Adware and Malware redirects from many of the sites.

Others require joining a site and pay a fee of various sorts.

Recently I stumbled upon a site which does provide live streams without all the BS.

I also learned it is best to install "adblocker software" and I also installed "adfender"

These software apps will slow down a page load slightly but not terribly.

For sport streams - multimlg.tv has most all sports both US and international.

For movies - veehd

If you fumble through these like I did, you may acquire malware and/or other nasty's.

Keep your OS clean. I regularly run online scans, malware scans and anti-virus scans.

Once I have the stream on the PC, I simply cast it to the TV.

Sometimes I DL a movie and share it to the TV using DNLA sharing.

Club Rat

Johnny Rocket - Let's Rock and Roll and play some golf !!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

What is the advantage (if any?) of things like the Roku and the Fire Stick over a Blu-Ray player like the Sony that have the built-in streaming capablity?

I have a roku tv, a chromecast, a vizio with built in apps, and a dvd player with various apps.

The TV with apps is by far the worst.  The connectivity isn't very good, even though my other devices get great reception, and the navigation is painfully slow.  I have a chromecast on that TV and if I want to watch netflix I will use that over the vizio netflix.

The dvd player is the next to worst.  Its really fine, but the menus are slow and the interface isn't the best.

The chromecast and roku tv are pretty close.  They are both fast and don't lag, but the roku is probably a tad faster.  The chromecast can access more content, but the roku is more seemless.

I suppose portability can be an advantage, but that's not something I take advantage of.

Dan

:tmade: R11s 10.5*, Adila RIP Phenom 60g Stiff
:ping: G20 3W
:callaway: Diablo 3H
:ping:
i20 4-U, KBS Tour Stiff
:vokey: Vokey SM4 54.14 
:vokey: Vokey :) 58.11

:scotty_cameron: Newport 2
:sunmountain: Four 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I went to do this last year. I bought a Roku and ordered Amazon Prime. I'm not real crazy about the selection available. I bought a TiVo to record live TV and didn't think too much of it and cancelled the $15 per month service. They hit me with a cancellation fee to boot. I definitely wouldn't recommend them to anyone. When I went to cancel my UVerse, they cut my monthly rate to $50 for a year and added Showtime/Starz. That postponed my mission for a while, but starting to think about it again since the deal will be up in Feb. I know I could get them to extend it. Not sure what I'm gonna do.

- Shane

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.

The popup will be closed in 10 seconds...