As the price of Cable service goes up and up and much of what is paid for often is never watched, many look to cut the Cable / Satellite TV Cord.
Luckily, there are many options to cut the TV cord and keep watching your favorite shows.
Keep in mind there is always a degree of technicality when setting up a cord cutter setup.
Somethings are easier than others.
First thing I always suggest to any cord cutter is getting an over-the-air TV antenna.
Even if you go with other cord-cutter options having free live TV shows from the major broadcast such as FOX, CBS, NBC, PBS and many more is a good quick go to that any one will understand.
Setting up a over-the-air antenna is easy and depending on your location and antenna you may get 40-50 channels or more.
Before I cut the cable cord a few years ago I bought a over-the-air antenna and was amazed that half the channels I was paying for was broadcast for free.
Best of all since 2009 all the channels are digital HD broadcast.
Free over-the-air TV channels is a quick cheap easy fix that most any cord-cutter should have, in my opinion.
But what about your favorite shows on non-broadcasted channels?
Popular options are Hulu and Netflix among others but the best in my opinion is KODI.
Streaming from paid services such as Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Instant Video will likely be best.
Most often, when it comes to the popular online paid streaming services is what they have available.
If one service is cheaper than the other it wont matter unless they have your favorite shows.
Here is a breakdown of each.
Amazon Instant Video
This is often the first place many go to since it is free with an Amazon Prime account which many have.
Even if you dont have an account they will give you a 30 day free trial.
For a full subscription to Amazon Instant Video it is $99 dollars a year. Which also give other Amazon benefits such as two day shipping and access to their streaming music service.
Netflix
Plans on Netflix start at 7.99 a month.
They have tons of content both movies an TV shows. Most experts have made guess that the Netflix library is twice the size of Amazon video library or Hulu, but Amazon is making strides to catch up.
Hulu
Hulu is most known for having TV show content.
Hulu’s library is smaller since it is more geared toward TV shows than both movies and TV shows like Netflix.
Plans on Hulu start at 7.99 but with commercials.
The commercials wouldn’t be bad except they often play the same one over and over which can become annoying.
A commercial free version of Hulu can be had for 11.99 a month called Hulu Plus.
Hulu offers a one week free trial which can be found here.
Summary
Cutting the cable TV cord doesn’t have to be confusing and is a great money saver.
Picking the right options the fits your skills and setup is the key.
If you are good with technology I would definitely suggest Kodi.
If you want a simple choice than the popular paid streaming sites would be a better option.
Often two online streaming sites are used since one doesn’t usually have all the TV shows and movies most watch.
Even if two streaming TV sites are used it still is much cheaper than cable and all On-Demand.
Revised
Hello , love all the input and information on getting rid of my cable tv with Comcast. I pay over $ 200,00 a month. We want to but Apple TV is this a great choice. I also want to subscribe to Netflix will there be a monthly fee for using both Netflix and Apple TV . I am keeping my Internet service but concerned about give up my X1 box DVR. I record everything cause I don’t always have time to watch all my favorite tv shows and movies. I’m tired of paying Comcast for my X1 box of all the charges they charge taxes and fees etc. Than I got to pay for the modem box for my Wi-Fi . Is it possible for me to save a lot more money by buying an Apple TV and wifi box and a DVR can I watch the shows that I usually record if I don’t have an X1 box .I love to have one but I don’t want to pay the prices of Comcast . Can someone please give me input what to do and how many gigs do I need if I buy a Apple TV. How many gigs do I need to buy an Apple TV in order to watch all the shows I have on my X1 box DVR box. Thanks Jeannie
I have managed to get my highspeed internet and basic cable down to $70 month. I use Kodi for everything else. Kodi is like Netflix on steriods. It still amazes me what I can find in Exodus which is a video add on in Kodi. I am in Canada and have not found livestreaming of my Canadian TV stations. But I am getting about 20 American channels using ccloud video add on on Kodi.
PLEASE HELP!!! It’s time to renew my Verizon FIOS on 9/1. My “Triple Play Bundle” was running $290 a month, so they added a couple of discounts, now it’s $210… I called yesterday to cut it down even more but they convinced me that the bundle with HD Extreme was still the way to go. I was trying to get it under $100 but with all the ridiculous taxes, boxes, extra charges, it’s still at $143 after taking off all the Premium channels (HBO, STARS, SHOWTIME, MAX, etc)… Then I thought I was being smart by picking up NETFLIX, HULU PLUS & SLING… When I added it all up, I was right back where I started… with only a $5 savings, with only 60 channels for SLING Blue & Orange, vs. the 394 FIOS channels & 121 HD channels… in which I have only a half dozen channels that I really watch… What a waste of good coins… I think I still have 2 days that I can change without being charged a whopping $230 cancellation fee… What a rip off at every angle…
Listening at some of the comments & an employee that hasn’t had cable in 2 years, accept for internet/telephone. I’m hoping that KODI is the way to go… Is there any other advise that anyone can share? Can’t say that I’m the techiest person but I can get it done… Thanks for your help!!! #DrowingInaVerizonBill
Can I get local ABC, NBC, & CBS programming and local news with a Kodi box?
Many local stations across the country stream their news programming for free. Livestream.com carries those streams, so if you download the Livestream add-on for Kodi, you could see them that way. If your box is running an Android OS you might even be able to download a dedicated Android app from your TV station’s website to stream their news.
Sadly, the streaming of network programming is a different story due to the greed of cable companies. You could download the USTVNow add-on for Kodi, and get free ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox/CW/PBS live streams there, but they originate from somewhere in Pennsylvania, so if you don’t live in the Eastern time zone, you would have to adjust your TV watching schedule accordingly if you wanted to watch network shows live.
You are required to have an account at USTVNow.com to use this service, but you can get a free account for just those few network affiliates. They also have paid plans there which include other channels. Downside is, the free account is limited to SD quality, and don’t count on it to watch major sporting events like NFL playoffs, March Madness, the Olympics, etc. because the streams routinely crash during those times. Whether it’s legitimate increased demand on the servers or “creative marketing” to sell the paid plans (which don’t seem to crash) is, of course, open to your own interpretation.
I found out about Kodi over a year ago and haven’t looked back. I was paying $115 a month for DirecTV, $20 more Netflix mailing and online services, and $9.99 more for Hulu Plus. Thanks to Kodi and installing a Mohu leaf antenna, all of those paid services went bye-bye after getting an Android box. The thing is literally Netflix and Sling TV on steroids, HGH, and Andro.
And on a side note, if you are having a little trouble loading stuff due to not have a great internet connection, you might want to adjust your settings on the add-ons you’re using to pull nothing higher than 720p (maybe even lower) instead of 1080p. I used to have the same buffering problems a lot of folks complain about but after doing this, I can load and watch just about any stream I want to, especially in Phoenix, SALTS, and Exodus.
I’m in the process of getting a second and third box but I’m going to take my time and order the best one on the market. Being that there are so many of them out there now, I’m in no rush…
But, who is your ISP and what is it costing you for what speed?
Thanks
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kodi or xbmc is the true cord cutters solution…
The time to cut the cord was a year ago for me. My cable bundle had ballooned to $165 a month, even though I was only one step up from the basic package.
I’ve now completely lost my tolerance for TV ads and have considered cancelling my subscription to Sling, which was once my lifeline to sports. I pointed this out to a coworker recently — given the fact that prime time cable programming is constantly interrupted by ads, and that late light TV is little more than a block of infomercials, the average cable customer is paying handsomely for content that’s roughly 50% advertising and 30% reality shows. Is the remaining 20% really worth the price?
I cut the cord when I moved (froze my direct tv) but it hasn’t been that great. I pay $50/month for 25 mbps of Internet from Crapcast but when i speed test i get 12 max. Needless to say when i try to stream sling tv it goes in and out of HD to fuzzy and often times crashes. I like the idea and price, but i don’t think it is quite there yet. I will be following up and complaining about my Internet speed tho.
I loaded Kodi on Fire Tv which also has 4K and it works great I haven’t had any buffering issues, I can also add a micro card if I want or need more space I use a good 5-10 channels the rest I hardly use so I don’t keep adding unnessary channels and I delete the ones I find myself never using. I like that I can get all the other added services like amazon prime, netfilx, hulu etc all within the same box.
I’m considering setting up a Kodi box to supplement my Roku and get rid of my cable TV. I’m technical enough to achieve it, but I’m concerned about the use cases, because my wife is not technical at all, and quickly gets frustrated with hard-to-navigate systems (like our current PrismTV DVR — just say ‘no’ to Prism).
Also, I’m trying to research what hardware platform to run Kodi on. I don’t mind spending a little money, so that’s not an issue. Navigating the Kodi forums and trying to glean information about which platform best suits my needs is difficult without an in-depth understanding of what type of hardware acceleration you want or other aspects that their somewhat-insular community has agreed to lexically. What platform do you run on? What OS? Have you had any issues?
I have Kodi installed across a lot of hardware from a PC to a dedicated android Kodi boxes. There are some cheap Kodi boxes, some under $50 dollars. recently I bought a few of the MXQ boxes and gave them to friends and family, so far with good results. What ever hardware you do use be sure to run it first on something you have around for free like a desktop computer to be sure it is right for you. I have a friend who hated Kodi at first after a few months he canceled his cable subscription and loves it now.
If you don’t mind spending a little cash, buy the Nvidia Shield for Kodi. And get the 500GB hard drive. Cheaper units tend to be slow and their hard drives fill up fast. Nvidia Shield is the box the TV Addons people recommend, and there’s a reason for it.
Why do you need such a large hard drive? Isn’t the purpose mainly to stream movies/shows rather than to store them?
I had a box with a smaller hard drive. It ran out of space. It’s a whole lot costlier to buy a new box than to purchase one able hold all the streaming apps and games now available.
You can’t stream to TV without apps, and some apps use a whole lot of hard drive space. Kodi is just one more app on the drive, and within Kodi I have maybe 50 addons installed as well.
It seems the Invidia Shield is highly recommended.. Dumb question.. I have 3 tvs in my house.. I am assuming if I cut my cable I would need to get a box for each tv, correct? and a keyboard as well? Also, will there be buffering each time I go to watch a movie with the Invidea Shield?
Yes each TV will need its own box. Kodi gives a list of servers that can play a video and most often it can take 2-3 servers to find one that’s not full. So basically it will buffer at times but if it does simply stop the video and move down the server list. Be sure to test out Kodi on a computer or smartphone before ordering a Kodi box.
Buffering depends on a number of factors, including the speed of your internet connection and the quality of the stream. Some Kodi addons are simply more reliable than others. But I will say this — with a good broadband connection and fast streaming device, buffering is usually not an issue. My neighbor purchased a cheap unit to run Kodi, and he’s forever complaining that he can’t get streams to load. I rarely experience such problems, and with paid services like Netflix and Hulu, shows load almost instantly.
You don’t absolutely need a wireless keyboard with Nvidea Shield, but a keyboard and mouse definitely help with Kodi configuration. Otherwise, you’re pecking letters on screen, which is sort of like the menu cable companies give you for search.
If you have multiple TVs, you might want to consider more than one type of streaming device. I have Nvidea Shield, but also a Roku 4 which streams Amazon Prime video content and supports a huge number of apps. It’s also half the price of Nvidea, but you can’t run Kodi on it.
hello jd did you ever get kodi?
hi-george here in north carolina
kodi is wonderful-it has all the tv stions all the latest movivs and many more things to watch.all you need is a amazon fire stick that you can buy from amazon or best buy.right now its on sale for $29.95 it comes with a remote and your wife will have no problem useing it-it will not pick up the local tv stations tho-it will pick up nbd-abc-cbs and the list goes on and on-if you get it get back with me and ill help you program it and walk you thru how to use it.have a great thanks giving
george
I stream with Kodi plus paid services like Netflix and Hulu. Kodi addons, while giving you free access to thousands of TV shows and movies, don’t always deliver reliable high definition streams. I find that by keeping a Roku for more general streaming and a Kodi box for things unavailable on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime, I have more than enough ad-free viewing options.
I get no over the air TV where I live, but don’t miss the traditional networks. Not a bit. They’ve become purveyors of garbage shows and intrusive advertising.