Any cutting experts have any info on my question:In a semi-related note. We have an older DLP HDTV (projection) that we have in our barn. I got an antenna for it but I guess it does not have a built in HD tuner? Do I need to get an OTA box to connect to the antenna then to the (HDMI) TV?

Candiru said:

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How do you access the new guide on PSVue through Roku? And is it dependent on the Roku you have...

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My Roku Premier updated automatically. Our kitchen TV that runs the built in Roku software has not updated to the new PS Vue interface.

If you're using a stick on your main TV, I suggest upgrading to a Roku box in the near future. I bet there will be some deals next week.

sawemoffshort07 said:

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Any cutting experts have any info on my question:In a semi-related note. We have an older DLP HDTV (projection) that we have in our barn. I got an antenna for it but I guess it does not have a built in HD tuner? Do I need to get an OTA box to connect to the antenna then to the (HDMI) TV?

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Yes. I had a $30 RCA box that worked fine. Also added DVR to USB 3.0 device. Just Google or Amazon digital tuner box, get top rated with HDMI out. Don't need anything over the $35-40 mark.

YouTube TV app for the Roku is coming.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/30/16570626/youtube-tv-app-apple-tv-roku-xbox-one-android-tv

Thank you

Here's my comparison of PSVue vs. Sling on AppleTV from a couple of months ago:

Quality and reliability seemed the same to me (on 100mbs Spectrum Internet) which means they feel like 95-99% the quality of DirecTV. The prices were close, but the PSVue service was a little cheaper for a package that included all the ESPNs, SEC Network, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, and all the local channels (including CBS).

But how PSVue won me over was the app. It was just more intuitive to find the channels, shows, and recordings I wanted to see. Shows automatically have 'live recording' so you can rewind whatever you watch. The Guide has an easy-to-navigate traditional feel. You can also set up profiles (via the web) for each family member who can have their own favorite channels and recordings. Starting the app and switching channels is very fast, faster then Sling and way faster than DirecTV.

The Sling app was ok, but kind of weird. For example, you buy either the "blue" package or the "orange" package or a combination package, which is fine. But why do I care whether a channel is blue or orange in the app? It also mixed live and on-demand content together, so it was harder for me to just "switch to ESPN" than it should have been.

PSVue Negatives:
- It's a little tricky to 'favorite' a channel, but you only have to do it once.
- The guide orders all favorites channels alphabetically left to right. It would be nice to specify the order. (No channels are numbered in this new world.)
- No ESPN 3, but I can get that on with the ESPN app (which accepts PSVue login to watch).
- Many sports events don't list the actual teams playing, showing something like "NCAA Football" instead. It may not be their fault, but they should know by game day who's playing. Maybe every provider had the same listing. I didn't check.

I cut the cord in the fall of 2012.

Essentials
~$50 - OTA antenna, may need an amplifier depending on where you live. Amazing when they are working at peak.
~$100 each - I use ROKUs - like the interface, performance, and channel availability (Aggie owned or designed?)
~$40/mo - I have a Cable internet 50Mb download speed which is more than enough.
Need a good WiFi connection and/or Ethernet connections.
I prefer external devices as opposed to builtin streamers.
BTW, We travel with a Roku stick in our suitcase.

Services I always use
~$10/mo - Amazon Prime - would own it with the streaming, but streaming is nice since it provides a show buying service. Lots of older shows available via Prime.
~$12/mo - Netflix - essential channel with good shows, occasionally great shows and some duds.
~$12/mo - Hulu - I get it without commercials for a few more bucks.
~$40/mo - PSVue - Access level for Live cable news mostly. Price just went up.

Services I upgrade or purchase month to month or for Football season
~$5/mo - PSVue - Core level for All ESPN channels for College Football
~$15/mo - HBO Now - when our show are running
~$10/mo - Starz via Amazon - When our shows are running
~$100/yr - CRTV - Mark Levin's conservative news service <-- I wanted FoxNews to do this 4 years ago

Note: I originally did this save money over my $150/mo cable plan + $40 cable internet + Netflix, Amazon and Hulu+, but I really wanted to change how people watch TV and that has happened. The only live TV we watch is Aggie football and the world series. I still save a little but care more about the ala cart service.

Other FREE ROKU channels I like (may be available on other services)
Smithsonian Channel - some great documentaries - list changes often
History Channel - some recent, some older episodes - Vikings
CBS News - not a fan in general - but a good live feed news channel when some nutjob blows something up.
Roku Channel - has free moving and shows - I believe its new
Pandora - music
Fox News - nothing live, only recorded shows and not all shows provided.
Youtube - its youtube
PBS - depending whats on, may require donation

Is PSVue available on appletv? We have 3 of those boxes so I would like to be able to utilize what we already have when we ctc

Only the last two AppleTV models, the ones that have an App Store, have a PlayStation Vue app.

https://www.setvnow.com/

Anyone try Set TV? Co-worker mentioned his brother got it. Doesn't look like it will work on Roku so I'll have to get a different stick.

rynning said:

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Only the last two AppleTV models, the ones that have an App Store, have a PlayStation Vue app.

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Yep. My dad has the first model and had to get a new Fire TV when he switched to PSVue. Gave me his old one so I can watch the Astros via Airplay next season, so worked out for me I guess.

Experienced the ugly side of cord cutting on Saturday. The internet went down just before 10 am and didn't come back until after the SEC championship game. Wife was away and I had 2 kids at home, so no going out to watch it. Oh well, still worth it. I may finally rip the dish down and put the antenna up.

What is the status of DirecTVNow's DVR? Is it still in Beta, available to all users? I can save a little money by switching from Vue to them, but need the DVR.

Thanks.

Why do you need the DVR? With the subscription to DirecTV NOW, you can access most of the apps associated with the channels in your subscription package. Through these apps (accessible via Appletv or FireTV, etc), you can basically stream whatever shows you want, whenever you want.

A: Sports

B: I like to fast foward through commercials - streaming on demand usually doesn't allow that, and I like to fast forward through sports that I've DVR'd.



So what's the latest on that status of DirecTVNow's DVR? Is it still only in beta, does it work well?

Amazon app on Apple TV now

Here's a Tom's Guide review from Dec 8:

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/youtube-tv-vs-cable-tv-replacements,news-24578.html

jay040 said:

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A: Sports

B: I like to fast foward through commercials - streaming on demand usually doesn't allow that, and I like to fast forward through sports that I've DVR'd.



So what's the latest on that status of DirecTVNow's DVR? Is it still only in beta, does it work well?

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Read the fine print before making that move. I'm not familiar with DTVNow but the Sling TV DVR doesn't allow you to record anything Disney so no ESPN.

BTHOB said:

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Why do you need the DVR? With the subscription to DirecTV NOW, you can access most of the apps associated with the channels in your subscription package. Through these apps (accessible via Appletv or FireTV, etc), you can basically stream whatever shows you want, whenever you want.

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You need the DVR to skip commercials.

aTm2004 said:

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Experienced the ugly side of cord cutting on Saturday. The internet went down just before 10 am and didn't come back until after the SEC championship game. Wife was away and I had 2 kids at home, so no going out to watch it. Oh well, still worth it. I may finally rip the dish down and put the antenna up.

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When I had Comcast cable, if my Internet was down, so was my cable 95%+ of the time. Same situation with OTT TV. Only fix is satellite redundancy as a second incoming circuit and that's just not worth it to me. I also missed some Aggie football due to rain there. Nothing is guaranteed up time.

You could have pulled that game up live on your phone... or use you phone as a hotspot for your laptop. See example below. In an extreme case, it works. Sure, uses cellular data but worth it to me at times. I've gotten creative at the lake to watch Aggie football with no typical Internet or TV:

Use 4G phone as hotspot > connect latop to 4G over WiFi > Watch ESPN with credentials > HDMI out off laptop > to TV

Live Aggie football with no ISP, cable, or satellite!

A lot of the DVR's now will add their own commercials and make them un-skipable.

Aggie MHA said:

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aTm2004 said:

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Experienced the ugly side of cord cutting on Saturday. The internet went down just before 10 am and didn't come back until after the SEC championship game. Wife was away and I had 2 kids at home, so no going out to watch it. Oh well, still worth it. I may finally rip the dish down and put the antenna up.

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When I had Comcast cable, if my Internet was down, so was my cable 95%+ of the time. Same situation with OTT TV. Only fix is satellite redundancy as a second incoming circuit and that's just not worth it to me. I also missed some Aggie football due to rain there. Nothing is guaranteed up time.

You could have pulled that game up live on your phone... or use you phone as a hotspot for your laptop. See example below. In an extreme case, it works. Sure, uses cellular data but worth it to me at times. I've gotten creative at the lake to watch Aggie football with no typical Internet or TV:

Use 4G phone as hotspot > connect latop to 4G over WiFi > Watch ESPN with credentials > HDMI out off laptop > to TV

Live Aggie football with no ISP, cable, or satellite!

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You'd think it was that easy. I have a first gen Apple TV that I was planning to just airplay the game from my phone to the TV. Well, the internet was down for the entire area, so that means that everybody around us was also using their data to surf the internet and stream, making streaming almost non-existent. Once the internet came back up, streaming via LTE/4G was no problem.

Man, the more I look at these options, the more I realize it would cost identical to my current DirecTV service.

That's why I'm very glad I'm grandfathered in to the DTVNow at $35/mo.

Bulldog73 said:

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Man, the more I look at these options, the more I realize it would cost identical to my current DirecTV service.

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Serious question...how? I had DTV for over $10 years and they could only get me down to about $70/mo, and I didn't have HBO or anything out of the ordinary.

Cut the cord and got Youtube tv. So far so good. Have an AppleTv that's a few years old and need to get a new one for the other tv. I've read a little about the 3 and 4. The tv is a 1080 if that matters.

Currently my TV and internet totals $100/mo taxes and fees included. Internet being ~60 of that and I'd have to step up another $25 on internet to go full streaming. In the end, to go another service, I'd end up about $110/mo plus the setup. Granted, I already have Prime and Netflix but I don't factor that into either side of the equation.

Bulldog73 said:

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Currently my TV and internet totals $100/mo taxes and fees included. Internet being ~60 of that and I'd have to step up another $25 on internet to go full streaming. In the end, to go another service, I'd end up about $110/mo plus the setup. Granted, I already have Prime and Netflix but I don't factor that into either side of the equation.

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That's crazy. I get offers now from DTV that will get me essentially the same thing I had for like $30/mo for the first 12 months, and then go up to like $50/mo for another 12. Well, had they offered that at the beginning, I may have stuck with them, but since they didn't want to keep me and my almost 10 years of loyalty and on-time payments, eff 'em. I also don't factor in internet to my TV costs as I would have that regardless of whether or not I had TV or not.

True and that makes sense, but what I was trying to state, and did a poor job of, was internet cost jumps without service. I'm still monitoring these services, because I love the idea, and I know that eventually the price will jump for me. It just seems like these services are slowly creeping up to normal cable prices.

Sorry for the detail. This information is valuable without a doubt.

Needing some help. Live in Houston about 16-17 miles from local station antennas. I have one inside antenna connected to tv and able to get 4 major locals most of the time. Sometimes cbs drops. Antenna has a booster in it.

I also have a tablo that is connected to another inside antenna. Only gets NBC and sometimes fox. The antenna came with two boosters. Both are turned on. Really sucks as want to continue the cord cutting. Thinking I need external antenna. Suggestions on which one?

PS Vue gets all major locals in Houston and they're included on their lowest tier (DVR included). PBS & CW you get though their free app.

I live directly between the two main towers so OTA sucked for me. Went through the same thing. I would have to adjust my antenna just right and it just wasn't worth it.

As I'm skimming through posts here and seeing references to a DirectTV DVR box, PlayStation Vue, subscriptions to youtube, hulu, HBO, and references to all content being tied to the internet, may I point out that most of you haven't succeeded in "cutting the cord?" You just found yourselves a new cord.

If you truly want to cut the cord and actually realize some of the savings people talk about, go get (or build) yourself an antenna and if you want to splurge, maybe a DVR to record content off your antenna. Make sure to find one that doesn't depend on streaming content (like the ChannelMaster).

People who say it's not worth it to cut the cord are still tethered to cable companies because they can't give up their cable content. All people are doing when going to paid steaming content rather than cable/satellite content is restructuring their pay model. I'm not surprised it doesn't result in massive savings; if you want cable content, cable companies are going to get their pound of flesh.

Internet is something that most of us already had prior to cancelling cable or satellite. I'm also not tied into contracts for years to get the best deal, this if I want to go elsewhere tomorrow because I think they have a better bang for the buck, I can. I also don't have to rent their equipment to use their service.

jja79 said:

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Since I don't spend $5.95 for a special latte or $6.95 for a craft beer that tastes like tree bark and pomegranate I can treat myself to TV service that let's me turn it on and watch anything I want without toggling back and forth between devices and services, wonder if I can pause and fast foward when I choose and lets me record as much as I want.

People are generally willing to pay for what they want.

As was pointed out a couple of posts ago this thread really isn't about cord cutting, it's about different delivery methods and potential trade offs for making that choice.

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I have PSVue and can turn on and watch anything I want without toggling back and forth between devices. I go to different services to watch on demand stuff, which is really easier than accessing on demand stuff via DTV (which I had). I also have access to shows only available to that particular service (highly recommend Man in the High Castle if you're a Prime member). I can also pause, FF, and record as much as I want. The only channel that I lost was AT&T Sports Net (Astros) and Nickelodean (which I get their shows with my existing Prime membership). Also, I don't have to rent equipment from the cable/satellite company for each room I want to have a TV in, and can also disconnect my device, toss it in my carry on, and take it with me when I travel so I'm not stuck with the hotel's chitty lineup.

The difference is that instead of paying $130/mo for this ability, I'm now paying $48 after taxes.