Cutting the Cable

[swab]

I have had U-Verse or DTV for about 10 years now and am thinking of cutting the cable. I know I can get MLBTV and see all the road games I want, but was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to stream all games as needed.

 

I was also curious to see anyone had any thoughts on Roku vs. Apple TV. I have an iPhone so I was leaning towards ATV...just getting tired of being tied to the whole Apple ecosystem.

 

Any advice from anyone who has gone down this path is greatly appreciated. Positives, negatives, differences, etc...

 

Thank you for any recommendations and I apologize if this is a duplicate topic.

[1992casey]

We have a couple of current topics that might help you:

 

• Roku
   
  
• Apple TV and MLB TV

 

This topic may easily extend outside the scope of those two threads, though, so it's not necessarily a duplicate.

 

We can't get into ways to obtain games that one isn't entitled to (e.g. getting live broadcasts of games that are blacked out). We don't want to be subject to any "cease and desist" requests (or orders).

[swab]

Oh no, I would never want to talk about illegal ways to obtain the games! I did figure there had to be a way though. More research to come I guess.

 

Thanks for the additional links!

[Baldkin]

I hope you don't expect to watch the road games, from MLB.com's website:

 

Regular Season Local Live Blackout: All live games on MLB.TV and available through MLB.com At Bat are subject to local blackouts. Such live games will be blacked out in each applicable Club's home television territory, regardless of whether that Club is playing at home or away

 

So, if you're in the Brewers broadcast area, you cannot watch Brewers games legally.

[endaround]

Yeah FSN is the only way to see Brewers games in the Brewers market.

 

As to AppleTV vs Roku, Roku was significantly better than the old Apple TV. The new Apple TV is still too unknown. But if you are an Amazon Prime member, Roku will likely be your best bet for streams.

[brettac1]

I love my Roku. I wouldn't have DirecTV if not for the Brewers.

[1992casey]

I don't see a simple answer if you're comparing Apple TV vs. Roku and wanting to know which is better. Much of what the two devices do overlaps, but a great deal is different.

 

Roku allows users to add streaming services. Apple TV doesn't. On Roku, it's difficult to access media on one's computer. On Apple TV, it's easy. Roku can be hooked up to an old TV. Apple TV wants an HDTV set.

 

With Apple TV, you can wirelessly display your iPad's screen on your TV, and as of this summer, you'll be able to wirelessly display your Mac's screen. This could be very useful to some and totally irrelevant to others.

 

When comparing, the more proper question is likely "Which is better for me?" It really depends on what you want to do. Given that neither device is very expensive, some people may decide to own one of each.

 

If you're zeroing in on one or two services, you can probably do the "which is better" thing, e.g. "Which device has a better MLB.TV app?" or "Which device has a better Netflix app?"

[swab]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Very helpful! I really appreciate all the responses. I am going to work on narrowing it down. If it weren't for those lousy baseball games I like so much, I probably would have made a decision already.