Favorite streaming service

[njhowie]

Is it this one?

https://www.amazon.com/TiVo-Roamio-OTA-DVR-Streaming/dp/B01DR4T73Q

Yes, that is the one - we've had ours over a year now, works great and is one of only a few out there for OTA. Before this unit, we had a Channel Master for about 5 years and it (thankfully) died. When I saw that the Tivo OTA had no monthly fees I waited for the sale and then jumped on it.

If you aren't in a hurry to get one, check tivo.com periodically as they routinely sell refurbs at up to 50% off.

 

[Koogie]

Right now my favorite streaming service is bittorrent

+1

We watch a tonne of British series in our household and that is the only way to get them.

 

[Aerides]

Best content = Netflix, hands down.

But Amazon Prime gets a big 2nd because of their player. I absolutely love the way they integrate cast info for everything. Like, whichever actors on on the screen, you just wave your mouse over the left side and it pops up who they all are, and then you can see their IMDB bio's right there. (no "oh who is that what do we know them from?"
no pausing and going out to google to look it up, it's all right there)

Close that and you're right back in your show. Click anywhere on the screen to pause, pops up go forward/back 10 secs. So very intuitive and easy.

 

[karen1972]

Our primary TV is DirectTVNOW, good price on HBO, decent coverage, doesn't have local Fox (so demand only) or any CBS.

We have Amazon Prime (mostly due to free kindle books, deals, shipping, etc, but sometimes watch a movie but not my primary reason for having it).

We have Vudu (we paid to upload all our videos, share a family library with my siblings so have 300+ movies sitting there plus what they offer free). Really like that feature so only one of us have to buy a kids movie and all 4 of us "magically" gets it. Its a great way to buy a group present for the nieces/nephews and usually I can get it on sale where the digital copy is 50% cheaper than the DVD.

We rotate, so turn on CBS all access, then Netflix, then Hulu, etc a month at a time, bing watch, then cancel. Given all the "free deals" often we don't even pay. Just got an email 2 days ago, Hulu says they miss me and giving me another free month. Its "as needed to fill in a gap or catch up".

 

[bobandsherry]

Sticking with cable. For $65/mo I get a load of cable channels (Spectrum Premium), excludes the premium channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. as I never found much to watch on those.

I have Netflix (get it free), Amazon Prime (with my $99/yr Prime subscription) and Hulu (got 1 year cheap) and rarely watch them.

I've tried every full featured streaming option to take out my cable provider; DirecTV Now, YouTube TV, SlingTV, PSVue. I even took a dip with Kodi, like what a total disaster. All come up short on channels offered, not even coming close to all I have available today with most of them not even offering any local channels except for additional fee.

I use Tivo for my TV viewing, with Mini's as satellites in other rooms. None of the cord cutting options provide a GUI that even comes close to Tivo's, and while a few offer DVR option, nothing works as quick and easily as Tivo's.

In the end, all the various streaming options left me with less content and sub par experience and at a higher overall cost. Streaming and cord cutting is not for me, at least nothing from the current offerings.

 

[Hermit]

No cable, no TV, no streaming (Not enough data/mo over satellite.) After I move into the house up on the hill, I may be able to pull in OTA. I will probably be limited to CDs and whatever is recorded on a local hard disk. I just upgraded from 10GB/mo to 25GB/mo so maybe I can squeeze in a movie at the end of the monthly cycle!

I do have that dreaded Sirius for radio in the car. Its the only way to improve over listening to myself hum, which is not too pleasant.

Just some of the inconveniences for being a mountain Hermit!

 

[karen1972]

Sticking with cable. For $65/mo I get a load of cable channels (Spectrum Premium), excludes the premium channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. as I never found much to watch on those.


I've tried every full featured streaming option to take out my cable provider; DirecTV Now, YouTube TV, SlingTV, PSVue. I even took a dip with Kodi, like what a total disaster. All come up short on channels offered, not even coming close to all I have available today with most of them not even offering any local channels except for additional fee.


In the end, all the various streaming options left me with less content and sub par experience and at a higher overall cost. Streaming and cord cutting is not for me, at least nothing from the current offerings.

Thats how I felt until they upped my rate another $30... so $20 more for convenience, sure. $50/ month made me rethink that.

 

[bobandsherry]

Thats how I felt until they upped my rate another $30... so $20 more for convenience, sure. $50/ month made me rethink that.

I was honestly looking for alternative to cable. After spending more than a month evaluating all the alternatives I came to the conclusion that any reasonable alternative would cost me $30 more per month ($95/mo) than what I'm paying now.

Sling TV (Orange and Blue to get decent channel selection) - $55
Sports Extra $10
DVR option - $5
Broadcast Extras - $5
CBS All Access - $10
Other Streaming Add On's - $10 (access to other content providers as needed)

And for that additional $30:

• 
  I'd still not get the selection of channels and programs I really want

• 
  I'd have to invest in new hardware and end up with something that is kludgy to use, having to launch various apps (and waiting for each to load) just to watch TV, compared to instant on tune and watch.

• 
  I'd lose features and functions I have today such as easy to use DVR for all my programs, channel skip, and fully integrated channel and program guide and my recordings.

• 
  Good chance that these streaming prices will go up in cost over time

• 
  Wife would not be happy with the new experience.

Paying $30 more and getting less was not for me.

Ultimately, after evaluating various options I concluded that even if I had to pay $30 more for my cable today I'd pay it. Even at $50 I'd most likely consider paying it, but I don't think that's reasonable to expect to see an increase of that size in the near future. If I needed to save money I'd look at something else to help with the budget, perhaps giving up eating out one less time every couple of months.

 

[Dawg52]

bobandsherry, Not to nitpick but Sling's Orange and Blue combined rate is $40....not $55. And does your $65 cable package come in HD? Around here for that price the packages do not. You have to pay more for HD. If your's does include it all for $65, I don't blame you.

 

[Midpack]

If you only need/use 1 TV at a time, cable/satellite can be somewhat cost competitive - $65/mo is within reach here. But if you want HD and DVR on 2-6 TV’s you’re looking at $96/mo or (way) more where we live. I know people with all the channels and add-ons on 4 TV’s and they tell us they pay more than $250/mo.

It’s when you want service on more televisions that streaming may be (far) more cost effective. What channels you get depends on which provider and where you live, though that changes all the time. And if you don’t need/use an Internet subscription otherwise, streaming can be less competitive as that’s an added cost. For us at least, we’d have internet even if we had no TV.

 

[bobandsherry]

bobandsherry, Not to nitpick but Sling's Orange and Blue combined rate is $40....not $55. And does your $65 cable package come in HD? Around here for that price the packages do not. You have to pay more for HD. If your's does include it all for $65, I don't blame you.

Yep, your right on the cost of Sling. I originally included the extra packages and then split out and didn't update the details. I'm sure someone has come up with a much better overall selection and price so interested in seeing what others have put together.

For $65 I get all HD channels (does not include tax/fees).

 

[Dawg52]

For $65 I get all HD channels (does not include tax/fees).

Just curious.....how much are the taxes and fees? And with your package, do you have a HD/cable box that you tie into? The HD box used to cost $15-20 more for that with Comcast. I'm just asking as when my internet promo expires in a few months, I will probably get a price on a single user plan to compare. I saw not long ago Comcast had a 2 year bundle deal(cable+internet) that looked attractive. But I'm thinking with all the taxes and fees.....it may not look so attractive.

 

[bobandsherry]

Just curious.....how much are the taxes and fees? And with your package, do you have a HD/cable box that you tie into? The HD box used to cost $15-20 more for that with Comcast. I'm just asking as when my internet promo expires in a few months, I will probably get a price on a single user plan to compare. I saw not long ago Comcast had a 2 year bundle deal(cable+internet) that looked attractive. But I'm thinking with all the taxes and fees.....it may not look so attractive.

I have Tivo system, it connects into Spectrum's Tuner box (included). Nothing else needed for HD. I also have Tivo mini's (4 of them) to other rooms/bedrooms (HD on them as well) for multi-room, which turns out to be a good move as Spectrum no longer supports multi-room with their set-ups.

I had Comcast before I moved so I'm aware of their additional fee for HD box, which is why I stay invested in Tivo system. My system has now more than paid for itself on what i saved on fees, plus the Tivo experience is much better than the Comcast box (never even tried Spectrum's offering).

Taxes on my TV services is $9.82 (local comm serv tax $3.64, state comm serv tax $5.89, state sale tax $0.21 and Fed User Fee $0.08).

For me, no streaming for now and as long as I have my Tivo and my cable operator supports connection to/through it, I'm not jumping for any streaming service in the future either.

Disclaimer - I'm sticking with older Tivo interface, Tivo has new interface that seems to not be step forward and aren't requiring people to upgrade.

 

[Midpack]

FWIW https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-streaming-video-services,review-2625.html

 

[RonBoyd]

Okay, I was curious what I spend for non-OTA television.

DirecTV NOW (includes local channels, including CBS & FOX) = 10.00
HBO = 5.00
Showtime = 8.00
Netflix = 10.99
Hulu = 7.99

That totals $41.98 per month and contains the total cost of TV-only related expenses. (Since these are all month-to-month subscriptions, one could, in theory, drop in and out to lower this amount.)

I suppose that I could muddy the water by including the collateral damage (costs that would remain even if the above were eliminated):

Amazon Prime = 102.99/12= 8.52
60 mbps DSL = 72.00
Wireless Broadband (no data limit) = 22.01
Website = 5.99

That totals $108.52 plus the above 41.98 equals $150.50 (The wireless broadband is so we have high-speed internet access while on the road.)

So it cost us $1,806.00 a year to live in the modern world.

Yikes!

Where do I log out?

 

[W2R]

I don't think I use a streaming service.

I have Amazon Prime, but don't use it for streaming.

Frank has Netflix and has installed his Netflix on my TV, but the only time I use it is when he is over at my house and wants to watch something.

OK, frequently I watch youtube videos for free on my laptop computer. Does that count? If so, then I'd say that is my favorite. I could watch them on my TV but I don't.

I have taken a dislike to movies and TV series in recent years, so I don't watch many of them any more. It's just one more way that I just don't fit in with the rest of mankind, oh well. We are all at least a little bit odd in some way or another I suppose, or it wouldn't have occurred to us to retire early.

 

[Ronstar]

My favorite streaming service is the NHL channel on Apple TV. Other than that, I rarely watch anything streamed.