Time to move on from Sage

[wayner]

Originally Posted by btrcp2000

hoping to high heaven that MLB removes blackouts from mlb.tv, I've seen hints that it is under discussion for this year. otherwise we have no use for cable anymore.

You should be able to get around local blackouts with Unblockus. I have used it for years to get access to US based streaming sites from Canada but it also lets you get around local blackouts for sports streaming sites. They have a 7 day free trial so you can give it a go when the season starts in a couple of months. After that it is $5/month.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by btrcp2000

hoping to high heaven that MLB removes blackouts from mlb.tv, I've seen hints that it is under discussion for this year. otherwise we have no use for cable anymore. I'm effectively paying about $100/mo to TWC for baseball, which isn't even in season right now.

MLB (my local team only, I don't care about others) is the only thing I really, really miss about cutting the cord (because it's about the only thing I can't get streaming with my parents' cable password, or by, uh, other means).

MLB.TV for 2015 is $130. 6 months of Unblockus at $5/mo = $30 more (7 if your team makes the playoffs, $35 )

So $160 for a season / 6 months = $26.66 per month. Still more than a real cord-cutter wants to pay, but beats the heck out of $100 per month for cable or satellite.

[ptoal]

I am in a similar boat as the OP, but not quite there, yet. As I'm in Canada, our options for online streaming are limited to Netflix and Youtube. The Canadian Netflix doesn't have enough of what we want, though the kids seem happy to stream Youtube all day long.

I cut the cord from cable a while ago, but I still rely on OTA for some of the main stuff that we watch. Until we can get the prime time shows via another avenue, I still need my DVR.

That said, as soon as my HD300 dies, I think it's game-over for SageTV in our house. I, too, feel a bit nostalgic about the thought of leaving. It has been over a decade, and I was once the envy of all my friends (even the nerdy ones).

I actually came here looking to see if there were any decent alternatives, but alas, it looks like this is a dying market. Ah well.

-PT

[wayner]

Originally Posted by ptoal

I am in a similar boat as the OP, but not quite there, yet. As I'm in Canada, our options for online streaming are limited to Netflix and Youtube.

That's not quite true since if you use a service like Unblockus you have everything available to Americans, not to mention UK as well. And you can pick Netflix from any one of their markets.

[asd]

Wayne is absolutely correct about Canadians' ability to stream anything they want. I also live in Canada, with Unblock-us set up on a router that permits static routing. I have 4 Rokus -- 3 streaming sticks and a Roku 3 -- set up around the house. They play Netflix libraries from around the world, besides Amazon VOD and Acorn TV (I like UK shows the most). VUDU and MGO work just fine too.
I can't stay awake to watch a MLB -- fun to play but boring to watch. Yet there's a NHL Gamecentre channel for Roku that covers any game and the playoffs -- the real season, when Canadian teams, except Les Canadiens and maybe my Flames, with Johnny Hockey, go golfing. NFL channel also available, if you like deflated balls. Moreover, Plex channels, served from a Plex server to any Roku broaden the options even further -- NBC, CBS, ABC, BBC, ITV, and so on.

When I need to watch old fashioned live cable TV -- CBC Newsworld, in my case, I stream it from the one cable box/PVR in the house to the Rokus, with a Sling M1, via an Apple Ipod touch.

[ptoal]

Originally Posted by asd

Wayne is absolutely correct about Canadians' ability to stream anything they want. I also live in Canada, with Unblock-us set up on a router that permits static routing.

Let me rephrase, then: There are limited /legitimate/ services available to Canadians.

Honestly, I don't spend much time watching TV, and neither do my kids. Mostly, my wife is the one for whom SageTV stays in operation.

[asd]

Yes, there are likely limited legitimate choices, besides Unblock-us. I agree.

[wayner]

It depends on your definition of legitimate - is Unblockus legitimate? Are VPNs legitimate?

There has been a bit of a discussion of services like Unblockus in the press lately. There is even a theory that Netflix doesn't bother to add more content to Netflix Canada since such a large percentage of Canadians use something like Unblockus to access the US service.

[asd]

I don't get my ideas from the press -- rather from scholars and professionals. The 2 lawyers and one judge in my immediate family, besides my own assessment, as a retired professor of communications and media studies in Canada, says unblock-us is just fine. Things can change, of course, but that requires the law to adjudicate, not a company's lobbyist or a journalist.

[wayner]

IANAL but I agree - I don't consider there to be anything wrong with using Unblockus or a VPN.