Need advice on cutting cable cost.
 

My last bill from Att was $215...sick of paying that much to watch only a few shows. I dont want to cut the cord from cable entirely. I would like to keep basic cable and internet, but still be able to watch the shows I like on HBO and showtime. I`m already a netflix subscriber, any other suggestions ? Can you buy season passes for most of the shows on HBO and Showtime?



Thanks!

Just ditch it. You'll miss it less than you think.

I pay $50 a month for a pretty good internet connection and I don't miss any of my shows.

Internet, Netflix, Hulu.

cut it completely and go with internet and a attic antenna.

If you have any cool friends that have HBO maybe offer them some sort of monthly payment to use their HBOGO? Or I will give you an invite to a really good torrent site, and you can ditch HBO or really all cable.

Damn, $215? I just do what Buck said. Mine is about $50 too. I'm not a big TV freak anyway, but you can work around stuff for the most part.

$150 for 10megs Dvr and sports package..... **** this shit.

JFC I can get a couple premiums channels and even be waaaay lower during Sunday Ticket season on DTV.

If you know someone with HBO then see if they will let you use their HBO GO account. Works really well on PC or XBOX

$215? Wow.

I have Direct TV Premium, the HD Package, maintenance package, whole home networking with five DVR's and my bill is $168 per month w/tax.

How much is your internet?

I have a TWC package with 2 VOIP lines, so there's a "discount". It's $44.95, $29.95 for the first line and $24.95 for the second, so $110 with tax per month.

I think that $215 includes his internet. Which would make a hell of a lot more sense.

Oh, he didn't specify and I'm too dumb to read between the lines. :drool:

I've seen U-Verse, TWC and whatever my parents have (Everest? Cox?) and IMO, nothing is even close to Direct TV in terms of picture, HD channels, audio and On Demand Options.

I was shocked to se that U-verse is limited in on demand. With DTV, I can download any series or film airing to my DVR. Same with my parents service.

DirecTV is nice around here . . . until it storms. And then it's not-so-nice.

That's a shame. It's such a great service.

I agree. I loved it. I didn't mind when it went out, because it wasn't out for a super long time.

My wife disagreed. Now we have Surewest.

Yea, im thinking of switching over to Direct TV from Uverse, because AT&T keeps jacking up their rates. The intro rates into Direct TV are great.

yeah, I like the intro rates. Its the regular rates that kick in later that keep me from signing up. Oh, and the fact I have to agree to a two year contract with them as well.

Loose the cable TV get an antenna. Get outside, go visit, volunteer, take up serious cooking. do something those mother****ers are robbing you blind. I haven't had any premium channels for five years. The chiefs are on regular tv that is about all I watch. I golf work a lot of overtime I just don't have time for television. My son will Netfix to watch cartoons. We just aren't a big TV family. Never really have been. I like to get outdoors.

Then what do you look at while you masturbate? Trees?

It gives him wood.

My Avatar LoL

I like my bushes to grow wild with minimal trimming

I don't think you can buy season passes for the premium shows (at least not HBO).

How are you even getting a $215 bill? I assume that's your base bill and not like you bought a $49.99 PPV or a bunch of movies through their service. I can only imagine having that kind of bill if I were crazy rich and I was providing DVR/cable boxes for the servants quarters on the grounds of my mansion, the pool, the hottub, etc.

Based on that I'm not sure what to advise you but if you're willing you can normally drop your premium channels for a bit and pick back up the "deal" prices. Right now TW is offering HBO + Cinemax for 6 months at $10/mo. It's cheaper than either of the channels individually.

Everyone is telling you to ditch cable, but you said you didn't want to. So here's what you can do. Call the cable company and just tell them that you are considering ditching cable entirely, because there are a lot of other options out there. But you may be persuaded to keep it if they cut you some slack on the bill. They will do exactly that. At least for about six months.

****'em dude get out from under the Iron Thumb of Oppression. They aren't supplying you anything you can't live without.

Cord cutting is pretty easy these days. I've been without cable for several years now, and I don't miss much.

I use a combination of OTA antenna, and XBMC to satisfy all of my media needs. I run XBMC on an AppleTV. But you can run XBMC on pretty much any device on any platform. And from there, you have XBMC plugins that will get you nearly any media you want. At that point, you're only limited by your own ethics as far as what media content is available to you. There are plenty of options that would allow you to watch any and every TV show or movie you desire. Most of it can be accessed by streaming directly, so you won't need to actually download anything. Or if you'd like to have hard copies, you can setup an automated system that will download all the content you want the instant it becomes available, and organize it for you just like a DVR would do.

The only real drawback to cord cutting such as this is live sports in HD. Mainly what you can't find on normal OTA channels. There are plenty of options available with dependable streams for sporting events. But the quality will vary greatly if you rely on the free solutions. There are premium pirate solutions for sporting events if you wanna pay the money.

Let me know if you'd like more information about any of that. There's always a solution that would work for you....

You could just wait for the season to finish and then rent the DVD of the shows you want to watch on HBO/Showtime through netflix or the like. Then you are not having to pay premium channels.

Actually HBO and Showtime dont make their stuff available on Netflix. HBO has their own subscription service HBOGo, not sure about Showtime?

It sucks because you can't follow along with everyone else....but this is what I do.

If you don't mind, I'd take a invite by PM.

I wasn't talking about streaming.

Yeah ATT Uverse has always been $135 for the past year and a half. Today I got my bill, $180. I'm not paying $180 for something I'm not sure is worth the $135 I used to pay. I'm going to cut the cord, with XBox One coming out next week I'm going to control most of my Netflix and Hulu through that, I don't really watch TV anymore, it's all my fiancee and she just watches like six or seven shows. We don't use HBO except for GoT, Girls, and True Blood so I'm probably just going to snag my parents info and use it to access HBO Go when it comes available on XB1. If anyone has any advice it would be helpful. I'm going to get a digital antenna so any recommendations would be nice as well.

Have Fish hook you up. He's the media wizard with the best magic.

I can attest to this. He helped me out big time with configuring my XBMC (which is incredible, by the way).

Yeah, I've got the Ultimate lineup with DTV, Sunday Ticket, and HBO/Showtime for $160. And just this morning after discounts and getting the rest of ST waived I'm down <$100.

a little late for the OP, but just call them up and tell them you are switching to a competitor or satellite. I got Cox to cut my bill about $60/mo by calling to cancel under the auspices of switching to FIOS. Had no intention to switch at all.

:thumb:

Never heard how it worked out. You all up in the Furk now or what?

Like you, I use a combination of Furk and others (1Channel, Icefilms, etc). Get pretty much everything/anything I could ever need. What kind of options do you use/know about for sports? Hell, I might even be willing to pay for decent sports streaming.

If you haven't tried Sportsdevil, be sure and check that one out. I get most of my sports streams through Sportsdevil. Quality varies though. Usually good quality for NFL, NHL. Especially popular games.

There's pay options available. Here's some of the ones I know of:
Kickoff Streams - Favorite. Great for NFL. $13/mth. HD. http://kickoffstreams.com/ Plugin: http://superrepo.org/plugin.video.kickoff/

Offsidestreams - Lots of Euro action with plenty of US stuff. All sports. More expensive than Kickoff, but more sports available.

I use MLB.tv on AppleTV for MLB. But if you're in KC, you have to spoof your IP to get around blackouts.

What kind of up front costs did you guys have when you started?

For me, I spent $60 on my AppleTV 2. That's it. But I now pay for a couple other online services that I incorporate with my setup, just because it's so cheap and easy and awesome. Mainly a subscription to the website Furk.net($7/mth). It's a torrent aggregator. Meaning I can type in Pacific Rim, and it will search all torrent sites for the movie, and download the movie from torrent sites to Furk's server. Then I can stream the movie directly from Furk's server, or download it as a direct download. Their servers are so fast that it will download at whatever your ISP speed is. And most content is already on their server, because if any Furk member searches for the content, you'll have access to it as well. So anything you can find on any torrent search from any torrent site, you can directly stream to your media box running XBMC.

But I'm actually looking to upgrade soon. Planning on getting a new Android box, which is ~$100. Most boxes built to run XBMC can also natively run Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Crackle, etc. There's a plugin for just about everything you want to consume, mediawise.

Does the AppleTV2 have a hard drive or do you have an external one hooked up to it?

The ATV2 has a HD, but not large enough to use for media storage by any means. I have several NAS that I use for storage and such. But honestly, these days I stream much more than I download. Everything is available to me for direct streaming anytime. Literally any TV show or movie. So I don't really download much these days other than my absolute favorite stuff.

If you're looking to start out now though, I would really recommend one of the Android boxes as opposed to an AppleTV2. The AppleTV must be jailbroken to run XBMC. The new AppleTV3 can't be jailbroken at this time. So the prices of the older ATV2 have gone through the roof(~$200). And the ATV2 is starting to show it's age, as the XBMC platform continues to grow. Processing power can't handle more than 720p streaming. Android boxes can stream full 1080p as long as you have sufficient bandwidth. Hell, you can get a Raspberry pi for ~$75 that can run everything and stream at 1080p now.

In addition, you can also run XBMC on any Windows/Mac computer. It can run on any platform, Win, Mac, Linux, OpenELEC, etc.

Okay. I cut my dish network, and I have broadband and wireless on the way to the house.

I was about to pull the trigger on an AppleTV (I really liked being able to airplay music and videos from all of our devices as we're pretty heavily invested in the apple ecosystem). That being said, you seem like an expert and you're suggesting to go the XBMC route. Can I just buy an android box that already has XBMC installed on it?

This one appears to: http://www.amazon.com/G-Box-Midnight.../dp/B009BWC3J4

I'm assuming I can get do netflix through XBMC if I decide to keep it mostly legit?

That's the old unit, and for some reason more expensive.

Here's the shiznit: http://www.amazon.com/G-Box-Midnight.../dp/B00CH643A8

Like I said, the ATV2 is pretty aged and limited in hardware. But it is pretty nice for Airplay purposes. But the most recent iOS for ATV2 is what's called a tethered jailbreak. Meaning you need to hook it up to a computer and do a special tether boot in order to run XBMC. If you kill power to the unit, you'll have to do the tethered boot with your computer to get it working again. It's a PIA in most cases. And any ATV2 you find right now will likely have the newest OS on it. If it has an older OS, you can do an untethered jailbreak and use it as normal. But those are hard to find...

The Android boxes are the way to go now, IMO. You can simply download the Netflix Android app and run it directly from there. There's an XBMC netflix solution, but you'll have better performance running it natively through the Android OS.

Keep in mind that XBMC can access media from any protocol that is shared on the network. So you could simply setup an SMB, AFP, or NFS share from any/all computers, and add it as a source in XBMC and play media that way.

There's always a way...

Suggestions on a remote?

I'm pretty sure it comes with one, although that isn't clear from the webpage.

But you can get just about any type of smart remote. There's already existing configurations for almost any programmable remote you can get, so you can make any remote work with it.

You can also download tons of free remote apps for your smartphone.

If you really want a nice one though, look at those small keyboard remotes for these types of devices. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wirel...ref=pd_sim_e_3

Those make it a very nice experience. The little touchpad part is perfect for these kinds of HTPC units.

There's also much smaller keypad remotes like that too. Like phone sized.

Edit: With the remotes that have the touchpad, you can play the normal Android games too, like Angry Birds and whatnot.

God Damnit,

Cox raised my 18 mbps to 25 mbps and raised my price from $55 to $62. These mother****ers are crooks! ****in pr_capone.

I wonder if this would work on my older tv

Is offsidestream in 1080p?

Thanks, man. Just pulled the trigger and should get it first part of next week. I wish I would have done it earlier in the week, so I could play with it over the weekend.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/6/50...-plus-internet

I know this thread is old, but an interesting story relevant to the original question.

It's HDMI. If the old TV has HDMI, I'd almost guarantee it would work.

I love XBMC. I have had it since I modded my original XBOX. I only left it once for a netgear POS. I went back to it in less than a few months. Easy system for my wife to use as well.

I have two boxes running XBMC; an ATV1 with a crystalHD card in it. Can decode 1080p, but no wifi. (had to take it out for the CHD card) It runs a custom linux XBMC called Crystalbuntu. Ebay is getting crazy with ATV1s to run it. The other is a PC.

One word of caution on those android boxes. They can decode 1080p, but can only display 720p. Much like that G-Box you linked: *1080p decoded videos are scaled to 720p in XBMC.
Ouya can display 1080p if that matters to you.

I am a little different. I watch Blu Ray remuxs with DTS HD Master sound. Quality matters to me. For this I built a computer for $300. I love it. Light gaming. My wife loves it when we start up the Cinema Experience to watch a movie:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=87563

Like Fish said before, depending on your morals, the value of XBMC will vary. I have my utorrent set up to download shows from a private tracker. Then it sends a message to my XBMC's saying "Downloaded: XXXXX" and updates my libraries on both boxes. Why download shows, when I can just watch them on my DirecTV? I can get a network TV show, lets say American Dad, in 720p with commercials already removed, before it even starts on local TV. Its an hour earlier in the summer. East coast rips these shows immediately.
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=120615

I no longer subscribe to netflix because the selections sucks when compared to iceflims or 1channel. I will do a month here or there to support an original series. (Arrested Development or Orange is the new Black) It is nice to randomly watch Daria or Beatlejuice just because I can.

xbmchub is outstanding. I cannot see needing anything else if you use them and the xbmc.org add ons. Pretty much the only thing xbmc wont do is those unique VLC playlists for HD sport streams.

Honestly, I have not watch DirecTV once this week except for an episode of PTI and a basketball game. Weekend sports are the only reason I havnt ditched it.
What a rip. I have cox here and got 50mbps for $62 promo. WIll turn into $69 in a few months. I only have the faster speed because the soft data cap is higher and I get nasty grams from Cox regarding my usage. :(

advice*

And I've already ****ed up my box. I bought the box you suggested Fish. I connected it to the internet per instructions (in the Chrome interface). I then later told it to always boot to the XBMC, bypassing the option to boot to Chrome. Now my internet access has changed, and I can't change it in XBMC, presumably because I originally set it up in the Chrome instance.

So...I need to figure out how to boot the box into the Chrome instance, instead of XBMC.


EDIT:
Found the answer:
In android go to Settings then Apps then xbmc. Click clear defaults. Mods should move this to the FAQ section.

Here is a wealth of knowledge for that box. From what I understand, linux is the way to go, but then no netflix.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=164977
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=177875
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php...864#pid1421864

So far, I'm underwhelmed by the interface of the XBMC. Trying to enter login information with the remotes is a total pain in the ass. The interface with Netflix also sucks. I know that if I had a large digital library or used torrents, it would be superior to AppleTV, but I'm not digging it as of yet. Maybe I'll like it more as I tinker.

Do you guys use a lot of channel apps? Do they cost?

I'm getting 60 mbps for $30 with Florida's version of TWC. I had to buythe deluxe package of channels, which I would of bought anyway.

It must suck to have to pay for your internet.

Could you explain? You should only have to enter login info once.

Tell me what you're having trouble with. What plugins do you have installed? Because it doesn't do much without the plugins.

Yeah, I only had to do it once, but using the "mouse" cursor with the remote control to try to enter login information on the onscreen keyboard is a nightmare, so I haven't logged into anything other than Netflix, which took me a while.

Part of the problem is that it won't pick up my mouse (an old apple mouse) or keyboard (a Mac keyboard), so I'll probably be better off when I get those.

I was also hoping that the remote apps (XBMC Remote or XBMC Commander) would mirror the screen and allow more touchpad control of the screen instead of just working like the remote that comes with it.

So I think the first thing is I need to get my interface with it better (getting a wireless keyboard), then I think I'll be ready to start exploring its capabilities further.

you STFU now. LMAO

Free.

http://www.xbmchub.com/blog/2013/05/...r-xbmc-addons/

with these, there was no point to subscribe to netflix any longer. Bigger selection, free, and in some cases much higher quality.

Umm.... I just got a woody reading that... I think I see why XBMC beats appleTV now. So these are all streaming sites that I'm adding, right? I don't need to purchase a new storage device to add on?

Question: XBMCHub recommends uninstalling then installing their xbmc to get the most out of it. I'm currently running the version that came with my Gbox, is that fine, or would you all reinstall?

The version you have is fine, and I would not recommend getting the one from XBMCHub. There's nothing wrong with the one you have. They are the same thing other than a maintenance plugin provided by XBMCHub.

It's a long story, some plugin developers branched away from XBMCHub because they included ads in their plugins. XBMC threw a hissy fit and kicked them out because they don't support ads. XBMCHub encourages users to use their StartFresh feature to install a fresh version of XBMC that is guaranteed not to include any plugins from these developers that they no longer support. That's the only reason you're encouraged to install "Their" version.

Dang! This sounds like a lot of work and expense. I guess since I have a ton of options where I live DTV is accommodating. I pay $75/month for their Choice Plus (or whatever it's called) with Showtime and The Movie Channel. One year contract, but I call every year and bitch about their rates. They fix it.

I also have a Roku 3, so I can get content from Amazon Prime. I order a lot of stuff through Amazon and it also gives me free 2-day shipping. Not bad for $79/year.

:D

Now you've seen a glimpse of the possibilities...

Yes, those are all streaming sites and you'll need no storage space for it.

For starters, I would recommend the 1Channel plugin first and foremost. It's a stable plugin with nearly infinite content, both old and new.

Also, check out the Icefilms plugin. It's similar to 1Channel in what it does. It also offers 720p HD choices. The links aren't as consistent as 1Channel sometimes, but you can still find lots of cool stuff there. It also features a Music and Standup comedy section that are really sweet.

There's a Hulu plugin as well that works great. It has options to turn off all commercials, so you'll never have to bother with the commercial breaks. You can access everything you'd find in the browser version, it's the same source. You can even enter your Hulu Plus credentials.

Regarding plugins, there are two ways to install a plugin. The preferable method is to install it via the developers repository. The advantage for doing this, is that when the developer improves the plugin and releases a new version, XBMC will automatically update your plugin to take advantage of the new features. You can also install a plugin directly using just the plugin file, but then you never get updates. Updates can be crucial.

Follow instructions here, and save yourself a ton of time: http://www.xbmchub.com/blog/2012/04/...tion-for-xbmc/

This will install the Fusion source, and give you direct access to all the really cool plugins. Follow the instructions closely.

When you get to step 14 of the above instructions, here's what I would recommend installing:

Go to Fusion\Most Popular

1Channel-repository.bstrdsmkr-0.0.3.zip (1Channel repo)
icefilms-repository.googlecode.anarchintosh-projects.zip (Icefilms repo)
fixed-sportsdevil-plugin.video.SportsDevil...zip (SportsDevil repo for streaming sports)
projectfreetv_giddyup-repository.eldorado.zip (Project FreeTV repo for TV episodes)

Then go to Fusion\Video\free-tv

amazon_hulu_repository.bluecop.xbmc-plugins.zip (Hulu, Free Cable, Amazon repo for streaming each. Note! Hulu must be configured correctly before it will work! Free Cable is a nice one for shows not on Hulu)
xxx_repository.xbmc-adult (porn repo)

That should get you started...

So if I get a keyboard that works with the gbox, then I'll just be able to type in all the URLs and paths and such, correct?

Correct. You can do this with the smartphone apps as well, while you're waiting for the keyboard.

I got XBMC official remote to work, and I can bring up the keypad on it... but it doesn't type anything into the fields when I type on it.

Okay. Keyboard on ipad works fine with this now, so that's awesome. I'm on step 17 of the install, and I go to do the "add-ons" and there isn't a list. Just two dots where it should say "add-on repository" and "video add on"


Here's my exact problem from the xbmc boards, and they don't tell you how to fix it:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=171603

Right-click and select Check for Updates and Force Refresh. Do this several times. It takes a while for it to kick in, as it's downloading in the background. Do each several times, and then click on the repo listing again. It should show Working and the spinning progress bar, and eventually show you the contents. Sometimes the sources of these get overloaded. It can be confusing at first, but be patient it will work...

I got rid of DirecTV and now just pay for comcast internet, since I got the 60 dollar package they gave me a box to get like 15 channels or something, not that I care about them.

I watch all my stuff through the net with sites like project free tv and movie4k.

So, yeah, 1080i or 720p sports streams? That's what I need to cut the cable.