Cutting the cords

[Cochese]

I've started a second blog that I can write about other things, and this is the series I started out with. You can grab the link from my woodworking blog if you'd like.

I've tabulated it up thus far, and cutting DTV and getting rid of the lease fee on the modem will net me $107/mo. I've spent about that much on the replacement modem, plus the tax on the second Roku. Outlay for the phone part of it will be much more, but I'll also get more back each month.

[annunaki]

Another FREEBIE

I got rid of DISH several years ago. I have Amazon Prime and enjoy it.

BUT !!! There's another FREEBIE !!!

http://viooz.co/

[dkerfoot]

We cancelled our land-line at the beginning of the year. I just got our new antenna up yesterday and I am impressed with the reception. All the major stations look better than they did before. Cancelling Uverse TV today.

I have an Amazon Prime subscription for my business for the free 2-day shipping and many Amazon Video selections are included. Planning on subscribing to the online version of the BigTen Network during Football and Basketball season, so that will bring my monthly savings down to a mere $90 during those months.

We need a digital conversion box for our downstairs TV. I was impressed to find one on Amazon for under $50 that also works as a DVR: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXAE92K/

I have also ordered a Chromecast to enable us to watch internet sourced entertainment on the big screen.

Total cost for the antenna, mounts, cabling and the two toys I just mentioned: $167 delivered. First year saving will be around $1000. Not a bad return.

.

[atgcpaul]

We need a digital conversion box for our downstairs TV. I was impressed to find one on Amazon for under $50 that also works as a DVR: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXAE92K/

.

This I did not know about. Looks like you supply USB storage and it does the rest? Let me know how it works out for you. I have a pseudo-HTPC in the office which I can stream to my Roku in the living room but it's hit or miss. Probably the number one gripe of my wife with my off-grid TV solution. This would be a good solution.

[woodturner]

I got rid of DISH several years ago. I have Amazon Prime and enjoy it.

BUT !!! There's another FREEBIE !!!

http://viooz.co/

Make sure you copy and paste the whole link if you want to try this link - when I copied just the "viooz.co" I got a referral link to a spam site. Using the whole link works fine. The probably appears to be that it adds and extra ".com" if you don't copy the http part.

Or just click on the link as pasted above, that works and takes you to the right site.

[dkerfoot]

This I did not know about. Looks like you supply USB storage and it does the rest? Let me know how it works out for you. I have a pseudo-HTPC in the office which I can stream to my Roku in the living room but it's hit or miss. Probably the number one gripe of my wife with my off-grid TV solution. This would be a good solution.

Yes, you can use a thumb drive or an external hard drive for more storage. Watch it on the same TV or plug the storage device into a computer and watch it there.

I will share my thoughts when I have a chance to put it to work, but the Amazon reviews look very positive. The few negatives appear to be fixed via firmware. The company's forum shows that they are very actively developing firmware fixes based on user requests/complaints. Pretty impressive for a sub $50 device!

.

[Ed62]

When I went to the Viooz site, I received a message that I had to update my flash player. Instead of doing that, I went to the Adobe site, and downloaded the latest version. When I went back to the Viooz site, I again received the message to update my flash player. This makes me question whether or not this is site to stay away from. I'm not saying it is a bad site, just that I question it. Just wanted to give a "heads up" on it.

Ed

[Cochese]

When I went to the Viooz site, I received a message that I had to update my flash player. Instead of doing that, I went to the Adobe site, and downloaded the latest version. When I went back to the Viooz site, I again received the message to update my flash player. This makes me question whether or not this is site to stay away from. I'm not saying it is a bad site, just that I question it. Just wanted to give a "heads up" on it.

Ed

I decided to look it up in search engines first. Very shady for a completely free site to have major studio movies and no reviews from legitimate sites.

[annunaki]

I've been using the http://viooz.co/ site for several months without any negative issues, including last night

[annunaki]

Watching this now-

http://viooz.co/movies/20568-the-ghost-army-2013.html

The Ghost Army (2013)


The Ghost Army
Directed by: Rick Beyer
Year: 2013 | Duration: 68 min
Genre: Documentary
Starring: Wesley Clark, Peter Coyote
Country: USA
Language: English
During World War II, a hand-picked group of American GI's undertook a bizarre mission: create a traveling road show of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the German Army as their...

[sscherin]

We cut our cords a few years ago.. We now run on Netflix and Amazon prime.

Over the last few months We noticed that streaming with our Sony blu-ray was getting much worse.. constantly buffering. We couldn't make it through a 30 min show without issues.

Funny thing is the kids on the PCs and game consoles had 0 problems.. I have 30meg Cable and the player is wired to the router.. I can't imagine it has a network speed issue.

Turns out the issue was our Sony BLu-Ray player.. Sony (for whatever reason they had) forces all netflix traffic through a set of Sony servers instead of connecting direct to netflix like every other player in the world. As a result it can suck big time..

We Picked up a Roku 3 and that thing is rock solid.. Not a single issue now in 2 weeks.

[Cochese]

I'm supposed to call DTV either today or tomorrow to request my shipping boxes. For some reason, even though I'm prepared to do it, it's a bit like letting go of a safety rope.

Will have to see once I have the Comcast converter boxes hooked up if I'll need a powered splitter. That may complicate things.

Also, didn't realize Broadchurch was starting this week. Hopefully it will be available to stream.

[Cochese]

So, I had to move the router this morning to investigate signal loss in the living room. I put the things up with double-sided foam tape temporarily.

The foam won.



Oh well, more practice repairing walls in this house. Good thing I bought a can of paint recently.

The DirecTV was canceled today, man they can really offer some discounts if you're serious about leaving. Nearly took the offers and saved $70 a month.

[BigguyZ]

The DirecTV was canceled today, man they can really offer some discounts if you're serious about leaving. Nearly took the offers and saved $70 a month.

I've called DTV to just ask for discounts, and usually I do get something. But now I'm thinking I should just call to cancel, knowing that I won't.... I pay about $130 a month with everything...

[Cochese]

I've called DTV to just ask for discounts, and usually I do get something. But now I'm thinking I should just call to cancel, knowing that I won't.... I pay about $130 a month with everything...

It's when you're out of contract that you get the big discounts. Call when you've got 18 months left? Not much.