Affordable Cord Cutting

The goal of this is to make people aware that cutting the cord (getting rid of cable tv) can be affordable. There are lots of guides online and some of the information will be similar, but this guide will be expanded on as I go through my experience cutting the cord.

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In this section I will discuss the hardware that helps make cutting the cord possible. You do not need to have every piece of hardware that I discuss, but it helps to have some. so let's start at the very beginning of where you will get your tv.

TV Antenna - First off you can get TV over the air. To do so you will need to have a TV antenna. I have used a couple of the Mohu Leaf Antennas. I will link to them below. It appears that a couple of companies sell their branded versions of the Mohu Leaf antennas. One thing you will want to keep in mind is what range you want on the TV antenna. You can also find out the channels you should anticipate receiving as well as their distance from you by going to http://antennaweb.org/.

Cable Modem - Some cable companies charge you to rent their cable modem. If you buy your own cable modem then you can save money versus paying a monthly rental fee. The cost of the cable modem you buy has to be paid upfront instead of spread out.

Wireless router - It helps if you have your own wireless router. Some cable companies allow you to rent one from them, but it just makes sense to be in control of your wireless network.

DVR - I have not done extensive research on PVR/DVR systems, but I have used the Mediasonic HomeWorx HW180-STB. It is pretty inexpensive, but it works. You have to provide your own external drive or usb flash drive to record to and that is one reason why it is so cheap. They recommend you record to an external hard drive. I have not tried recording to a USB flash drive yet so now sure how well that works. Another DVR that sounds like it would work well is the Channel Master DVR+. There are other DVR options, but I am highlighting those two for now since they are both subscription free.

Entertainment Box - Now this is where you get to be picky. This section will contain information on ways that you can get access to TV and Movies through paid subscriptions or free content. I will discuss the content in a different section. The classification for entertainment boxes are: DVR, game systems, digital media player, blu ray player, and smart TV. The entertainment boxes will usually have apps or channels that you can add and get access to the content.

It depends on what you subscribe to on what content you will get.

Netflix - This is one of the most popular streaming content companies in the world.

Amazon Prime - This is a great service where you can get access to shows and movies.

Hulu - You have a couple of options with Hulu. You can watch free content on their site or you can purchase a Hulu Plus subscription. A Hulu Plus subscription enables you to get access to even more content on Hulu. You can also purchase a commercial free Hulu Plus subscription if you don't want to watch ads.

Sling TV - This lets you watch a lot of the TV Channels you are used to watching.

HBO - You can purchase a subscription to HBO if you want to watch content.

Sports - There are lots of sports played around the world and with that too there are lots of options on how you can watch those sports. The NFL and MLB have plans you can purchase and watch the games.

Did you know that you can actually watch free shows and movies? Here I will highlight some of the places where you can access the free tv shows and movies.

Crackle - Crackle is provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment and they have lots of content to watch on it.

YouTube - YouTube is the number one video site on the internet. You can see original content that people have created themselves as well as some tv shows and movies can be found on YouTube.

Antenna - In the Hardware section I talked about different antennas. You can actually use them to get free TV over the air.

Tubi TV - I have not checked out Tubi TV yet, but they have lots of TV shows and movies you can watch for free.

You then takes your TV Antenna, DVR and/or entertainment box and plug it in to your TV. Sign in to the different apps on the entertainment boxes and watch the content. This guide will grow and change over time as I experience more of cord cutting, but hopefully for now it gives you an idea of what is possible.