A Year after Cutting the Cable Cord

[MB64]

From 2000 till just yesterday I had cable. So in the past when I was told about other services I didn’t care to listen. From 2000 till 7 years ago, myself and the wife worked for cable company so we had free cable. (All pay channels included). Whenever I went to att they’d offer me direct tv packages and I always turned them down letting them know that they couldn’t match my free cable deal, lol. So I guess for the past 7 years I’ve been wasting money. Now I can waste it on something else!!!!

 

[Sherry_B]

Emby - This is what I currently use and have been for the better part of a year. This requires a PC running the server but I already had one dedicated for Plex. You buy an HDHomeRun, I use 2, and the Emby server connects to it and records to a hard drive. Again, works the same as a cable company DVR and the software is substantially better than Tablo or any other DVR system. This also allows live tv through the app (which is available on all platforms) as well as pausing and rewinding. Your Emby system can be accessed anywhere that you have internet. $4.99/mo or a lifetime subscription for $119.99

A question regarding Emby and the HDHomeRun (we have both, but we need a new HDHomeRun since ours is a dinosaur... hubby never hooked it up); can I watch one thing in the living room while my husband watches something different in the basement or bedroom? Essentially I'd like to have 3 areas in our home for TV/DVR viewing (livingroom, bedroom, and one in the basement).

My husband does have a server rack in the basement as well (he works from home). If you need more info to help me with my question, ask away.

 

[TylerLV76]

A question regarding Emby and the HDHomeRun (we have both, but we need a new HDHomeRun since ours is a dinosaur... hubby never hooked it up); can I watch one thing in the living room while my husband watches something different in the basement or bedroom? Essentially I'd like to have 3 areas in our home for TV/DVR viewing (livingroom, bedroom, and one in the basement).

My husband does have a server rack in the basement as well (he works from home). If you need more info to help me with my question, ask away.

Even the old hdhomeruns work fine with Emby so you may not need to upgrade depending on the model. They typically have either 2 or 4 tuners so on a 2 tuner you can watch 2 shows live or while they're recording in 2 different rooms. If you have or buy a 4 tuner you get 4 tv's either live or while recording. DVR episodes, that have finished recording, you can watch on as many tv's as your server/pc can handle.

You will have to subscribe to a channel guide. I use SchedulesDirect which is $25/year or $6 for 3 months.

If you have any questions on anything let me know. Normally I reply much faster.

 

[Sherry_B]

Even the old hdhomeruns work fine with Emby so you may not need to upgrade depending on the model. They typically have either 2 or 4 tuners so on a 2 tuner you can watch 2 shows live or while they're recording in 2 different rooms. If you have or buy a 4 tuner you get 4 tv's either live or while recording. DVR episodes, that have finished recording, you can watch on as many tv's as your server/pc can handle.

You will have to subscribe to a channel guide. I use SchedulesDirect which is $25/year or $6 for 3 months.

If you have any questions on anything let me know. Normally I reply much faster.

Ah, you have helped more than you know! We're still researching, and while cutting the cord may not happen right now, it will eventually.

I'm thinking we'll need to upgrade! :laughing:

 

[TylerLV76]

Ah, you have helped more than you know! We're still researching, and while cutting the cord may not happen right now, it will eventually.

I'm thinking we'll need to upgrade! :laughing:

View attachment 123070

Lol, ok yeah you may need to upgrade.

 

[Lee_Bo]

Well.......12 hours after cutting the cord. Turned in all cables boxes and phone modem this morning. Now on 100 meg internet with Apple TV's and YouTube TV.

 

[robertk328]

Well.......12 hours after cutting the cord. Turned in all cables boxes and phone modem this morning. Now on 100 meg internet with Apple TV's and YouTube TV.

Got my email from DTV about how to return my box... will take it tomorrow.

 

[Rob Phillips]

Well.......12 hours after cutting the cord. Turned in all cables boxes and phone modem this morning. Now on 100 meg internet with Apple TV's and YouTube TV.

Got my email from DTV about how to return my box... will take it tomorrow.

Congrats! Hopefully it’s the last cable/satellite equipment you’ll ever have to return.

 

[TylerLV76]

For the folks cutting the cord, do yourself a favor and promise yourself to stick with it for a couple months. Its a big change but once you get used to the change you'll realize you should have done it a long time ago.

The first time I tried was 2 years ago and I only made it a few weeks. It was so different from traditional cable that I didn't allow myself to adjust. The I did it again and told myself I was sticking with it for at least 2 months and I haven't looked back. Yes the remote setup is different and depending on the service you use, the guide and DVR etc is different, but once you adjust its the best decision I ever made.

 

[Rob Phillips]

For the folks cutting the cord, do yourself a favor and promise yourself to stick with it for a couple months. Its a big change but once you get used to the change you'll realize you should have done it a long time ago.

The first time I tried was 2 years ago and I only made it a few weeks. It was so different from traditional cable that I didn't allow myself to adjust. The I did it again and told myself I was sticking with it for at least 2 months and I haven't looked back. Yes the remote setup is different and depending on the service you use, the guide and DVR etc is different, but once you adjust its the best decision I ever made.

Solid advice. When I first cut the cord I purposely kept my Xfinity service on for a month (I had already paid the bill anyway) and made a commitment to myself to not use it, and only use DirecTV NOW. This gave me an out in case I just couldn’t take it. What I found was that I barely missed Xfinity. Since then DTVN has gotten so much better. They’ve added all of my locals, expanded on demand content and third party app compatibility (AMC, NBC, etc.), and they’ve gotten WAY more reliable. And it doesn’t hurt that I got in early so my DTVN service is grandfathered into a super cheap package!

 

[TylerLV76]

DirecTV Now DVR just released for all those looking forward to it. Its not on all devices just yet but Apple devices are available. Fire devices looks to be in the next week or so.

 

[MB64]

Great news!!

DirecTV Now DVR just released for all those looking forward to it. Its not on all devices just yet but Apple devices are available. Fire devices looks to be in the next week or so.

 

[Lee_Bo]

Well.......12 hours after cutting the cord. Turned in all cables boxes and phone modem this morning. Now on 100 meg internet with Apple TV's and YouTube TV.

Well, a pleasant mistake by Charter. The 100 meg internet is no longer available so now we have 200 meg at the same price.

 

[MB64]

I just finalized getting away even from internet with spectrum aka brighthouse/charter/time Warner etc....their 100 mps was 75 a month, with frontier it’s 50 . Has anyone tried the dvr function? I’m not home yet and haven’t fiddled with it now with the new streaming services, I have my wife testing the new channel lineup and format and she likes it

 

[TylerLV76]

I just finalized getting away even from internet with spectrum aka brighthouse/charter/time Warner etc....their 100 mps was 75 a month, with frontier it’s 50 . Has anyone tried the dvr function? I’m not home yet and haven’t fiddled with it now with the new streaming services, I have my wife testing the new channel lineup and format and she likes it

The DVR is “ok”. Theres a huge issue with recording new episodes only. I set one of my shows up to do just new episodes and it recorded 19 hours of reruns on multiple channels. (Big Bang Theory). My DVR was full. They need to address that immediately even if you have the 100 hours for $10 more. But it did record just fine.

The apple remote makes fast forwarding a nightmare though.

They also need to add the ability to pause live tv and unpause where you left off as well as rewind for at least 30 seconds or so.

 

[TylerLV76]

Updates out for Android and Fire devices. Roku will be coming soon.

Seems the "record new episodes only" has gotten a bit better as well. Did have an issue with a discovery show not recording however.