Thank you. What I’m getting is that I need
Right now I have a Smart Tv and get Netflix and Hulu for a monthly fee (Sling is an option as well as others). Do I need a Firestick if I have a Smart tv?
How does this work with the other televisions in the house? I’d want at least my bedroom television to have all the options as well.
This just sounds too simple LOL.
I’d guess we all already have internet, no? We have a wifi router, no wires from that box to the tv, as Fios needed. That’s another lovely plus. (At least here, where the cable ran from one room to another.) When Sling is set up, you link it to the network same as any other device.
You need to go to the different providers’ web sites, see what channels and services, how they’re bundled. I do get HGTV. Then choose. I don’t know about the other services, but Sling isn’t on a contract, as Fios was.
@thumper1 , well ALL three of my kids had cable provided at their universities. All three. All years. Except this last child, this last year. Sorry if that is not the norm - it’s the norm at small privates in Ohio I guess!
As I mentioned she enjoys watching the network morning shows in the morning as she gets ready for the day and will even catch the evening local news while she is cooking dinner etc. All three of her roommates do the same. Guess we grow them odd here in Ohio…
Also if we are keeping score of oddities, my 29 year old has paid for cable since she was out of school at age 22. My 26 year old also has Direct TV through ATT. Go figure.
@NEPatsGirl If you go with Hulu Live, they may have all your local channels so that you won’t need an antenna. I haven’t seen it, but I’ve read many reviews that say the Hulu Live interface is confusing, so do the free trial before you commit.
YouTube TV doesn’t have HGTV, so that probably rules them out for you, although they are very good with locals too.
Directv Now (streaming service, not satellite) might be good too if they have the locals you want. There seems to be some regional issues with DTVN, so you should try it first to see if it works ok for you. If it does, it will likely have the best video quality of any service. HBO is only $5/month on DTVN which is the best deal out there.
If the local you always watch is CBS and a streaming service doesn’t have that, you can get CBS All Access for $6/month. An indoor antenna doesn’t work for us, so that’s what we do.
The streaming sticks may work OK, but I’ve read complaints of the interfaces of some of the services lagging on them due to being underpowered. YMMV
Sling has a deal where if you prepay for 2 months you get a free Roku Express.
Directv Now has a couple of prepay deals: a free Roku stick if you prepay 1 month for $40 or a free Apple TV 4K if you prepay for 4 months. I’ve gotten 2 Apple TVs that way because it was much cheaper than buying them in a store, although it was only 3 months prepaid for $35/month at the time. DTVN does things notably faster on an Apple TV than something less powerful like a 2 year old Roku 3 (changing channels, navigation, etc). DTVN also has a deal where you can get 3 months for $10/month if you prepay.
Roku is the most service-neutral device - I think they have them all. Amazon Fire devices don’t have YouTube TV, I think. Apple has most of the main ones now including Amazon Prime Video which used to be a glaring hole.
Switching between services is easy since there are no years long contracts. You could dip your toes into the streaming water with a stick at first, then go with something more powerful like a higher end Roku, Amazon Fire box, or Apple TV 4K. If you have a smart TV that has some of these services available, you can try there first before getting a separate streaming device. A lot of TVs will probably have Sling as a default app.
I don’t know that any of the services have PBS, but there’s an app for that which allows you to view much of their content. Sometimes content is only available for free for a limited time with it.
You may be used to watching things On Demand through your cable provider - you can do that with TV Anywhere apps which many channels have. They generally require you to use the sign in from your streaming service provider to access shows. Just because your service has the channel doesn’t mean your sign in will work, though it’s becoming increasingly common. Most of the services have a DVR now, although you may not be able to skip commercials.
If you cut the cable, how do you get the internet service? Get very basic cable and internet. That’s less expensive than internet alone.
It depends. Here, I can get Internet for $60/month. Internet plus the cable package that gives us CNN and CNBC is $120/month plus various taxes and fees plus Comcast decoder rentals. If we get just the internet and sling, it is $90. No fees or crazy taxes on top.
@BunsenBurner how do you run your Sling? We have as Samsung smart tv but no Sling app. It looks like we could get an Air tv or Roku deal from Sling. Does anyone have a recommendation? Thanks!
We bought a $30 Roku from Amazon. Plugged it into the TV, turned the TV on, and the setup was a breeze.
@Iglooo For us, stand-alone Internet is cheaper than getting a bundle with TV. $65/month for 200MB Internet now (was 100MB until recently).
@drewsmom17 There may be a Sling app for your TV even if it’s not pre-installed:
https://help.sling.com/en/support/solutions/articles/33000219646-how-do-i-install-sling-tv-on-my-samsung-smart-tv-
We found that Sling app preloaded on our TV was not that good, but with Roku we had no troubles.
@Iglooo We only get internet service from our cable company. We have no home phone and we don’t want cable TV so we just get our internet from them. For TV we have netflix and chromecast (so we can have programs that are on the internet streamed to our TV screen). This works great for us, but we are not big TV watchers.
If I could get just the internet at a lower price, I would. I think the last time I turned on the TV was during Hurricane Hugo.
I had intended on canceling cable when I downsized but they’d adjusted the package price because people were not getting the package. Do I have internet and cable for $88/mo (taxes included), which is only a few dollars more than the internet by itself. If it increases, I’ll ditch it because we rarely watch it.
@Knowsstuff what antenna do you have? We were just at Best Buy today looking at antennas so we can cut the cable cord. We were about to purchase the Mohu Leaf but when I mentioned that we have multiple TVs, the sales guy said we needed to get an antenna that was designed for multiple TVs. We ended up with a different one (clear channel or something like that) but I told dh I was going to research today before we try to install. Looks like we can use the antenna we originally considered (Mohu Leaf) if we have an RF splitter. Is that what you used for the multiple TVs?
No. You can do a house attena and split to all tvs but I actually bought one for each TV… Some rooms you have to adjust per the room. Any of the ones you mentioned are fine. I just got mine at Costco… They all pretty much work the same. Just look at 35 miles VS 50 miles and decide how far you are from the TV stations