[racer_x]

I got rid of cable in 1997. Nineteen years is a lot of Pontiac money.

[Bob Dillon]

I got an Amazon Fire stick for Christmas and haven't watched much cable since. Been thinking about cutting the cord from DirecTV.

All you need is broadband. As I have both Amazon Prime and Netflix as well, the Firestick has apps for them. I can now watch YouTube on my 46" TV, which is endlessly entertaining.

[dataway]

Dropped my cable TV ... was paying about $130 a month for TV and internet .... no HBO, none of that stuff. So I dropped the TV and kept the high speed internet. Now we stream using our Samsung Smart TV about 50% of what we watch ... the kicker is ... if you still have the TW internet ... they cannot filter out the basic cable ... so we still get that for free, just plug it into the TV, no box required.

[b-man]

Apple TV here.

Anything we can find on the 'net we can pull off either an Ipad or Iphone and watch it for free.

Mostly movies for a little after work quality time with the wife, other than that I really couldn't care less about watching TV.

[Go-Tee-O]

Ditched DirecTV, got a Mohu Leaf antenna, got all the networks at my last place....only get NBC and CW at the new house (hilly area). With Netflix and Amazon Prime on my Roku 3, really don't miss it.

[brut4s]

I have direct TV and a Amazon fire stick. Very close to dumping the satellite and just use the fire stick. I added kodi to the fire stick now I can stream TV, movies some movies are new releases.

[The Boss]

What are you guys using for your antennas and for your tuners? Our main TV is a 10 y.o. 63" plasma, not sure if there is a tuner in there or not. We can get Hulu & Netflix through our Samsung blue-ray, Fire stick will give us prime which I believe includes Showtime. My big thing is local & national news - we are at the top of a hill with a strong south & east exposure so I expect we could get all of the NYC stations.

We would keep the internet - interesting that they can't filter out the basic cable, wonder if that would happen here. We went to Magic Jack for telephone a year ago, very happy with that - 5 years for $99 is great!

[Half-Inch Stud]

Originally Posted by The Boss

What are you guys using for your antennas and for your tuners? Our main TV is a 10 y.o. 63" plasma, not sure if there is a tuner in there or not.......

We went to Magic Jack for telephone a year ago, very happy with that - 5 years for $99 is great!

Keep looking; ya mght even find a beermeister tap in it.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by The Boss

What are you guys using for your antennas and for your tuners? Our main TV is a 10 y.o. 63" plasma, not sure if there is a tuner in there or not.

When we built our house 10 years ago, we had a conventional rooftop antenna installed in our attic (didn't want the ugly thing on the outside of the house where wind could also damage it).

I have always used the tuner in my TV's. You'll need to check your old plasma out to see if it has one built in.

If you needed to buy a tuner - just upgrade to a more efficient TV with tuner - the new TV's use a fraction of the electricity of the older plasmas (I have had 2 plasma TV's in the past).

Between the price of a tuner and the lower operating costs, you'd be $$$'s ahead with a new TV.

You'll pay a fraction of what you paid for a 63" plasma 10 years ago...

[bird72]

Cable free 7 years.
Netflix (so so OK)
On air antenna with much free TV
web

I am fine

I like 2X a month if good ones out to go to theater.

Cable TV is a loser

[shawn e.]

I have a Radio Shack old style Arrow antenna on my roof.

Shawn

[David Jones]

Charter cable (none of the premium channels) and internet. NetFlix.

I live in a little "valley", shielded from the local air channels and have tried various antennae over the years with little success. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
When the boys are home they have some very creative ways to watch something on TV. Usually involving a computer or an Apple TV gizmo.

Me? I don't worry to much about it. If I have the want to and the time there are things available on cable from time to time that I want to watch.

[bird72]

Originally Posted by David Jones

Charter cable (none of the premium channels) and internet. NetFlix.

I live in a little "valley", shielded from the local air channels and have tried various antennae over the years with little success. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
When the boys are home they have some very creative ways to watch something on TV. Usually involving a computer or an Apple TV gizmo.

Me? I don't worry to much about it. If I have the want to and the time there are things available on cable from time to time that I want to watch.

the newer amplified antennae (what I have to use) seem better than the type I remember from the 70's. have you tried utilizing height? sometimes 5-10 feet higher makes it happy. the best for UHF is the old big Yaggee (sp?) antennae with an amp, 10 foot or more length if ya can.... someone else techier may weigh in with better scoop....

also here rural, they are adding UHF stations to mountain peak translators all the time, so pretty good array of free, I get guess 30 or so for me

['ol Pinion head]

What is the limitations to using Firestick for streaming live sports? Very limited sports coverage? We only watch College baseball and College football. Some games we currently stream off the Net. have no interest in commie kickball, minimal Hoops. We don't watch TV a ton, have zero premium channels. typically catch the local news very early AM, and have local weather/tornado chaser TV going in the Spring early evenings. If home, ck Fox business network during the day, if there is a ball game on in the evenings, click on ESPN 1, 2, or U, or Fox Sports.

[MikeNoun]

Curious about those that use the Amazon Firestick. You can stream and you access the web via the Firestick, but don't you still have to pay for an internet provider? And dittos what was said above. Comcast is about $50/mo for the TV part, about 200 stations, about 50 HD channels, and the rest of the bill is for their high speed internet.

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by bird72

the newer amplified antennae (what I have to use) seem better than the type I remember from the 70's. have you tried utilizing height? sometimes 5-10 feet higher makes it happy. the best for UHF is the old big Yaggee (sp?) antennae with an amp, 10 foot or more length if ya can.... someone else techier may weigh in with better scoop....

also here rural, they are adding UHF stations to mountain peak translators all the time, so pretty good array of free, I get guess 30 or so for me

I'm done with the whole antenna thing. For me and the 7 TV's (out of control....) we have in the house it's just easier to pay the bill and push the buttons on the remote(s).

[b-man]

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...85#post5589985

[The Boss]

Charter now requires a box on any TV - new or old....and of course charge for that too!

We have Netflix streaming, Sandra uses that on the Ipad, I'll install the Amazon thing and see about getting an antenna. Any recommendations anyone?

[Jim Doran]

Originally Posted by David Jones

I'm done with the whole antenna thing. For me and the 7 TV's (out of control....) we have in the house it's just easier to pay the bill and push the buttons on the remote(s).

David is on a good point that I agree with. I've been contemplating the same thing that Chris proposed, but there is a trade off in that you gain alot of complexity, especially with multiple TVs, guests using your TV, elderly parent visits and constant HDMI input / remote switching. I'm very tech savy and yet for a weekend, I simulated what life would be like. After 25 different questions from my wife and at times kids on which button to push, blah blah, it just ain't worth it YET.

I have a brand new 65" Samsung 4k Smart TV, apple TV, Mac, etc but it still is not as simple as picking up the remote and clicking away at the end of a long d ay. Maybe I'm getting old.

Here in CT Chris, Charter will have you by the short hairs on internet still and that will be 66% of the cost you have now, as they discount the internet when you buy TV service. If you just buy internet, it will be more than the $39 or whatever it is.

Yes, it can be done if you sacrifice, but it won't be easy and you won't get everything you have now. ( foxnews, espn, easily watch olympics ) But, saving $100 or more a month you can do alot with that money.

[rohrt]

I went a few years with no cable due to the cost. Decided to at least get internet if I could get it for under $50 a month. That was my limit for entertainment. Its just not worth anymore then that to me. I also had no good internet service. I used a mobile hotspot device from work that had a slow connection.

I decided over a year ago to at least get a decent internet connection, so I made a few calls to several providers. For streaming speeds DSL was out and that only left two of the competing cable internet providers. Both had good 1st year cost but the second year jumped to $70 so I told both of them to forget it. I got a call a few weeks later from one of them asking what it would take to get on their plan. I said give me a 2 year deal at your introductory rate of $39.99. He said OK then we will. I was floored.

Anyway they came out and hooked up the cable (20 Meg). I have my own cable modem and router so no extra monthly charge. With tax its $42 a month, which leaves room to pay for Prime. BTW Prime movie content sucks.

After a month of internet I was cleaning up the cables in the closet and thought I wonder what I would get on the TV if I connected up the internet cable? Well I will tell ya, I get cable TV with all the channels. So I put in splitter and happy as a pig in poop.