Cutting the Cord - TMI in stickied thread

I've recently cut the cord myself and I think you can get by all your needs with:

- 1-5 Digital Antenna's (or something like an HDHomeRun Extender x1 for the whole house)
- 1-5 Roku's or AppleTVs or Amazon Fire TV's (whatever you prefer)

The biggest question is, do you need DVR service? If so, that's where it gets tricky in my experience between your own computer as a DVR or something like a TiVo DVR service.

Why is dvr a must if you have everything readily available via the websites that you would use?

There are some add ons that show those games. For instance, there are add ons for NFL Game Pass.

BTW, I can't watch a game that is already over. It feels weird.

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Well that's what I was here to find out and stayed as much above

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Well, here's what I've done and I haven't missed the DVR yet (only 2 weeks in).

-Got a Digital Antenna for main living room/tv room.
-Got an AppleTV for main living room/tv room.
-Got SlingTV so that I can use the AppleTV apps (like ESPN Now, etc) and login with SlingTV account info.
-Signed up for Hulu TV Prime (no commercials are amazing to me)
-Put AppleTV/Amazon Fire stick on other tvs.

I've found that I don't miss the DVR functionality, yet. Basically, if I wanna watch "Grimm" or whatever, I just go to Hulu and watch it via the app. That allows me to pause, rewind, etc. The only DVR functionality I won't have is for live sports programs like the Super Bowl or when Bama wins another National Title.

If that's a must for you, the easiest thing to me seems like to just get a TiVo. Connect the Digital Antenna to the TiVo and then the TiVo to your receiver or TV and boom, good to go.

If cable is an option, take a look at the Tivo Bolt. It accepts either a cable card or an OTA antenna and is UHD ready. Tivo Minis can be attached to support your remaining TV sets. Tivo does NOT support satellite or U-Verse.

The Tivo is a sophisticated DVR with four built-in tuners and a kick-arse program guide. It includes all of the major streaming services like Netflix and Amazon so you don't really need a second box like Roku. It also includes Plex support for streaming locally stored media.

The Tivo system requires a wired connection between the Bolt and the Tivo Minis. This can be either ethernet or MoCA. MoCA is multimedia over cable and allows you to use standard home cable TV wiring to distribute content among the devices.

A basic cable subscription will give you local channels and you can add premium channels such as ESPN for sports. The price of the Bolt is $299 with a 500MB hard drive or $399 with a 1GB drive. Add an external 1GB hard drive for an additional $100. The Tivo Minis are about a hundred bucks each. The price of the Bolt includes the first year's subscription to the program guide; after that it's $150 a year. There is no additional charge for the Tivo Minis.

Your up-front cost for a Tivo system for six TVs would be less than $1000. Recurring costs for basic cable, ESPN, Amazon OR Netflix, and Hulu Plus around $60 a month for the first year, $72 a month after that. This assumes cable internet service which you would pay in any case.

Don't get seduced by the Kodi fans here. Kodi is not appropriate as a system to serve the entire family. The Tivo OTOH is a mature consumer product that just works out of the box and doesn't require any technical knowledge to enjoy.

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Sports games baw

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UK NFL Game Pass
Ballstreams
MLB.tv
watchESPN app

More sports offered with those than cable.