Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

[Rustic23]

Just found out if you are a Youtube TV subscriber the NBC, ABC, FOX stand alone apps on Roku work. I linked Youtube TV as my provider to one and they were linked to all. CBS does not work as they want money. I just did this yesterday, quality seemed good, you have adds, and I have not watched enough to see if all the content is there.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer Got a new player in town. As in ... Amazon : https://www.cnet.com/reviews/amazon-...cast-preview/#

I'm glad one of the bigger players finally picked this up. OTA is a mainstay for most viewers. This would be perfect for those who want a more plug-and-play experience. For those who are more DIY, Plex has been offering OTA DVR service for free for a while now, you just have to supply your own media PC, tuner, and antenna.

[explanade]

No most viewers are not using OTA. It’s like over 80% of households on cable or satellite.

ATSC 3.0 is being tested now. In many markets, stations will be changing their spectrum allocation over a period of time.

[NoMoreJob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger I'm glad one of the bigger players finally picked this up. OTA is a mainstay for most viewers. This would be perfect for those who want a more plug-and-play experience. For those who are more DIY, Plex has been offering OTA DVR service for free for a while now, you just have to supply your own media PC, tuner, and antenna.

The new Amazon DVR you link to looks very interesting. I'll have to look at it more closely to make sure I understand exactly what it does (and doesn't) do.

The only thing I don't like about my TiVo OTA DVR is that it won't stream wirelessly to other TVs (it requires a separate network established with existing coax or ethernet) so I haven't implemented that. I like everything else about it so well though that I've accepted the trade-off. The Amazon entry is going to have to be mighty good to compete.....but just maybe!

Edit: I've read a couple of early reviews and it does look intriguing. It would definitely require me to change some of my ways of doing things as well as other hardware and for that reason may be better for those already using Firesticks. But I'll keep an open mind and continue researching and considering how it may fit for me.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade No most viewers are not using OTA. It’s like over 80% of households on cable or satellite. ATSC 3.0 is being tested now. In many markets, stations will be changing their spectrum allocation over a period of time.

But the big dog is losing ground, that's key. A lot easier to handle a growing business (streaming) over a declining business (cable & satellite). Cable & satellite providers who also sell internet and/or streaming have more control over their destiny than contract providers without. Fun to watch this play out...

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger I'm glad one of the bigger players finally picked this up. OTA is a mainstay for most viewers. This would be perfect for those who want a more plug-and-play experience. For those who are more DIY, Plex has been offering OTA DVR service for free for a while now, you just have to supply your own media PC, tuner, and antenna.

Yes, happy to see a big player in the game. Competition is a good thing. At least for consumers.

Just taking a glance at the OTA device by Amazon, a shame though that there is no output in case one wishes to archive something recorded. I guess Amazon's plan seems like to have folks more dependent on their ecosystem.

I'm for the most part happy with my old trusty Magnavox DVR/DVD player recorder that programs like an old time VCR.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Those of you on the fence, don't assume what locals you'll have from PlayStation Vue or others based on someone else's channel lineup. If you're near a large metro area like we are, with PS Vue you WILL have them all - ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox & Telemundo. In other metro or rural areas you may be missing one or several majors. You have to check out your SPECIFIC location by address to know. And this changes all the time, you may have networks now that weren't available 6-12 months ago. FWIW

Does it really change that often? Are streamers mandated to give you only certain locals like (I think) they require of satellite providers? I'm in a rural area that would seem to be subject to such a change, because Dish gives me locals from a further away place than than what I can receive OTA, and those stations from Dish don't give any local coverage for weather or events. Yet I haven't seen a chance since I started service in 2001.

[easysurfer]

Article with a general explanation of that new Amazon toy:

Quote:

I just got a quick demo of the Amazon Fire TV Recast. It’s a shoebox-sized thing you can put in your home to have a DVR that works with over-the-air channels that it receives via antenna and displays on your Fire TV (or Fire tablet). Like the Slingbox back in the day, the idea behind the Recast is to allow you to watch both live TV and stuff that you’ve recorded from anywhere. There have been a million different weird takes on how to get TV content to act more like streaming content, so I should probably slow down a bit and explain exactly what the Recast is and how it works. Fundamentally, you should think of it as a screenless hard drive attached to a TV antenna. (You’re going to need to buy a separate Fire TV to really make it work.) You find a spot in your house that gets a good over-the-air broadcast TV signal (Amazon’s setup app will help), plug in the antenna, and leave the box right there.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/20/1...s-features-dvr

[TwoByFour]

Anybody else having problems with Amazon Prime videos? We use Netflix and Hulu a lot with no problems but certain Amazon videos (not all of them) have the picture out-of-sync with the sound. I contacted Amazon and they acted as if they had not heard of that problem before but on their own forum there are many complaints about it. I tried re-installing the Amazon app in our smart TV and still does not work. I am thinking of canceling Prime at this point.

[MissMolly]

We watch Amazon Prime videos all the time. No problems with the syncing.

[bloom2708]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoByFour Anybody else having problems with Amazon Prime videos? We use Netflix and Hulu a lot with no problems but certain Amazon videos (not all of them) have the picture out-of-sync with the sound. I contacted Amazon and they acted as if they had not heard of that problem before but on their own forum there are many complaints about it. I tried re-installing the Amazon app in our smart TV and still does not work. I am thinking of canceling Prime at this point.

This would be a hardware. We watch Prime content on Amazon Fire TV boxes. No sound issues.

"Smart TVs" are often stuck on a specific versions. The latest box is on sale for $39.99 right now. I wouldn't cancel Prime because of that. Well. maybe you should if you don't purchase from Amazon and just use it for Prime Video content only.

Try another source first.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoByFour Anybody else having problems with Amazon Prime videos? We use Netflix and Hulu a lot with no problems but certain Amazon videos (not all of them) have the picture out-of-sync with the sound. I contacted Amazon and they acted as if they had not heard of that problem before but on their own forum there are many complaints about it. I tried re-installing the Amazon app in our smart TV and still does not work. I am thinking of canceling Prime at this point.

Unfortunately, due to the quirks of each device, Amazon will provide the bare bones or general outline needed, and each device manufacturer will provide the completed app. That's why if Netflix upgrades its app, the upgrade will not appear on every device at the same time, and some may take months to update.

So you may want to contact the manufacturer of the TV and bug them about it, particularly if you can find other people with the same or close to the same model smart TV who can reproduce your issue.

[wmc1000]

No problems with Prime Videos at all using FireTV stick. Hulu when watched through our HTPC tended to buffer periodically, but not on the FireTV stick so we are happy.

Still using Windows Media Center and 2 Homerun HD dual tuners to record our OTA shows with no issues.

[TwoByFour]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger Unfortunately, due to the quirks of each device, Amazon will provide the bare bones or general outline needed, and each device manufacturer will provide the completed app. That's why if Netflix upgrades its app, the upgrade will not appear on every device at the same time, and some may take months to update. So you may want to contact the manufacturer of the TV and bug them about it, particularly if you can find other people with the same or close to the same model smart TV who can reproduce your issue.

The complaints on Amazon's forum are from several different brands of smart TV - Sony, Sanyo, and LG are the ones I recall seeing. So it is not device specific. And for us it started about 6 months ago. Amazon changed something on their end from what I can tell.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoByFour The complaints on Amazon's forum are from several different brands of smart TV - Sony, Sanyo, and LG are the ones I recall seeing. So it is not device specific. And for us it started about 6 months ago. Amazon changed something on their end from what I can tell.

Can you spell out exactly what you're seeing and where, and I'll try to take a look on both my Samsung and my Roku this weekend? It could still be that those three are either the fastest or the slowest about updating their version of the app, because if it was an issue with the source material then 100% of all viewers would see it the same way. There are other possible issues, but it's tough to pin down precisely because "the Amazon app" isn't a single entity.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum Does it really change that often? Are streamers mandated to give you only certain locals like (I think) they require of satellite providers? I'm in a rural area that would seem to be subject to such a change, because Dish gives me locals from a further away place than than what I can receive OTA, and those stations from Dish don't give any local coverage for weather or events. Yet I haven't seen a chance since I started service in 2001.

I’m not sure how your experience with Dish, OTA and local channels is related to live broadcast streaming providers.

About 18 months ago there was nothing but Sling and PS Vue in the live broadcast streaming space, there were no cloud DVR’s, and simultaneous streams were more limited. Since then DirecTV Now, YouTube TV and Hulu Live Have rolled out. Channel lineups have changed, and local major channels have been added to some. Cloud DVR’s are way more common, and some offer more simultaneous streams. And UI’s have improved considerably, notably with PS Vue on Roku. So I’d say yes.

But the point was everyone should check what’s available at their address. What someone else has may not resemble what another user has available.

[mpeirce]

CBS News makes an app for Apple TV, iOS (and android I assume). It's free and is a 24 hour news channel. Look for the CBSN app.

I'm not crazy for CBS, but it's there for big live news like an earthquake or election results.

Some of the overseas outlets also have free apps like BBC, Sky News, Al Jezzera, etc.

One other free option for national news is using Pluto TV. It's a lot like SlingTV or DirectTV Now, except it's free. So the big name channels aren't there, but lots of second tier and other free channels are there. CBSN for example. Looking at their news channel section I also see NBC news / MSNBC, CNBC, Newsmax, Newsy, Sky News, and Bloomberg. They are all free, though Pluto does overlay some of their own ads.

You can preview PlutoTV at PlutoTV

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger I'm glad one of the bigger players finally picked this up. OTA is a mainstay for most viewers. This would be perfect for those who want a more plug-and-play experience. For those who are more DIY, Plex has been offering OTA DVR service for free for a while now, you just have to supply your own media PC, tuner, and antenna.

The Amazon device only has two tuners. Not so good. My Tivo has four. I have only used all four one time that I can recall. But, I use three tuners at least once every two months or so.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut The Amazon device only has two tuners. Not so good. My Tivo has four. I have only used all four one time that I can recall. But, I use three tuners at least once every two months or so.

Yeah, our two TiVos have four and six tuners, plus I have the Plex server, we subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, and I own a lot of streaming content on Vudu. We take our TV watching seriously here.

[bloom2708]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut The Amazon device only has two tuners. Not so good. My Tivo has four. I have only used all four one time that I can recall. But, I use three tuners at least once every two months or so.

There are 2 versions.

2 Tuner
4 Tuner

$50 for the bigger model with more storage.