Question about cutting cord
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Anonymous
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Trying to nail down what our systems will be once we cancel Comcast Xfinity. One thing I'm having trouble figuring out is how to get local broadcast channels. We live in the Bay Area.
We really only watch these channels when they are broadcasting special programming like holiday parades, etc. But a big thing for me are the awards shows. I LOVE watching the Oscars and Golden Globes (which are ABC and NBC, I think?). Will I still be able to watch these shows with streaming services? What about with an antenna? Also, how does the process work? Normally I find the channel via the channel lineup, or I punch in the channel numbers on the remote -- what are the actual steps? Thanks for the help! |
Anonymous
| Don’t forget you’ll still need internet for streaming if you’re cancelling Xfinity. I don’t know how it works with an antenna. |
Anonymous
| Yes, we have that part figured out, just a matter of calling them. Cheapest is Sling TV + antenna, if we can just figure it out. |
Anonymous
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You can get local stations with PlayStation Vue ( it’s like sling etc).
I just search the show I want to watch or go to the guide which shows what is playing now and select what I want to watch. The interface is pretty decent. |
Anonymous
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You don’t need an antenna with many of the streaming services, as every one I’ve used includes local channels. I’ve used just about all of them (no lie!), and I much prefer YoiTubeTV as far as service.
You use it pretty much like you would your cable. There’s a channel/show lineup display, and you scroll, view, and select your channel/program at will. Also, YouTubeTV has recording capabilities. |
Anonymous
| Hulu Live will give you all the local broadcast channels in the Bay Area. You MAY be able to use an HDTV antenna depending on where you live but it is usually problematic in the Bay Area due to the terrain. |
Anonymous
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We bought a TV antenna about 8 months ago. With a one-time purchase, we get free broadcast TV for the rest of our lives. Now that I see how easy it is to get TV reception for free, I feel like a fool for having paid for it all these years. It's a learning curve at first to get it all figured out, but so worth it once you do.
I don't live in the Bay area, so I can't advise you about the terrain around there. Here are my suggestions: Go to the website TVfool.com Put in your zip code and it will tell you what channels you can expect to receive if you buy an antenna. It will also tell you what direction you need to point the antenna. Buy a mohu leaf antenna. They look like a placemat and you can hang them on a wall or in a window. They are about $30. Buy 20 or 30 feet of RG-6 cable, which will be about $20. (Or, for now, to experiment, just use the comcast cable). Hook one end of the cable up to your TV, and the other end to the antenna. It is very very important to point the antenna in the right direction. Ideally the antenna should be up high in a window, or up high on an exterior wall. Play around with placement of the antenna until you get the best location for you figured out. There is a website dedicated to people in the San Francisco area who use TV antennas to watch TV: https://www.avsforum.com/forum/45-local-hdtv-info-reception/369015-san-francisco-ca-ota.html I get my TV guide listings via a website called titantv.com Surely you will get enough channels with an antenna to make it worth the $50 you spend. |
Anonymous
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Here’s what we did:
We got Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu (with Hulu Live). Additionally, we got Apple TV, which basically acts as a way to organize all this apps (and it has other good features). With all this, we pay probably 1/3 of what we were paying for cable, and we don’t have to pay monthly for TV boxes or anything like that. Hulu Live is fabulous and is only getting better as they continue to improve it. We get all the channels we watched on cable on Hulu. No issues missing award shows, sports games, etc. If you want, you can take a look at the channels you’ll get with Hulu Live in your area through a quick Google search. We don’t need an antenna for anything. |
Anonymous
We also have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, but with Roku to organize rather than Apple TV. We're happy to have cut the expense of cable and miss it only rarely. |
Anonymous
Unless you have wireless internet (which, along with satellite sources, does exist) the internet comes to your house via physical cable (typically either coax, copper phone line, or fiberoptic). The antenna cable is physically connected to your TV. If you have more than one TV, you need multiple antennas or splitters (where I live, I need a rooftop antenna, have 2 TVs, use a splitter). Antenna picks up wireless TV signals (how TV was accessed prior to cable). Even if you have wireless internet, it does not come through the TV antenna. Also, when using antenna, you may want to channel scan frequently, as reception can vary considerably through the seasons (tree leaves mess with signals) and weather such as fog, drizzle, rain (which was NEVER a problem before digital TV--if anything, you could get more stations when the weather got weird). |
Anonymous
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I have Netflix and Apple TV Box. I buy the programs I want to watch through the Apple box. NP. No commercials.
Networks are free via antenna which is just a flat thing you stick to the wall, no much heavier or bigger than a piece of paper. Thee networks plus public TV. Mainly we buy programs with a season pass. |
Anonymous
Who do you all buy your Wifi from? |
Anonymous
| What if you like to watch local MLB and NBA teams on regional sports cable networks? Are these available? |
Anonymous
I'm wondering the same thing. |
Anonymous
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We bought this when we lived in Colorado - got both Colorado Springs and Denver stations due to the range. If you live in the Bay area, you'd get a lot I would imagine:
https://www.amazon.com/Latest-Amplified-Digital-Antenna-65-80/dp/B07FVLXHYV/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1546215546&sr=8-4&keywords=hd+antenna+for+tv |