Welcome to Top 5. I'm your host, Iyaz Akhtar.
Cutting the cord, it's a trend that lots of people have tried out, kicking the traditional cable packages and moving towards watching more stuff online, like this video.
So if you're tinkering with the idea of saying goodbye to your cable TV Here are the top five tips for potential cord cutters.
At number five take an inventory of what you actually watch.
You've got cable.
You've got this endless stream of video being pumped into your home at all times but what do you really watch and how much are you willing to pay for it?
Let's do some math with these three shows.
Louie, Bar Rescue, and My Cat from Hell because you know, cats.
All three of them are available for subscription on iTunes.
A movie costs 19.99, My Cat From Hell costs 19.99, and Bar Rescue costs 39.99 for a pass to Volume 4 because apparently it doesn't do seasons, right there that's 79 dollars and 87 cents, that's about 80 bucks, so if you wanted to break it down to a monthly cost you're gonna pay around 6 dollars and 60 cents per month...
But, I can charge you up front for season pass, so you end up really paying about six bucks per month.
At number four, find out how you can watch sports.
If you're a fan of an out of market team like if you're a San Francisco Giants fan in New York City, you can get something like a subscription to mlb.tv.
The same options available for basketball fans with NBA.
TV with local teams being blacked out.
Regional sports fans might be able to check out Playstation view that's really limited right now.
Sling tv is a very good option for folks who like watching sports on networks like Tnt and Espn.
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Number 3, an antenna can be your friend.
Depending on where you live you can probably get plenty of broadcast channels for free in hd over the air using an antenna.
One of my favorite tools to use is at tvtool.
Dot com, and it is a TV signal locator.
You input some information about your address, and you'll find out what channels you can seek.
If you're far away from broadcast towers, you might need a large antenna.
If you're nearby, you'll probably get away with a cheaper antenna.
And number two, pick your device.
If you've cut the cord, say goodbye to your cable box.
So, what's gonna replace it?
You'll want a set top box compatible with what ever service you're using.
iTunes video only works on the Apple TV.
Voodoo, Amazon, and a number of other services run on the RoCu.
If you want the convince of a DVR with your over the air TV, you gonna need something like the TiVo Romeo channel master DVR or simple TV.
And the number one tip for potential cord cutters is to ask the question.
Is it worth it?
At this point, you have an idea of how much money TV shows, services and hardware will cost you.
So do you really want to cut the cord?
You can also look into smaller cable bundles from your provider to see if it matches the pricing you figured out.
Alternatively you can call your cable company and try to negotiate a lower rate.
Consumer Reports has a good guide on how to handle that kind of thing Also, don't forget that you're likely sticking with your cable company.
Since it's most likely they are your internet service provider, so you're never truly cutting the cord.
If you're convinced to go the internet only route, you might want to look into a faster connection.
For more top fives like this, visit top5.cnet.com, if I've stirred up a torrent of emotions in you, and you're like, [INAUDIBLE] You should've totally mentioned this fix.
Let me know on Twitter.
I'm Matt Hyatt, that's for watching
