I did this write up of what I did at home to cut the cord and I have had a lot of friends ask me the details so I been emailing this out in a word document to people. I must say, I really love the Tablo + Sling TV combination! I really am not missing anything anymore that my cable company was providing. The Tablo is picking up 56 channels in my area and about 18 of them are in HD (roughly). Sling TV gives me about another 12 channels and the rest is handled by other services.
Ok so here is the write up ----------------------------------- How to Cut the Cord
What are the goals of this write up?
Lower your cable/internet bill as much as possible
Get rid of your cable boxes
Get all of the entertainment you are accustomed to
No switching of HDMI ports
Have everything run from the ROKU 3
So let’s look over what Verizon FIOS currently offers me for $158 a month
3 Cable Boxes
Prime TV with 65+ HD Channels
Starz, Cinemax, Showtime and AMC
75/75 Internet Connection
So now with all of this what was the final package and cost that I got in total? Below is a list of each item and its cost.
*$75.00 ROKU 3 box (1 per TV)
*$197.99 Tablo 2 Tuner (Tablo 4 Tuner $269.99)
*FREE Tablo Basic TV Guide (Enhanced Guide monthly subscription $5, Or Lifetime $149.99)
*$50.00 USB 500 GB WD Elements (Recommended) Hard Drive (Tablo supports up to 2TB, $100)
*$50.00 HD Antenna (Amazon Basics is what I used) (50 Miles)
$59.99 Verizon FIOS
50/50 Internet ($69.99 a month if you do 75/75 Internet)
Local TV Channel Package (double play but I don’t use it as I do not have cable boxes)
HBO/Showtime free for 12 months (ROKU Apps for them)
$3.00 Verizon FIOS Taxes
$8.99 Netflix
$7.99 HULU Plus
$20.00 Sling TV
* Denotes a onetime fee
Total Setup Cost: $372.99 Total Monthly Cost: $99.97 Monthly Savings: $58.03 Months to Recoup Setup Cost: 6.5
Although great that Sling exists, I still don’t believe it adds $20 of worth to my monthly cost. I got it and used it a few times, but I just feel it is not worth it, just like CBS charging $5.99 a month for their streaming is crazy too.
Although great that Sling exists, I still don't believe it adds $20 of worth to my monthly cost. I got it and used it a few times, but I just feel it is not worth it, just like CBS charging $5.99 a month for their streaming is crazy too.
I agree with you but it is still cheaper than getting Cable and I mainly wanted CNN, ESPN and my daughter wanted Cartoon Network. So rather than keeping my cable boxes this was a cheaper option (I went with math and kept value out of it for now as there are no alternatives).
Yes but I have it setup on 3 different ROKUs. All it means is only one of them can use Sling TV at a time but they can use other stuff. If you think about it the odds on your average family having 2 people wanting to use the same channels Sling TV provides is very rare. If I want the news that bad I can use the Tablo and get over the air local news. Besides I am 100% positive that over the next few months they will increase it to 2 to 3 streams (just like Netflix). My guess is they want to make sure their system can handle the load before they start opening up the throttle. As of right now Sling TV looks perfect! I am watching my CNN etc… and it is just as good as cable.
I’m still waiting on my SlingTV invite, but I do most of the rest.
I also have Plex which does a really good job of brokering between some of the online services and the Roku (like NBC’s web channel etc).
As it is all presented through the Roku, it is much more easily accessed and accepted by the rest of the family. They really don’t care about the ‘how’, only that it works.
@Lothos - I read that you can add additional streams to Sling for $5/mo.
Yes they have 2 packages right now.
Children Package: Has a few more Disney channels such as Disney XS and Boomerang but I was not really interested in that.
News Pacakge: Few news channels I never heard of.
They are suppose to add a sports package soon and I heard they signed up Univision for the stream as well but I am not sure if that channel will be added to the base setup or as a Spanish Package.
I’ve got the same setup, Roku3’s, Tablo 4 tuner, RCA amplified flat antenna, SlingTV (wish it had a few more channels, but it is just starting out), Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Wish I had a regular grid guide with Roku3. SlingTV does a decent job, but still is not a grid guide. Also wish the Tablo was a lot more responsive, and had basic preview popup on FF/RW.