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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsHow I cut the cable (DISH) and learned to love ROKU. And YOUTUBE TV.
Disclaimer: I am neither employed by nor compensated, in any way, by ROKU or YOUTUBE TV.
I am 77 years old and retired (commercial pilot).
We bought a 'smart' TV.
We bought a ROKU stick for $30.
It was on sale, down from $40.
It took about 15 minutes to set it up.
I am NOT an electronics/computer geek.
I now have free access to hundreds of TV channels.
Many are not even broadcast channels.
They are only available on the internet.
Like tubi.
500,000 movies?
OK, you can go to the ROKU website and see what they have.
ROKU does not have local channels.
That's where YOUTUBE TV comes in.
(Not to be confused with YOUTUBE on ROKU. That is completely free and NO commercials. Thousands of movies, TV shows, cooking, documentaries, etc.)
YOUTUBE TV IS $40/MO.
I was paying $100/mo. for DISH and a hundred (thousand) channels I never watched.
You get all your local channels and their national feeds, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, etc., plus every sports channel known to man. Channels I didn't even know existed.
This is my present to DU.
I quit watching DISH in September.
I cancelled their service three weeks ago.
(Just want to make sure I could watch everything I wanted before I cut the cord. Alabama football, Super Bowl.)
It's not nearly as scary as you think.
samnsara
(17,622 posts)...they even carried the Oscars live last night...
Pluto tv on ROKU has an MST3K channel.
Raven
(13,891 posts)I had Directv which I loved but it was over $100 a month for 2 TVs. I bough 2 ROKU sticks for $30 each, subscribed to Directvnow (different company from DirectV) for $30 a month which covers both Tvs and I'm getting all the channels I need. It's a little scary to cut the cable but I'm thrilled I did it.
trof
(54,256 posts)If you split the cost, that comes to under $10/mo.
FirstLight
(13,360 posts)The NASA channel, and other cool channels are free. Had a friend show me that feature.
I unplugged from cable a long time ago, and have made it by just fine with youtube, and other stuff I can find on the laptop... but I like the variety..
solara
(3,836 posts)I have just signed up for two more years and if I try to leave my cable company they are gonna get me. I told them I was on a fixed income and I wanted to opt out, they told me I could cut things down like have less channels, lose voicemail on my phone, have less bandwidth with a much slower computer - but I would be paying almost the same for much less. Then I realized I hadn't put anything else in place ( I have bundled Wifi/landline /cable) so I couldn't just stop everything. So I signed.
Any advice?
csziggy
(34,136 posts)It's worth it. As said, there are a lot of things that are free - Roku has its own channel, Pluto, Vudu (Walmart's and will try to sell you movies, but still a lot of free stuff, Sony Crackle, NASA, and more. Even the free stuff on YouTube is available through Roku so you can watch it on a bigger screen than your computer.
As mentioned in the OP, Roku devices are pretty cheap and once you buy it the only costs are for the streaming channels with a fee. Some of the streaming channels are very cheap even without commercials. BritBox is about $7 a month, AcornTV is $5, Curiosity is $6 (but they just offered me a new cheaper service with ads for $3 a month).
If you already have Amazon Prime they have tons of programs. If you donate to your local PBS station you can get that streamed over Roku.
The biggest problem may be that your say your internet is slower. If it is too slow, your streaming could be affected.
I had a Roku for several months before I convinced my husband to switch over completely. But it is a low investment with a lot of possibilities and worth a trial.
solara
(3,836 posts)I'll see what I can do
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Cable or AT&T?
I went with Spectrum last year on their 2 year price lock deal and ditched AT&T U-Verse. I am going to get serious this year about cutting the cable cord, but my wife wants to record her favorites (and there are a lot of those) so I need equipment to do that, I need Wifi so I am guessing a router and such along with an antenna or method to get the major networks along with MeTv and hopefully something with a bunch of Westerns for her.
yellowdogintexas
(22,252 posts)Entire series. Hulu has the current episodes of many popular series. Every Monday or Tuesday I catch up on my favorites; sort of like a different and much less expensive version of On Demand
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)That sounds workable.
trof
(54,256 posts)My bill went from $196/mo. to $38.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)I have Spectrum right now but we had AT&T. I will go with whoever has the best deal at the time.
northoftheborder
(7,572 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,190 posts)yellowdogintexas
(22,252 posts)and we got a Firestick for our bedroom TV last year
We have Netflix, Hulu, Prime and HBO Now which is billed through our Amazon.
ROKU has Free Speech TV as a free channel.
Stephanie Miller, Bill Press, Thom Hartmann, Democracy Now and others. Complete archive too.
procon
(15,805 posts)what about two programs that are on at the same time, do you have to pick one and lose the other?
Is there any schedule to view in advance to see what is playing or get it saved if its at a time when we aren't home? Are shows are held back and delayed; that's annoying.
DH and I have markedly different viewing tastes and I don't want to be fussing about who gets to watch what and when, you know what I'm saying? We subscribed to HBO and Starz on Amazon prime,but that is only playing on the computers because we don't know how to get it on the TV. I know, we are tech challenged and probably a 10 year old kid could do what we cannot. Pretty sad for two retired professionals, eh?
Lots of these little nagging little questions are the main obstacles that keep us tied to the Cable. We don't know how, or if, this would work for us. We would like to get away from cable tv, but we don't want to deal with a complicated, time consuming hassle every time we want to watch a show.
GreenPartyVoter
(72,377 posts)can really tailor your viewing. For us, we just do it all under hubby's. Hulu has a 50 hour DVR, plus a lot of older stuff is on-demand anyway.
I miss some dish features, like a bigger DVR, faster scan, and am still getting used to the difference in format, but it's worth saving the money.
trof
(54,256 posts)Easiest way to link computer to tv is with an HDMI cable if your tv has that input. Look on the back.
You can also do it wirelessly if you have wifi, but that's a bit more complicated.
JCMach1
(27,558 posts)But same concept ... I can watch anything between Hulu, Netflix and Amazon
GreenPartyVoter
(72,377 posts)KY_EnviroGuy
(14,491 posts)that in addition, you still have to pay for your basic data pipeline....that is, your high-speed internet via cable, DSL or fiber from your local internet provider. So, for many people, they're not really cutting the cable - they're changing what's done with that cable entering their home.
In addition, one has to have enough bandwidth (data rate) to provide data streams to all devices that will be receiving separate programming (multiple TVs, smartphones, computer, etc.) via streaming WIFI. Many folks may also need to upgrade their WIFI modem or router since their WIFI will likely be handling much more data. Your internet provider can help with those calculations.
For an example of internet access cost, when we get it done ours will be between $40 and $50/mo. through AT&T Internet plus a little monthly for the WIFI modem. The $50 rate pays for 50mb/s data speed, which is far more than my family will need.
It's also worthy to mention that most everyone can get the major networks plus their many sub-channels for free over the air with just a set of rabbit ears in urban areas. I've talked to people that were completely unaware that antenna-access broadcast TV is still available (in digital format).
...........
trof
(54,256 posts)For just phone and internet (no DISH), my bill went from $196/mo. to $38/mo.
Yes, with a $10 indoor antenna I can get 20 channels in coastal Alabama.
About 40 miles from Mobile or Pensacola.
There are no tv stations in my county.
a kennedy
(29,661 posts)without our cable?? our computer/wifi are through our cable.......how do we get our computer connection??? Thanks.
Fla Dem
(23,668 posts)You'll still will have a cable bill for the internet and phone if you're still using a landline.
a kennedy
(29,661 posts)for our computer, that makes sense. Thanks again.
ploppy
(2,162 posts)Internet connection, Amazon fire stick and subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu. I really love it and don't have to be pissed off every time I pay a Comcast bill because I dumped them!
TexasBushwhacker
(20,190 posts)And Kanopy uses digital content from public libraries. If you have a library card and your library participayes, you can stream 4 free programs per month. They have a lot of stuff you won't find elsewhere.
hunter
(38,312 posts)Our library started offering it, but I haven't tried it yet.
We get 10 programs per month and it is wonderful.
Zorro
(15,740 posts)Looks like that's the only streaming service that has the telenovela channels my wife loves to watch. Otherwise Youtube TV would be a strong contender to replace UVerse tv, which is going up 8 percent next month for me.
I agree that the Youtube app on Roku is awesome. Tremendous number of BBC archeology and history shows, old car and airplane manufacturing production reels etc. etc. for free viewing. It's great.