Post season streaming TV assessment
- Thread starter NCHawker
- Start date
Fryowa
Administrator
100% satisfied with Hulu live.
I would never, ever go back to dish or cable. Especially since it’s $40 a month with no tax or bullshit nickel and dime fees. Straight up $39.99 auto debited.
Instead of having to use the ESPN app on my Roku to find out of market games, the Hulu channel guide just adds ten or twelve different ESPN "channels" to the guide and you select which one you want to watch. For example, if you were, say, an SMU fan and your game wasn't on in your market, you'd normally have to switch to the ESPN app to watch it. Hulu Live avoids that by just listing all the games available, which is a shit ton. When football is over for the day it goes back to just listing the main ESPN, ESPNU, ESPN2, and ESPN News channels.
Same thing with BTN and Fox channels. If Penn State is playing on your normal BTN channel but the Hawks are the alternate, it lists them both so you don't have to switch over to the BTN app.
Able to watch all games on my phone on one app, don’t need all the network-specific apps. Can also DVR from my phone in case I’m out of the house and forget.
Has the SEC Network which, I don’t care what anyone says, has the best non-game shows about their sports, period. It also adds another option for games that you can’t normally see if you’re interested in them.
Also get all the local Sioux City and Sioux Falls channels.
Last but not least, and the most important thing for me, it supports 60 fps. Anyone who has ever watched any kind of sports at 30 fps knows exactly what I mean. It's completely unwatchable. Hulu live's channels are all 60 fps for sports.
Of course Dish and DTV does a lot of this stuff, but it’s sure as hell not $40 a month, free of contract, free of equipment, and free of equipment fees. My internet also doesn't go wonky or go out altogether during bad weather.
For disclosure, I have 75M down and 3M up. If your internet is on the slow side or gets unreliable at times, ymmv. Hulu live includes 2 devices at a time; my son and I can both watch HD, 60fps broadcasts at the same time without a hiccup at 75M down and my WiFi manager shows that while doing that, we’re only using 20-25M.
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Fryowa
Administrator
Yep. Hulu has a DVR function. Doesn't store it on your device, but allows you to go back and watch it later. You can also rewind live games or pause them, but it does make you watch the commercials (only when fast forwarding through the portion you haven't watched yet). There is another tier of pricing that allows you to bypass that I believe.
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MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
I have both PSVue and YouTube TV and both have DVR capabilities. Once PSVue gets the last local station in our area (NBC affiliate) I prob will dump YouTube because they don't have a couple channels that my wife and I like such as HGTV and Discover. But now have both which is still cheaper than cable. I am wiht Fry, I won't ever go back to cable or a satellite. I like not having any damn equipment, all is streamlined, no cable cluster #uck, and like Fry states, no dropped service when raining. LISTEN PEOPLE, there is no damn reason this day in age to have cable or satellite.
The only drawback I find with YouTube is that I can only go so far ahead in the day to find what I want to DVR and add to my library. So, I can't really go to the next day and DVR something if planning to be out of town or something. But, I suppose I could figure out how to do it in the YouTube app or something but just haven't yet. PSVue does allow to go ahead quite a bit to program.
In addition, the picture is great and I think just as good as DirecTV who I think has the best picture of cable and satellite.
Just make sure your download speed is up to par and have fairly nice routers. Getting this is still cheaper than cable or satellite and the bill is always the same with streaming.
I'm pretty certain I am not even aware of all my options/add ons or using them. I'm just simply watching at this point.
mopkins
King Kong
Are you getting 1080p at 60 FPS or just 720?
One thing I can't stand about streaming services...and granted this is pretty minor...is that they are considerably behind the cable/satellite providers. I have DTV and my buddy has DTV Now, and his sports streams are a good 3-5 minutes behind mine. So he gets pissed when I text him about things that just happened because they haven't happened for him yet. He also has to stay off twitter and forums because people watching on cable/satellite are ahead of him and will spoil things.
Fryowa
Administrator
Huge clarification needed that most people don't know about; all Fox, ESPN, ABC, BTN, SEC, etc. channels broadcast in 720p. You can't get them in 1080, and there are no network broadcasts in the US at 1080p currently. 1080p is all PPV and on-demand video. Some channels do broadcast in 1080i.
But we do get full available resolution at 60fps on both TVs at once. My kid and I both had the Saints game on last night at 720/60fps (highest available). No hiccups at all. If you switch channels it takes less than a couple seconds to go full resolution. For channels that do go 1080i / 60fps, we get that also.
When I had Playstation Vue I had way fewer channels in 60fps, but to be fair that may have changed this year. I don't know.
mopkins
King Kong
Good info, thanks
I haven't been able to break away from DTV yet. I love Sunday Ticket and I love the functionality. My wife and I absolutely loathe the customer service and price though.
Fryowa
Administrator
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
Too funny...I just had this conversation last night with my wife...I'm switching to Hulu Live. How about three people who want to watch at once...is there a solve for that?
Fryowa
Administrator
They have an unlimited screens option for $15/month.
Luckily I only own two TVs.
mopkins
King Kong
I still think the streaming stuff needs a few years to figure things out and even consolidate a little bit. Right now there's just way too many options, to many apps, too many dongles (firestick, roku, chromecast, etc) too many issues (DVR, guides, channel disputes, etc). Streaming tv is definitely the future, but seems we're still a bit in the wild west phase.
Fryowa
Administrator
Actually, I think it's migrated out of the wild west phase. You do have several provider options, but you have the same thing or more with cable providers.
What I love about it is the price competitiveness that you don't have with cable and Dish. Until now they had you by the short hairs and could charge literally whatever they want. Need more money? Add some fees. Still need more money? Add even more fees.
With streaming everyone is in the same boat with roughly the same channels and features, so they have to charge what the market will bear. Which is about $40 a month. Not $150+. And remember, by law your ISP can't tax you, and Streaming services are tax free as well.
When your ISP says your internet costs $50 a month and Hulu is $40, $90 a month comes out of your checking account.
Dish may say they're $60 but they charge you for your package, sales tax, local option tax, a fee for your receiver, a fee for your other receiver, a fee for your other receiver, a fee for "Dish Protect" installation, deinstallation, and pretty soon you're at $150.
What has always differentiated (until now) is 1) local channels which has been solved, and 2) internet speed. That one is getting better and better every day. I know that 5 years ago, 5MB down was the fastest you could get in my area and now I'm at 75. All for roughly the same price because my internet company has been upgrading their equipment.
I do know that my uncle who lives in Minnesota can't watch Vikings games in his town on Cable or Dish (without Sunday ticket), and I'm 20 miles from the border and I can watch them no prob on Hulu streaming.
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mopkins
King Kong
Its definitely something I keep a close eye on. My internet recently got upgraded to 100MB without my price going up, so internet speeds are just blowing up right now. Plus with 5g cell service due out over the next few years its really going to escalate.
I assume eventually all channels will just let you pay for their channels "a la carte" and no more packages or bundles. Some companies already offer that...ESPN, HBO, CBS....but then you have to use their specific app instead of a 1 size fits all app. I'd love a service that just lets you cherry pick what you want and when you want it.
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
No streaming service has TVJapan and if Ma can't watch her daily NHK drama and my boy loses Anpanman, they'll murder me. I have suggested that we run sling off of her parents' satellite receiver in Japan and one of our friends here actually does that, but I have been vetoed.
Fryowa
Administrator
Most Extreme Elimination Challenge spawning from Takeshi's Castle is the only thing associated with Japnese TV worth a damn. Kenny Blankenship, Captain Teneal, and Guy Le Douche are GOATs.
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
This can vary widely depending on where you live. I had a 250 MB package with blast or burst or whatever Comcast sold when I lived in Evanston. With the population density and everyone on streaming from 7 to 11 PM, my speeds would routinely fall to 10 mbps or less. It would run 200+ during the day or at like 2 in the morning, but when everyone was streaming, it was garbage. It was actually so bad that I had to have a DSL backup line installed because my job changed to a virtual desktop and I couldn't even maintain constant connectivity.
Now I'm out in the country and have AT&T fiber and that thing runs north of 75 at all times. I think the cable companies are having huge issues in the cities. And the problem was twofold. One, the wired connection would slow to a crawl and two, with 100 units in my building, you couldn't find a wi-fi channel that wouldn't be bogged down with data.
mopkins
King Kong
I haven't noticed that yet, but I was wondering if that would be an issue.
I still think the 5g rollout will clear a lot of that congestion up. My guess is the cable internet companies are beefing up their internet speeds to try and compete with the upcoming 5g towers. Its likely your average internet user will drop their internet package once 5g is mainstream.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
I don't see that at all. When a game starts at 7:00 p.m., it seems just like it was when I had DirecTV. That has absolutely not been a problem with me anyway. But, I don't get people texting me about the game either I guess.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
You don't think there will be even more throughout the years? Years to figure out? Hell, you'll be $3,600 less rich by the time you hop on board.
