Cord Cutters Thread

[Updawg 2266]

So just got a new Samsung TV. Because you can’t get YTTV on a new Roku, I’m just getting YTTV through the app on the TV instead of using a Roku like on all the other TVs.

For some reason the YTTV picture isn’t very sharp. And you can see motion ghosts is fast action like sporting events. Doesn’t happen on Netflix on same tv or YTTV through Rokus on other TVs.

Anyone have any ideas on this?

Yttv app has been sucking lately for me on fire sticks and Sony TVs. Have to delete and reinstall. It’s getting annoying

[Both Tacos 1806]

The answer is likely buried in this thread, but is LHN available on YTTV?

It's available through Sling.

[tbone_ 14126]

Yttv app has been sucking lately for me on fire sticks and Sony TVs. Have to delete and reinstall. It’s getting annoying

I tried that but the tv wouldn’t let me delete the app. It said you can’t delete the basic bundle of apps or some shit like that.

[Lurch 5930]

I tried that but the tv wouldn’t let me delete the app. It said you can’t delete the basic bundle of apps or some shit like that.

Any chance the TV is on the wrong WiFi network?

Or your router isn’t giving it the same bandwidth privileges as the Roku?

[tbone_ 14126]

Don’t think so. Netflix and Amazon look fine.

Plugged the Roku from another tv into this one and YTTV looks perfect.

I ordered a fire stick today since now you can get YTTV on FS. So maybe that will work.

[tbone_ 14126]

Interestingly I just logged into YTTV through the app on the tv I took the Roku off of. LG tv. Same shitty picture.

YTTV through the Roku (from the LG tv, now on the new Samsung tv) looks perfect.

Weird.

[Billy Pilgrim 1963]

3 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Don’t think so. Netflix and Amazon look fine.

Plugged the Roku from another tv into this one and YTTV looks perfect.

I ordered a fire stick today since now you can get YTTV on FS. So maybe that will work.

I’ve found that if you deselect auto for picture quality and select 1080 or 720 instead that my picture cleared up.

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

It’s always helpful to turn on stats for nerds too, to see what it’s actually doing.

[tbone_ 14126]

Stats for nerds?

[DCLonghorn 244]

Stats for nerds?

While watching any channel, press down. Click the three dots on the far left. Stats for nerds is in there. Although I never know what I'm looking at in those stats.

[Nueces River Rat 5539]

Anyone use the Spectrum TV App and not have Spectrum Cable for TV purposes?

And does it have the ESPN nets including Longhorn?

Edited July 6, 2021 by Nueces River Rat

[Skipper 6135]

On 7/3/2021 at 11:08 PM, tbone_ said:

So just got a new Samsung TV. Because you can’t get YTTV on a new Roku, I’m just getting YTTV through the app on the TV instead of using a Roku like on all the other TVs.

For some reason the YTTV picture isn’t very sharp. And you can see motion ghosts is fast action like sporting events. Doesn’t happen on Netflix on same tv or YTTV through Rokus on other TVs.

Anyone have any ideas on this?

I have a new Samsung on my patio.  I have a similar issue where if I want to change channels within YTTV I get a black screen.  I basically have to completely exit the app and relaunch.  Super annoying. I googled and apparently it's a common problem with Samsung.   I guess I'm eventually going to get something else - definitely before football season.  All of my other TV's have ROKU so would prefer to use that but of course they are in the middle of this ridiculous dispute.

[NoName 16352]

On 7/3/2021 at 11:08 PM, tbone_ said:

So just got a new Samsung TV. Because you can’t get YTTV on a new Roku, I’m just getting YTTV through the app on the TV instead of using a Roku like on all the other TVs.

For some reason the YTTV picture isn’t very sharp. And you can see motion ghosts is fast action like sporting events. Doesn’t happen on Netflix on same tv or YTTV through Rokus on other TVs.

Anyone have any ideas on this?

i've given up on ever having a halfway decent TV-based app, the first thing i do these days is recommend that folks buy and use an external HDMI-based option like a roku or the new chromecast which is EXCELLENT.

you can look it up some, but guessing it's something like a shitty app + not enough power to properly push it to the screen well?

[tbone_ 14126]

Thanks for the replies. I bought a Fire stick for the new Samsung and it appears to work fine.

[Redneck Mutha 7957]

55 minutes ago, Nueces River Rat said:

Anyone use the Spectrum TV App and not have Spectrum Cable for TV purposes?

And does it have the ESPN nets including Longhorn?

We had this for a few years before switching to YTTV a couple months ago.  Quality was decent, not great. 

It worked for us since we had Philo as well, so wife had entertainment channels on Philo and I could choose most of the sports/espn lineup (no lhn) on Spectrum app.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

My older Samsung TV had their own Samsung apps and they always sucked. When I switched last year to a Hi-sense TV that had the basic Android interface, I found those Android TV-agnostic apps to be much better.  What does Samsung use now?

I still think the stand-alone devices (Apple TV, Roku and Fire) to be the best.

[MirrOlure 14786]

So….way late to the game here. Trying out HULU live This weekend with baseball, NBA, Wimbledon, etc.

Comparing it to my DirecTV.

First thing I notice is that the HULU feed is something like 2 minutes behind DirecTV.

Is that the case for all live streaming vs. Satellite?

If so, I’m not sure I can live with that

[DCLonghorn 244]

So….way late to the game here. Trying out HULU live This weekend with baseball, NBA, Wimbledon, etc.

Comparing it to my DirecTV.

First thing I notice is that the HULU feed is something like 2 minutes behind DirecTV.

Is that the case for all live streaming vs. Satellite?

If so, I’m not sure I can live with that

Seems like it. But you won't know the difference when they aren't side by side. Unless your tracking on an app or something. I'm guessing streaming does that to build a buffer in case the signal fades.

[tbone_ 14126]

YTTV is a little behind. Not an issue for me.

[DCLonghorn 244]

So….way late to the game here. Trying out HULU live This weekend with baseball, NBA, Wimbledon, etc.

Comparing it to my DirecTV.

First thing I notice is that the HULU feed is something like 2 minutes behind DirecTV.

Is that the case for all live streaming vs. Satellite?

If so, I’m not sure I can live with that

By the way DTV is (or was when I had it) always a bit behind cable and OTA. Takes a second to get to you from space.

[HouTex 1867]

YTTV is a little behind. Not an issue for me.

This. During sporting events that I follow on an iPhone app I will get alerts on my iPhone about 5-10 seconds before the scoring play airs on YTTV.

[El Diablo 4232]

Anyone doing OTA HD? Looking at going this route to get the few local channels and want to hear some success stories. I know nuttin' 'bout antennas. Does each tv need its own/do splitters degrade the signal? Does cable length affect the signal at the tv? Learn me up, I'm a cheap bastard. 

[Okie State 3821]

Anyone doing OTA HD? Looking at going this route to get the few local channels and want to hear some success stories. I know nuttin' 'bout antennas. Does each tv need its own/do splitters degrade the signal? Does cable length affect the signal at the tv? Learn me up, I'm a cheap bastard. 

I put an antenna in my attic and hooked it up to a splitter that boosts the signal to every TV in my house. Works perfectly.

I think this is the antenna.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MYMVPVX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_MWYZT157ZZ92JVA4N00N

Amplifier is something like this, but can't remember the exact brand and am too lazy to go up into my hot attic right now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PI09SE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_60VFBKV640AA9BSDKGE1

There's a website that shows you where your local towers are and how far away. Buy the appropriate size antenna for your location and point it toward the towers wherever you mount it.

[Dbeasy 15052]

1 hour ago, El Diablo said:

Anyone doing OTA HD? Looking at going this route to get the few local channels and want to hear some success stories. I know nuttin' 'bout antennas. Does each tv need its own/do splitters degrade the signal? Does cable length affect the signal at the tv? Learn me up, I'm a cheap bastard. 

Yes both splitters and longer cables will reduce the signal level to your tv, but if there is enough gain from the antenna it should work ok. 

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

Just got Sling orange+blue+Total tv(for wife) for $55 the first month then 77 after. 

[dcbc 14487]

22 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Yes both splitters and longer cables will reduce the signal level to your tv, but if there is enough gain from the antenna it should work ok. 

A preamp solved all of my weak signal problems.  I only had one cable run.  So I didn't need an additional amp/splitter.  I run from the antenna to the preamp that is mounted on the antenna pole, into the house (power runs back up the coax to the preamp from inside) to a Tablo.  Each TV in the house streams the locals through the Tablo box.  It has worked great and provided a way to DVR the Texas games that were OTA before Vue had locals here.  Sometimes, I still watch the OTA channels because they look so much better, even when transcoded.

Edited July 13, 2021 by dcbc

[Buzzrock 14921]

I put an antenna in my attic and hooked it up to a splitter that boosts the signal to every TV in my house. Works perfectly.

I think this is the antenna.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MYMVPVX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_MWYZT157ZZ92JVA4N00N

Amplifier is something like this, but can't remember the exact brand and am too lazy to go up into my hot attic right now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PI09SE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_60VFBKV640AA9BSDKGE1

There's a website that shows you where your local towers are and how far away. Buy the appropriate size antenna for your location and point it toward the towers wherever you mount it.

https://www.antennaweb.org/

[DCLonghorn 244]

I am not sure I can wade through this thread here, but I pay $320-$340/month for Uverse and internet. I cannot remember the last time I turned on the TV - or my kids - we all stream everything except during football season. When not watching a sporting event, we stream on our big screens. 
We also pay probably about $50/mo for Netflix, Prime, Disney+, and Apple TV. I’m so fucking confused as to what I should do. Please help me - middle aged old fuck. 

If you can't get your preferred sports though cheap app subs or other apps like Peacock/ESPN+, look to the live TV/cable replacement options like YouTube TV, Sling, Hulu TV Live, etc.

There are so many options, you can narrow down to what you need and you can save some money.

These options are the more expensive streaming options, but much cheaper than cable in most cases. Although bundles and sign up deals can keep old school cable as cheap or cheaper that these streaming services.

But they will get you with equipment rentals and auto price jumps later.

I'm a big fan of YouTube TV, as the DVR is amazing relative to other streamers and I can watch on any device any where. And the kids in college and mom in Houston are in the family plan so get it free.

But to be fair, I can get almost all my favorite sports with subs from other services. So YTTV is mostly about the DVR for me. Being able to pause sports and watch it a bit later/delayed is a big plus for me. The sports apps don't generally let you pause or watch delays. It's either live, or wait a few hours until the whole game is uploaded for VOD.

If you need LHN, look to Sling.

[DallasHorn26 586]

On 7/11/2021 at 7:56 PM, El Diablo said:

Anyone doing OTA HD? Looking at going this route to get the few local channels and want to hear some success stories. I know nuttin' 'bout antennas. Does each tv need its own/do splitters degrade the signal? Does cable length affect the signal at the tv? Learn me up, I'm a cheap bastard. 

I use locast.org for the local channels. You just sign up and enter your home zip and gives you all the channels available OTA. It's not available in all markets, but I've changed my home zip before so I could watch locals in another area. The app is available on most devices had has a free version that runs an ad every 20 mins or so and you have to refresh, or there is a paid version that is like a $5/month donation. I was grandfathered in to the paid version for free last year somehow (they were offering it at the beginning of the shutdown). 

[DCLonghorn 244]

I use locast.org for the local channels. You just sign up and enter your home zip and gives you all the channels available OTA. It's not available in all markets, but I've changed my home zip before so I could watch locals in another area. The app is available on most devices had has a free version that runs an ad every 20 mins or so and you have to refresh, or there is a paid version that is like a $5/month donation. I was grandfathered in to the paid version for free last year somehow (they were offering it at the beginning of the shutdown). 

Locast is great. Keep in mind it may not last. The guy that started it used to work at the FCC and they are openly challenging cable company and NAB status quo. He started a company that did something similar in the past and it was sued out of existence. He started Locast as a non-profit to answer the previous suit.

Everyone is waiting to see how it plays out. The major OTA networks sued Locast on 2019 and it's still ongoing.

tl;dr: locast was built to encourage a legal battle over retransmission rights and fees. Love it while it lasts...it may not.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

1 hour ago, Dr. Beeper said:

I am not sure I can wade through this thread here, but I pay $320-$340/month for Uverse and internet. I cannot remember the last time I turned on the TV - or my kids - we all stream everything except during football season. When not watching a sporting event, we stream on our big screens. 

We also pay probably about $50/mo for Netflix, Prime, Disney+, and Apple TV. I’m so fucking confused as to what I should do. Please help me - middle aged old fuck. 

I would recommend dropping your Uverse service down to 200 and keep it on 1 TV. At least as a first pass. You retain the ability to stream many of channel streams for free using your Uverse login.

Uverse will attempt to upsell you but hold firm on the 200 package and no long-term commitment even if the deal is good.

On 7/11/2021 at 7:56 PM, El Diablo said:

Anyone doing OTA HD? Looking at going this route to get the few local channels and want to hear some success stories. I know nuttin' 'bout antennas. Does each tv need its own/do splitters degrade the signal? Does cable length affect the signal at the tv? Learn me up, I'm a cheap bastard. 

OTA is the way to go. HD is better and you actually see the live sports content sooner than OTA via cable.  It works the opposite on streaming sports channels where cable is ahead.

Antenna setup can be a pain if you do the correct path of putting an antenna in the attic. Dropping cable down walls sucks especially if you've never done it. I would initially look to add it to as few TVs as possible.

[Viper 12109]

On 7/11/2021 at 7:56 PM, El Diablo said:

Anyone doing OTA HD? Looking at going this route to get the few local channels and want to hear some success stories. I know nuttin' 'bout antennas. Does each tv need its own/do splitters degrade the signal? Does cable length affect the signal at the tv? Learn me up, I'm a cheap bastard. 

 

On 7/11/2021 at 8:58 PM, Okie State said:

I put an antenna in my attic and hooked it up to a splitter that boosts the signal to every TV in my house. Works perfectly.

I think this is the antenna.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MYMVPVX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_MWYZT157ZZ92JVA4N00N

Amplifier is something like this, but can't remember the exact brand and am too lazy to go up into my hot attic right now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PI09SE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_60VFBKV640AA9BSDKGE1

There's a website that shows you where your local towers are and how far away. Buy the appropriate size antenna for your location and point it toward the towers wherever you mount it.

I did the same except I just took off my direct tv dish and replaced it with the antenna.

Bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024R4B5C

and hooked it right into the coax the dish was plugged into. 

Also picked up this amplifier to help boost the signal so it could make it to 3 or more tv's, because it started to lose some stations after splitting it to 2 tvs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NF6JYJV

Then I just bought a cheap dvr to be able to record games, though I think I'm going to replace it with a HD Homerun and use plex as a dvr.

[Okie State 3821]

I did the same except I just took off my direct tv dish and replaced it with the antenna.
Bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024R4B5C
and hooked it right into the coax the dish was plugged into. 
Also picked up this amplifier to help boost the signal so it could make it to 3 or more tv's, because it started to lose some stations after splitting it to 2 tvs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NF6JYJV
Then I just bought a cheap dvr to be able to record games, though I think I'm going to replace it with a HD Homerun and use plex as a dvr.

I also used my satellite feed into the house that branched out to all the rooms I have TVs in. It's a pretty clean setup for an amateur.

[Lurch 5930]

I am not sure I can wade through this thread here, but I pay $320-$340/month for Uverse and internet. I cannot remember the last time I turned on the TV - or my kids - we all stream everything except during football season. When not watching a sporting event, we stream on our big screens. 
We also pay probably about $50/mo for Netflix, Prime, Disney+, and Apple TV. I’m so fucking confused as to what I should do. Please help me - middle aged old fuck. 

Drop Uverse for TV.

Get reliable Internet service, but you don’t need more than 100Mbps.

Buy your own cable modem, don’t rent it.

Buy your own router (one that allows you to throttle bandwidth at device level, ie “kids phones get no more than 3Mbps”, which will allow you to avoid usage caps, often 1.2TB per month)

May need to buy a few firesticks or rokus for best app experiences

Keep your Netflix, Prime, Disney, Apple. Prob no savings here, though some rotate through these rather than paying for all of them each month.

PM Rage for Uverse sub

Profit. (Prob be all-in around $150/month)

[DCLonghorn 244]

All good shit from Lurch.

Although I much prefer Google Chromecast (on my second and third TV) and an Nvidia Shield Android TV box for main. You can do all sorts of extra stuff with the Shield...BUT...

Lurch mentioned data caps. Comcast has yet to institute those data caps on the East Coast, but they will shortly. They've had them in the rest of the country for some time. So I don't pay as much attention to it as I should.

Something to keep in mind, is that over the last 30 days we used 1.7 terabytes of data (will be capped at 1.2) across eight people with lots of devices playing and working from home. Almost half that was our main streaming device. Streaming all your TV takes a lot of data. Of course I haven't figured out the tips and tricks that Lurch mentions, since we haven't had to worry about it yet.

Also we have a 200 mbps a month plan, which is more than enough for our family. 100 was enough, but they offered a deal. Don't be fooled by most of the listings for how much data you need per device or per person. It's all way overstated.

We have seven cell phones, multiple laptops, multiple Chromebooks, many tablets, three streaming TV devices, and all the usual IoT things... Doorbells and thermostats. We never ran into issues at 100 Mbps, except in the first month of COVID when every kid in the neighborhood was logging into zoom classes at the same time. And that fixed itself pretty quickly.

[DCLonghorn 244]

Lurch: for the per device limits, what do you think the max a kids phone needs to stream YT videos?

[Lurch 5930]

What I discovered with a good router was that cell phones would consume at the 4K TV level of bandwidth even though it was a fucking 5” screen. Cap your cell phones at 1.5-3Mbs and consumption goes way down. I also cap my kids TVs at 3Mbps and you honestly can’t tell at all. On my living room big screen, I keep it at 8Mbps and may remove the cap occasionally for Super Bowl, Masters, etc, but that’s rare. Everything looks great at 8Mbps, but I know I can make it better if I want.

Our work PCs aren’t capped, but they hardly consume anything. Zoom calls are nothing.

At peak, with 4 TVs running and my kids also on their phones, we don’t sustain more than 25Mbps, with occasional blips to 40-50Mbps.

Before implementing my router caps, I crossed 1.2TB a few times over holiday months when kids weren’t in school. With caps, we’re comfortably in the .9-1TB range and I could “choke” us down to prob .5 without anyone in my family even noticing.

[Lurch 5930]

Lurch: for the per device limits, what do you think the max a kids phone needs to stream YT videos?

I wouldn’t be surprised if .5Mbps worked just fine. YT auto adjusts and the kids cartoons, dance videos and goofy animal vids etc don’t need high def anyway… plus, again, 5” screen!

[Okie State 3821]

I guess Google WiFi does not allow capping speed by device. I looked and we only run between 600-700 GB each month though.

[Updawg 2266]

Looks like yttv is launching 4K and better sound.

Also says if you opt into 4K you can have unlimited family streams which is currently at 5. Is that anywhere or just by one location

[Lurch 5930]

…. (ignore this post)

[Updawg 2266]

Looks like yttv is launching 4K and better sound.

Also says if you opt into 4K you can have unlimited family streams which is currently at 5. Is that anywhere or just by one location

Quoting myself but I just signed up for the trial and it does look like it limits your streams to your “ home”. Whatever’s a home is. So be careful. Maybe they are trying to limit the family sharing scenarios

[DCLonghorn 244]

Quoting myself but I just signed up for the trial and it does look like it limits your streams to your “ home”. Whatever’s a home is. So be careful. Maybe they are trying to limit the family sharing scenarios

Correct. They want everyone in your family plan to live in the same house. But you can add folks elsewhere. I'm in DC, Mom is in Houston, son is off at college. It requires each account to "sign in" from the home TV market every three months (I'm guessing that is to accommodate semesters at college). So every three months, I have to log in to my mom's Gmail, fire up YTTV, select DC as the home market. Then she can immediately change it back to Houston.

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

The ASG does look nice in 4K. Gimme dat 5.1!

[tbone_ 14126]

Can you really tell a difference with 4K on YTTV?

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

Absolutely.

[markstanco 12577]

12 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

The ASG does look nice in 4K. Gimme dat 5.1!

Just came here to post the email I got from YTTV last night about the 5.1.  That is great news!! 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Can you really tell a difference with 4K on YTTV?

I tried it. Didn’t exactly orgasm over it after I set the YTTV settings on the Channel to 4K.

If you put a side by side next to an ordinary channel and told me to point to the 4K, I’d probably get it right 5/10 times by guessing. Maybe I had a tv setting off or something. I didn’t get the whole 4K Best Buy tv display vibe

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

I tried it. Didn’t exactly orgasm over it after I set the YTTV settings on the Channel to 4K.

If you put a side by side next to an ordinary channel and told me to point to the 4K, I’d probably get it right 5/10 times by guessing. Maybe I had a tv setting off or something. I didn’t get the whole 4K Best Buy tv display vibe

What device were you using? Some are only playing 1440p (even though the channel is still the 4K channel) since they can’t display the VP9 codec at 4k60.

The fox sports app had it in true HDR apparently, which makes an even bigger difference, but I missed that.

[Horn_Spanker 524]

Just built a Grey Hoverman antenna.  Not mounted high yet, just leaning against the house, I got 52 channels in 78748.  All major channels 100%, even channel 7 who stayed VHF.  Had to put a parasitic "top hat" on the antenna to get KTBC to 100%.  Less than $20.