Octopus Overlords

I'm not necessarily opposed, especially considering they're talking a discounted bundle for Hulu + Disney Plus.

ooh, i hadn't heard that.

stessier wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 12:53 pm There's also the option to subscribe for a month, binge what you want, and then move to a new service. Rinse and Repeat. All completely legal.

This is the mindset I need to learn so I can finally cut the cord. I'm not there yet. I get it conceptually but I'm not at peace with it. it makes great sense. As single dude, I only ever need one service at a time. One service activated a month plus 10up/50 down is about $65 a month or half of what I am paying now for 80 channels of crap that is not on demand and 1up/2 down (which is all I need so long as I do not live and die by streaming)

I'm probably going to test the waters with this by subscribing to an HBO capable streaming service for a month when GoT ends. If I'm happy with the results I may take the next step. $60+ a month savings is could be huge. I just need to come to zen with the rotating subscriptions and streaming and not being spoonfed whatever happens to be on when I happen to in front of the TV (which I like... It's like having a random music playlist. I used to love TiVo but I think I have maybe three shows in my list now. I pretty much leave Cartoon network on all day and all night unless I'm channel hopping.)

you might want to consider Youtube.tv its a real good replacement for cable, about $40 a month. lots of good channels like syfy, cartoon network, fx, it does gets sports. The DVR and recording feature is excellent, and it does a great job of providing the backlog of a show along with the new episodes. I find it to be a really good mix of live TV plus ondemand.

At 40 bucks a month, you're getting near the cost of cable tv again though. That's what kept me from similar offers from sling tv and playstation vue.

Live TV is a high-cost hurdle at the moment, and especially troublesome for sports fans.

hepcat wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 4:32 pm At 40 bucks a month, you're getting near the cost of cable tv again though. That's what kept me from similar offers from sling tv and playstation vue.

This. Especially if it's not all inclusive. But again if I can change my mindset and move from one $25 a month service at a time to another and not worry about having everything all of the time, the savings becomes very real.

Our cable company had continuously been screwing us over for years. I think we were at $120 for the TV portion alone - that was with no premium channels, just standard digital tier. Really infuriated me, as I had been a loyal customer for 15 years. My "reward" was subsidizing their new subscribers that got dirt cheap rates for signing up. Meanwhile they kept raising my cost and telling me they were doing me a favor.

Now we're doing:

Amazon Prime - $10
Netflix - $13
Hulu - $12
Shudder - $7

And temporarily (just long enough to binge Twilight Zone/Star Trek Discovery and Game of Thrones)

CBS All Access - $6
HBO Go - $15

That comes out to $42-$63 a month, so even in my worst case scenario I'm coming out well ahead. I bought an HD antenna for the rare live event occasions (namely Super Bowl, New Year's Eve ball drop, and the occasional basketball game).

Honestly I don't know if I'd go back to live TV if they gave it to me for free. I've become so accustomed to on-demand viewing I don't think I'd even watch it.

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 19, 2015 2:58 pm I like my hulu and netflix combo. I even pay the extra 4 bucks a month to get commercial free (Although I may drop that as the commercials never really bothered me. They're usually only a couple of minutes per 30 minute episode.).

I still pay significantly less for the content I get than what I paid when I was with Comcast.

I have the same combo and I'm quite pleased. I will admit it took me awhile to move from free Hulu to pay Hulu, but one year I wanted to catch up on a series that I was about 2 months behind and the free version did not allow that. Hulu also has a number of movies that Netflix and Amazon Prime do not have. But while their movie catalog is rather small I always seem to find a couple gems in there. They also have a couple original series but that department is still in its infancy and come no where close to Amazon or Netflix.

In any event the total monthly cost is less than a night at the movies, so I think its worth it.

And one more extra, some of the network shows give the Hulu versions more content (The Good Place )

YellowKing wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 9:57 pm Honestly I don't know if I'd go back to live TV if they gave it to me for free. I've become so accustomed to on-demand viewing I don't think I'd even watch it.

Within the past few years I had an option to add basic cable TV to my internet package for an extra $5 a month. I told them it wasn't worth it.

YellowKing wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 9:57 pm Honestly I don't know if I'd go back to live TV if they gave it to me for free. I've become so accustomed to on-demand viewing I don't think I'd even watch it.

This is our household as well. What OTA programs we do watch, we still timeshift via Tivo. The only thing we really watch live is the morning local news while eating breakfast and sports.

YellowKing wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 9:57 pm
Shudder - $7

Is Shudder up to 7 bucks a month now? I bought the year package at 4.99 I think.

D.A.Lewis wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 3:30 am
Hulu also has a number of movies that Netflix and Amazon Prime do not have. But while their movie catalog is rather small I always seem to find a couple gems in there. They also have a couple original series but that department is still in its infancy and come no where close to Amazon or Netflix.

One thing you DO not want to do is go deep diving into Amazon Prime's movie library. The number of truly disturbing and god awful films hidden within their archives is alarming.

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 8:54 am One thing you DO not want to do is go deep diving into Amazon Prime's movie library. The number of truly disturbing and god awful films hidden within their archives is alarming.

hepcat wrote:Is Shudder up to 7 bucks a month now? I bought the year package at 4.99 I think.

Yeah I think they bumped prices up recently. Which I don't mind, as they've continued to add value with their original programming and movie selection. Hell, as long as they keep Joe Bob around they can take whatever they want from me.

Yup, Joe Bob on Friday nights is my go to weekend starter. I've still got an autographed copy of one of his books I had him sign for me at a horror convention years ago (the only time I've gone to one, and it was just because he was there). The man is a living legend. Side note: don't look up Darcy the Mail Girl's real name in conjunction with Joe Bob on google while at work.

I met him this past March at NJ Horror Con.

I've been a huge Joe Bob fan ever since TNT MonsterVision which I watched religiously, so I was exceedingly nervous to meet him. I was prepping myslf to be content with a brief "Hello, I'm a big fan, nice to met you, bye."

Instead I caught him at an uncrowded time and we talked for several minutes. He was really interested in the NC film industry and the Swamp Thing series, and I got to share some anecdotes from growing up around here. Super nice guy and totally exceeded my expectations.

Speaking of Darcy, I rode down the elevator with her one morning and I think my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I walked in. I stammered something and sheepishly stared at the door the ride down. Later that day when I went by Joe Bob's table she said, "There's my elevator guy. We had some good times in there." I probably turned 50 shades of red.

PS Joe Bob is TALL:

Very cool!

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 8:54 am
One thing you DO not want to do is go deep diving into Amazon Prime's movie library. The number of truly disturbing and god awful films hidden within their archives is alarming.

Words simply do not describe.

last year I was laid out for a few months and watched a bunch of TV. I dug deep into the sci fi genre of Amazon Prime library. A significant portion of the movies are really pilot episodes of a show that never got picked up. Or part one of a sequel that never got made. Or the beginning of a hoped for franchise that never came to fruition. And then there are the films that lack any professional creds. One movie I saw had the music track way louder than the dialog. Another one I saw had heavy metal music in a somber gothic tone horror film. Some were so bad it was almost like they were made in the hopes of being only on MST3K. And the number of them is astounding. My thumb had to take a rest to scroll through the list...no, on second thought I think I quit.

I shudder to think of what they have in comedy or drama genres that are far less expensive to make.