DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Cutting cable...

i'd stay away from the side load apps...but if you must Kodi for me is still the best

I have the feeling once the cable contract is up, I'll cancel cable, keep internet and install a amplified attenae.. important games I can walk across the street to the bar and watch

You forgot to Walk Tall when you went in yourself.

I'm getting killed by Spectrum also.

I have 2 phone lines (work from home), all the movie channels and about another 150 or so channels (music channels as well) and I also have the highest speed internet they offer...

220.00 per month... I can cut back on channels, but that only nets me about $30 savings.. and I don't want to do that until Hard Knocks is over..LOL

Been thinking about just having Spectrum for Internet and phone and go to something else for TV.... not sure what yet...

Playstation Vue is damn good. It has all the channels I need and then some and the 50 dollar price. I also have a digital Antenna so I can get the non cable channels for free as well.

Spectrum was axing me $190 for TV and internet. Cutting out their cable, going with sling ($25 a month) and keeping them for internet was the BEST thing I could do. You can add HBO and etc onto Sling.

Little math, I save over $1100 bucks a year now. I will say miss a channel here and there (Like Discovery n' The American Heroes channel) but I think about the cash that's in my pocket and I've easily gotten over it.

I had Time Warner ever since I moved into my last house, lived there 16 years. Never really had problems, customer service was always terrible, but that was only a few times in that span I needed to call them. Most of the time if it was a bad DVR or Modem, I'd take it to the store in Akron and exchange it out.

About 3 years ago my bill crept above $200, I went in and asked them to do something about it. After looking at my account and seeing I was a long time customer, they lowered my bill to $145/month and gave me a free year of HBO and Cinemax. The rep that helped me told me to come back every year or two to negotiate my bill.

Last year it again was above $200 ($225 actually) and I went to to Akron office again, now they are Spectrum....they had to most condescending attitude and basically told me if I didn't like the pricing I could cancel. No matter how I sliced it I was going to be over $200 due to the new cable box requirement for every TV, I have 4 TV's in my house. I told them I would think about it and I left.

My kids were spending the night at Grandmas, so me and my wife went out to dinner, during dinner I told her I wanted to try out PS Vue, they offer a free 5 day trial. So I went home, signed up, downloaded the app to the Android TV, on the Firesticks/TV, and also on all our iOS devices.

5 days later, I walked into the Spectrum office with all of my cable boxes and my modem. I turned off my cable and upped my internet to their 100mb internet (which they gave me a new modem). I've been pleased with the PS Vue service ever since. Will be 1 year this November.

PS Vue allows you multiple user names like Netflix so different family members can customize their favorite channels. It has pretty much a limitless cloud DVR and each user name has their own DVR.

Plenty of On-Demand items as well.

Just got an e-mail today, we got the local Fox broadcast back, just in time for Football season.

PS Vue + Spectrum Internet and I pay less than $130/month.

(P.S. I get Spectrum calling me at least once every two weeks to try and get me back, I told them I'm happy with PS Vue for my TV services).

Look up the show "Adam ruins everything". He has an episode called "adam ruins the internet". It will truly make you furious how we get screwed over by these companies.

Wow this is like... my story too. This is virtually what happened to me. They would boost the prices up, I would call (TWC then) and complain it was too high and they'd re-package me and get my back to what I was paying (one time, I added phone (I don't even have a home phone to use)) but it was just to get me in a package that lowered my bill $60. Makes no sense to me.

However, when the situation arose again and I had to deal with Spectrum, they basically said I could cancel as' well. I said and quote "allllllllllllllllllrighty then, take care now, bye bye then" and went to Sling and used their promo for service and getting a Roku Ultra. Soon as the Roku arrived and I set it up, I took all my gear (modem too, I use my own modem) and gave it to the Garfield Heights/Independence office and canceled my cable and phone service on the spot.

They constantly send me things in the mail, call me and etc. The deals and etc they're now offering me to "get me back" are/have been actually outstanding, however the damage is done. I'm too pleased with my setup now so unless they get super crazy in an offer, I'll never use them for antyhing outside internet and where I live, they're basically the only good broadband/high speed option.

I think they lost a lot of people since the merge from TWC to Spectrum.

The AT&T merger with Directv , killed Directv ..

Reminds me of AT&T... Three lines at my business went from $140 per month to $225. Tried everything to get it lowered, wouldn't budge unless I bundled... I will never use their cell service again (long story) and the internet in my area rivals dial-up. Finally gave up and asked how much with internet bundle - it lowered my total bill back down to $140.

The modem has been sitting on the shelf in a box for nearly two years.

It makes no sense and ONLY proves the fact they're ripping you off/making huge margins/way overpricing service.

I pay 45 a month for internet with spectrum 100 down/10 up. If they ever jack the price up I'll bounce to AT&T for a bit if they don't lower it back down. I'd love to have Wow again as I was getting 500/50 for 60 a month but it's not available at my new place.

Biggest thing is just be willing to bounce services if they price isn't what you want.

My other services currently are Youtube TV, which includes unlimited DVR and locals. I recently switched to it from sling as I got more value for the money. We also have Netflix and right now have HBO for Hard Knocks. I'll drop it once I get caught up on my shows in a month or two. I don't count Amazon Prime in here as we have it for the shipping more so than the other services.

Here's one bit of advice for everyone...

Buy your own modem and router. You're probably don't even realize that you're renting your current box(es). You're paying $5+ per month for something that can be purchased outright for around $40.

If you play online, bandwidth intensive video games, then you absolutely need to buy your own modem and router. Those modem/router combo boxes are a joke.

So yeah, go on Amazon and find a modem that'll work with your service/wiring, and a router that fits your needs (they always have them on a daily deal).

I agree... very important that you first go online or call and verify if you are allowed, and what specific equipment is compatible.

I was allowed at home but not permitted to do so at my business. Forget the lame brain excuse they used.

I'm thinking of making the change too.

Does PSV offer DVR, pause and rewind? That's one of the features I like about YouTube TV but the interface for Youtube TV is awful.

Anyone use Hulu for local/live TV?

With PSVue, you can DVR and go back 3 days for any show that you did not DVR.

The only thing that I have noticed is that after the football game, it took about an hour for the game to become available.

Thoughts on Roku vs Apple TV? Our household uses all Apple products, but I'm not sure what the advantage is to using Apple TV as well.

I love my Roku. It has tons of different channels.

https://www.roku.com/whats-on

If you're into audio and video quality, it's all Apple. Roku can give you 4K HDR but Apple can give you 4K Dolby Vision and HDR. Roku can give you Dolby Digital audio but Apple can give you Dolby Atmos audio. This is a plus if you like Netflix, so much of their material takes advantage of this.

Apple has killer screen savers too. Seriously, you can get into watching just those, they're that good.

An example:



Apple may lack some of the obscure apps that Roku has, like world cameras, that never seem to work, but they have most of what people typically use.

Other Apple products integrate seamlessly. Airplay works on everything. Your iPhone or iPad can type text to your screen for searches and of course they can both act as a remote as well.

That's purdy!! What kind of tv/monitor works best? Does it even matter?

That example is just 4K Standard Defination. Any 4K tv will display it. If you want to take advantage of Dolby Vision you'll need a compatible TV, I use an LG OLED. If you have a newer Samsung set, it most likely supports HDR10. Which AppleTV also supports.

This is our tv: Amazon TV. There has apparently been an update to HDR10. So, that sounds good.

That set supports HDR10, so I think you'll be pleased with the picture quality.

BUMP because our tv is pretty much dead. Apparently it needs a new motherboard (currently $80 on eBay). Time to upgrade.

Costco has a LG 65" OLED (OLED65C8) or a Samsung 82" QLED (QN82Q65FN). The 82" is $350 higher in price. I know OLED is supposed to be the schnizzle, but I really think the QLED is just fine for our use/viewing. Not saying these are the models we would get, but I was just there looking around today and got overwhelmed by sizes, prices, and brands. LOL

Thoughts? Anyone?

I can only speak about the LG brand. I bought an LG in 2011 and while we don't watch a lot of TV, the damned thing is on almost all of the time.



It has served me well and the picture quality is superb. It's no longer our main TV or our biggest at 42", but the dependability is second to none.

I think you'll be happy either way you go. 82" is huge, are you going to put in parking spaces with window speakers?

Yeah, no kidding.

I have a smaller living room, and didn't think about it (beyond measuring to make sure it would fit) when I bought my 65" Vizio. It really is too big for my room, because there isn't enough depth in the room for that large a set. Whenever it goes, I'll probably get a 55". or maybe even slightly smaller, because I think a smaller set would work better. (either that or blow out a wall to increase the size of my living room)

Haha, no...I'm back to the OLED 65". LG just gets better overall reviews than Samsung.

But now the issue is the C8 model vs the E8. Here's how LG explains the differences:

"So, what’s different when it comes to the LG E8 vs. LG C8? It all comes down to design, sound and size:

Different designs. The LG E8 boasts a stunningly unique Picture-on-Glass design. The OLED panel is actually set on a piece of elegant glass, creating a gorgeous image that appears to float in the air, blending seamlessly like a piece of art just about anywhere. The C8 is also stunningly sleek and beautiful, just without the glass. Both are very close in their design, with the C8 coming in ever-so-slightly slimmer at 1.8 inches, to the E8’s 2 inches. When mounted on a table or other surface, the C8 gives you about 2-inches of clearance at the bottom, while the E8 is closer to a half-an-inch.

Different speakers. The E8 has 4.2 channel speaker system with 60 Watts of output power, and the C8 has a 2.2 channel speaker system, delivering 40 Watts of output power."

I don't know if it's wort the extra $$ to get the E8. Thoughts on the speaker differences?

We sit about 10 to 13 feet from the tv. Bigger would be better, but considering a rearrangement to get us a little closer so the 65" will work.

You can get a pretty good sound bar for less than $100 dollars that should give you even better sound than the superior TV sound. I would factor that into my decision and look at both TV's pictures to see how much if any difference you can tell between the two. I would base my decision on those two factors.

On a personal not I much prefer the sound bar.

We have a decent sound bar now, so can probably just switch it over, but I think it requires one with dolby atmos capabilities to get the full benefit. It's always something.

My Vizeo has the change over ability and I would venture to guess the LG would have too.

I have my TV on top of the fake fireplace. (I bought a really nice enclosure at Ollie's, then built a black insert, and just put candles it in)

It's on one wall, and the couch is about 10' away. I would try to flip the room the other way, but the bathroom door would have to be behind the couch, and that would be awkward. I have considered flipping my living room and dining room, as the dining room is more of a square shape, and slightly bigger, and the pool table might fit better in the current living room. Then again, with my back I can't really shoot pool .... and the pool table is really, really, really heavy.

Interesting. And, not that it means much, but we are replacing a dying Vizio. Really pissed at the tv and the company.

Yeah, probably not worth all the moving. Or...just turn the pool table into your dining table and call it good!

As far as the glass, I'd be concerned about possible reflections. If you have lights besides or behind your seating position, I'd have someone go to the store with you and use their phone's flashlight feature to stand in the approximate position of that light and see if you see reflections.

The 2 inches vs 1/2 inch is really only an issue if you're going to be using bias lighting, light behind the TV that eliminates any possibility of reflections. I have a B7 with the 2 inch space and use bias lighting. I put black felt down to block light showing from underneath the set. It was annoying.

TV speakers should only be a concern if you don't have audio receiver that can be used for sound, mostly as a surround sound system, or even better a compatible Dolby Atmos receiver and appropriately positioned speakers to give you a spatial surround sound stage. Personally, I wish they'd make TV's without speakers at all. Internal speakers will always be just a marketing gimmick.

I actually have done that on occasion.

It has the table tennis boards, so I get a huge table. I have to use 2 tablecloths. lol Of course, I don't have to do that anymore since my family continues to shrink, and i don't cook for the holidays anymore, but it did a nice job when I had 12 people over.

I've had pretty good luck with the Vizeo so far and my daughter has had one what seems like forever. Sorry to hear you've had a bad experience with yours.

(trying to upload a pic to show selection)



This is like a foreign language to me. Will research.



No receiver. Mostly just use the soundbar. And thanks for all your thoughts.