Streaming TV experience Hulu-Youtube-DirecTV Now

[upstatemike]

Hmmm I have DirecTV and I don't get that.

My satellite service was originally called Pegasus which was later bought by DirecTV so the local channel arrangement was grandfathered. I am told if I ever change or cancel this package I can never get it back again.

 

[pete_c]

Yes here it is sort of similar with Direct TV having them since the beginning.  Going to Direct Tivos way back. 
 
Then AT&T trying to slam my DTV grandfathered account. 
 
Same thing happened here with utilizing Verizon FIOS and being slammed by Frontier when they took over.
 
And same thing happened to my 5 original AT&T cellular grandfathered accounts with unlimited everything. 
 
Only AT&T one day slammed my 5 accounts upping the charges and I requested a refund, cancelled the 5 AT&T accounts and switched over to T-Mobile (after 25 years or so).

 

[ano]

O.K. I have not outfitted our 4 TVs with Fire TVs. I mainly got the 4K models, but also have the HD models. I think they are $37 and $47, so not a big expense.  My Amazon over-the-air box is working good so all TVs can now see out local channels and it can record for 150 hours. One thing I don't like is it can only limit the number of shows to record in a series to 5, 15, 20 or All.  Why not 5 or 10? Otherwise, it seems pretty good.
 
So I saw Sling TV was offering 3 months at 40% off, but this is ONLY the main charge, not the extras. So I signed up, and added DVR for an extra $5. So the good and bad? I like it so far, and interestingly, you can stream almost all episodes of all shows, so not really a need for a DVR, but a few things. Video-On-Demand shows have commercials and you can't scan past them, but knowing they are there is a nice feature. With the DVR service you get 50 hours of recording, but i don't see anyway to limit the number of episodes, which is a big negative. But I'm guessing you can fast-forward past commercials. 
 
So DirecTV was like $112/month for four TVs. The Amazon OTA box has no monthly charges, and Sling Blue is $25/month + $5 DVR + $5 for News Channels so $35/month. With the 40% off its $25/month for 3 months.  Sling here contains the local FOX channel and you get NBC VOD but we get many other local channels here so the Amazon OTA box is needed. I think Sling TV works with AirTV which is another OTA box but you need to pay for monthly guide updates. 
 
I should also note I'm upgrading my Internet from 25mb to 40mb. That adds about $18/month, but probably need it with so much streaming going on. 
 
So wife is still going through a transition, and watching all her recorded TV. But it looks like this could really work. Oh one more thing. You can watch your programs anywhere on a tablet or phone. You can't do that with DirecTV. They used to let you watch recorded TV but don't anymore.  So in a few weeks, goodbye DirecTV.

 

[pete_c]

Yes here have kept DTV for Wife as she never did get used to using MythTV / Kodi / HD Homerun.  She still records all of her TV shows and is always watching them.
 
Personally just stream movies here and never watch regular TV.  I know I am paying too much for this stuff but it keeps the peace here.

 

[ano]

So it has been an interesting experiment.  We were worried that 50 hours recording on Sling wouldn't be enough. As it turns out, its plenty. The reason is you don't need to record much. Sling has every program on every channel on video-on-demand, and you can watch them while they are on or any time previous. So why record? The only negative is you can skip commercials on VOD, but you can on recorded TV. Not a big deal because most cable programs have limited commercials anyway. 
 
For local TV, recording is more important because no VOD here, at least without going to the Internet, but out Amazon OTA box has 1T of storage for 150 hours of HD recordings.
 
As for problems, we had some Sling programs freeze when watched on Fire TV, so I reduced the bandwidth to 2.8mbps which they call "high" from "unlimited" and no problems since, and the picture looks the same. (I have 40mb Internet, so plenty fast enough.)
 
Tomorrow I'm cancelling DirecTV. I'm so happy.  My bill will drop from $112/month to $35/month and with the VOD and the ability to watch TV anywhere, I'm really liking this. Even the wife likes it.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I've been following this thread with great interest as I was thinking about canceling my DishTV and going with DirectTV, for a couple of reasons.
 
1. I'm so tired of seeing about half of the channels displayed on Dish that I have to subscribe extra to or sports channels that i can't watch because it is 'unavalaible in our area'.
2. In my limited research, it appears DirectTV offers better sports coverage (I like my NHL, NFL, and Big10 Football sports coverage).
 
After reading this and going to SlingTV's site, I may try the free trial just to see what happens now that I know you can DVR capabilities with it (I rarely watch sports in real time).  My newer Samsung TV's should be able to pick up the SlingTV without the need for an external box.

 

[ano]

I've been following this thread with great interest as I was thinking about canceling my DishTV and going with DirectTV, for a couple of reasons.
 
1. I'm so tired of seeing about half of the channels displayed on Dish that I have to subscribe extra to or sports channels that i can't watch because it is 'unavalaible in our area'.
2. In my limited research, it appears DirectTV offers better sports coverage (I like my NHL, NFL, and Big10 Football sports coverage).
 
After reading this and going to SlingTV's site, I may try the free trial just to see what happens now that I know you can DVR capabilities with it (I rarely watch sports in real time).  My newer Samsung TV's should be able to pick up the SlingTV without the need for an external box.

Finding the right plan(s) is really the hardest part, by far. There is a large amount of variability across different plans.  For Sling and sports, you will need to add extra packages, and they seem heaviest in basketball.  I personally don't care about it much, and don't even have ESPN. ESPN charges lots of money so if you aren't going to watch it, then it adds big to cost. Same for Disney.
 
I think Dish is cheaper than DirecTV from what I see. DirecTV charges more but they roll back the price for introductory offers which slowly disappear, and the price rises. 
 
For DirecTV I was paying $50/month just to rent hardware. For streaming, most smart TVs have all that's needed, but at worst, add a Fire TV or Roku, and your done. I will save 150W of power just by dumping all the boxes.

 

[ano]

Update:
 
Our Amazon Fire TV Recast box lasted about a week, then died. Returned it and have another one which seems to work well, better than the first one when it worked. We also bought an AirTV tuner box that contains two tuners for $119 and $25 off your Sling bill. This box doesn't contain a hard drive, but you can add any external USB 3.0 HDD. We added a 650GB which adds 110 hours of recording.
 
There are pros and cons with this AirTV box. First, unlike the Amazon box, you can't freeze live TV. Wife doesn't like that. But as a positive, it adds the local channels on the program guide for Sling TV which is nice. Other pros and cons:
AirTV Pros: Local program guide is free.
AirTV Cons: No limit on number of episodes to record (like Amazon), no extra time to start or end of recordings (like Amazon), can't delete recording when recording.

 

[pete_c]

There is an article in the May issue of Consumer Reports called "FREE TV" How to watch more and pay nothing.
 
Makes for some interesting reading.
 
Will scan and post the article here.

 

[JonW]

As a long-time Tivo user, that would get my vote.  There are tons of options out there for getting content, but how you navigate the content, the speed of the interface and just the functionality of the apps, I've not seen anything close to Tivo.  I use it with FIOS, but their OTA model works well also.  Their flexibility in recording options is also second to none.
 
The Tivo mini's are great as you can use them in any room to pick up watching where you left off or to stream other content. We use Tivo as the single interface for the broadcast shows as well as Netflix, Prime, Hulu and Plex.  You can also use 3rd party tools to pull content off your Tivo's for archiving. 
 
Tivo also has apps for watching (and recording/controlling) from your phones and tablets.  You can stream to your mobile devices or just download content to take with you.

 

[ano]

As a long-time Tivo user, that would get my vote.  There are tons of options out there for getting content, but how you navigate the content, the speed of the interface and just the functionality of the apps, I've not seen anything close to Tivo.  I use it with FIOS, but their OTA model works well also.  Their flexibility in recording options is also second to none.
 
The Tivo mini's are great as you can use them in any room to pick up watching where you left off or to stream other content. We use Tivo as the single interface for the broadcast shows as well as Netflix, Prime, Hulu and Plex.  You can also use 3rd party tools to pull content off your Tivo's for archiving. 
 
Tivo also has apps for watching (and recording/controlling) from your phones and tablets.  You can stream to your mobile devices or just download content to take with you.

I looked at Tivo, and its a good system, but not cheap. Not so much the device, but the monthly service. About the same price as an Amazon Recast, but $150/year for just the guide. The guide on AirTV is also free. And most digital TV stations today transmit their own guide for that channel.
 
So today I brought all my DirecTV pieces to the UPS Store to be shipped back. They are gone....
 
So to summarize what I have now.1) Fire TV dongles on 4 TVs. 2) Amazon Fire TV Recast box with 4 tuners. Bought an antenna and the guide is supplied free. 3) AirTV Box with 2 tuners. 4) 1T HDD to connect to the AirTV 5) Monthly subscription to Sling TV Blue. $25/month plus $5 for DVR service.
 
I was paying $108/month for DirecTV or $1296/year
 
My hardware costs were: 3 Fire TV 4K ($47 x 3 = $141) + 1 Fire TV ($37) + Fire TV Recast ($220) + AirTV ($119) + HDD (Free I had that) = $517 (- $25 rebate on Sling TV) = $492
 
Monthly costs: $25/month for Sling TV Blue + $5/month for Sling DVR = $30/month  ($20/month for 3 months with promotion)
 
First Year Cost: $492 + $330 = $822/year
 
Second Year Cost: $360/year
 
So we have had some hiccups, like some buffering, but we moved things around for a better signal and all seems to be working now. Its slightly more complex because now we use both the Sling TV app. and the Fire TV app. BUT we also have better access to Video-On-Demand content on Sling. Plus we can access EVERYTHING on iPhones and iPads ANYWHERE via Wi-Fi. We did NOT have that from DirecTV. 
 
Overall it has been a BIG learning experience, but I think what we have now is at least as good as what we used to have, but MUCH cheaper. We even get a few cable and local channels we never had with DirecTV. In our family room, where wife and I watch TV together, we have two remotes for the Fire TV so no fighting over the remove. (Fire TV lets you have 7 remotes per stick. They use Bluetooth.) 
 
So this isn't the only solution, of course, but it is one that works for us. If you have lots of people in your family, it may not work for you. Sling limits streams to 3, and 2 for Fire TV Recast. That is plenty for two people.
 
Overall were happy campers.

Speaking of campers, we are looking at an RV, but with DirecTV, an RV dish costs about $1000. With our solution we just get a Cellular to Wi-Fi adapter and then we have TV basically wherever there is cellular coverage.

I think the Internet is the future of TV. DirecTV lost almost 3M subscribers last year.

 

[pete_c]

Here a while back purchased a little 1 foot in diameter DTV dish on a portable tripod for use with DTV.  With a GPS/Compass and Inclinometer I learned to set it up in a few minutes.  Used it when renting a home near Estes one year.  There was no cell reception there and used a landline / modem for internet access.
 
The portable DTV dish came from a company called Skywalker. 
 
My current failover ISP (cellular) works fine with VOIP but not well with streaming today.

 

[ano]

Here a while back purchased a little 1 foot in diameter DTV dish on a portable tripod for use with DTV.  With a GPS/Compass and Inclinometer I learned to set it up in a few minutes.  Used it when renting a home near Estes one year.  There was no cell reception there and used a landline / modem for internet access.
 
The portable DTV dish came from a company called Skywalker. 
 
My current failover ISP (cellular) works fine with VOIP but not well with streaming today.

DirecTV and Dish have dishes for RV's that can automatically aim the dish. Some can even do it while your moving.
 
With billions being spent on 5G deployments, I think the writing is on the wall that the Internet is the future. I'm not saying I think its the best, only that its inevitable.
 
Even the cable provider around here, COX, is getting away from passing TV on the cable, they are using the cable for Internet, then selling IPTV on that.
 
Also, I think for many, wired Internet will go away. Cellular speeds (at least in certain areas) is faster and cheaper (in some areas) than wired Internet.  Over time, wired Internet may fade away for many.
 
The reason why you see mergers of companies like AT&T, Comcast and DirecTV is no accident. They know the future as well.

 

[upstatemike]

I agree that cable companies are looking to the day when they recover the bandwidth from video and use it to provide faster Internet speeds to deliver all services that way. Comcast already has "no hardware" plans that ditch the cable box in favor of a Roku or other substitute.
 
I don't see 5G or any stationary Cellular solutions stepping up to replce cable any time soon. All 5G efforts are going into providing high throughput, low latency, short throw cells into metropolitan areas to support self-driving cars and other upcoming tech. Nobody is investing in 5G as a way to provide improved Internet to rural or under-served areas (that I am aware of.)
 
Existing Cellular Internet would be acceptable if it was cost effective. Not sure where cost and data caps make it practical to feed a household with multiple HD TVs using 4G but that sure isn't an option around here.
 
AT&T has stated that they have no intention of maintaining the DirecTV satellite infrastructure and when the current satellites age out the service will end. They have not proposed any alternative for serving rural customers who do not have fast Internet available to them. There are no 5G cell towers under construction in the rural countryside.

 

[linuxha]

I agree that cable companies are looking to the day when they recover the bandwidth from video and use it to provide faster Internet speeds to deliver all services that way. Comcast already has "no hardware" plans that ditch the cable box in favor of a Roku or other substitute.
 
I don't see 5G or any stationary Cellular solutions stepping up to replce cable any time soon. All 5G efforts are going into providing high throughput, low latency, short throw cells into metropolitan areas to support self-driving cars and other upcoming tech. Nobody is investing in 5G as a way to provide improved Internet to rural or under-served areas (that I am aware of.)
 
Existing Cellular Internet would be acceptable if it was cost effective. Not sure where cost and data caps make it practical to feed a household with multiple HD TVs using 4G but that sure isn't an option around here.
 
AT&T has stated that they have no intention of maintaining the DirecTV satellite infrastructure and when the current satellites age out the service will end. They have not proposed any alternative for serving rural customers who do not have fast Internet available to them. There are no 5G cell towers under construction in the rural countryside.

 
I believe their ('Phone' companies) is a fix wireless solution. Thought they aren't deploying that either yet.