Streaming services versus Direct TV

[Smokeydog]

Got Direct TV when it came out for over 20 years. Could not get local tv by antenna. Price increases and stupid dish up grade placement had me looking.

Beta tested Starlink. Great when I had signal but would drop at various times. Not cheap either.

Got AT&T to run 1/2 mile of fiber. Never better. Super easy record and watch. DirectTV streaming, prime and paramount +. Much cheaper internet and TV and 100x better. Probably better streaming service than DirectTV.

 

[MoKelly]

Got AT&T to run 1/2 mile of fiber. Never better. Super easy record and watch. DirectTV streaming, prime and paramount +. Much cheaper internet and TV and 100x better. Probably better streaming service than DirectTV.

Holy cow! That is amazing.

We cannot get ATT to run fiber across the street without a $5000 fee.

This is a business.

 

[ultrarunner]

Got Direct TV when it came out for over 20 years. Could not get local tv by antenna. Price increases and stupid dish up grade placement had me looking.

Beta tested Starlink. Great when I had signal but would drop at various times. Not cheap either.

Got AT&T to run 1/2 mile of fiber. Never better. Super easy record and watch. DirectTV streaming, prime and paramount +. Much cheaper internet and TV and 100x better. Probably better streaming service than DirectTV.

Comcast charged 15k to make the run to the house… several years wait list too.

 

[JJT]

We had DirectTv for years, it was ok. Switched to streaming 3 - 4 years ago on fairly slow DSL with few issues from time to time. The telecom hounded us for over a year to switch to their new fiber, for free. We finally did. It's $50/month cheaper and 100 times faster than the old DSL. We are very rural, the fiber run was part of a NYS program. I believe the telecom gets $ from the state for every customer they get on fiber. We were getting calls every week to make the switch. They plowed in an 800' fiber run in 2 hours, with no damage to the lawn. From signing up for fiber to having active fiber at the house was less than 2 weeks with 4 visits from the telecom.

 

[Oaktree]

One quirk about streaming through Hulu is their definition of a "main TV." Somehow they know if you use a big screen TV vs watching on your phone or tablet. Hulu only wants you watching your "main TV" at your home location. But watching on a tablet is OK anywhere.

Seems goofy but it is not Hulu imposing this on you, but a lot of broadcast rules in the back end that forces Hulu to behave this way. It works fine for me. I want my big sony TV at home, but only need a tablet or phone while camping.

Why would you even want to watch tv on a cellphone or tablet if you have a "real" tv handy? Personally, I'm not so much of a tv addict that I have any need or desire to watch when I'm away from home.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that many smart tv manufacturers have their own channels with lots of free programming. Roku does as well. There's enough free stuff that we haven't even bothered to subscribe to any of the pay streamers.
Someone mentioned local programming...not sure what in particular you're looking for, but there's a channel called NewsOn (available for Roku, don't know about anything else) that offers archived streams of local news from many stations. Don't think they offer them in real time, but they seem to be in 30 minute segments so you could watch a 6pm newscast at 6:30.

Don't know about sports, it's of no interest to me.

 

[Oaktree]

We had DirectTv for years, it was ok. Switched to streaming 3 - 4 years ago on fairly slow DSL with few issues from time to time. The telecom hounded us for over a year to switch to their new fiber, for free. We finally did. It's $50/month cheaper and 100 times faster than the old DSL. We are very rural, the fiber run was part of a NYS program. I believe the telecom gets $ from the state for every customer they get on fiber. We were getting calls every week to make the switch. They plowed in an 800' fiber run in 2 hours, with no damage to the lawn. From signing up for fiber to having active fiber at the house was less than 2 weeks with 4 visits from the telecom.

Yeah, they ran fiber down our road about 10 years ago as part of one of those similar programs. Both Time-Warner (now Spectrum) and the local telco ran it at the same time. For whatever reason the "last mile" is still copper, never got a straight answer as to why, but we get 100/23 which is more than fast enough. That's with TW, don't know what kind of speeds the telco offers. Not quite the savings you got, but phone/internet/tv bundle is still cheaper than our old landline & satellite internet.

 

[ultrarunner]

Mine went through old growth forest and bored point to point…

Neighbors have overhead but no longer allowed to add poles…

 

[bdhsfz6]

Our streaming experience so far:

We have a grandfathered Dish package that gives us everything but the premium channels for $107/mo. As a hedge against the inevitable Dish rate increase, I've been investigating streaming as a possible alternative.

So far, we've tried Amazon Prime and YouTube TV. Both give us the programming we want for around $72/mo. Our internet service gives us 70 - 100 mbps and we have a Samsung smart TV with the necessary apps.

I'm not sure if this happens on every TV but there is a significant amount of "black screen" time when changing channels, selecting recorded content, after commercials, etc. A bit of content is lost in the process as well. I suspect this is due to buffering. I also haven't figured out how to fast forward through commercials on recorded programs.

The process of watching streamed programming is nowhere near as "smooth" as the instant response you get with cable or satellite. A new TV, a set top box or dongle might make a difference and I may investigate these in the future, but right now, for us anyway, this loss of performance isn't worth the $35/mo savings.

 

[D&D]

Why would you even want to watch tv on a cellphone or tablet if you have a "real" tv handy? Personally, I'm not so much of a tv addict that I have any need or desire to watch when I'm away from home.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that many smart tv manufacturers have their own channels with lots of free programming. Roku does as well. There's enough free stuff that we haven't even bothered to subscribe to any of the pay streamers.
Someone mentioned local programming...not sure what in particular you're looking for, but there's a channel called NewsOn (available for Roku, don't know about anything else) that offers archived streams of local news from many stations. Don't think they offer them in real time, but they seem to be in 30 minute segments so you could watch a 6pm newscast at 6:30.

Don't know about sports, it's of no interest to me.

, definitely enough “free” tv available. It’s hard to not find something entertaining to watch. I’m a fan of the search function on Roku. Name something and it’ll tell you if it’s available, cost and on what channel.
A decent uhf (hdtv) antenna will bring in lots of “local” programming depending on where you live.

DTV Reception Maps

www.fcc.gov

 

[Smokeydog]

It did take some work on our part. Hard install even with existing underground conduit. Companies took millions from the Government to help rural families get better internet. It took some pestering, phone calls requesting updates. Using the tractor to unstuck subcontractor’s truck and air compressor trailer. Use my truck to transport ATT workers and materials around the woods and pastures. They are scared to death about reporting getting stuck. Had to dig for one ground flush box. Union workers don’t dig, manager didn’t want to. Met with workers over a dozen times in the span of four months. If we didn’t keep poking and prodding don’t think it would ever happen. One manager told I should be paying 2-3$ per foot. Cost us time, friendly respect and some work. Sure enjoy the service and cost savings now.

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

What happens if you are a bit under 5Mb? Does it pixalate and freeze until the buffer refills or does it just fail. I have 4Mb down but it is only guaranteed to give me 3.4Mb. (Fiber is coming but not until April 2025 or so)
I have streamed off of Tubi some old shows that work pretty well at the reduced speed but does freeze at times.

At those speeds your not going to be happy with streaming services. Up until recently we have been dealing with download speeds in the 10 to 15 mbps range and it was never good while constantly having to choose between using the TV or computer. We have been using DTV Stream and it pretty much has all the bells and whistles that regular DTV offers including DVR service. We just switched over to our new local Fiber internet service last fall at 1 gbps and the TV service has been amazing.

We do get local programming and commercials on DTV stream, local for us that is.

 

[kthompson]

We are in process of dropping cable at $128 per month and only streaming. Do what we are doing, use streaming while you still have your current service and really see if you are fine without it. Local news and weather are there on firesticks for us. Now live football has not found that on streaming so far. Then I can live without the NFL. Proved that when they had no respect for the flag.

 

[plowhog]

I had an issue with Hulu Live, loading it, it would not set up properly because it could not figure out my Home location.

I ran into this issue with Hulu. We are in Northern Nevada but the Starlink "ground station" frequently reports Los Angeles, CA.

Several times Hulu wanted a lot of information to prove we were really in Nevada. That has completely gone away now, although once in a while I am asked to allow Hulu to know my location. (I keep location services turned off so they must ask permission.)

 

[paulsharvey]

We are in process of dropping cable at $128 per month and only streaming. Do what we are doing, use streaming while you still have your current service and really see if you are fine without it. Local news and weather are there on firesticks for us. Now live football has not found that on streaming so far. Then I can live without the NFL. Proved that when they had no respect for the flag.

Also, the new digital antennas are Far better than the old tower antennas we had 20 years ago. You can probably pick up most of the major networks local channels, unless you are 150 miles from a city. Note, the advertised range is normally about double the real life range; if you get a 150 mile antenna, it's probably good for 75 miles, but still, they are Dirt Cheap.

 

[lpakiz]

As far as D/L speeds for streaming, i had "up to 1.5" and it would barely work. Lots of buffering, and very blurry.
i got the telco (TDS) to upgrade me to a business plan, which is "up to 5" and that streams VERY well. It starts out blurry for 10 seconds or so, then automatically "shifts" to higher resolution as it detects a faster connection.
I canceled NetFlix and Dish Network and watch everything i want for free, with the exception of ESPN+ for $10/? month. Mostly watch WW2 on Pluto, and bought a Roku for $35 and watch more WW2 movies/docs MMA for free.
If you want to watch something special, Peacock and probably many others let you sign up for a month at a time, cancel when ever you want, restart with no extra charges.
Im still in shock at how much is available for free with a smart TV and 5 MB Internet.

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

As far as D/L speeds for streaming, i had "up to 1.5" and it would barely work. Lots of buffering, and very blurry.
i got the telco (TDS) to upgrade me to a business plan, which is "up to 5" and that streams VERY well. It starts out blurry for 10 seconds or so, then automatically "shifts" to higher resolution as it detects a faster connection.
I canceled NetFlix and Dish Network and watch everything i want for free, with the exception of ESPN+ for $10/? month. Mostly watch WW2 on Pluto, and bought a Roku for $35 and watch more WW2 movies/docs MMA for free.
If you want to watch something special, Peacock and probably many others let you sign up for a month at a time, cancel when ever you want, restart with no extra charges.
Im still in shock at how much is available for free with a smart TV and 5 MB Internet.

If you enjoy the WW2 programming get a free Youtube account and search around, amazing stuff. Check out the series "war factories" excellent. TubitTV and Freevee too

 

[lpakiz]

I'll look into these--THANKS!

 

[bdhsfz6]

You may be able to save money by streaming now, but what about the future? As cable & satellite companies go away, broadcasters will have to charge streaming services more for content in order to make up for lost revenue. Price hikes are sure to follow.

Any savings you get now may be short lived.

 

[D&D]

Also, the new digital antennas are Far better than the old tower antennas we had 20 years ago. You can probably pick up most of the major networks local channels, unless you are 150 miles from a city. Note, the advertised range is normally about double the real life range; if you get a 150 mile antenna, it's probably good for 75 miles, but still, they are Dirt Cheap.

The “old” antennas work just fine, most even better. The huge flying v’s just probably aren’t pretty enough. The tv frequencies were shifted, however they still use the VHF/UHF bands.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Also, the new digital antennas are Far better than the old tower antennas we had 20 years ago. You can probably pick up most of the major networks local channels, unless you are 150 miles from a city. Note, the advertised range is normally about double the real life range; if you get a 150 mile antenna, it's probably good for 75 miles, but still, they are Dirt Cheap.View attachment 848279

Ah, if it were only so. Here's my tale of antenna woe:

I live in a semi rural location, 40 miles from a large city that has 35 broadcast channels available. The house is on a hilltop and, except for trees, has a near line of sight view of the transmitter towers serving the city.

Even with an amplifier and an antenna rated for 120 miles, I can only get 9 channels. It drops to 5 in the summer with leaves on the trees.

Before TV went digital, I could receive all the available channels with a large VHF/UHF antenna on a roof mounted mast. Over the years, it was struck by lightning a dozen or more times. Early on, little damage resulted, due to an effective grounding system. More recently, with the proliferation of electronic devices around the house, lightning damage gets quite expensive. Consequently, I took down the mast and mounted the new digital antenna lower, below the roof line. That solved the lightning problem but our TV reception took a hit.

I would love to be able to ditch our satellite and go to a streaming service but few offer local channels at a reasonable price.

BTW, among others, I tried that HDTV Digital, 150 mile antenna from Amazon you show in your post. Not only didn't it work very well, but the first wind storm we had tore it to pieces. It's very cheaply made and I don't recommend it.