Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

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REWahoo said:
On a different note, those of you who subscribe to one of the higher priced streaming services (YTTV, Hulu Live, etc) to watch sports can save a few bucks by switching to less expensive services such a Philo. No sense in paying for all those sports channels now that virtually all sports have been canceled.
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Good point.

However, YTTV and Hulu are the only streaming services that offer all the local broadcast networks. Philo has none. Sling has some. YTTV is the only one with PBS. We can't get OTA, so that's the main reason we subscribe to YTTV. Sports is important but secondary.

A few months ago, I did a trial of Philo + Locast, all running through the Fitzy TV app with cloud DVR (total $30/mo). It worked fine but we rejected it mainly due to no regional Fox sports. But now that could be a viable option, at least for a while.
 
Cobra9777 said:
Good point.

However, YTTV and Hulu are the only streaming services that offer all the local broadcast networks. Philo has none. Sling has some. YTTV is the only one with PBS. We can't get OTA, so that's the main reason we subscribe to YTTV. Sports is important but secondary.

A few months ago, I did a trial of Philo + Locast, all running through the Fitzy TV app with cloud DVR (total $30/mo). It worked fine but we rejected it mainly due to no regional Fox sports. But now that could be a viable option, at least for a while.
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If you have a tv that will allow streaming from a pc or phone (such as one that has chromecast). Then at least for local news already many stations have live streamed their news to the web. If that works where you are you can get that echoed to the tv (in particular vizio tvs do this). This does not help for network programming on the local station however.
 
Steve s said:
When signing up for internet service what is the amount of data usage I should be looking at. We will have two tvs going off and on through the day. Is there a norm we should be looking at? There is a plan with download at 100mpbs and usage at 1000gb. Should I move up to 200mpbs and 2000gb. Thanks for any information on this. steve
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Do you expect to run a lot of 4K streams?

A lot of Netflix shows and many Amazon Prime shows have 4K streaming options.

Otherwise, unless you do large downloads, I think you will be okay with the lower cap.

Fox streamed the Superbowl in 4K and someone said it took a total of 30-40 GB for the whole game. I think the Netflix and Amazon Prime 4K streams don't use as high bitrates.

But if you're leaving the TV going in the background with 4K content, it could be an issue at just 1 TB cap.
 
I have an extensive OTA system. Just replaced my old (5 1/2 year old) 2-Tuner Tablo OTA DVR with a new Tablo 4-tuner. The old Tablo worked fine. I just suspected after 5 1/2 years, I should replace the hard drive before it had its MTBF. 5 Tvs on main level, all with streaming devices. 2 on guest level.

Anyhow, in the fall, I had signed up for YTTV in anticipation of sports. Well, we all know what happened a few weeks ago. So when this month runs out, it is bye-bye. Here is where we will be: Netflix, Amazon Prime, amazing amount of free movies on youtube, OTA recordings.

From our location, we get OTA - NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CW and a host of the subs.
 
Steve s said:
When signing up for internet service what is the amount of data usage I should be looking at. We will have two tvs going off and on through the day. Is there a norm we should be looking at? There is a plan with download at 100mpbs and usage at 1000gb. Should I move up to 200mpbs and 2000gb. Thanks for any information on this. steve
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100mbps should be more than enough even with two 4K TVs.
 
I don't do 4k, but I have 60MBPs service and can stream 3 TVs, run my internet radio and use my computer all at the same time without any buffering.
 
Z3Dreamer said:
Tell me more about your internet radio. A service? A specific station?
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FWIW, I use a Grace Digital (https://gracedigital.com/) "Encore +" radio (https://gracedigital.com/shop/encoreplus/) in my office. With the Home Theater, I use the (Yamaha RX-A3080) AVR's built-in Net Radio feature. I use Alexa most other places (kitchen, shop, etc.) Of course, any smart phone can make it very mobile... and personal.

One can, also, use a Internet-connected PC by going to the Radio Station's home page - KUVo_Org or WWOZ.org, for instance.
 
Z3Dreamer said:
Tell me more about your internet radio. A service? A specific station?
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I listen to free KFI talk radio on my 1st generation Amazon Echo since AM signal is bad where I live. I just say Alexa play KFI and she responds with getting your KFI station from I Heart radio. They have 2000 internet stations but there are lots of other apps as well. i also ask her to play silly kids songs (They are great dance songs) and toddler songs when my 2 and 3 years old grandkids are over, they love it. Alexa pulls most from I Heart Radio and some from Amazon Music, I don't pay for any subscription. You can also play these on your TV with video as well if you have the cube or firestick hooked up.
The trick is to figure out how to ask for what you want so she understands and sometimes that can be a little challenging. I tried to get a UK radio station once and she kept giving me some other US station with similar call letters.
 
I was wondering if anyone using YTTV or Sling or Hulu (or any of the other big streaming TV services) has any thoughts on the lack of 5.1 surround sound audio. I was looking at some recent comparisons of the various services this morning and noticed that the audio stream for pretty much all of them is merely "stereo". Apparently AT&T and YTTV do offer some limited 5.1 audio, but it's not ubiquitous like with traditional cable/satellite services.

Do you miss having true 5.1 surround? Do you notice it much? Is not having high-quality surround sound for most of your TV watching a reasonable trade-off, given the cost savings? Or, are you actually getting 5.1 surround most of the time (and the premise of my post is wrong)?
 
I have Bose CineMate GS II 2.1 systems on both larger TVs.

We have YTTV. I think the sound depends on the channel and content (movie vs show).

I love the sound. I also put the GS II system on my parents (~75) TV. Loud and good sound profile.

There are other good soundbar+sub solutions at reasonable prices. I have an optical cable out from the TV to the Bose system.
 
I really don't miss the 5.1 sound on YTTV for regular live TV. For movies I get 5.1 with Netfllix, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+. I wish I had 5.1 with some of my Acorn TV, but it's really not a big deal to me.

I think this is a personal preference thing, so YMMV.

[edit to add] I'm not a sports fan if that makes a difference.
 
GalaxyBoy said:
I really don't miss the 5.1 sound on YTTV for regular live TV. For movies I get 5.1 with Netfllix, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+. I wish I had 5.1 with some of my Acorn TV, but it's really not a big deal to me.
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Hmm, yeah that makes sense. I hadn't been thinking about things like Netflix, AMZN Prime, and HBO Go, which all do stream in 5.1 surround. So when I eventually "cut the cord" and go all streaming, I'd just want to make sure to watch certain movies & shows that feature high quality surround sound via the apps/services that support it. I guess a lot of what I typically watch on "standard" TV doesn't really benefit tremendously from 5.1 surround. Thanks for your feedback.
 
bloom2708 said:
I have Bose CineMate GS II 2.1 systems on both larger TVs.

We have YTTV. I think the sound depends on the channel and content (movie vs show).

I love the sound. I also put the GS II system on my parents (~75) TV. Loud and good sound profile.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will check out the Bose GS II system.
 
Sojourner said:
I was wondering if anyone using YTTV or Sling or Hulu (or any of the other big streaming TV services) has any thoughts on the lack of 5.1 surround sound audio.
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A lot depends on how much you really care.

Our current setup is an AppleTV driving a Yamaha receiver driving 5.1 speakers. We had the speakers installed when the house was built and it always sounds very nice.

But we're moving later this year and I wanted to see how a stereo pair of Apple HomePod speakers compared. So I set that up and can easily switch between the two.

To my 58 year old ears the HomePod sounds as good acoustically as the 5.1 system. The 5.1 system clear provides fancier spacial audio - there are times when I can hear things in movies behind me, but frankly I don't really care much about that. The Yamaha has more watts, but I never crank it up very high (I never turn up the HomePods over 50% max volume either).

So I'm very happy going back to a very high quality stereo experience for TV and movies.

I also listen to music on this setup and stereo HomePods playing a quality recording of music sounds like you are in the same room as the musicians. It's very impressive.

YMMV

P.S. DW is slowly going deaf, so she doesn't care one bit about this any more. As long the all our content has subtitles...
 
I'm noticing 5.1 on some YTTV, like an on-demand PBS program a couple days ago. They announced last year that it would be increasingly available in 2020, so it's good to actually hear it on something I watch.

I have a very large 5.1 system based around some Klipsch heritage speakers, a Sony AVR, and two subs. So I like having surround sound.

But honestly, it's more important for movies, which we watch on Netflix and Prime. Most of those are 5.1, which sounds great. For the stuff we watch on YTTV, the lack of 5.1 is a bit disappointing for someone like me who has the equipment ready to go. But certainly not something that would EVER drive me back to cable or satellite.
 
I try to watch a Tivo recording from cable instead of a stream when I can, because of 5.1 sound.

The only streaming services which stream 5.1 are HBO and Showtime. Not all their shows but most of them.
 
I wish my 65 yo hearing was good enough to appreciate 5.1 surround sound... :blush: We're totally happy with Hulu Live.
 
Cobra9777 said:
I'm noticing 5.1 on some YTTV, like an on-demand PBS program a couple days ago. They announced last year that it would be increasingly available in 2020, so it's good to actually hear it on something I watch.
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That's good to know. Hadn't read anything about that, but it makes perfect sense that 5.1 would be added to more shows as these streaming services become more popular and high-speed Internet access generally improves over time.

Cobra9777 said:
For the stuff we watch on YTTV, the lack of 5.1 is a bit disappointing for someone like me who has the equipment ready to go. But certainly not something that would EVER drive me back to cable or satellite.
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Sounds like you and I are similar in how we feel about surround sound, so I appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks.
 
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