This Week's Obsession: Cutting the Cord
So has anyone here cut the cord?
Seth: Many years ago. Back when the Facebook group for cord cutters was cutting edge. Also back when I used Facebook. It is easier now. Kids these days will never know what it's like to have Tate Forcier's head be a frozen orange block for 10 minutes. They can also actually see things on their phones.
Ace: In news from this decade, I’ve had YouTube TV for over a year now.
Brian: How long are we talking here Seth?
Seth: Early 2009, when we did the Great Saving for a Wedding budget.
Brian: oh my god
Seth: Yeah it's been awhile. Are the music videos on MTV still good?
Ace: I thought I was joking but I was not, evidently.
Brian: I have not because I've thought there will be sports things I can't get. This appears to be no longer the case?
Ace: You may have to sacrifice the NFL Network—you do for YouTube TV, and NBA TV isn’t on some other providers—but that’s well worth the tradeoff for me.
Brian: I watch like two NFL games per year, I'm good. But I am the kind of weirdo who, like, needs FS2.
Ace: I was waiting for BTN, FS1/2, CBSSports, and the other weird channels CFB pops up on, and yeah, they’ve got all those now.
The Mathlete: My DirecTV contract is up this summer too, biggest wins/losses for moving to Youtube TV?
Ace: Except Pac-12, I think, because that doesn’t really exist.
Seth: So a lot of sports watching in the past came down to how illegal you were willing to get. Since we're not going to advocate for that, you have to pick and choose what you buy or else you're back to the same price as a basic cable tier. BTN was the card that had to fall before I went 100% my own streams.
Ace: I use a few different streaming services (Hulu and Netflix) a fair amount and having them all easily accessible from one Roku device is a big plus.
Brian: 
[After THE JUMP: Should you have kids?]
----------------------------------------------
Smoothitron: When I cut last year Youtube TV was the only streaming provider that carried all the networks M stuff comes on. M athletics is pretty much the only TV that gets watched in my house so I can't speak for people that actually watch, like, shows.
Brian: This is the youtubeTV sports lineup and I can't think of a channel it's missing except, like, TruTV during the tournament? The idea of watching a show that has commercials in it that is not live sports is absurd to me.
Seth: CBS will have the whole tournament on their app.
Ace: I believe they have TruTV, they just don’t list it under sports. I don’t remember having to go off-app during the tourney last year.
Brian: Important for the Practical Jokers fans out there. What about when games get pushed to Fox Business?
Ace: I think they have that one too?
Seth: For March Madness, they'll just have the stream in the app no matter what it gets pushed to.
Ace: Confirmed, they have Fox Business. And TruTV.
Seth: I think 2014 was the first year they had it, because my daughter was brand new and I was parked on the couch with a breathing potato on my chest for the whole thing.
Ace: Another huge YouTube TV positive: unlimited DVR.
Smoothitron: Just like with any streaming service you will also need to figure out how you're going to get it on the big teevee. When I signed up for YTV they had a promotion for a free chromecast for new subscribers that I think they put on regularly. At the time I signed up the roku I already owned wasn't compatible.
Ace: Yeah I used chromecasts for the first several months I had it. Like the Roku stick more but it was manageable. Also nice if you’re going on the road.
Brian: I have a chromecast, they're like 30 bucks.
Seth: So for the Lions, the games are still broadcast on Fox. All you need is an HDTV antenna--a fair one costs $15 one time. I'm a computer geek so I record mine onto a computer but these days a lot of TVs just come with a built in ability to pick up HDTV signals. Anything on an old fashioned broadcast channel is still available.
Ace: The who
/giphy i don't know her
Seth: Everyone needs one fandom purely for dark humor. Otherwise you become a Boston fan.
Ace: That’s what 2008-14 was for.
Brian: So to do channels and stuff I have to use my computer if I don't have a roku box or something?
Alex: That’s why I started watching the USMNT again, Seth.
Ace: Or a phone or a tablet. You definitely want some sort of streaming device.
Smoothitron: In my case, yes. I handle everything via my phone.
Ace: Having a smart TV makes things a lot easier.
Brian: I think I have a smart TV but it's incredibly dumb
Ace: Yeah, mine is cumbersome enough that the Roku is a way better option.
Brian: I have a sonos bar for it and I can't get it to not use its own volume.
How much does a Roku run?
Ace: $30
Seth: We have chromecasts and a Roku upstairs. Smart TVs will do the same thing, and so do video game systems. We still use the Playstation 3 for a lot of streaming. Rokus are the same as a Chromecast.
Playstation 3: When your streaming needs are "Please play the one good video game."
Brian: Thirty bucks! Why have I not done this already?
Smoothitron: PS4 is not an option for YTV because Sony has their own streaming service that sucks.
Brian: I saw a review of various options that said it did not suck. Why does it suck?
Seth: Yeah, Sony has some guy in charge of things who's always been convinced they're going to be Apple.
Ace: My friend who has the Playstation service doesn’t like it much. Pretty frequent lagging.
Smoothitron: It was significantly more expensive than competitors when I was researching. Could be different now.
Ace: That too.
The Mathlete: What sort of internet speeds work well?
Seth: The reason for a Playstation 3 is it plays NCAA 2014. Everything else is ancillary.
Brian: Yeah any dropouts/quality issues?
Not from 2009 seth
Ace: Very occasionally, to the point I’ve made it through multiple Michigan sports seasons without it happening during an M game.
And I live in an area where the cable service isn’t the best.
Smoothitron: I used the money I saved on cable to get fat internet pipes, so I'm not sure how YTV does on slower connections.
Ace: I had AT&T drop out more frequently.
Brian: As in UVerse internet service?
Ace: Yeah.
Seth: If you've got 15 MBPS internet service you'll get 5 and that's all you need really.
Ace: And their cable service itself.
Brian: Yeah I'm on UVerse and there are occasional 15 second dropouts
Seth: UVerse uses the old telephone wires. You're going to be hit or miss based on how well some guy in the 1950s did his work.
Smoothitron: Yeah, in my area 12MBPS is the highest tier available from uverse.
Seth: UVerse also has some grandfathered deal that expires if they drop below a certain number of customers who still have land lines, so they "package" a land line into everything to maintain it.
I don't know what my phone number is, but I have one.
Ace: This reminds me that I really need to switch ISPs.
Brian: In AA UVerse is on fiber, I think.
Ace: In Ypsi, fiber UVerses you, or something.
Anyway, that’s not an option, but I’m considering switching back to evil Comcast.
Seth: Shout-out to the MGoBlog reader who briefly worked in their marketing and got us their money one time so the readers could use a front-page story to trash them.
Brian: Yeah, in AA you can get 100 MPBS for 50 bucks a month
Seth: That's just 1/10,000th of an Ann Arbor mortgage payment!
Ace: /dies, in Ypsi
Brian: Please don't get me started on local housing prices
Ace: So the next main thing is picture quality. It’s not always going to be perfect HD but it’s good enough that I rarely even notice it being not-quite-cable.
And it avoids what would be cut-outs on cable services by cutting back the stream quality to whatever you can handle at that moment.
Seth: So as EVIL as Comcast is, they also have a pretty good streaming deal that--and forgive me but my memory from last year is spotty when I was checking this out--includes some amount of free data streaming.
Brian: Honestly after watching the really dark Game Of Thrones episode and 1) not being able to see anything and 2) noticing lots of pixelation I'm guessing the quality is going to be better. People who watched it on HBO Go didn't have the same issues
Ace: That was near-impossible to watch on streaming, too.
BiSB: For those who do the "live sports plus Twitter" thing, how bad are the delays?
Ace: At least if you were watching it along with Most Of America when it aired. There’s just enough of a delay that you might spoil some plays if you’re the type to constantly refresh twitter. I stopped using tweetdeck during games.
Brian: and WHILE i'm complaining Melisandre should have taken Arya's soul in repayment to the many-faced God so the zombies wouldn't be able to detect her when she did her face shifting thing and THAT'S how she should have whacked the night king
Ace: This is the second “don’t get me started on” topic of the day.
Brian: Twitter really needs a delay you can build in
Seth: I have a cadre of Twitter follows, mostly MSM types, I have to mute during games.
Brian: oh I don't follow anyone who live tweets games already
Ace: Honestly for writing up games it can be really nice. I know where I should direct my attention before the play if I’m willing to spoil it a few seconds early.
Seth: I can't figure out whom that serves, unless it's just a place to put gamer notes.
Here I want to put a shout-out to Bobby who made our liveblog with a delay function.
Brian: So I think our conclusion are
- cut the cord already
- probably buy a Roku
- twitter might be annoying
- Youtube TV
Seth: re: 2, I like the Chromecast better.
Ace: Strong disagree here.
Seth: One because I have kids and it tells me what they're watching on it.
Ace: re: Chromecast over Roku
5. don’t have kids
FIGHT ME, DADS
Seth: I needed a way not to be bothered for the 2014 NCAA tournament and I got it.
They also make handy footballs until they're ready to play it.
Brian: my kid just had a conniption fit because his graham cracker, which he was eating, got broken in the process of him eating it so for the next five minutes i'll allow it
WHAT DOES HE THINK TEETH DO
Seth: The other thing about Roku is--and I don't know if they still do this--but they sold damn buttons on the remote. One of the stations they sold it to went out of business. So when you roll over onto the remote it stops playing what you're watching and goes to a screen that says RDio no longer exists.
Ace: They replaced that button with, at least for me, an equally useless one. But the Netflix and Hulu buttons are handy.
Smoothitron: The CBS News button on our roku remote does not get a ton of use admittedly.
Ace: On the plus side, the remote is quite useful and can also control the TV itself.
I’d much rather use that than pick up my phone to change channels.
Seth: The headphone jack is nice, but was built cheaply and breaks. Meanwhile google just updated phones to do the same thing.
Smoothitron: It is worth mentioning that the YTV app is a bit crap. Trying to rewind precisely is a chore.
Seth: Also older Rokus got old and useless because of low memory. I have a 1st generation Chromecast on the basement/workout TV and it still works as well as the newer one.
Ace: Yeah, Abraham has a point. The phone app kinda stinks.
Roku circumvents that.
Brian: These things cost 30 bucks so... I mean...
buy them all and bury the ones you don't like in the back yard
Ace: Yeah, don’t have kids and don’t buy old streaming dongles.
Smoothitron: I am at Dad Level: it was free, gotta use it
Brian: We seem to have covered the large points and are just noodling around waiting for the post to end
Oh no, here it comes!
Ace: We were not paid by YouTube TV.
Smoothitron: how did we never make a giant noodle emoji
PS Vue isn't that bad. A tad more expensive than Youtube TV but they just added beIN sports and are adding ACC network and NHL Network. Both have FS2 for weirdo Brian.
I've had both PSVue and YTV and I liked PSVue more honestly, with the big caveat that you basically need an actual Playstation. It sucked on all other devices.
I'm not a fan of YTV's interface, makes setting up recordings a chore. I prefer the traditional TV guide style program listing of a PSVue where you can see exactly what's on when relative to everything else. I also haven't found a good way to set up YTV to extend recordings of live events. They say they do this automatically, but it's hit and miss. YTV also has a weird habit of jumping to live randomly, which sucks if you're trying to watch on tape delay and it basically spoils the entire game for you.
It does have a nice feature where it will record all games of a certain team, that's saved by bacon a couple times where I've simply forgotten to set up a recording. PSVue might have something similar, but it's been a couple years so I don't remember anymore.
I’ve been using PS Vue for 3 years with both Amazon Fire and Roku. I keep researching alternatives, but none compare. The PS vue app on both those devices is very good.
PS Vue user and I can confirm it works great on a Roku. Cut the cord when we moved from NJ to A2 in 2016 and never looked back. We have Comcast internet at 25mbps and works fine with no lag. If you do plan on cutting the cord, I strongly suggest buying your own modem and wireless router rather than lease a piece of crap from Comcast. Our Asus router has paid for itself and is faster/more reliable.
Granted it's been a few years, but compared to the experience on a playstation, Roku was pretty borked. IIRC, the DVR function didn't even work, which is a showstopper for me since I watch almost all my TV on tape delay.
I've done PSVue each of the past two football seasons for ESPN & BTN. The rest of the year I just do Sling for $15 since UM football is the only sports I watch. Each year however PSUVue gets a bit more expensive. The first year it was $39.99, last year it was $49.99, and it looks like it's up to $54.99 if you want ESPN, ABC, Fox, & BTN which is basically what you need for UM football. What would be the benefit if you can get all that with YTTV for $49.99?
PS Vue works great on my Fire TV.
PSVue easily the best sports package. Works well on Roku. DVR doesn’t work, but PSVue is by far the best
Wrong. Psvue has unlimited built in DVR too and it’s great. I wouldn’t have subscribed to it if it didn’t dvr stuff for me.
I love Vue. I got rid of Charter last year and got Vue. Tons more sports, tons more on demand. Easy to navigate. And you're right. DVR is amazing. You can even go back and watch shows you missed from earlier in the day.
Commenting to the top comment because I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. FuboTV is specifically made for sports fans. I'll probably go that route once football season comes around.
Yep, I only have minor complaints about PS Vue - the DVR is great, but has some odd issues from time to time. I tried YouTube TV when it came out, but I use a Fire TV stick (which is also great) and I don't think it worked there. Might try it again to compare if it is on there now.
The important question is: How much does it save you per month?
I have Xfinity (In the DC Metro area) and I pay about $160 which includes all the premium channels and it shows Netflix and Amazon on it's interface as well. I have free Hulu through my phone service. Xfinity has an app that is fantastic, so I don't need a box for the smart tv's. I just don't know if I'm willing to occasionally watch things on my phone/tablet/computer when I spent all this money on a tv/entertainment system or the projector in the theatre room. And you still have to pay for sufficient internet, which our internet alone is $80+ so factoring that in, plus services I don't know if it's worth it for me personally.
Saves me probably $100/month. But I was paying for Netflix before and have Prime video, because I was am a Prime member anyway, so I don't really count those since I was paying for that even with Cable. And I get free HBO through my cell phone plan with ATT.
It probably isn't. The biggest savings come from avoiding constantly rising bills and paying extra for multiple tv's. That $160 bill will likely be 200+ in the next two years and that is when it will be worth it to switch.
I will say you can get cheaper internet. I was on Fios when I cut the cord, switched internet to comcast to get the "new" customer promotions and got good internet for $40 a month, also have Youttube tv, and Netflix, come in around $100 per month.
I feel like the prices of streaming platforms go up faster than the price of cable. And most streaming platforms lose value, more than they gain it (although that is more true of movie/show streaming platforms than live tv streaming platforms).
I don't think that's true. I didn't save the link, but an article was published a few months ago talking about (a) the necessity of cable and satellite providers to raise prices because their programming costs are going higher and their customer base is going lower, so they have no choice but to spread those higher costs across their shrinking customer base by jacking up prices materially, and (b) they raise their prices in less transparent ways, by leaving the list price alone and increasing the cost of the monthly fees and add-ons instead. In any case, with streaming there are no add-ons or taxes or fees, and that's something I like. The price is the price.
As for losing value, that's definitely true of Netflix. Their business model is going to increasingly be under pressure when content-providers pull their material for their own streaming services. Losing Disney will really, really hurt Netflix.
Bingo, DirecTV used to gouge me for multiple TV's plus whole home DVR. I think they were $6-$7 each per month. Plus to get the programming tier with BTN, it was $130 a month before you added any other packages on, and with the BS fees I was at $185 or so a month just for the regular cable tier. YouTubeTV takes care of all of that for $50 a month. And I can't emphasize enough how great the unlimited DVR is, you can load up so many favorite shows and movies that I find myself not even checking the live guide first before I put something on.
And even for a frequent/obsessive sports viewer like me, the only hole I can find is no NFL Network/Red Zone like Ace said, which can be fixed by also paying $30 a month for Sling with the sports add-on during the 3-4 months of football season. Still way cheaper than cable or satellite. I'm a Tampa fan living elsewhere, so it would be nice for NFL Sunday Ticket to be available a la carte. But DirecTV's exclusivity deal expires after this season, and I think there's a good chance it becomes available on some sort of streaming platform without requiring a dish. Hulu does the same thing, but it's $55 a month if you want DVR (and even that's capped at 200 hours) or $60 if you want DVR and streaming capability on more than 2 devices. I had cable or DirecTV dating back decades, and I haven't looked back.
I have YoutubeTV and I would give my right arm for a real DVR service. I do not categorize something that forces me to watch 2 minutes of commercial at a time as a true DVR service. I hardly use YTT DVR service for anything other than sports because of this, so what good is it being "unlimited"?
If YoutubeTV prices keep climbing, I will drop it in a heartbeat for Comcast. At least with Comcast, I can have a real DVR.
This is the key question. It's starting to become more of a wash, depending on the deal you get for your internet.
I still ditched the cable and am currently going internet only, and going month to month with YouTube TV. My area recently got ATT fiber coverage, so I got a deal with AT&T where I get 300 mbps internet for $50/month. Combined with YouTube TV gets me everything I need for $100/month. The key for me is that I don't need YTV every month of the year - really only during football season. So for the months where I do not need YTV, I don't pay for it and am only paying $50 for internet, and still consuming everything I would otherwise.
To me, that's the biggest benefit of streaming options like YTV: if you aren't watching live TV every month, then you just don't pay for it. You don't have that kind of flexibility with a combined internet/TV package.
1. You pay for internet either way, it's not like you can get rid of it if you have cable.
2. The big savings are for people like me that cancel it for half the year where there's no football or basketball. You can start and stop whenever you like with no penalties or bullshit initiation fees like cable. We just have Netflix for entertainment the rest of the time.
This, #1. So many are like “yeah, with internet cost it ends up virtually a wash.” No it’s not. Were you just not going to have internet? I mean, there might be a savings for some people of $10-20/month if they get a 5mb/sec service instead of 100, but you’ll still get internet service. For me, I only have one speed option: 100mb. So I’m paying the $60/month regardless whether I get Spectrum, Dish, or YTV.
Charter allows me to cancel with no penalties and restart with no extra costs, so some cable companies have wised up there. That policy is the reason Charter has retained my tv business for most of the last 10 years; the months where I don't want it at all.
I live in DC metro and I was paying around $200 for my cable and internet with all premium channels. I switched to just internet for about $70 and a basic streaming option for about $30. So my savings are around 80-100 a month.
What about DVR options, I tried PS Vue a year or so ago because they supposedly had the best DVR, but it sucked for recording live sports. It would skip parts of the game, I was not happy. How is YouTube's DVR for live sports?
I haven't dvr'd any sports but the DVR for youttube tv can record multiple shows at once, is unlimited and seems to work perfectly every time I've used it. The only downside is if the episode you recorded becomes available on demand it automatically uses that so you can't skip commercials, but it doesn't happen that frequently.
YTV's recording service is pretty good. It's navigating to each game you want through the interface to set it up that sucks. That said, I haven't found a good way to extend recordings. They supposedly do that automatically if a game goes long, but it's not reliable in my opinion.
The whole thing is absurd since none of these services are actual DVRs that record anything locally, they obviously cache literally everything. But stupid contracts with content providers prevent them from offering it all to you unless you actually opt to "record" it explicitly.
Hulu Live has all the sports channels, and gets you access to all of the old Hulu content, which is nice.
I use a Fire TV and find that it's outstanding.
Second the Fire TV, big fan of it.
I have a Fire TV box and love it. The caveat being that there is currently no youtube app. You can watch youtube videos in the web browser, but I don't know if you can watch youtube tv. I'm guessing not.
Google and Amazon have announced that normal Youtube and Youtube TV apps are coming to the Fire TV later this year.
My first cord cutting experience was with sling.. it was pretty bad at the time but i heard it got better
Then DirectTV Now.. it is pretty good but it can be slow and buggy at times. They do have a lot of channels and allowed me to get HBO for cheap, so that was good. I left because they told me i was locked into 100+ channels for 35/month forever and then lied and kept raising the prices.
Now (as of two months ago) I am using Hulu Plus Live TV and i really like it. I debated between Hulu Live and Youtube TV, but went with Hulu because it includes both Hulu and Live TV for cheaper than just Youtube TV. Also because they have an xbox app so i am now able to access all my apps on my xbox (without having to switch to fire stick for some apps).
As I said, i really like Hulu.. but I think the Hulu app could use some work in its design. I think they are struggling with mixing a steaming service and a tv service together. Dont get me wrong, the hulu app works great (its not buggy and its fast and its clear). I just dont love the app setup. The streaming section is nowhere near as good as a netflix or HBO go app.. and the TV section of the app is good but its not front and center. It is kind of hidden in the app.
Seconded. Cut the cord about six months ago. Have Hulu Live TV on both Roku and Fire sticks as well as HD antenna. Kept Comcast internet because it is very fast and reliable despite many connected devices. Saving $80 per month including adding HBO Now. Haven't missed a thing and only the internet is under contract.
I use Sling. Admittedly I no longer watch any sports outside of M. But it's kind of annoying that one of the reasons I went with it was because it had FS1 so I could watch M basketball games, but those got consistently blacked out, which I didn't know was a thing on streaming.
I got the airTV to go with it, so even though I'm getting the basic channels over antenna, they feed into the app and DVR like they are part of the streaming service.
For all the hate that Comcast gets, their X1 platform was pretty slick, I just couldn't stomach paying the extra $100+ a month over streaming anymore.
Honestly, gents, this is a difficult format to read for blog content. Otherwise I admire the effort.
I use Youtube TV, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and borrowed passwords for various other premium networks (mlbtv, HBO, Showtime).
Most attractive thing about streaming for me is not having the msu grad 22year old weatherman interrupt the Michigan v ND game for 35 minutes to lecture half the state on how it's not safe outside.
I've had PS Vue for a little over 3 years, I like it. I plug an ethernet cable directly from my modem into my FireTV, rarely have any issues and I've been able to watch every single M football game through it, at least since December of 2015. I have the package one up from the base.
But now I am very curious about YouTubeTV. I'll have to check it out.
re plugging the ethernet cable into the device: This is, I assume one thing that could significantly resolve glitchiness issues that people like me run into. But the location the internet comes to in my house makes this highly improbable. It's great for wifi, bad for plugging anything in.
Buying your own really good router could also help solve most glitchiness you would encounter. The routers that most ISPs lease you are cheap and aren’t top of the line. Get a really good router and stop leasing a crappy one and it will pay for itself over time and you’ll see an immediate upgrade in WiFi reliability, bandwidth, etc.
Interesting. I’ll have to consider that in balance with my inclination to be cheap.
When we moved recently, I made sure they ran the cable where the TV was. But I didn't have many issues before when it was just wifi. Only when OSU had the ball late in 2OT in 2016 and it cut out and by the time it came back on all I saw was.. well, we don't need to talk about that.
Second the other comment - an aftermarket router is good bet.
I'm on YouTube TV. Been on that platform for about a year and a half.I liked it more before they price hiked, but all the platforms are doing it and so I guess whatever.
I use Chromecast and the phone app. For my purposes, it's pretty darn good. I get almost all Manchester United games, all Michigan games... that's pretty much all I care about. If you want to watch more FA Cup, then you'll pry get stuck having to get ESPN+ which pisses me off to no end but again, whatever.
I have both a chromecast and roku plugged into my tv, roku is better. Having a remote over using the phone is a huge positive for me and the home interface that allows you to easily switch between YTTV and Netflix/Hulu/HBOgo is really helpful when just flipping through things without a set plan of what you want to watch.
Cordcutting is a bit of an obsession of mine. I have tried basically all of them: Sling TV, PS Vue, Hulu Live, YouTube TV, OTA antenna. If price is not a factor, YouTube TV is my favorite. Both YTV and PSVue recently raised their prices. Sling doesn't have BTN anymore, otherwise, it would be the cheapest. Hulu Live is the cheapest with BTN and it's probably the one I'll be getting when football starts back up.
Cut cord in 2014. Have tried several things:
- Aereo (RIP)
- Antenna + Tablo for DVR/sending OTA to all tvs in house via network
- Sling
- PS Vue
- DirecTV Now
- YoutubeTV
Of all those options, YoutubeTV on either a Roku or an Apple TV is by far the best for watching TV including sports. PS Vue and DirecTV Now always seemed to have horrible pixelation and lag issues when watching popular events. Almost like their CDN couldn't handle that many people watching the streams. YoutubeTV does not have that issue because they're backed by the Google Money fountain. Very rarely does the picture quality drop significantly enough to look "bad" on a 65" 4k display.
YoutubeTV is so good that I've manged to convince my extremely non-technical mother to switch to it, as well as my semi-technical father-in-law.
Highly recommend having at least 40-50 mbps down to handle multiple streams + routine internet usage + all the other 8,000 devices that are IOT enabled in homes these days.
It's also nice that I can log in to it at work when there are day games to check in on. I mean, I've never done that.
BIGGEST WORD OF CAUTION: The YoutubeTV streams are about 30 seconds behind. You will have things spoiled if you're constantly refreshing Twitter during a game.
One awesome cordcutting thing: ESPN app on AppleTV can show 4 games at once in a 2x2 grid.
Is Youtube TV 30 seconds behind? I honestly haven't noticed. Back in my Directv days, they were easily 7-10 seconds behind cable.
I periodically drop cable for cost savings; I'm in the midst of a summer where that is the case, though I will re-up when football season beckons.
The problem with going to streaming is that even the good internet options are glitchy. I use Charter in Duluth and nominally get 100 mbps.
Except when I don't, which can be a factor of Charter being glitchy or my wifi (I have a new router, issues still crop up) being glitchy or the device being glitchy or whatever. TV connected to a physical cable, or even satellite, is much less frequently interrupted. Ace says he's never had a problem with a Michigan football game, but my counterpoint is that when I had PS Vue for a while a couple of years ago there was rarely a game I watched where things didn't have a problem.
Charter in Duluth has a good thing going. I'll be eligible for various deals that will be competitive with any streaming service, I'll get good reception (picture is fine but nothing to write home about), reliable service, and a fantastic lineup of channels. And I can walk in at any time, tell them I'm cancelling, and restart later at no cost.
I might give that Youtube free trial a spin this summer, though.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, Charter has done good work on its streaming app. You can't use most of its channels outside of the house, so it's just a home thing, but in the house you can use tablets, streaming devices on other tvs, etc. It's pretty good for making the tv you pay for flexible at home.
When you say that you rarely watched a game on Vue that didn't have a problem, do you mean as in lagging or the signal going out occasionally? I've had issues with lag but I always assumed it was my wifi bandwidth, because our router is old and it usually happens when we have multiple active devices (as in more than 3) connected to the wifi (not to mention idle computers and cell phones). Do you think that could be it or did it seem to be a general bandwidth issue with your internet connection?
Speaking only for myself, once I plugged the Fire TV directly into the modem it all but eliminated any pixelation, etc. issues I had on wifi.
$130 a month for Xfinity in metro Detroit. All the channels for sports plus $5 per month in the fall / winter for extra sports package. If I buy fast internet for around $80, not much margin for savings with YouTube TV, Slingbox, etc. with each around $40 a month without DVR, etc. I've been trying to cut the cord for years but haven't been able to make the math work.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Surprise you are paying $80 for the internet. I am paying $49.99 for 150 Mbps on a two-year contract with Comcast which is more than enough speed. Probably could have gone lower, but we have about a dozen devices in our house. I am getting 50 hours DVR with Hulu Live TV for free. Also, the flexibility to change what you want to subscribe to month-to-month can be a bonus.
Comments