sambista
Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 16951 Location: way station of life
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Posted: 01/11/18 6:58 am ::: |
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i’ll drop some info on the cord-cutting solution i’ve found, and i was especially needy because of living overseas and wanting more options for u.s. news in particular.
here’s my disclaimer: i consider myself a consumer activist, and i don’t patronize companies that are shaky or behave badly. this service i pay for is in a very dark, gray area, and i have broken my rule because i’ve succumbed to the benefits of the service. so think of all those bad terms - shaky, fringe, fly-by-night, legally questionable. this service could be all of these things. i really don’t know. what i know is i pay $20 usd a month to get better-than-serviceable tv, 500 channels, tons of sports channels, uk channels, tons of movie channels, channels in spanish and other languages, and access to pay-per-view events. how do they do it? do you wanna ask? so . . . eyes wide open from this point on.
the site: www.setvnow.com
this is iptv (internet protocol tv). here are the big hits:
it’s just 20 bucks a month. no contract, no obligations. go to the "buy now" page to get a 24-hour free trial. no credit card is requested. (they used to offer a 3-day trial, but it was too popular and they couldn't generate user codes fast enough. or so they said.)
i haven’t counted the channels, but there are A LOT. all the channels i could think of, and some i didn’t know existed.
you can have set tv on up to three devices (there’s a list on the site). but only one mobile device can "travel" beyond your home base. i started out with it on my mac, then my mac wired to my tv. four months later, i bought the set tv box (better reception) to connect directly to the tv.
there’s very little freezing or buffering, but it does happen. this likely depends on the robustness of your internet service, and i’ve found that having the actual set tv box or a wired connection to the tv (if you wanna use a tv) reduces incidents of freezing/buffering.
customer service runs from fantastic to horrible. this is a geeky group of people (they know tech, but they don't know how to run a business) who behave as if everyone else is as geeky as they are. there are very few instructions available. they have an 800 number, and that works best. there’s also an online chat, but those guys are really geeky.
if you wanna see how it works, there are several youtube videos. unclear how many are "paid for" by set tv, but i’ve watched a bunch of them, and they’re largely true.
i watch my set tv channels more than the cable channels in get in brasil. cnn/msnbc/bloomberg/bbc in the mornings, food network, tbs, usa, own, ion, endless movie channels and (surprise!) women’s college basketball. there are also the premium packages for the nfl, mlb, soccer, etc., plus the aforementioned pay-per-view for boxing and such. channels come in from various locations - nbc news out of detroit, the golden globes out of canada, tv series out of florida. the giveaways are the call letters and commercials.
it’s 20 bucks a month. you pay month to month, or you can pay three or six months in advance.
my experience: yes, some stumbles. yes, some frustration with customer service and the near absence of instructions and other important information. yes, there are the occasional freezes/bufferings, and one channel i really want has never come in so i could watch it - bbc america, which shows the original "star trek" series.
I DO NOT KNOW how this iptv service impacts your internet service, contract and/or usage in the usa. and i really don’t understand the underpinnings of iptv. i’ve had set tv for almost six months, without penalty. and i know that this service is targeted to american users, though it should work anywhere in the world. i have one friend who has now bought two set tv boxes and loves it, and i have another friend who could never get the box connected successfully to his tv, though the service does work on his computer.
bottom line for me: this is a 90/10 solution. 90 percent of the time, i can watch a world of tv for just 20 bucks a month. 10 percent of the time, it’s a shaky service operating on the fringe of legality, and i wouldn’t be at all surprised if whoever's running it just disappeared one day. but 20 bucks is an acceptable risk, i’m hooked, and i plan to cut my cable package in brasil to the bare minimum soon.
this may or may not be a viable option for you. it's worth checking out.
_________________ no justice, no peace.
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