Cable or Streaming?

[Cyrano200]

Both

I have kept cable for the last several years just for the live sports because they split the games between streaming and TV. (Peacock for the Premier League, Paramount + for Champions League)

Streaming is starting to become a cash grab too now.

I was a DirecTV user for many, many years. I "cut the cord" several years ago because it was getting so damned expensive... but flash forward to now and I'm considering jumping back to cable or satellite because I pay for Prime, Netflix, Youtube TV and Disney+...

The reliability and functionality of my fiber optic cable service with DVR was (is) far better than streaming. Picture quality, the on-screen program guide and ease of use with recording / rewatching shows prime among those functions. On my DVR, I can pause, RW and FFW while still seeing the action (great for sports). The streaming services will eventually have the replay up (several hours later) and I can FFW and RW but it's more like skipping around than watching.
The prime motive they used to get us to streaming was cost and that just isn't true anymore. Every network has their own service and to get the same amount of content, you have to have them all. And I assume that most of you are like me, I (or my family) have one or two things I want to watch on each service that forces me to pay for the whole sha-bang. It's become just like cable with the premium services, but now I have to give 6 companies my credit card info instead of one. It won't be long before some streaming company offers to bundle all your services in one convenient place...

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Haven't had cable for well over 5 years and don't even have a streaming service right now. I spend my time on You Tube.

 

[Otto!]

What do you use for internet?

Pretty average package (not sure of specifics), but good enough for my streaming needs

 

[GSP_37]

With RG-11 coaxial cables, my cable TV is probably as good as it will get.

My internet service from same cable company though is extremely unreliable, so streaming is not reliable either. I get internet outages daily, often multiple times per day where I have to unplug the modem and coaxial and replug to get it working again and sometimes it goes down again a few minutes later.

I recently was extremely frustrated by HDMI cable blinking very often while streaming and on PS4. I finally got a HDMI splitter (no power needed) and since then, only a couple of days so far, no blinking on PS4 or Apple TV while using the same old HDMI cable and a fresh one instead of both devices sharing one HDMI cable.

 

[GSP_37]

Haven't had cable for well over 5 years and don't even have a streaming service right now. I spend my time on You Tube.

You could have gotten HULU for $.99/month for 12 months during Black Friday. A few others also had deals, but shorter duration.

 

[GSP_37]

I have kept cable for the last several years just for the live sports because they split the games between streaming and TV. (Peacock for the Premier League, Paramount + for Champions League)



The reliability and functionality of my fiber optic cable service with DVR was (is) far better than streaming. Picture quality, the on-screen program guide and ease of use with recording / rewatching shows prime among those functions. On my DVR, I can pause, RW and FFW while still seeing the action (great for sports). The streaming services will eventually have the replay up (several hours later) and I can FFW and RW but it's more like skipping around than watching.
The prime motive they used to get us to streaming was cost and that just isn't true anymore. Every network has their own service and to get the same amount of content, you have to have them all. And I assume that most of you are like me, I (or my family) have one or two things I want to watch on each service that forces me to pay for the whole sha-bang. It's become just like cable with the premium services, but now I have to give 6 companies my credit card info instead of one. It won't be long before some streaming company offers to bundle all your services in one convenient place...

I've been seeing recent articles saying two separate streaming providers bundling themselves to offer slightly lower price than both separately.

I don't like paying big cable bill where the majority of the channels I don't want. They got extra side charges for sports and local TV.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

I have both... and unless it's an exclusive... they all have the same crap.

 

[GSP_37]

I have both... and unless it's an exclusive... they all have the same crap.

A lot of the cable TV stuff is reruns shown probably twenty times each. With many channels, often there's nothing I want to watch at any given moment.

On a few streaming services, some with watchlists, there's a huge backlog of stuff I kinda want to watch.

 

[Cyrano200]

I've been seeing recent articles saying two separate streaming providers bundling themselves to offer slightly lower price than both separately.

I don't like paying big cable bill where the majority of the channels I don't want. They got extra side charges for sports and local TV.

What I really want is a fiber optic service that lets me build my package 100% a la carte; say I get 15-20 selections for $50 - $80. If they're the channels I actually watch, I absolutely don't want the other 300 filler channels. Maybe throw a "we think you might like" channel at me every once in a while....
Of course, to make that dream work, they would have to stop the deplorable money grab where they split their programming between broadcast and streaming. If I pay for your service, you give me your service in one place.

 

[Iron Mang]

100% stream nowadays. Cable is a dying medium and they will keep raising the prices until the last subscriber finally leaves. Everything can be had on streaming now, including sports.

 

[Fedorgasm]

For years everyone bitched about cable saying they should be allowed to just pay for the channels they want.

Nowadays, that's kinda the reality. Only instead of channels you pay for the streaming service you want.

I'd be fine with just Netflix and Disney Plus. But of course the wife always wants the least bang for your buck so she still watches TV shows with commercials like a boomer. So I have to pay for YouTube TV just to keep her happy.

 

[djacobox372]

I haven't had cable for well over a decade.

 

[560ti]

Antenna in the attic which gets me the big 4 (Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS). Tons of free sports on antenna stuff like Nascar, PGA golf, NCAA football, 3 or 4 NFL games a week, prelims for UFC ppvs, olympics, tennis grand slam finals. Weather is unpredictable where I live so it's nice to have the local news for stuff like hail, tornados, or potential freezes.

Have the plex app which is tied to my brother in laws server. He has like 15 TB worth of TV shows and movies. Literally any major TV show or movie of the last 5 years he has.

I have my parents login info for their direct TV account, the person who sold them the Direct TV streaming service even told them up to 3 people can log in at once so I will use that app if there's sports on ESPN or TNT.

 

[mb23100]

Streaming. Got rid of cable years ago and never looked back. I had their internet though but I just switched to Tmobile internet so I m completely free of Cox Cable which is a great feeling. They are terrible. I've dealt with them both at home and on their commercial side at work which is even worse somehow. Good Riddance.

Currently I have

YoutubeTv ($73 a month. FIL uses same account so we split this)
Netflix (comes with TMobile)
Apple TV (comes with TMobile)
HBO Max ( use a friend's password)
TMobile Internet ($40 a month)

Considering my last monthly bill for internet alone was $170, I'm pretty happy

I just got the TMobile Internet and have been pretty surprised at how well it works. I really haven't had any issues. Even online gaming and downloading games works great.

 

[AtomicPanther]

Have both. Can't stand streaming sports, I have the attention span of a 4 year old, so I switch between games a lot.

 

[Ponchik]

I only use cable for watching sports. All the same channels are available on the streaming service I use as well, but my TV is way bigger than the monitor of my PC, so I prefer that.

 

[ringking1982]

Cable, but it got really expensive. How do I switch to streaming? This is a real plea to my fellow sherbros.

So, I have a huge 90 inch smart tv. I can't watch TV infront of a small computer monitor or an iphone like a college student or like I live on an airplane. I need the full lazyboy experience.

Addicted to Paramount. Reality shows. Shark tank, stuff like that. How do I call my cable company and tell them to go to hell?

 

[GSP_37]

Cable, but it got really expensive. How do I switch to streaming? This is a real plea to my fellow sherbros.

So, I have a huge 90 inch smart tv. I can't watch TV infront of a small computer monitor or an iphone like a college student or like I live on an airplane. I need the full lazyboy experience.

Addicted to Paramount. Reality shows. Shark tank, stuff like that. How do I call my cable company and tell them to go to hell?

Buy an Apple TV 4K streaming box to connect to TV via HDMI (needs either ethernet or wifi), search the App Store for stuff like MAX, Disney+, Paramount+, Freevee, Pluto, HULU, VUDU and create an account. May as well wait to see if there's any New Years discounted prices like quite a few had for Black Friday. You can listen to podcasts too.

 

[Cyrano200]

but my TV is way bigger than the monitor of my PC, so I prefer that.

So, I have a huge 90 inch smart tv. I can't watch TV infront of a small computer monitor or an iphone like a college student or like I live on an airplane. I need the full lazyboy experience.

Buy an Apple TV 4K streaming box to connect to TV via HDMI

I have several Roku and 1 Firestick in my house, they are pretty cheap. I don't know about the Apple thingee, but there are options out there. And can't you connect your PC to the TV like a monitor without any of those? I've considered getting a PC tower to do this and use my 55" TV (90", wow) as a monitor when I'm browsing the internet.
Also, can't your "smart" TV connect directly to the streaming apps? Mine can, but it is limited, and I don't like the interface.

 

[freakroor]

I torrent everything these days.