Posted on 02/12/2018 4:09:48 PM PST by A Cyrenian
I recently terminated my Directv contract after using it for 2 years.
I thought we would give the internet streaming applications a try.
I increased my bandwidth from my ISP to 400mb. I bought a new 1gb cable modem as well as a 1gb wireless router. I wanted to give this an honest chance.
We selected HULU as the streaming application. DON'T!
It's 6:02pm cst and here's Hulu's lineup. 2018 Winter Olympics Live (when carried by NBC the stream is choppy and unwatchable. Unless you like watching cartoons form 1920).
Showtime Free Episodes - they have offered this for a week and all they show is Homeland 701
Colgate at Bucknell
My Lottery Dream Home
Chopped
Bizarre Foods with A Zimmern
Worst Cooks in America
The Kitchen
Man v. Food
Kids Baking Championship
Guy's Grocery Games
The Chew
Food Paradise
American Pickers
Hell's Kitchen
Beat Bobby Flay
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
The Profit
The Real Housewives of N. J. and
Live PD
Now when we had Directv and cable the Food Channel only showed 1 of those shows at a time.
Hulu is a JOKE!
I would suggest if you are thinking about dropping satellite or cable, give it a few months. You'll be glad you did.
Including college football and basket ball ?
We cut the cord in December. The $50 antenna I put on the roof paid for itself in 1 month. Still need to optimize signal (uh... move it arouund).
For streaming, we’re long time Netflix users and happy with it. We tried Hulu and thought the entertainment options were ok. We just signed up with Sling as 2 local networks were available, but the streaming quality has sucked when compared to Netflix. Going to test it again with a cat6 cable off the back of my router, though I prefer to be wireless (and Netflix worked great wirelessly).
Plus $25 a month for Sling.
“Get a Roku! And an OTA antennae.”
I did this. Netflix plus Amazon Prime is around $20 per month.
We have had SlingTV but my wife said cancel it, so I will.
We live in the Lost Angeles basin with great OTA antenna reception.
I want to cut the cable, but it is 90 miles either direction for ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox affiliates. Quality internet is about $100 a month, Comcast is $190 a month for 250 MBPS internet and TV.. for 90 bucks, I can’t do better really...if I got a modem I can save 10 a month..
How are you getting the NBC channels? Antenna? Or Apps on the smarttv?
I really just wanted folks to know these things if they were considering Hulu.
I agree streaming is in it's infancy. Hopefully things will get better soon.
Through Hulu.
I’ve been tempted to drop Directv too to go to something like Hulu and over-the-air TV, but I’d miss Fox News and Business, C-Span, Newsmax, and RFDTV - I’m pretty much fed up with Netflix and Amazon Prime - the few good movies they carry are also available often on the movie channels elsewhere and most of the rest of their offerings are “C” grade at best - hard to believe so many poor movies get made - N and AP will probably be the next “cord” that gets cut here.....
I have been cable free for 6 years.
I’ll NEVER go back!
Heck we have DSL (only game in town) at 10 down and 2 up and can still stream with minimal buffering. We have two laptops, 2 phone and 3 security cameras plus my NAS.
Personally, I couldn’t care less about sports so I never bothered looking into that.
But Modbro has a livestreaming app so you can click on different channels and watch it through your wi-fi signal. Sports channels may be on there, but don’t quote me on that.
Or, you can also add a HD antenna to pick up all the local channels for free...we’ve done that, too. So you shouldn’t miss anything if it’s being broadcast.
mount it on a rotor.
Just for shits 'n giggles I called Hulu to complain, they said it was MY Roku and MY PC that was the problem! About the answer I expected, cancelled their "service."
Honestly, their "app" just really sucks eggs in the worst way. Poorly designed, UGLY, not user friendly, I mean a HORRIBLE APP!!
I use Netflix and Amazon Prime along with an over-the-air antenna that I built using wire, coat hangers, a furring strip and a soldering iron. Works great! Happy with what I have and I don't have a $100+ cable TV bill.
Gave up DirecTV almost 7 years ago now, saved on average well over $1,200/yr ($8,400 so far) by not having a crappy Satellite or Cable TV Service.
I honestly couldn't be happier and I watch very little "TV" anymore. The occasional Netflix original series ("Disjointed" is an absolute riot!) and "The Grand Tour" on Amazon Prime along with "The Man in the High Castle" and perhaps some other original content.
Quality of content on Netflix and Amazon is quite good I think, especially their original series. Far, FAR better than anything broadcast tv creates today.
Hang in there and keep looking for content you like. You'll find plenty. Try the Roku Channel for an occasional movie too. It's FREE and almost always something good to watch.
I LOVE being a cord cutter!
My family did the cord-cutting a while ago. We use Netflix and Amazon Prime for streaming, pick up local channels using an OTA (over the air) antenna and have recently picked up Sling TV for additional channels.
One thing that made it easier is we are not live sports watchers. Our kids are very young and kids content is where we spend a lot of time.
We have an XBox One attached to our main TV which can interface with the OTA antenna, and via apps, SlingTV, Netflix and Amazon Prime video. Our TV in the master bedroom we have an Amazon Fire TV stick which we got free for pre-subscribing for two months of SlingTV as a promotion.
Overall our setup is working well for us. All of our streaming services are available on our TVs, tablets, or smartphones. For a couple months out of the year we add HBO Now and cancel it after we get caught up on certain series.
Our Internet downstream speed is 100Mbps and that’s worked well for us. Our Xbox and Amazon Fire TV connect wirelessly.
For us, and our viewing habits, it’s working pretty well. We tried SlingTV some time ago and the service wasn’t that good but it has improved.
Hulu sucks
Perfect! Thanks for the info.
I’ve tried Hulu with live TV and Youtube TV within the past few months. Like Youtube TV much better as it has live streaming of three local network stations and most everything else I watch. I think the local network stations carried varies by location, but it might have most of what you want.
Ummmm... no, it's not. Been doing it for 7, almost 8 years now. Hardly infancy.
Think that may be next. Really don’t understand why local isn’t readily available on a Roku (or similar) app.
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