Electronics

[sandy53]

Fire sticks work great for us.  We use them with YouTube TV.  

[AngelPuppy1]

I am "hearting" all of your replies because I really appreciate everybody trying to explain all of this, but I have to admit I am still in the "weeds"!  It sounds so incredibly confusing to me that I can't figure out or understand half of what you are all saying.  I guess I don't get the jargon of electronic speak for one thing!  

Someone asked what kind of t.v. we have and I will just say it is a TCL (don't know the particular model) purchased from amazon about 2 weeks ago.  We have used our local cable company for years for everything including cable, phone and internet.  Our bill just went up again and it is now up to $370 a month, which I think is just terrible!  We do have Peacock and Netflix, which I guess are extra charges. Also, we have the ability to record shows whenever we want which is imporant to us.  Also, DH wants to be able to watch his sports, such as football and baseball, and to watch local news.  

So, after reading all of your posts, I don't know what would be what we need or how to go about what we need!  Sorry to be dense, but it is, what it is, I guess you would say.  

I guess this is why we have stayed with our cable company for so long, despite the high cost!  We just don't know or understand all of this stuff, the streaming stuff, apps, and all that is involved in order to get what we want and need.

Thank you for your replies!  I appreciate it!  

[gadgetgal613]

There really isn't that much to understand.  All services charge a monthly fee to use them.  What you need to do is get out a calculator, add up the cost for each streaming service you would subscribe and compare the prices.  You'd be surprised how many chanels you can get with an antenna and the internet.  If your husband likes to watch sport, look up the price for the differnet sports streaming services.  If you like movies, look up the monthly price for them and the list goes on.  If you are NOT tech savvy, you might be better off sticking with basic cable and adding streaming services to the mix.  

[Ainhisg]

@AngelPuppy1 I will try to help you as much as I can.  Go on Amazon, find your TV order, and take a screen shot of the exact one you purchased and post the screenshot here.  Tag me, please. If you don't know how to take a screenshot and post it, then go to your order and let me know the complete title (for lack of a better word) of the listing and post it here.  Or look on the listing or in your instruction book for the model number.  Find something, because all smart TV's work similarly but still differently.  Once I see what you bought, I will try to find a YouTube video that can help.  I looked on Youtube already, and it appears that TCL TV's are all Google smart TV's, but I want to be sure, because the wrong video may not help you much to understand the process.

You will still need to keep your internet service with your provider or you can also switch to a new provider.  Smart TV's require internet connectivity. We use Brightspeed for our internet provider, and 1g is $59 per month.  We have to have that big of a package because we have over 30 smart home devices.  If you don't have very many, and you probably don't, there are several cheaper packages than this.

For our internet and all the streaming services we subscribe to, we pay $160 a month just to let you know what your cost might look like--easily half of what you're paying!  In our case:

Brightspeed internet:  $59
YouTube TV:  $83 (has live channels, sports, and anything else you could possibly want to watch plus unlimited recording--it does not have music channels like cable)
Netflix:  $9 (with ads)
HBO $3 (with ads--Black Friday special)
Paramount+ (free with Walmart+)
Prime Video (free with an Amazon Prime subscription)
Apple TV $6 (Black Friday special)

Hope this helps, and again--let me know exactly what TV you have, and I'll see if I can find something for you to watch to help you understand the process.

[Mz iMac]

@AngelPuppy1 

Ainhisg stated "Smart TV's require internet connectivity. "

If you have been w/your cable company for 5+ yrs, never or rarely late in paying your cable bill, call its RETENTION department & request an internet discount for being an "exceptional-good" customer.

If you decide to keep cable, use the same ruse to get a cheaper rate.

If there are multiple cable companies in your area, threaten to jump ship if you can't get what you want.

[AngelPuppy1]

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@gadgetgal613 wrote:

There really isn't that much to understand.  All services charge a monthly fee to use them.  What you need to do is get out a calculator, add up the cost for each streaming service you would subscribe and compare the prices.  You'd be surprised how many chanels you can get with an antenna and the internet.  If your husband likes to watch sport, look up the price for the differnet sports streaming services.  If you like movies, look up the monthly price for them and the list goes on.  If you are NOT tech savvy, you might be better off sticking with basic cable and adding streaming services to the mix.  

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@gadgetgal613 

But you see, for one thing I don't understand what you are saying here - are you meaning - stay with my cable company, but just do the basic package and then get an antenna?  And what does "get an antenna" mean?  The only "antenna" I know is the old kind we had as a child that was on a pole outside and you had to turn it manually by hand - and I know this is not what you mean!  And then you write, "stick with basic cabe", which I take it to mean, just stay where I am and just add - as you say with streaming services - but I don't even understand this - where do you get the streaming services?  See, I told you all that I don't understand any of this.  I am clueless!  

[AngelPuppy1]

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@Mz iMac wrote:

@AngelPuppy1 

Ainhisg stated "Smart TV's require internet connectivity. "

If you have been w/your cable company for 5+ yrs, never or rarely late in paying your cable bill, call its RETENTION department & request an internet discount for being an "exceptional-good" customer.

If you decide to keep cable, use the same ruse to get a cheaper rate.

If there are multiple cable companies in your area, threaten to jump ship if you can't get what you want.

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@Mz iMac 

We have had the same cable company for more years than I can even remember and as far as I know, this is the only one available in our area.  We have never been late on our billr.  I know next to nothing about all this stuff but I know that we need internet also because we get all of our services through them - t.v., computer and phone.  I guess we can also tell them we are thinking of dumping them and going to dish or sling or something like that.  Thanks!  

[AngelPuppy1]

@Ainhisg 

I appreciate your info and I will see if I can find this because DH ordered it, I didn't.  He probably squirreled it away some place and he is not well and I don't want to bother him.  Thanks for your info!  

[gadgetgal613]

But you see, for one thing I don't understand what you are saying here - are you meaning - stay with my cable company, but just do the basic package and then get an antenna?  And what does "get an antenna" mean?  The only "antenna" I know is the old kind we had as a child that was on a pole outside and you had to turn it manually by hand - and I know this is not what you mean!  And then you write, "stick with basic cabe", which I take it to mean, just stay where I am and just add - as you say with streaming services - but I don't even understand this - where do you get the streaming services?  See, I told you all that I don't understand any of this.  I am clueless!  

If you can't understand the basics of streaming, using an antenna or basic cable, I'm not sure anyone can help you.