OT: Cutting the Cord 2.0 - ESPN/Fox/Warner Launching Combined Sports Streamer

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Stoked to purchase HBO GO even though I am using a buddy's log in currently. I have no problem paying for streaming services I use. What I have a problem with is paying an exorbitant amount of money for cable channels I will never watch and having to deal with sketchy pricing schemes that always seem to be screwing me.

[smauss]

anyone have an opinion (yeah I know, dumb thing to ask around here!) on the different Roku products? 3 vs stick vs 2 type a thing.

[MickeyDavis]

Can't help you with that, mine is much older but I think it works great.

[DickCunningham]

Same with mine. My Roku is like a Timex watch. Just keeps working.

[Newz]

I love my Roku was well.

I don't use it anymore as I just have my PC hooked up to my TV, but it is an awesome device. Would definitely recommend people use it.

[ackypoo]

hooking up a laptop/pc to a tv is the easiest way to do things. i got a cheap $50 desktop that i got from a college 2 years ago running everything.

[humanrefutation]

anyone have an opinion (yeah I know, dumb thing to ask around here!) on the different Roku products? 3 vs stick vs 2 type a thing.

I've got the Roku 3 and I love the thing. I have friends who've had all three, and they work just fine. The Roku 3 is supposed to have a much faster processor, the ability to cast youtube/netflix from a laptop/mobile to the TV directly, and comes with a remote that has motion control for games and lets you plug headphones into it.

The motion control for games is fairly useless right now, as there aren't really many games that are compatible with it. Then again, I haven't really checked in a while. The headphone jack on the remote is really useful if you live with other people and want to watch your shows without disturbing others. I use the youtube/netflix casting option all the time, but I think the stick lets you do that now. The processor is definitely lightening quick by comparison to my friends who have older models.

That all being said, it's much more expensive. Every one in a while, Amazon will have a lightening deal which sells the Roku 3 for $60 or something like that. I'd check Kinja deals, because they're usually on top of those sales.

I'd also consider chromecast, which is on sale for $28 right now with 2 free months of Hulu Plus. From my understanding, it simply lets you project your laptop/tablet/mobile screen onto a TV, and comes with a selection of integrated apps (which is much smaller than Roku, but covers most of the major options). There are some big limitations versus a Roku. But the advantage is that you can some things - like project your browser - that Roku can't do AFAIK.

Here's the link which discusses the Chromecast sale: http://deadspin.com/cheap-digital-stora ... 1646688835

Here's a good comparison chart: http://www.cnet.com/news/chromecast-vs- ... d-you-buy/

[MickeyDavis]

FWIW I also have Chromecast and I prefer Roku. It costs more though.

[Treebeard]

I have Roku 2 & NetGear boxes. I like Roku better, it's just easy.

The one disclaimer for NetGear is the backside of the remote has a keyboard, that's easier to use for creating Search questions than the point-and-shoot typing of the Roku.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

HR did a perfect explanation of the Roku's and the Chromecast. I have two Roku 3's and am allowing my GF to borrow the Chromecast until she gets an Apple TV. Whenever I use the Chromecast, I wish I were using a Roku, but I hate using a tablet/phone to operate my TV. I much prefer a remote like Roku's.

[dedned]

I wish the streaming services would just start coming faster... it's going to happen eventually where cable isn't even going to be a thing if they refuse to go "ala a carte". Good to see that HBO is getting on board, hopefully Showtime is next.

I really hope that the NBA, NFL and MLB follow suit quickly and get rid of the local blackout non-sense. I wish they could come to some sort of agreement where if you pay a little more or something along those lines, then you can get your local teams games as well.

They should have a team pass instead of a league pass and eliminate local blackouts.

[nmeurett]

Nexus player

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/15/6982 ... -announced

[humanrefutation]

I have Roku 2 & NetGear boxes. I like Roku better, it's just easy.

The one disclaimer for NetGear is the backside of the remote has a keyboard, that's easier to use for creating Search questions than the point-and-shoot typing of the Roku.

If you have the Roku app on your phone, you can use the keyboard on your phone to type. Just an FYI.

[Treebeard]

I wish the streaming services would just start coming faster... it's going to happen eventually where cable isn't even going to be a thing if they refuse to go "ala a carte". Good to see that HBO is getting on board, hopefully Showtime is next.

I really hope that the NBA, NFL and MLB follow suit quickly and get rid of the local blackout non-sense. I wish they could come to some sort of agreement where if you pay a little more or something along those lines, then you can get your local teams games as well.

They should have a team pass instead of a league pass and eliminate local blackouts.

Yes, please!

[Treebeard]

Yet another popular media outlet talking about cutting the cord - Popular Mechanics

http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/this-is-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-cable-17320175?click=pm_latest

In 2015, you’ll be able to subscribe to HBO by itself, without a cable subscription. It’s one announcement, but it’s had more of an impact in one day for the takedown of the cable oligopoly than any other single action to date. And companies like Netflix have spent the last half-decade trying to do only that.

Those companies, Amazon and Google’s YouTube included, have made incremental gains in chipping away at a $100-plus billion cable oligopoly that—with the impending merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable—might become even harder to break down. But this was a wrecking ball.

As TechCrunch put it today: Let the Unbundling Begin. Or, in English: Let the death of cable commence.

[Nebula1]

I wish the streaming services would just start coming faster... it's going to happen eventually where cable isn't even going to be a thing if they refuse to go "ala a carte". Good to see that HBO is getting on board, hopefully Showtime is next.

I really hope that the NBA, NFL and MLB follow suit quickly and get rid of the local blackout non-sense. I wish they could come to some sort of agreement where if you pay a little more or something along those lines, then you can get your local teams games as well.

They should have a team pass instead of a league pass and eliminate local blackouts.

Yep, and I'd be willing to pay more to have access to my local team via LP.

[Majik7]

Will definitely be subscribing to the HBO streaming service.

CBS announced today they will also offer a subscription streaming service

http://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-interactive/releases/view?id=40966

[MickeyDavis]

As anyone who is stuck with only one high-speed broadband provider in their neighborhood knows, the state of competition for home Internet services in the United States is not very good. However, there’s a promising new technology that’s being developed that could give your cable provider a run for its money and will hopefully give you a second option that doesn’t involve praying for Google Fiber to roll into your city.

CNET reports that a new technology called G.fast debuted at the Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam this week and it promises to bring DSL into the 21st century with Google Fiber-like peak speeds of 1Gbps. And here’s the most intriguing part: ISPs can upgrade their DSL networks with G.fast without having to completely tear out their copper infrastructure and build a completely new network as they would have to do if they decided to build fiber networks.

“DSL upgrades have at least one big advantage: they’re an upgrade to networks that already exist,” writes CNET. “Much of the world doesn’t have cable-TV infrastructure at all, and still less of it has fiber-optic connections. Phone networks, though, are widely used, and covered about 422 million DSL subscribers globally in 2013, according to analyst firm IHS.”

So if you’ve written off DSL as a has-been technology that has no hope of keeping up with cable or fiber, hopefully this new breakthrough will breathe some fresh life into it. And more importantly, let’s hope that longtime DSL providers like Verizon and AT&T will adopt it and run it along their existing networks so more of us can have alternatives to Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

[MickeyDavis]

http://www.cnet.com/news/fire-tv-stick- ... he-sticks/

FireTV vs. Chromecast vs. Roku

[smauss]

http://www.cnet.com/news/fire-tv-stick-vs-chromecast-vs-roku-streaming-stick-battle-of-the-sticks/

FireTV vs. Chromecast vs. Rolu

Thx MD, very helpful article.