OT - Cutting Cable

[chuckd4735]

I have been using DirectTV Now since last December. I love it. I have zero buffering and get all the sports channels. I was a early adopter so I get the $60 package for $35, plus got a free Apple TV 4. This summer, they added HBO for free.

I tried SlingTV first and it was just okay, then PS Vue. Great picture and price, but hated the interface. I will stay with DTVN and don't miss the $140 Direct TV bill. I use antenna and Tablo for local TV viewing and recording.

Same here, except I've tried nothing else. DirecTV Now is slowly adding all local channels down here in KC, which is great, and it sounds like they are close to releasing their cloud DVR, which is the only thing I miss from DirectTV. Im not sure Now is worth $60/month, but Im paying the $35 as well and it well worth that price. You can only stream on two devices at one time, but thats never been a problem for us.

 

[BryceC]

PSA: Hulu Live now has support for at least the third gen Rokus. The last streaming devices they are working on are Samsung TVs/Blu-Ray players.

Really? I have samsung blu ray players/TV's, Hulu is dang close to getting my business. You have a link for that or anything?

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

I was gouged for years by DTV so it is going to take a lot for me to switch to the DTVnow platform. Been using PS Vue for several months now and I couldn't be happier. Pretty tough to beat $45 per month and it sounds like more local channels will be getting added soon.

 

[mywayorcyway]

Dear ESPN,

You suck at streaming. Everyone else can do it, why must yours be terrible year after year?

Sincerely,

Everyone

 

[CY88CE11]

Really? I have samsung blu ray players/TV's, Hulu is dang close to getting my business. You have a link for that or anything?

https://www.hulu.com/live-tv

I've routinely checked the "devices" section of this page, waiting for Roku support to roll out. Randomly noticed it this weekend and checked the site today. I was skeptical they were actually working on all the devices they had listed as coming soon, but they're checking off box after box, so Samsung might be in the next month or two.

 

[DSMCy]

Dear ESPN,

You suck at streaming. Everyone else can do it, why must yours be terrible year after year?

Sincerely,

Everyone

Really?
I have no real complaints streaming with ESPN the past 3 years.
I would argue they were a pioneer with ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

 

[mywayorcyway]

Really?
I have no real complaints streaming with ESPN the past 3 years.
I would argue they were a pioneer with ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

Every single thing I watch on there is a low quality stream, buffers, skips, whatever. It doesn't even have to be live sports - any of their live streaming is awful. I have two different devices and a strong internet connection. ESPN is the only app I have issues with.

 

[jdcyclone19]

I called DTV yesterday morning to cancel, no real good deals and my bill would still be over $50 with the base package. I was going with PS Vue and told them that. At 2pm, DTV called and then wanted to keep my business. $28/month total, no fee, plus tax for the next year for the middle package that has all the sports channels, all espn, FS1, FS midwest etc.

I ended up taking the deal and could keep my current equipment and everything I have on the DVR. Cant beat ~$30 a month for all those channels and the DVR.

I contemplated telling them no but my internet is only 12mbps with centurylink and had no problems streaming but this would up my bandwidth significantly.

 

[TXCyclones]

Same here, except I've tried nothing else. DirecTV Now is slowly adding all local channels down here in KC, which is great, and it sounds like they are close to releasing their cloud DVR, which is the only thing I miss from DirectTV. Im not sure Now is worth $60/month, but Im paying the $35 as well and it well worth that price. You can only stream on two devices at one time, but thats never been a problem for us.

I'm now a DirecTV Now subscriber and have discontinued SlingTV, for now. The two positives for DTVN is that they have all of the local channels, and I can stream EVERY channel on two devices. Sling only has NBC & FOX local, and cannot stream ESPN on multiple tv's. BUT, if Sling fixes these two issues I'll switch back immediately.

DTVN is more expensive and it buffers all the f'ng time. But I need ESPN on two tv's, and I need CBS. But once March Madness is over I'm dropping DTVN and switching back to Sling (blue).

 

[JP4CY]

With HuluTV can you watch on an iPAD outside of the house? I could with Sling but could only watch some channels like ESPN on one TV at a time but with Vue I can't watch on an iPad outside the house but get to watch on more than one TV at a time.

 

[CY88CE11]

With HuluTV can you watch on an iPAD outside of the house? I could with Sling but could only watch some channels like ESPN on one TV at a time but with Vue I can't watch on an iPad outside the house but get to watch on more than one TV at a time.

Hulu Live is two simultaneous streams, which you can watch outside the house. I've had to re-establish my home network before, but only once in two months so far.

 

[audiokiwi]

Anybody use YouTube TV? I'm tempted but 30 FPS for sports would really bother me.

Also, let me see if we have talked about all of these options: Sling, Vue, Hulu, YouTube, DirecTV Now... Are there any other options?

Just got Youtube TV last month to try out (I've tried Sling, DirectTVNow and Vue in the past). I think i'll stick with Youtube for a few reasons:

• I am pretty heavily invested in the google ecosystem. I have a google home and primarily use a chromecast to stream.
• The quality looks pretty damn good; the 30fps is noticable but not a dealbreaker. I upgraded from a gen 1 to a gen 2 chromecast and the quality is way better. (right now Youtube TV has a promo where you get a free gen 2 chromecast when you move from trial to paying customer)
• But the real deal-maker for me is that it uses your phone's GPS to geolocate and select channels for you. I'm a Broncos fan living in Virginia Beach, but I can use a fake location app on my phone and set it to Denver or Colorado Springs and stream the local CBS channels to watch Broncos games when another game is selected in my local market. I'll probably try faking it to a midwest location on saturday to pick up the ISU-KU game since it's on FSN's regional sports network.
• Not applicable to me but definitely useful to a lot of people is that you can link with up to five different google accounts; everyone gets their own login and recordings and preferences

 

[wxman1]

I called DTV yesterday morning to cancel, no real good deals and my bill would still be over $50 with the base package. I was going with PS Vue and told them that. At 2pm, DTV called and then wanted to keep my business. $28/month total, no fee, plus tax for the next year for the middle package that has all the sports channels, all espn, FS1, FS midwest etc.

I ended up taking the deal and could keep my current equipment and everything I have on the DVR. Cant be ~$30 a month for all those channels and the DVR.

I contemplated telling them no but my internet is only 12mbps with centurylink and had no problems streaming but this would up my bandwidth significantly.

If it were me I would take that offer. They are essentially matching the streaming prices plus you get to keep your good DVR and no buffering/lag. I also stand by my opinion that we are nearing an internet speed bubble as more people move to streaming and put demand on the system.

 

[Clonehomer]

Been trying out the different providers over the past few weeks. Using 2 Ruku Premiere+ with wired connections and 1 Roku stick over WiFi. Measured 75Mbps on the wired connection. WiFi is spotty in that room usually ranging 5-6 Mbps.

PS Vue had a good picture, had our local CBS station and was reliable. But the interface on the Roku was terrible since it didn't have a guide. That was the deal breaker for us to this point. I did run it for a while on the PS4 which had a guide, but i was still using a controller rather than buying a remote so it was still annoying. In the end, I wish I had known to get Amazon fires rather than Roku's, but I already had them for streaming movies.

Sling TV was garbage for us. Didn't have many channels, wouldn't connect, no locals and didn't sound like they were trying to get locals.

We're currently in a trial of DirecTV Now. The interface is excellent and the picture is very good on live TV. Even with the internet speeds, I do still have the occasional error of lost connections when switching channels though. For some reason, the On Demand stuff buffers constantly. It seems On Demand should allow for a long buffers to prevent that, but hopefully that's fixed with their next update. Our issue with DirecTV Now is the lack of any local channels. ABC, NBC, and Fox arent a big deal with On Demand, but CBS has been more of a pain to get.

 

[jdcyclone19]

If it were me I would take that offer. They are essentially matching the streaming prices plus you get to keep your good DVR and no buffering/lag. I also stand by my opinion that we are nearing an internet speed bubble as more people move to streaming and put demand on the system.

Yep, exactly. A really good offer and I don't have to tie up my internet with streaming now. They even said that my service will continue are the current rate once my 12 month contract is up. Guess I'll see if that's actually true in 12 months.

~$60 for DTV Choice and 12mbps CL, is not a bad monthly bill.

 

[clonebb]

I'm now a DirecTV Now subscriber and have discontinued SlingTV, for now. The two positives for DTVN is that they have all of the local channels, and I can stream EVERY channel on two devices. Sling only has NBC & FOX local, and cannot stream ESPN on multiple tv's. BUT, if Sling fixes these two issues I'll switch back immediately.

DTVN is more expensive and it buffers all the f'ng time. But I need ESPN on two tv's, and I need CBS. But once March Madness is over I'm dropping DTVN and switching back to Sling (blue).

I have zero buffering on DTVN with 100Mb mediacom.

 

[TXCyclones]

I have zero buffering on DTVN with 100Mb mediacom.

I've got 100mbps as well, with 100% of the data delegated to internet only. But DTVN still buffers where Sling never did.

 

[clonebb]

Been trying out the different providers over the past few weeks. Using 2 Ruku Premiere+ with wired connections and 1 Roku stick over WiFi. Measured 75Mbps on the wired connection. WiFi is spotty in that room usually ranging 5-6 Mbps.

PS Vue had a good picture, had our local CBS station and was reliable. But the interface on the Roku was terrible since it didn't have a guide. That was the deal breaker for us to this point. I did run it for a while on the PS4 which had a guide, but i was still using a controller rather than buying a remote so it was still annoying. In the end, I wish I had known to get Amazon fires rather than Roku's, but I already had them for streaming movies.

Sling TV was garbage for us. Didn't have many channels, wouldn't connect, no locals and didn't sound like they were trying to get locals.

We're currently in a trial of DirecTV Now. The interface is excellent and the picture is very good on live TV. Even with the internet speeds, I do still have the occasional error of lost connections when switching channels though. For some reason, the On Demand stuff buffers constantly. It seems On Demand should allow for a long buffers to prevent that, but hopefully that's fixed with their next update. Our issue with DirecTV Now is the lack of any local channels. ABC, NBC, and Fox arent a big deal with On Demand, but CBS has been more of a pain to get.

Why not just use an antenna for local channels? You get real HD quality for free.

 

[mramseyISU]

For you guys using Directv Now does it offer a cloud DVR yet like sling? How about on demand for the broadcast channels (ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox)? The biggest problem I have right now with sling is I rarely get to catch stuff live on the broadcast channels and I used to just DVR it. Since I cut the cord mediacom wanted their dvr back and I need a tv package to get access to all the stuff on the network roku apps.

 

[Clonehomer]

Why not just use an antenna for local channels? You get real HD quality for free.

Can't get KCRG in Cedar Falls with an indoor antenna. Also have a Vizio without a TV tuner. Will probably get a roof mount and a Tablo eventually. Still trying to decide if the $50 savings over Dish is worth it.