Cord Cutters Thread

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,509]

2 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Well I re-upped on uverse again for a year. Given the price difference between that and the revised YouTube tv prices (and the associated less content), it would have saved me only about $15-20 per month max. Wasn’t worth it.

Is Uverse offernig annual discounts? The last time I helped my mom with her Uverse re-up, they wouldn't offer me an annual discount even though that was our preference. Everything was month to month.

[Updawg 2,266]

I almost renewed with them last month and it was an annual discount but you could cancel anytime.

I said screw it and went with google fiber and yttv for a little less. U-verse internet kind of sucked where I live. Only miss the Astros at this point but there have been enough national games to keep me satisfied.

[Dbeasy 15,042]

I almost renewed with them last month and it was an annual discount but you could cancel anytime.

I said screw it and went with google fiber and yttv for a little less. U-verse internet kind of sucked where I live. Only miss the Astros at this point but there have been enough national games to keep me satisfied.

We are stuck with only AT&T for Internet which have us few choices.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,229]

Two days into Hulu and so far less than impressed. Lots of buffering... and then the killer "ad" that freezes the stream and just can't get past it. Tried restarting app, fire TV nothing... Only way able to get past was to upgrade to "no ads" version.  Then still keeps showing "Advertisement" text in upper corner.... Just trying to watch a Stars game...

 

[BNB 100]

Need some help.

I'm trying to get my mom set back up.

She has some ProControl remotes https://procontrol.com/, 1 for the bedroom and 1 for the living room.  Only a dealer can order and program them, and she can't ever get him to contact her in Austin.

They are remotes that the home theater guy setup after she remodeled her place, and he constantly has issues with them.

I got her to buy a Harmony Elite today, and I spent 3hrs trying to get it to work this afternoon.  

The Hub recognized her Samsung TV and Denon receiver right away.  So I assume it found them on the WIFI network.  

I put the hub in the laundry room next to all her equip( room behind the living room wall that the tv sits on), and put the ir repeater next to the ATT Uverse box.

The Denon receiver and the cable box work, but I can't get it to control the Samsung TV.

Is it trying to control the Samsung TV  through WIFI?  I get up close with the remote to the TV, and I see the remote has an IR sensor on the front I think, and nothing.

I'm going to try and call Logitech in the morning,

I also can't get the favorites I choose to show up on the remote, and don't see an option to add new favorites after the initial setup.

____

 

I noticed ATT UVERSE is no longer, it is now called ATT TV with new boxes and cloud DVR.  I saw her bill is 260 a month, 160 just for TV.  She has 2 boxes (The DVR and a wireless box that sits in that laundry room).

I'm going to try to get her to change to ATT TV, or ATT TV NOW, Youtube TV, Hulu TV, etc, I think she would enjoy being able to watch on her IPAD when she travels.

Can You watch all TV channels and dvr now with ATT TV on your ipad away from home?

Does anyone know what type of transmitter the ATT TV remotes use for their boxes?  are they wifi?  I was going to maybe call them in the morning also.

Does ATT TV NOW use a box?  What's the difference?

I'm having her go through https://www.att.com/channels/att-tv/ to see what channels she watches.

I assume she can only use Favorites Channels on the Harmony remote just for ATT TV? or have they added channel numbers or whatever to some streaming services?

Thanks for the replies, I am going to cross post.

 

Edit - Why don't they have a microphone/voice on these expensive universal remotes?

Edited August 12, 2020 by BNB

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,229]

So I'm making the transition over to Hulu from YTTV since I its got better sports for me (FSSW for one) and couple shows the wife wants.

Is it just me or was Hulu's user interface designed by aggy? I don't think you could possible design a less intuitive interface.

How could such a popular and large company have such an incredibly poor user interface considering its all they do??

[ROFL BOX 6,647]

Looking for a referral on a HotSpot device similar to the MoFi from UbiFi (lots of "fi" in this here post).  They have been out of stock for awhile; I got an email last week that some were available but by the time I clicked through, they were out of stock again.

We're on AT&T & historically, they have the best signal for where we live in the 78620 (furthest W end of Drip).

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,509]

I'm venturing more into home theater questions but what is the best budget home theater setup with cord cutting? I just upgraded to a 4K TV (Hisense H8G) and thinking about buying a decent receiver and speakers for my living room. the problem that I'm stuck understanding the home theater setup. Most setups seems to want you to run the video signal from the cable box/device to the receiver and then to the TV. I don't have a gaming system so I was thinking about using an NVIDIA Shield or Apple TV as the device that connects to the internet and then to the receiver. 

Is that the best setup? Where or how should I set up the OTA antenna? Do I connect it directly to the TV (it has a tuner) and then output the sound to the receiver? 

As for NVIDIA or Apple TV, I find the native Android TV to be ok not great. Several apps struggle to get a solid video signal but that may be more of an app problem and not the OS/hardware.  Anyone have an opinion about NVIDIA Shield devices?

[Homercles 10,205]

Modern TVs and receivers should support eARC where the audio travels ‘backwards’ from the tv to the receiver if you need it to.  
 

Question...long time U-verse user.  Above it was said you can cancel anytime?  I’m ready to get rid of that overpriced crap

[Anton Chigurh 3,319]

I'm venturing more into home theater questions but what is the best budget home theater setup with cord cutting? I just upgraded to a 4K TV (Hisense H8G) and thinking about buying a decent receiver and speakers for my living room. the problem that I'm stuck understanding the home theater setup. Most setups seems to want you to run the video signal from the cable box/device to the receiver and then to the TV. I don't have a gaming system so I was thinking about using an NVIDIA Shield or Apple TV as the device that connects to the internet and then to the receiver. 
Is that the best setup? Where or how should I set up the OTA antenna? Do I connect it directly to the TV (it has a tuner) and then output the sound to the receiver? 
As for NVIDIA or Apple TV, I find the native Android TV to be ok not great. Several apps struggle to get a solid video signal but that may be more of an app problem and not the OS/hardware.  Anyone have an opinion about NVIDIA Shield devices?

Since my receiver is from 2014 and doesn’t pass HDR, I run everything to the TV and send it back the the receiver via ARC as mentioned already. Your TV likely has one or two ports that are designated as such. In this case, you’ll just be using that port on your TV for audio only. Make sure to select bitstream as the output.

Make sure to enable ARC in both your TV and receiver settings.

[pearlandhorn 3,269]

So I’m currently doing Philo and Disney plus. Since we’re inevitably playing football this year, who do I need to sign up for to get ESPN, LHN and fox sports given I’d like to see college and NFL? Would rather have a one stop shop (one service) and pay a little more than subscribe to 5 different services.

[3shot 139]

18 hours ago, pearlandhorn said:

So I’m currently doing Philo and Disney plus. Since we’re inevitably playing football this year, who do I need to sign up for to get ESPN, LHN and fox sports given I’d like to see college and NFL? Would rather have a one stop shop (one service) and pay a little more than subscribe to 5 different services.

Sling TV.   

[ChickenSandwich 9,828]

On 8/12/2020 at 2:39 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I'm venturing more into home theater questions but what is the best budget home theater setup with cord cutting? I just upgraded to a 4K TV (Hisense H8G) and thinking about buying a decent receiver and speakers for my living room. the problem that I'm stuck understanding the home theater setup. Most setups seems to want you to run the video signal from the cable box/device to the receiver and then to the TV. I don't have a gaming system so I was thinking about using an NVIDIA Shield or Apple TV as the device that connects to the internet and then to the receiver. 

Is that the best setup? Where or how should I set up the OTA antenna? Do I connect it directly to the TV (it has a tuner) and then output the sound to the receiver? 

As for NVIDIA or Apple TV, I find the native Android TV to be ok not great. Several apps struggle to get a solid video signal but that may be more of an app problem and not the OS/hardware.  Anyone have an opinion about NVIDIA Shield devices?

A modern receiver will have 4K pass through.  Connect 1 HDMI from 4K TV (will be labeled eARC-HDMI) to the input on the back of the receiver.  All other devices connect through AVR (HMDI etc - apple TV, direct TV, play station etc).  Connect OTA ant directly to co-ax on back of TV (sound will still come from AVR). 

[Dbeasy 15,042]

Along those same lines I want wired speakers in the front, left and center, combined with wireless surround speakers.

I’m confused by the best speaker arrangement to use. Klipsch says they only support Wisa and not the denon or Yamaha proprietary interfaces. I’m willing to buy an amp or receiver just can’t figure out which one given my speaker configuration requirements.

[rage-a-holic 4,381]

On 2/4/2020 at 12:36 PM, rage-a-holic said:

I have a couple of uverse subs available for $10/month, might help out some of you that can't get LHN after PSVue died. PM me if you want one.

I still have a few of these for anyone needing streaming TV. Uverse prices have gone up, so they're now $15-20 per month (6 month minimum), depending on how many people sign up.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,509]

1 hour ago, rage-a-holic said:

I still have a few of these for anyone needing streaming TV. Uverse prices have gone up, so they're now $15-20 per month (6 month minimum), depending on how many people sign up.

Pretty sweet deal. Get 20 people to give you $15 each for a service costing you half that amount.

[rage-a-holic 4,381]

20 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Pretty sweet deal. Get 20 people to give you $15 each for a service costing you half that amount.

You should give it a shot, let us know how it works out.

 

Pro tip: uverse only allows 10 active sub accounts. And in all the years I've been doing this, not once have the uverse sub payments come close to paying the full uverse bill. People sign up and drop out constantly. Sometimes you have 8-10 people paying $8/month, sometimes you have 4 people paying $15-20/month.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,509]

My bad, you’re 100% right that it’s only 10 at a time.  But you got me thinking, I might be willing to see all 10 of mine for $10 each to cover the majority of my costs.  Who doesn’t want an extra $1000 for year for doing nothing.

[Lurch 5,922]

Dupe

 

[Lurch 5,922]

I’m a happy rage sub for many years now. Get LHN here in FL and still save money

 

 

 

[rage-a-holic 4,381]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

My bad, you’re 100% right that it’s only 10 at a time.  But you got me thinking, I might be willing to see all 10 of mine for $10 each to cover the majority of my costs.  Who doesn’t want an extra $1000 for year for doing nothing.

lol, go for it. Literally all you have to do is just start accepting mountains of money and none of the people who blindly send you that money will bother you again.

[Viper 12,103]

Looking to cut my cord next month. Is sling the only option for LHN? What is the best option for sports? 

[pearlandhorn 3,269]

27 minutes ago, Viper said:

Looking to cut my cord next month. Is sling the only option for LHN? What is the best option for sports? 

Someone recommended sling for me. Will probably check it out very soon.

[DCLonghorn 244]

Looking to cut my cord next month. Is sling the only option for LHN? What is the best option for sports? 

I'm not sure how or why, but a buddy from Manhattan gave me his Spectrum/Charter log in deets and it lets me watch LHN on ESPN app. I thought you only got LNH in Texas on that service. I hope this post doesn't jinx it, but worth a shot of you know anyone on Spectrum beyond Texas.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,229]

22 hours ago, Viper said:

Looking to cut my cord next month. Is sling the only option for LHN? What is the best option for sports? 

Sling is only one for LHN I've seen, also if need FSSW then Hulu was the only one in my area that carries it, YTTV does not (depends where you live).

[DCLonghorn 244]

Repost: While comparing streaming services, I ran across one I've never heard of, Vidgo, that has LHN. $40 a month.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,875]

Vidgo looks interesting, but the $40 only lasts for 90 days and it doesn’t have most of the networks

[Viper 12,103]

It's still just $45 after and looks like it has enough for sports. Biggest downside i see if no dvr, but it says it playback for up to 24 hours after a show so there's that

[Lurch 5,922]

We fretted about no dvr when we cut the cord, and it’s never mattered once, fwiw

[HornOnTheBayou 8,918]

12 hours ago, DCLonghorn said:

Repost: While comparing streaming services, I ran across one I've never heard of, Vidgo, that has LHN. $40 a month.

If it works, awesome. But it does seem a little like McDowells. "They've got HBO. We've got FBO. Fiji Box Office. All the latest hit movies and shows from everyone's favorite island!"

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,509]

2 hours ago, Lurch said:

We fretted about no dvr when we cut the cord, and it’s never mattered once, fwiw

I used to love dvr technology but I’ve rarely missed since I cut the cord several years ago. Most of the content I watch is on demand so it basically is on a dvr. And you can usually pause live channels, rewind, etc. I also don’t miss the early dvr days when my recordings started to max out the hard drive and I felt pressure to watch shows in order to delete them.

streaming pause, rewind, ffwd isn’t always as slick as DVRs but it gets the job done.

[Js1 85,286]

3 hours ago, Lurch said:

We fretted about no dvr when we cut the cord, and it’s never mattered once, fwiw

Every so often i catch myself watching a show the next day that recorded and skipping commercials and then realizing “shit it’s on Hulu today and there’s no commercials, wtf”

[NoName 16,351]

11 hours ago, Lurch said:

We fretted about no dvr when we cut the cord, and it’s never mattered once, fwiw

really?

i use the YTTV DVR almost exclusively for watching with the exception of live sports.

[Viper 12,103]

what sort of internet speeds are recommended for this? I have 50mbps right now and it seems fine. I'm not sure what the att price will be with just internet though. I can get 60mbps for $30 (entouch), 100 for $35 (xfinity) or 150 for $40 (entouch). Does anyone have faster and what benefits do you see with it?

[DCLonghorn 244]

We have Xfinity 100. Six kids and two adults online *all* the time. All streaming video and music, gaming, working or remote school. Never ran into bandwidth issues (yet.) As a test, we've had video streaming on 3 TVs, 7 phones/tablet, and 2 laptops/Chromebooks at the same time...no hang ups. Although the service will drop for a second/disconnect every couple of days. We have to do the ubiquitous restart of the router and modem every few days or that gets worse.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,229]

1 hour ago, Viper said:

what sort of internet speeds are recommended for this? I have 50mbps right now and it seems fine. I'm not sure what the att price will be with just internet though. I can get 60mbps for $30 (entouch), 100 for $35 (xfinity) or 150 for $40 (entouch). Does anyone have faster and what benefits do you see with it?

I'd avoid Entouch like the plague... their speeds are suspect and never consistent and the company just doesn't care

[BradInATX 9,208]

Has anyone moved over to Hulu Live? We decided to go cable-less in our new place. Rokus on every TV with Netflix/Prime/HBO plus Hulu and Hulu Live TV. So far so good. LHN is going to be an issue, but I bought one Chromecast to be a roaming device that I can cast streams to. Guess I'll just find streams each week. 

[ChickenSandwich 9,828]

On 8/13/2020 at 5:22 PM, Dbeasy said:

Along those same lines I want wired speakers in the front, left and center, combined with wireless surround speakers.

I’m confused by the best speaker arrangement to use. Klipsch says they only support Wisa and not the denon or Yamaha proprietary interfaces. I’m willing to buy an amp or receiver just can’t figure out which one given my speaker configuration requirements.

need more information.  Which wireless surrounds are you looking at?  The wireless klipsch speakers I'm familiar with are not meant to be used in a traditional AVR/5.1 home theater surround system.  They are more like a Sonos speaker or powered monitors

Edited August 17, 2020 by ChickenSandwich

[ChickenSandwich 9,828]

what info I can find says that most 5.1 wireless systems are proprietary and you need to use their whole eco system to make it work.

The add on work around is a blue tooth receiver/transmitter option but those will only sound as good as the stability of the transmitter

A different option is to buy some in wall or ceiling speakers and have them installed.  Can spend $75-150 per speaker for a good set (monoprice or revel) and have them installed for 2hrs labor

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,509]

4 hours ago, Viper said:

what sort of internet speeds are recommended for this? I have 50mbps right now and it seems fine. I'm not sure what the att price will be with just internet though. I can get 60mbps for $30 (entouch), 100 for $35 (xfinity) or 150 for $40 (entouch). Does anyone have faster and what benefits do you see with it?

Netflix claims that 25mbps is enough for 4K video but they're not taking other bandwidth needs into account.  I would recommend going with something on the low end and raising it as needed. Don't most plans allow for changes, especially upwards?

Does anyone have opinions about solid, affordable home wi-fi routers at the moment? I've been running more bandwidth through mine (Linksys AC1900)  than normal lately, and today it had its first hiccup in over 3 years of usage. A reboot got it working but it worries me that it could be starting to fail on me. 

 

[Viper 12,103]

do need just one or do you need a mesh?

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,509]

43 minutes ago, Viper said:

do need just one or do you need a mesh?

One has worked for me in the past.

[Dbeasy 15,042]

what info I can find says that most 5.1 wireless systems are proprietary and you need to use their whole eco system to make it work.
The add on work around is a blue tooth receiver/transmitter option but those will only sound as good as the stability of the transmitter
A different option is to buy some in wall or ceiling speakers and have them installed.  Can spend $75-150 per speaker for a good set (monoprice or revel) and have them installed for 2hrs labor

I ended up just not worrying about the surround speakers and buying wired klipsch speakers with a Yamaha receiver. Could theoretically connect wirelessly to klipsch surround speakers with an amplifier adapter, or run Yamaha MusicCast surround speakers.

[Dbeasy 15,042]

what info I can find says that most 5.1 wireless systems are proprietary and you need to use their whole eco system to make it work.
The add on work around is a blue tooth receiver/transmitter option but those will only sound as good as the stability of the transmitter
A different option is to buy some in wall or ceiling speakers and have them installed.  Can spend $75-150 per speaker for a good set (monoprice or revel) and have them installed for 2hrs labor

I ended up just not worrying about the surround speakers and buying wired klipsch speakers with a Yamaha receiver. Could theoretically connect wirelessly to klipsch surround speakers with an amplifier adapter, or run Yamaha MusicCast surround speakers.

[Viper 12,103]

25 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

One has worked for me in the past.

I bought an ASUS AC1900 (RT-AC68U) and it's worked really great. Connected an external hard drive to it and use it to store media and stream throughout the house. Later I bought a second one to turn into a mesh. 

If you want a mesh to start with and/or don't want to mess with configuration, the Nest Wifi is really good.

[ChickenSandwich 9,828]

3 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

I ended up just not worrying about the surround speakers and buying wired klipsch speakers with a Yamaha receiver. Could theoretically connect wirelessly to klipsch surround speakers with an amplifier adapter, or run Yamaha MusicCast surround speakers.

Which Klipsch speakers did you purchase?

[Lurch 5,922]

really?
i use the YTTV DVR almost exclusively for watching with the exception of live sports.

Yep. There’s sooooo much content we have no problem waiting a day for a network show.

[ballrific 215]

so if you're in the Austin area and want to watch stros games and nba playoffs, you have to have fubo and something separate that carries tnt/espn? bummer

[Dbeasy 15,042]

Which Klipsch speakers did you purchase?

Went with the reference premiere 280-f floor standing, 112 sw subwoofer and 450c center channel. They were all on sale. Didn’t get surround speakers.

[KuЯdt 248]

1 hour ago, ballrific said:

so if you're in the Austin area and want to watch stros games and nba playoffs, you have to have fubo and something separate that carries tnt/espn? bummer

I just did the Fubo trial and it has ESPN and ESPN2.  No TNT.  I went to cancel as the trial was coming to an end, and they offered a month for $20.  Went ahead and did that so I could watch the stros for a month.