Cutting The Cord on Cable/Satellite TV Service?

TomTerrific

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
2,702
Wayland, MA
They all have various free trial periods; from 3 days to two weeks. Sign up, use on your smart TV, set reminder to cancel before it's up. Profit.
Yeah, this seems to be today's solution. I'm going to go the YTTV 1-week trial route just because it was the easiest to do quickly.

However, thanks for all the suggestions, yet another reason why I love SoSH so much. I would have gone the way Zedia suggested (TNT app) but they don't have a version yet for Samsung TV's. I have a Roku, which they do make an app for, but that was accidentally left down on the Cape and I am loathe to retrieve it just for this.

And thanks to the amazingly-informed SumnerH for pointing out the existence of HDMI transmitters--I had no idea such things existed. Makes sense that they use a 5G connection mechanism, though.
 

edoug

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
6,007
Yeah, this seems to be today's solution. I'm going to go the YTTV 1-week trial route just because it was the easiest to do quickly.

However, thanks for all the suggestions, yet another reason why I love SoSH so much. I would have gone the way Zedia suggested (TNT app) but they don't have a version yet for Samsung TV's. I have a Roku, which they do make an app for, but that was accidentally left down on the Cape and I am loathe to retrieve it just for this.

And thanks to the amazingly-informed SumnerH for pointing out the existence of HDMI transmitters--I had no idea such things existed. Makes sense that they use a 5G connection mechanism, though.
You cannot watch the TNT app without a cable /satellite subscription.
 

SumnerH

Malt Liquor Picker
Dope
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
31,891
Alexandria, VA
And thanks to the amazingly-informed SumnerH for pointing out the existence of HDMI transmitters--I had no idea such things existed. Makes sense that they use a 5G connection mechanism, though.
There are various radio/wifi connections, you can dig through Amazon for them.
 

cgori

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 2, 2004
4,000
SF, CA
And thanks to the amazingly-informed SumnerH for pointing out the existence of HDMI transmitters--I had no idea such things existed. Makes sense that they use a 5G connection mechanism, though.
FYI, I think it's actually 5GHz band, not 5G (a bit of translation failure, or marketing hype, depending on how charitable you want to be). It would be a bit surprising to me (right now) if something so simple used 5G, since chips for doing this at 5GHz are $10-11 each.

5G actually transmits on (up to) 3 different frequency bands, none of which are centered on 5GHz :) - and would generally require a higher-priced/fancier chipset to do so.

Also, that specific product seems to have a local HDMI loop-out so you might not even need the splitter - at least one review suggests that both local and remote devices can be active at the same time.
 

TomTerrific

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
2,702
Wayland, MA
FYI, I think it's actually 5GHz band, not 5G (a bit of translation failure, or marketing hype, depending on how charitable you want to be). It would be a bit surprising to me (right now) if something so simple used 5G, since chips for doing this at 5GHz are $10-11 each.

5G actually transmits on (up to) 3 different frequency bands, none of which are centered on 5GHz :) - and would generally require a higher-priced/fancier chipset to do so.

Also, that specific product seems to have a local HDMI loop-out so you might not even need the splitter - at least one review suggests that both local and remote devices can be active at the same time.
OK, that's interesting. I had just presumed that it was the availability of 5G chipsets that made this possible, but it sounds like you are saying a) true 5G chipsets aren't that cheap, and b) this is just using the 5 GHz wireless band that's already available through 802.11ac, which now that I look at the definition is also called "5G Wifi", which is probably what they mean by "5G Wireless".
 

the1andonly3003

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
4,371
Chicago
https://www.locast.org/ is not available in all cities, but it is free and offers the local stations you would get with an antenna. For Boston, that amounts to 21 channels.
not a fan of the ads that pop up in the middle asking for a $5 donation
You cannot watch the TNT app without a cable /satellite subscription.
TNT app sound quality on Fire TV is terrible. Need to turn volume to 75+
 

cgori

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 2, 2004
4,000
SF, CA
OK, that's interesting. I had just presumed that it was the availability of 5G chipsets that made this possible, but it sounds like you are saying a) true 5G chipsets aren't that cheap, and b) this is just using the 5 GHz wireless band that's already available through 802.11ac, which now that I look at the definition is also called "5G Wifi", which is probably what they mean by "5G Wireless".
Yea, it's a terrible, awful mess of terminology - "Wifi 5" is the marketing name for 802.11ac, which (coincidentally) runs in the 5GHz band. "Wifi 6" is 802.11ax, just really coming into the market now, it runs in the 2.4+5GHz bands. 5G LTE is completely different, even though the name sounds similar, and it has 3 sub-bands. The really fast 5G band that I think most people think of when you say "5G" is up around 30GHz - sometimes called millimeter wave band, and the mid-band is 2.5-3.7GHz. The low-band might not even roll out in some countries. I believe that mm-wave has poor ability to go through walls/objects as well, making it not ideal for this kind of use case.

5G (LTE) hotspots are priced around 400-650 right now, I think there are 2-3 chipsets from Qualcomm available that implement it at the moment, and probably something from Samsung and/or Huawei. That kind of pricing is why I'm pretty sure that a pair of devices for ~120 bucks are more likely 802.11ac (5GHz / Wifi 5).
 

edoug

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
6,007
AT&T Chief Executive Officer John Stankey confirmed coming in '21, an ad supported tier on HBO Max. Not all of the programming will be on there. But probably better off that way in some cases. When they are available on Roku and Amazon devices, Stankey says he believes the situation “will resolve itself in relatively short order,” and that when one of the platforms makes a deal, the other will follow soon after. "
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2008
4,266
New England
I went to cancel Fubo after my trial and they automatically offered me a retention rate of $14.97 for 30 days. I took it.

After just over a month using Fubo, I’m not terribly impressed. The picture quality and performance are very good (which, in fairness, is critically important). But the lack of ABC and TNT stinks. The search UX on Roku is slow and unintuitive. Another feature I really miss from YouTube.TV: the ability to set the DVR by team. On YouTube.TV I can set recordings for the Sox, Pats and Cs and it’ll record games on any channel. Best I can tell, I need to DVR each individual game on Fubo. For a service that began catering to sports fans, that’s baffling.
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
SoSH Member
Apr 23, 2010
6,247
from the wilds of western ma
I cut the cord on cable last week, although, at least temporarily, I'm stuck with Comcast internet. Went Fire Stick, YoutubeTV, Netflix. I'm already an Amazon prime customer, so I'll also get prime video. Between those, and the other free streaming apps, I've got enough entertainment for my needs, and have had no issues at all with the streaming/picture quality. The X-1 triple play(and I never once made or took a call on the home phone) was running me around 275.00/month. I'm now down to 195.00/month, but at some point hopefully this fall or early spring, my city's gas and electric company 1G internet service will be available on my street. That will save me another 40-45.00/month, and allow me to say goodbye to Comcast completely.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,057
Hingham, MA
I am currently going without any live streaming service, and I can't say I'm really missing anything. I've even been able to watch the Pats through Yahoo or whatever. Current bill is just my $54.99/month internet and $6.99/month Disney+. Bumming Netflix from my brother, and have Prime video through my Prime account. It's pretty great not spending much every month.
 

CantKeepmedown

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
2,581
Portland, ME
I've been using Sling for the Bruins and Celtics' playoff series (had to switch packages when I realized the Celtics were exclusive to ESPN for the ECF). The funny thing is, I don't use it at all if I'm not watching the Celtics. I've scrolled through a couple times late night and nothing jumps out. I don't miss cable at all.

Once the Celtics win it all, I'll be totally content getting rid of it and going back to life with just Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. I'm still paying $75 for shitty WiFi through Spectrum, but there doesn't seem to be much I can do about that.
 

LoweTek

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
May 30, 2005
2,183
Central Florida
Sling lost several Fox channels. In Florida, I can't watch on MLB.TV if the Red Sox play TBR or MIA. I just spent a week with no access to the games. MLB.TV blacked them out and Sling gave up on the two Fox affiliates who broadcast TBR and MIA. I have to keep paying for the extended sports package however, if I want to get Golf channel and MLB network. No price change though.
 

Mugsy's Jock

Eli apologist
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 28, 2000
15,069
UWS, NYC
Just discovering that Soectrum moved RedZone to a sports tier that has absolutely no other channel I Possibly could care less about (the Outdoor Channel, the Olympic Channel, etc.) for another 5 bucks a month. So I’m getting fewer channels than I used to, but my bill went up a bunch a couple months ago.

I think I’m stuck, because we have a long list of must-have cable channels (Turner, Viacom and Disney/ESPN cable networks YES, HBO, all the broadcasters). Last time I tried to build a cordless solution that had all the channels we needed the dollars were just about the same.
 

tmracht

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 19, 2009
3,070
Just discovering that Soectrum moved RedZone to a sports tier that has absolutely no other channel I Possibly could care less about (the Outdoor Channel, the Olympic Channel, etc.) for another 5 bucks a month. So I’m getting fewer channels than I used to, but my bill went up a bunch a couple months ago.

I think I’m stuck, because we have a long list of must-have cable channels (Turner, Viacom and Disney/ESPN cable networks YES, HBO, all the broadcasters). Last time I tried to build a cordless solution that had all the channels we needed the dollars were just about the same.
Yeah I got them to take 40 a month off by telling them I wanted their streaming package. But it wasn't available in my down. They put us in a tough spot. Luckily retention team ponied up for 12 months.
 

genoasalami

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 4, 2006
2,579
Providing our members with 85+ channels requires contracts that are periodically renegotiated with content owners. Earlier this year, we negotiated an extension with Sinclair to continue carrying FOX Regional Sports Networks through the regular seasons for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Unfortunately, now the seasons are over and that extension is expiring.
Starting Thursday, October 1, 2020, FOX Regional Sports Networks will no longer be available on YouTube TV, and you will no longer have access to any previous recordings from FOX Regional Sports Networks.
This was a difficult decision made after months of negotiations. We hope that we can bring FOX RSNs back in the future. Thank you for your membership as we work to make YouTube TV the best streaming experience.
Sincerely, The YouTube TV team

NFL Network and Redzone channel additions cancelled by the loss of FOX RSN. What now? Wait for them to come to an agreement or jump over to HULU live?
 

Catcher Block

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 7, 2006
5,825
St. Louis
Edit: Covered above.

I don't want to jump to Hulu because of a lot of issues we had with it. The commercial and live-action times were getting messed up, and we couldn't pause during live or on-demand TV at times because it thought we were in a commercial.

We get our internet from Spectrum, and I'm hoping they have a package I'm not going to hate.
 

LoweTek

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
May 30, 2005
2,183
Central Florida
Providing our members with 85+ channels requires contracts that are periodically renegotiated with content owners. Earlier this year, we negotiated an extension with Sinclair to continue carrying FOX Regional Sports Networks through the regular seasons for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Unfortunately, now the seasons are over and that extension is expiring.
Starting Thursday, October 1, 2020, FOX Regional Sports Networks will no longer be available on YouTube TV, and you will no longer have access to any previous recordings from FOX Regional Sports Networks.
This was a difficult decision made after months of negotiations. We hope that we can bring FOX RSNs back in the future. Thank you for your membership as we work to make YouTube TV the best streaming experience.
Sincerely, The YouTube TV team

NFL Network and Redzone channel additions cancelled by the loss of FOX RSN. What now? Wait for them to come to an agreement or jump over to HULU live?
Same thing with Sling. Because I'm subject to MLB.TV blackout for both the Marlins and Rays, I couldn't watch any Red Sox games from the 10th through the 16th.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,432
Locast is starting t piss me off. Telling me "watching this a lot" by interrupting the Fox Texas football game (Haven;t used it in a week). Have to click on another local channel to flip back for Fox to work again.

Doing this like every 15 minutes.
 

edoug

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
6,007
Locast is starting t piss me off. Telling me "watching this a lot" by interrupting the Fox Texas football game (Haven;t used it in a week). Have to click on another local channel to flip back for Fox to work again.

Doing this like every 15 minutes.
Is this Locast asking for donations or something else?
 

Papelbon's Poutine

Homeland Security
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2005
19,615
Portsmouth, NH
I love when people answer and either/or question with a yes or no. Always cracks me up.

Anyway, I could give a shit about NFL Network or RedZone, NESN isn't a big deal im just as happy finding it somewhere and i don't have time to spend 3 hrs a day watching a game anyway; my lone missing thing if golf channel and i could get that easily enough but its one tier up and there's nothing else on there id watch. So I stick with my base package on ATT TV NOW.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
17,364
So I was watching the WS on youtubeTV last night and noticed that the screen resolution was absolute garbage. Watching on my Roku Ultra on a wired connection to FiOS gigabit internet I was getting 480p resolution with the resolution setting to auto. Using the same setup I was able to watch 4K HDR on Disney+ with no issue. Anyone have similar issues or thoughts on a fix?
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,671
Not cutting the cord, but has anyone in MA switched to RCN lately? Seems like a better deal right now than Fios/Comcast.
 

gtmtnbiker

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
1,724
So I was watching the WS on youtubeTV last night and noticed that the screen resolution was absolute garbage. Watching on my Roku Ultra on a wired connection to FiOS gigabit internet I was getting 480p resolution with the resolution setting to auto. Using the same setup I was able to watch 4K HDR on Disney+ with no issue. Anyone have similar issues or thoughts on a fix?
No advice other than report the problem to YTTV. I generally don't watch live TV. Either straight DVR or DVR in progress and catch up to live near the end of the game.

I haven't any issues with picture quality but there was an issue where they broke the skip ahead preview (blank screen). Reported it on reddit and it was fixed within a day.
 

Zedia

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2005
6,988
Pasadena, CA
So I was watching the WS on youtubeTV last night and noticed that the screen resolution was absolute garbage. Watching on my Roku Ultra on a wired connection to FiOS gigabit internet I was getting 480p resolution with the resolution setting to auto. Using the same setup I was able to watch 4K HDR on Disney+ with no issue. Anyone have similar issues or thoughts on a fix?
Were you able to change it off auto? I believe Fox only broadcasts at 720 anyway.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
17,364
Were you able to change it off auto? I believe Fox only broadcasts at 720 anyway.
Yes. I toggled over to 720p and after a short initial buffer it worked fine. If I leave it set to 720 will everything now be shown in 720 or will it bump up to 1080 on channels that offer it? I'm guessing I'll be stuck on 720 for everything. I don't really want to have to adjust resolution on everything I watch.

The fact that Fox maxes out at 720p in 2020 is a whole other issue.
 

Zedia

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2005
6,988
Pasadena, CA
Yes, something's not right that Auto doesn't default to the best. Although, I think Youtube is the only service where it's even an option to check the resolution.
 

tmracht

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 19, 2009
3,070
Okay just dropped down from Spectrum Gold to some lower tier package while upgrading internet to 400/20. I'm just making sure the mesh network is good in the bedrooms before cancelling cable completely lest my wife miss election fun. Is that YTTV promo where you get it for 3 months at 45$ if you get a Chromecast a good offer?
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
17,364
So I was watching the WS on youtubeTV last night and noticed that the screen resolution was absolute garbage. Watching on my Roku Ultra on a wired connection to FiOS gigabit internet I was getting 480p resolution with the resolution setting to auto. Using the same setup I was able to watch 4K HDR on Disney+ with no issue. Anyone have similar issues or thoughts on a fix?
Reinstalling the YTTV app seems to have fixed this for now.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

RIP Dernell
SoSH Member
Mar 24, 2008
7,204
Yes. I toggled over to 720p and after a short initial buffer it worked fine. If I leave it set to 720 will everything now be shown in 720 or will it bump up to 1080 on channels that offer it? I'm guessing I'll be stuck on 720 for everything. I don't really want to have to adjust resolution on everything I watch.

The fact that Fox maxes out at 720p in 2020 is a whole other issue.
Is any TV actually broadcast at 1080p? One of the really frustrating realities to me as we've moved into 4K TVs and streaming is that almost everything is still broadcast at 720p often with shitty codecs.
 

Red Sox Physicist

Well-Known Member
Gold Supporter
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
296
Natick, MA
Is any TV actually broadcast at 1080p? One of the really frustrating realities to me as we've moved into 4K TVs and streaming is that almost everything is still broadcast at 720p often with shitty codecs.
For broadcast TV, the ATSC 1.0 broadcast standard originally only supported up to 1080i @ 60 fields/s (30 frames/s) or 720p @ 60 frames/s using MPEG2 compression. The standard was extended in 2008 to add support for H.264 compression and 1080p @ 60. However, I don't think any broadcasters actually use it because older TVs and digital converter boxes wouldn't support it. Broadcasters that do sports usually pick 720p over 1080i because of the higher temporal resolution.

ATSC 3.0 is currently in trial markets and will support 4K and HEVC compression.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
Okay just dropped down from Spectrum Gold to some lower tier package while upgrading internet to 400/20. I'm just making sure the mesh network is good in the bedrooms before cancelling cable completely lest my wife miss election fun. Is that YTTV promo where you get it for 3 months at 45$ if you get a Chromecast a good offer?
Yes.

I can attest that I bought the new Chromecast and it's fantastic. Faster than the Fire TV Stick and significantly faster than the Roku 4K.(which is weirdly slow) Very good remote, transitions between apps is very smooth. And the picture is perfect. It's a great, very little machine.
 

tmracht

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 19, 2009
3,070
Yes.

I can attest that I bought the new Chromecast and it's fantastic. Faster than the Fire TV Stick and significantly faster than the Roku 4K.(which is weirdly slow) Very good remote, transitions between apps is very smooth. And the picture is perfect. It's a great, very little machine.
Thank you so much, much appreciated! I'll pull the trigger this week.
 

Matty005

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 28, 2005
925
Arlington, MA
Just got an email notice from YouTube TV that they will no longer carry NESN. This is a huge deal breaker for me. Anyone think they’ll be able to work it out?
 

daburgaman

New Member
Apr 3, 2007
298
Anyone else just get an email from YouTube tv saying that nesn will no longer will be offered? Really disappointing if I can’t get bruins and Red Sox games. Will potentially have to look for alternatives if anyone has suggestions.
 

finnVT

superspreadsheeter
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2002
2,153
I got it... that might be a deal breaker for me when hockey comes back. Hopefully they can get something resolved before then.
 

IdiotKicker

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 21, 2005
10,784
Somerville, MA
NESN was pulled from PS Vue a few months before they folded, so it’s hard to say exactly what was going on there, but they never got them back on the platform prior to closing up shop. But it’s not a great sign.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Anyone else just get an email from YouTube tv saying that nesn will no longer will be offered? Really disappointing if I can’t get bruins and Red Sox games. Will potentially have to look for alternatives if anyone has suggestions.
I'm with you. Not at all happy about it. Need to think things through soon....