Finally ditching cable

[AgentAK]

Going with internet only, any pointers? I would like to be able to see some sports and channels such as TBS, TNT, History, Discovery and some of the regular networks. What do you guys recommend? I have a smart TV and that's about it.

[LONGRANGER777]

OTA all the way...free tv...get an antenna and gtg

[Mad Mensch]

OTA all the way...free tv...get an antenna and gtg

Discovery and many other cable channels aren't available OTA and never will be.

OP's best bet is to get a really fast internet connection and combine Sling TV (from Dish) with some other Internet TV subscription like Netflix or Hulu.

I watch a lot of live sports which subscription Internet TV services don't offer so I can never go without cable or satellite. I know there are sites that rebroadcast sports via the Internet but the solution is usually cumbersome and isn't available in high quality HD.

[Rink Rat]

Get the apps for the channels you want to watch on your phone or tablet and then find a way to get that to your TV through something like a Roku or Apple TV. There are more choices to get the shows to your TV but those are a couple of the most popular. We killed pay TV about a year and a half ago and love it, we use Netflix, Hulu and my in-laws TV login to unlock some TV apps, I also watch every LA Kings game in HD. Unfortunately I live in an area that I can't use a ota antenna.

[ebencikiv]

http://www.tvaddons.ag/

[ebencikiv]

I use xbmc/kodi on my fire tv, mac, iphone, daughters laptop, and my HTPC.. It's everything you are looking for to cut the cord.

[pronstar]

I'm still tethered to DirecTV. Love the programmig and service, hate the price.

At any rate, I know quite a few guys who run this:

http://myfreecabletv.com

Same basic system as XMBC, as noted by ebencikiv, but without the tough learning curve - they create the GUI so makes it easy to find anything you want to watch, including just-released movies like American sniper, and live sports.

Personally, I don't think you can't rely on XMBC content 100% of the time to watch what you want to watch. And it all seems a bit glitchy. Not for me at this time, but some guys absolutely love it.

[AgentAK]

The xbmc seems to be what I'm looking for. It's not perfect, but neither is cable! There's so many boxes to choose from and so many questions though. I downloaded the Windows version of kodi and am going to see if I can figure it out.
Any suggestions on boxes? What would be the min./recommended Internet speed?
I know there's a lot of places to get info out there (my eyes are strained beyond belief), but I really value the opinions of people here.
Thank's to all!

[ebencikiv]

So far the best box I have used is the fire tv. The best experience I've had though is through my home theater PC that I build there's tons of different build you can do I even using just an old PC that you have laying around the house.

[ebencikiv]

If you do use the X BMC software I found the Genesis has the most sources of TV shows and movies

[The Last American Hero]

"Kids" tell me that "peer to peer" file sharing like KickAss Torrents is legal.

Really not sure myself. Any new news on that issue? Haven't heard of anyone getting charged, fined or going to jail, or even having their ISP cut them off.

Not to thread jack, but IMO what might be going on is even if the Powers That Be could shut it down, the supposed "lost revenue" Hollywood might feel is a minor issue compared to flooding young minds with daily hours of well crafted propaganda.

[gorn5150]

"Kids" tell me that "peer to peer" file sharing like KickAss Torrents is legal.

Really not sure myself. Any new news on that issue? Haven't heard of anyone getting charged, fined or going to jail, or even having their ISP cut them off.

Not to thread jack, but IMO what might be going on is even if the Powers That Be could shut it down, the supposed "lost revenue" Hollywood might feel is a minor issue compared to flooding young minds with daily hours of well crafted propaganda.

Peer to peer is legal. It's when you download copywrited file that you can get nailed. No jail but organizations like the RIAA will nail you to the wall in civil actions if they catch you.

[pronstar]

You can legally watch XMBC streams. You just can't save the data legally.

The onus of legality resides with the offshore servers that are dishing the data out. No issues for end users.

[AgentAK]

So far the best box I have used is the fire tv. The best experience I've had though is through my home theater PC that I build there's tons of different build you can do I even using just an old PC that you have laying around the house.

Kind of leaning toward fire tv myself. I need optical out and it has it. If I were to go the PC route, what would I need for video card? What O/S is best?
I've been playing with genesis and have noticed not a lot of HD content. This may be a problem as I plan to view on a 65" TV.

[ebencikiv]

Kind of leaning toward fire tv myself. I need optical out and it has it. If I were to go the PC route, what would I need for video card? What O/S is best?
I've been playing with genesis and have noticed not a lot of HD content. This may be a problem as I plan to view on a 65" TV.

Go to movies then hd releases in genesis. Add yify hd movies, and film kz most if not all are HD.

Under programs go to maintenance tool then system tweaks then click zero cache. this will help with buffering ALOT!!!

Remember to clear your cache under general maintenance after every couple of movies. Helps to speed things up also.

If the stream is buffering a lot during playback try another source some are faster than others.


FYI: If you do go the fire tv route you do need a wireless or usb keyboard to set it up.

A wired connection is the best way to watch but a wireless works to just pause the show and let it buffer for 5 min then watch.

Good luck have fun remember it's free!!