Box Out! How Streaming Can Save You Money
On September 28, 2020, Tech Talk With Luis Alvarez discussed interesting information for cable TV users who want to reduce their monthly cable bills. Luis Alvarez, CEO of Alvarez Technology, explained that if you have multiple TVs in your home, you are paying an extra monthly fee for each one of your set-top cable boxes. He said that streaming shows and getting rid of the set-top boxes can reduce those annoying rental fees. “You can’t buy the cable boxes, it’s just not how it works, and the $10 per month per TV fees add up over the course of years. Even if you think you should own the set-top cable boxes, you can’t,” Alvarez explained. “Cable companies make good money renting them out to you.” He continued to say that streaming or watching TV through the internet is the way to go.
Alvarez said that Roku provides the Xfinity and Peacock streaming apps. “You will still have to pay monthly fees for the Comcast services, but all you do is simply log in to the apps like you log into the Xfinity.com web page and watch TV on your browser. The apps are designed to work the same way. The shows come from the internet instead of coming through a coax cable. It means you no longer need the cable boxes and don’t have to worry about paying the $10 per set rental fees. If you don’t have Roku and have a newer TV, especially Samsung and Sony, the apps are already installed and available for use. The worst case is that you would need to invest approximately $30 or so in a Google Chromecast dongle that you can attach to your TV. The dongle has the apps, and for this one-time charge you can get rid of the $10 monthly rental fees for set-top boxes,” he said.
The host of the podcast, Marc, added that streaming apps work if you have a modern TV, but if you have an older TV you still need it hooked up to the wall cable with the set-top box. And the quality will not be as good as a high definition TV set. He continued to say that there are some interfaces available to convert HDMI into an old-style coax cable connection, but you will still get the old-style picture quality. Alvarez agreed that on older TV sets, you will get standard definition, not a high-def picture. These apps do have HD and 4K when available, so you get that additional benefit even if your TV doesn’t natively do 4K.
