Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

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Update on YouTube TV

Today is Day 5 of our 5-day free trial. We're using the just-released app for Fire TV. It's running on the latest Fire TV Cube hardware. We like the service a lot but there's a critical flaw with the new app... the DVR is apparently recording correctly but it's not displaying any of the recorded shows under library. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with YouTube TV technical support and went through lots of troubleshooting steps. I can do a search and find the recordings, and they show up on a PC browser, but not on the Fire TV device library, where they are supposed to be. I sent them lots of logs and other info so they are actively working the issue. But for now the DVR is pretty useless on Fire TV. So I will cancel before the end of the day. I think we'll do a Hulu free trial next. Hopefully YouTube can fix this because I really like the idea of getting PBS live later this year.
 
Cobra9777 said:
Picture quality is better, with most (not all) streams at 1080p.
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Cobra9777 said:
I haven't actually watched a football game yet. Just signed up last night. But to answer your question, I tuned to some soccer on TNT and it was 1080P 60 fps. On the pull-down menu at the bottom of each stream, YTTV has a button called "stats for nerds." It provides the resolution, fps, and lots of other technical information about the stream. I also checked a college football game replay on ESPN-U and some track and field on NBCSN, and they were all 1080p 60 fps. I only watched them each for a minute or so but it looked really good. Hopefully the networks will be the same for sports programming.
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In no way to discredit your other observations re: YTTV and picture quality may indeed be better***, but readers shouldn’t expect to see 1080p@60fps on live broadcasts on YTTV or any other provider.

Unless something has changed recently, no live broadcast network provides content in native 1080p or 60 fps. Most broadcast networks are still providing 720p and some are 1080i. What you’re watching is upscaled, but that doesn’t enhance resolution or frame rate. Where would the extra pixels and frames come from if not in the original?

There are on demand sources like BluRay, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and others providing native 1080p or even 4K at up to 60 fps, but no broadcast network that I know of.

*** OTOH, a users bandwidth limitations may often downscale resolution and/or frame rate, it happens much more than most people realize, so when you get 720p at 25-30fps it does look better - and viewers may assume they’re seeing 1080p.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080p

In the United States, 1080p over-the-air are currently being broadcast experimentally using ATSC 3.0 on NBC Affiliate WRAL-TV in North Carolina, with select stations in the US announcing that there will be new ATSC 3.0 technology that will be transmitted with 1080p Broadcast television, such as Fox Affiliate WJW-TV in Cleveland.[12][13] All other broadcast television stations do not broadcast at 1080p as ATSC 3.0 is currently in experimentation and in test trials while all major broadcast networks use either 720p60 or 1080i60 encoded with MPEG-2. While converting to ATSC 3.0 is voluntary, there is no word when any of the major networks will consider airing at 1080p in the foreseeable future.
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That is strange. We have a Cube and 3 boxes gen2/3 for fire tv.

The DVR is working great for all users. Our 5 day trial is up. I am switching from Vue. YTTV is missing a few features but I like the service and it is faster.
 
For those of you currently full time streaming what's your average monthly Internet data usage?
 
zinger1457 said:
For those of you currently full time streaming what's your average monthly Internet data usage?
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Good question, so I checked. Comcast reports 250-280 GB usage per month over the past 3 months. In a typical day we stream 4-5 hours of SirisuXM and 2-3 hours of TV, most of which is not HD.
 
zinger1457 said:
For those of you currently full time streaming what's your average monthly Internet data usage?
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With Comcast/XFinity we averaged 600GB/mo +/- 100. With AT&T so far we’ve been 500GB +/- 100, we may be using less but I think our TV stream gets downscaled more often with AT&T than it did with Comcast. We watch (HD)TV and iPad surf quite a bit. :blush: We had/have a 1TB cap, but that’s never been an issue. If 4K ever becomes the norm it may, but that’s decades away IMO.
 
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bloom2708 said:
That is strange. We have a Cube and 3 boxes gen2/3 for fire tv.

The DVR is working great for all users. Our 5 day trial is up. I am switching from Vue. YTTV is missing a few features but I like the service and it is faster.
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That is strange. Glad it's working for you. We have gen2 boxes on two other TVs but haven't installed the app yet. We've been test driving on our main TV and the Cube. The YTTV tech support rep told me that he's had other calls on the same issue. In any case, for us right now, no functional DVR is a show-stopper.
 
Midpack said:
In no way to discredit your other observations re: YTTV and picture quality may indeed be better***, but readers shouldn’t expect to see 1080p@60fps on live broadcasts on YTTV or any other provider.

Unless something has changed recently, no live broadcast network provides content in native 1080p or 60 fps. Most broadcast networks are still providing 720p and some are 1080i. What you’re watching is upscaled, but that doesn’t enhance resolution or frame rate. Where would the extra pixels and frames come from if not in the original?

There are on demand sources like BluRay, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and others providing native 1080p or even 4K at up to 60 fps, but no broadcast network that I know of...
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I just posted what the hardware is reporting about the technical details of the stream. For the 4 major broadcast networks on YTTV, two (Fox, ABC) are streaming at 720p/60fps and the other two are 1080p/60fps. Most of the cable channels I checked are 1080p/60fps. I can't speak to the original source resolution or whether it's been upscaled, but I suspect you are correct. In any case, DW's first comment was that she thought the picture quality was better than PS Vue. Actually that was her second comment. Her first comment was, "Where's the Hallmark channel?" ...much to my dismay, that may actually be the deal breaker.
 
PBS on YouTube TV

The Streamable posted an article yesterday reporting that the first group of PBS member stations will go live on YouTube TV Nov 4, 2019.
 
zinger1457 said:
For those of you currently full time streaming what's your average monthly Internet data usage?
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500gb +/- 100 for the last 8 months.

Our first month we blew right past 1,000 gb. We noticed that sometimes when we turned our Roku on, the last application was still playing. 4k playing all night will put a dent in our cap very quickly. We now make sure that the Roku is at the "home" screen when we turn it off.
 
Cobra9777 said:
.... In any case, DW's first comment was that she thought the picture quality was better than PS Vue. Actually that was her second comment. Her first comment was, "Where's the Hallmark channel?" ...much to my dismay, that may actually be the deal breaker.
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REWahoo said:
I have to keep a subscription to Philo for this very reason.
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DD is considering changing streaming services too and is a big Hallmark Network fan.... she is considering the Hallmark streaming service called Hallmark Movies Now... $6/month... to get her Hallmark fix. The website says:

Hallmark Movies Now is Crown Media Family Network's subscription video on demand streaming service. Launched in October 2017, the service is a distinct offering with a lineup of family friendly programming that cannot be found on the company's linear networks, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies, & Mysteries, and Hallmark Drama. Subscribers to the service have access to nearly 1,000 hours of commercial-free Hallmark-branded original content, including fan favorites from the vast Hallmark Hall of Fame library. The service is available on iOS, Android, Roku, and Amazon Fire with the option of a monthly or an annual subscription.
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zinger1457 said:
For those of you currently full time streaming what's your average monthly Internet data usage?
Click to expand...
81 GB

My Cox Cable internet plan used to have unlimited data, but just now when I logged in, it told me that last month's 50GB was 5% of my allowable data. Well, I guess that for someone with my usage that is effectively unlimited.

I suppose you could say I am full time streaming, since I cancelled my cable TV services years ago. I only get my TV over the air using a homemade indoor antenna, and I hardly watch TV any more because I am annoyed with what I view as subtle brainwashing. I do stream video to my computer from youtube and similar sources, and watch it there.
 
We’re all over the map on data use according to xfinity. Low months of 20gb, typical month of 250 gb, highs of 750 to 1000 gb. Yes, we supposedly near went over allocation last month. The high months must be a leak somewhere. It’s also hard to believe the low months since we stream several hours daily. Did catch the Riki streaming without our knowledge, so we kill the power strip when not watching. Just in case, we power off the computers and pads when not in use. Only the mobile phones stay on all day. Watch out for those hidden data burners. Looking online, Roku is a common data leak suspect...
 
Not entirely "full time streaming" but it probably represents more than half of our viewing. (We only still have a dish because my FIL, who lives with us in our basement, is willing to pay for it.) My router says we used 387 GB in September, but that obviously includes *all* online usage.
 
pb4uski said:
DD is considering changing streaming services too and is a big Hallmark Network fan.... she is considering the Hallmark streaming service called Hallmark Movies Now... $6/month... to get her Hallmark fix. The website says:
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I would check that it has the Hallmark content that you want. For instance, it may have older movies, etc, and not the ones that are currently airing (and coming out of their factory every week). Or, maybe that is actually what she wants.

I don't know one way or the other what it has. In fact, please report here if you do find out.
 
explanade said:
I told you so.

https://arstechnica.com/information...harged-2000-customers-for-exceeding-data-cap/

And no it isn’t a software bug, which is Comcast’s excuse in this case where a customer called them on it.
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Thanks for the great link re Comcast fooling with data counts. Had problems for at least a year, both over count and, amazingly enough, under count.

Yep, at the beginning of October, total data suddenly shot up, then suddenly went down. Yes, total data went down, perhaps the “adjustment” mentioned in the link. Now seems reported usage seems realistic.

We’ll see.
 
I've been an advocate of Tivo products for some time. But, recent decisions Tivo has made regarding inserting ads into recordings people make, has made me cool on the product. Here is a look at some alternatives for OTA recorders.

https://zatznotfunny.com/2019-10/co...1RrVK0IkU3G30Nv7BLvLTxQ3HCpdIV6T3rZWjYsXU9hJE

For those those who’d prefer a home-based OTA DVR to round out their video toolbox, I’ve got several suggestions. While I’d prefer my recommendations had the ability to connect directly to a television, these are all of the “headless” network tuner variety. Yet, given relatively low price of streaming boxes many already likely own (Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV), it’s not really a burden and actually allows preferable placement for maximum indoor antenna receptivity. Beyond streaming set-tops, my top selections all also provide iOS and Android mobile device access.
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explanade said:
Xfinity is shady.
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May be a local thing. I had XFinity at our previous home, thought they were OK all in all, good and bad. We have AT&T now, they are much worse, frustrating as H#$% to deal with. I'd take XFinity back if I had a choice...
 
OldConch said:
We noticed that sometimes when we turned our Roku on, the last application was still playing. 4k playing all night will put a dent in our cap very quickly. We now make sure that the Roku is at the "home" screen when we turn it off.
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We discovered the Buzzr TV channel on -- old game shows -- and started falling asleep to What's My Line, To Tell The Truth, etc., with the TV on a timer, and found that the next night Roku had automatically returned to the home screen. No excess data usage (I suspect Roku continues for a short while after your TV turns off, but when we return to a show we were watching the prior evening, it's often time in the middle of an episode, so...).

Hopefully this helps.
 
Midpack said:
May be a local thing. I had XFinity at our previous home, thought they were OK all in all, good and bad. We have AT&T now, they are much worse, frustrating as H#$% to deal with. I'd take XFinity back if I had a choice...
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Agree. I had AT&T prior to moving into this house and my internet connection was down quite often. With Xfinity it's hardly ever down. Very reliable.
 
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