Cord Cutting Advice - Not the newborn type

[Myrddin]

On 7/1/2018 at 12:14 PM, john said:

That is definitely one thing that’s irritating about streaming live sports.  I’ll often hear that there’s been a goal/something major has happened from noise from the street or the neighbours at least 30 seconds before it appears on screen.  Also different screens in different parts of the house will have more or less lag.

This could be attributed to individual channels too.

Last week, we had two version of the same World Cup game streaming through Hulu. I was watching the English broadcast on FOX in my office while my father in law was watching the Telemundo broadcast in the family room.

Well, there was this awesome goal. I cheered ran to the other room to share in the play only to find them all just watching, waiting for something to happen. My first thought was that the goal was called back between me running through the kitchen. But no, the Spanish broadcast was just 1 minute or so behind FOX.

Same game. Two channels. Same streaming platform.

[Corvinus85]

I was watching the Colombia-England game at a bar. I thought I had to leave before the end, so I turned on the Fox Sports app on my phone to see it was a full minute behind the TV transmission.

[Rhom]

I thought I would try out the DirecTV Now app with a free trial and wanted to use our Sony Bravia smart TV in the basement.  It appears to have every app known to man... except DirectTV.  I didn't see an obvious way to download it.  Also couldn't find it on my PS4.  So is that how it works?  Some things just don't provide the app for you?

I have been thinking about getting the Apple TV device on other TVs, but wanted to try it out with existing equipment just to get a feel for it before plunking the cash down.

And yes, the live sports feeds always leaves me questioning the concept of "now" 

[Corvinus85]

40 minutes ago, Rhom said:

I thought I would try out the DirecTV Now app with a free trial and wanted to use our Sony Bravia smart TV in the basement.  It appears to have every app known to man... except DirectTV.  I didn't see an obvious way to download it.  Also couldn't find it on my PS4.  So is that how it works?  Some things just don't provide the app for you?

I have been thinking about getting the Apple TV device on other TVs, but wanted to try it out with existing equipment just to get a feel for it before plunking the cash down.

And yes, the live sports feeds always leaves me questioning the concept of "now" 

Yes, my dad has a Samsung smart TV and can't even get the youtube app on it. It used to have it, then it disappeared.

[Rhom]

I bought an Apple TV box and signed up for DirecTV Now.  Picture quality is great and for $50/month I am getting every channel we want.  I may drop the extra $5/month to get a third device for streaming.

Also, if I agreed to pre-pay my first 3 months with DirecTV Now, I get a free 4K Apple TV box sent to me.  So now I will have a couple of TVs covered.

Still bummed I can’t get the app on my basement Home Theater tv

[dbunting]

So for the $50 per month package you can only stream on two devices? I was wondering how they limit the usage on this. I am considering changing as well because the cost makes no sense when we use maybe 30 of the 100+ channels? I was thinking of adding a roof antenna to get more local stations, upping my internet speed then going to a package like you did, or one step up. I think I would save around $75 a month and still get the same channels we like plus get the dish off the roof that goes out every time it rains.

@Rhom can you update this post periodically on how it's working out for you, would appreciate it.

[Rhom]

5 hours ago, dbunting said:

So for the $50 per month package you can only stream on two devices? I was wondering how they limit the usage on this. I am considering changing as well because the cost makes no sense when we use maybe 30 of the 100+ channels? I was thinking of adding a roof antenna to get more local stations, upping my internet speed then going to a package like you did, or one step up. I think I would save around $75 a month and still get the same channels we like plus get the dish off the roof that goes out every time it rains.

@Rhom can you update this post periodically on how it's working out for you, would appreciate it.

Sure.  So far so good.

And yes, for $50 I have all the sports channels I want plus the HGTV and Hallmark that my wife wanted.  Anything less than $50 and I lost SEC Network; so those weren't options for me.  Also have all my local channels.  So you may not need the antenna if you go with the Direct TV.  At the $60 price point, honestly the only other channel I recognized was DIY network which we rarely watch.  

I presume that the two device limit is enforced by a denial screen when you try to log in with a third device.  We may add the $5/month to up it to three.  I think that would more than cover us.

There's a bit of a learning curve especially with how to operate the Apple TV.  The remote is a small thing and very simple.  Over the years all my remotes have been getting more and more buttons, but the only thing I ever used was the direction arrows and volume... this one has a volume, a button for Siri, a "home" button, a menu button, and the top of it is a touch pad with a clicker like a mouse.  I'm learning to navigate the DirectTV menus with the touch pad.  I spent last night setting up favorites and just checking things out.  Went very smoothly.  ETA:  Also, when I needed to type in a username or email for something like Prime; I get a pop up on my iPhone that offers to let me use the keyboard to input the info or I can speak using the Siri button on the remote.  Easier than the touchpad hitting each letter of the alphabet.

I have that one set up in our kitchen/sitting area.  The free one on the way will likely go in the living room.  (That's my oldest HD TV, but still performs great.  The large TV in the basement is new; so I'm unlikely to upgrade it to the 4K anytime soon.)  Then I will need to figure out what to do with our bedroom TV and the exercise room (that only my wife uses honestly )  I may try to go with a cheaper option like one of the lower end Firestick or Roku sticks for that one.

I also went ahead and set up my Amazon Prime Video on the Apple TV last night and downloaded the ESPN app and was watching a NBA Summer League game on ESPN3.  That will be good because it will give me the occasional game from my alma mater Murray State which is rarely on the national feed.

As we get more familiar with the touch pad and apps, I will let you know how it goes.  I also have yet to fiddle with the cloud DVR.

In a few minutes, I'm going to call the local company with the Fiber Optic internet and schedule them to come out and then give Comcast the boot.  Exciting!

[Corvinus85]

6 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Sure.  So far so good.

And yes, for $50 I have all the sports channels I want plus the HGTV and Hallmark that my wife wanted.  Anything less than $50 and I lost SEC Network; so those weren't options for me.  Also have all my local channels.  So you may not need the antenna if you go with the Direct TV.  At the $60 price point, honestly the only other channel I recognized was DIY network which we rarely watch.  

I presume that the two device limit is enforced by a denial screen when you try to log in with a third device.  We may add the $5/month to up it to three.  I think that would more than cover us.

There's a bit of a learning curve especially with how to operate the Apple TV.  The remote is a small thing and very simple.  Over the years all my remotes have been getting more and more buttons, but the only thing I ever used was the direction arrows and volume... this one has a volume, a button for Siri, a "home" button, a menu button, and the top of it is a touch pad with a clicker like a mouse.  I'm learning to navigate the DirectTV menus with the touch pad.  I spent last night setting up favorites and just checking things out.  Went very smoothly.  ETA:  Also, when I needed to type in a username or email for something like Prime; I get a pop up on my iPhone that offers to let me use the keyboard to input the info or I can speak using the Siri button on the remote.  Easier than the touchpad hitting each letter of the alphabet.

I have that one set up in our kitchen/sitting area.  The free one on the way will likely go in the living room.  (That's my oldest HD TV, but still performs great.  The large TV in the basement is new; so I'm unlikely to upgrade it to the 4K anytime soon.)  Then I will need to figure out what to do with our bedroom TV and the exercise room (that only my wife uses honestly )  I may try to go with a cheaper option like one of the lower end Firestick or Roku sticks for that one.

I also went ahead and set up my Amazon Prime Video on the Apple TV last night and downloaded the ESPN app and was watching a NBA Summer League game on ESPN3.  That will be good because it will give me the occasional game from my alma mater Murray State which is rarely on the national feed.

As we get more familiar with the touch pad and apps, I will let you know how it goes.  I also have yet to fiddle with the cloud DVR.

In a few minutes, I'm going to call the local company with the Fiber Optic internet and schedule them to come out and then give Comcast the boot.  Exciting!

What are the chances that your cost for this will go up from $50, say within a year from now? Is it supposed to be a fairly steady subscription service, like Netflix or Amazon, or is the cost expected to increase like a typical cable package?

Also, you say you downloaded the ESPN app on your AppleTV, so basically having DirectTV Now makes it the same as having DirectTV in "the eyes" of those apps/channels? That's cool.

[Rhom]

8 minutes ago, Corvinus of Teranga said:

What are the chances that your cost for this will go up from $50, say within a year from now? Is it supposed to be a fairly steady subscription service, like Netflix or Amazon, or is the cost expected to increase like a typical cable package?

Its Direct TV... so I'm sure there are possibilities of that.  I would assume that Netflix and Amazon are not necessarily immune to rate increases in the future either.    And being DirecTV, its never quite as simple as "Hey... sign up for a free seven day trial" either.  You can get your free seven days or you can sign up for an intro deal of something like $10/month for three months then it goes up to the full price, but that voids the free seven day offer.  Or there's the offer that I took advantage of where you prepay, but get a choice of either a high end Roku or the 4K Apple TV device.  Considering I need the streaming devices, and the 4K device is $180ish; I went ahead and jumped in feet first.

Quote

Also, you say you downloaded the ESPN app on your AppleTV, so basically having DirectTV Now makes it the same as having DirectTV in "the eyes" of those apps/channels? That's cool.

Seemed to.  But it also might be that my sign in was still running under my Comcast information saved somewhere in ESPN's cloud.  If I run into any problems, I will let you know.

[Corvinus85]

Well this isn't encouraging regarding YouTube TV. https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/youtube-tv-outage-one-week-credit-world-cup-1202872304/

The World Cup is coming to a close, and I'm thinking it's time to put an end to my cable subscription. At this point, I may just cut the cord, and not sign up for any live tv streaming service, since it's summer anyway.

Edit: yeah, YouTube TV is out for me; based on this article which compares all, it probably isn't available where I live, and it's not supported on Amazon Fire TV.

[Myrddin]

Sports is the only reason to have live tv, tbh. World Cup finale is tomorrow and we're backing our Hulu subscription back to just on-demand (no commercials). Aside from the games, we never watch a show live anyway. Who wants their schedule dictated by show schedules anymore?  

And as an aside, we were really happy with Word Cup coverage on Hulu. We could watch the game in English or Spanish channels. Neither had any broadcast issues.

[Rhom]

Called Comcast yesterday and gave them the boot.  The fiberoptic internet is amazing... I’m getting upload speeds faster than my downloads.   

I do think I would avoid the Apple TV in retrospect.  We picked up a Roku Express to use in the bedroom since it is significantly cheaper and my wife likes it much more.  As with all things Apple, sometimes function is a slave to design.  The touchpad on the remote is just needlessly finicky.  The Roku device with its more traditional analog crosshairs is just more reliable when navigating menus.

[Corvinus85]

2 hours ago, Rhom said:

Called Comcast yesterday and gave them the boot.  The fiberoptic internet is amazing... I’m getting upload speeds faster than my downloads.   

I do think I would avoid the Apple TV in retrospect.  We picked up a Roku Express to use in the bedroom since it is significantly cheaper and my wife likes it much more.  As with all things Apple, sometimes function is a slave to design.  The touchpad on the remote is just needlessly finicky.  The Roku device with its more traditional analog crosshairs is just more reliable when navigating menus.

I don't know that makes sense, but what are your speeds, if you don't mind me asking.

[Rhom]

8 hours ago, Corvinus said:

I don't know that makes sense, but what are your speeds, if you don't mind me asking.

I took a picture of my PS4 connection test after getting it onto the new WiFi.  It is in the basement on the opposite side of the house from the physical location.  (We used to have a wireless router in the basement and one on the main floor... long story about install drama on the fiber.  I plan to get another wireless point in the basement at some point.)

That evening with probably at least 7 other devices going of some sort (tvs/phones/teenager on a laptop/etc) I got 42.4 Mbps Download and 74.2 Mbps Upload.

[Corvinus85]

And done. I've called Spectrum and removed my TV service, thus dropping my bill by $100. They increased the price of my internet by $10, but they also upgraded the speed, so that was ok. At this point, I won't rush into getting any live tv streaming service. Spectrum offers one with 10 channels of your choice or 25 standard lineup.

[Rhom]

8 hours ago, Corvinus said:

And done. I've called Spectrum and removed my TV service, thus dropping my bill by $100. They increased the price of my internet by $10, but they also upgraded the speed, so that was ok. At this point, I won't rush into getting any live tv streaming service. Spectrum offers one with 10 channels of your choice or 25 standard lineup.

So you called Spectrum to drop TV... and now get TV with Spectrum via streaming???

If ever there were a sign that cable is dead, that’s it.

[Corvinus85]

9 hours ago, Rhom said:

So you called Spectrum to drop TV... and now get TV with Spectrum via streaming???

If ever there were a sign that cable is dead, that’s it.

I didn't sign up for the TV stuff, but it is a possibility. I haven't decided which way to go. Hulu Live still looks appealing.

[Myrddin]

Since I've dropped Spectrum cable, they keep calling me to try this new streaming thing. Thing is, it sounds like a decent deal. $21 for 25 channels I pick (versus the hundreds of channels on cable I never watch...). After finally getting tired of paying for cable, I was too angry (or maybe self-righteous is a better word) to take their deal.

During the World Cup, I paid $40 to Hulu for their live service. $21 would've been the better bargain. Now that the Cup is over, I've pulled back to normal Hulu, and am considering pausing that for awhile. 

[Ramsay B.]

So I recently moved into a condo and Xfinity(which I had for the 12 previous years) wasn’t an option so I decided to cut the cord. I went with PS Vue and their $75 option, and signed up for Optimum internet. I’m saving about $100 a month now. I went with the Vue because it had all of the sports channels I wanted basically.

I have 2 tv’s set up now(Vue is through a ps4 and apple tv) and will hook one more up so I have to figure out how I’m gonna do that. I do have a PS3 laying around somewhere so I may go through that.

The apple controller is incredibly annoying to use, as Rhom said. It’s too small and I’m always accidentally hitting the wrong button. I also do miss having a ton of movie channels but it’s not that big a deal. 

It did feel great canceling Comcast.

[kairparavel]

We've settled on Sling. Fubo didn't offer ESPN and paying for ESPN+ didn't get access to live broadcasts. Sadly Comcast is a monopoly in our building/area so their internet only service is still highway robbery. In the end we're saving $60/month until we want HBO again.