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Just cut the TV cord, need advice..

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Temp. Banned
Feb 8, 2005
2335 posts
247 upvotes

Just cut the TV cord, need advice..

finally decided to get rid of my tv subscription.

what are the best options for online content including live sports?
45 replies
Deal Addict
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Oct 15, 2008
3969 posts
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Victoria
Soooo many threads. Please search. You've been here for 10 years next week, you should know the drill.
Deal Fanatic
Sep 29, 2005
6758 posts
1786 upvotes
Montreal
Kodi (XBMC). You could also consider a Roku. For Kodi, a lot depends on the device you use. I have a an MK808B Plus and a Pivos. I also have 2 Chromecasts.
Phils
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Oct 25, 2008
2321 posts
393 upvotes
North York
Cut the cords 3-4 years ago. Here's how I sub it:

- HD TV Antenna (Indoor Terk): Basic TV (CBC/CTV/CityTV/Omni/PBS/etc)
- ROKU3 with Plex: Media
- Chromecast

Mind you, I don't regularly watch LIVE sports and so far those solution above exceeded what I can actually consume.
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Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
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A small town north o…
Live sports is a problem. OP, if you're a sports junkie, keep your TV subscription. There are options if you just want to follow a particular sport, like ballstreams.com for basketball, or hockeystreams.com, but these are paid options. It's way cheaper than paying Robbers/Bhell, but it ain't free.
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Dec 22, 2008
2162 posts
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Victoria
Id suggest paying someone for their cable TV account password so you can access TSN and Sportsnet via the web.
Deal Expert
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Mar 18, 2005
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Niagara Falls
cooper83 wrote: Soooo many threads. Please search. You've been here for 10 years next week, you should know the drill.
Search doesn't really work on RFD. Until they can be bothered to fix it we shouldn't be crapping on people for not doing it.
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Oct 15, 2008
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Evil Baby wrote: Search doesn't really work on RFD. Until they can be bothered to fix it we shouldn't be crapping on people for not doing it.
Works for me.

OP's question wreaks of laziness.
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Mar 18, 2005
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cooper83 wrote: Works for me.

OP's question wreaks of laziness.
Unless of course you want to do an actual useful search by just title so you don't have to wade through a 1000 posts that just happen to mention cord cutting at one point or another.
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Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
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A small town north o…
MaxPower19 wrote: Id suggest paying someone for their cable TV account password so you can access TSN and Sportsnet via the web.
You are a smart fellow. That would work well. I wouldn't have the nerve to ask anyone, but that's just me.
Evil Baby wrote: Unless of course you want to do an actual useful search by just title so you don't have to wade through a 1000 posts that just happen to mention cord cutting at one point or another.
+ 1

Search capability on RFD isn't good. In all fairness, the same applies to pretty much every forum running on vBulletin, it's been that way forever. I thing RFD is running a third party add-on for search, but it's still phuked. :(

Anyway, back to the topic. It's easy to find alternate sources for the crap found on the usual cable/sat channels, but live sports is a tough one.

I wanted to watch Bouchard vs Sharapova last week but gave up after 20 minutes of searching on the web.

Was hoping some sources would come to light in this thread.
Sr. Member
Mar 6, 2012
783 posts
266 upvotes
Yeah, live sports can be a problem when cutting the cord. For me what I miss the most are the Habs game. I also wouldn't mind watching a few Nascar races either (grew up in Daytona Beach). For the Habs game (or any other hockey game) if you google for "reddit nhlstreams" you should be able to find ways to get decent quality streams. For the past few years I've pretty much always managed to find what I wanted to watch with a little creative googleing. I can't really give any links here as they usually change pretty often.

Here is another source that I often fallback on:
www.lagriffesportive.net

It does have lots of french feed but there are usually english ones as well. If you click on the program link you should get a list of all the events (along with a link to it) that will be streamed that day. Note that I'm writing blindly for now as the site will not load at work.
Deal Addict
Jul 28, 2014
1251 posts
120 upvotes
Toronto, ON
Kodi has tons of live stuff, including sports. Found some new live streams just recently. But haven't really had a chance to try them all yet though to see how they are, as I mainly follow basketball and I use BS.

Here is a few of what I have in Kodi, just updated my setup yesterday: Istream,phoenix, vdubt, cliq, cartoon HD/world also seems to have plenty of stuff.

Was watching Superbowl in HD on CTV, with the antenna. Have a chromcast in basement.
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Dec 22, 2010
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BC
Keeping the TV subscriptions is worth it for the amount of Sports I watch. Soccer, football, basketball, hockey NHL, Jr hockey..... you get the idea. Jumping through hoops to watch on a 70 inch HDTV is not my idea of fun. Besides most of my monthly cost is the Internet. :D
“The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack.”
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Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
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A small town north o…
insync44 wrote: Keeping the TV subscriptions is worth it for the amount of Sports I watch. Soccer, football, basketball, hockey NHL, Jr hockey..... you get the idea. Jumping through hoops to watch on a 70 inch HDTV is not my idea of fun.
That's the way I see it. If you want to watch that many sports, you have no choice but to keep the cord.

For me, BS provides the Raptors games, and that's all I really want, but it would be nice to be able to catch a specific event once in a while.

For instance, how did cord-cutters get the Super Bowl? Was it possible? I mean besides OTA, which is useless if you live more than 20km from the CN tower. :cry:
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Mar 18, 2005
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makaturing wrote: That's the way I see it. If you want to watch that many sports, you have no choice but to keep the cord.

For me, BS provides the Raptors games, and that's all I really want, but it would be nice to be able to catch a specific event once in a while.

For instance, how did cord-cutters get the Super Bowl? Was it possible?
Yes, as some of mentioned they used and OTA receiver to get an HD feed of the game. I was also able to find an HD stream from reddit.com/r/nflstreams even though I pay for cable, I just felt like watching the game on my PC while I played xbox
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Jul 23, 2013
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A small town north o…
Evil Baby wrote: Yes, as some of mentioned they used and OTA receiver to get an HD feed of the game. I was also able to find an HD stream from reddit.com/r/nflstreams
We are getting crossed up replying at the same time. Anyway, I don't do reddit, maybe it's something I should look at. Thanks for the tip.
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Jul 28, 2014
1251 posts
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Toronto, ON
makaturing wrote: That's the way I see it. If you want to watch that many sports, you have no choice but to keep the cord.

For me, BS provides the Raptors games, and that's all I really want, but it would be nice to be able to catch a specific event once in a while.

For instance, how did cord-cutters get the Super Bowl? Was it possible? I mean besides OTA, which is useless if you live more than 20km from the CN tower. :cry:
Going by the map, I am 36km away from cn tower. I get about 10 channels, including 2 from States. It was nice to watch the game in HD.
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Jul 23, 2013
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A small town north o…
milhouse611 wrote: Going by the map, I am 36km away from cn tower. I get about 10 channels, including 2 from States. It was nice to watch the game in HD.
I am much closer, (well, my girlfriend's place is much closer, I live on Georgian Bay) and I get CBC, TVO, and CBLFT. Using a Mohu Leaf. If you're on the north side of a building on the second floor, you're screwed as far as OTA goes. The signal just doesn't penetrate all that concrete and steel.
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Jul 28, 2014
1251 posts
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Toronto, ON
makaturing wrote: I am much closer, (well, my girlfriend's place is much closer, I live on Georgian Bay) and I get CBC, TVO, and CBLFT. Using a Mohu Leaf. If you're on the north side of a building on the second floor, you're screwed as far as OTA goes. The signal just doesn't penetrate all that concrete and steel.
I wanted to try the Leaf, but they cost a bit more than the Wineguard, so I decided to try that first, good review as well. It didn't get any extra channels compared to the Philips with rabbit years. But I am keeping it as you don't have to play around with it so much. I have it place on the windows currently, and any other spot, it changes what I can receive. Even the wall around the window makes a difference. My bedroom actually faces south, if I was on the other end, I don't think I would get any.

Any ideas for Basement? I tried the Wineguard but it did absolutely nothing. Is there an antenna that might work for the basement or just out of luck unless you upgrade to an outdoor/bigger antenna?
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Dec 22, 2010
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makaturing wrote: I am much closer, (well, my girlfriend's place is much closer, I live on Georgian Bay) and I get CBC, TVO, and CBLFT. Using a Mohu Leaf. If you're on the north side of a building on the second floor, you're screwed as far as OTA goes. The signal just doesn't penetrate all that concrete and steel.
My point exactly. Praying that you get good reception for the most important football game of the year. :D
With the amount of money invested in my TV, Amplifier, speakers, harmony remote. special recliner :D , food, beer and I make my buddies watch SB on flaky OTA signal.
“The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack.”

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