How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask • Hacker News Board

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#151

Post by soylentcola » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:23 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #83

ascagnel_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, cable companies are generally the only source of high-speed internet, and they sometimes charge a higher sticker price to provide internet-only service vs. bundling with TV service.

Correct, I finally got tired of playing games with Comcast and I actually pay them more now for 250Mbps internet ($95) than I would for a TV+250Mbps bundle (I think the latter would have been $10/mo cheaper, at least for a year..)

This is exactly what I did. When I recently bought my first home, I was already aware that I would have to deal with Comcast if I wanted any semblance of high speed internet service. I could've gotten higher speeds for less (for a year before the price jump) and I could've gotten a lower price (for a year before the price jump) if I bundled cable TV...

...but between the so-called promotional pricing, the dicking around with another pile of box rental fees and assorted add-on costs, I just didn't have it in me. On some level I just decided that I would rather risk "missing out" on some minor bit of savings than buy anything more than the single thing I really needed to buy from Comcast.

If I had any other real options I wouldn't buy anything from them. But they are the only option for something I definitely need. I'm not about to pay them for anything more.

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#152

Post by soylentcola » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:28 PM UTC

adrianmonk wrote: post #66

mikeash wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The allure of channel-surfing and just leaving something on in the background seems to be huge for some people. Getting stuff on demand is great, but it does require a bit of thought.

Streaming services probably can and should cater to that more. I think sometimes the psychological aspect of it isn't appreciated. The whole point of plopping down on the couch and turning on the TV is to decompress. It's great that streaming services allow you to choose what to watch when, but if you've been figuring things out and making decisions all day, that's what you want to get away from. Traditional broadcas…

This is where sites/services/apps like PlutoTV are great. They're essentially a bunch of streams of mostly low-cost programming presented in a guide-type format. Nothing amazing but it serves the same purpose as basic cable if you just want to watch old movies, MST3K reruns, or cooking shows.

Even YouTube can serve this purpose if you get a decent set of subscriptions going and loads of TVs have this built in these days (even if you didn't really want it). For others, there's Chromecast or similar to put these things on the big screen if you don't have a computer or other "smart" device already hooked up.

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#153

Post by tomasz207 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 3:02 PM UTC

dgzl wrote: post #25

drblast wrote: post #5

I have the same reaction every time I read about any cable company, and that's, "WTF are you all still giving them your money for?!" They have a monopoly on a dying service you literally don't need at all, and most people hate having to deal with them. The pricing and contracts are antagonistic to customers. Is it just momentum at this point?

For the past year, I've been trying to convince my grandparents to ditch cable for internet TV, and the transition has been surprisingly difficult. After two attempts (I don't live near them), I am still not successful, however I did reduce the TV/phone/internet bundle from $250 to $200. Next time I see them, I'm coming prepared with the items that prevented me from succeeding before, and hopefully I'll be reducing t…

I've set my parents up with a Fire Stick with Netflix, Sling, Prime, etc.. But the internet in their area isn't that good and the streams cut out frequently. I live 3 hours away and have FIOS, so I typically don't run into issues on my end and can't easily drop by to troubleshoot. It's a hard sell when they are used to always being able to turn on the TV and have something to watch without the frustrations of network issues.

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#154

Post by BrandoElFollito » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 3:02 PM UTC

rasz wrote: post #145

k3oni wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, they have some nice ones with over 900Mbps now out pretty cheap and they work as expected.

last time I checked the "900Mbps" topped out at 200mbit real data

I had the same experience but I did not expect much more from my power installation (a mixture of old and new cabling).

This is still 200 Mbps, better than the Wi-Fi the device could get.

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#155

Post by oconnor663 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 3:14 PM UTC

nickpsecurity wrote: post #97

oconnor663 wrote: post #53

> After the Spectrum fee rises within days to $7.50 a month, that will translate to at least $120 million. Monthly. Or at least $1.4 billion a year. I agree with the overall "screw those monopolistic rent seekers" theme, but I hate seeing summaries like this. Is $1.4 billion a lot? If you told me it was $100 million per year, that would still sound like a lot, but apparently in this context that would represent not a…

Well, a $50 Roku boxI bought a relative streams HD from Netflix and other services. Way more than what a cable modem does. You'd have buy 28 million of them to hit $1.4 billion, but realistically they'd get volume discount. These companies sell less functionality for more money and keep charging after it's probably paid off. Does that put it more into perspective?

Yes, comparing the price of a set top box to the price of a Roku sounds much more reasonable. And I'm sure we could think of a dozen different comparisons besides. The point is that we should be making these comparisons instead of dropping gigantic numbers by themselves for effect :p

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#156

Post by wil421 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 3:32 PM UTC

cstejerean wrote: post #114

dgzl wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the past year, I've been trying to convince my grandparents to ditch cable for internet TV, and the transition has been surprisingly difficult. After two attempts (I don't live near them), I am still not successful, however I did reduce the TV/phone/internet bundle from $250 to $200. Next time I see them, I'm coming prepared with the items that prevented me from succeeding before, and hopefully I'll be reducing t…

Get a mesh wifi solution like Google WiFi, and spread the other access points around. Much easier than the alternatives and you'll have fast internet throughout the whole house so you can stream video in any room.

Mesh WiFi is costly and probably hard to maintain for elderly people.

A cheap Ethernet cord would fix the problem. Move the router closer to the office.

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#157

Post by wkearney99 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 4:01 PM UTC

sjm-lbm wrote: post #75

captainmuon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought about putting multiple tuners in the box, and just decoding multiple channels simultaneously. Then to switch a channel you would just "put another window in the front". You could have a predictive system that would decode the three most likely next channels and start decoding them. In the best case, this would move the latency of the first switch close to zero, and of subsequent switches to 1/2 or 1/…

I have a (pretty old) TiVo that lets you do something similar to this - there's some button on the remote (I honestly can't remember what it is called) that lets you cycle between the tuners. It works pretty much like you describe - if a bit more manually - and has the added benefit of not requiring you to type a multi digit channel number every time you want to hop between your favorite channels.

Current models have six live tuners. All running a buffer for whatever channel is tuned on each. Works fantastically well. There's a "Live TV" button on the remote than cycles through them, or you can manually poke through a quick submenu to jump right to one in particular.

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#158

Post by soylentcola » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 4:24 PM UTC

x3n0ph3n3 wrote: post #94

Am I the only one here who still torrents all of their TV?

Even when I had cable I would use Popcorn Time behind a VPN for TV shows. No messing with DVR that may or may not actually record the show. Nice Netflix-style list of available programs and the ability to bookmark favorites and see if there were any new episodes.

I'm sure if I had felt like setting it up, usenet automation + Plex server would have been even better but this was simple enough.

Again, I had cable and I had a cable box but it was that much easier to watch streaming torrents that I still watched unlicensed recordings like that.

Basically, if you are going to charge me a monthly fee to borrow some set top box, you need to make the set top box worth the expense. My only "legit" option was something that looked like a 1998 leftover that barely worked, worked slowly, and cost me almost $10/month to borrow. If I wanted one of the nicer boxes, I had to sign up for unrelated services like some "triple play" with phone service included. Not happening.

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#159

Post by PascLeRasc » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 4:50 PM UTC

myrandomcomment wrote: post #124

Consultant32452 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With regards to a roll up service, this is something I want too. The best approximation I've seen is the media search on Roku. You can search for a movie or TV show and it will show you which Roku channels offer that content. It's of course not as seamless as a real roll up service could be, but I thought I'd suggest it. On your phone/tablet, you may appreciate the "Just Watch" app which lets you search the providers…

Thanks. The “Ads” are the reason I looked at the Roku and then said no. I was looking at an AppleTV also (I would have to convert some of my videos, but whatever) however the lack of an optical audio out kills that as I want the music to go to a different amp. So PC with Kodi and TV apps for Netflix and Amazon. The quest continues!

Do you need 4K? The 3rd-gen Apple TV has optical audio out but it's 1080p only. Very nice interface though. If you already have a 4K TV, does it really not have optical out built-in? My Roku TV has it and it's about as cheap as 4K TVs get.

Re: How much does a cable box really cost? The industry would prefer you don't ask

#160

Post by r00fus » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:02 PM UTC

wil421 wrote: post #156

cstejerean wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get a mesh wifi solution like Google WiFi, and spread the other access points around. Much easier than the alternatives and you'll have fast internet throughout the whole house so you can stream video in any room.

Mesh WiFi is costly and probably hard to maintain for elderly people. A cheap Ethernet cord would fix the problem. Move the router closer to the office.

Uh... my Amplifi is dead simple to setup. I bet the eero and others are as well.