YouTube TV, Hulu TV, PlayStation Vue question

[vietvet1]

It's been exhausting just reading about the others constantly joining and canceling hulu, sling, ps vue, youtube tv. And with all of them you (presumably) still need the Hd antenna to get local channels. Which means having to switch the Source constantly. If my game is via acc network on hulu but i want to switch to the game of the day on CBS (kdka) it is no longer a hitting of the "last channel" button. Etc. Etc.

In my limited experience the streaming services take a bit of time to reconnect as well. Possibly due to my internet... but I pay for a supposed accelerated speed for that...

For my main great room, my smart TV (brand that supposedly is a premium brand, purchased only 4 months ago) lost its Wifi connection randomly and constantly. Until i finally had to go to the extreme of taking a picture of the screen with my phone off the manual IP connection codes when it was working, then manually configuring them to those settings the next time it stopped working... finally has kept it from dropping the connection ... and this I did on my own guess, the tech support had no idea what to do other than reset from the start and let it reconfig the Wifi as if brand new. Talking to others, people seem to think that is common and acceptable with not just that brand but most others. Well, no it isn't. That's ridiculous, no matter what age you are.

And the other sets in the house are all various vintages of tech generations, I've gotten firesticks for a couple to try out streaming on them, various degrees of success. Maybe i need Smart TVs everywhere now. But the older sets ain't all that old, have HD capability etc and all work fine, and im not an Andrew Luck who can just toss money away frivolously.

Now excuse me, but a child is on my lawn and I must shake my fist at him. But shake my fist I shall.

Hey! At the end there you sounded like that guy who used to coach here i.e., "get off my porch!"

 

[McKee Place]

Hey! At the end there you sounded like that guy who used to coach here i.e., "get off my porch!"

It's a hassle now, but I'm confident President Bernie or Liz will fix all of this. TV and internet will be free, easy and unlimited.

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

With cord cutting/streaming services becoming more and more popular, think about who is mostly sticking with cable. It’s senior citizens and people who find cable easiest to watch all their live sports. For example, there is no streaming service where you can get AT&T Sports Net, the local channel here which televises the Pirates and Penguins.

This paragraph is key. Their stable market is older people, and that's not a sustainable demographic. Younger people are already more likely to not have cable TV. And as other people get fed up and make the switch, they aren't going back. This is a business where you cannot lose customers.

I'm still with Directv. If and when they decline to adjust my contract price to something reasonable each year when I call, I will switch to a streaming service. I already watch less and less TV each day. I can survive without the regional sports network if it's not available. The Pirates are already dead to me, so the only sting is some of the Pens games.

 

[ChazzMo]

Another vote here for a Firestick

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Bingo. I don't want to be an IT tech, nor have to intern with the Geek Squad to watch TV.

Yes. Age is no doubt a factor. When people get older they tend to get set in their habits and dislike change and complexity. I am retired and in my early 70s and often feel that way. However, I intentionally resist that urge.

Being careful financially and a one who watches little TV other than News, weather and sports (mostly only Pitt & Pitt FB & BB opponents) was enough motivation for me to "cut the cord" and go to streaming over a year ago. It was no problem for my wife either since, other than news and weather and an occasional old classic movie, she doesn't watch much TV. We have zero interest in shopping channels, premium movie channels, cartoons channels, food and gardening channels or reality TV so the minimalist service to maximize Pitt game access was the sole non-cost factor.

Well--to each his own.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

What I think I am going to do is scale back my Comcast subscription (I need cable for the Penguin games) and subscribe to You Tube TV. I already subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime, so I can just source the ACC Network via You Tube TV.

 

[McKee Place]

Yes. Age is no doubt a factor. When people get older they tend to get set in their habits and dislike change and complexity. I am retired and in my early 70s and often feel that way. However, I intentionally resist that urge.

Being careful financially and a one who watches little TV other than News, weather and sports (mostly only Pitt & Pitt FB & BB opponents) was enough motivation for me to "cut the cord" and go to streaming over a year ago. It was no problem for my wife either since, other than news and weather and an occasional old classic movie, she doesn't watch much TV. We have zero interest in shopping channels, premium movie channels, cartoons channels, food and gardening channels or reality TV so the minimalist service to maximize Pitt game access was the sole non-cost factor.

Well--to each his own.

Yeah. You are lucky your spouse doesn't have interest in those channels and seemingly will tolerate the tinkering and disruptions needed to move among sources or follow through with threats to drop services syc. Mine does, and won't. She wants her HGTV and Food Network and Hallmark Channels and local news (different ones depending on which anchor is working that day). And she wants em at hand when clicking the power button and little else. Switching sources, scrolling among the services, occasional disconnects, different (or no) channel numbers year to year... not an option for keeping peace in my household. It's an age thing to some extent (with my own gripes) but with her, I think she'd have been this way at 25 or 55. But she's still hot, and so what's an old graying slob to do...

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

It's been exhausting just reading about the others constantly joining and canceling hulu, sling, ps vue, youtube tv. And with all of them you (presumably) still need the Hd antenna to get local channels. Which means having to switch the Source constantly. If my game is via acc network on hulu but i want to switch to the game of the day on CBS (kdka) it is no longer a hitting of the "last channel" button. Etc. Etc.

In my limited experience the streaming services take a bit of time to reconnect as well. Possibly due to my internet... but I pay for a supposed accelerated speed for that...

For my main great room, my smart TV (brand that supposedly is a premium brand, purchased only 4 months ago) lost its Wifi connection randomly and constantly. Until i finally had to go to the extreme of taking a picture of the screen with my phone off the manual IP connection codes when it was working, then manually configuring them to those settings the next time it stopped working... finally has kept it from dropping the connection ... and this I did on my own guess, the tech support had no idea what to do other than reset from the start and let it reconfig the Wifi as if brand new. Talking to others, people seem to think that is common and acceptable with not just that brand but most others. Well, no it isn't. That's ridiculous, no matter what age you are.

And the other sets in the house are all various vintages of tech generations, I've gotten firesticks for a couple to try out streaming on them, various degrees of success. Maybe i need Smart TVs everywhere now. But the older sets ain't all that old, have HD capability etc and all work fine, and im not an Andrew Luck who can just toss money away frivolously.

Now excuse me, but a child is on my lawn and I must shake my fist at him. But shake my fist I shall.

McKee--You generally do not need an antenna to get local channels with streaming services. Both You Tube TV (which I formerly had) and Hulu include the local network affiliate channels (i.e., CBS, NBC, ABC & Fox).

However, internet speed is definitely a factor. What your provider says is accelerated speed and what really is fast enough can be two entirely different things. You need to be getting at least 5 Mbs download speed for a single TV to stream HD TV. If you have more than one TV and/or other devices in your home running simultaneously 5 Mbs will not be adequate due to the sharing of band width (other TVs or devices taking away some of the 5 Mbs you need).

When I had internet from Verizon and they claimed I had accelerated speed they were giving me a maximum of 3 Mbs (only DSL internet over my landline was available). That speed is too slow for streaming HD TV. I now get a maximum of 8 Mbs from a Satellite Internet service for ~$100/month and it works just fine for me except when everyone on the service must be checking their email simultaneously in the early evening. Then I get some slightly annoying buffering for a few minutes as the speed drops temporarily. I could get double my 8 Mbs maximum and have zero problems at any time but I would need to pay $200/month vs $100/month for that even faster service.

 

[McKee Place]

McKee--You generally do not need an antenna to get local channels with streaming services. Both You Tube TV (which I formerly had) and Hulu include the local network affiliate channels (i.e., CBS, NBC, ABC & Fox).

However, internet speed is definitely a factor. What your provider says is accelerated speed and what really is fast enough can be two entirely different things. You need to be getting at least 5 Mbs download speed for a single TV to stream HD TV. If you have more than one TV and/or other devices in your home running simultaneously 5 Mbs will not be adequate due to the sharing of band width (other TVs or devices taking away some of the 5 Mbs you need).

When I had internet from Verizon and they claimed I had accelerated speed they were giving me a maximum of 3 Mbs (only DSL internet over my landline was available). That speed is too slow for streaming HD TV. I now get a maximum of 8 Mbs from a Satellite Internet service for ~$100/month and it works just fine for me except when everyone on the service must be checking their email simultaneously in the early evening. Then I get some slightly annoying buffering for a few minutes as the speed drops temporarily. I could get double my 8 Mbs maximum and have zero problems at any time but I would need to pay $200/month vs $100/month for that even faster service.

Thanks for that detail on the local channels and internet, it's helpful. I'm itching to dump the tyranny of the major providers, believe me. But i don't foresee easily getting away from the same tyrants completely. Dealing with Comcast especially and Verizon to a bit lesser extent is outright exasperating, and i live in a valley where 4G / Cellular/
Satellite service all are unpredictable. Nobody on my street can use Dish or rely on their cell phones for home phone service, for example.

 

[IRoar4Pitt]

Waiting on Apple’s TV announcement next month. Appears it will be a real threat to Cable and Netflix etc as a comprehensive subscription service with original content by Spielberg etc, which they are currently spending billions to develop. The service will include Prime, Premium content, local and sports channels, along with DVR and other tools, including robust gaming. But like all things Apple it won’t be cheap.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

McKee--You generally do not need an antenna to get local channels with streaming services. Both You Tube TV (which I formerly had) and Hulu include the local network affiliate channels (i.e., CBS, NBC, ABC & Fox).

However, internet speed is definitely a factor. What your provider says is accelerated speed and what really is fast enough can be two entirely different things. You need to be getting at least 5 Mbs download speed for a single TV to stream HD TV. If you have more than one TV and/or other devices in your home running simultaneously 5 Mbs will not be adequate due to the sharing of band width (other TVs or devices taking away some of the 5 Mbs you need).

When I had internet from Verizon and they claimed I had accelerated speed they were giving me a maximum of 3 Mbs (only DSL internet over my landline was available). That speed is too slow for streaming HD TV. I now get a maximum of 8 Mbs from a Satellite Internet service for ~$100/month and it works just fine for me except when everyone on the service must be checking their email simultaneously in the early evening. Then I get some slightly annoying buffering for a few minutes as the speed drops temporarily. I could get double my 8 Mbs maximum and have zero problems at any time but I would need to pay $200/month vs $100/month for that even faster service.

My head is spinning now......thank you.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Thanks for that detail on the local channels and internet, it's helpful. I'm itching to dump the tyranny of the major providers, believe me. But i don't foresee easily getting away from the same tyrants completely. Dealing with Comcast especially and Verizon to a bit lesser extent is outright exasperating, and i live in a valley where 4G / Cellular/
Satellite service all are unpredictable. Nobody on my street can use Dish or rely on their cell phones for home phone service, for example.

OK. I just looked on You Tube TV. And it has alot of channels for this area.

All the locals 2, 4, 11, 53 CW, 22
Sports channels, ACCN, BTN, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNNews, NBCSN, FS1, FS2, Golf, MLB, SEC, NBA. What it doesn't have is ATT (Pens and Pirates) and NFL and NHL Networks.

It has all the cable news networks.

All of the cable channels from AMC to Cozi, Sundance, NatGeo, Bravo, the Turner networks but not the History Channel for some odd reason.

Premiums like Showtimes, Starz, EPIX, and some others I never heard of.

So......outside of the Pens/Pirates and the NFL and NHL Network, HBO and History, it has all the channels. Downside, one of my TVs likely is too old to be able to do it, and I have alot of devices, so unsure of the quality and speed.

 

[vietvet1]

OK. I just looked on You Tube TV. And it has alot of channels for this area.

All the locals 2, 4, 11, 53 CW, 22
Sports channels, ACCN, BTN, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNNews, NBCSN, FS1, FS2, Golf, MLB, SEC, NBA. What it doesn't have is ATT (Pens and Pirates) and NFL and NHL Networks.

It has all the cable news networks.

All of the cable channels from AMC to Cozi, Sundance, NatGeo, Bravo, the Turner networks but not the History Channel for some odd reason.

Premiums like Showtimes, Starz, EPIX, and some others I never heard of.

So......outside of the Pens/Pirates and the NFL and NHL Network, HBO and History, it has all the channels. Downside, one of my TVs likely is too old to be able to do it, and I have alot of devices, so unsure of the quality and speed.

I’m just like recruits. My head is like full of mush about everything that’s on these threads about cord cuttin etc. I’ll have to take a break and sort all this out. I will say that I have learned a lot going forward. Now I have to google jail break fire sticks. sheesh

 

[PittMBA]

If you cut cable for one of these, you'd have to buy a Roku, correct? Are there any other options besides the Roku box because I have heard the remote does not have channel numbers so you cant just hit like 325 and have it bring up a channel. Is this true?

I have PS Vue and watch through our PS4 console using the PS4 controls. It works really well.

 

[cease10]

getting internet service alone by these same companies will be prohibitively priced,

Again...this is not true.

Many folks like myself are paying $40-50 per month for high speed internet only. Consumers are controlling the market place and these companies have to cater to consumers demands of internet only at reasonable prices.

Also, I've cancelled service with Comcast multiple times. They have customer centers at shopping centers. All you have to do is bring in your equipment, they'll cancel your account and then send you a credit in the mail. Depending on how busy they are, it takes 10-15 mins max. In and out.

 

[cease10]

Now I have to google jail break fire sticks. sheesh

Lol...you're no where close to reaching the level of jail breaking sticks.

It took me almost a year till I finally jail broke mines.

Then months later I fell asleep on my stick and ended up factory resetting my stick and wiping all the 3rd party apps I downloaded. I dreaded having to jailbreak it again.