Thinking of ditching cable tv, thoughts

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:19 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:13 pm I'd like to be able to watch loose video files from my PC on the bedroom TV. Unlike the main TV, I don't have a computer that's ready at hand to do so. I could rig something up, but it would involve lots of hassle every time I wanted to watch something, which would kind of defeat the purpose. I do have a Roku Streaming Stick+ on that TV. Digging around, I keep hearing suggestions to use Plex on my PC to act as a server. Looking at it, though, what I'm seeing is yet another obnoxious streaming service that's bending over backwards to convince me to subscribe and live the Plex lifestyle.

Is this really the right option?

I've been using Universal Media Server for years. It's still turning your PC into a server but It's free and works fine with Roku's built-in media player app.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:55 pm

I'm fine with using my PC as a server (I've been doing so with media for years), but Plex really gave me an icky corporate bloatware feeling when I went to the site.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 6:54 pm

i've used plex for years and it's pretty simple to use and navigate.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:51 am

Ditto. Plex is great. I would definitely not call it “icky corporate bloatware”. It’s easy to use, runs on just about anything, and just works. I bought a lifetime membership.

I use an Nvidia Shield that’s 5 years old and still running great. Plex, a 2 terabyte external hard drive plugged into it, and mapping the external drive over my network allows me to do just about anything. I could technically just stream them from my pc, but I like the better quality when running Plex and the files directly on my Shield.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Dec 31, 2021 9:16 am

Yup another Plex super fan here. I've been using it since I ditched my HTPC I dunno...more than 8 years ago. On the bloaty side Plex has been trying to find additional products so they have been adding in partner services. You can put them at the bottom of your homescreen, etc. and promptly forget they exist.

My setup is pretty extreme (surprise). I just combined 2 NAS units down to a single NAS to rule them all and my home is an agglomeration of Fire TV and nVidia Shield units as needed. I even set up a projector and sound bar out in my gazebo for summer usage. Plex is crazy flexible. When I traveled before the world contracted, I'd either stream on the road or use the download feature to put content on tablets. It centralizes everything tv/video-wise.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Fri Dec 31, 2021 10:29 am

+1 on Plex. I have less and less use for it now that I just tend to buy stuff digitally now. But, it is 100% free as a media server and works great.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Dec 31, 2021 10:50 am

Alrighty. I'll give it a cautious try. Thanks!

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Dec 31, 2021 10:57 am

JCC wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 10:29 am I have less and less use for it now that I just tend to buy stuff digitally now.

Many, many moons ago I thought I needed a central home media server for my growing, media hungry 5 member family. Part of that desire was created by a decent local storage and backup solution.

But somehow we got through it without me thinking "My GOD, THIS is why I spent all that time researching how to set up a NAS!!" And for me, that's saying something since I tend to go...overboard on such thoughts, ideas and implementations.

I wonder if the timing of everything going digital and cloud storage, with internet/wifi and download/upload speeds all increasing ameloriated that desire, or something else. Just can't think of many use cases for our specific needs, in 2022 for such a thing. I can think of some, for sure, but not enough to justify the time and effort of setting up a dedicated system for it (that can't be replicated, albet not as conveniently, by other means).

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 5:26 pm

My did her periodic review of the Amex bill yesterday and had a fit over the $155 cable/internet bill. When I went back to cable last year, the package was slightly less than the internet+Comcast streaming+Sling combo I'd been using, and using a single remote again was nice. But Comcast is so very fond of pumping it back up, so I left it to my wife to reconfigure the account to something she was comfortable with. She got it down to $115 -- the internet stopped working (I actually had to disconnect my Google wifi router and configure the Comcrap modem), there was a $15 "local channels" fee that means for the Fire apps that support live TV, I had to configure authentication (and the Olympics only worked for stuff on NBC, not the other NBC channels or USA). And even NBC-TV worked about 5 minutes, then stopped working, I gave up...later the Comcast app on my phone just gave me a spinning wheel until that put me to sleep. This morning I was able to get the Fire app to give me local news.

So I reminded her again of a potentially better deal with T-Mobile 5G internet. I might have mentioned last time I brought it up to her, and mentioned it came with a $10 discount on You Tube TV, her response was "I don't watch TV, I don't want that at all!" Well, now that she's paying ALL of the bills but doesn't really want a mutiny, she was more willing to listen. The problem before (and it's still a problem) is that our phones are on the Sprint billing system, and the internet service is not available to those accounts. So she had to go with me to the store and create an account in her name for just the internet.

The main stress test will be later when the boy gets home, and we try running the TV, both computers, the Xbox, 4 phones and two tablets at the same time. If there are no hiccups, the Comcrap equipment is going back Friday (weather is supposed to be shitty tomorrow). It's already disconnected -- I pulled out a rats nest of wires, the router, the cable modem, the Google wifi router, two small ethernet switches, and a bunch of Cat-5, coax, and HDMI cables. All that's left on a once-crowded shelf is the T-mobile router (which has a battery and can be walked around the house while live checking for the best signal!) and the Fire TV box. Speed test tells me I'm getting 260MB down/ 26 MB up. Dude said depending on your location the range could be between 100 and 600 MB down, but thought the average to be 400. Best I could find walking the router around the house was 3 bars (out of 5), so maybe future upgrades in regional infrastructure will bump it up down the line. So far so good, though.

The cost of the service + YTTV is $105 /mo. There was a message on the T-Mobile site saying the discount on YTTV is good for a year and some action needs to be taken to refresh the discount.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 7:10 pm

With my wife not being around I'm dropping Dish tomorrow. $140+ a month.
I can get most all the local channels with an antenna. Have Amazon Prime but I'll probably drop that too since they raised the price. Crappy movie/ TV selection anyways.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:00 pm

Today I offered to give my brother my antenna that I never could get to do anything, either at my current house or my last townhouse. He lives a few blocks from where I used to live, but is not quite as hemmed in by Boughton ridge, so might have better luck.

My requirements are simple, but important (to me). I want local news in the morning. I don't want to hunt news on the Internet, I want to consume it passively while preparing the kids in the morning. I want football during football season (counting the days now until August...). This requires all of the broadcast channels. I have Amazon Prime which is good enough for movie entertainment (although it's not the main reason I subscribe). I like to have access to The Food Network for food porn, which is another favorite pastime. Access to channels that show decent documentaries are good because I don't want all my kids TV time to be watching gaming videos on YouTube.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:59 pm

I just ran the auto tune on my TV and apparently I have 40 local channels. Not all come in great but all the major networks come in. Good enough. Have had the service over 22 years.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 11:01 pm

The T-Mobile internet held up again today with both kids on remote learning (Zoom meetings at the same time while I was streaming TV). Comcast is getting their shit back tomorrow.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:05 am

Since I was kindly turned on to TVTime (an app/site for keeping track of what I'm watching, what I want to watch, and notifying of new episodes), I've been going back through my watch lists for various services and moving everything that I must watch to the app (while leaving everything that might be interesting sometime, maybe, on the service list only.) As I've done so I've been cleaning expired items on my list. Some quick observations:

Prime Video, save for a few originals, still sucks. Browsing Prime is like poking through that one shelf of VHS tapes in the back of the rental store back in the 90s. The one with all of the boxes covered in dust, and all of the covers faded.

Hulu must be hemorrhaging shows. Fully half of everything on my list was no longer available.

More and more non-mainstream shows seem to be moving off of premium services on onto 'free with ads' services, like IMDB TV and Roku.

Services, for some reason, make it a pain in the ass to actually find your watch list.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:28 am

Also: browsing is (intentionally?) obtuse on practically every service. If I want to see, say, documentaries, I want to see a list, and I want a filter. If I you're also going to offer grouped categories, I want meaningful ones. Example categories for documentaries: Military, pre-industrial history, WWII, food, vehicles.

Instead, I get no full list, but I get "Suspenseful Documentaries", "Trending", "Killer Content", "Unforgettable Stories", "Hidden Gems", etc.

It's the same on every service, and for every type of show. "Uplifiting drama", "Visually Striking Sci-fi", etc.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:09 am

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/t ... n-netflix/

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:12 am

If only that worked beyond Netflix.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:32 am

https://www.hulu.com/sitemap/genres

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:15 pm

And yet the problem remains: the genres are designed for discovery while browsing, not for finding what you're looking for.

It's the same as a grocery store or casino: they don't want you to quickly find what you want. They want you to find it, but only after you search around and stumble on other appealing things in the process. It wastes your time, but makes them more money. The risk is getting the balance right, to make customers dig a bit and discover more products without frustrating them so much that they think nasty thoughts about your store. Streaming services haven't gotten that balance right yet.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:36 pm

https://www.justwatch.com/us

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 2:34 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:36 pm https://www.justwatch.com/us

I've been using that app and it's great. Almost always accurate, too.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 2:36 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:28 amInstead, I get no full list, but I get "Suspenseful Documentaries", "Trending", "Killer Content", "Unforgettable Stories", "Hidden Gems", etc.

It's the same on every service, and for every type of show. "Uplifiting drama", "Visually Striking Sci-fi", etc.

OMG yes, I HATE that and thought it was just me being crotchety again. GIVE ME A PROPER FREAKING FILTER TO FIND STUFF MY OWN WAY!!!

You're fancy curating algo does not impress me at all, even when you use cute, but vague category titles to entice me.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 3:02 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:36 pm https://www.justwatch.com/us

Which I use, and is handy, but still lacks any meaningful filters. For instance, if I select only the services I'm subscribed to and then 'Documentary' and rating above 4.0 (to get rid of the dollar store crap, but not unpopular topics), it narrows it down to... 3,415 shows.

Now, if I could filter out the reality shows, the 'real crime' garbage (yes, garbage), the pop culture documentaries, and anything about cars, sharks, or food, then we'd be getting somewhere. If I could simply choose what topic I'm interested interested in - say, a time period, or world cultures, or aviation - then we'd really have something helpful.

Like I said, still handy. I can search within that, but that's only helpful if the right words are in the right place. To pull from my example above, if I search for 'medieval', I can see that, in all of the streaming services in the world, there are exactly 28 shows about 'medieval', including Sharknado. Five or six of those were documentaries. If I then narrow it down to documentaries only, there is only one show left. That means that 5/6th of the others weren't even recognzied as documentaries. And actual, streaming documentaries about the period don't show up if they don't have the word 'medieval' prominently placed.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 4:21 pm

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

I started replying in the OOIC thread but then this became totally about getting rid of cable so...

LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Apr 20, 2022 11:48 am Yeah, our household "needs" NFLX, D+, Peacock, Prime, and YTTV 12 months a year. But I'm hearing a lot from the 25-40 set that they do the rotation thing.

My cord cutting is immanent, as my outlook is currently that I have two weeks until the paychecks stop coming in. I was going to subscribe to Sling (Blue?) + News for about $40something a month but I'm finding my main CNBC watching time is becoming more and more TV editorials and less and less news nor even investment advice. I'm likely to go the streaming subscription rotation route if I don't do the Sling route (or in addition to the Sling route), probably starting with HBO Max. I was going to start with Prime but Amazon announced a price hike once I started down that road and it turned me off.

I've yet to figure how news is going to work for me, which is the main reason to keep TV at all and not just be a media streamer. I like CNBC but not $40 or more like and I'm liking them less and less as they become more and more editorial in nature. (From the Squawk Box, may main watching/listening time, the only one I can stand opining anymore is Becky, and Joe steps on everyone to be that asshole uncle who must be heard and thinks he's the clever entertainment that knows.)

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:04 pm

YouTube TV replicates the cable experience, if that's what you want, with a wide range of channels, "live" TV, and a virtual DVR. But $65/mo might be too rich for your budget.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:09 pm

Sling was the same for around $40 for my purposes. I'm not sure it's what I want any more though. The last need for live TV for me is pretty much an all news service primarily seen through the eyes of business and I'm growing less and less likely to see the cost benefit for keeping a news channel once the budget starts to kick in.

I want Nightly Business Reports back and that was on PBS, which I don't need any service for.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Apr 20, 2022 3:29 pm

Our recent financial hiccup changed the way I view services. I've also gone from 'maintain subs' to 'rotate subscriptions.' It isn't not liking any particular service so much as not paying for what we're not actively using - and there have always been a couple of services we were subbed to that nobody was using in any given month. Which service that is changes from month to month. Michelle finishes a series on Hulu and starts one on Prime, while I'm watching something on Netflix. I want to watch some Star Trek - hey, nobody's using Hulu! Cancel Hulu, pick up Paramount. Finish Star Trek, feel like Deadwood? Cancel Paramount, pick up HBO Max.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 1:05 pm

Kraken wrote: Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:04 pm YouTube TV replicates the cable experience, if that's what you want, with a wide range of channels, "live" TV, and a virtual DVR. But $65/mo might be too rich for your budget.

T-Mobile has it discounted if you get their 5G home internet service (which after 2 months has been working seamlessly with as many 2 TVs, 2 computers, 2 tablets and 2 phones running at the same time).

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Apr 21, 2022 2:58 pm

Kraken wrote: Wed Apr 20, 2022 1:04 pm YouTube TV replicates the cable experience, if that's what you want, with a wide range of channels, "live" TV, and a virtual DVR. But $65/mo might be too rich for your budget.

I could get cable wit ha dvr cheaper than that.

And they continue to offer me streaming 60+ channels for $20. Shoulda gave it to me when I asked for it.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Apr 27, 2022 2:23 pm

LordMortis wrote: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm I started replying in the OOIC thread but then this became totally about getting rid of cable so...

LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Apr 20, 2022 11:48 am Yeah, our household "needs" NFLX, D+, Peacock, Prime, and YTTV 12 months a year. But I'm hearing a lot from the 25-40 set that they do the rotation thing.
My cord cutting is immanent, as my outlook is currently that I have two weeks until the paychecks stop coming in. I was going to subscribe to Sling (Blue?) + News for about $40something a month but I'm finding my main CNBC watching time is becoming more and more TV editorials and less and less news nor even investment advice. I'm likely to go the streaming subscription rotation route if I don't do the Sling route (or in addition to the Sling route), probably starting with HBO Max. I was going to start with Prime but Amazon announced a price hike once I started down that road and it turned me off.

I've yet to figure how news is going to work for me, which is the main reason to keep TV at all and not just be a media streamer. I like CNBC but not $40 or more like and I'm liking them less and less as they become more and more editorial in nature. (From the Squawk Box, may main watching/listening time, the only one I can stand opining anymore is Becky, and Joe steps on everyone to be that asshole uncle who must be heard and thinks he's the clever entertainment that knows.)

Heh, cable company just called me out of the blue (I was going to cancel this coming Monday, as I no longer will be getting a paycheck then), they were checking up on an unhappy customer and just cut my bill by $60 a month for a year. I guess that means, I'm going to keep cable for another year as that brings things back down to where streaming isn't really incentive for me.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Jun 08, 2022 9:38 pm

disarm wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 7:46 pm
Blackhawk wrote:Xfinity Flex - does anyone use it? What about Peacock?
Xfinity offered me this deal...free Flex box and Peacock Premium with internet, so I thought I might as well give it a try. We primarily use Roku devices in our house, but I hooked the Flex up to our master bedroom TV as a second device thinking that my wife or I would be more interested in using it than the kids (they're pretty much Netflix/Disney+ exclusive). The Flex isn't a bad device, and the free Peacock subscription is a nice perk, but it's annoying to switch between devices. Then I discovered something...

I tried logging into my Peacock account on a different device, and I can still get the paid service without having to actually go through the Flex. As long as you create a Peacock account linked to Xfinity and have a Flex box somewhere in your house, you can get paid Peacock anywhere. The kind of funny part is that I can watch Peacock through any other device in our house, but Xfinity can see that I'm not actually using the Flex for anything, so they ask me every once in a while if I would like to return the box. I just ignore them because returning the hardware would probably mean losing the Peacock subscription. In my opinion, they offered me the box for free as lol as I have Xfinity internet, so I can use it as much (or as little) as I choose.

Update - and worth noting. I hooked it up, got my sub, and unhooked it. That was October. I just found out that since it isn't hooked up, they quietly added an $8/month charge to my Xfinity bill six months ago without telling me. I'm not even bothering arguing with them, not after the past week. I'm just sending it back as a lesson learned - don't accept any offers from Xfinity/Comcast, no matter how good they sound.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:48 am

My Peacock account (although rarely used) still has free premium access, but I also still have the Flex device connected. We never use the Flex for anything, but Comcast seems to have finally given up on the "We notice you're not using your Flex. Please send it back if you don't need it" messages. As long as they're not charging me, the box stays connected and we have Peacock if the desire ever comes around to use it.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 5:14 pm

I got a Flex box when I signed up, but IDK how to hook it up. As I understand it, it doesn't have a YouTube TV app, so I'd have to switch to my regular TV interface any time I want to watch that. The TV is hooked up to the router with an Ethernet cable. I guess the Flex box would just plug into one of my TV's HDMI ports? and then whenever I used it I'd be bypassing my Ethernet connection and streaming wirelessly? The only advantage would seem to be getting Peacock, which doesn't interest me. And maybe better performance using its apps for HBO, Netflix, etc. rather than the ones on my TV.

I never took it out of the box. The first instruction involved downloading some app to my phone, which I don't want to do. AFAIK my phone and my TV are unaware of each other's existence.

TV is already too complicated without hooking up another damned box.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 5:23 pm

Might want to check your bill and make sure they're not charging you for 'unreturned equipment.' If you have good enough wifi for streaming, you're much better off just getting a Roku stick, which yeah - just plugs into one of your HDMI ports like an oversized thumb drive.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 5:44 pm

It boggles my mind that there are still folks subscribed to traditional cable (where high-speed internet is available).

Me, more than a decade ago (

) :

Zaxxon wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:15 pm You can totally do it, Xmann. We dumped our cable TV at the end of 2011 and haven't looked back. What we did:

Got a Mohu antenna
Bought a Roku
Added Hulu Plus
The Mohu gets something like 30 channels in HD (glorious OTA uncompressed HD, even--way better picture than the shizzle Comcast was giving us). It's hooked into our TiVo and works flawlessly. I highly recommend this antenna; it's the size of an 8.5x11" sheet of paper and is pinned to the wall behind the TV. People watching our TV don't believe it's an antenna signal until I show them the antenna hiding behind the TV.

The Roku is great from a functionality standpoint--if there's an Internet source of audio or video that you want to come to your TV, it's likely that the Roku will do it. Our only complaint so far has been that the box occasionally lags a bit (eg we'll hit pause on the remote and 20 seconds later the Roku will pause). Doesn't happen often but is slightly annoying.

Hulu has filled a lot of the gaps for us--Daily Show, Colbert, etc. ESPN is the only thing I'm really missing, and ESPN3 has partially filled that void.

I'd recommend checking out AntennaWeb to get a feel for what you can expect to receive via antenna, but IIRC you're not far from me at all so I would think you're in an excellent spot for antenna reception.

Still largely rocking this setup--TiVo is still around because it hasn't died yet and is free, but maybe 3% of our viewing is through the TiVo--almost entirely Colbert. No chance we replace it when it dies. We also subscribe to Netflix and D+ all the time, and Hulu most of the time. I do ESPN+ for hockey season, and Sling for a month or two when I need it for 'real' ESPN, TNT, etc for certain sportspuck events. Occasionally rotate in Paramount+, AppleTV+, or Peacock.

Our total bill is $50 flat for internet (spoiler: if all you get from Comcrap is internet, there are no taxes or fees), 600 Mbps/25 Mbps, plus $20 for Netflix, $13 for Hulu, and $6 for D+. $39 for entertainment in total on top of the internet service.

A decade later, still paying less than we were in 2011 when we nuked cable TV. Not bad.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:03 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 5:23 pm Might want to check your bill and make sure they're not charging you for 'unreturned equipment.' If you have good enough wifi for streaming, you're much better off just getting a Roku stick, which yeah - just plugs into one of your HDMI ports like an oversized thumb drive.

Nope, I'm paying a flat $29.99/mo for 24 months, and I get an email every month confirming. After the intro period it will jump to something like $85. By then, I hope to be living somewhere else and eligible for a new signing bonus. Probably won't be able to escape Comcast, though. They have monopolies everywhere.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:05 pm

Kraken wrote:I got a Flex box when I signed up, but IDK how to hook it up. As I understand it, it doesn't have a YouTube TV app, so I'd have to switch to my regular TV interface any time I want to watch that. The TV is hooked up to the router with an Ethernet cable. I guess the Flex box would just plug into one of my TV's HDMI ports? and then whenever I used it I'd be bypassing my Ethernet connection and streaming wirelessly? The only advantage would seem to be getting Peacock, which doesn't interest me. And maybe better performance using its apps for HBO, Netflix, etc. rather than the ones on my TV.

I never took it out of the box. The first instruction involved downloading some app to my phone, which I don't want to do. AFAIK my phone and my TV are unaware of each other's existence.

TV is already too complicated without hooking up another damned box.

My original post way back about the Flex and Peacock addresses this issue of another box. Xfinity says that they'll give you free Peacock Premium if you use their Flex box, which is also provided free if you're an Xfinity internet subscriber. What I found out is that you can create your free Peacock Premium account using the Flex box, then use that login to access Peacock from any other device and still get the paid level of service without needing the box. Once you've activated the service, you don't actually need to access it through the Flex any more. When I do use Peacock, it's through either a Roku, nVidia Shield, or the mobile app. You can completely ignore the Flex and still take advantage of the free service.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:17 pm

disarm wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:05 pm
Kraken wrote:I got a Flex box when I signed up, but IDK how to hook it up. As I understand it, it doesn't have a YouTube TV app, so I'd have to switch to my regular TV interface any time I want to watch that. The TV is hooked up to the router with an Ethernet cable. I guess the Flex box would just plug into one of my TV's HDMI ports? and then whenever I used it I'd be bypassing my Ethernet connection and streaming wirelessly? The only advantage would seem to be getting Peacock, which doesn't interest me. And maybe better performance using its apps for HBO, Netflix, etc. rather than the ones on my TV.

I never took it out of the box. The first instruction involved downloading some app to my phone, which I don't want to do. AFAIK my phone and my TV are unaware of each other's existence.

TV is already too complicated without hooking up another damned box.
My original post way back about the Flex and Peacock addresses this issue of another box. Xfinity says that they'll give you free Peacock Premium if you use their Flex box, which is also provided free if you're an Xfinity internet subscriber. What I found out is that you can create your free Peacock Premium account using the Flex box, then use that login to access Peacock from any other device and still get the paid level of service without needing the box. Once you've activated the service, you don't actually need to access it through the Flex any more. When I do use Peacock, it's through either a Roku, nVidia Shield, or the mobile app. You can completely ignore the Flex and still take advantage of the free service.

Maybe I'll hook it up just to activate Peacock if that network ever has anything I feel compelled to watch. As it is, I have access to more good content than I can ever watch through the services I already pay for. When I do eventually add another channel, it will be Paramount to catch up on Star Trek.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:30 pm

Kraken wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:17 pm Maybe I'll hook it up just to activate Peacock if that network ever has anything I feel compelled to watch. As it is, I have access to more good content than I can ever watch through the services I already pay for. When I do eventually add another channel, it will be Paramount to catch up on Star Trek.

That's the thing -- the only time I was glad to have Peacock was during the Olympics...I do not miss it at all now. But that can be said for most pay channels -- currently I pay for You Tube TV, and between that and Amazon Prime, it provides me with all of the entertainment I have time for. Sure, I'm missing shows I'd otherwise like to see, but I'm not going to pay a subscription just for one show, so fuck them.

I still can't believe more shows aren't negotiating for secondary market rights to expand their fan base once their original pay service has run its course.