Anyone else cut the cord?

[OSUIvan]

So we're looking at cutting back on our monthly expenses and one "easy" way to do that is to cut the cord and move over to streaming.

I have done a ton of research the last 3 weeks, and have tried Sling TV, PS Vue, YouTube TV, and Philo TV. As well as the Chromecast, Amazon fire and Roku streaming devices. And even looked into using an antenna with either Tivo or Tablo to do local stations with a DVR.

Some of our requirements were our local network stations, Disney channels, Nick Jr , sports, and cloud DVR.

After all the testing and research I am 90% sure I am going to go with YouTube TV and Philo TV, along with Roku devices. Why two streaming services? YouTube ($35) gives us all our local channels, Disney family of channels (including sports), as well as Fox stations (including Fox Sports 1 and 2). Philo ($16 and pretty new and very underrated) gives us pretty much everything else including Nick Jr for about the same price of any other streaming service with the same channels. Yes there is Directv now, but they do not have a DVR... yet! So I am very close to calling Directv and canceling my service, but want to test YT and Philo a few more days before I do that.

I will say this to anyone that has been thinking about taking this leap... Do not go into this expecting a replica of your cable. Odds are (there's always exceptions depending on how many channels you watch) that you're not going to get all of the channels with your local channels in one service. Like in my case I went with two services to get exactly what I want and still pay less.

What about the rest of you, what services do you use? How has your experience been?

 

[EvilPOKES]

I have been using Playstation Vue for about a year now and love it.

 

[purkey]

have too many tv's so direct works best....don't use them all but they are all hooked up and operational. Couldn't do that with what you're talking about...well,I guess I could but it would be expensive and I'd have a lesser product. Now, when it's time to downsize that may be the answer.

 

[OSUIvan]

have too many tv's so direct works best....don't use them all but they are all hooked up and operational. Couldn't do that with what you're talking about...well,I guess I could but it would be expensive and I'd have a lesser product. Now, when it's time to downsize that may be the answer.

Why can’t you do that ? How many TVs run at 1 time ?

 

[poke2001]

I have Direct TV Now. It has everythelps my I need. I pay $35/mo for the $70/mo package and got free HBO as well.

 

[purkey]

Why can’t you do that ? How many TVs run at 1 time ?

sometimes 3 at once...but mostly 2. But up to 5 rooms at various times....6 total.

 

[OSUDD]

Been on PS Vue for two years, won’t ever go back to Uverse

 

[OSUIvan]

sometimes 3 at once...but mostly 2. But up to 5 rooms at various times....6 total.

Youtube TV allows for 3 streams at once, and I'm pretty sure there are some others that do as well.

 

[long-duc-dong]

Been on PS Vue for two years, won’t ever go back to Uverse

I have uverse now and sick of the $300 a month bill. We have phone, internet, tv bundled with several tv's. How does ps vue work exactly. I did a little research, but more info would be helpful. If you have time. Thanks

 

[SMemmett]

Did it myself the day I was born, got a job the next day.

 

[tlwwake]

I have uverse now and sick of the $300 a month bill. We have phone, internet, tv bundled with several tv's. How does ps vue work exactly. I did a little research, but more info would be helpful. If you have time. Thanks

This might help a little, sir.

 

[J.R. Murphy's]

I have Playstation Vue as well. We use an Amazon Fire TV.

OP is correct. Do not think you're going to get a replica of your cable. I've yet to find a streaming service that has every single channel available that you would get through cable. PS Vue just offered the closest to the channels that we currently watch, so we went with that. The only other one we've tried was Sling TV, and it wasn't great. After reading this, I may look into Direct TV or Youtube TV. We have an HD antenna for local channels, along with Netflix and HBO Now. I haven't tried Tivo for the local channels, but I may give it a try.

We've saved a crap ton of money by switching. We get the occasional buffering, but other than that, we haven't missed cable.

 

[long-duc-dong]

This might help a little, sir.

Thanks. I've seen some of that looking through the PS Vue site. Needing a PS Vue for morons explanation. For example, your grid shows Apple TV not supported, but it is according to their site. I have apple tv on one of our sets. Do I need to get one for each tv to run ps vue? Stuff like that.

 

[EvilPOKES]

I have uverse now and sick of the $300 a month bill. We have phone, internet, tv bundled with several tv's. How does ps vue work exactly. I did a little research, but more info would be helpful. If you have time. Thanks

You have a playstation account (no playstation needed). Then it is just an app you use. We love it. Great channel selection for the wife (I don't watch much regular tv) and a ton of sports channels for me. Quality is great, interface is easy to use, dvr has never had issues. I ain't going back to traditional tv.

 

[EvilPOKES]

Thanks. I've seen some of that looking through the PS Vue site. Needing a PS Vue for morons explanation. For example, your grid shows Apple TV not supported, but it is according to their site. I have apple tv on one of our sets. Do I need to get one for each tv to run ps vue? Stuff like that.

Yes, each tv (unless you can stream to it) needs some type of device to use it.

 

[BrettOSU17]

What were your bills prior to switching over? Mine is only around $160/month and I cant see putting in all the effort for streaming to save $40/month.

 

[PokeMBA]

What were your bills prior to switching over? Mine is only around $160/month and I cant see putting in all the effort for streaming to save $40/month.

That's what it comes out to be though. I was a esrly adopter of sling and ps vue and then I came back to direct tv recently.
Depends what internet you can get and live with.

If you go too cheap on internet it will buffer and freeze at times and you will have to reset. If you have good cable or fiber internet it will run you $60+ and likely $70 in a lot of cases.

So it's either pay $40-50 for cheap internet that will make streaming a pain/annoying at times or pay day $60-70 for good service but then that really brings total bill to $100.

40 for Psvue and $60 for internet.

I pay $135 for DIRECTV and fiber 1gig internet.

So $35 a month savings doesn't get me excited. Changing channels is harder, recording shows doesn't work as good, interruption is more commmom.

Ps vue does work with Apple TV, it didn't initially but they've added.

 

[osu2082]

What were your bills prior to switching over? Mine is only around $160/month and I cant see putting in all the effort for streaming to save $40/month.

If you have the top internet and cable packages you will end up paying between $200-230 once your one year or two year special runs out depending on the company. You can usually extend it one or two years by complaining and pushing but you will end up there. I have done it with all available companies.

I'm thinking about trying the top PS Vue package to see if I can do it.

 

[BrettOSU17]

That's what it comes out to be though. I was a esrly adopter of sling and ps vue and then I came back to direct tv recently.
Depends what internet you can get and live with.

If you go too cheap on internet it will buffer and freeze at times and you will have to reset. If you have good cable or fiber internet it will run you $60+ and likely $70 in a lot of cases.

So it's either pay $40-50 for cheap internet that will make streaming a pain/annoying at times or pay day $60-70 for good service but then that really brings total bill to $100.

40 for Psvue and $60 for internet.

I pay $135 for DIRECTV and fiber 1gig internet.

So $35 a month savings doesn't get me excited. Changing channels is harder, recording shows doesn't work as good, interruption is more commmom.

Ps vue does work with Apple TV, it didn't initially but they've added.

Same here. I tried PS Vue over the summer last year (slow sports time). The intermittent buffering etc wasn't good for me. I switched back to cable once football season started. If your bill is $200-300, I get changing, but mine is only $160 so doesn't seem worth it. I'm always intrigued though as the technology will definitely take over in time.

 

[SKC]

We've been with Vue for almost a year and love it. Will never return to DirecTV.

Vue allows up to 5 streams, which is good for us.

 

[HD Poke]

Another vote for PS Vue. We cut the cord about 6 months ago. Use PS Vue, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. Won't go back to DirecTV.

PS Vue gives us enough channels for the current shows/local channels. Amazon Prime and Netflix have the kids shows/movies covered.

I rarely have buffering issues but my internet is pretty fast. Usually 80mbps or so download speed. I stream through a Roku on one TV and an old PS3 on the other.

 

[OSUIvan]

What were your bills prior to switching over? Mine is only around $160/month and I cant see putting in all the effort for streaming to save $40/month.

we were at 220 which was DTV's top package, I dropped it down to the 2nd to lowest and it was 160. With YouTube TV, Philo TV, Hulu and HBO Now we're at $75.

 

[BrettOSU17]

we were at 220 which was DTV's top package, I dropped it down to the 2nd to lowest and it was 160. With YouTube TV, Philo TV, Hulu and HBO Now we're at $75.

Including internet bill too?

 

[HD Poke]

we were at 220 which was DTV's top package, I dropped it down to the 2nd to lowest and it was 160. With YouTube TV, Philo TV, Hulu and HBO Now we're at $75.

Including internet bill too?

I would have an internet bill whether I stream TV or use cable or satellite. That wouldn’t be part of the analysis for me.

 

[OSUIvan]

Including internet bill too?

Nope, that's just Directv. We use Cox internet and have the same package we had with DTV so it's not apart of the cost savings because we're keeping it reguardless.

 

[BvillePoker]

I have cable modem only and use Hulu, Netflix, and HBO Go. Went from a $280 bill to $140. $80 of that is still the cable modem service. We are trying to get BTC fiber in our neighborhood, but even if we do it will be a while.

 

[OrangePhish]

Cut the cable TV cord in 2008 and haven't looked back.

Use a digital antenna to pick up the OKC over the air broadcasts (which come in crystal clear and much better quality than satellite or cable).

Stream Netflix and use either a Blue-Ray player or Roku to stream.

Subscribe to HBO Now when GOT is in season.

Suddenlink internet kinda has me bent over a barrel for high-speed internet service though. Started out paying $30/month for 30mbps in 2013 and it's more than doubled in price, but speed is still the same (which is debatable).

Spending less than $90 per month on 'entertainment' and I certainly spend more than my fair share of time sitting in front of the tube.

College football is the one thing I miss, but there plenty of games on CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox to satisfy my cravings. I can find someone to hang with during the OSU games or I just listen to Dave and John.