Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 4)

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Welcome back everyone to "No-Pay-TV" Island and to another episode of Cut the Cord Survivor!  If you have just arrived, you can start at Episode 1 here.  Our challenge for today:

Episode #4 - Winning the kids' hearts and minds

Fans of the movie "Lilo & Stitch" might recall this scene:

[Nani is taking Stitch outside]
Lilo: He was an orphan and we adopted him! What about "ohana"?
Nani: He hasn't been here that long!
Lilo: Neither have I. Dad said "ohana" means family.
[Nani stops]
Lilo: "Ohana" means family. Family means...
Lilo, Nani: ...nobody gets left behind.
Lilo: Or...?
Nani: ...or forgotten. I know, I know. I hate it when you use "ohana" against me.

Anyone with more than one person in their household knows that for cutting the cord to be successful you have to make sure the entire family is happy...  especially your children.   Ohana means nobody gets left behind!  However, merely keeping your kids occupied with TV shouldn't be your goal (although any parent can appreciate how useful this is!).  Just recently I had an interesting experience that I'll share with you about educational television that might just change your perspective about kids and TV.

Yes, your kids have been patiently waiting for you to give up this cutting the cord foolishness so they can get back to their favorite shows.   We are almost halfway through the "Cutting the Cord" survivor season, let's see if we can win over the kids too!

Let me first start with the experience that truly surprised me as a parent, then I'll go into some great sources of (more traditional) entertainment for the kids

Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 3)

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Aloha fellow Islanders!

Well it is time for dessert here on "No-Pay-TV" Island!  Welcome back to Cut the Cord Survivor!  If you have just arrived, you can start at Episode 1 here.  Our challenge for today:

Episode #3 - Enjoying dessert:  premium streaming TV and rentals

In the previous two episodes we have combined both broadcast TV and free internet TV to try and "kick" our pay-TV habit.  While the two together may make a nearly complete entertainment "meal", we can't skip what I consider the best part.  I'm referring to watching premium movies and streaming TV.  I don't know about you, but I really enjoy movies.  In fact, I probably watch movies more than broadcast TV or anything else.  Movies are my dessert and I love dessert!

So, what kind of Movies are available to cord cutters?  While you can certainly find quite a few among the free sources we just went over, it is a pretty slim selection.  In this episode we open up our pocketbooks a bit and consider some pay services that deliver movies and premium TV.

Amazon Video On Demand - Another resource to cut the cord!

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Amazon has been offering movie rentals for download and purchase for some time now.  Originally branded as Amazon unboxed, it is now called Amazon Video on Demand.

One of the major concerns people have when cutting the cord is getting access to the content that they want to watch.  Amazon has quite a substantial library of Movies and TV shows to choose from and even offers them in HD (for specific players).

Being a Netflix subscriber, naturally I am really interested in comparing the two services.  One nice thing about Amazon is that they occasionally offer promotions and freebies.  As part of my project with 3-D and my Media PC, I ordered Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs BluRay 3D, about a week later Amazon sent me a $4 Video on Demand credit.  I completely missed the "Special Offers" section below my order (next time I'll look more carefully for these gems!).

Cool, a chance to play with Amazon VOD for free!  I was actually surprised by what I found and think it is yet another great resource for people who want to cut the cord.

I'll go over what I found and some of the nice features (as well as the problems).

FreeFlix: Free Movie rentals and much, much more!

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Okay, here is probably one of the best kept secrets to surviving after cutting the cord (and also all-around great resource for saving money).  Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, etc. profit greatly when we don't use it.  It is your dusty old public library.

Go ahead and have a good laugh...  get it out of your system...  Ready now?

If you live near a major US city, chances are really good that your library hasn't been sitting still through the Internet revolution.  You may not have been back to the library since you were in school so be prepared for a bit of a shock.  If you have kids, the odds are better than you've noticed that the library offers more than just books.  You might even be lucky and are near a newly remodeled branch that looks and feels more like a Barnes and Nobles cafe/store than the old library of your childhood.

Here is just a short list of the many things that you can borrow at the library that you may not be aware of:  movies on DVD, CDs (of all genres), Video games (no, I'm not joking), Audio Books on CDs, Magazines, Newspapers, etc.  Also, your library probably has an on-line portal as well with even more services (which I'll cover in a minute).

Okay, for movies, you are probably thinking (what could they possibly have)?  While it is true that they don't have the selection of a Netflix or Amazon, you might be surprised at what they do have (or can get for you from nearby branches).  It is also not just old movies as new titles show up all the time.

Here is another thing I like about the library.  Ever since Netflix (and others) drove my local video store out of business, I missed the ability to just browse around (in person) and pick a movie to watch.  Sure, I subscribe to Netflix and can watch streaming movies instantly.  However, sometimes you just want to flip through a few DVDs and pick something to watch.  Doing this with a web browser and/or waiting a couple of days for it to arrive by mail just isn't the same experience.

Did I mention that it is all free?  Kind of hard to beat that!  Of course it really isn't free.  We all pay for it with our taxes (so no need to feel guilty).  However, that is all the more reason to take advantage of such a wonderful resource.  By using it, you also help insure that it will be there for future generations.   Stop using it and I'm sure the mega-retailers of the world will not shed a tear when the competition goes away.

So, let me give you a quick tour of just some of the things that you might find at your new public library.

How do you cut the cord - outside the US?

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I think that the combination of broadcast TV (with the recent US conversion to digital TV), and the growing availability Internet video (Netflix, Hulu, etc), makes cutting the cord a really viable prospect for many people.  However, I live in the US and realize that cutting the cord might be an entirely different experience in other countries.

I've been meaning to look into (and write about) this for some time, but this issue became personal on our recent vacation to our east coast.  Netflix and Hulu are great sources of entertainment when you are staying in hotels and don't want to deal with the limited TV programming.  This worked perfectly for us until we crossed the border into Canada.   All of a sudden (as shown above), Netflix wouldn't work anymore.  I knew about this issue, but nevertheless it still came as a rude surprise.

Netflix streaming - watch out for the differences!

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Since one of the main ways I watch content after I cut the cord is via Netflix streaming, it is worth reviewing the different ways to do this.

First of all, there are now lots of different devices (and multiple ways) you can watch streaming Netflix content (more seem to be showing up every day).  For the latest supported devices, check out Netflix's list here.

The surprising thing is that each device offers a slightly (or significantly) different UI and set of features.  This is important because choosing the wrong device could leave you disappointed with what is really an outstanding service.

I happen to have a few devices on hand to compare that highlight some of these differences:

1. Windows 7 Media Center on my Media PC
2. FireFox browser
3. Nintendo Wii
4. Boxee's Netflix app
5. Samsung BD-P1600 (and LG BD300) BluRay Disc players
6. Sony PlayStation 3

Let's take a look, starting with what I think is currently the best, all around couch friendly interface.

Note that you can have multiple simultaneous streaming devices in your home depending upon your Netflix plan (up to a limit of 6 activated devices).  HackingNetflix provides some helpful info here.  This is a fantastic feature and one that helps solve the problem of having "TV" in multiple locations in the house.

I'll go over each device/method and list the pros and cons that I've found.

Cut the cord with Netflix movie rental and streaming

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NetFlix

When I first thought about trying to "cut the cord" from my cable company one of the things I thought I'd miss is the video on demand (VOD) service.  I have probably watched a couple dozen or so movies through the Comcast's VOD, not many really.  The biggest problem was that it was hard to find movies that I was interested in watching.  The ancient menu system offered by old Comcast DVR was certainly part of the problem, but the other was that there wasn't that many movies available.

Update:  check out the differences between streaming devices.

My kids, on the other hand, found Comcast's VOD essential.  They discovered quite a few serial programs that they loved to watch (like Pokemon and other cartoons).  When I "cut the cord", I needed to find a replacement.  Certainly there are a lot of cartoons available through the Internet and you can get to them via various portals and video aggregators such as Hulu, Boxee, (and my favorite) Zinc.tv.  These services are great, but not quite as convenient (or have commercials, ads, etc).

In addition, I've been thinking about subscribing to Netflix ever since our local video store went out of business a couple of years ago.  We started using the DVD kiosks at our local Safeway ($1 rentals are nice), but they often out of the top titles.  And let's face it, returning videos (especially in the middle of the week) is a hassle.  So, after receiving a NetFlix gift certificate (thanks for the Christmas present, Mom!), I thought I'd try to solve both problems.