What's new

Streaming | Pad Patter 8.9

bbymks5 said:
Cox is doing that already; they cap at 1 terabite I think and after that it's $10.00 per something, not sure b/c I don't have them.
Click to expand...
Yep. We have Cox. And honestly, we are nowhere near the cap. We routinely only use around 500 Gb. Comcast is also doing it. So far, it's the people running home businesses (as in 2 or more) that I've seen compassion about hitting the cap constantly. And the people who are sharing internet with their neighbors (2 houses, 1 bill).

tkradtke said:
. I also like to put on the tv as background while I do other things (like scrap)... I can't do that with Netflix shows, because for some reason, I tend to only put on Netflix when I actually plan on paying attention.
Click to expand...
I use Netflix for this. And YouTube. I like background noise too.
 
We're much more limited in streaming services here in Canada. We have Netflix and a shaw customer streaming called free range. I wish we could get YouTube red but it's not available to us.
 
We cut our cable almost 10 years ago, and we haven't missed it (except maybe for those times that the Olympics are on, and then I pout that I'm missing the 3rd tier judo matches or curling or whatever.).

We originally used Hulu when it was free, and then had a paid sub for a while until even the paid subs included commercials. Plus it would continually crash or lag, so we switched to Netflix. I actually cut Netflix last year and haven't really missed it, either. We do have Amazon Prime, but except for my occasional background rerun fest of the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, I don't watch it, either. We have it simply because it's part of the Prime membership that my business pays for (because that free 2-day shipping has saved me more than once), and Darren actually uses it a lot more than I do.

Did you guys see the Wall Street Journal article about Millennials who have discovered this amazing hack for getting free TV? It's called an antenna!! :giggle

https://www.wsj.com/articles/millen...ng-hack-to-get-free-tv-the-antenna-1501686958
 
Last edited:
Canadian perspective: We subscribe to Netflix (about $12 a month). And, we had the free preview of Amazon Prime. We really enjoyed TransParent and American Gods, but I don't think we're going to keep the service. I still subscribe to cable, because my antenna doesn't pick up TVO (TV Ontario, sort of like PBS) and I only get CBC (our national broadcaster) in French! That's what I get for being on a border with Quebec. Right now, Disney movies will still be streamed via Netflix in Canada - until they decide we're a big enough market for them to launch their specialized streaming service. Hulu & HBO streaming are not available in Canada yet. Although, there is a Canadian-only service called Crave, that has older HBO content. I am thinking about subscribing to them because they have Space Channel content I really like, (Orphan Black, Dark Matter, Killjoys). Also, because I am a CanCon (Canadian Content) dork, I watch a lot of CBC through On Demand (part of our cable service). Right now I can't get enough of the Baroness Von Sketch Show (now available on IFC in the U.S.) , and I can't wait for Alias Grace (based on the Margaret Atwood novel) to come out in the fall. American shows I can't find but really, really wish I could: Reign and Fresh of the Boat.
 
Ugh. Our Comcast trial contract is up at the end of this month and I'm dreading what they are going to up our bill to be now. I could easily get rid of cable altogether, but my hubby "needs" it for sports, so we keep it. We also have Amazon Prime, but don't watch much on that (I can never find anything good on there). Our most used is Netflix. The kids and I watch that a lot. In general I don't watch TV, but when I do, it's on Netflix and I'll binge watch a whole show.
 
I'm like @Karen - I can't get rid of cable because my hubby wants it for sports. I hate that it costs so much and our contract is up again this fall. It started out better than satellite, but now it's just as much or more. I hate that they charge you extra for HD. Really people, HD is what everything is broadcast in and all the new tvs are HD.

We also have amazon prime, but I don't watch much on there. I got it for the 2-day shipping and backup my photos there. Hubby uses the amazon music though because I won't let him get apple music if I have to pay for comcast for his sports.

Comcast also changed our on demand so a lot of the shows we wanted to watch needed a netflix subscription. I thought that was crazy. Why would they encourage you to get netflix? Anyways, we are doing a netflix trial right now, but I'm kinda scared. We normally use 300-400 GB a month, but used 200 GB of data in the first week of having netflix (we have a 1024 GB cap). I'm sure part of that was because it was a new thing for us and all 4 of us were streaming and binge watching, but I don't want to go over our cap with Comcast. Only 13 more days until the kids go back to school, so that should help with the data usage, but then I'll have more time to binge watch. Seriously, I need an intervention. I just can't help myself and I binge watch for like 4 or 5 hours at a time... HELP! DD got me hooked on revenge and we stayed up until 1 am the other night watching it. Not good when we had to be up at 6 am the next morning.
 
This is a reminder to me to cancel our Direct tv or at least figure it out before it renews. I am the only one who watches anything and so I am seriously begrudging the money. I had planned to cut it back last year but we got forgot about it and we had an auto renew. In addition to that we have Amazon Prime which I have not used almost at all for video, Netflix which also got little use after Direct tv and we share my son's Hulu account. I think if I had to pay for Hulu I wouldn't. I watch a lot of PBS and want to be sure I can still get that somehow and not the 3 or 4 straight hours on Sunday night. We don't have a working recorder other than the auto one that comes with direct tv.

My eyes need tv by 8pm after a day spent on line and also reading.
 
We have never had cable TV. Cable internet yes, cable TV no. We have a massive antenna on the roof, it works. But in all fairness, when it was an analog signal, we could pick up Madison, WI and their public TV station ALWAYS. Now that it is digital, only if the stars are aligned do we ever see it, usually once a year. That is one station I miss.
 
keepscrappin said:
We also have amazon prime, but I don't watch much on there. I got it for the 2-day shipping and backup my photos there. Hubby uses the amazon music though because I won't let him get apple music if I have to pay for comcast for his sports.
Click to expand...
This is a very good point! DH has been "casually" bringing up getting HBO Now for a few months cuz he wants to watch GOT. But he already has an Apple Music sub., even though he has access to Amazon Prime music through my account.

Anyway, I think it's time DH decides which matters more: the music or the show.
 
Tree City said:
This is a very good point! DH has been "casually" bringing up getting HBO Now for a few months cuz he wants to watch GOT. But he already has an Apple Music sub., even though he has access to Amazon Prime music through my account.

Anyway, I think it's time DH decides which matters more: the music or the show.
Click to expand...

oh no! Your hubby's gonna hate me. :backing

Prime music doesn't have all the new stuff my hubby wants, but it does get him by. We did the apple music trial for a couple of months on our different accounts, but I just couldn't justify more. I'm already paying for cable and then an extra $20 for the two cable boxes downstairs and $10 for his sports sub on cable, so $30 additional a month was enough without the extra $ for apple music.
 
scrappyjedi said:
Plus it would continually crash or lag, so we switched to Netflix.
Click to expand...
Yep! It's a little better than when it first launched, but not much. Hulu claims they aren't allowed to buffer because of contracts, so it's still the most unstable. I've enjoyed our free trial, but I won't be paying for it. Plus, I get really sick of the same commercials over and over and over again.

scrappyjedi said:
this amazing hack for getting free TV
Click to expand...
We have an antenna. It's how we watch PBS! And this really weird channel, Comet I think? that show really bad movies, and MST3K. We have seen the MST3K version, and then the original version on it in the same week.

Juliestcyr said:
That's what I get for being on a border with Quebec.
Click to expand...
We had a big antenna growing up, and were close enough to the US border we watched a ton of US tv!

keepscrappin said:
on demand so a lot of the shows we wanted to watch needed a netflix subscription. I thought that was crazy.
Click to expand...
My mom's is integrated like that now. I saw it advertised. I wonder if the goal is to make people think they need Comcast to have Netflix? Or just the ease of switching between without getting a streaming box (Roku, Apple, Chromebox, etc). Trying to keep people from giving up on Cable?
 
Tree City said:
Anyway, I think it's time DH decides which matters more: the music or the show.
Click to expand...

We do this. We will alternate between Netflix and Hulu depending on which has more we want to watch. In fact, we are discussing cancelling Netflix and keeping Hulu, except it's less stable, which is annoying. Currently, that's the benefits of streaming! Most don't penalize you for canceling and resigning up!

@keepscrappin We are considering trying out Sling tv this fall. They have $20/month plus $5 more for NHL (the sports channels). Cheryl recommends it. And depending on what sports he watches, it would come out cheaper in the end I bet. We figure we'd pay for Oct or Nov through May or June. But hockey is a long sport!
 
bestcee said:
We do this. We will alternate between Netflix and Hulu depending on which has more we want to watch. In fact, we are discussing cancelling Netflix and keeping Hulu, except it's less stable, which is annoying. Currently, that's the benefits of streaming! Most don't penalize you for canceling and resigning up!

@keepscrappin We are considering trying out Sling tv this fall. They have $20/month plus $5 more for NHL (the sports channels). Cheryl recommends it. And depending on what sports he watches, it would come out cheaper in the end I bet. We figure we'd pay for Oct or Nov through May or June. But hockey is a long sport!
Click to expand...

My hubby has to have the college football and basketball games, in addition to the NFL, NBA, etc. I think it's the Pac-12 he wants, so we have to go with comcast or directv to get those right now. I wonder if sling would include all he needs? I'll have to have him check. We also like to DVR shows. Do you know if you can record on sling? I'd love to cut the cable, but it's also our internet and home phone right now.... just because it was cheaper to bundle all 3.
 
bestcee said:
We do this. We will alternate between Netflix and Hulu depending on which has more we want to watch. In fact, we are discussing cancelling Netflix and keeping Hulu, except it's less stable, which is annoying. Currently, that's the benefits of streaming! Most don't penalize you for canceling and resigning up!
Click to expand...
Sorry, you must have posted as I was typing my response to Kayla. Anyway, DH has already promised he'd only keep HBO long enough to binge this season of GOT, which sounds like it wouldn't be long--maybe a month or two. So I guess that's the idea: HBO during Sept and Oct, Apple Music the rest of the year. Or forget about Apple Music to save money. Gosh, adulting is hard!
 
My hubby wanted Apple music too, but I told him if he wanted it, he had to pay for it with his allowance. And yes... we both get allowance each month like kids. :giggle I'm a saver and he is a spender and this was the best way to deal with our different spending habits. This way he can spend his money on whatever he wants and I don't have to keep saying no all the time. It works for us.

Also, we tried Sling TV maybe 1.5 years ago and we didn't make it past the free month. It was so slow and buffered so much that we couldn't stand to watch anything on it. Maybe it is better now?
 
AllisonPennington said:
We have Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Instant, and a digital antennae. It's been a year since we cancelled cable (our small cable only Comcast bill was rising exponentially and was $200+/mo when we left) and we haven't missed it for a second. It's easy enough to grab HBOGo or Showtime for a month, after a season ends, to catch up.

With all of the above we're still saving nearly $200/mo. I thought it would be harder without cable but it's been totally fine. We can watch local stuff with the antennae or hit Redbox for a movie if we can't find it on any of the above. Seriously, cancelling Comcast was one of the happiest days of my life. :)
Click to expand...
We have the same set up and don't miss cable at all!!
 
I subscribed to Apple Music, and I'm kinda glad I did. Basically, I had a lot of mp3s that I had purchased 10-15 years ago, that were not recovered when my old EHD crashed. I wanted to replace them, and the cost was getting kinda steep. Plus, my kids constantly want to add new tunes to their iPods. So, the girls and I pooled a bunch of gift cards we had gotten over Christmas and bought Apple Music. My only complaints are that I think the Classical & Jazz radio stations are a bit lacking, but so far I'd say we've gotten our money's worth.
 
Man you US guys have a lot of options! We have basic Netflix (and there is some subscription avalable for 'Stan' but i honestly dont know what's on that or what the difference is from Netflix) & we subscribe to Spotify for music but that's all.
I was so sad to hear the Disney decision though - I only saw Finding Dory the other week in the school holidays on Netflix and as my kids are boycotting anything Disney at the cinema (part of DD's rebellious tween streak :hairpol ) i've been waiting on things to pop up on Netflix. I dont think we could justify another monthly fee just for my Disney movie fix :(
 
Back
Top