Cancelled Sat TV

[honda03842]

We have used Sat TV for the last 12 years of our RV travels, purchasing it originally so we could watch women's basketball. For the first 8 years of our travels we mounted the Sat dish on the roof of our RVs.

When we purchased the Scamp we decided against roof mounting feeling that the future of TV was the Internet, that most TV would be delivered over the increasing bandwidth of the Internet.

We cancelled Dish TV last month and began using Netflix ($7/month) heavily. We find that there are plenty of TV series and movies to watch, really a lifetime's worth. The TV series are great because you can watch 8 seasons worth of a TV show in a couple of weeks without commercials. The lack of commercials is like extending your life a little.

This week we signed up for Sling TV, an Internet service offered by Dish TV. The service costs $20/month and delivers channels like ESPN (Women's B, TNT, ....

We use Chromecast ($35) as our interface to the TV, as well we purchased a smart TV that provides direct access to Amazon, Netflix, Hula, You Tube.....

I tell our children that all this change is hard to keep up with....

[sokhapkin]

I cancelled all TV services about 10 years ago. There is nothing to watch on TV :-( I have Comcast service now for Internet only. The only programming we watch now is American Funniest Videos over the air antenna once a week.

[honda03842]

Sergey,

We immediately latched onto two TV series. TV is like any other medium, both good and bad content. What's nice about Internet services, you can choose the content of every minute of your watching, and do it without commercials.

One series was Foyle's War, an English detective series, a series that takes place during WWII. It provides a rather interesting view of the period, particularly of the English and their courage during this critical portion of world history, but also of little aspects of other's lives to learn from.

The second series we are about to begin is Cosmos, a re-do of the original series. So much knowledge has been gained in the last 10 years about the Universe we live in I'm anxious to start.

Another example is the series of movies starting with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, truly a little violent but it provides a view of Sweden, how it is different from our society, that I will never experience in person. I am very interested in others.

For me, the Internet is the most important invention of my life, giving everyone access to virtual infinite information. I am certain that if I were high school age I would never attend high school, knowing I could learn everything taught there in short order via the Internet.

[padlin00]

Norm & Ginny, are you going to use Sling when traveling or just at home? I'm taking it it needs fairly high bandwidth?

[FRED SMAILES]

I agree with the tv situation,junk.
I'm a gearhead and as such really enjoy most forms of racing
and end up paying a satellite provider stupid money for very little
racing! Then they have silly "build a car in 24hrs" BS.
Wher we live there is only wireless internet so going without a sat doesn't work for us yet, so for now I pay!! about 150.00 a month to have sat and internet!!

fred

[Ron Merritt]

I've found the Netflix library has really taken a hit lately. I guess they are putting their money in new, original content instead of a large library of current/recent releases.

I don't see SlingTV being very practical for the traveler though. Even with a big data plan, streaming on cellular network is problematic. I plan on keeping my Dish Tailgater for the foreseeable future.

One good thing about it though, according to what I'm reading, is that this is the opening salvo in the war to get a la carte programming. It's what most people want, but the cable companies are reticent to offer.

[honda03842]

Bob and Deb,

We signed up for Netflix before we left home in NH this year. On the way down we only had our 3G hotspot from Verizon (with an unlimited data plan) and were usually able to use the hotspot to watch Netflix. There were some locations where it did not work well but usually it was just fine.

We use our Hotspot as our Internet source when home for 3 or 4 months in NH during the summer. This winter we are stationary for 4-5 months in Florida and are using Comcast Internet, and it's really fast.

We have signed up for Sling TV but have not begun receiving it yet.

One of our son's is guiding us thru our Internet TV growth. There seems to be more available than we will ever access. In addition to Netflix, Hula and Sling we are members of Amazon Prime, another source of entertainment. (So far we only use Amazon Prime for free shipping on purchases from Amazon but recognize there is content to be had.)

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Ron Merritt

I've found the Netflix library has really taken a hit lately. I guess they are putting their money in new, original content instead of a large library of current/recent releases.

I don't see SlingTV being very practical for the traveler though. Even with a big data plan, streaming on cellular network is problematic. I plan on keeping my Dish Tailgater for the foreseeable future.

One good thing about it though, according to what I'm reading, is that this is the opening salvo in the war to get a la carte programming. It's what most people want, but the cable companies are reticent to offer.

Ron,

We have kept our Dish so we can reactivate if we want, Amazingly they have offered us about $1200 to come back. We will post our experience with Sling but most of the time on our trip south we were able to watch Netflix without any mid program loading.

It may be really be beneficial that we're using a 3G hotspot because everyone else is using 4G data plans, maybe leaving a little more 3G data for us.

As to the Netflix library, we've seen so few movies, I doubt we will ever run out of movies to watch plus there are numerous movie and TV series sources.

I do recognize that the whole industry is entering a period of change, and knowing the long term is difficult, certainly for me but even for the information providers.

Have you watched any of the original content Programs you would recommend?

[Ron Merritt]

Lately I've found I'm watching youtube videos more than anything. It's a lot more interesting than TV.

It works fine on my AT&T LTE hotspot, but it does gobble up the data. Last month I used 38 GB!

[Bob Miller]

For those that aren't aware of Foyles War, it's about the best WWII series out of the Brits since UXB. It's about life for the normal peeps in England during the war. Exceptionally educational and informative, plus it's entertaining. But guys be careful, your ladies may fall for DCI Foyle (Michael Kitchen) in which case you will counter with Sam (Honeysuckle Weeks).
Here's one of many links: The Official Foyle's War Fan Site

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Ron Merritt

Lately I've found I'm watching youtube videos more than anything. It's a lot more interesting than TV.

It works fine on my AT&T LTE hotspot, but it does gobble up the data. Last month I used 38 GB!

I find You Tube very valuable for Do It Yourself. We use a lot of Verizon data, since it's an unlimited account I stopped looking at the usage.

[Glenn Baglo]

I watched at least two seasons of Foyles War, until I came to the conclusion that it was the same story over and over and that the villain is often, if not always, a woman.
Watched half the first show of Orange is the New Black and shut it off. Went back to try again a week later and was hooked.
But, I've pretty much run out of stuff to watch. Wife and I have sat down a couple times and run through the menu without finding something she hasn't already seen ( the movies ) or is willing to watch. I'll watch anything, since, I'm actually reading the forums ( which irks her no end ).
I'd cancel, but my daughter is also using the subscription.

[Stan and Carol]

We have never had cable or satellite, but get about 15 channels out of Kansas City, plus we get 3 PBS channels, which we watch more then anything. Do miss getting KC Royals or KU basketball, since all that is on ESPN. We may have to do something different once we start traveling. Or not.

[boats19]

I gave up Cable TV too! The news is always aggravating and biased and the commercials are humiliating. Netfix and rifftrax are my source of entertainment.

Sent from my XT1030 using Fiberglass RV mobile app

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by boats19

I gave up Cable TV too! The news is always aggravating and biased and the commercials are humiliating. Netfix and rifftrax are my source of entertainment.

Sent from my XT1030 using Fiberglass RV mobile app

I've reduced the news input as well, particularly 'news with a purpose'. I'vee bookmarked rifftrax

[Hazel in Sk]

We gave up on tv many years ago as we weren't finding much that we actually wanted to watch. Never got around to getting a dish or cable because we just didn't think of watching the screen.


Within the past five years or so we have occasionally watched a movie (usually lent to us by an adult kid!).


This Christmas one of our grandkids wanted to watch 'something'. He hooked us into their Netflix account - and we have watched several movies and some old tv shows since.


I LOVED Call the Midwife - a BBC tv series. It is quite realistic and set in a poor area of London during the 1950's Great memories for me as I grew up in that general area.


We haven't taken a tv camping with us yet. Still fighting progress when it comes to relaxing at camp. Don't take a microwave either - or all sorts of stuff other people like to have along. These wee campers are so adaptable!

[Raz]

When you get up in the morning and can't remember what you watched the night before, it's time to do something else. We dumped the dish several years ago. Miss watching baseball but we have gotten used to it on the radio. Believe it or not there is a Redsox affiliate in Jackson Hole Wyoming . Go figure, Raz

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Hazel in Sk

We gave up on tv many years ago as we weren't finding much that we actually wanted to watch. Never got around to getting a dish or cable because we just didn't think of watching the screen.

Within the past five years or so we have occasionally watched a movie (usually lent to us by an adult kid!).

This Christmas one of our grandkids wanted to watch 'something'. He hooked us into their Netflix account - and we have watched several movies and some old tv shows since.

I LOVED Call the Midwife - a BBC tv series. It is quite realistic and set in a poor area of London during the 1950's Great memories for me as I grew up in that general area.

We haven't taken a tv camping with us yet. Still fighting progress when it comes to relaxing at camp. Don't take a microwave either - or all sorts of stuff other people like to have along. These wee campers are so adaptable!

Hazel,
We're on the road almost 8 months a year and find the TV useful when gone for long periods. We usually watch it when getting up, going to bed and bad weather days. Relaxing is never an issue on the road, in a sense we become disconnected from much of our past life.

We have found the foreign made TV shows to be very interesting, partially because they often it's the higher quality shows that make it here and partly because they often show a different society.

We also don't take a microwave, finding there are other ways to do everything the microwave does.

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by P. Raz

When you get up in the morning and can't remember what you watched the night before, it's time to do something else. We dumped the dish several years ago. Miss watching baseball but we have gotten used to it on the radio. Believe it or not there is a Redsox affiliate in Jackson Hole Wyoming . Go figure, Raz

Raz,

When we first hit the road 14 years ago we did not have TV but did get Sat Radio. We mainly purchased Sat Radio for the music to eliminate station hunting as we drove cross country. We soon found major league baseball was available on sat radio.

Ginny is a Red Sox fan; I'm a Tiger fan. We went to TV so we can watch the UConn women's basketball team. After one year out west when we had trouble finding a place to see UConn play for the national championship Ginny agreed that we need sat TV..

We ended the Sat radio service in our second year. Our CD collection took over along with a growing taste for local music, now I actually like country music and recently took up line dancing, an hour and half lesson is a real work out (still trying new things and learning at 72).

Today I smart phone gives us access to virtually every radio station in the country causing us to use the CD less and less.

(As to the old media, we just purchased a place in Florida and it came with at least a 100 of each of the following: CW audio tapes, CW LP vinyl records and video tapes. The previous owner was a musician who loved CW. We have played a number of the audio tapes.)

[Chris Z]

Finally got rid of our satellite. Use antenna and Apple TV. Luckily some friends have a cable user name and password and others have Netflix. As long as they are willing to share, you can get movies and ESPN and many others for free.