Streaming TV

[Sonor]

My wife and I switched to Sling via Roku and Over the Air TV for local channels back in February.  Generally Sling provides a number of the garbage channels that Spectrum did for a significant cost savings.  Roku comes with a variety of "free" channels of which some are good.  While we are adjusting to the new mentality of not watching a show when it airs (or in some cases still waiting for the air date and watching with the rest of America) I will say we have stumbled across a few extraordinary shows.  Mozart in the Jungle on Amazon was great but the most recent show found on Tubi (a Roku freeby), is a show called Roadies.  I mention these shows as they are very entertaining but they came with one problem: THEY ENDED.  So now that we have gotten hooked, there is no more.  Down right rotten -

Well I mention this because, well, it is the new norm for us and I hope if you have been new to streaming that you post your findings as well.

 

One side note, when we turned in our equipment at Spectrum and said we are retaining internet, they said, "Well you know that after a month you can come back as a new TV customer and get streaming only from us for $30 a month." They continued to say 65 channels, ten are local, and you pick the other ten.  I said, "That leaves 45 to go."  They said, well they are music channels (Radio).

 

[greiffster]

We switched to YoutubeTV after yeeeeeaaaars with DirecTV.  DirecTV had great customer service and always took care of us.  Almost immediately, AT&T screwed that up when they took over.

We evaluated and did the free trials on YouTubeTV, Sling, and Hulu.  We really liked Sling, but it lacked the local channels, which both Hulu and YouTubeTV include.  

Streaming TV with the local channels is ready for prime time if you have good internet.  Waayyyy cheaper. 

[Sonor]

We also looked at YouTube TV but it did not have HGTV which would have meant my wife would spend more time at the neighbors just to watch TV.  Hmm, now I'm thinking missed opportunity... Just kidding of course ...

[Bob Palin]

The thing that stops me switching to streaming is the lack of a real DVR feature. Most of the TV I watch is not available for replay or on demand (sports mostly) and I like to set my DVR to record events while I am gone for a day, or a week etc. The DISH DVR is really good at that having permanent timers that find the programming (and don't try to guess what I want to watch).

[Twisties]

After not watching tv for nearly ten years we took a free month of HBO Now two years ago and watched all 6 seasons of GoT.  The next year we had to pay for a month, $15, to watch season 7, and if we watch Season 8 that will be another $15.

 

Being rural and remote, we have Amazon Prime for the shipping, although it is perhaps not quite the advantage it once was.  In any event, I'd rather they kept the price down and not co-mingle it with entertainment, but they have and so we have we.  This winter, for the first time in ages we've streamed regularly.  We use a Roku, but I imagine a Fire Stick would do as well, or any of several other devices.

 

Our two favorites have been The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Poldark.  We had to pay for the final season of Poldark, $4.99 IIRC.  Bosch was pretty good, as well.

 

Streaming works well for us because it's commercial free, watch at your own pace and time, and the quality of programming is good.  

 

 

[Sonor]

My wife loves Mrs. Maisel.

[John Ranalletta]

We have Prime but watch few of their offerings except for a few originals like Bosch.

 

A PBS membership might be worthwhile.  Just finished "Unforgotten", a British police series. Simply wonderful acting, story line, etc.   It was on free Masterpiece but past episodes can only be downloaded with a membership I think.

[greiffster]

11 hours ago, Sonor said:

We also looked at YouTube TV but it did not have HGTV which would have meant my wife would spend more time at the neighbors just to watch TV.  Hmm, now I'm thinking missed opportunity... Just kidding of course ...

 

Funny, that was kind of an issue at our house.  Sorry to report that they just added it last month along with discovery and food network.

.

[Sonor]

Not sorry to hear that.  It may be what we switch to as Sling is limited in what it provides.  Lots of channels from Cable that I never watched in the first place.  The number of items available to watch outside of broadcast times is good, but most not my style. So we are still investigating.

[Twisties]

20 hours ago, John Ranalletta said:

We have Prime but watch few of their offerings except for a few originals like Bosch.

 

You might like Goliath.  The story line isn't always logical and that dissapoints, but the acting, characters, drama and setting are good and should appeal to a Bosch fan.  Only two seasons made, and I think dropped.  Billy Bob Thornton really makes it shine.  The story line is better in the second season.

[John Ranalletta]

Watched Goliath.  Though 1st season was tops but second was puzzling and not as entertaining.  Seems to be a trend, i.e. writers hard pressed to produce sequels that are better than or equal to the first.  Bosch is based on Connelly's novels which are uniformly good IMO, so they should have consistent production quality as vids.

 

I've noticed the same trend in YouTube streams I follow.  They get progressively less interesting due to "publish or perish" syndrome.

[scout6]

On 5/21/2019 at 9:21 AM, Bob Palin said:

The thing that stops me switching to streaming is the lack of a real DVR feature. Most of the TV I watch is not available for replay or on demand (sports mostly) and I like to set my DVR to record events while I am gone for a day, or a week etc. The DISH DVR is really good at that having permanent timers that find the programming (and don't try to guess what I want to watch).

Killer, try this link.  https://acethinker.com/desktop-recorder/record-live-streaming-video.html

[Bob Palin]

11 hours ago, scout6 said:

Killer, try this link.  https://acethinker.com/desktop-recorder/record-live-streaming-video.html

 

Thanks. None of those even comes close to DVR capability where I have a guide and can use it to set not only individual recordings but a series of recordings with unknown future times/dates. I also sometimes record two (or more) things at the same time and I need to switch streaming sources while I'm away (like switching channels on the satellite system). The things I currently stream I do from an Android device, at least one of them doesn't have a computer version. I can't currently record that anyway and these type of apps might work for that if I can find one that works with Android, except that I have to login and select streaming a few minutes before the event starts. I know some of the streaming services (Hulu?) have a system where you can 'record' things online using their system but none of them carries the channels I'm interested in, the most difficult to find being Willow, a 24 hour pair of cricket channels - the cricket World Cup is about to start! I was the first person in Utah to subscribe to Willow, they had to get a whole new dish for me from out of state to get that satellite. The things I currently have streaming subscriptions to are ESPN+, NBCSN, iFollow, HBO.

[Rougarou]

1 hour ago, Bob Palin said:

 

Thanks. None of those even comes close to DVR capability where I have a guide and can use it to set not only individual recordings but a series of recordings with unknown future times/dates. I also sometimes record two (or more) things at the same time and I need to switch streaming sources while I'm away (like switching channels on the satellite system). The things I currently stream I do from an Android device, at least one of them doesn't have a computer version. I can't currently record that anyway and these type of apps might work for that if I can find one that works with Android, except that I have to login and select streaming a few minutes before the event starts. I know some of the streaming services (Hulu?) have a system where you can 'record' things online using their system but none of them carries the channels I'm interested in, the most difficult to find being Willow, a 24 hour pair of cricket channels - the cricket World Cup is about to start! I was the first person in Utah to subscribe to Willow, they had to get a whole new dish for me from out of state to get that satellite. The things I currently have streaming subscriptions to are ESPN+, NBCSN, iFollow, HBO.

 

 

Here you go

[Bob Palin]

And a robot to press the buttons at the right time! 

[greiffster]

7 hours ago, Bob Palin said:

 

Thanks. None of those even comes close to DVR capability where I have a guide and can use it to set not only individual recordings but a series of recordings with unknown future times/dates...

 

Bob,

I'm going to disagree.  I just came off having the whole-home DVR with DirecTV and it worked great.  I was in process of switching to their Genie system when it all went south.  I find the unlimited cloud DVR that is included with YouTubeTV just as good.  You can record individual shows or entire series.  And you can have multiple accounts so that everyone can customize their favorite channels and record their own shows.  Obviously, only the channels included with streaming service can be recorded.  I don't know what to say about Willow.  That's a tricky one.

[Bob Palin]

YouTube TV does come the closest (that wasn't part of the list that Scout6 pointed me to). But it doesn't have Willow and iFollow which are the two most important ones for me.