OT? TV tuners to watch Michigan sports? Sling, Hulu, etc.?
Would not ask this, except that I think a lot of people might be in the position that I am: I dislike the cable companies, and have been watching UM basketball and football games on various illegal streams for four or five years now.
The problem is that they're not reliable, and I spend a lot of time hunting around, killing popups, sometimes missing the first parts of games before I land on a fuzzy picture for the durations.
The question is: what are my alternatives, outside of getting a TV?
Outside of the occasional huge sports event, which I can find a stream for, I really only watch M football and basketball (I'd watch soccer if I could). I DO NOT watch any other TV.
I had something called "Internet Television" through Xfinity/Comcast, and it DIDN'T WORK.
Is my best bet a) to subscribe to Sling or something like that? Or b) should I install a TV tuner and just pay the darned $30 more bucks and get cable?
Do others share my condition? What are the best solutions? Thanks in advance for your answers.
September 22nd, 2017 at 8:28 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 8:40 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 9:41 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 11:01 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 8:29 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 8:38 PM ^
Plenty of channels, unlimited cloud dvr storage and free one month trial. After trial it's $35 a month.
September 22nd, 2017 at 8:42 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 9:09 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^
I've had PS Vue since the start of the season. Have had zero problems with it, good picture quality, etc. Decent but not perfect user interface on the Amazon Fire TV and just as easy to cast to my Chromecast. No buffering ever so far on a 25 megabit/s connection.
September 22nd, 2017 at 10:19 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 8:52 AM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^
blah I get it but what if she really needs a user friendly service and he went with Roku for that reason? He's not supposed to mention that?
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:51 AM ^
He probably knows more about how things sound about his wife than you do. It could actually be true that she (or anyone) would need easy tech gear.
September 22nd, 2017 at 9:02 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 8:27 AM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 10:11 AM ^
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September 22nd, 2017 at 9:40 PM ^
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September 22nd, 2017 at 10:17 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 9:42 PM ^
My problem is there is no local channels here and with geography an antenna is no good. I can use WatchESPN and FoxSports apps for ABC, ESPN, Fox games but CBS is no good.
I found USTVNow.com which is free and legal for CBS but it's non-HD unless you subscribe. CBS is mainly Sunday College Basketball.
I'm tempted by YoutubeTV but I got the DirecTVNow package when they were running a special. $35 for 110 channels as long as I'm a sub. My worry is the week after I switch they will get local channels and that's the only reason I have to switch. I don't think anyone stream Scranton/Willes-Barre locals yet.
September 22nd, 2017 at 8:47 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 10:58 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 6:57 AM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 7:27 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:20 PM ^
been around for a minute, but let me repeat a few details. I have a small house and NO TV; it all happens through my 34 inch computer screen. So I'm asking if I should just put a tuner in my computer and--yes--pay for cable. (Dingding!)
But I already subscribe to Netflix and watch NOTHING ELSE but Michigan sports on TV. That's why--like more than one other person here--I don't want to pay for hundreds of channels.
Luckily, there were a bunch of pleasant people--interested in the whole "pulling the plug" conversation--ready to evaluate and take my query seriously. Hats off to all of them.
September 22nd, 2017 at 9:02 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 9:20 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 8:46 AM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 9:31 PM ^
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September 22nd, 2017 at 9:59 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 8:09 AM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 10:32 PM ^
September 22nd, 2017 at 11:12 PM ^
directv now has a 1month free trial right now. ony my second one of those and really like it. not sure if i'll pay. but biding my time till youtuve tv comes to west michigan
September 23rd, 2017 at 12:16 AM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 2:17 AM ^
Sling didin't offer BTN or Fox. I switched to Vue, but still didn't have BTN. Now that they are raising the price of their basic package from $30 to $40, it's not worth its shortcomings. I am switching to HULU next week. Same price as the new Vue price and Offers BTN, Fox, and all the ESPNs including ESPNU (Vue doesn't have the U, so a lot of streaming games aren't available).
This is only important if you want to watch a few of the lesser watched teams. But this past week it I tried to watch a bunch of close games of the little guys because most of the prime-time match up were blow-outs - no joy, didn't have the U, so I couldn't.
It should be noted that I live in an area with no cable. Our options are streaming services or satellite. With the price of by internet ($50) and the price of programming ($40), I am rapidly approaching what a decent cable bundle would cost. Still, at least the streaming service doesn't require a contract. If I want to trade HULU for Sling Orange ($20) after the season, I can without any hassle.
One last note. I would consider YouTube, but it isn't offered at our location, yet.
Cheers,
AF
September 23rd, 2017 at 8:53 AM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:07 AM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 2:58 PM ^
but it was lacking some of the channels my wife liked.
September 23rd, 2017 at 2:57 PM ^
Has the big 10 network along with many other channels for only $ 40.00/mo.
September 23rd, 2017 at 7:01 PM ^
We've had it about 2 months, now have cut (literally) the cord from Comcast (TV and Internet) and entirely on cellular. Streams 720p or 1080p to Chromecast, but only 480p on a computer attached to the TV (we rarely use it). On a laptop screen it runs 720p or 1080p. The Chromecast device was free with subscription. Sport channels include: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN News, FS1, FS2, Fox Detroit, Fox Detroit Plus, NBC SN, CBS SN, Golf, Tennis, BTN, SEC, plus regular TV channels.
You get 6 accounts, 3 concurrent streams, and unlimited DVR recording for 9 mo. It works on Chrome (including Chromebooks), Android and IOS.
There is some occasional pixelisation/ resolution downgrade if internet speeds drop or youtube servers are overloaded, which we sometimes see at busy times.
Tmobile just increased their de-prioritization threshold to 50GB per month per phone so it has made it possible to use exclusively cellular data for TV viewing, especially with multiple phones.