OT: SlingTV and cutting cord

[NebChicago]

Anyone have reviews of SlingTV and using it as a means of cutting cord but retaining ability to watch sports.
I am entertaining the idea of getting rid of Comcast (Chicago) after the SuperBowl, and possibly re-up'ing when College Fball starts again in Sept.

But was curious if anyone had executed similar plan. I hate comcast.

 

[TheBeav815]

Right there with you. In fact, reminds me I need to cancel DirecTV. Since the AT&T merger went through, they're fresh out of craps to give about my threats to cancel.

Huskers are the only thing that keeps me paying for any TV service at all.

 

[NebChicago]

Or using something like Chromecast to steal my neighbors Comcast login (they don't care b/c I'm cool) then throwing B10 Network or WatchEspn to my TV? Does it work like that?
I'm cool but a little stupid.

 

[St. Anger]

I also cut the cord (other thread on here about that). Posting for SlingTV info. Am also curious.

 

[puddinhead0404]

I watch a lot of soccer which is mostly carried on NBC Sports so if they would pick that up on the sports package I'd probably go in for Sling TV.

 

[TheBeav815]

Maybe I spoke too soon on DirecTV not discounting any more. I told them I'm canceling because it costs too much and the girl on the phone hooked it UP. She asked what I could see paying, I told her $40.

She gave me their "sports pack" for free, which I don't care about. Bunch of Fox Sports channels I'll never watch and some other nonsense. She just kinda put it on there as a free trial that would roll off automatically, so I didn't fuss about it.

Did I flirt with her a little? Maybe. Do I go out of my way to suck up to customer service reps? Absolutely. She gave me a $51 customer loyalty credit for 6 months, then she looked at my combined Uverse and DirecTV bills and started doing some other stuff and said she's gonna have me paying a grand total of $55 a month grand total for the DirecTV with the Choice package and the U-verse Max Plus internet combined.

So to be nice I didn't tell her I'm about to suspend the service for 8-9 months...but at any rate I'm happy about what they did for me.

 

[schuele]

Or using something like Chromecast to steal my neighbors Comcast login (they don't care b/c I'm cool) then throwing B10 Network or WatchEspn to my TV? Does it work like that?
I'm cool but a little stupid.

I would never, ever advocate such an underhanded endeavor...

But if I did, an HDMI cable works better. Chromcast is okay but, assuming your computer has HDMI output, it's the better option.

 

[4HisGlory1]

Anyone have reviews of SlingTV and using it as a means of cutting cord but retaining ability to watch sports.
I am entertaining the idea of getting rid of Comcast (Chicago) after the SuperBowl, and possibly re-up'ing when College Fball starts again in Sept.

But was curious if anyone had executed similar plan. I hate comcast.

We cut the cord almost three years ago and have used a variety of netflix and amazon prime to watch shows. I was fortunate enough to use my parents Time Warner cable log in so I could watch ESPN on my Roku. I signed up for Sling two months ago and overall I would say we really like it. Kids love Disney, I get sports, and wife gets History, Lifetime, A&E...etc. For the most part, it works well (we stream via Roku). There have been a few times when things wouldn't load but overall it has been fairly reliable. Keep in mind that you can only watch it on one TV at a time. I think it has been worth the $20 as it has most of the channels we normally watched when we had cable. Just make sure you have a newer streaming device (works much better on our Roku 3 then Roku 2 we have in our bedroom) and also that you have a strong internet package.

 

[TheBeav815]

I would never, ever advocate such an underhanded endeavor...

But if I did, an HDMI cable works better. Chromcast is okay but, assuming your computer has HDMI output, it's the better option.

Agreed. I use my PS3 with a media server to watch movies from my computer. Got a used Xbox360 to do the same thing up in the bedroom (and sometimes play Halo). They also run Netflix and Amazon Video. From December to August I don't miss live TV one bit.

For my daughter, I found toonoova.com (pretty sure that's how you spell it) and it has every episode of pretty much every cartoon. You want ad blocker for it, some of their ads are a little on the "Russian singles are waiting for you" side without it.

 

[St. Anger]

I would never, ever advocate such an underhanded endeavor...

But if I did, an HDMI cable works better. Chromcast is okay but, assuming your computer has HDMI output, it's the better option.

Yeah but what if you're lazy and don't want to stand up.

 

[summersatthelake]

I could cut the cord tomorrow and the only thing that I would miss would be college football and especially the BTN...I guess that means I won't be cutting the cord but I would like to.

 

[HuskerDuderino]

Anyone have reviews of SlingTV and using it as a means of cutting cord but retaining ability to watch sports.
I am entertaining the idea of getting rid of Comcast (Chicago) after the SuperBowl, and possibly re-up'ing when College Fball starts again in Sept.

But was curious if anyone had executed similar plan. I hate comcast.

I live out of state. Family member has a slingbox he hooked up to the cable box at his office. Works out perfectly for me because really the only time I watch tv is during the weekends when most normal people aren't in the office. I control the cable box in Omaha from my location (2,000+ miles away), which is cool, because I get the "Omaha version" of DirecTV. In the past, I have learned people had been in the office and watching a program, and they get freaked when I changed the channel because they thought there was a ghost working the cable box or something.

Sling works the same as if I had normal HD cable. And it's free. I am unsure what slingtv is, but I'm guessing it's just a slingbox connected to a normal cable box? A few things I will say is that sling relies upon:

- a steady, reliable high-speed internet connection
- if you "share" bandwidth with your neighbors, i.e., you have a common connection (which is common), the bandwidth gets stretched in the evenings.
- consider getting a fixed bandwidth internet connection (I am in the process of doing so)

I live in a suburb, I'm guessing the predictable slowdown or lag during the evenings is because all my neighbors are streaming Frozen for the 1,034th time for their kids.

All in all, if you have a netflix streaming account, a digital antenna, and slingbox, I don't really see the need to have an account. My wife and I also recently purchased appletv, and I use my various friends' login info for accessing HBO, Showtime, BTN2GO, etc.

 

[Row80]

I live out of state. Family member has a slingbox he hooked up to the cable box at his office. Works out perfectly for me because really the only time I watch tv is during the weekends when most normal people aren't in the office. I control the cable box in Omaha from my location (2,000+ miles away), which is cool, because I get the "Omaha version" of DirecTV. In the past, I have learned people had been in the office and
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All in all, if you have a netflix streaming account, a digital antenna, and slingbox, I don't really see the need to have an account. My wife and I also recently purchased appletv, and I use my various friends' login info for accessing HBO, Showtime, BTN2GO, etc.

SlingTV (http://www.sling.com) allows you to watch the included TV channels live. I know it can be accessed via Roku but I imagine there are other options also. It appears some of the channels in the base package ($20/mo) are ESPN, ESPN2, AMC, A&E, History, TNT, IFC, Disney, TBS, H2. For another $5/mo you can add the Sports Extra package (ESPNU, Sec Network, ESPNews and others). About a year ago I asked about BTN and they didn't have plans to add it but didn't rule it out either).

Slingbox (http://www.slingbox.com) Allows you to access live cable or satellite TV on a phone, tablet or computer 'anywhere in the world'. You to have your own cable subscription or one you can steal from. (I'm not advocating cable)

 

[Jimmy Frank]

If you have Verizon you can get all the nfl games cheap.

 

[HuskerDuderino]

SlingTV (http://www.sling.com) allows you to watch the included TV channels live. I know it can be accessed via Roku but I imagine there are other options also. It appears some of the channels in the base package ($20/mo) are ESPN, ESPN2, AMC, A&E, History, TNT, IFC, Disney, TBS, H2. For another $5/mo you can add the Sports Extra package (ESPNU, Sec Network, ESPNews and others). About a year ago I asked about BTN and they didn't have plans to add it but didn't rule it out either).

Slingbox (http://www.slingbox.com) Allows you to access live cable or satellite TV on a phone, tablet or computer 'anywhere in the world'. You to have your own cable subscription or one you can steal from. (I'm not advocating cable)

Thanks for the explanation. Because I've always had access to a slingbox hooked up to a cable box I have never had to expound upon my technological knowledge.

Long story short, if you have enough friends who are willing to give you their access passwords for their respective cable providers, you don't need cable.

 

[schuele]

Long story short, if you have enough friends who are willing to give you their access passwords for their respective cable providers, you don't need cable.

This is what makes Comcast's "scrambling" policy so remarkably stupid. If you ask them why you have to have a cable box to get the same SD and HD channels that thousands of people can get with no equipment at all, they'll insist that they MUST scramble their signal to prevent cable theft.

Newsflash, fellas. People don't "steal cable" anymore by shinnying up a pole and installing a splitter - theyve found plenty of other methods.