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HouTex

HouTex 1866

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A little late on this thread but the wife really wants to cut the cord.  As of now our Spectrum bill with internet, HBO, and the silver package which allows us to get RedZone is about 211.  I have a good friend who cut the cord a few years ago and he went with PS Vue, and he was mentioning that he bought his own cable modem which pays for itself eventually, and an antennae for the OTA stations.  What kind of equipment will I need?  Looks like YTTV is a really good option, and based on my zipcode in NC they have all the local affiliates plus NBC Sports Network for soccer, and ACC Network as well.  Just curious if you all had to buy your own cable modems, antennae, etc and what device do you use to actually stream?  We watch a lot of Netflix and HBOGO streamed through the Xbox.  Sorry for all the noob questions but would greatly appreciate some info, thanks!

Comcast (Xfinity) is my internet provider so I use their modem. Then I have a Roku for each TV to interface with YTTV, Netflix, HBOGO and Amazon. My house is wired so I have the Rokus with the wired connections for all but one TV. One TV uses wifi and it works fine. I have a Gig switch for connecting the TVs to the cable modem. Everything works great. Xfinity had some connection issues last month but they seemed to have resolved it after a few days. All in, I reduced my monthly bill from over $300 with DirectTV to around $80. I lost the LHN and most regular season Astros games but I like saving $220 a month.
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RedDirtTexan
RedDirtTexan

FWIW.....I tweeted at @YouTubeTV and complained about them not carrying LHN. They wrote back and sent a link asking for suggestions on which channels to work on adding to their lineup. Here's the link

WithoutAClue
WithoutAClue
Nice Guy Eddie
Nice Guy Eddie

For me the best part of cord cutting is not that I saved money, I’ve dropped tv viewing by at least 50%.  If I have to drop it closer to 100%, not sure I will miss it.

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tokamak

tokamak 6395

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1 hour ago, iodeac said:

A little late on this thread but the wife really wants to cut the cord.  As of now our Spectrum bill with internet, HBO, and the silver package which allows us to get RedZone is about 211.  I have a good friend who cut the cord a few years ago and he went with PS Vue, and he was mentioning that he bought his own cable modem which pays for itself eventually, and an antennae for the OTA stations.  What kind of equipment will I need?  Looks like YTTV is a really good option, and based on my zipcode in NC they have all the local affiliates plus NBC Sports Network for soccer, and ACC Network as well.  Just curious if you all had to buy your own cable modems, antennae, etc and what device do you use to actually stream?  We watch a lot of Netflix and HBOGO streamed through the Xbox.  Sorry for all the noob questions but would greatly appreciate some info, thanks!

Using your own cable modem has nothing to do with cutting the cord but it's a good idea regardless. You can get a good one for <$100, and I think Comcast charges $10/mo. We've been using our own for 6 or 7 years now with no problems. I'm sure if you search hard enough they have a list of approved ones on their website somewhere. A non-approved one will work fine but I'd get one off the list just so they can't blame any service outages on you.

The only reason that you'd need an antenna if YTTV has your locals is if you're worried about internet outages, or there are additional local channels in your area that YTTV doesn't carry (PBS, Spanish language, etc). If you live in a city, I would just start with a cheap antenna and only upgrade if you have problems. We live in Houston and get everything we need with a shitty $9.99 pair of bunny ears from 20 years ago.

As far as streaming devices go, Apple, Roku, and Amazon are the big players. We've had both Roku and Amazon and they are both fine. I kind of like Roku because they tend to be neutral in licensing wars between the other players (Amazon devices just recently got an official YouTube app due to disputes between Amazon and Google). Honestly though I'd just go with whatever fits your budget and/or happens to be on sale. There's no one that's massively better than the others. You may not even need one if your TVs are smart TVs (which all recent ones are) and you're happy with that interface.

One thing you didn't mention but I'll recommend is a good universal remote. The remotes that come with the streaming devices tend to suck ass. We have a Logitech Harmony and it's awesome. You probably don't need one of the crazy expensive ones - I think the one we have was like $60 and does everything we need. We control the TV, Roku, Blu-Ray player, and even an ancient-ass VCR with one remote.

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iodeac

iodeac 138

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Thanks, I have an Onkyo receiver and the remote is halfway functional so ideally I could find a universal remote that would incorporate that as well.

As far as devices, XboxOne is compatible with YouTubeTV so I might not even need to buy a Firestick or Roku or whatever.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

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ColoradoHorn

ColoradoHorn 7

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45 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Using your own cable modem has nothing to do with cutting the cord but it's a good idea regardless. You can get a good one for <$100, and I think Comcast charges $10/mo. We've been using our own for 6 or 7 years now with no problems. I'm sure if you search hard enough they have a list of approved ones on their website somewhere. A non-approved one will work fine but I'd get one off the list just so they can't blame any service outages on you.

The only reason that you'd need an antenna if YTTV has your locals is if you're worried about internet outages, or there are additional local channels in your area that YTTV doesn't carry (PBS, Spanish language, etc). If you live in a city, I would just start with a cheap antenna and only upgrade if you have problems. We live in Houston and get everything we need with a shitty $9.99 pair of bunny ears from 20 years ago.

As far as streaming devices go, Apple, Roku, and Amazon are the big players. We've had both Roku and Amazon and they are both fine. I kind of like Roku because they tend to be neutral in licensing wars between the other players (Amazon devices just recently got an official YouTube app due to disputes between Amazon and Google). Honestly though I'd just go with whatever fits your budget and/or happens to be on sale. There's no one that's massively better than the others. You may not even need one if your TVs are smart TVs (which all recent ones are) and you're happy with that interface.

One thing you didn't mention but I'll recommend is a good universal remote. The remotes that come with the streaming devices tend to suck ass. We have a Logitech Harmony and it's awesome. You probably don't need one of the crazy expensive ones - I think the one we have was like $60 and does everything we need. We control the TV, Roku, Blu-Ray player, and even an ancient-ass VCR with one remote.

Which model Harmony are you using?

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tokamak

tokamak 6395

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4 minutes ago, ColoradoHorn said:

Which model Harmony are you using?

Looks like we have the 665. It's the cheapest one with an LCD screen.

I will say that one thing I wish it had was voice search. I think most of the Fire/Roku/etc remotes have that now but my Harmony doesn't. Kind of a pain when you have to "type" on the screen to search.

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Celery Man

Celery Man 20933

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Whether you want to buy a new modem is kinda a separate thing.  You have a cable modem now, if spectrum is.... billing you monthly for that piece of hardware it's probably worth buying your own and giving it back because it's probably not very good and yeah at some point $10-15 a month breaks even on a decent modem.

But, that's independent of turning off your cable TV service.  The part of "cutting the cord" where you'd start looking at networking gear would be if you have TVs in sections of the house that don't have internet wired and are far from the wifi router (and therefore have low internet speeds and may not stream as well).  You might look at something like Google nest WiFi or some other mesh type thing that gives you a stronger wifi network across the house.

But maybe you're like me and you have pretty good wifi coverage and are good with the local stations and what youtube TV has to offer, and so it's pretty simple.  I Amazon Fire Sticks, they work pretty well.

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texas08

texas08 1599

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Thanks, I have an Onkyo receiver and the remote is halfway functional so ideally I could find a universal remote that would incorporate that as well.

As far as devices, XboxOne is compatible with YouTubeTV so I might not even need to buy a Firestick or Roku or whatever.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk





Dang. Is your Onkyo silver? How many HDMI ports?


















(I actually don’t even remember how the actual shag joke with Onkyo receivers started, lol.)
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Brew

Brew 3049

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Simple question that has probably been covered but I don’t want to read the whole thread. Does YTTV have the network shows on demand or do they have to be recorded? My wife watches the network shows in demand now as we watch virtually no live TV with work/kids schedules. If it is available, then I probably need to make the switch.

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JimmyHoffa

JimmyHoffa 1188

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19 hours ago, Brew said:

Simple question that has probably been covered but I don’t want to read the whole thread. Does YTTV have the network shows on demand or do they have to be recorded? My wife watches the network shows in demand now as we watch virtually no live TV with work/kids schedules. If it is available, then I probably need to make the switch.

 

They are all available and even if you record a "new" show it will pull up the past episodes on demand for you as well. We have had YTTV for a couple of months and have had only a few minor gripes. 

We have two Roku's, 2 Apple TV 4K's. The apple 4K remote is AWFUL to use the touch screen sucks and is really annoying to use. Our other Apple 4K we are using a Harmony remote that works great. 

Far and away my biggest complaint is Viacom's forced commercials on their channels. Even if you "record" a show to your DVR they force you to watch their On Demand show that you can't fast forward through commercials in some cases. 

I am even debating adding another service just so I don't have to watch commercials on some shows if that is even possible. Other than that I have been super happy with the switch from DTV. 

 

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Gator Dave

Gator Dave 14

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2 hours ago, JimmyHoffa said:

 

They are all available and even if you record a "new" show it will pull up the past episodes on demand for you as well. We have had YTTV for a couple of months and have had only a few minor gripes. 

We have two Roku's, 2 Apple TV 4K's. The apple 4K remote is AWFUL to use the touch screen sucks and is really annoying to use. Our other Apple 4K we are using a Harmony remote that works great. 

Far and away my biggest complaint is Viacom's forced commercials on their channels. Even if you "record" a show to your DVR they force you to watch their On Demand show that you can't fast forward through commercials in some cases. 

I am even debating adding another service just so I don't have to watch commercials on some shows if that is even possible. Other than that I have been super happy with the switch from DTV. 

 

Different strokes for different folks. I like the Apple remote. Did you try adjusting the sensitivity settings?

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 593

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11 minutes ago, Okie State said:

Dump it. We did and don't miss it a bit.

I have Hulu live with no commercials... going to $61 a month. When you dumped Hulu how did you watch sports. Just stuff on broadcast with antenna?

I have Hulu, Netflix, HBO, Disney+ and really don't think I need all this stuff.

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Liquor and Poker

Liquor and Poker 3659

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Finally got my price increase email from ATTDTVTVN.  So, going forward I will be paying a total of $75 (after discounts) for the Go Big! package, plus Starz, Sho, HBO/Cinemax included for another $26, or $101. 

So I'm thinking about switching, but does YTTV still not have HBO?  HBO Now/Max, Starz and Showtime will add another $36 to the bill.  So still cheaper, but not by nearly as much.  And I lose LHN, which is easily 1-2 hours of my TV per year.

YTTV doesn't include YT Premium anymore, does it?

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13509

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17 minutes ago, Okie State said:

We dumped YouTube TV when it jumped to $50. I don't really watch sports much anymore, but do have an antenna for the primetime games. Kids are more than happy with Prime, Netflix, and now Disney+.

I cut the cord a few years ago, and have always had some combo of Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. A few times I've tried promotions with PSVUE, Sling and DTVNow. I hear great things about YTTV but I don't want to get back in the cycle of paying $50+. I remember that is how my Uverse started and then ended up $100 within a couple of years.

YTTV is showing 162 channels for my zip code. If they offered a lower tier with fewer channels and much lower cost, I would be all over it. Also annoying that they don't package Youtube Premium with YTTV.  I could probably get behind both of those together for $50.

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Okie State

Okie State 3816

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I cut the cord a few years ago, and have always had some combo of Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. A few times I've tried promotions with PSVUE, Sling and DTVNow. I hear great things about YTTV but I don't want to get back in the cycle of paying $50+. I remember that is how my Uverse started and then ended up $100 within a couple of years.
YTTV is showing 162 channels for my zip code. If they offered a lower tier with fewer channels and much lower cost, I would be all over it. Also annoying that they don't package Youtube Premium with YTTV.  I could probably get behind both of those together for $50.
Yeah, for me it's the principle of the thing. $50 is still a decent deal for what you get, but fuck them for raising it $15 and fuck them if they think they're going to slowly get me to pay $100/month.
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Vito Andolini

Vito Andolini 9125

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On 11/15/2019 at 7:57 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Not sure if this is news but new to me.  Hulu Live tv service is raising their price from 45/mo to 55/mo.  22% increase isn’t small.  

Look nine posts above yours and six hours before, or, “How Vito learned he’s on ignore.” 😀 

Anyway, Hulu Live has been awful lately anyway in terms of rewind/DVR capability and consistently runs about 45 seconds behind at best. And the inserted commercial break dead zones are so frustrating. Go back too far, and you’re stuck watching another 2:30 block. I like the catalog of shows, but YouTube TV is a far superior OS, and I suspect I’ll be going back to it in a month.

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zork

zork 629

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I haven't left PSVUE yet.  It is nice to watch shitshow Texas sports on the LHN even if they are a shitshow.  No way you can probably see Cal-Nutria or whatever next private High School vs Texas basketball these next few weeks, save the off Georgetown/Duke possibilities, without LHN. 

Baseball season won't be the same without it either after February.(when PSVUE is ded)  Maybe there will be a new alternative after the new year?

Edited by zork
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SquishMitten

SquishMitten 10403

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God I hope so. Baseball season is the best part of LHN. But I’m also really going to miss all the non-revenue sports. Wife was a collegiate/Olympic volleyball player, so her and the girls watch all those games (as do I, obviously). The network gets a bad wrap, but there’s a lot of good content if you look for it. Hell, I’d pay more for it each month than I do for HBO.

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SquishMitten

SquishMitten 10403

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Not sure if this is the BEST place to submit it, but I just sent them a request to provide access to LHN for cord-cutters for a monthly fee. Figure it can’t hurt.

Scroll down to where it allows you to send an email...

https://support.espn.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003791452-Who-can-access-live-streaming-ESPN-content-

If anybody finds a better spot, let me know!

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SDG

SDG 3319

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Does espn+ carry LHN games live?  
 

I have watch AT&T free with my phone and it has 30 or so channels Including most of the ones I watch.  I just need espn/LHN for sports.  If I can make that somehow work I can dump att now and save 60 - espn cost.  

Edited by SDG
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Celery Man

Celery Man 20933

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could be a speed issue too.  I had Google FIber cable (television) prior to switching to YouTube TV, changing channels is probably a tad slower, but the responsiveness of the fire stick remote over the stupid cable remote (which drove me crazy) is keeping me pretty happy.  But also, I have gigabit and the fire stick is near the wifi router.

I also really like how much more portable the TV I'm watching is.  There are ways with a lot of channels to switch between cable and streaming, but it makes it pretty seamless if i'm watching news or sports or whatever and am moving from the living room to the kitchen (TV to iPad).  Or even when games that I'm watching are running late bringing the iPad around as I set up the coffee, shower, brush teeth, let the dogs out, etc.

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NoName

NoName 16351

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On 11/23/2019 at 3:11 PM, Buzzrock said:

Probably my biggest complaint about YTTV is how long it takes to change channels. 5-10 seconds sucks when flipping between football games.

what "device" are you watching it on? TV app? Roku? Apple TV? Chromecast?

it isn't instantaneous but going from built in TV app to Roku (last generation, not the newest one) had a speed bump for me

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iodeac

iodeac 138

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Not necessarily related to cord cutting, but I got a great Sony 65 inch this weekend and now I realize I need a new receiver to carry Ultra HD signals. My HDMI cables are outdated too, and I'm reading a lot about how longer cables can't carry those signals. My TV is about six feet from the receiver. Any recommendations for a good cable that will work?

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

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Anton Chigurh

Anton Chigurh 3319

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Dumb question, but I know that OTA broadcasts can't exceed 1080p, but how do those channels look on YouTube TV? Do they come over as 4k or anything different?

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk




An OTA broadcast is going to be the highest quality broadcast outside of maybe the “4K” stuff that Fox does sometimes that is available through their app. Even that feed is only 1080, but the upscaling does look really good.

Most YTTV stuff is 720P60. The PQ is still fine but not what OTA is. Also, OTA can do 5.1 which YTTV doesn’t have yet aside from some ondemand stuff.
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HouTex

HouTex 1866

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I use ota for national games. No delay, sound is the best and usually the best picture

Recommendations for an OTA antenna? I haven’t used an OTA antenna in 45 years. The old rabbit ears were finicky. Is it still a trial and error process for an acceptable location? Can they now be mounted on the wall behind the TV or maybe hidden on the inside of a built-in bookcase? The OCD wife will not tolerate any visible cables or wires.
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Okie State

Okie State 3816

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If you're close to the towers you could maybe just do one of the flat ones that stick to the wall behind your TV. I'm not that close to the towers so I bought this one on Amazon and mounted it in my attic.

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-Pro-Outdoor-Attic-Mount-TV-Antenna-70-Mile-Range-VHF-UHF-Channels-29884/557144300?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=3827&adid=22222222228079923922&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=192429740834&wl4=pla-367773109837&wl5=9027792&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=557144300&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_rW558aI5gIVff7jBx29CAkTEAQYAiABEgI4UfD_BwE

 

Hooked it up to my existing cable that is already routed through the attic.

 

Use a site like this one to find the towers around you: https://otadtv.com/tvtower/index.html

 

Download compass app on your phone and aim the antenna in the direction of the most towers in your area.

 

 

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Nonbryan

Nonbryan 173

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Looking for some Roku advice.  I have TVnow from ATT.  I run 1 tv on Apple 4k and another on Roku.  I really like how fast you are able to scroll through the guide using the Apple TV by just sliding your finger across the remote.  However, the Roku us a pain in the ass.  You have to click every time you want to move 1 space up or down on the guide.  Is there a workaround to this for the Roku?

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dcbc

dcbc 14465

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As far as resolution goes, it will display in whatever native resolution your TV is no matter what. Some upscale better than others. The OTA channels look great because the signal is uncompressed.

 

As for antennas, if you aren't picking up channels, consider a preamp from Channel Master. We have our antenna on the roof and were getting one channel. Added the preamp, and we got them all.

 

 

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