Has cutting the cord jumped the shark?

She can get discounts on Philo and/or YouTube TV through T-Mobile starting April 6th if she wants as that is what T-Mobile is replacing TVision with.

 

She knows (now) but that's not what she wants and was hoping to get 2 weeks ago when they were pressuring her into signing/buying before she missed out on the TVision discounts.

I guess we should have been wary that her channel lineup guide was nothing but a 72dpi inkjet sheet of different cable station logos with the monthly cost written in sharpie up top.

 

Cut the cord with directv over the weekend. Been a customer over ten years and maybe I used up all my ‘I’m leaving’ discounts. Signed up with Hulu live and it worked great over the weekend. The only pain point was having to cancel our current Disney plus package so we could add it into Hulu live, so we’re double paid for a few weeks, but still cheaper than directv. Now I have to get the damn dish off my roof!

 

You're way out west in Alpine, Texas desert territory so how big is your HDTV screen and what resolution is the stream from Hulu? Are there hiccups and pixelated frames? Sharpness issues? What bandwidth are you streaming at?

 

and that pretty much involves most things in life!

 

I have 300 mbps service believe it or not. A lot of the area has much more limited internet access and speeds. But one of the pre-requisites to move out here for me was good dependable internet, since I work from home, and my part of town has gone from 60 to 100 to 300 the last few years. Just ran 2 speedtests and pulling down 220 and 233. A few years ago we ran our first test during the super bowl, streamed it at 4k when we had 100mbps, and then had all of us wathcing netflix, youtube, etc, to see if we could force a lag or jitter, and had no issues with the game at full 4k. so if that was good for 100mbs, 300 is just overkill

Our router is a netgear that's 7 years old now. I have a 65" 4k samsung for our main tv with a 4k appletv, and a 40" 9 year old 1080p samsung in the bedroom using a roku. I've only had hulu live since Friday, but no issues with lag or pixelization with the final four games and tonight's game, and that's with my kids streaming two different things on their devices and my wife watching netflix. I did get pixelization sometimes on directv for live sports, nothing I get uptight about, like during massive confetti blasts, but I am not seeing any pixelization this game. I dont believe this game is 4k, but it looks pretty clear. There's a low level of blur with fast breaks, so it's not 4k clear but it's not chunked pixels either. We've had no issues streaming 4k stuff on netflix, apple or disney plus. And taped hulu stuff like survivor, the newer seasons look incredible.

We debated this move for a long time, because if internet is down, we have nothing. But the difference in cost between directv and hulu live is enough monthly to be worth it to us. The kids watch less and less live tv, we really only want it for local 10:30 news (for the weather) and the occasional A&M game and major events like tonight. We fully expect at some point to have slow speeds, lagging, badly timed internet outage, etc, and told the kids they'll just have to deal with it.

 

Nice setup and thanks for the thorough description on my concerns with picture quality.

Don't think I could afford your setup but at least it's good to know streaming delivers quality as good and probably better than cable TV even out in far west Texas.

 

I finally purchased a mesh network and installed it today. Definite improvement in the signals around the house. No drops reported. Thank you for the advice.

 

Glad to hear! There are many different ones to choose from and I assume the one you have has an app for your phone. Sometimes you may need to update drivers and/or software using your phone. And when using an app (depending on the brand) you can set it up to automatically search for updates at 3AM or the time of your choice.

 

Yes, it has a phone app. I think I have to call Spectrum so I am not paying for using their wireless.

 

I don't need any other services, all I need is MLB-TV. And my remote control, I need the remote control. And my paddle game. I don't need one other thing.

 

We don't have cable anymore, we gave it up after realizing 4 months into lockdown that we hadn't watched anything for a while. It was only basic cable at that. Now we get by on Netflix, free YT, and a few other free apps that work on the TV. Even with just those, its far, far more than a family of 3 needs for visual entertainment.

Growing up in a rural area in the 70s/80s my family didn't even have the option of cable until we moved to "town". Then it was only a few channels. When I moved to the big city, there were 5 broadcast stations using rabbit ears, and that satisfied me for quite some time. When my wife and I moved to a house that was literally blocked by a large hill from all the TV signals (I'm talking no reception), we succumbed to basic cable, and that was only 15 years ago.

I doubt I'll ever pay for cable again in my lifetime, and if I add it up, the majority of my life has been without. So no big loss.

 

I lived in the NYC area for 51 years but recently relocated to Raleigh, NC. With the Firestick I can get local NYC channels and watch the Jets, Knicks, and Yankees, so I'll never go back to cable.

 

All I watch is the Yankees games on the MLB-TV app and YouTube. MLB on the Firestick has not been working.

 

What are you using to get the local channels from NYC? A Slingbox type of unit, or Locast? Please, do tell

 

If you have a Windows based computer, check out PlayOn Desktop. It allows you record shows from Hulu, Netflix, HBO, etc. at off hours, for offline playback. I set this up on a friend’s laptop - he has a second home - a small cabin with no internet service.

It’s $70 but frequently on sale.

playOn Cloud is slick too, but if the internet is down ...

 

I still have family and friends in the NYC area and go up to visit several times a year. Right before my last visit I discovered that I can set my "Home Location" on YouTube TV to NYC as long as my Firestick is connected the the internet in that area, so I brought it with me and did that. Now that NYC is my home area I get those local channels on any device that I access YouTube TV on. The only stipulation is that if a device is connected outside your home location, you have to "check-in" from your home location every 90 days to continue to receive those local channels (otherwise you get no local channels). However, if more than 90 days pass in-between my NYC trips, all I have to do is change my browser settings show that I'm up north and login the the YouTube TV website and that takes care of that.

 

Thank you, that’s very good to know... I’m really interested in streaming football. I’ve been using an old Slingbox at my sister's apartment, as well as Locast with Channels DVR ... not bad but not great.

How is the streaming? Do you get dropped frames or “ghosts” ?

 

Not really... that I've noticed anyway. My Firestick gets hung-up sometimes and I just get a spinning wheel, but that's my crappy internet connection.

 

I have a Roku Ultra with PlutoTV on it and that's all I need. For sports games I can just go down to a bar or get a month of YouTubeTV if I really need it.

 

Locast finally came to Columbus. I feel like this was a game changer for those of us just far enough away that we couldn't get the OTA networks. It's certainly not that there is something to watch on NBC or MeTV every night, but it's also almost comforting to have access to your local news and the national broadcasts. Purely streaming Pluto and Netflix and the like makes me feel like I'm out of the proverbial loop.

 

I'd go there if it wasn't for the wife.

But I'd have to keep the Internet. So, they'll get our money one way or the other.

 

Business knows that a confused consumer is a good consumer.

 

One thing I'm wondering about - do multiple passwords and paperwork (even tho its virtual) become an issue in this app-mad world?

 

Have never heard of Locast so I checked it out. Not around here anywhere but I like what they have to offer in regards to local channels.