 maartenaElmoPremium
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA
kudos:1 | reply to pandora
Re: [DIRECTV] Thinking of cutting the cord in the next 2 weeks Looking over your posts, there are a few things to consider.
First, if you have 4 DVR's right now, I am assuming you have a family with 4 regular TV watchers. While you can use Amazon and/or Netflix services, you would need 4 accounts if you have multiple people watching at the same time. (Otherwise you and the whole neighborhood could share 1 account and whatever others in the neighborhood watch, you could watch at the same time). It is possible this is IP restricted, so you can watch multiple streams at the same time from the same IP address, but this is probably something you should investigate.
Second, Amazon doesn't carry everything. Neither does Netflix of course. In particular, you will have to go without television that doesn't make it to DVD's or has a distribution agreement with an online provider. Examples are shows like American Idol, America's got Talent, and these big reality type shows from the major networks. If you had OTA, this of course would not be a problem as most are shown on OTA networks. (A roof antenna could help here, you could use the same current DirecTV cabling already in place to distribute signals to all TV's).
Third, sports. Currently there is the Olympics. You have indicated you aren't interested in sports, so it should not be a problem for you, but keep in mind you cannot watch the Olympics and such events online if you do not have a subscription to a cable/satellite service that includes MSNBC and CNBC. Also keep in mind that "occasional baseball games" are not streamed online anywhere, you would have to buy a full-season plan such as MLB.tv.
Fourth, can your infrastructure handle it? Once you figured out whether you can legally (with the same account) stream shows, how many can you handle at the same time? Keep in mind that streams in HD go at around 4-5 Mbps/s per stream, so look at the maximum speed that your internet connection can handle, and you will see the amount of people that can watch something different at the same time. Since buffering will occur, and internet speeds often fluctuate a bit, I would count on 6 Mbps per user to make it all work right. (And hope you don't have kids that flood the line with torrents, online gaming, etc etc).
I have actually considered doing this a few times.... but never pulled the trigger. Sports is the main reason for me, that just can't be found anywhere else, unless you pay a premium. Additionally, the "know what you want to watch and stream it" approach is quite different then the "let's see what is on, surprise me" approach. I have found that sometimes it is just great to pick up a remote and see what is currently playing. I would not have thought of finding out old episodes of MASH for instance, but every time I find it, I seem to be sticking to that channel because they are so brilliant. So I think I will stick with a pay TV provider for some time to come.
I think in your case, the decision would be SO much easier if you had at least OTA options. But I guess it depends on whether your family watches some of the reality-type shows that you won't be able to find online. (Mostly because they require user-interaction, like voting, and you won't want to watch it days later when you already know who goes home, right?)
Good luck!
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"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" |
