[scotian]

I'm moving into my condo in a few days and for the first time in my life I will be buying a television, I'm not a big TV watcher and don't even watch many films but I figured that I should have one for entertainment purposes as I don't plan on reading books to the girls I bring back home. Initially I was looking into just having Netflix, but then I came across this article about these tech guys out there who can rig a guy up with kick ass, personalized TV package for a fraction of the cost of mainstream telcoms, have any of you guys done this, if so, how is it?

Quote:

The cable guy has a new competitor: the anti-cable guy. He helps you cut the cord on traditional television services and hooks you up with alternatives.

Most Canadians still watch cable or satellite TV. However, cord-cutting is catching on as more people seek potentially cheaper and more versatile viewing options. But not everyone has the technical chops to break with tradition. So enter the cord-cutting consultant, a hired hand who does the job for you. It’s a small but growing business model fuelled by expanding viewing options in the digital age.

'Your nerdy best friend'

Sean Whitehead started his cord-cutting business last year to monetize what he had already been doing for free: setting up online video streaming services for technically challenged friends and family who yearned to cut the cord. He likens his Toronto company, Kutko Canada, to "your nerdy best friend." The service begins with a visit from a "cord consultant" who assesses a customer’s TV habits and wish-list. "Cutting the cord is a very personal process," Kutko explains on its website.

The consultant then installs the necessary hardware and most often sets up customers with a variety of online video streaming services that suit their needs. The fee is $125 excluding equipment. Whitehead says he’s already served about 200 customers. He claims he’s cut down customers’ TV bills, on average, by 40 to 60 per cent. "Once they see the amount of content that’s on those [streaming] services and the amount of money they’re paying, their eyes light up." He adds, "I’ve had people say, 'I was home all weekend and I binged-watched so much content.'" To give his customers wide variety, Whitehead also helps people access foreign streaming services like Sling TV in the U.S. and Netflix from the U.S., the U.K. and Mexico. "I’ve helped families that are Russian access content through Russian iTunes," he adds.

Virtually crossing borders to use streaming services violates many companies' terms of service, including those set by Netflix. "We employ industry standard measures to prevent this kind of use," Netflix told CBC News in an email. However, the practice of streaming content beyond borders is widespread. "None of those companies really enforce … terms of service," claims Whitehead.

[Parlay44]

Kodi and config wizard installer to get all the popular add-ons. It runs on damn near everything. That's all you'll ever need.

[Brodiaga]

(03-24-2015 08:02 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  

Kodi and config wizard installer to get all the popular add-ons. It runs on damn near everything. That's all you'll ever need.

Never heard of Kodi. Just googled it and it seems interesting. How do you install it on TV? Do you need a receiver?

[Parlay44]

(03-24-2015 08:13 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  

(03-24-2015 08:02 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  

Kodi and config wizard installer to get all the popular add-ons. It runs on damn near everything. That's all you'll ever need.

Never heard of Kodi. Just googled it and it seems interesting. How do you install it on TV? Do you need a receiver?

It doesn't install on the TV. You can run it from a laptop, small computer under the TV or a small wifi dongle like a Fire TV stick.

I use Fire TV stick. It runs Android Jellybean with Amazon's front end GUI and you can install the Android version of Kodi with a program called Adbfire. If you're somewhat computer savvy you can do it yourself. Or you can buy one all hooked up for you for like $70 on eBay.

[RockHard]

I recently did this. It felt so good to go hand back all my equipment to Comcast.

My setup:
1. DVD player is already Netflix & Amazon capable.
2. I bought a Sling subscription. I don't know if I'll keep it. They have IFC which has some pretty good movies, and Cartoon Network and ESPN. The other channels are just the stuff I didn't watch when I had cable. Right now Sling is available only on Roku. They told me that Amazon Fire support is coming soon. The thing is, it's live TV, so it's got the same disadvantages: you have to watch whatever's on when it's on.
3. I set up an antenna to pick up broadcast signals. The bitch of this was figuring out how to get it to the distribution box in the basement. Turned out I was in luck: the builder ran 2 wires into the cable box. Comcast was using one, the other is a spare. Now it carries my broadcast antenna. Installing the antenna was easy, took maybe 30 minutes. Splicing cable was a bitch. I did all the cable in my basement about 7 years ago when I finished my basement. Apparently I've lost that skill. After more hours and trips to Home Depot than I care to count, I realized that I could hire an electrician for the same money and spend my time doing something useful.

I've been told that the Amazon Fire stick is really great if you're a prime member. The same thing as the DVD gives me though, so I'm not sure why I should do it. It's not too expensive though, and that would make my Sling subscription possibly more valuable.

Personally, Netflix + Amazon has everything I want. Most stuff is on Netflix, and if I really want to see something, I can rent almost anything off Amazon for $3.

[JayJuanGee]

Sometimes I feel like a stick in the mud because I have gotten so far away from mainstream media... and the use of a TV and really I do NOT miss it that much. When you do NOT have it, you do NOT really miss it, and you find other ways to occupy your time.

Also, gives more reasons to go to other people's place or to socialize in other ways...

I do admit though from time to time I would use the TV as an excuse to get a girl to come to my pad, so I suppose the TV could come in handy to set a vibe or to have a certain prop in some of those kinds of situations.

[samsamsam]

Also, if you have friends that never use their HBOGO and other similar type things, you can watch movies using their codes.

I am debating it just cutting the cord and just go cable modem.

(03-24-2015 09:02 PM)RockHard Wrote:  

Personally, Netflix + Amazon has everything I want. Most stuff is on Netflix, and if I really want to see something, I can rent almost anything off Amazon for $3.

If you have prime and take the delayed shipping - you get $1 towards music and movies. Sometimes even if I am getting 3 of the same thing, I'll order separately just to get 3 bucks in credit.

[DJ-Matt]

I got the fire stick free by paying for three months of Sling in advance, you can also pick a Roku stick.

[jamaicabound]

I'm not familiar with the program you mentioned but I have amazon, netflix and tried hulu. I feel amazon and netflix are worth keeping both to me as I love the Netflix origional series, pretty much all of them and you have to have netflix to watch them as far as I know besides finding torrents. I just finished marco polo loved it and waiting on a season 2. I was also a big fan of lilly hammer. Then Amazon has some shows netflix doesn't have like "The Americans" about the russian spies and thats on Amazon and not Netflix so I have both. I have prime through my business for free and netflix is only a couple bucks a month and well worth it to me. I watch a lot of netflix on my phone while in the car I guesss listen more than watch but listen to that in the background instead of listening to the smae 10 songs play on the radio over and over and over. Good for documentaries and stuff you don't really need to watch.

[kbell]

Were getting a new family TV and this would be great. Comcast is like 200+ a month. With KODI can you watch shows like the Flash, Grimm and Walking Dead at anytime?

[Parlay44]

(03-25-2015 10:29 PM)kbell Wrote:  

Were getting a new family TV and this would be great. Comcast is like 200+ a month. With KODI can you watch shows like the Flash, Grimm and Walking Dead at anytime?

Yes. Everything. New TV episodes. Movies still in theaters. Pay per view. Live sports. You can even point it to a shared folder on your computer and play any video files.

[BallsDeep]

Does Kodi have HD sports yet?

[Slacker101]

I did this in college to save some money. I had to have internet for school so axing cable and using online services seemed like a no brainier.

I bought a Samsung smart TV that can play MKV (the most popular container format for video files) off of an NTFS (standard windows format) hard drive (If it doesn't support NTFS you are limited to 4.25GB roughly per file, a real pain in the ass for me as I normally watch movies. It also supports in house streaming, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime, although I honestly only have Netflix. Any mainstream shows I want (not many, mostly Archer) I get from torrents, just like my movies. I usually grab 1080p rips with 5.1DDS audio (I'm a media snob and I have surround sound).

I hooked the TV up to my receiver with ARC (Audio return channel, enabling files/apps on the TV to send full quality surround sound to the receiver back through HDMI).

Then I have one of the receiver inputs hooked up to my PC, which I kept in the living room next to the TV. That way if I wanted to stream sports online or something, it was already hooked up and I just had to set the receiver and TV to the proper input. Although honestly for sports I usually just went to a bar.

As a bonus the TV also plays 3D movies and will convert 2D to 3D, really trippy with cartoons like Archer. I've gotten several girls back to my place to watch a popular movie and closed on them from that. Hell I had a couple girls that repeatedly wanted to come over to watch shit (they didn't have TVs) and then fuck.

If you have any format questions, TV questions, or anything, feel free to ask and I'll respond.

[emuelle1]

Anybody know of alternatives for Internet? I have a basic cable subscription and Internet from Comcast that runs $100 a month. I never watch TV myself. My wife does. I typically stick to Netflix on my Roku and Hulu and Amazon.

For me, it's the Internet pipeline I need to find a way to replace.

[Parlay44]

(03-26-2015 04:03 PM)emuelle1 Wrote:  

Anybody know of alternatives for Internet? I have a basic cable subscription and Internet from Comcast that runs $100 a month. I never watch TV myself. My wife does. I typically stick to Netflix on my Roku and Hulu and Amazon.

For me, it's the Internet pipeline I need to find a way to replace.

Yeah just "borrow" internet from your neighbors. Learn how to crack wep and wpa2 passwords with Backtrack or Kali Linux.

[kbell]

How would you set up a DVR? I think KODI calls it PVR? I currently have COmcast DVR which is really easy to use, is this KODI easy to use to record? YOu just select a show and hit record. Granted it sometimes misses the preview for the next episode.

How much storage do you need to record the HD and soon UHD shows?

[Parlay44]

(03-26-2015 06:58 PM)kbell Wrote:  

How would you set up a DVR? I think KODI calls it PVR? I currently have COmcast DVR which is really easy to use, is this KODI easy to use to record? YOu just select a show and hit record. Granted it sometimes misses the preview for the next episode.

How much storage do you need to record the HD and soon UHD shows?

It's not worth recording anything anymore. After a show airs an hour later it's available online to stream. It's the only way I watch content anymore.

I run Kodi on my laptop and watch shows at work when it's slow. I have Kodi installed on my fire tv box at home to watch movies the rest of the time.

[The Wire]

Just cancelled cable today, $200 a month I'll save. My cable promo rolled off and went up to $250 per month. Cancelled today with a new provider for $50 a month for 50 mbps download and local TV channels(Local tv was an extra dollar and I will just run the cable to my tuner).

[Turnus]

DirectTV just came out with a service in the US a couple of weeks ago called DirecTV Now. They are currrently running a promo where you get their top of the line package for $35 for life and a free Apple TV

[Cattle Rustler]

(12-13-2016 09:27 AM)Turnus Wrote:  

DirectTV just came out with a service in the US a couple of weeks ago called DirecTV Now. They are currrently running a promo where you get their top of the line package for $35 for life and a free Apple TV

That promo already expired, considering the demand it lasted just a week or less than that.

Honestly, cord cutting is becoming almost as expensive as cable.

10 Showtime
10 Netflix
10 HBO
10 Hulu
10 Starz

And you're almost near your cable bill, add the internet bill and you're back to cable+internet costs.

[The Beast1]

Cutting the cord is a bit difficult in some areas. Realistically, even with basic cable internet you still get coax cable TV which is more than enough really for my needs at least.

[ScrapperTL]

I stopped paying for Brainwashing years ago.
My recommendations for those who need their fix:
1) Kodi
2) Hulu Plus Ad-Free (I think this is $12 a month) absolutely zero ads or commercials

[GrapeApe]

You can bittorrent anything you want except live sports and local news. Bonus that it's all commercial free.

[The Wire]

(12-13-2016 10:08 AM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 09:27 AM)Turnus Wrote:  

DirectTV just came out with a service in the US a couple of weeks ago called DirecTV Now. They are currrently running a promo where you get their top of the line package for $35 for life and a free Apple TV

That promo already expired, considering the demand it lasted just a week or less than that.

Honestly, cord cutting is becoming almost as expensive as cable.

10 Showtime
10 Netflix
10 HBO
10 Hulu
10 Starz

And you're almost near your cable bill, add the internet bill and you're back to cable+internet costs.

If you get everything separate its expensive and not worth it. I think you need to take in account what subscriptions give you content year round and keep them and looks for other means to fill in the gaps. Keeping a year of Showtime because you watch Homeland is waste of money for example. Netflix and Amazon Prime are easy ones to keep and worth the money. When I actually sat down and listed everything I watched it was just insane to keep cable. You can look into other means like Kodi if you need to fill in the gap for some other content and just use an antenna for your local channels or get your cable provider to give you them for basically nothing.

[Turnus]

Didn't realize that DirecTV promo expired. Sorry about that. I've been using it so far and have been enjoying it. Good service.