As many of you know, I finally cut the cord completely when I moved to Massachusetts in favor of an off-the-air DVR, a collection of subscription-based streaming services and a combination of Usenet and Plex Media Server to cover any gaps. I am very pleased with this setup. It is flexible, easy to use and provides an incredible wealth of content. It does not, however, save me much money.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but cutting the cord is more a matter of cost shifting than cost saving. For example, I spent almost $600 setting up my OTA DVR solution. That works out to $25/mo for two years. Cutting the cord also put more emphasis on streaming services and I spend about $35/mo on subscription fees for Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Funimation and Drama Fever. In fairness, I was already paying for most of these subscriptions before I dropped cable. I also spend about $15/mo for a collection of Usenet accounts and services that allow me to fill in the blanks left by broadcast television and my streaming services. All told, the two year amortized monthly cost of the DVR combined with Usenet and streaming services works out to about $75/mo. This is not cheaper than cable, so what is the advantage to doing it?
The main advantages of cord cutting are content and convenience. Those streaming services provide on-demand access to a vast array of programming that cable cannot match, mostly without advertisements and entirely on demand. My OTA DVR is a very low maintenance appliance that allows me to access my live and recorded TV content anywhere I have internet access. I can do anything I want to with the recorded material and can expand my storage as needed. Plex Media Server plays well with just about every device known to man and consolidates the rest of my media in one easy to use location. Home videos, family photos, audio books, television shows, movies and our entire music collection are all there and available anywhere. There is even integration between Plex and the Tablo DVR.
The advantage off all this combined with my substantial ongoing investment in UltraViolet licensing is that my family has a single, simple, comprehensive media interface in the form of Roku. Absolutely every type of content we own that is not on disc is available in one very easy to use interface. Roku's excellent centralized search feature also makes it easy to find out which services have a given movie or TV show. If I want to watch Doctor Who, I can find out in seconds which services have it and at what cost (if any). This is a very powerful thing when you have a family full of people who are not all that tech savvy. Roku also offers a wide variety of free news and weather sources, as well as quite a bit of other free content from PBS, The Smithsonian and hundreds of other organizations.
The only place this starts to fall apart is sports, but that is improving rapidly as more professional leagues offer their own streaming services. Right now, cable cutting is not for sports fans, but I expect that to change very soon.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but cutting the cord is more a matter of cost shifting than cost saving. For example, I spent almost $600 setting up my OTA DVR solution. That works out to $25/mo for two years. Cutting the cord also put more emphasis on streaming services and I spend about $35/mo on subscription fees for Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Funimation and Drama Fever. In fairness, I was already paying for most of these subscriptions before I dropped cable. I also spend about $15/mo for a collection of Usenet accounts and services that allow me to fill in the blanks left by broadcast television and my streaming services. All told, the two year amortized monthly cost of the DVR combined with Usenet and streaming services works out to about $75/mo. This is not cheaper than cable, so what is the advantage to doing it?
The main advantages of cord cutting are content and convenience. Those streaming services provide on-demand access to a vast array of programming that cable cannot match, mostly without advertisements and entirely on demand. My OTA DVR is a very low maintenance appliance that allows me to access my live and recorded TV content anywhere I have internet access. I can do anything I want to with the recorded material and can expand my storage as needed. Plex Media Server plays well with just about every device known to man and consolidates the rest of my media in one easy to use location. Home videos, family photos, audio books, television shows, movies and our entire music collection are all there and available anywhere. There is even integration between Plex and the Tablo DVR.
The advantage off all this combined with my substantial ongoing investment in UltraViolet licensing is that my family has a single, simple, comprehensive media interface in the form of Roku. Absolutely every type of content we own that is not on disc is available in one very easy to use interface. Roku's excellent centralized search feature also makes it easy to find out which services have a given movie or TV show. If I want to watch Doctor Who, I can find out in seconds which services have it and at what cost (if any). This is a very powerful thing when you have a family full of people who are not all that tech savvy. Roku also offers a wide variety of free news and weather sources, as well as quite a bit of other free content from PBS, The Smithsonian and hundreds of other organizations.
The only place this starts to fall apart is sports, but that is improving rapidly as more professional leagues offer their own streaming services. Right now, cable cutting is not for sports fans, but I expect that to change very soon.
