Fiber coming - streaming TV recommendations for old/boring couple?

1,697 Views | 6 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by scd88
Uncle Bug
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AG
The big orange cable is being laid in our neighborhood and we are looking forward to ditching cable boxes tied to cable outlets (as well as improved network speeds & setting up a mesh network).

For those that have cut the cord, I'd love to hear your TV streaming recommendations for a boring/old couple.

Want:
- Local channels for weather and news
- National "cable" news
- HGTV
- DVR-style capability because we are immune to commercials. Pause/FF is the greatest invention of modern times. Very truly I tell you, I would rather hit pause and listen to 20 dogs barking, a kid throwing a rod in his straight-piped Mustang GT with the sub woofer shaking my walls during a shoot out at a nearby apartment complex than endure another McDonalds or Sandals commercial.

We have Amazon Prime, Curiosity Stream (documentaries and non-fiction), and Apple TV (on the rare occasion we want to watch a movie and not on Prime).

Do not want:
- 4K
- Movie channels
- Sports channels
- PPV

Someone mentioned a Firestick, but I am not sure if/how I can get the locals through it (I still need a streaming service I think?). Maybe plant an antenna in the attic and somehow tie that to the network or Firestick?

Thanks for any vectors in advance! ...Now back to yelling at clouds.

TChaney
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Suggestion number one on streaming services. Take advantage of any free trials. Some are very short periods but you get a chance to use the interface and see how ad free it really is. Or just sign up for one month and try it out. We do this with Disney+ and Netflix, pay for a month if there is something we want to watch, then cancel until other content we are interested in comes out.

With what you listed, I would suggest trying Sling and Philo out. Both should have a free trial and should have cloud DVR services.
YouTubeTV is going to be one of the most inclusive services but the price is up there.

Look for a free with ads service named Pluto TV there are not many ads and it's has a ton of free streaming content all consolidated in one place.

It's a little late but Hulu usually runs a Black Friday special at $1 a month with ads for one year. I know ads can be annoying but you can't beat that price.

The antenna is a great idea for the local broadcast / streaming setup. For this setup I like the ease of use of the Roku TVs. I also throw in a Chromecast to stream anything from the PC to the TV that isn't available through the apps, I assume you can do the same via an Apple TV device. The live TV option is integrated along with all of the Roku channels. I have had pretty good luck with a cheap one I got from Walmart of all places.
KidDoc
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Youtube TV with any smart TV will fill all your needs. Not the cheapest option but super easy to use and works great.

If you don't have a smart TV then you can worry about adding a Roku. I would personally avoid firestick as it will really force you into Amazon's ecosytem only although I personally haven't tried to use one in several years.
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Average Joe
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If it is Frontier then they have a discount with YouTube tv, I believe.
The Anchor
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KidDoc said:

Youtube TV with any smart TV will fill all your needs. Not the cheapest option but super easy to use and works great.

If you don't have a smart TV then you can worry about adding a Roku. I would personally avoid firestick as it will really force you into Amazon's ecosytem only although I personally haven't tried to use one in several years.
You don't need a smart TV for YouTube TV. We cast it from our phones to an ancient flat screen TV using a Chromecast.
Uncle Bug
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AG
Follow up/review:

1Gb service installed - came with two eero's (WiFi6 mesh) and the network works just fine. New box installed in garage to feed switch box in the house that connects to the Eero. There's a little more range than my previous ASUS router riding Suddenlink's service (including their boxes that doubles as TV). 3yr contract $60/mo.

I needed streaming and subscribed to DTV Stream ($90/mo - no contract) and bought a fire stick for the older Samsung (for some reason, DTV Stream is not available for download on a Samsung).

Combined, I'm paying about $30 less than Suddenlink for internet and TV. In addition, since DTV Stream is month-month, I might try some of the other services noted above soon. My favorite improvement is that I am no longer tied to a cable outlet with box... power cord is all that is needed to set a TV wherever you like - even in the backyard!

Notable, it was about three weeks before the tech came out and buried the fiber cable from the street to the house.
scd88
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Thanks, uncle bug. Good information.
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