Streaming TV opinions

Purple

Admittedly my husband and I are a little behind-the-times with this, but it has come time to save some money. We are currently paying $120/month for DirecTV and since times are lean in our area, this just isn't acceptable anymore.

I'm doing research on the streaming TV options such as Netflix etc. We can get Netflix, Hulu AND Prime and save money lol, but that seems silly.

Which option do you use and how well do you like it? Also, sports are important, especially football. I think Netflix is a given, just wondering if we'll want more, and how do people get their sports fix without traditional TV?

RebuildingHusband

I cut cable a couple years ago. We have an Apple TV on each TV in the house (2). We've got subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. I use my friends' logins for other content (typically sports). And we've got cable internet so we get the basic channels (abc, nbc, cbs, fox, and public broadcast channel) automatically (even though they're also free over the air). 

MrGrimm

Well, we have young kids, so they monopolize the TV; so I don't know why we even subscribe to cable.  We have Netflix.  It doesn't have much for newer, popular movies (who has time for a movie with kids anyway?); but otherwise it's great.  There are a lot of TV shows (though I've read Hulu is better for newer shows); though they are at least a year old.  There is tons for kids.  I think Netflix is a good value.  I only have two complaints: one, you can only use it on two devices at one time for one account.  And 2nd, some of the movies/shows they carry change fairly regularly based on their agreements with the studios/networks.  You might find them bring on a new movie; only for it to be taken off a year later. 

I've toyed with getting rid of cable and getting mlbtv, but then I see the games could be blacked out since the team is in state, so I don't know it's worth the risk. 

Angeline

We have Netflix, and I already had Amazon Prime for the free shipping. They are fabulous. No schedule, no saving and going back later to find a press conference saved over it.

Can't help you on the sports. And you are a season behind on all the hot shows, so if you're a Housewives or Walking Dead fan, that may be a deal breaker.

maverick

We've been cable free for nearly a year.  We have Netflix.  We also have amazon prime, but I've never watched shows on it.  Redbox for movies.  I usually catch a stream of any sports online that I want to watch.  The few shows that I might want to watch that aren't there, I download.

RebuildingHusband

Angeline said:

And you are a season behind on all the hot shows, so if you're a Housewives or Walking Dead fan, that may be a deal breaker.

We buy the season pass for TWD. It's well worth the $60 +/- to be able to watch now. The episodes load about 8 hours after they air on TV so we watch either early the morning after or at bed the day after.

Winter

We have prime and Netflix. We also had Apple TV. You can purchase current  shows if that's important.

We haven't found a good option for sports other than going to a friends house or sports bar for the 'big' games. We do get basic channels with our antenna and can see some sports that way. 

We were cable free for five years then got direct TV for sports. Decided to drop it again the cost was just ridiculous. H has survived so it is possible lol! 

I never really watched cable when we had it and am perfectly happy with Netflix (as are the kids)  We pay a bit extra for the ability to watch on four devices.  

Purple

There is so many options out there that I am just getting overwhelmed.

Apple TV is... a streaming device? We have a Smart TV, so I would suspect this is unnecessary? Same for the Amazon Fire TV Stick thing?

Sling TV has the sports for him, and is only $20/month. It streams live channels... it has ESPN sand ESPN2. Is that enough for catching football games? I literally do not watch any sports at all, so I have no idea.

We only have 1 TV. H also has a tablet, which I suppose he could stream on if he wanted.

I'm thinking Netflix or Hulu and SlingTV should cover us, but he is the one who needs sports, not me Even Netflix + Hulu + SlingTV = $42/month if we went with the pricier options. 

Charlie

Also, for local channels, you can get HD access with a simple antenna, and use your computer as a DVR, so you can skip through commercials.

Sports can be tough, but ESPN gives you online access to pretty much all games they air, and you can watch that through a roku or apple TV. 

maverick

Purple said:

There is so many options out there that I am just getting overwhelmed.

Apple TV is... a streaming device? We have a Smart TV, so I would suspect this is unnecessary? Same for the Amazon Fire TV Stick thing?

Sling TV has the sports for him, and is only $20/month. It streams live channels... it has ESPN sand ESPN2. Is that enough for catching football games? I literally do not watch any sports at all, so I have no idea.

We only have 1 TV. H also has a tablet, which I suppose he could stream on if he wanted.

I'm thinking Netflix or Hulu and SlingTV should cover us, but he is the one who needs sports, not me Even Netflix + Hulu + SlingTV = $42/month if we went with the pricier options. 

Invest in a high quality HD antenna to catch all the games that come on local channels and you are probably good.

frillyfun

I'd start with Netflix, and then add others if you feel like it's lacking.  If you do watch network shows you can often stream episodes from the network's site.  H has some way to beam stuff to our TV from his laptop (I don't know exactly how he does this...I suspect Vulcan mind meld).

Let your H figure out what sports he wants to watch, and how to get them to a TV.

RebuildingHusband

I've got a smart tv and much prefer my Apple TV interface to that stupid thing. It's slow and clunky. And the only thing it does that my Apple TV can't is Amazon prime video. So it gets used but very infrequently. 

Rico

After going through several different devices, we've settled on the Amazon Fire TV. We Subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Netflix is great for kids and older series, while Hulu has current seasons.  Amazon Prime is just along for the ride because we subscribe to it anyway for shipping.

I also have a media server with all my DVDs and Blu-Rays ripped to it and stream those to the Fire TV via the Plex app.

We don't do sports, so can't help you there.  

Purple

H and I talked about what all I had found out, and I think we're going to end up doing the Fire TV with Netflix and Hulu, and he'll probably figure out something for sports too. It seems like everything is easy enough to cancel or subscribe to if we want to anyway, which is nice. If we don't like something or want something else, we can easily adjust accordingly. 

spock

Like many here we have netflix and amazon prime but also add sports subscriptions and purchase current shows.  I don't watch college football so I can't comment about that. But the nfl package is great if you don't mind that you cannot watch it live. They do stream the radio coverage live which can be useful when you are at deer camp with no other options. 

C8H11NO2plusplus

ESPN is great for sports *commentary* so it fills the need for "I just need to be able to watch something sporty at any given time of the day" but is useless for watching most actual sporting events. Each week you'll get maybe 1 football, a couple basketball or baseball, etc. And it's never the team you actually care about. Your local channels (antenna or a very basic cable package) are the best for watching your local teams in most markets, but he should analyze very carefully what sports he actually wants to watch and what channels they are on. For example, hockey is not generally played on local channels.

All that said, given some technical ability and willingness to break copyright law, you can get just about anything you're after online.

PurpleGuy

Netflix, Amazon prime, and Hulu. Smart TV in the den and chrome cast (similar to apple and Amazon) in the bedroom. We can watch anything we want just maybe not the day it comes out. Most tv stations have an app that lets you watch last night's first run program today. I pull it up on my phone and cast it to the tv. 

We we have zero interest in watching live sports. 

WheelMan

We've an AppleTV, started out with Netflix & Hulu, but dropped Hulu when we really disliked the ads. AppleTV has a free streaming PBS app, which I watch almost as much as Netflix. I've found we watch less TV now, only adding to our queue shows we really want to spend time to watch.

We don't have kids and don't really watch sports, except the Olympics. I couldn't get a streaming solution working stably for Sochi '14, so bit the bullet and paid $200 for two months of cable DVR box. The tech said 3/4 of his installs that month were just getting cable to watch the Olympics and planned to return everything after. I'll probably do the same again for Rio, unless NBC rolls out a standalone streaming app (unlikely).

ch102081

We also got rid of DirecTV about 8 months ago.  We currently have a good antenna on our house which gets us the local networks.  We bought a Roku box (streaming device, one time cost) which has Netflix, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and a bunch of other apps (channels) that the kids can watch shows on.  Disney, Nick, etc.  

We bought the season pass for The Walking Dead and New Girl through Google Play and most everything else we watch on Netflix. We have also rented a movie here or there through Google Play when there's a new one that we want to see. 

All in all, we average $20-$30 a month when everything is factored in.  When football season comes around, I know there's an NFL app on the Roku box that will allow me to buy the Sunday Ticket for somewhere around $150-$200 if I want it.  I probably won't because I can watch the games on the local channels, but it's there if you want it.  There are also options for the other sports too.  

I used to be a sports fanatic.  I watched football from 10AM until 11PM every Sunday.  I'd watch basketball most every night of the week too.  Then baseball in the summer.  About five years ago I really cut back on that and my life has improved a lot since.  I can't imagine going back to wasting so much time.  All of that said to show that it is possible to get away from needing the sports fix all of the time.  If a person doesn't need that, it's pretty easy to get what you need from your TV with the options mentioned in this thread. 

Purple

Thanks everybody.
We put a "pause" on the TV yesterday - he said it'll last for 6 months, so we can trial life without it, and if we really don't like not having TV then we can resume it where we left off, or we'll cancel it entirely after the 6 months. Got Netflix and Hulu all set up now, and he's planning to buy an antenna as well. But he said that he may just have to suck it up and miss out on some of the sports, or he can head over to his brother's house to watch games if he has to. So we're down to $24/month over the $120.

We watched a bit on Netflix last night and I honestly can't imagine we'll miss having TV, so this should turn out to be a good move overall.

We also cancelled some other things - the SiriusXM in the car and the house alarm. Overall we should be saving enough money every month to make a difference. I think. I hope!!

SallyMander

We've never had cable (I can be very stubborn about some things), but now have good antenna for sports + AppleTV + Netflix + HBO Now or Go or Stay or whatever it's called. The TV goes on 1-2x/wk this time of year. In the summer, we can go weeks. We use Apple TV > YouTube to catch up on bits of Conan or Colbert, and Crackle for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. 

I so want to cancel the 2 subscription services, but Game of Thrones, Veep, Silicon Valley will be back soon, and Netflix has House of Cards and Louie at the moment.