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I would love to cut the cord permanently, but as a huge sports fan, the alternatives to cable aren't quite there yet. I spent the past year streaming streaming

I would love to cut the cord permanently, but as a huge sports fan, the alternatives to cable aren't quite there yet. I spent the past year streaming streaming NFL Red Zone and TNT for the NBA Playoffs using my parents's cable login info online. I casted both to my television (didn't have an HDMI out adapter for my laptop) and the quality was not on-par with HD video from a cable box, despite a 100Mbps connection. This is mainly due to the transcoding happening when casting, however, even when using the WatchESPN app on the Amazon Fire TV, I experienced similar video quality. Further, the lag between "real-time" (when I see reactions on Twitter or from my friends watching on cable) and what I saw was about a minute or two. As a huge fan who craves content now, I find that lag unacceptable for me, and hardly consider it live television. I understand I am likely in a small minority, even for sports fans, but the current cord-cutting options are just not adequate for me. I will be adding cable service in August in preparation for football season.

rconti 11y ago
NHL has a $150/yr subscription where you can watch any of your team's games... as long as they're playing out-of-market! It makes you wonder what the point of it all is.
- cweiss 11y ago
  And not on network TV. PQ is not nearly as good as regular TV, you can't easily time-shift or pause (spoiled by TiVo). I've always started my NHL season trying NHL Gamecenter and always ended up canceling it within a few weeks and paying through the nose for Center Ice (which comes out to ~$90/mo with pre-requisite cable).
undershirt 11y ago
I watched the NBA playoffs on Sling TV, which had ESPN and TNT. But I couldn't watch the Finals because it was on NBC. I wish I could watch local broadcast TV from my computer. But when broadcast TV went digital, it made it harder to get a decent signal. Partial signals on digital are a lot worse than it was with analog.
- dmfdmf 11y ago
  Are you in the Bay Area? NBC is on VHF and very strong through out the bay. You could pick it up with an FM T-style antenna but not the UHF bow type antennas.

rconti 11y ago

NHL has a $150/yr subscription where you can watch any of your team's games... as long as they're playing out-of-market! It makes you wonder what the point of it all is.

cweiss 11y ago
And not on network TV. PQ is not nearly as good as regular TV, you can't easily time-shift or pause (spoiled by TiVo). I've always started my NHL season trying NHL Gamecenter and always ended up canceling it within a few weeks and paying through the nose for Center Ice (which comes out to ~$90/mo with pre-requisite cable).

undershirt 11y ago

I watched the NBA playoffs on Sling TV, which had ESPN and TNT. But I couldn't watch the Finals because it was on NBC. I wish I could watch local broadcast TV from my computer. But when broadcast TV went digital, it made it harder to get a decent signal. Partial signals on digital are a lot worse than it was with analog.

dmfdmf 11y ago
Are you in the Bay Area? NBC is on VHF and very strong through out the bay. You could pick it up with an FM T-style antenna but not the UHF bow type antennas.