My last few posts are why cable-cutting just seems impossible and subject to so many variables that can change at any moment. One change can cause a cascading effect that ruins the entire ecosystem you've created.

Someone mentioned Philo above. So I checked it out, and it would help fill in some of the holes. So I thought - well, if I pair YTTV with Philo, I should get everything I want. But guess what? Philo is not available for Samsung TV and I've got 3 of them.

This shit is stupid complicated. It's like trying to complete a puzzle where 1/3 of the pieces change as you put it together.

A Roku device makes this a lot easier to manage than the built-in menus from a "smart" tv.

At first, it looked like everything would run through televisions, much like a tuner, a dvr or a cable input. But the tv companies aren't good at dealing with apps and the companies creating apps aren't good at dealing with all the different tv companies and the all the levels of "smart" operating systems.

Roku has gone in and (along with Amazon and Apple - Roku's main benefit is that it isn't really trying to market its own content, yet) taken over what Tivo had started. And the apps, now that the cloud dvr concept is taking hold, are starting to provide that end.

Think of a tv as just another computer monitor - simply one designed for ideal viewing a few feet further away. I just don't see the smart tv concept lasting much longer.

Yes, it is stupid complicated and it changes monthly and you know you're going to have reorganize things about once a year. But you save a lot of money.

No one quite knows where all of this is headed. Sports is the big reason. Cable would be on life support if not for live sports. But there are signs of a transition anyway. This record-setting Big Ten deal indicates that CBS is pushing Paramount+ and NBC is pushing Peacock+. There's now some pressure to force us sports-junkies to pay more of what our fix really costs.

For now, that means more commercial loads, I guess. I would even expect the networks to push the NCAA to lower the number of plays in a game, like the NFL has. But eventually, these apps might be all that matters for live sports, and then there will be more pressure to create a better product again. Or there will be another shift. Who knows - I wouldn't want to be in charge of marketing cable to people under 30 these days - and yet it's still number one. That can't continue too much longer.

Gotcha. So Roku becomes the TV interface through which I would watch the services I subscribe to, rather than directly from the TV.

Ah, and it looks like they have some free live channels through Roku directly as well. I think this was the set-up we had at a place we stayed on Hawaii for one night. Now it's kinda making some sense.

There are quite a few free apps out there (and pay apps, like Netflix), a handful are bundled on to every Roku, but you can search for more online. After years of this, I keep four apps on mine.

Tablo - interfacing with my Tablo device, which has a DVR and is connected to my antenna for broadcast TV.

The Roku Channel - cobbles together quite a few free sources of content. The ad load isn't too bad and you can always back out of a show and reload if it randomly gives you too many ads (there's a timer on ads).

Tubi - cobbles together more free sources of content, a good amount of overlap with Roku. The ad load is a bit higher and the interface not quite as smooth, but you can back out of an ad segment, clear the show, restart it with one ad, then fast-forward to where you were.

Pluto - lots of free channels - they just added a 24-hour Jeopardy! channel. It seems modeled from cable, with 30-minute time blocks and an on-demand section. Of course, that comes with a long, unavoidable commercial blocks without a timer, including the on-demand movies. I find I hardly ever load this app.

You'd then add in Fubo or YTTV or Philo as another app. The app makers periodically update their Roku apps because this is a huge chunk of their business. You pay for the service on your computer or phone, then load the app in the Roku. It will pop up a code, which you then type in on your computer or phone, and that connects your payment account to your Roku device. Each app has a set number of streams, limiting the number of active codes you can have connected to your account at any time.

So it's a little bit of work to understand and set up the accounts. But no customer service calls, like you'd have with cable. It's all automated and you can start/stop service exactly when you want. That alone, I think, makes it less trouble in the long run.

Got it. Even if I ended up with 2 services to cobble together most of what we want, it would cut my bill by $100 a month. That would even free me up to perhaps hold my nose and pay for Peacock+, say, to watch soccer, where now I'm like no way, $225 (not including Netflix and ESPN+, which I'd keep in either situation) is already too much for TV.

I recommend Roku to my dad and other senior citizens. Apple TV is a better overall experience. If you want to go hardcore (don't advise), then you get a Shield TV.

Edit: I have two Shields and two Apple TV 4k's.

Ouch. I guess I am approaching senior citizen status. I've been ignoring those AARP invitations for ages now.

For me, there's a value in avoiding Apple products. When I was in college, they made it very, very difficult to write code for one of their machines - the mandatory "kit" with compiler, etc, was far outside the budget of a student. This, I think, is why so few products are written natively for Macs. I don't trust platform companies that hide the special sauce for their platforms. Privacy concerns, safety concerns. Plus you pay a lot of money for that logo.

I tried Fire TV a while back and the quality seemed awful. Maybe they've improved, but at least they had a good return policy.

There's always a temptation to go hard-core. Would I then have a temptation to enter the world of pirate streams? Maybe. Part of why I keep it as simple as possible is simply to avoid that temptation - I know I would spend more time watching television. Same reason I don't have Netflix.

Rokus are great for delivering a simple experience that even my dad mostly gets. I prefer my Apple 4K streamer, but everyone else in my home hates the remote for it and thus prefers the Roku.

Yes, I detest Apple devices (at least phones/tablets - never touched an Apple computer). I've never seen so many problems my wife, kids and parents have with stuff that is so simple on an Android, like copying docs or MP3s onto the device from another device. My phone operates like a thumb drive, theirs can't do shit. No way I would ever support Apple.

I definitely get the apple hate. I could never get an iPhone for example. But I do like their iPad and ATV. I'm not a huge fan of the Roku UI and the ATV is buttery smooth and still easy to use. I use the Shield because it offers better codec support and complete audio pass-through. That is important for someone that backs up blu-rays to a NAS, for example.

I was mainly joking about Roku being for old people. It's only based off of how my dad has been using them for many years. The YTTV app on Roku just doesn't compare to ATV. ATV is snappier and you can preview the stations while you browse the channel list. It niiiiiice.

I feel this basically sums it up:

There's a lot of value to Rokus being stupid simple (plus, you can configure the home page to remove apps you know folks will never use, to make it even simpler), specifically time I don't have to spend explaining to my kids, my wife, and my parents how to use their TVs.

My daughter has Apple and yes, the remote is a deal breaker for me.


I have a fire tv cube. With alexa built in I like it. Like any gui it has it's faults but, overall I'm happy with it.

I also bought a roku as Amazon couldn't get an agreement with Peacock (need my premiere league matches on the big tv) and the rouge Peacock app would load but never did run right. Of course a week or two after getting the roku an agreement was made with Amazon and Peacock was officially supported. Wasn't a waste of money as the roku is now connected to the tv next to my computer. I like it too.

I was an early adopter of streaming with PS-Vue because of a tree finally growing big enough to block my DISH. Dish wouldn't move the dish for free so I could keep the service. I told them if I moved you'd do it for free, why not do it on my current house and just count it as my "one move"? No, can't do it. Quit DISH and, of course, within a few months they were offering me $400 gift cards to come back. Not happening, you blew it. ;)


I currently have YTTV, Prime, and rotate other services.

There is a site that will do exactly what you are asking. You input the channels you want and it spits out the streaming services that will include those channels. I will try to find the site again.

Very cool, thanks!

I say after I built myself a small chart to manually figure all this out...

One of the supplementary services it suggests I consider pairing with a primary is Frndly. Anyone had any experience with that one? Never heard of it until just now.

I looked at Frndly to pair with Fubo to get History channel but decided on Discovery+ as it had a lot more channels I would watch.

I used to just use Blu-Ray players for streaming but they started building in obsolescence into those so the cheapies would no longer be supported by apps after a couple of years. So I just use a PS4 and XBox One for streaming devices now. They have such large user that app support will continue for a long time because no one wants to cut off a 50 million user base from their app.

SI

@sweed the older apple TV devices did have bad remotes, but the newer one is pretty nice in my opinion. Does hers have the black glass remote (which is the old one)?

I did a google image search and I think it's this one..
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Siri-Re...98815816&psc=1

but honestly I only tried to use it once so could be wrong. Too frustrating. As I recall the "disk" was so touchy I couldn't get it to do anything I wanted it to. She agreed that it's not the greatest but she's able to get it to work after getting used to it.

That is the newer one. There is a way to turn the track pad off, which is what I do. That way it works more like a standard remote. I also add a silicone case around it to add some bulk and make it grippier.

Yeah, when I found the pic I kind of thought it had more buttons then hers.

I'll pass along the info on the pad. Maybe she'll check it out, maybe she won't :shrug" who knows? :)

Okay, question for the YouTubeTV people here:

I see where it lists SECN+ among its channels (as well as ACC Network and B1G Network also)

On Dish, when I go to the SEC Network channel number, it's followed by a bunch of alternate feeds; i.e. there's a main SECN game airing but there are other games airing simultaneously on additional SEC Network channel numbers (I just think of them as SEC-Alt, the same way ESPN-Alt used to work before they rolled out ESPN+)

Are all those SEC Network games included with the YouTube subscription? Or do you only get the primary game?

If it were works like Hulu, you get them all.

Hey Jon, I tried to do some research and it looks like YTTV won't have the alternate channels in its app, but you can view the games in the ESPN app if you sign into it with your YTTV credentials. This info was a bit dated, so I can verify if that's still the case. It does have the Big Ten alternate matches currently, so kind of surprised it wouldn't be the same for the SEC.

You get access to all of the SEC+ overflow games. The biggest difference is that YTTV and the other streaming services typically don't have dedicated channels in their guide for the overflow games (like DIRECTV for instance with their 611-1, 611-2, 611-3 etc. designations for the alternate feeds). In that case, you need to access the overflow games in the ESPN app (either built in to your smart TV or as a separate app through your Apple TV, Roku, Firestick, etc.)

Thanks much.

And oof :/

Just when I was about 98-99 percent ready to ship Dish back their equipment and switch, that gives me considerable pause again. Dealing with menus & app and shit on TVs is a primary reason I don't ever use shit I'm already paying for as it is.

I'm on that fence as well.

I rarely think to use Netflix for the same reason, and that's just a single app where my mind is so set on being within the DTV universe, I don't think about it being an option most times.

I dropped DirecTV b/c it was just too expensive and the only thing I had it for was Sunday Ticket.

And so I am going to get through this season without Sunday Ticket until they move it to streaming.

One thing I will do is get an HD antenna. Any recommendations? Features to look for? From what I can tell with a quick Amazon search, there seem to be a lot of them out there for around $30 or so. Should I just pick one with 4.5+ stars? Or is there something more to it?

I'm pretty sure we're dumping DTV after the NFL regular season ends because they have given me Sunday Ticket Max for free 3 or 4 years in a row now. So I'm not going to pass that up.

That's a difficult question.

Use a tool like this one: RabbitEars.Info

Enter your address. The resulting chart will tell you the distance you are from the stations you want. Trees, elevations, other obstacles can make stations harder to pick up, but this chart provides all the basics.

The field strength column is the most important. That gives you a general idea of signal strength for a given channel. If it's Good, you don't need much of an antenna. If it's Fair, a decent indoor antenna with a good sightline will probably work. If it's Poor or Bad, you're now looking at a professional roof installation, if anything. I've never managed to pick up a Poor signal.

A channel number is something like 22-1. That's what your tuner will show. The number in parenthesis is the actual broadcast number. Knowing this can be helpful if you're watching the scan process.

There's no such thing as an HD antenna. That's just marketing. All antennas can pick up HD signals. Some antennas are directional and others aren't. Some have built-in signal-boosters you plug in and some don't. Some work better than others, and sometimes it's hard to tell from reviews which are better for your house.

I use a directional antenna with a booster, which means I need to point it at the stations I want to pick up at that time (the chart shows you where to point). They usually get better range (I am more than 40 miles from the network broadcasts). In my experience, VHF stations are much, much harder than UHF. They require a different antenna configuration (more the typical rabbit ears) and I've never figured out how to align that.

Now that TV signals are digital, they either come in, or they don't. If they're pixellating a lot, the signal isn't quite strong enough and they won't reliably come in. Always scan at night, when the signal travels better.

Each station has substations. You can click on an entry in that chart and see the related substations. That also gives you the video format for each substation. Most have one primary signal in 720p or 1080i and the substations go out in 480i. A good tuner will help you sort all of this out.

If you have decent reception in your area, I concur with Jim's recommendation of Tablo TV. When we lived on the west side of the Las Vegas valley, we had a direct line of sight to Black Mountain, where all of the local channels had their towers. We got signal strengths of close to 100 on all of our locals, plus we got a bunch of other independent channels. The resolution of native HD is stunning compared to cable or satellite, because it's uncompressed.

Unfortunately, we're located in a "dead zone" for OTA channels down here in Palm Coast, FL, with the Jacksonville locals out of range to the north and the Orlando locals out of range to the southwest. So we get our locals on YouTube TV now. I really miss the Tablo.

Yeah, the YouTube TV situation with SEC+ is a PITA.

Basically, can't get any of those games except by switching to the ESPN app and using your access there. Makes flipping between games obnoxious a.f.

And with the exception of the national championship game I don't think I've only watched on game at a time in decades.

I'm using Hulu with their $70 package (just got it yesterday). Has worked so far with college football.

The thing I do not like so far is the games on ESPN don't look that great on my 4K. Kinda blocky.

Does it have those extra networks (i.e. the SEC+ sub-channels) without leaving the Hulu app?

Best I've been able to tell, ESPN pretty much forces everybody to watch those on their app (using the login credentials from whatever you subscribe to). They only become available through YT as on-demand after they're over

I have Hulu+ bundled with ESPN and Disney+ and I couldn't tell you the last time I've had to use the ESPN app to watch something I wanted to watch.

Don't take that as definitive proof of anything because I haven't look for exactly what you're asking about, but I know the only apps I've used to watch sports this year are Hulu and MLB.tv.

Yeah, it's a pretty specific situation I deal with but it's also pretty realistic.

Rarely is there a week where at least one of Ole Miss or UT aren't relegated to "the plus channels". And even if they aren't, still have to visit those to check in on stuff like Auburn/Mercer.

Looking, either the Vols or the Rebs are on Plus for both of the next 2 weeks, which is as far out as things have been announced, and Ole Miss/Tulsa seems likely for it in week 4.

Agreed. It's things like this that makes me question making the move. We didn't watch a second of UK because it was streaming only and that would have prevented flipping back and forth to 2-3 other games (plus I was keeping an eye on tennis).

Using Google SmartTV, I do not need to leave the Hulu app.

In Hulu, there is a "tab" for Live Channels where you scroll down a grid with shows/time. There are other "tabs" for more focused stuff like sports etc.

The AR-Cincy game was on ESPN but it was pushed to ESPN News (temporarily) because of the other game was running long. I just went into the sports tab, did some scrolling and found it.

With that said, I'm not sure what other plus channels there are (there is definitely SEC). Go look at the list at Hulu. But no, did not need to use a different app, it was all Hulu.

Now this, THIS, is the sort of info I'll definitely explore.

Thanks much (even if I hit a snag somewhere, you damned sure tried)

That's what I thought, but I didn't have specific examples. I know there's always a large number of college sports on Hulu live at any given time and I've been able to watch just about any WVU baseball game I've wanted.

As I said, I haven't used the ESPN app to watch anything in ages so I had a good feeling that it covered what Jon was looking for but couldn't say for certain.

I had Dish for 20+ years and it was always a good value for me if I could keep it under $100/month. As prices crept up and their goddamn ridiculous "equipment rental fees" got bigger as well, it became a struggle. I called them 2 years ago when the bill was going to go to $160+ for everything I already subscribed to plus equipment and told them I was going to cancel if they couldn't bring the price down. The offered me an upgrade on all my equipment (new hopper, joeys, etc.) plus all my usual programming for $100 even. I signed on for 2 more years and this summer the bill was going up again, this time to $180. I called and told them we needed to work something out again because I wasn't going to pay nearly $200 for what they offer to new subscribers at half of that. The CustServ person wasn't moved and I asked them what 20+ years of loyalty was worth to them. Dude said, "I don't know, what's it worth to you?". So I cancelled immediately and never gave it a second thought. YTTV is plenty good for me and the price is right.

On Friday Dish called me and asked if I was interested in re-subscribing with them for a very special price. I told them I'd consider it if they gave me the set up I had before for $64.99, same as YT. "The lowest we can go is our basic package..."

I hung up.

I also had DISH for years and it was a good value. Same as you, less that a $100 and IIRC that included HBO. Over the years a tree grew enough it blocked the signal. I called told them how long I'd been with them and was happy with the product. I noted that their policy was if I moved they would do a free installation (one time only). I told them I'd either have to cancel or they could move my Dish to another location where it could get reception and, if they did that, it could be my "one time moving free install". Nope, they couldn't do it. I cancelled and moved onto Playstation Vue which had been out less than a year.

A month later they are sending me offers and called once. The offer was a $400 gift card and the same cost (IMHO still a good value). So I said 'you are going to give me $400 now but couldn't move the dish a month ago?"
No thanks, PS-vue is doing fine.

PS-Vue just coming out should tell you how long ago that was. I still get an offer from Dish at least every other month. :lol:

fwiw, Hulu's own documentation online AND several sites that review this sort of stuff all say that SEC Network Plus games are only available through the ESPN app.

I think I'm just giving up. We'll probably ditch dish (since equipment glitches leave anything in the 400s and above (where SECN resides) a crap shoot to watch at best anymore, kid can navigate YouTube TV short term to get through football season and then I'll just drop TV access entirely once he heads back to Miami.

Yeah, pretty similar here.

The various equipment charges are almost half my cost and, with just me to concern myself with here soon, it's not even worth half the price anymore.

Looks like Fubo has SEC channels.

Same deal though, to watch the games on the Plus portion of the network (i.e. the alternate feeds aside from the primary game) then you have to log into the ESPN app and leave Fubo to see 'em

They spell it out in their support FAQ

Security check

FWIW for Hulu, I scrolled through the Live grid, found an ESPN+ for India-Sri Lanka cricket match, and am watching it without going outside of Hulu (maybe it happens behind the scenes but I did not have to click on a separate ESPN app).

I see an SEC/ESPN network channel in the live grid but do not see a specific SEC+ channel (but do see other ESPN+ channels). Don't know if this helps

Yep, that's as they describe it.

ESPN+ doesn't solve my problem (and that of many SEC fans in particular, based on the comments on my social media). Several noted to me that they've had to go to three-TV setups just to get through football season without pulling all their hair out.

Tuning in to the Amazon FB game, and I have to say, this picture is noticeably crisper than our typical DirecTV picture. Even the commercials.

Mine is a blurry mess.

Now it’s better.

So far I've had zero issues with the stream. I can't get over how amazing it looks though.

I have football through Sling one year and had issues with "freezes". No problems with Hulu last year and so far, this year.

Mine’s a blurry mess again.

Sound has had messed up sync multiple times

ESPN+ can just go ahead and die in a fire already. You still have to subscribe to ESPN or FS1 or whatever to get the good games, but if you want to see all of your third tier games, you have to pay for everyone's dumpster fire of third tier games and sports.

SI

Dish drops Disney networks overnight with no notice.

I just saw a commercial about it on my stream and it's Dish and Sling that both lost Disney/ESPN.

Yeah, Dish owns Sling.

I can't believe they would go silent on an impending deadline and then screw people out of ESPN on 6 hours notice during college football season. I guess the good thing is you can cancel and get another service pretty quickly.

I never looked very closely at Sling because it seemed to be the most restrictive/limited of all the streaming services.

Doesn’t Dish still make you sign a long contract?

Does anyone have experience with indoor antennas that work at a long distance?

We're 40-45 miles from two clusters of broadcasts, and there are a few stations I would like to be able to view (Telemundo being one, for the World Cup). Plus, during the day, especially with bad weather, only a couple of stations come in reliably.

Right now, I'd say we're doing OK with anything over 75 dBuV/m using a powered antenna, but I'd like to get down all the way to 50 (the Telemundo station supposedly reaches us at 52 dBuV/m).

Rooftop/outdoors isn't an option.

I use YouTubeTV, so I can't recommend any antennas.

We've had pretty good luck with this one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

We bought it in 2014 and so it's not available anymore, but I would expect they have an updated version.

Obviously it works well in Chicagoland, where we are now, but it worked decently in Maine when we lived there years ago, which might be more analogous to your situation.

Just read that Fubo is getting Bally's. I would pay a bit more for YTTV to make a similar deal.

Fubo is the one that doesn't have CNN or Turner networks, right? The idea of not getting March Madness, NBA and MLB playoffs makes Fubo a non-starter but otherwise it was pretty close to perfect for what I wanted (with a small package supplement I think).

Still trying to decide what to do after my free Sunday Ticket ends at the end of the regular season. I'm pretty sure I'm going to try to hold DTV hostage for a drastic price cut before I decide to take the streaming plunge.

We are debating a switch right now. We pay way too much for cable, high speed internet, and several streaming services. I'm trying to price out a cheaper way, but I can't seem to get there easily without giving up something I don't want to. AS well I have to have something easy for my wife to use, and she is just not good at learning new things.

I put together two packages for about $90-100 that would get me nearly everything I want - except Tennis Channel and the regional sports networks. Considering I'm paying $215 right now, I'm willing to make that trade if I can't get DTV to cut my bill in half.

Including high speed internet? Internet alone is going to run me over $100.

No, I pay completely separately for internet. I've got a 1GB fiber package for $100 for internet and landline.

YouTube just paid the NFL $2 billion per year to get NFL Sunday Ticket exclusively.

So, I guess dreams that it will be a stand-alone product without 600 channels of associated network garbage no one ever watches are futile.

I don't think that was ever in play. While we're dreaming impossible dreams, I'd like the option to get a cheaper version of Sunday Ticket where I can watch all of one team's games. Would make it much easier to follow an out-of-market team.

That's why I cut the cord. It's too much money to play the game for anyone to get involved who won't spread the cost across a wide subscription base.

I understand why those who don't like sports are sick and tired of paying for them. I wonder if a breaking point is coming. So far, for me, I don't really mind life without ESPN, though it'll hurt a bit missing Michigan/TCU. I guess I could go to a bar.

We can easily follow out-of-market teams in the NFL this year, as long as they're based in Tampa Bay.

I've wanted this too with both NFL and MLB. If it's $400 for the package or $10 per game, $170, for the team I select? I won't pay the $400, I'll stick with Redzone. I will pony up a $170 for my team. I've been a Rams fan since 1969, my son is a Chiefs fan, and the Rams were finally coming to KC this year. Cheapest ticket? $135. That $175 for the season doesn't sound so bad. ;)

MLB? I would gladly pay a ~$100 to watch the Cubs games live instead of the stupid blackouts and having to wait 90 minutes after the game ends. IOW instead of ~ $120 for the entire package and dealing with blackouts, charge me the same as the package for the one team I want to watch live and, let me watch them live.

Totally agree with you... never going to happen. :mad:

According to TheAthletic, the deals the NFL has for NFC (Fox) and AFC (CBS) games require that the Sunday Ticket package be (1) inclusive of all teams and (2) expensive. The thinking is they want to discourage people from buying Sunday Ticket and watching local games on in and therefore bypassing local broadcasters. Since the NFL has a legally codified anti-trust exemption to their broadcast rights, they can essentially do whatever they please. This means they can keep prices as high as possible. This is why Roger Goodell makes $200M a year

Apple TV wanted the Sunday Ticket package very badly, and was willing to pay more than YouTube, but they also wanted to significantly lower the price (to attract more subs) and the NFL refused.

This is why locast was sued and had to go out of business. If the NFL had their games somewhere else, no one would care if people could get a local Chicago fox station in Florida.

Sent from my V2029 using Tapatalk

I told my daughter to enjoy the last few weeks of free NFL Sunday Ticket because even if I cut the cord and happened to go with YTTV, I'm not buying the package for $400. I stopped buying it on DTV years ago, but fortunately, they started losing so many subscribers that they just gave it to me without asking for the past 3 or 4 years.

It's been great, but the gravy train is ending and I'm not hopping on board the PPV model again.

So We are ow considering cord cutting. Our internet was 1 GB but that was when we had five kids and two adults on zoom, but now we are all back to normal at work or school. I am think we can get by with even just 500-400mbs. Also the entire tv package is just to be able to watch nba playoffs, March madness the college football games on the local broadcast channels and espn. We will occasionally watch cnn or msnbc but can normally get by without it.Otherwise mostly use are streaming g on hula, Disney and Netflix through fire tv. But I am thinking we can kill tv altogether and just have internet service and the couple of streaming services. I know espn 3 Disney and hula can be bundled. Now for all of the above we are paying around $320 I think I could halve that to around $150. I will look at YTTV and Fuji but are there any other options people recommend. It would be relatively easy if not for the college football stuff on espn.

With the cord-cutting streamers, you're mostly paying for the same set of channels now. Slight differences, but it's mostly marketing and quality. The big plus is that you have no contracts, none of the legendary bad service from a behemoth like Charter or Comcast over any change to service. You pay by the month and that's it.

But the price keeps rising. The DVRs aren't quite as good or reliable (generally "cloud" storage) and there can be quality issues with the stream. Changing channels is slow because of buffering. "Live" is a little bit more behind, so you have to separate what you're watching from what you're following online.

They all have free trials, usually at least three days. Do it over a weekend and you can get a good idea if you can deal with it.

After a couple of years of the streamers, I finally decided I didn't need any of it. Just a better antenna.

Same.

Good advice thanks.

Dreaming of watching streaming in one of these. The link has pics but can't really tell how really massive it would be. They should put an 85" or person in front of it.

Hands-on with Samsung's 140-inch Micro LED TV at CES 2023 - SamMobile

No price mentioned though. So I guess it's one of those "if you have to ask, you can't afford it"

FWIW, I pay $50/month with ATT internet.

Have Prime (free) & Netflix (think about $15?) as basics. Get the Hulu + sports package during football season ($70). Get Disney+ when new Mandalorian, Andor stuff is out. Get Paramount when new Star Trek seasons come out.

So your goal of $150 is definitely doable. But it's a pain in the butt to track, pause and start up various streaming services.

Now that the NFL season is ending, I'm debating how to approach DTV with a soft ultimatum. I'm not in a position to cancel immediately due to our DVR being filled. My wife would probably divorce me if I suddenly announced I terminated DTV at the end of the month. I'm going to try to do some research on what others might have been able to negotiate. Maybe there's a Reddit thread on this topic. I expect DTV has to be prepared for a slew of cancellations now that they are officially losing Sunday Ticket.

Don't use DVR but always assumed you can download DVR contents to your computer or external HDD?

So do you that Hulu live tv year round or just during football season?

I don't have any clue but last time I checked it looked extremely difficult and not something I'd be able to do or wasn't worth the time trying.

Edit: Refreshing my memory, it appears you have to set up some sort of video capture device to record a stream of each program to an external HD or computer. We have GBs and GBs of stuff that would need to be transferred. It would be less painful to just stay awake for 4 weeks and watch it all.

Just during football season. Time it right though. I just turned off Hulu but had to pay thru Feb 2nd because I didn’t factor in the NC game tomorrow

If the channel selection is good for you, Fubo's streaming experience *on AppleTV has been second to none. I've tried them all at some point, but really love the Apple TV implementation because of Multiview. It made my HDMI matrix essentially obsolete.

Here's a video that shows how it looks and works. It's been pretty seamless for me.

Well, I think I convinced my wife (and myself) to ditch DirecTV by the end of February. She's got a bunch of Hallmark movies to try to finish off and we've got a few other series to try to catch up on before we switch. Once we get back from our cruise in mid-February, we'll do the free trials to make sure we're good with it and then I'm going to cancel.

I've done some research on a bunch of forums and it sounds like the general consensus is DTV has basically given up and is offering fewer concessions to get people to stay. At best, it sounds like maybe $30-50 a month, but most people aren't even getting that. I'll save about $110 a month making the switch to YouTube TV plus Philo and get nearly everything I have now except NHL Network (not a huge loss) and Tennis Channel (major loss for me). But even if I decide to add TC Plus for $110 a year to get my tennis fix, that's still only going to cost me a month of what I'm saving by switching from DTV.

I just hope the transition isn't too painful. Doing it right at the end of FB season will put off the college FB multiple games at once issue, which I'll have to figure out by September.

I pulled up my account to confirm when my service would end if I canceled near the end of February and see that effective today, new pricing goes into effect and my package is going up $8/month. If I hadn't already decided I was going to cancel...

I have a hard deadline to go through all the stuff on my DVR by the end of May, maybe sooner - and then it's time to play hardball with AT&T. It's been almost 2 years and I'm tired of paying as much as they want for what little they deliver. I'm about ready to cut the cord, finally

SI

Yeah, my DTV bill runs from middle of the month to middle of the month, so if I cancel after we get back from our cruise (sometime the week of February 20th), we'll still have DTV until around March 15th. That should be enough time to get rid of almost everything we absolutely have to watch on the DVR plus 2-3 weeks to get used to streaming and pick up recording in-season stuff to transition fully by mid-March. That's the plan, anyway.

I'm not even going to try to hardball them. I can't imagine them cutting $100 off my bill, especially since prices just went up - which I'll see on my next (and last) bill. It's effectively going to cut my bill by around $120 a month.

I had Youtube TV about a year ago and absolutely hated how their DVR was setup. You couldn't delete something after you watched it so for any series we had recorded you had to go in and try and figure out which episode you have watched and which you haven't. They may have improved it by now but that was a common complaint back then.

Can anyone give me an update on that? We are likely canceling cable this week, and Youtube was likely were we were going.

It doesn't delete until a year, I think, but if you watch in order, it will move immediately to the next one. You can browse episodes and there's a progress bar to show the ones you've watched. We finally switched from Directv a few months ago and have been happy with Youtube.