OT - Cutting Cable

[ImJustKCClone]

@ccruzen suggested that I come in here if I had any questions.
Background: We are in rural Story County, on a north-facing, heavily wooded slope. Because of the lay of our land and the trees, dishes aren't really an option. Mediacom is about our only internet option, and television option if we want to get all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) for most prime time shows.

I just signed up for a free trial of PSvue to get the game tomorrow, and was pleasantly surprised at the range of channels and price compared to our Mediacom. The two drawbacks I can see for dropping Mediacom with our current setup are:

Mechanical: we don't have a smart tv, and don't have immediate plans to buy one, so we put it on my laptop and hook that to the tv. Workable, but awkward.

Content: No NBC. That one is close to a deal breaker for me as we can't do antenna (same reception issues as with dishes), and it's my preferred choice for local & national news (and Seth Meyers).

So, is there a way to get NBC if we do cut cable (TV) and use PSvue? We would have to continue with the internet service via Mediacom.

 

[1100011CS]

@ccruzen suggested that I come in here if I had any questions.
Background: We are in rural Story County, on a north-facing, heavily wooded slope. Because of the lay of our land and the trees, dishes aren't really an option. Mediacom is about our only internet option, and television option if we want to get all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) for most prime time shows.

I just signed up for a free trial of PSvue to get the game tomorrow, and was pleasantly surprised at the range of channels and price compared to our Mediacom. The two drawbacks I can see for dropping Mediacom with our current setup are:

Mechanical: we don't have a smart tv, and don't have immediate plans to buy one, so we put it on my laptop and hook that to the tv. Workable, but awkward.

Content: No NBC. That one is close to a deal breaker for me as we can't do antenna (same reception issues as with dishes), and it's my preferred choice for local & national news (and Seth Meyers).

So, is there a way to get NBC if we do cut cable (TV) and use PSvue? We would have to continue with the internet service via Mediacom.

Mechanical: get a FireTV or Roku

Content: https://www.nbc.com/apps (honestly, not sure what you would get without a provider login. we 'borrowed' a login from a friend)

 

[Bader]

@ccruzen suggested that I come in here if I had any questions.
Background: We are in rural Story County, on a north-facing, heavily wooded slope. Because of the lay of our land and the trees, dishes aren't really an option. Mediacom is about our only internet option, and television option if we want to get all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) for most prime time shows.

I just signed up for a free trial of PSvue to get the game tomorrow, and was pleasantly surprised at the range of channels and price compared to our Mediacom. The two drawbacks I can see for dropping Mediacom with our current setup are:

Mechanical: we don't have a smart tv, and don't have immediate plans to buy one, so we put it on my laptop and hook that to the tv. Workable, but awkward.

Content: No NBC. That one is close to a deal breaker for me as we can't do antenna (same reception issues as with dishes), and it's my preferred choice for local & national news (and Seth Meyers).

So, is there a way to get NBC if we do cut cable (TV) and use PSvue? We would have to continue with the internet service via Mediacom.

You don't need a new TV, you can get a box that essentially replaces the cable box you're renting from Mediacom. Apple TV, Roku, Amazon FireTV are the most common. These all plug into a HDMI port on your TV and have their own remote. You can download apps to them just like your phone/tablet.

Unfortunately WHO has no streaming option. Their parent company Tribune AFAIK has refused to let any of their broadcast stations be streamed on any platform.

I have Mediacom for internet and use PSVue and it works great! At one point I was using CenturyLink for Internet and getting 20 Mbps down and was able to stream just fine.

 

[ccruzen]

@ccruzen suggested that I come in here if I had any questions.
Background: We are in rural Story County, on a north-facing, heavily wooded slope. Because of the lay of our land and the trees, dishes aren't really an option. Mediacom is about our only internet option, and television option if we want to get all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) for most prime time shows.

I just signed up for a free trial of PSvue to get the game tomorrow, and was pleasantly surprised at the range of channels and price compared to our Mediacom. The two drawbacks I can see for dropping Mediacom with our current setup are:

Mechanical: we don't have a smart tv, and don't have immediate plans to buy one, so we put it on my laptop and hook that to the tv. Workable, but awkward.

Content: No NBC. That one is close to a deal breaker for me as we can't do antenna (same reception issues as with dishes), and it's my preferred choice for local & national news (and Seth Meyers).

So, is there a way to get NBC if we do cut cable (TV) and use PSvue? We would have to continue with the internet service via Mediacom.

Well howdy! Glad you're looking into it as cutting the cord has saved my family and I hundreds of dollars at this point. A few things maybe not already mentioned.
One concern with Mediacom I've had are data caps. Depending on the plan you are on for internet, they may come into play if you are streaming a ton.
As for mechanical issues, as mentioned, you can get a Roku or Chromecast or FireTV for very cheap to have an "always connected" solution.
For NBC, I'm lucky enough to get it over the air so haven't had any issues. You may be surprised what an indoor antenna would do if you haven't tried for a while (just make sure it's pointed towards/faces NW Ankeny).
If you decide to move forward, then you get to decide on provider. I've had PS Vue, DirecTV Now, and YouTubeTV. Vue was great but the price kept creeping up. DirecTV Now was fine but for some reason I just don't like the company. I love YouTubeTV, we share it with my sister (can have 6 accounts and 3 streams at once) so it's super economical. They all have different channel lineups so you need to do your research if there are any "must-haves"
I think I've written enough so I'll stop but feel free to ask any questions!

 

[cyhiphopp]

Is there a big difference between an Amazone Fire Stick and a Roku? I'm looking at Black Friday deals and trying to decide if I want to take the plunge

 

[cyhiphopp]

Oh and are there any options for recording live TV with these services like a DVR would?

 

[cycloneG]

@ccruzen suggested that I come in here if I had any questions.
Background: We are in rural Story County, on a north-facing, heavily wooded slope. Because of the lay of our land and the trees, dishes aren't really an option. Mediacom is about our only internet option, and television option if we want to get all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) for most prime time shows.

I just signed up for a free trial of PSvue to get the game tomorrow, and was pleasantly surprised at the range of channels and price compared to our Mediacom. The two drawbacks I can see for dropping Mediacom with our current setup are:

Mechanical: we don't have a smart tv, and don't have immediate plans to buy one, so we put it on my laptop and hook that to the tv. Workable, but awkward.

Content: No NBC. That one is close to a deal breaker for me as we can't do antenna (same reception issues as with dishes), and it's my preferred choice for local & national news (and Seth Meyers).

So, is there a way to get NBC if we do cut cable (TV) and use PSvue? We would have to continue with the internet service via Mediacom.

You don't have access to the local NBC content but you can access the national content. You'd be able to stream the national news broadcast as well as the late shows including Seth Meyers.

 

[cycloneG]

It almost feels like half of CF may cut the cord because of this game against Texas.

 

[jdcyclone19]

Is there a big difference between an Amazone Fire Stick and a Roku? I'm looking at Black Friday deals and trying to decide if I want to take the plunge

I have a firetv box and stick. The new 4K fire stick is powerful for a decent price.

I’m use to the firestick and like it with Alexa and prime video but I now have a Roku and will be trying it soon. If you want to use YouTube TV, the firestick will not work due to google vs amazon. Firetvs have more memory than rokus. For the dollar the new 4K firestick is the best bang for your buck.

All depends on what apps you want to use it with.

Everyone I know who has rokus or firetvs likes them.

 

[brianhos]

Is there a big difference between an Amazone Fire Stick and a Roku? I'm looking at Black Friday deals and trying to decide if I want to take the plunge

Interface, I really like the fire sticks.

 

[Bader]

Oh and are there any options for recording live TV with these services like a DVR would?

It depends on the service. Vue, YouTubeTV, DirecTV Now all have a “cloud DVR”. I know Sling was talking about it but no idea if they rolled one out.

Vue’s DVR is nice but it isn’t like what you’re used to. When you add a program to “My Shows” or I think they call it “My DVR” now it will save every broadcast of the show for 29 days. There’s no limit to the number of recordings you can have. It isn’t great for sports, IMO. You end up favoriting “college football” on a channel to catch the ISU game you end up with recordings of every single football game on that channel. They also have on demand content for everything a provider has integrated into the interface as well.

YouTubeTVs is more like a traditional DVR, I don’t remember what the storage limit is.

 

[cyhiphopp]

It depends on the service. Vue, YouTubeTV, DirecTV Now all have a “cloud DVR”. I know Sling was talking about it but no idea if they rolled one out.

Vue’s DVR is nice but it isn’t like what you’re used to. When you add a program to “My Shows” or I think they call it “My DVR” now it will save every broadcast of the show for 29 days. There’s no limit to the number of recordings you can have. It isn’t great for sports, IMO. You end up favoriting “college football” on a channel to catch the ISU game you end up with recordings of every single football game on that channel. They also have on demand content for everything a provider has integrated into the interface as well.

YouTubeTVs is more like a traditional DVR, I don’t remember what the storage limit is.

Ok so a little harder to record football and bball games then. I think I can figure that out.

It looks the PS Vue isn't as cheap but has the most options for sports channels.

 

[jdcyclone19]

Ok so a little harder to record football and bball games then. I think I can figure that out.

It looks the PS Vue isn't as cheap but has the most options for sports channels.

I have Hulu live and besides tonight, haven’t missed an away ISU football game yet. Pretty decent sports channel line up and all the Hulu content.

 

[dmclone]

Wow, how are you getting close to 1TB already? We use Vue and last month according to Mediacom we were at 488GB.

100 down from Mediacom is currently $40 a month. Vue/YouTube TV/DTVNow are all somewhere between $40-$60, so split that and you're at $90 a month.

Probably a combo of security cameras and some streaming.

As far as 100 down from Mediacom being $40/month. Maybe for new customers for the first year. The real world price for 100 down is $80/month

 

[KnappShack]

@ccruzen suggested that I come in here if I had any questions.
Background: We are in rural Story County, on a north-facing, heavily wooded slope. Because of the lay of our land and the trees, dishes aren't really an option. Mediacom is about our only internet option, and television option if we want to get all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) for most prime time shows.

I just signed up for a free trial of PSvue to get the game tomorrow, and was pleasantly surprised at the range of channels and price compared to our Mediacom. The two drawbacks I can see for dropping Mediacom with our current setup are:

Mechanical: we don't have a smart tv, and don't have immediate plans to buy one, so we put it on my laptop and hook that to the tv. Workable, but awkward.

Content: No NBC. That one is close to a deal breaker for me as we can't do antenna (same reception issues as with dishes), and it's my preferred choice for local & national news (and Seth Meyers).

So, is there a way to get NBC if we do cut cable (TV) and use PSvue? We would have to continue with the internet service via Mediacom.

For me I kept the lowest cable package possible. It was less expensive to keep the basic tier and internet vs internet only (for some reason)

So technically I haven't cut the cord completely and I could actually hook a TV up to the cable for the locals, but I run PS Vue almost exclusively for live TV.

Not sure if Mediacom runs the same way.

 

[ianoconnor]

DTV Now has been down for almost 3 hours. I'm done with this. Probably going to switch back to Sling.

 

[Cardinal and Gold]

@ccruzen suggested that I come in here if I had any questions.
Background: We are in rural Story County, on a north-facing, heavily wooded slope. Because of the lay of our land and the trees, dishes aren't really an option. Mediacom is about our only internet option, and television option if we want to get all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) for most prime time shows.

I just signed up for a free trial of PSvue to get the game tomorrow, and was pleasantly surprised at the range of channels and price compared to our Mediacom. The two drawbacks I can see for dropping Mediacom with our current setup are:

Mechanical: we don't have a smart tv, and don't have immediate plans to buy one, so we put it on my laptop and hook that to the tv. Workable, but awkward.

Content: No NBC. That one is close to a deal breaker for me as we can't do antenna (same reception issues as with dishes), and it's my preferred choice for local & national news (and Seth Meyers).

So, is there a way to get NBC if we do cut cable (TV) and use PSvue? We would have to continue with the internet service via Mediacom.

If you are going with PsVue getting an amazon fire device is a must, unless you use a PlayStation 4, because of the interface and guide. If anyone says PsVue sucks, they probably tried it on a Roku.

To get NBC use an over the air antenna. That’s is what I do, even though I get all the local Denver channels on PsVue, because the picture with an antenna is unmatched even with cable/satellite. Also antenna is live, where PsVue has about a 30 second delay. So my phone starts giving me spoilers when I’m watching the games streaming.

 

[NATEizKING]

Vue is $50 now for Core? Did it just get a lot more expensive?

Is Sling the better deal now? Is there something better yet?

My parents are looking to get something soon, need the cheapest option with all the ESPN's (ESPNU and news) and FS1 so they can watch the Clones. Don't really care about any other channels.

 

[ccruzen]

Vue is $50 now for Core? Did it just get a lot more expensive?

Is Sling the better deal now? Is there something better yet?

My parents are looking to get something soon, need the cheapest option with all the ESPN's (ESPNU and news) and FS1 so they can watch the Clones. Don't really care about any other channels.

Depending on where they are, YouTubeTV is awesome! Can share it with 6 accounts (probably need to be in the same general area) and the interface is great. However it doesn't work on Amazon Fire devices. Also, doesn't include HGTV which can be an issue with some people

 

[mb7299]

Thinking of switching my internet provider as I have Mediacom currently but have a plan that costs 60.00 for 250gb which if I use roku I get super close to really quick every month. Its just me so I dont care to spend close to 100 dollars a month for internet through them. Ive looked in Century Link but my modem doesnt appear to work with DSL (no clue if that can work with it or not) It works with cable (through mediacom). Anyone know how that works, or would I just have to buy yet another modem/router duo?