Cord cutters - What's your favorite streaming services?

[Herdfan]

Fair enough, at least you gave it a shot (and we both got a discount as a result) but I've read where channel numbers are important for some. We've been with YTTV long enough now that we wouldn't know the difference, what we do is just arrange our channels according to our favorites and now know where everything is without even thinking about it. It just took a bit of getting used to.

And I may end up back there.

I did like the ability to arrange the channels as I wanted them, but it was hit or miss as to whether the Guide would be on the channel you were watching or back at the top. Never could figure out what caused it to do what.

 

[Eric]

And I may end up back there.

I did like the ability to arrange the channels as I wanted them, but it was hit or miss as to whether the Guide would be on the channel you were watching or back at the top. Never could figure out what caused it to do what.

I see, that should be hard coded all the way and never change. The easiest way to manage that is to setup a custom menu using your browser then you can get it all dialed in exactly the way you like.

 

[Cmaier]

Ok, so I tried a month with YTTV. Now going to try DirecTV stream.

Looks very similar except for one big thing - the Osprey box. This box makes it look and function more like traditional cable/sat. There are Guide and List buttons and with D* Stream, you can use channel numbers. The irony here is the Osprey box runs on Android TV, yet is not compatible with YTTV.

So far the PQ on both services blows my old DirecTV out of the water. Getting some buffering issues on Stream, but my internet has been a bit wonky the past couple of days so I don't know if it is the service or Xfinity.

Pricing is a bit higher than YTTV, but the ability to use channel numbers makes that worth it. As far as programming, I get A&E & SCI back, but lose The NFL Network. I will need my NFL Network come football season (my college's conference has a contract so their games are on it), so we will see.

I find navigation a bit easier in that you don't have to go all the way back out to get to the Guide or List. Still no full live buffer, so that will take some getting used to.

It's a process.

I have both. I mostly use dtv stream, because I reserve yttv mostly for sports (because i can spoof my location to NY for it).

DTV stream DVR functionality blows.

Other than that, no comment.

 

[Herdfan]

DTV stream DVR functionality blows.

Are you on an older plan or the newer unlimited plan?

What does or doesn't do? What makes it blow?

I have really only used 2 DVR's in my life, the original Tivo/DirecTivo and the DirecTV DVR.

 

[Cmaier]

Are you on an older plan or the newer unlimited plan?

What does or doesn't do? What makes it blow?

I have really only used 2 DVR's in my life, the original Tivo/DirecTivo and the DirecTV DVR.

I’m grandfathered into a very old plan with $5 HBO max and more channels than you can get now. Don’t know how much DVR space i have, but i never run out.

Mostly the problems with DVR are:

1) no way to just see a list of all the timers you have set. If you know you did set it to record Show X, and you no longer want to record it, you have to search for Show X and turn off the recording from there. Or wait for it to record, and then turn it off from your list of recorded material. There is no screen that just lists everything that you want to record so you can edit it, or check if you have it set right.

2) it sometimes just fails to record stuff that it should record

3) if you go to the list of stuff that it’s GOING to record in the near future, it’s almost always wrong. For example, if you are set up to record only new episodes of rick and morty, but there are a bunch of reruns of rick and morty coming up, it will tell you that it’s going to record all those.

 

[Herdfan]

I’m grandfathered into a very old plan with $5 HBO max and more channels than you can get now. Don’t know how much DVR space i have, but i never run out.

Mostly the problems with DVR are:

1) no way to just see a list of all the timers you have set. If you know you did set it to record Show X, and you no longer want to record it, you have to search for Show X and turn off the recording from there. Or wait for it to record, and then turn it off from your list of recorded material. There is no screen that just lists everything that you want to record so you can edit it, or check if you have it set right.

2) it sometimes just fails to record stuff that it should record

3) if you go to the list of stuff that it’s GOING to record in the near future, it’s almost always wrong. For example, if you are set up to record only new episodes of rick and morty, but there are a bunch of reruns of rick and morty coming up, it will tell you that it’s going to record all those.

1) Yeah, that should be there and hopefully it will get added at some point. From what I have read at this point it is all still basically the old ATT Now with DirecTV branding. Hopefully it will become more DirecTV like over time.

2) In the past, this would have been a huge fail. But almost everything we watch can be found on another service. Just might have to watch some commercials. Still should not miss recordings.

3) Will check that out. I did notice when I first set up some recordings, it was wanting to record every episode of Blue Bloods on some random channel and not just the new ones on CBS.

Thanks.

 

[Herdfan]

Ok, after a few days with DirecTV Stream I have noticed a couple of things. Although the interface is much easier for me to navigate, it is also much slower. YTTV was snappy, DTS not so much.

And yesterday I received the Osprey box which makes it much more like traditional cable/sat in that there are buttons for list and guide and channel numbers. The interface is basically the same, just that there are hard buttons to get you where you want to go. Such a box would be a much better fit on YTTV that DTS because it is easier to navigate on Stream. One really nice feature is the Page Up & Down buttons. This allows you to got page by page in the Guide vs one channel at a time.

Will I stay with streaming, not sure yet? I figure at some point I will be forced into it because DirecTV isn't launching any new satellites and most of their fleet is approaching EOL. And no new ones are being built. DISH is in a similar situation. So at some point, there simply won't be the capacity in the sky to support the service.

As for the Osprey box, it runs Android TV. So why isn't there one for YTTV?. Give me that and I will jump back in a heartbeat.

 

[Eric]

Ok, after a few days with DirecTV Stream I have noticed a couple of things. Although the interface is much easier for me to navigate, it is also much slower. YTTV was snappy, DTS not so much.

And yesterday I received the Osprey box which makes it much more like traditional cable/sat in that there are buttons for list and guide and channel numbers. The interface is basically the same, just that there are hard buttons to get you where you want to go. Such a box would be a much better fit on YTTV that DTS because it is easier to navigate on Stream. One really nice feature is the Page Up & Down buttons. This allows you to got page by page in the Guide vs one channel at a time.

Will I stay with streaming, not sure yet? I figure at some point I will be forced into it because DirecTV isn't launching any new satellites and most of their fleet is approaching EOL. And no new ones are being built. DISH is in a similar situation. So at some point, there simply won't be the capacity in the sky to support the service.

As for the Osprey box, it runs Android TV. So why isn't there one for YTTV?. Give me that and I will jump back in a heartbeat.

YTTV is strictly all in the cloud so they don't need their own hardware device, you just choose which of your favorite platforms to run it on. In my house we've used Roku, Amazon Fire stick and the default Sony app. All will be nice and snappy as long as you're using one of the latest models.

 

[Herdfan]

YTTV is strictly all in the cloud so they don't need their own hardware device, you just choose which of your favorite platforms to run it on. In my house we've used Roku, Amazon Fire stick and the default Sony app. All will be nice and snappy as long as you're using one of the latest models.

That's the beauty of the Osprey device. It is a streaming box just like a Roku, Firestick, ATV or Shield. But it simply has shortcut buttons built in for Guide and List plus a numeric pad. And even though it is meant for DirecTV, it will stream Prime, Netflix, Hulu and others like any other streaming box.

However, it does look like DirecTV is testing what they are calling a Gemini device. It is a combination of an Osprey and a Genie Mini. So you will be able to get satellite and streaming on the same box. I wonder if it is meant to bridge the gap between sat and streaming.

 

[fischersd]

Everyone else just get the email from Netflix?

My response:

Umm…what?

You contradict yourselves? You say now up to 6 devices, then you say stream up to 4 devices at a time?

So, which is it?

Or, you’re trying to pull some BS that I can only use my account on up to 6 devices in my household? (Because that’s how you’re going to go after the people that are account sharing, so you’re going to penalize the rest of us?)

 

[Eric]

Everyone else just get the email from Netflix?

My response:

Umm…what?

You contradict yourselves? You say now up to 6 devices, then you say stream up to 4 devices at a time?

So, which is it?

Or, you’re trying to pull some BS that I can only use my account on up to 6 devices in my household? (Because that’s how you’re going to go after the people that are account sharing, so you’re going to penalize the rest of us?)

I haven't gotten anything yet, so they're basically saying you cannot watch anymore outside of your household? I suppose that would be considered PW sharing but I like to use it in hotels sometimes.

 

[Herdfan]

Or, you’re trying to pull some BS that I can only use my account on up to 6 devices in my household? (Because that’s how you’re going to go after the people that are account sharing, so you’re going to penalize the rest of us?)

It is certainly looking that way. I understand they don't want some college kid handing out their Logins to all their friends. But at the same time, my daughter when she was in college used our account, which I believe is a reasonable use of the service.

Netflix probably needed to do this when they were at the top of their popularity. Too much competition now so I expect this to cost them some subs. Might be worth it financially to them. I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

[fischersd]

Limiting to 6 authorized devices is going to be a pain - we'll have to keep going in and removing devices from the list (keep in mind - any browsers would count as a device as well).