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Apple tv users: have you cancelled your TV cable??

S

Samadd

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2015
46
5
Is Apple tv good enough to cancel tv subscription? I'm a big sports guy so basically have it just for sports mainly soccer, and to watch tv shows that come out on a daily basis. I have netflix, but do i have to pay for crave tv and all that jazz??? can i watch live tv shows??


thanks
[doublepost=1458885751][/doublepost]Do I have to pay to watch movies that aren't on netflix?? I currently have movie channel and HBO with my plan and love it but wouldn't if i had to pay extra for it.
 
I think you are asking too much from AppleTV or any streaming box. You want live sports and to watch TV that comes out on a daily basis. You also then say you love HBO but would not if you had to pay extra for it.

Well, AppleTV, Roku, FireTV, etc. do not offer those capabilities in total. There may be some alternate methods to watching what you enjoy, but it certainly will not be a direct replacement.

My recommendation would be:

1) 1st investigate the streaming device options. The big ones are AppleTV, Roku, FireTV, Google Chromecast, and Google Nexus. There are other boxes, such as Android devices you can get on eBay or Amazon, as well as setting up an HTPC.

2) Pick the one that likely covers most of what you'd like to watch, then determine which apps/subscriptions you'd be willing to pay for (HBO, Showtime, Netflix, etc.).

3) Consider adding an antenna for free over the air programming. Your reception will be completely dependent on your location. I get all of the major networks.

4) If you are happy with the antenna idea, consider a Tablo or HDHomeRun device. These are TV tuners that plug into the antenna for input and your home router for output. They are then accessible on the streaming device. In effect, live TV from your antenna is available through a streaming box's app.

All together, the above will allow you to cancel cable and have a single streaming box solution. The investment is based on the hardware you select, but would be $500 max, $200 on the low end. So you'd recoup that investment in a few months of being cable-less.
 
jbachandouris said:
Nope. Apple TV doesn't yet have the content I need.
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"Need"?

I have been on Time Warners $10 a month cable for a few years now. It's mostly the channels I could pick up with an antenna and a couple more. I also have their ELP internet for $15 a month and it's good enough for Netflix and Hulu. Some Apple content skips for stuff I get through iTunes, worth having a cable/internet bill at $30 a month.
 
TheAppleFairy said:
"Need"?

I have been on Time Warners $10 a month cable for a few years now. It's mostly the channels I could pick up with an antenna and a couple more. I also have their ELP internet for $15 a month and it's good enough for Netflix and Hulu. Some Apple content skips for stuff I get through iTunes, worth having a cable/internet bill at $30 a month.
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I have kids. That means Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, etc. Netflix? What a joke. Old and lame movies (few exceptions). If rather kill myself then use Time Warner's $10/month tiny lineup.
 
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jbachandouris said:
I have kids. That means Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, etc. Netflix? What a joke. Old and lame movies (few exceptions). If rather kill myself then use Time Warner's $10/month tiny lineup.
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I have 2 kids myself. There are plenty of cartoons on Hulu and Netflix, nobody in my house is thinking about suicide. Or maybe others are, I will ask when I get home today.
 
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We live in a condo and cable is included in the monthly HOA fee. We get about 80 channels plus Showtime & the Movie Channel. If we had to pay for it separately, then I would definitely consider cancelling it.
 
Cut the cord about 3 or 4 years ago. Between iTunes, Netflix and OTA HD we have no shortage of TV-watching in the house! We don't watch a lot of sports though, so I don't know how that would work out for you.

But since Comcast has a stranglehold on the high-speed internet in our area, I'm still paying an outrageous $80+ per/month solely for a 25/5 connection. :-(
 
Nope, not even close. the ATV doesn't really have the content I'm interested in watching.
I want Prime, i want sky, i want real football, i want kids content... none of it is really there.

It's fine as a device for consuming your internal library but not much else for me.
 
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Definitely cancel it. We canceled after we bought our ATV4 and now save about $85/mo. We pay for Netflix and Hulu and haven't missed anything. As far as live sports, plug in an antenna.

On a broader scale, the more people cancel, the more the cable companies will be forced to offer more ala carte programming. People are voting with their wallets.
 
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hinesmj said:
Definitely cancel it. We canceled after we bought our ATV4 and now save about $85/mo. We pay for Netflix and Hulu and haven't missed anything. As far as live sports, plug in an antenna.

On a broader scale, the more people cancel, the more the cable companies will be forced to offer more ala carte programming. People are voting with their wallets.
Click to expand...


Here's another tip. Pay for Netflix and hulu through iTunes & buy iTunes gift cards online for 20% to 25% off.
 
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John_Hagan said:
We live in a condo and cable is included in the monthly HOA fee. We get about 80 channels plus Showtime & the Movie Channel. If we had to pay for it separately, then I would definitely consider cancelling it.
Click to expand...

Now with the Sling app and the HBO apps and you live in a suburb or city a good flat antennas near a window and several streaming boxes and see you will get better picture too!
 
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The question of whether to cut the cord has now become an old one. Ultimately, there is no simple answer, as everyone has different viewing habits and preferences. If you are a sports junky, you are going to want to keep your cable subscription. If you love watching things like FoodNetwork or HGTV, you're going to want to keep your cable subscription.

If you are like me, you can probably get away with cutting the cord, or at least cutting back. My wife and I have the most basic cable subscription, mostly because it was cheaper for us to bundle basic cable with our broadband than to go with broadband only. In the deal, we got HBO thrown in for free. We don't have a DVR, so we use Hulu as our DVR, and watch our network shows that way. We also have Netflix and HBO, and pay $10 a month for Showtime. This setup allows us to watch the morning and evening local and national news live on basic cable, and the Sunday political shows I like. For everything else, we use Hulu, Netflix, HBOGo, and Showtime Anytime via our Apple TV. On occasion we purchase some TV shows through iTunes (The Walking Dead, and The Americans), and we rent movies on iTunes from time to time.

If we lived somewhere that provided free Internet, I would ditch cable altogether.
 
We cancelled cable after the NFL season was over. We haven't missed cable since then. We found that our ATV4 in the living room and ATV3 in the bedroom sufficed for us. I have NHL and MLB subscriptions, so I'm good there for sports (the march madness app has been great too). Plus, I use my parents Verizon login for ESPN and NBCSN. My girlfriend and I don't watch a lot of live TV, so we're able to catch up on the TV shows we watch via Hulu, Netflix and the cable apps we have installed on the ATV4.

The tricky situation will be once college football starts. But I doubt we'll connect the cord just for that.
 
Yup. We cut the cord about 3 years ago and haven't looked back. Hulu, Netflix, and OTA is more than enough for us. Personally and sports aside (which I don't care about), if you need much more than that, you either watch too much TV or are too picky with what you want to watch.
 
Cut the cord!!! We use HD antenna and helps get some sports. Also get someone to lend you there info so you can use watch espn
 
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But the US doesn't have real football...
Theres no way people could even consider "cutting the cord" outside the US, and apples stupid policy on providers means the outlook is not good for at least another 10 years.
 
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Gone. The money saved is enough to watch all the movies and TV shows I want, and to pay for drinks if I want to watch some live sport somewhere nice.
 
Thanks for your input. Honestly, I thought Apple Tv would be sufficient enough but after this I feel it isn't enough for my needs. The biggest problem for me is streaming sports; yes, I can mirror, and stream it through apple tv, but it is next to impossible to find a consistently working HD stream showing sports. So I guess, I'll have to stick with cable.

Cheers
 
Still have cable for TV in dining room but no cable for TV in bedroom, with AppleTV 4G. Watching everything we want on that TV using AppleTV 4G. Main TV with cable gets almost no use recently. Thinking of gradually cutting the cable fully (only local stations unfortunately preclude from cutting right now and of course, incoming Euro 2016 championship, which will definitely need cable and not streamed on internet. Also, AppleTV may need a Sopcast app in future. I watch most EPL games on Sopcast right now.
 
I've never had cable, so it's never been an issue for me. I keep a regular Netflix and Hulu subscription, and only sign up for HBO or Showtime during the last month of whatever season I want to watch (like Game of Thrones or Homeland) and catch up that way. Other than that it's iTunes rentals and an OTA antenna on my roof. My TV has an Amazon Prime app, but I hear that they're working on one for the Apple TV.
 
We also cut the cord, and go through either Hulu, Netflix, or Apple/iTunes rentals or tv show purchases. its really nice. I have an NBA league pass subscription though I dislike the blackout stuff but the local team is not the much of a deal breaker right now.

StoneJack said:
Still have cable for TV in dining room but no cable for TV in bedroom, with AppleTV 4G. Watching everything we want on that TV using AppleTV 4G. Main TV with cable gets almost no use recently. Thinking of gradually cutting the cable fully (only local stations unfortunately preclude from cutting right now and of course, incoming Euro 2016 championship, which will definitely need cable and not streamed on internet. Also, AppleTV may need a Sopcast app in future. I watch most EPL games on Sopcast right now.
Click to expand...

We cut the cord but we found we can still plug into the cable outlet and use that as a faux antenna to get local HD channels.
 
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