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General Discussion => Beer and Queso => Topic started by: utastro on June 30, 2018, 12:26:15 pm
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I've been vacationing with my family in Florida the last week and I have attempted to stream the Astros games from ATT Sports Net SW. I currently have DIRECTV. I had Uverse last summer and had no problems streaming when I was traveling in New York and Connecticut. Now I keep getting an error that I'm not in a region where I can stream from. I've attempted to trick the streaming service by 1) using my company's VPN to appear like my IP is in Austin and 2) overriding the Geo location in Chrome to make it appear like my laptop is back in Round Rock. Neither has made a difference. I then started looking at the network responses in Chrome's devtools console and I see a response indicating my zip code in Round Rock is not allowed to stream. WTF? I wish I had never switched from Uverse. Fucking ATT pushed and pushed for me to change and finally got me when I went to upgrade a phone and they gave me a $350 credit if I switched to DIRECTV. And then they promptly charged me $200 for installation of the wireless genie 2 system. Fuckers.
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I have no problems streaming DirecTV from anywhere. Not sure what’s going on with you.
ETA; of course, if you’re in the Rays’ broadcast territory, you might not be able to stream their games there with an Astros’ broadcast location.
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I think Hudson is on to something with the territorial restrictions. Have you tried to download the Fox Sun Sports app and downstream form it?
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thankfully I live where I can get att cable and pretty much have not missed a game sense
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Hmm, I didn’t consider trying the Rays streaming. I’m in the Florida panhandle but that is probably still in the Rays territory. I guess what is confusing me is the error I’m seeing about my billing zip code not being authorised. I did try again and was able to watch softball that was streaming on ATT sports. so maybe I’m only being restricted during the game broadcast.
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Hmm, I didn’t consider trying the Rays streaming. I’m in the Florida panhandle but that is probably still in the Rays territory.
I live in eastern Iowa. I am in the Twins, White Sox, Cubs, Reds, Royals, Tigers territory. How the @*#* am I supposed to get to games all of which are a minimum of 4 hours by car? MLB territory restrictions are incredibly bad.
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I live in eastern Iowa. I am in the Twins, White Sox, Cubs, Reds, Royals, Tigers territory. How the @*#* am I supposed to get to games all of which are a minimum of 4 hours by car? MLB territory restrictions are incredibly bad.
Seems like the Brewers and Cardinals are being left out.
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Seems like the Brewers and Cardinals are being left out.
You are correct.. thought I was leaving some teams out but posted too quickly.
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I live in eastern Iowa. I am in the Twins, White Sox, Cubs, Reds, Royals, Tigers territory. How the @*#* am I supposed to get to games all of which are a minimum of 4 hours by car? MLB territory restrictions are incredibly bad.
MLB broadcast restrictions aren’t to protect the gate, they’re to give exclusivity to regional sports networks.
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Along these lines, I recently tried the Playstation Vue service, using my Apple TV as the conduit for the big TV. The interface on the Apple TV is a little clunky but functional. As it's a skinny TV service, that doesn't matter so much as you can elect favorite channels that are listed up front and there's only about 50 channels overall. You can also set up profiles, so my favorites don't have to overlap with Mrs Limey's. The picture quality is very good, although live sports gets a little YouTubey, if that makes sense. The quality of picture / service on a phone/tablet or browser is excellent.
The monthly cost for the package that gets Mrs Limey's Hallmark channels is $55/month (if not for one of the Hallmark channels, we could get everything else we need for $45/month) which includes HD and limitless DVR - and this combines quite nicely with AT&T's internet-only service that's $50/month with contract. Compare that to Xfinity, which charges $120/month for TV and internet (no more channels that we watch than the PSV lineup), plus $10/month each for two set-top boxes, plus $10/month for DVR, plus $10/month for HD ($160/month if you're keeping score at home). It would be more if I hadn't invested in my own modem (another $10/month).
Unless XFinity will drop their price, then the switch is coming and the cable is getting cut. I do need an additional Apple TV for the other TV, but that pays for itself in 2 months at these rates and the old v2 Apple TV in the bedroom is due an upgrade anyway and I can add service to other room simply by adding more Apple TVs.
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We had Playstaion Vue and switched it out for youtube TV. Same basic premise. Apparently I can get at least 3 of the regional sports nets through YouTubeTV so tied with MLB.TV and the fact that the Astros now play in the AL West and don't frequent the Midwest much anymore, I can work my around the blackouts to my satisfaction.
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We had Playstaion Vue and switched it out for youtube TV. Same basic premise. Apparently I can get at least 3 of the regional sports nets through YouTubeTV so tied with MLB.TV and the fact that the Astros now play in the AL West and don't frequent the Midwest much anymore, I can work my around the blackouts to my satisfaction.
No Hallmark channel on YT, so no go for us.
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What the hell do you get on the Hallmark channel, Murder, She Wrote?
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What the hell do you get on the Hallmark channel, Murder, She Wrote?
Golden Girls
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has anyone else found METV
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What the hell do you get on the Hallmark channel, Murder, She Wrote?
Ronda watches the movies. It’s July, so that means the DVR is filling up with Christmas movies.
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Ronda watches the movies. It’s July, so that means the DVR is filling up with Christmas movies.
God, my wife watches them constantly. Especially the Christmas movies. And it's always the same fucking story: Some chick named "Holly", high power executive, visits her parents in her old hometown, leaving her fiancé to tend to things in the big city. She hooks up with her old flame, "Nick", who never left town and is kind to small children and animals. Son of a bitch...wouldn't you know it, Holly discovers what an asshole her fiancé is and that she's really in love with Nick. They kiss under the mistletoe and live happily ever after. Every. Fucking. Movie.
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God, my wife watches them constantly. Especially the Christmas movies. And it's always the same fucking story: Some chick named "Holly", high power executive, visits her parents in her old hometown, leaving her fiancé to tend to things in the big city. She hooks up with her old flame, "Nick", who never left town and is kind to small children and animals. Son of a bitch...wouldn't you know it, Holly discovers what an asshole her fiancé is and that she's really in love with Nick. They kiss under the mistletoe and live happily ever after. Every. Fucking. Movie.
Yeah, pretty sure I've seen this movie 10 times while never watching any movie twice
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God, my wife watches them constantly. Especially the Christmas movies. And it's always the same fucking story: Some chick named "Holly", high power executive, visits her parents in her old hometown, leaving her fiancé to tend to things in the big city. She hooks up with her old flame, "Nick", who never left town and is kind to small children and animals. Son of a bitch...wouldn't you know it, Holly discovers what an asshole her fiancé is and that she's really in love with Nick. They kiss under the mistletoe and live happily ever after. Every. Fucking. Movie.
You forgot that Nick’s wife died a few years ago...at Christmas. So he is conflicted creating complications in the burgeoning relationship. Trust me, I have pointed this out. I have also been told to “shut the fuck up”. It’s serious business.
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So in your wives' imaginations, do you guys reckon that you play the role of Nick?
My wife watches those two fruitcake design twins on Netflix all the time. I'm pretty sure that whatever she may or may not imagine of me does not play into it, but I guess you never really know.
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So in your wives' imaginations, do you guys reckon that you play the role of Nick?
My wife watches those two fruitcake design twins on Netflix all the time. I'm pretty sure that whatever she may or may not imagine of me does not play into it, but I guess you never really know.
Ronda LOVES Christmas and she loves Hallmark movies because "they have a good heart". I doubt very much that she's seeing me in those movies or expects me to be that way, in real life she's one of the least sentimental people. The most obvious example being on our first wedding anniversary, I made her a latte, put it in a nice cup and took it to her in bed, woke her up with a kiss and said "Happy Anniversary, sweetheart!" She replied "Oh. Is that today?"
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Which is sort of why her love of all things Hallmark is so hard for me to square.
Mrs Hawk, on the other hand, I can understand her love for Hallmark.
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Mrs Hawk, on the other hand, I can understand her love for Hallmark.
Well played, sir.
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Which is sort of why her love of all things Hallmark is so hard for me to square.
Mrs Hawk, on the other hand, I can understand her love for Hallmark.
She is obsessed. We have well over 1,000 Hallmark Christmas tree ornaments, and she buys them by the dozen each year. Roughly 25% of them actually have space on the tree. We have a Halloween tree she decorates. I guess I shouldn't complain. Other than an inordinate number of Christmass tree decorations, she's not really a spender on much. And the house *is* festive during the Holiday season.
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I had an interesting series of calls with XFinity yesterday. Bottom line: despite being a near 20-year customer, the best deal the "Loyalty Dept." could offer was one that was worse than the deal available on their website. Ummm...no.
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I had an interesting series of calls with XFinity yesterday. Bottom line: despite being a near 20-year customer, the best deal the "Loyalty Dept." could offer was one that was worse than the deal available on their website. Ummm...no.
I had the same problem with Time Warner a couple of years ago. I asked for the deal on the website; they said they couldn't do that, and I left them. Within three months, I was getting offers for that deal. I haven't returned.
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I had the same problem with Time Warner a couple of years ago. I asked for the deal on the website; they said they couldn't do that, and I left them. Within three months, I was getting offers for that deal. I haven't returned.
It's so crazy. If they had come close to the cable-cutting deal, I would've stayed (their internet is faster than AT&T's), but it was that double-whammy of not only not being close, it was not even close to their own best deal.
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I know loyalty means nothing I went through that and ended up with att (and the astros) does not seem like a good business model
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Update: I have switched from PS Vue to DirectTV Now. The PS Vue interface - particularly the DVR - was just too much to handle. Also, I was able to get the cheapest channel line-up on DTV Now vs. the most expensive on PS Vue - $25/month cheaper! DTV Now's interface is great and it has a "beta" DVR, which works well and allows up to 20 hours (which is plenty for us until Hallmark starts rolling out its Christmas movies). They claim they will add more recording time (for a fee) once they are out of beta.
The reason this has become relevant now is that DTV Now - for reasons I don't understand - cannot put the Golf Channel on the same package as Hallmark's Movies and Mysteries (see above as to why that's an issue). With the Ryder Cup coming up, some of the coverage in on GC, so I will need to find other ways to watch it. However, being in France this year, the matches start at 1am, so watching live is going to be limited by circadian rhythms. NBC is carrying Saturday and Sunday, so it's only the Friday play for which I'll need to find an alternative source.
One thing I don't miss is the buhzillion channels that I never watched on my Xfinity subscription. FYI, HBO is only $5/month on DTV Now.
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Even though DTV Now is under the AT&T umbrella, they don't offer AT&T Sportsnet, although they do offer Fox Sports SW. I don't understand why. When I asked why not, they told me they were working on it.
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Even though DTV Now is under the AT&T umbrella, they don't offer AT&T Sportsnet, although they do offer Fox Sports SW. I don't understand why. When I asked why not, they told me they were working on it.
I'm sure AT&T typically bundle the sports with a bunch of shit and make people pay more for it, which is why they're not letting DTV Now cherry-pick it from their bundled lineup.
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Even though DTV Now is under the AT&T umbrella, they don't offer AT&T Sportsnet, although they do offer Fox Sports SW. I don't understand why. When I asked why not, they told me they were working on it.
AT&T Sportsnet is channel 674 on DirectTV. I watch it every night.
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AT&T Sportsnet is channel 674 on DirectTV. I watch it every night.
That’s a full-bundle service. I think the problem is that the skinny bundles are different because they can’t pass on the charge for the extraneous shit the wrap around desirable channels.
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That’s a full-bundle service. I think the problem is that the skinny bundles are different because they can’t pass on the charge for the extraneous shit the wrap around desirable channels.
I got DTV about a year ago with the regular sports package (3 ESPNs, FS1 etc.) and no Golf Channel. When I called them on it they said it would n=ne an additional $10.99 a month pretty much just for the GC. I declined. Then right before the US Open I magically started getting it. Had it ever since.
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I got DTV about a year ago with the regular sports package (3 ESPNs, FS1 etc.) and no Golf Channel. When I called them on it they said it would n=ne an additional $10.99 a month pretty much just for the GC. I declined. Then right before the US Open I magically started getting it. Had it ever since.
Must be some weird dick-measuring thing going on between GE and AT&T. Everything will be so much better when there's just one big media company.
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AT&T Sportsnet is channel 674 on DirectTV. I watch it every night.
That's the full satellite deal. Limey is philosophically and aesthetically opposed to satellite dishes.
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That's the full satellite deal. Limey is philosophically and aesthetically opposed to satellite dishes.
And meteorologically.
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AT&T Sportsnet is channel 674 on DirectTV. I watch it every night.
DTV Now is the streaming service.
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DTV Now is the streaming service.
I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.
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I have DTV through a dish, with a shitload of channels, and of course, weather and my continually growing trees do their bit. I assume that the streaming service would allow me every channel I currently get, so when reception is lost and I turn to the Ipad DTV app, I am limited to a small subset of my subscribed channels. Never understood that limitation.
I remember when I switched from U-verse back to DTV, the guy said the company was promoting that, as it took demand off their "pipes." Maybe that's behind this odd deal: if I can watch through the dish, they don't want to make it easy to watch through the internet.
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I have DTV through a dish, with a shitload of channels, and of course, weather and my continually growing trees do their bit. I assume that the streaming service would allow me every channel I currently get, so when reception is lost and I turn to the Ipad DTV app, I am limited to a small subset of my subscribed channels. Never understood that limitation.
I remember when I switched from U-verse back to DTV, the guy said the company was promoting that, as it took demand off their "pipes." Maybe that's behind this odd deal: if I can watch through the dish, they don't want to make it easy to watch through the internet.
DTV Now is a TV-through-the-internet service, and you use a Smart TV or attached media device (Apple TV, Roku etc.) to watch it on a regular TV, apps to watch on your handheld devices and it's available anywhere else on a web browser. The channel line-ups are very different I suspect, especially at the low end for us cord-cutters, but you may be able to get all you want by buying one of their bigger packages. In any event, weather and trees should not be an issue unless they also affect your internet service.
Lineup quirks aside, I'm very happy with streaming TV in general and DirectTV Now in particular. As discussed above, though, access to Astros games may be an issue and may require you to buy them with a separate service/subscription. It's very much a personal cost/benefit analysis.
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DTV Now channel line up by package (http://cdn.directv.com/content/dam/dtv/gmott/html/compare-packages-account.html).
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And meteorologically.
That's all in your head.
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DTV Now channel line up by package (http://cdn.directv.com/content/dam/dtv/gmott/html/compare-packages-account.html).
Seems cool until I got to the deal breaker that Sphinx alluded to: no AT&T Sportsnet. Which is totally odd, you would think AT&T Sportsnet would be baseline; why did they acquire those regional sports networks if they are part of their packages.
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Seems cool until I got to the deal breaker that Sphinx alluded to: no AT&T Sportsnet. Which is totally odd, you would think AT&T Sportsnet would be baseline; why did they acquire those regional sports networks if they are part of their packages.
It may be a deliberate decision for an abstract reason, such as satellite providers having a lock on major league sports subscription packages, so they don't think cord-cutters and dish-dumpers will be much of a market for them. It may simply be a price consideration, in that adding a premium sports network blows up the pricing structure - again with cord-cutters looking to save money over full cable/ satellite packages. It may be that AT&T sucks.
Regardless, you'd think they'd be able to offer it as an add-on. HBO, Showtime etc. are avail;able this way, why not AT&T Sportsnet? Essentially, the whole point of skinny packages is that you buy the programming you want without having to pay for all the dreck you don't.
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Update Update: I remain happy with the DTV Now service. The DVR remains in Beta, and does have the occasional quirk (like it won't delete a watched show, which is an annoyance with only 20 hours available). AT&T, however...
...are about to get their shit dumped. 4 years ago, on the site where my house (and three others) now stand, were some crack-riddled apartments. I inherited the original street number, which has turned into a bane as far as AT&T is concerned. They are unable to connect me to the fiber service (that they destroyed my front yard installing) because my address has units. I have tried multiple times to have this corrected by them, and each time their assurances that it is getting fixed have been for naught. They even blamed USPS, and said I had to go there to get it fixed - so I did. In December. And, after spending an hour at the post office, I was shown that they have me down as a single home.
Meanwhile, now that I am no longer an existing Xfinity customer, I suddenly have available a smorgasbord of internet-only options with great speed and great prices. I still have my own modem, too, so these deals look even more attractive as I have already taken the AT&T router off router duty because it sucked at it.
I have an (alleged) AT&T service manager on chat right now and my finger hovering over the "order service" button on Xfinity's website. Free installation and a price locked-in for 24 months is very tempting.
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I have an (alleged) AT&T service manager on chat right now and my finger hovering over the "order service" button on Xfinity's website. Free installation and a price locked-in for 24 months is very tempting.
The AT&T manager added nothing to the conversation. Xfinity service ordered; self-installation kit on its way.
At $30/month (inc. fees and taxes) for 60mbps, it's ridiculous how much cheaper my overall set-up is now compared to 6 months ago.
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The AT&T manager added nothing to the conversation. Xfinity service ordered; self-installation kit on its way.
At $30/month (inc. fees and taxes) for 60mbps, it's ridiculous how much cheaper my overall set-up is now compared to 6 months ago.
I get 1,000 mbps for $70. For $30 I could get 100 mbps. Just how expensive was it before?
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I get 1,000 mbps for $70. For $30 I could get 100 mbps. Just how expensive was it before?
I was paying $160 (plus taxes/fees) for Xfinity TV/Internet; I don't know what the contracted speed was. I'm now paying $70 (inc. taxes/fees) for my skinny-TV and 60mbps internet. I know 60mbps is plenty for us because we've been limping along with a 50mbps plan from AT&T that was delivering only 15-20mbps when is wasn't dropping out.
AT&T will do 1000mbps for $80/month ++, but that's if you have fiber (pauses to push another needle into an AT&T doll) and Xfinity is at $70/month ++. I don't (think) I need to pay another $40/month ++ to get all that bandwidth that I don't need. If I find 60mbps isn't enough, then I'll creep up the ladder, which is at least doable now for me with Xfinity.
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FWIW, I finally cut the cord. Was paying ~$140/mo for Grande, $100/mo was digital cable.
Now I'm down to $40/mo with 300Mbps down/20Mbps up. I played around with Sling TV and PS Vue, both of which look good, but I just don't watch enough TV.
For now, I'm using Netflix and DVDs from the public library. I don't know about the Houston library, but the San Antonio public library lets you borrow up to 10 DVDs for months at a time, for free. It's perfect for my young kids that want Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network stuff and don't mind watching the same crap over and over again..
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Hello, my name is Noe and I'm a new cord cutter.
Actually, I'm in the process of cord cutting and doing research, I've settled on DirectTV Now as the internet provider of choice. Going to use a Ruku for the one television that really can wait because my wife uses that set to do her exercise training (the DVR is all she needs, so no real need for Ruku right now). The other two sets are smart tvs and I can use the apps that come with those sets. And we've decided to give our 55" set to my son who is going to be home from college (taking a year off) so he only wants it for his Switch.
That leaves our 60" set downstairs in the den and that is a smart tv. So for all intents and purposes, I'm cutting the cord soon. That leaves me with one other measure to consider: High Speed Internet. As a work from home consultant/employee/contractor, I need the best speed available and most reliable. I currently use my cable modem to get 300 mps of speed. But as my techie friends always remind me, it's not what speed they offer, it's what speed you can get through your setup. Meaning if I'm on a shared wireless (so many devices in our house, including the smart tvs use the wireless), the speed I get drops. That's not good for the business needs, so I'm tethered to the modem to avoid sharing. My son is also tethered in his computer and that allows him to use his home-built gaming machine at maximum speeds as he can get. Wireless drops significantly if we don't tether. Even then, with a 300 mps service, the best speeds I get for my tethered desktop (two laptops are wireless) is Download 124 mps / 24 Upload. That's pretty fast for non-fiber speeds. So my choice is this: Remain with my cable company for only the internet/phone (I can drop the phone, we don't use it, all of us have cell phones we use instead, although our home phone is great way to avoid having our cell phones exposed to telemarketers and political messages in a way). or I can find another Internet provider who can match the speeds I currently use while tethered and possibly setup a better way to connect wireless around the house so I can get better speeds for the smart tv and laptops (five overall devices that are non-tethered).
Limey's adventures and updates have been a great resource as well.
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Hello, my name is Noe and I'm a new cord cutter.
Actually, I'm in the process of cord cutting and doing research, I've settled on DirectTV Now as the internet service of choice. Going to use a Ruku for the one television that really can wait because my wife uses that set to do her exercise training (the DVR is all she needs, so no real need for Ruku right now). The other two sets are smart tvs and I can use the apps that come with those sets. And we've decided to give our 55" set to my son who is going to be home from college (taking a year off) so he only wants it for his Switch.
That leaves our 60" set downstairs in the den and that is a smart tv. So for all intents and purposes, I'm cutting the cord soon. That leaves me with one other measure to consider: High Speed Internet. As a work from home consultant/employee/contractor, I need the best speed available and most reliable. I currently use my cable modem to get 300 mps of speed. But as my techie friends always remind me, it's not what speed they offer, it's what speed you can get through your setup. Meaning if I'm on a shared wireless (so many devices in our house, including the smart tvs use the wireless), the speed I get drops. That's not good for the business needs, so I'm tethered to the modem to avoid sharing. My son is also tethered in his computer and that allows him to use his home-built gaming machine at maximum speeds as he can get. Wireless drops significantly if we don't tether. Even then, with a 300 mps service, the best speeds I get for my tethered desktop (two laptops are wireless) is Download 124 mps / 24 Upload. That's pretty fast for non-fiber speeds. So my choice is this: Remain with my cable company for only the internet/phone (I can drop the phone, we don't use it, all of us have cell phones we use instead, although our home phone is great way to avoid having our cell phones exposed to telemarketers and political messages in a way). or I can find another Internet provider who can match the speeds I currently use while tethered and possibly setup a better way to connect wireless around the house so I can get better speeds for the smart tv and laptops (five overall devices that are non-tethered).
Limey's adventures and updates have been a great resource as well.
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Hello, my name is Noe and I'm a new cord cutter.
Meaning if I'm on a shared wireless (so many devices in our house, including the smart tvs use the wireless), the speed I get drops.
Hey Noe,
I'm not sure if your smart TV has an ethernet port, but assuming it does, and assuming it's next to an existing cable tap, you can use a MoCA adapter to get ethernet speed over coax cable wires.
Most importantly, you can get all that streaming smart TV traffic off the wireless. You will need to buy at least 2 adapters (one where your router is, and one wherever your smart TV is). I've been using the ActionTecs for about 3 years now, they work great:
https://www.actiontec.com/moca/
I just had to buy a couple more off Amazon, it was ~$80 for a set of 2 (older models). The speed maxes out at 100Mbps, but for my purposes (again, keeping streaming traffic from clogging up wireless) that's just fine.
Update: looks like Amazon is selling the ActionTec WCB3000N models for $20. Looks like they do both MoCA and wireless, so theoretically they should get the job done at a much cheaper price. I ordered a couple and will be sending back the previous order if they work as expected.
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Yo Gizz!
I'm actually thinking about adjusting my setup so I have two modems (one a router and another a relay). If I setup the second modem as a relay, I'll locate it near the smart tv (does have an ethernet port). Trying to spec the best config right now, but definitely what you said is worth the effort to tether the tv as well.
thanks!
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No problem, Noe! If you have an older house with existing cable taps (like me), MoCA is a no-brainer. My wife telecommuted for awhile and our wireless would routinely choke out during video conferences. I bought a MoCa adapter for her office (which already had a cable tap) and the problems went away instantly.
Coax cable itself is a great medium for signal transmission-better in many ways than UTP (aka phone or ethernet cabling). Of course, fiber is better if money is no object, but coax is good for ISP use (although not as good as fiber) and excellent for in-home use.
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Apparently cordcutters can now get AT&T SportsNet thru fuboTV.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190205005686/en/ATT-SportsNet-fuboTV-Customers-Southwest-Television-Territory
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I’m much more interested in them finally setting up a Roku app.
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I’m much more interested in them finally setting up a Roku app.
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For TV streaming, FuboTV will work on a Roku device (2, 3, and 4). Also on an AppleTV device, AmazonFire TV, and AndroidTV devices. As far as Apps for mobile devices, you would use the FuboTV app on the mobile device like you would on any of the above devices. https://www.fubo.tv/welcome/apps
This announcement may sway me away from DirectTV Now at this point.
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DTV Now is a TV-through-the-internet service, and you use a Smart TV or attached media device (Apple TV, Roku etc.) to watch it on a regular TV, apps to watch on your handheld devices and it's available anywhere else on a web browser. The channel line-ups are very different I suspect, especially at the low end for us cord-cutters, but you may be able to get all you want by buying one of their bigger packages. In any event, weather and trees should not be an issue unless they also affect your internet service.
Lineup quirks aside, I'm very happy with streaming TV in general and DirectTV Now in particular. As discussed above, though, access to Astros games may be an issue and may require you to buy them with a separate service/subscription. It's very much a personal cost/benefit analysis.
What Limey is saying above applies to FuboTV. The cost analysis is about the same, somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-80 dollars all told if you include the SportsNet package with a TV package. About the same cost of a cable subscription, but without the SportsNet channel. With cable, you have to pay for device rental and all the supporting costs. So while you are in the same ballpark in spending, the bonus you get from cord cutting is anywhere/anytime viewing and of course with cord cutting comes the cutting of playback system rental costs as well (to convert coaxle to digital/HD). What you pay for cable can increase to about 120 dollars all told based on your need and then go up from there. With streaming, it's a one-time cost for the device (Roku, etc.) and then only the streaming cost from then on. Chrome casting will allow you to spend less on a device like Roku and use casting to the TV just like you use in a SmartTV... it's a casting from your wireless into an App of the Chrome device as if your TV is a smart TV. Most televisions nowadays have a USB slot to connect your ChromeCast device. With that you can then connect to FuboTV as if it's an app on a SmartTV and also if you have Plex, you can stream your own personal media (video, audio, etc.) plus connection to Plex partner channels (re: other streaming services).
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Correction: From the announcement (that I missed earlier)
uboTV will carry AT&T SportsNet Southwest as part of its base fubo subscription package ($44.99 per month after a free, seven-day trial), which features 75+ channels, including 40+ channels that carry sports. Subscribers can watch on the web via https://fubo.tv and on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku and Android and iOS mobile devices.
This is huge, no additional cost other than to pick the streaming package you want, which includes the lowest streaming package of 44 dollars (with about 80 channels offered). This is really huge and beats the cable offering right out of the gate. Nice! Now a one-time purchase of Roku or AndroidTV will be even much more effective.
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Hopefully this is the precursor to other streaming services (looking at you, YouTube TV) carrying AT&T SportsNet. fuboTV currently lacks the ESPN family of channels and MLB Network.
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Cancelling Hulu Live today and signing up for fubo.
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Cancelling Hulu Live today and signing up for fubo.
That's our little saver! I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I don't understand any of this cable alternative thing. I don't know a Roku from tofu. However, I'm interested in a primer on cord cutting now.
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Hopefully this is the precursor to other streaming services (looking at you, YouTube TV) carrying AT&T SportsNet. fuboTV currently lacks the ESPN family of channels and MLB Network.
Yup, the tradeoff is getting more soccer (futbol) type of sports networks instead. That they made a deal with SportsNet is nice, since they no longer carry the Houston Dynamo. I would totally understand FuboTV making such a deal because it's soccer related.
As far as ESPN, about the only thing I watch on ESPN is Rocket (National) games. I'll trade that for SportsNet's broadcast. MLB Network? That's going to hurt, I like that Network, but if the tradeoff is I get to watch the Houston Astros more, that is worth it to me.
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Just a quick hack we figured out recently. We have sling and just learned we get access to the ESPN app with it as our TV provider. It allows us a way around the one devise issue watching ESPN. With a son at college, it is a big deal.
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Just a quick hack we figured out recently. We have sling and just learned we get access to the ESPN app with it as our TV provider. It allows us a way around the one devise issue watching ESPN. With a son at college, it is a big deal.
Good hack. On occasion, beyond the occasional basketball (NBA) game, I'd like to watch certain college football games not on the regular networks. Oh, yeah... I'm a fan of volleyball, but in reality, only the UT Women's matches on the Longhorn/ESPN network. I can give those up if I have to. I could always try to use "Roku" as the provider instead of my cable subscription to use the WatchESPN app. Might work.
It's the trade-off of watching a lot of Astros games or watching only a handful of Nationally televised Astros games and the MLB Network like I currently do. What I can hope for is eventually, the MLB Network will be on FuboTV similar to the the NBA Network and the NFL Network to catch some Nationally televised games on the MLB Network plus some of the shows I like too.
I have until Friday to cut the cord or pay for another 30 days of cable. I'm pretty decided now that this news has come out, especially since the SportsNet Network is supposed to come online on February 11th. That pretty much would be when the free subscription I intend to sign up for on Friday would be in full effect. I can test the quality of the broadcast at that time.
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Hack alert. I have found that if you have a roku you can add the GADE.TV app and access MLB Network through it. At least for now.
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I have FUBO.TV now. They do not, as of yet, have Attsportsnet on their line-up.
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I have FUBO.TV now. They do not, as of yet, have Attsportsnet on their line-up.
Feb. 11, said that PR.
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How many simultaneous streams on Fubo? You can pay extra for 3+, so dues thismean 2 is standard?
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Hack alert. I have found that if you have a roku you can add the GADE.TV app and access MLB Network through it. At least for now.
You're a good man Colonel! Thanks... I've been looking for a hack all night.
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How many simultaneous streams on Fubo? You can pay extra for 3+, so dues thismean 2 is standard?
Yes.
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The most annoying thing about a vMVPD is that there is a one to two minute lag behind the real time action on a MVPD like Cable or Satellite.
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The most annoying thing about a vMVPD is that there is a one to two minute lag behind the real time action on a MVPD like Cable or Satellite.
Yep. I can see my neighbor's TV across the street from my preferred viewing position on the couch. His sports streams are notably ahead of mine, and often I'll get a scoring update on something I'm watching before it's happened.
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I can think of more than one reason to lower the window shades.
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I can think of more than one reason to lower the window shades.
“For those of you scoring at home, or even if you’re by yourself...”
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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How many simultaneous streams on Fubo? You can pay extra for 3+, so dues thismean 2 is standard?
Yup. I don't actually need more than 2 because my wife rarely watches television unless she and I watch some of our favorite shows (which are eclectic unto themselves). I'm the only one who watches television and that is all sports related (no Astros unless they play the Rangers and then I have to suffer through the Ranger announcers, although they're not as bad as they used to be). So I have to admit that for many years now I've been paying for cable just to watch sports. I can envision a scenario where I am watching sports in my office on my laptop and then run downstairs to the living room to watch something else with my wife while I then rush back upstairs for the end of my sports watching. But then again, would that be simultaneous watching? Probably not. As for our two boys/men... they hate television broadcast now that they've outgrown Cartoon Network programming (that was years ago). They're both gamers so their progam watching is YouTube related primarily. They've got that covered on their own.
Looking forward to having access to Astros and Rockets broadcast again, it's been very long while.
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I'm gonna cancel fubo.tv at the end of the 7 day trail, I don't like their user interface or channel selection compared to hulu live. In the mean time I can sign into Attsportsnet.com with my parents uverse id and watch the Astros content. That's how I watched them last year and it's free. I was fairly pleased with hulu live but they did just raise their rates. I guess that leaves me with trying youtube tv live, directtv now, or playstation vue next. Any recommendations?
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Tech Hack: If you're eating at a clear glass table in a Mexican restaurant, a flour tortilla makes a good mouse pad.
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FYI, if you cancel fubotv during their 7 day free trail, they comeback with a month discount offer of $19.99.
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I'm gonna cancel fubo.tv at the end of the 7 day trail, I don't like their user interface or channel selection compared to hulu live. In the mean time I can sign into Attsportsnet.com with my parents uverse id and watch the Astros content. That's how I watched them last year and it's free. I was fairly pleased with hulu live but they did just raise their rates. I guess that leaves me with trying youtube tv live, directtv now, or playstation vue next. Any recommendations?
YT Live doesn't have Hallmark (see conversation above). I don't know what the Fubo interface looks like, but the PS Vue interface is a clusterfuck. It's vertical, not horizontal, so every show name longer than about 5 letters has to wrap the text like crazy. The DVR is of the "everything forever" type, which is fine except that it always lands on the earliest episode available, not the earliest unwatched episode. So if you DVR something like "2020", you have to scroll forward through every episode from like 2007 to get to 2019.
I'm still enjoying DTV Now; it has a great interface (although having to use the Menu button on the Apple TV for multiple functionality gets a touch confusing at times). The DVR is simple and solid, but remains endlessly in Beta so there's still only 20 hours available (works for us but maybe not for a more populous household). One frustration is that it will struggle to load a show from the DVR or - rarely - live TV, and the on-screen message blames your internet feed. I know it's not that because I can check it while I'm sitting there; essentially meaningless, but still a little on the nose.
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YT Live doesn't have Hallmark (see conversation above).
This seems like the best deal for me.
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I'm gonna cancel fubo.tv at the end of the 7 day trail, I don't like their user interface or channel selection compared to hulu live. In the mean time I can sign into Attsportsnet.com with my parents uverse id and watch the Astros content. That's how I watched them last year and it's free. I was fairly pleased with hulu live but they did just raise their rates. I guess that leaves me with trying youtube tv live, directtv now, or playstation vue next. Any recommendations?
My friend recommended YouTube TV to me. He swears by it.
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FYI, if you cancel fubotv during their 7 day free trail, they comeback with a month discount offer of $19.99.
Conversation between my wife and I:
(Me): "I'm going to go with FuboTV as our skinny channel provider."
(Wife): "Why?"
(Me): "They provide all the channels we like.. ah... Food Network, Turner Classic Movies, you know."
(Wife): "Well, they're basically channels you like, I don't watch television unless it's some of the British Sitcoms we can get. The Over The Air channels we get now by way of the antenna you set up is enough for me."
(Me): "Yeah... but...."
(Wife): "I know, your sports channels, especially Houston Astros broadcast... right?"
(Me): "Yes"
(Wife): "Well just say so, go and pay 44 dollars a month just so you can watch the Astros play"
(Me): "Yeah, but it's better than paying cable bills for *NOT* watching Houston Astros games and basically being left with only a handful of channels I like"
(Wife): "Good point."
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I don't know what the Fubo interface looks like, but the PS Vue interface is a clusterfuck. It's vertical, not horizontal, so every show name longer than about 5 letters has to wrap the text like crazy. The DVR is of the "everything forever" type, which is fine except that it always lands on the earliest episode available, not the earliest unwatched episode. So if you DVR something like "2020", you have to scroll forward through every episode from like 2007 to get to 2019.
This guy did a review of the Fubo interface based on launching the app through Roku (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqiQTbPN7iQ). Apparently if you're going to want to scroll through the channel guide, it will be horizontal and then the selection is vertical based on time. I'm used to the TWC On-Demand app that lets me select vertically for the channel first and then horizontally for the timeframe next. So it will be a different method I'll need to get used to. Because the vertical selection is the timeframe, it's not a top-down but a bottom-up (acending versus decending) scrolling. I bet that will take some getting used to as well. But the selection of sports offerings is really good (according to what I saw in his review.
I don't think the interface will be a deal breaker to be able to get Astros broadcast (finally). But the fact that I am going to lose ESPN is something I'm going to have to let go. My watching ESPN got less and less once I camped on the MLB Network, so it's not like I'll suffer huge withdrawals.
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My friend recommended YouTube TV to me. He swears by it.
YouTube TV has excellent picture quality. I haven't tried Sling, DTV Now, or many of the others, but PS Vue's picture quality during our free trial was garbage. We showed the Super Bowl at work on our big projector screen using YouTube TV and people thought they were watching cable or satellite. Also, you get six simultaneous streams and it's pretty much the only streaming service that carries all four major networks in most markets; many other services usually lack one of those networks in each market.
My biggest complaint about YouTube TV is that with your DVR "recordings", if you don't watch them same day then they may get substituted for a VOD with commercials that you can't skip. Apparently the network or the studio can enforce that on any shows they want. It's only happened to us with a couple of shows, but it is annoying when it happens. Apparently other streaming services are susceptible to this as well.
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YouTube TV has excellent picture quality. I haven't tried Sling, DTV Now, or many of the others, but PS Vue's picture quality during our free trial was garbage. We showed the Super Bowl at work on our big projector screen using YouTube TV and people thought they were watching cable or satellite. Also, you get six simultaneous streams and it's pretty much the only streaming service that carries all four major networks in most markets; many other services usually lack one of those networks in each market.
My biggest complaint about YouTube TV is that with your DVR "recordings", if you don't watch them same day then they may get substituted for a VOD with commercials that you can't skip. Apparently the network or the studio can enforce that on any shows they want. It's only happened to us with a couple of shows, but it is annoying when it happens. Apparently other streaming services are susceptible to this as well.
Dish had a dvr feature that would automatically skip commercials. I think there was litigation or threats of litigation to stop it.
Here's an article:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160211/10423633579/dish-agrees-to-cripple-ad-skipping-dvr-to-settle-fox-lawsuit.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160211/10423633579/dish-agrees-to-cripple-ad-skipping-dvr-to-settle-fox-lawsuit.shtml)
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Resurrecting this thread to ask a question.
I'm finally moving home after Harvey at the end of this month, and we're going to cut the cord. For those of you who use a proxy/MLB.TV, does that interfere with your Netflix/Hulu/Amazon apps? Do you change the DNS on your Smart TV and access the apps through a fire stick/Roku or something? I don't know the lingo very well so please tell me where I'm an idiot. Are there certain brands that do this better than others?
Basically I need my 10 year old to be able to turn the Astros on whenever he wants and my 8 year old to change it to Netflix whenever she wants.
Any help appreciated. Going back to reading more and posting less now.
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Resurrecting this thread to ask a question.
I'm finally moving home after Harvey at the end of this month, and we're going to cut the cord. For those of you who use a proxy/MLB.TV, does that interfere with your Netflix/Hulu/Amazon apps? Do you change the DNS on your Smart TV and access the apps through a fire stick/Roku or something? I don't know the lingo very well so please tell me where I'm an idiot. Are there certain brands that do this better than others?
Basically I need my 10 year old to be able to turn the Astros on whenever he wants and my 8 year old to change it to Netflix whenever she wants.
Any help appreciated. Going back to reading more and posting less now.
We use Harmony remotes. Once you set up the remote, it’s one touch to access any device (ie., watch cable/roku/dvd/etc). And one off button that turns all devices off. Tv remote for dummies.
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Resurrecting this thread to ask a question.
I'm finally moving home after Harvey at the end of this month, and we're going to cut the cord. For those of you who use a proxy/MLB.TV, does that interfere with your Netflix/Hulu/Amazon apps? Do you change the DNS on your Smart TV and access the apps through a fire stick/Roku or something? I don't know the lingo very well so please tell me where I'm an idiot. Are there certain brands that do this better than others?
Basically I need my 10 year old to be able to turn the Astros on whenever he wants and my 8 year old to change it to Netflix whenever she wants.
Any help appreciated. Going back to reading more and posting less now.
I'm using a Roku on my already smartTV that does not have the apps necessary to run anything I need (in terms of live TV). I use the Roku Premiere stick and it comes with a remote that allows me to control certain television settings like volume. With the remote, it is easy to jump to the apps I need when I want to switch to view certain things I want to watch not on the live tv apps. For instance, PLEX or other apps that run television series or movies not found on the live tv app. So as a for instance:
1. I use the Roku to launch Sling (my live tv provider). I'm using Sling to watch some of my favorite broadcasters, like TNT (for the NBA playoffs), Food Network, and ESPN (for NBA playoffs). I chose Sling because of their promotional price, so for three months I have that service at a very reasonable price. But that does not satisfy my Astros watching. Nor anything Netflix related or Hulu related which are good for provisioned series (for instance if you like to binge watch popular television series, you'll find them there).
2. There are other ways to watch live tv like Crackle or Pluto. Kim Kamando has a nice article on your choices (https://www.komando.com/columns/563756/5-sites-for-streaming-tv-for-freel). Limits are on what you can watch and some are live and some are not. All I can run from my Roku menu of options.
3. Back to the Astros. Right now, the only option to get the Astros broadcast live (ATTSportsNet) is through cable or DirectTV but there is one streaming service for Astros live: Fubo.tv (https://www.fubo.tv/) It's not cheap, it's right up there with the other expensive live tv streaming offers (DirectTV Now, YouTube TV, and the most expensive Sling option). The fact that they've all raised their subscription prices is worrisome because it is making cord cutting less of an option. So some of the cable companies have gotten smart and offer their own version of streaming tv that does not require the coaxial cable connection.. their service is through the internet just like the others. Spectrum offers to stream live proogramming for about the same price as Direct TV and YouTube TV as a frame of reference. I know that ATT is now offering live TV steamed as well. The ATT offer (https://www.attwatchtv.com/) is quite intriquing because it is very reasonable. It seems to be a direct competitor of Sling's good options. I'm keeping my eye on this service in case they ever offer regional sports coverage like ATTSportsNet. For now, I'm just using MLB TV to watch baseball and of course the Astros on delay when I can. I did the free trial of Fubo and liked it, but I did not like the price.
4. A la carte: No one offers a la carte streaming, most are bundled offers from the services (DirectTV, Sling, etc.) The bundles drive what the streaming services offer, for instance, if Fubo does not make a deal with Disney, they don't get ESPN and other Disney offerings. If DirectTV does not make a deal with ABC or FOX, they won't get their bundle which would mean you don't get certain favorite broadcasters that only come in said bundle. That is why the different providers have different offerings, the bundle deals they make drive what they offer. No uniformity in offerings, so you have to make choices and can't mix and match that much. Sling does something interesting, they get the closest to making a la carte offerings. They offer extra bundles, like a Sports extra or Entertainment extra and that allows you to do one stop shopping on their program instead of having too many apps.
So the good thing about cord cutting services is that it is as good as getting cable offerings in terms of quality (don't go cheap on your internet provider - ATT, for instance only offered a very low up and down mps service, well below 100 mps... that is just too low. In fact, I would say to be most successful and not having to tether (ethernet cabling) every device, have at least 250 to 300 mps internet service and you'll never look back. The bad side of cord cutting is the very fact they are as good as quality as cable that they're pushing their price points to almost cable prices. And cable is getting smart, they are making their own streaming options available. The two are meeting at similar price points right now but hoping it's not about raising prices more and more because of comfort levels of subscribers. We are cord cutting to save money but still get the same quality. Other may be cord cutting because of the flexibility of device watching (anywhere, anytime) because no cord is necessary. For those shoppers who are making a lateral move just for flexibility, there isn't anything to fear.
Recap: I use Ruku to launch Sling Orange and other apps (including over the air broadcasting through an app), oner of which is Plex for my own movies that I've converted to mp4s from my DVD and BluRay collection. I'm enjoying the flexibility a lot. I'm enjoying the huge drop in cost very much. I'm not watching the Astros live (the drawback) but that is my choice. My savings doing this is somewhere near $800 a year. Had I wanted to buy more bundles (like Hulu, Fubo and Sling) and services, I estimated my savings near $200 a year from cable, which makes in almost a push.
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Welp,
Looks like a storm is brewing b/w DirecTV AT&T vs ESPN. ESPN set to go black at midnight, so no college football tomorrow. Im finally to the point to cut the cord.
I live in Houston, my #1 priority is finding a service that I can still watch Astros games live. It appears that is the case with Fubo.TV Are there any other options?
Also, I have 3 TVs, who do I get them to play a streaming service? One is a Vizio with their built in chromecast stuff. The others are not smart TVs. Lastly, would I need to up my internet plan? Never have a problem with data limits, cause I dont stream much.
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I went back to FUBOtv a month and a half back. I had been using my parents username and password to their UVERSE account to watch Astros games on the Attsportsnet app but it was plagued with issues affecting it's quality. Fubo works great but no ESPN, however the Roku and smart TV ESPN apps work great with my parent's logon credentials. I use Roku exclusively smart TV or not.
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Welp,
Looks like a storm is brewing b/w DirecTV AT&T vs ESPN. ESPN set to go black at midnight, so no college football tomorrow. Im finally to the point to cut the cord.
I live in Houston, my #1 priority is finding a service that I can still watch Astros games live. It appears that is the case with Fubo.TV Are there any other options?
Also, I have 3 TVs, who do I get them to play a streaming service? One is a Vizio with their built in chromecast stuff. The others are not smart TVs. Lastly, would I need to up my internet plan? Never have a problem with data limits, cause I dont stream much.
Some cord cutting Astros watchers I know just use a stream available from reddit to watch the games.
Get an amazon firestick and an apple TV for the TVs.
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To further muddy the waters, ATT is considering selling their regional sports networks. So what works now may not work after a sale.
https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/sinclair-comcast-att-regional-sports-networks.html (https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/sinclair-comcast-att-regional-sports-networks.html)
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If you have a Playstation or Xbox you can stream through those. I use a PS4 plus PS Vue for programming. That still doesn't get me the Astros, but there are ways to do it.
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To further muddy the waters, ATT is considering selling their regional sports networks. So what works now may not work after a sale.
https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/sinclair-comcast-att-regional-sports-networks.html (https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/sinclair-comcast-att-regional-sports-networks.html)
Speaking of RSNs, Crane's fraud lawsuit against McLane for CSN Houston has sprung back to life. (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Federal-judge-reject-Crane-lawsuit-state-court-14428118.php)
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To further muddy the waters, ATT is considering selling their regional sports networks. So what works now may not work after a sale.
https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/sinclair-comcast-att-regional-sports-networks.html (https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/sinclair-comcast-att-regional-sports-networks.html)
At least with streaming packages you go month-to-month without contract so, if the Astros give you a body swerve, you can dump one service and get another on the fly. Also, as each one typically gives you a month free, you can overlap the new service without getting doubled up on dues.
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Also, I have 3 TVs, who do I get them to play a streaming service? One is a Vizio with their built in chromecast stuff. The others are not smart TVs. Lastly, would I need to up my internet plan? Never have a problem with data limits, cause I dont stream much.
As others have said, you need a "dongle" for the unsmart TVs; Roku or Apple TV seem to be the most popular/functional. They are an investment - particularly the Apple TV - but unless you want 4k resolution, you can get a refurbed 4th gen ATV that does everything else but 4k for less.
For data limits, we run two TVs of an Xfinity internet-only package with a 70mbs speed limit and 1TB data limit. Neither of those limits causes us a problem. Even when we're watching different things at the same time, we don't have any issues. Ours is an artificially throttled speed limit, so it has no problem pushing through the full 70mbs when needed. Another service where the speed is hardware-limited - like AT&T - you might not get such a good result.
Lastly, if you're cutting the cord, I recommend you buy your own modem. Just make sure to get one that's compatible with your internet provider of choice. You will save instantly by avoiding an installation charge, and every month thereafter by not paying to rent their modem. I got mine for $80, and it saved me the $100 installation fee* and $10/month thereafter.
* Make sure you don't sleepwalk into the installation fee if you have your own modem. Unless they have to do some physical connections, there's no need for them to come out to your house. They should have a way for you to initiate the service and, if they don't, factor this into your price comparison.
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CNet has done the research for you (https://www.cnet.com/news/how-to-watch-astros-baseball-in-2019-without-cable/). In Houston, FuboTV is your only option; out of market, you can watch on MLBTV.
Note: Fubo does not carry KTRK/ABC, nor ESPN. Basically, it's Disney-free.
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Lastly, if you're cutting the cord, I recommend you buy your own modem. Just make sure to get one that's compatible with your internet provider of choice. You will save instantly by avoiding an installation charge, and every month thereafter by not paying to rent their modem. I got mine for $80, and it saved me the $100 installation fee* and $10/month thereafter.
Just some food for thought... owning your own modem gives your cable company an excuse to blame issues on it and absolve themselves of any responsibility.
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Just some food for thought... owning your own modem gives your cable company an excuse to blame issues on it and absolve themselves of any responsibility.
Yes, but that’s only an issue if it actually is your modem.