Cord-Cutting, Or How to Stream your Way to Success

joeboo_sl said:

So in the future, why do we even need channels, as they exist today, as we transition over to receiving all of our content online? Why do I need an HBO subscription when I really just want Game of Thrones? That's 12 hours a year of programming. Charge me $5 per episode and be done wroth it. Want to watch a NFL game? $10.

Let me go to GameOfThrones.tv or BreakingBad.tv and purchase what I want to see.

I could see subscription-based services like Netflix for old, archived shows in bulk but just let me buy the new releases that I want without subscribing to an entire channel that I don't want any other content from. That would be true a-la-carte service

I'd definitely save money buying new release shows episodically.

Click to expand...

Marketing, How would you know GOT was even a thing that was happening until HBO was talking about it? They still need to foot the initial bill and you need a brand with a track record and a Market for that. Hell, breaking bad wasn't BREAKING BAD until the last few seasons. Also, I-tunes lets you buy things in seasons as it stands. Most people would purchase such things in chunks to give the show a chance. The market may be there for that, but it won't be a huge as you think.

BrutulTM_sl said:

ESPN charges the cable companies like $15 per viewer or something crazy like that. It's by far the most expensive channel.

Click to expand...

It's $6.04 for espn. Still 400% more than most channels.

That is true, maybe I should look into the purchasing variant like joe talks about - maybe it'll accomplish the same goal. For GoT it's close to breaking even (better than a year - but there's that rare extra thing I watch) on the Season with Amazon Instant's pricing for HD.

And looking at most of my other programs (and the wife's), I guess I'd have to tabulate, but looks like Hulu (and it's secondary affiliates as I'm seeing Food Network isn't on it, but links to something else for example) and secondary equivalents would cover the rest of the missing programs I'm recalling ATM.

Perhaps the answers I'd like are already there and I'm just too lazy to do a detailed comparison. I guess once I slow down on playing Bloodborne and such I'll have to reevaluate.

radditsu_sl said:

Marketing, How would you know GOT was even a thing that was happening until HBO was talking about it? They still need to foot the initial bill and you need a brand with a track record and a Market for that. Hell, breaking bad wasn't BREAKING BAD until the last few seasons. Also, I-tunes lets you buy things in seasons as it stands. Most people would purchase such things in chunks to give the show a chance. The market may be there for that, but it won't be a huge as you think.

Click to expand...

As it stands now, I don't know about ANY show until a friend tells me, or I read about it online. I don't see commercials for any products whatsoever. They're either edited out if I download a show, or I fast-forward through them on my DVR. Commercials on TV are becoming less and less effective all the time.

And forgive my ignorance as I don't use any Apple products(including iTunes) but do they sell new episodes of currently airing shows? Or do they not sell them until a season is completed?

Well the chart is what cable companies pay the price quoted could be their charge to consumers?

Kedwyn_sl said:

Well the chart is what cable companies pay, the price quoted could be their charge to consumers?

Click to expand...

Exactly. Anyone really think the cable companies are going to pay for a channel and not mark it up?

Can I ask what niche programming is actually worth anything that the current model supposedly subsidizes?

You don't buy amazon prime for the video content. Its pretty anemic.

SlingTV is fine so long as you can deal with its limitations. Friend of mine tried it out and I wasn't impressed with the quality. Macroblocking all over on sports and even regular TV didn't look sharp. I couldn't deal with not having a DVR and its functions. Watching programming like that feels like I'm in the stone age.

I'm sure people can make it work but I gave up on commercials back when ReplayTV was a thing and not planning on going back and have to deal with fewer selections and lower quality to boot.

Streaming isn't quite up to par to replace HD content yet. It's definitely getting better in a hurry though. Lots of the NFL games last year were pretty crappy (240 or 360 maybe?), but the Stanley Cup Playoffs have been pretty damn good. My wife even asked me a week or two ago if I was watching the game on normal TV.

So for now, I just use an over the air antenna for networks. There's no DVR capability, but if you really need that so bad, you can download everything. Living on the west coast has an advantage here in that most of the time I can have a show downloaded before it even airs here (Game of Thrones being the fastest, where I can watch the entire episode before it starts here).

slippery_sl said:

What's a good solution for getting stuff that I've downloaded to a TV across the house? Is the Roku or any of that shit capable of reading from a network drive and playing local content?

Click to expand...

Or yes, a Roku + Plex would do the same thing as Chromecast.

slippery_sl said:

What's a good solution for getting stuff that I've downloaded to a TV across the house? Is the Roku or any of that shit capable of reading from a network drive and playing local content?

Click to expand...

Tons of different media servers like Plex or Bubble UPnP work great. Most can be controlled from your smart phone or pc with a Chromecast or Roku. Plex is pretty awesome, I used that a bunch until I setup my Asus router as my NAS. Now I just use that and BubleUPnP to send things to non smart TVs via chromecast.

Deathwing_sl said:

Anyone remember the voodoo rituals you have to perform to get Boxee Box to see Windows 7 shares? The Boxee.tv forums used to have tons of information on this, but that site is gone now. To be specific, I can see the share's directory, just can't access the directory listing.

Click to expand...

It's probably a similar process to my somewhat antiquated WDTVLive that I still use on one of my TVs, in which case it's all about how you set up the sharing in Win 7 itself, moreso than any settings in the device you are using

My device doesn't really explore a home network like it's another PC, it needs to have specific folders shared with it. Here is a good start:

How to Customize Network Sharing Settings in Windows 7

This specific step was critical, my WDTVLive could never see my shared folders until I turned this on and enabled access:



making sure everything is set to "allowed"

Also, this:
How to share folders without homegroups in Windows 7 - How-To - PC Advisor

When I went to share my media folders, I could never do the generic "share with homegroup" setting, I always had to do the "Share with ----> Specific people"


and flag the folder as shared with "everyone" and make sure that you allow at least "read" functionality. You might have to go through the custom "everyone" settings that are explained in that link.

Basically, I always have to set up my media folder as if it a unique shared folder on my network, with access allowed to any device that is on my network. I can't just set it up as a normal share in my homegroup, that doesn't work with some of these older media player devices, as they never actually join your "homegroup" network.

HTTPS/SSL version of Plex has finally been released:

Its not easy being green: Secure communication arrives! - Plex Blog : Plex Blog
How to Use Secure Server Connections Plex