Spectrum TV questions...

[JimS]

Have spectrum internet and recently got an offer for spectrum tv that is much better than our youtubeTV rate ($29.99 vs something like $75/month). It's a 1 year deal. My question is about equipment required. With YoutubeTV we get included recording on the cloud which is nice. I also have a mythtv recorder from when we did just OTA. I was thinking that I would need a decoder card for spectrum and those are going away so didn't look like a good plan. But since I don't need any equipment it appears I just need to split the cable to the modem (wondering if this is a self install or they think they need to do this?) and the tv will tune as normal. So it would appear that my SiliconDust tuner would work fine (assuming the channels are not encrypted). Sprectrum is doing copper coax in this area not fiber. Anyone doing something like this that could confirm my assumptions? Having a recorder to time shift things is something we use a lot. BTW, we have been happy with YoutubeTV - only issue is the cost. One thing I just was wondering about is viewing spectrum on my phone or on line when away from home - not a requirement but would use this a little if it was available..

 

[JimS]

Or maybe the "no equipment required" assumes you have a smart tv. Which means it could be encrypted and mythtv would not work without a decoder card. Will have to do a bit more checking. If so I would have to do a HDMI splitter and recorder. I have read it's possible but don't know much about it.

 

[JimS]

I also forgot about the $21 fee that Spectrum adds for "broadcast fee".

 

[sic0048]

It sounds like this is their "streaming" only TV service. If you choose this option, your actual cable subscription ends and any equipment you currently use to watch TV (cable box, cable card recorder, etc) will cease to function. You will not be able to use a Silicon Dust tuner with this service. I believe the $21 "broadcast" fee is for local channels, so if you have an antenna to capture you locals, you can get a package that doesn't include them or have that extra fee.

I know ChannelsDVR software can be set up to capture these "stream only" content. It has a monthly fee however. SageTV has a method to pull these channel into SageTV (via ChannelsDVR) so you can use this "stream only" content just like any other tuner. I have no idea if MythTV has anything similar or not.

 

[JimS]

After doing some checking I realized this was their streaming service. I don't think they offer anything else to new customers which is what I am (currently have internet only from them) so don't have any old boxes. I don't think there is a way to avoid the local channels fee but have locals covered with antenna and Linux dvr that works well. They have a cloud dvr option so the basic comparison is:

YTTV $73 (plus possibly some tax)

Spectrum $30 (introductory rate for 12 months
+21 broadcast fee
+10 dvr
$61 total

Not sure it's worth it to change... I think tax may reduce the difference even more.