OT: TV Streaming (Hulu)

[RobHowe]

Do you mind if I ask what you pay per month for internet and Youtube Live? I'm looking for the best option and what will save me $$$ each month. Also, who is your internet provider? You live in IC right? If so, I am guessing you have either Mediacom or South Slope?

Yes I mind you nosey bastard.

I think each is roughly $50 a month so $100 total. I have mediacom and the fastest speed they offer because I have to upload video from press conferences. I'm not sure you would need the fastest speed, though, so you might be able to save there.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I started with Playstation Vue, then YouTube TV. Tried Hulu for a couple weeks then went right back to YouTube TV.

I haven't tried Hulu, but I have had Sling and YouTubeTV. YouTubeTV is the best. Sling's on demand catalog sucks, their interface is laggy, and the DVR is constrained at like 50 hours. YouTube is a million times better and it has BTN. Plus, YouTube has a show called "Cobra Kai" which is the present day story of Johnny Lawrence and Daniel Larusso from Karate Kid. It is epic. YouTube's unlimited DVR has allowed me to record every Iowa game, every stock car race, every Steinfeld, every MASH, etc. I have freaking anything I could ever want to watch on it now.

 

[thedukeofearl]

I haven't tried Hulu, but I have had Sling and YouTubeTV. YouTubeTV is the best. Sling's on demand catalog sucks, their interface is laggy, and the DVR is constrained at like 50 hours. YouTube is a million times better and it has BTN. Plus, YouTube has a show called "Cobra Kai" which is the present day story of Johnny Lawrence and Daniel Larusso from Karate Kid. It is epic. YouTube's unlimited DVR has allowed me to record every Iowa game, every stock car race, every Steinfeld, every MASH, etc. I have freaking anything I could ever want to watch on it now.

YouTube TV Rules, Ken

 

[zellchiro]

I do Hulu during football season so there is no lag. Get a fire stick and side load SportZ TV for 10 bucks a month and get every channel including all MLB NFL NBA and PPV.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I haven't tried Hulu, but I have had Sling and YouTubeTV. YouTubeTV is the best. Sling's on demand catalog sucks, their interface is laggy, and the DVR is constrained at like 50 hours. YouTube is a million times better and it has BTN. Plus, YouTube has a show called "Cobra Kai" which is the present day story of Johnny Lawrence and Daniel Larusso from Karate Kid. It is epic. YouTube's unlimited DVR has allowed me to record every Iowa game, every stock car race, every Steinfeld, every MASH, etc. I have freaking anything I could ever want to watch on it now.

I had both YOuTube TV and Hulu for awhile because of a couple stations Wifey wanted that was not on YouTube, like HGTV or TLC or something. I also wanted Discovery Channel. ONce they added them, Hulu got cut. I hated Hulu's guide. It was really buggy and not very user-friendly.

I agree, YouTube TV is definitely the best. I also get every local station where I live which is the Iowa City area.

 

[EstronHawkKing]

So I dropped by Medicom today to talk to them about their internet service. Of course he tried to talk me into buying their cable when I said I was going to try tv streaming, I just said 'no thanks." The rep did tell me that their $19.99 60 Mbps internet would not be enough to stream live tv and use a laptop at the same time. He said their $40 plan would though. If I went with Mediacom it would be a $100.00 install fee. He did say if I used their modem it would be $10 per month rental, but I am going to just buy one at Best Buy. They have a modem/router combo deal ranging from around $105 to $130 dollars. I can't wait until this is all set up and done with.

Being that my smart tv only gets Hulu, I need either a fire stick or Roku. I am going with a Roku from Wal Mart. How exactly do Roku sticks work? Do you just plug them into your tv and you magically can get Youtbue Live? Do you use the Roku as your remote control then?

 

[SpiderRico]

So I dropped by Medicom today to talk to them about their internet service. Of course he tried to talk me into buying their cable when I said I was going to try tv streaming, I just said 'no thanks." The rep did tell me that their $19.99 60 Mbps internet would not be enough to stream live tv and use a laptop at the same time. He said their $40 plan would though. If I went with Mediacom it would be a $100.00 install fee. He did say if I used their modem it would be $10 per month rental, but I am going to just buy one at Best Buy. They have a modem/router combo deal ranging from around $105 to $130 dollars. I can't wait until this is all set up and done with.

Being that my smart tv only gets Hulu, I need either a fire stick or Roku. I am going with a Roku from Wal Mart. How exactly do Roku sticks work? Do you just plug them into your tv and you magically can get Youtbue Live? Do you use the Roku as your remote control then?

The rep is wrong that 60 Mbps wouldn't be enough to stream and use a laptop. It's more than enough. However, where the rep is correct is that the usage you get with that specific 60 Mbps, which is 60 GB, is not even close to enough to cover streaming. You would need the 100 Mbps package that gives you 1TB of usage. Streaming 720p over YouTube or 1080p over Netflix uses up an enormous amount of data.....in our house, we're typically using 650-800 GB of data. Once we moved to the 4k OLED and were getting 4k Dolby Vision content from Netflix, we had to move up to the 200 Mbps so we could get the 2 TB of data because our data usage went up about 50%.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

We have Youtube as well and love it, but it doesn't have the History Channel. I wish there was some way I could just pay for that channel instead of switching to Hulu. Like you said, Youtube has a very user friendly interface.

Once individual channels/networks make it truly a la carte, cable and satellite will become the dial-up internet of TV broadcasting.

I literally paid ZERO to watch football this past season. Using different email addresses, I free-trialed my way through. Seven-day trials, using mine and wife's various email accounts. Full disclosure, I was at NW game in Evanston, so no free trial necessary that week!

Only issue seems to be the need for a gmail account to get YouTube TV. That, and with PSVue discontinuing TV service, I may need to get creative next season! YouTube, Fubo, Sling. Since I have regular Hulu, not sure I can free-trial their "live" service. But with PSVue gone, that's about two or three weeks unaccounted for next Fall.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Gold is also well versed on world history and military history.

As for the stuff I post from 20-40 years ago, you remember more of it than you care to admit.. And if I have it wrong Bob 62 will quickly add to the story or correct my story.

Now about that Lafester Rhodes game.....

Merciful God allowed me to miss that one!

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Just went to You Tube live after Vue folded. No complaints so far.

I still don't understand Sony pulling Vue off the market. Wife grumbled MUCH less about football because of Vue having Hallmark Channel.

Actually, Fubo has THREE Hallmark channels!

 

[Fryowa]

The rep is wrong that 60 Mbps wouldn't be enough to stream and use a laptop. It's more than enough. However, where the rep is correct is that the usage you get with that specific 60 Mbps, which is 60 GB, is not even close to enough to cover streaming. You would need the 100 Mbps package that gives you 1TB of usage. Streaming 720p over YouTube or 1080p over Netflix uses up an enormous amount of data.....in our house, we're typically using 650-800 GB of data. Once we moved to the 4k OLED and were getting 4k Dolby Vision content from Netflix, we had to move up to the 200 Mbps so we could get the 2 TB of data because our data usage went up about 50%.

There are still ISPs in 2020 that have data caps?

Holy shit.

My son and I can easily use around a TB in a month depending on the time of year at 75 mbps down and 10 up. I pay $58 for that.

You guys stuck with those providers are getting HOSED.

 

[Chickenlounge]

There are still ISPs in 2020 that have data caps?

Holy shit.

My son and I can easily use around a TB in a month depending on the time of year at 75 mbps down and 10 up. I pay $58 for that.

You guys stuck with those providers are getting HOSED.

Most of us don't really have a choice. At my house, I can get CenturyLink DSL 60/7 with no data caps, but that speed is god-awful slow for the number of devices we have. Or I can pay Mediacom for great speed but with data caps. It's a no-win situation when there are monopolies involved.

 

[Fryowa]

Most of us don't really have a choice. At my house, I can get CenturyLink DSL 60/7 with no data caps, but that speed is god-awful slow for the number of devices we have. Or I can pay Mediacom for great speed but with data caps. It's a no-win situation when there are monopolies involved.

I was gonna hit the Like button but I don't like that.

 

[Fryowa]

Most of us don't really have a choice. At my house, I can get CenturyLink DSL 60/7 with no data caps, but that speed is god-awful slow for the number of devices we have. Or I can pay Mediacom for great speed but with data caps. It's a no-win situation when there are monopolies involved.

Side note, what's your usage like that 60 isn't fast enough?

When I was deciding between 75 and 100 I cranked every device I have to a full HD stream simultaneously and I could still get a speed test up to like 20 mbps remaining.

I admittedly don't have a ton of devices, but I had an iPad and two phones steaming YouTube, my computer streaming 4K, and two TVs streaming 1080p, all at the same time and it never choked. Not doubting you at all but you must have a bunch of content going on.

 

[SpiderRico]

Side note, what's your usage like that 60 isn't fast enough?

When I was deciding between 75 and 100 I cranked every device I have to a full HD stream simultaneously and I could still get a speed test up to like 20 mbps remaining.

I admittedly don't have a ton of devices, but I had an iPad and two phones steaming YouTube, my computer streaming 4K, and two TVs streaming 1080p, all at the same time and it never choked. Not doubting you at all but you must have a bunch of content going on.

For me, I'd love to just be at 60, but the data cap is 400GB. I'm actually at 200 just so I can get the 2TB data. But it's not terribly expensive....$90/mo.

 

[Chickenlounge]

Side note, what's your usage like that 60 isn't fast enough?

When I was deciding between 75 and 100 I cranked every device I have to a full HD stream simultaneously and I could still get a speed test up to like 20 mbps remaining.

I admittedly don't have a ton of devices, but I had an iPad and two phones steaming YouTube, my computer streaming 4K, and two TVs streaming 1080p, all at the same time and it never choked. Not doubting you at all but you must have a bunch of content going on.

It was more the 7 upload that was the killer there. Wife uploads lots of pics/vids and would just saturate the link.

Not to mention kids on TikTok, Snapchat videos, etc...

 

[Fryowa]

I literally paid ZERO to watch football this past season. Using different email addresses, I free-trialed my way through. Seven-day trials, using mine and wife's various email accounts. Full disclosure, I was at NW game in Evanston, so no free trial necessary that week!

You have to have a valid credit card for those free trials so the email address thing is really a moot point. Unless you move physical addresses and use a different credit card each time you're not going to be able to do that.

As a test I just signed out of YT and tried to sign up for a free trial with a different email and credit card. Wouldn't let me due to my location.

A VPN might get you around it for a while, but in my experience Hulu and YT are damn good at detecting them and even if you did get access it wouldn't be reliable for very long.

 

[Fryowa]

It was more the 7 upload that was the killer there. Wife uploads lots of pics/vids and would just saturate the link.

Not to mention kids on TikTok, Snapchat videos, etc...

Ahhhh. Gotcha.

My son's middle school wifi is fricking crazy. After his wrestling meet the other night I ran a speed test on my phone for shits and giggles, 800 down and right around 450~ish up. But I suppose with several hundred simultaneous users you need the high bandwidth just for reliability purposes.

 

[Chickenlounge]

You have to have a valid credit card for those free trials so the email address thing is really a moot point. Unless you move physical addresses and use a different credit card each time you're not going to be able to do that.

As a test I just signed out of YT and tried to sign up for a free trial with a different email and credit card. Wouldn't let me due to my location.

A VPN might get you around it for a while, but in my experience Hulu and YT are damn good at detecting them and even if you did get access it wouldn't be reliable for very long.

Plus, what a PITA to try and do that every 1-2 weeks. I'd rather just pay the $50/month.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Once individual channels/networks make it truly a la carte, cable and satellite will become the dial-up internet of TV broadcasting.

I literally paid ZERO to watch football this past season. Using different email addresses, I free-trialed my way through. Seven-day trials, using mine and wife's various email accounts. Full disclosure, I was at NW game in Evanston, so no free trial necessary that week!

Only issue seems to be the need for a gmail account to get YouTube TV. That, and with PSVue discontinuing TV service, I may need to get creative next season! YouTube, Fubo, Sling. Since I have regular Hulu, not sure I can free-trial their "live" service. But with PSVue gone, that's about two or three weeks unaccounted for next Fall.

Man dude, I'd rather just pay the $55 a month and be done with it.