Ragoo said:

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Youtubetv doesn't have hgtv, how can you get it otherwise?

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Philo. https://try.philo.com/

What works best in B/CS?

What is the cord cutting opinion on getting your own modem/router combo for internet? Is it cheaper than using the modem from the ISP?

It depends on what they charge you to lease their box. Usually you pay for buying it yourself in less than a year.

LostInLA07 said:

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It depends on what they charge you to lease their box. Usually you pay for buying it yourself in less than a year.

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my next question. If you get internet from at&t, xfinity, spectrum etc. the published rates online typically include the modem, what is the rate typically less the modem?

It varies widely. I know with AT&T you have to use their gateway. Typically cable companies will bundle in a modem lease and buying your own cuts about $5-15/month.

Ragoo said:

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What is the cord cutting opinion on getting your own modem/router combo for internet? Is it cheaper than using the modem from the ISP?

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Mine was.

Amazon now offers used products with full warranty that they have certified and repackaged. I bought a docsis modem with the bandwidth I needed for $15.

I was paying $8 per month for rental.

Having said that, there is a caveot. If you ever have an issue, let the finger pointing begin. The ISP frontline help desk will try to wash their hands of it and blame your router/modem. So you need to be a bit tech savvy to deal with them and push back, in case that happens.

garc said:

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Ragoo said:

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What is the cord cutting opinion on getting your own modem/router combo for internet? Is it cheaper than using the modem from the ISP?

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Mine was.

Amazon now offers used products with full warranty that they have certified and repackaged. I bought a docsis modem with the bandwidth I needed for $15.

I was paying $8 per month for rental.

Having said that, there is a caveot. If you ever have an issue, let the finger pointing begin. The ISP frontline help desk will try to wash their hands of it and blame your router/modem. So you need to be a bit tech savvy to deal with them and push back, in case that happens.

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good point about the support, thanks. Something I hadn't considered.

Any advice on the different versions of a Roku stick? I've read the Amazon Fire Stick isn't fast enough for good streaming, so are there some of the Rokus to avoid for that reason? What about Roku vs Amazon Fire TV?

JEC03 said:

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Any advice on the different versions of a Roku stick? I've read the Amazon Fire Stick isn't fast enough for good streaming, so are there some of the Rokus to avoid for that reason? What about Roku vs Amazon Fire TV?

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https://texags.com/forums/30/topics/2969158

Cutting the cord today. Will be a great to shed that bloated AT&T Uverse bill.

Going with Hulu live tv for locals and Roku. Should be set up by end of the day. Hopefully I can read most of this thread and pick up some pointers.

I'm about a month in and really enjoy Hulu Live. So far I haven't missed DirecTV any.

Cut the cord yesterday from DirecTV! I needed 2 receivers that were broken and they wouldn't give me new ones unless I signed up for another 12 months w/the current plan. I was willing to negotiate a lower rate but I told them I was tired of having to call up and haggle with them so just lock in the discounted rate if we can agree upon one. They said they couldn't do that because they want you to call in to check on their "specials" after yours expires.

YoutubeTV and Philo is what I went with, they seem to compliment each other pretty well. Already have Neflix and Amazon prime.

Thought it was worthy of a dedicated thread here:
https://texags.com/forums/30/topics/2990135

Locast app now offers all the local Houston channels for free. Have we discussed this yet?

I've been going back and forth on this for a while. I'm leaning towards taking the plunge, but have no idea which service I'd want to go with. DirecTV Now was a solid contender, but they got rid of their sign up promo. YouTube seems highly rated, but a good chunk of my wife's TV watching is HGTV/Food Network. Decisions decisions.

Try Youtube TV plus Philo TV. Philo just added the 3 Hallmark channels, all within their $16 Package that includes DVR. Philo is a very nice compliment channel wise to YTTV.

I recently went with YouTubeTV and Rokus around the house. With the money savings from my Spectrum Bill, after dropping TV upped my internet speed and I am still cheaper per month total than I was prior.

Bulldog73 said:

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I've been going back and forth on this for a while. I'm leaning towards taking the plunge, but have no idea which service I'd want to go with. DirecTV Now was a solid contender, but they got rid of their sign up promo. YouTube seems highly rated, but a good chunk of my wife's TV watching is HGTV/Food Network. Decisions decisions.

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Been with Vue for over a year and still as happy as can be. May try YTTV once Google and Amazon kiss and makeup.

As far as Hulu Live, I have issues with rewinding live events and have had since day 1. I use Roku, so maybe it's related to the software on that platform.

Bulldog73 said:

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I've been going back and forth on this for a while. I'm leaning towards taking the plunge, but have no idea which service I'd want to go with. DirecTV Now was a solid contender, but they got rid of their sign up promo. YouTube seems highly rated, but a good chunk of my wife's TV watching is HGTV/Food Network. Decisions decisions.

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Check the Vue lineup for those channels.

Figured I would share my experience. We were AT&T U-Verse customers for years with the U-200 and 12 MBPS internet. With only two boxes, we were paying $190/month.

Called in to AT&T, switched to 50 MBPS internet and signed up for DirecTV Now. We got DirecTV Now for $25/month for 3 months and now it's going up to the $55/month. We used the savings to buy Rokus for the house (have 3 total now of the Roku Express).

Our total bill was ~$90/month during the promo and will go up to $130/month now. So we were saving $100/month and now will be saving $60/month.

We looked at all of the options: PlayStation Vue, Hulu Live, YouTubeTV, Sling, DirecTV Now.

DirecTV Now had all of the channels we wanted plus enough DVR and was only slightly more expensive. Also, since we are AT&T cell phone customers, we have free HBO.

garc said:

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As far as Hulu Live, I have issues with rewinding live events and have had since day 1. I use Roku, so maybe it's related to the software on that platform.

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I would say roku related.

when using my amazon 4k dongle I cannot get live with a game that I paused. I will fast forward to "Go Live" and it just jumps me back to where I started fast forwarding.

This behavior is not replicated on the fire stick or on the smart tv. only the amazon 4k dongle.

your rewind issue may be roku related.

nutmegger_aggie said:

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garc said:

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As far as Hulu Live, I have issues with rewinding live events and have had since day 1. I use Roku, so maybe it's related to the software on that platform.

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I would say roku related.

when using my amazon 4k dongle I cannot get live with a game that I paused. I will fast forward to "Go Live" and it just jumps me back to where I started fast forwarding.

This behavior is not replicated on the fire stick or on the smart tv. only the amazon 4k dongle.

your rewind issue may be roku related.

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Thanks. It's frustrating.

I get into the Aggie game and want to rewind to look at the play again. It jumps back to the beginning of the previous commercial block, which you cannot fast forward through, even though you've already watched it. It seems to happen about half way through the game. It doesn't behave that way until you're into the content pretty far.

Once it happens, you have to watch the game from that point forward and not try to skip back.

ttt

tried googling this with no luck.... but I'm impatient.

I have two Roku sticks, one in the living room (ultra) and one in the bedroom (express). The one in the living room I can turn the tv on/off and control the volume with the ultra remote. Can't do that (obviously) in the bedroom. If I bought an enhanced Roku remote for the bedroom, would it work with the Roku express stick..... i.e. turn the tv on/off and control volume without changing the stick? Just trying to minimize the # of remotes..... any help would be appreciated because we've already bought 3 more express sticks for our kids for Xmas.

I dropped everything from Hulu except the Live TV. The DVR functionality/no commercial stuff on Roku was crap for me during football games, see my post above. I contacted Hulu numerous times and did not find a resolution.

I'll probably move to a different service when I can get alternatives in my area.

Caesar4 said:

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jay040 said:

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PS Vue lost all Sinclair owned ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC. This means I no longer have Fox and NBC locals. I've read that come NFL season I'll be able to watch games on the Fox Sports app, but this is still annoying.

YouTube TV has the locals but not HGTV or Food Network, which are mandatory for my wife. Sling doesn't have all my locals and no DVR.

Does DirecTV Now have DVR for everyone yet, or is it still in beta?

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I supplement YouTube TV with Philo ($16/month) to get networks like HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, History Channel, etc.

https://www.philo.com/

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Hail Casesar4! Man I was racking my brain comparing these streaming services and trying to figure out how to get all the channels my family wanted, more than 3 simultaneous streams, and a fully functional DVR... there was no way to do it with one. YTTV + Philo = $56/mo and gives you all of those. Perfect fit for us. Thank you.

Finally got rid of Direct TV via a chat window. It was almost .... too easy.

Kind of makes me think they're phasing out the dish part and dedicated receivers. Either that or they gave up trying to retain customers

I agree. With our internet provider now offering no data caps, I'm seriously considering dropping DTV depending on what discounts they'll give me (if any) when my current ones expire next month. AT&T just sent an email saying prices are going up once again and that once promotional pricing expires, customers will pay standard pricing. I take that to mean discounts will be a pain to get from them and threatening to cancel won't work like it used to.

cr said:

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nutmegger_aggie said:

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garc said:

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As far as Hulu Live, I have issues with rewinding live events and have had since day 1. I use Roku, so maybe it's related to the software on that platform.

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I would say roku related.

when using my amazon 4k dongle I cannot get live with a game that I paused. I will fast forward to "Go Live" and it just jumps me back to where I started fast forwarding.

This behavior is not replicated on the fire stick or on the smart tv. only the amazon 4k dongle.

your rewind issue may be roku related.

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Thanks. It's frustrating.

I get into the Aggie game and want to rewind to look at the play again. It jumps back to the beginning of the previous commercial block, which you cannot fast forward through, even though you've already watched it. It seems to happen about half way through the game. It doesn't behave that way until you're into the content pretty far.

Once it happens, you have to watch the game from that point forward and not try to skip back.

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We've been testing Hulu for a while and loved it at first but now torn on it. I'm having issues with the remote on one TV (could be the Roku) and buffering issues elsewhere (could be my internet but I have gig internet so that shouldn't be it).

Your specific issue above could be the service you have with Hulu. The $15 per month Enhanced DVR serviceyou pay extra for enables additional FF features that regular DVR does not have. I wonder if having that extra would fix above. I don't know.

I still have DTV too because I was testing side by side. I have also noticed my PQ is better on DTV Satellite vs Hulu streaming. I have to keep DTV satellite for time being anyway because my contract wasn't expired like I thought it was. I've cut some other monthly costs from the budget to offset keeping Hulu for now on TVs that are not connected to DTV.

I may look at DTV Now next.

I'm new to this thread, so I apologize for not reading all 11 pages before posting. I read a bit of page 1, but a lot of the updates are a year old now.

I have ATT Uverse today. On Black Friday, I purchased the $0.99/month Hulu subscription, but I've only used it a few times. It seems to have a good selection of TV shows that the family watches, but it's lacking in the movies. We haven't seen much of a need to use Hulu yet and I'm probably not going to renew it next year. I used to have Netflix, but I canceled a few years ago.

With all the options out there, especially those on page 1, is there a recommended mix that is preferred by most people? I'm leaning towards YouTube TV and Netflix only, while dropping ATT UVerse TV and keeping ATT internet only. If I do that, will I miss out on very much? Can I still watch Aggie Football?

I appreciate any thoughts on this.

Lots of YouTubeTV users on here, myself included. Great results and value. I personally have that running over Rokus (both sticks and TVs) and have virtually no issues.

YTTV has all locals, news and a great number of sports (really good), and a variety of major cable networks (TBS, TNT, AMC, FX, etc) as well 5-6 childrens' networks. It's a great variety.

Can't imagine this will help DTV

Iowaggie said:

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Can't imagine this will help DTV

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So they raised Directv satellite prices at the beginning of the year, and now they're raising DTV Now prices? Real smart there.

Been following here a while and want to say thanks to all for the great tips.

Finally got out of contract w/ Xfinity for everything except internet. I called to see what my options were to renew and the best deal they had was $170/month. Also got a sweet deal on a Netgear Nighthawk modem/router so I won't have to pay for rental fees either.

I have been using a combination of Youtube TV and Sling on a Roku Ultra. Youtube TV is a lot cleaner imo and the unlimited DVR library is awesome. Local channel availability was also a plus.

The ultimate test coming up will be my VPN/MLBTV workaround for the Stros