Roku Premiere *Update*

[A.J. Holst]

After ATT couldn't find it in their hearts to discount TV / Internet plan (started at $100, now $220 with taxes and fees) I bought a Roku.

Easy to install

Lots of free programming, but curious about some of the subscription services, sling in particular.

Before I enroll in anything, looking for use feedback.

Thanks!

Edited June 17, 2019 by A.J. Holst

[Garufa]

I’m interested in this as well.  Got a Roku a few weeks ago and have just been playing around with the free “channels” and throwing up YouTube videos on the big screen.

 

[frankmako]

had one for years.  they work well and have a lot of stuff to look at free.

[Ski]

I subscribe to the Sling Blue package during the NBA season to watch Grizzlies games.  The bill was $27.36 per month with taxes/fees, and you can cancel any time; your service will continue until the period for which you already paid ends.  I am not crazy about their user interface, but their service has been solid.

I tried their cloud DVR, but canceled it after the first month.  It was not available on certain channels.  In particular it was not available on Fox Sports SE alt 1, and that's the channel that covered most of the Griz games.  I could "record' the games that came on FSSE alt 2.

I anticipate I'll sign up again in the fall.  They will also run specials where you get some sort of hardware (like a Roku or HD antenna) if you prepay for two (2) or three (3) months when you start new service.

One nice thing is that a lot of the programming is available "on demand", so even if you don't have Cloud DVR you can likely watch the regular shows whenever you want.  Live PD was an example of a show that was available "on demand".

Let me know if you have any questions.

[No_0ne]

Sling is like a basic cable/dish service, depending on the package you get several channels on the basic plans ("colors"), plus whatever add-ons you choose .  One great thing about streaming TV, if you don't like your package, you can cancel or change it pretty much at will.  For example, I subscribe to HBONow for as long as GOT is showing, then cancel immediately after.  Same for several other services I have used throughout the years.  Roku also allows you to have a single interface for all your different services, both my Netflix and Amazon video have "tabs" on the Roku page, or I can access them using the smart TV or computer interfaces as well. 

[wewoapsiak]

If you don't need sports, Philo is something to take a look at.  I use News On to watch local news for free.

[A.J. Holst]

Thanks for all the info!

Got Netflix and HBOnow set up (son's subscription)

Streamed a bunch of Tim Conway YouTube vids last night.

Mrs. Holst's concern, "how will I watch the voice or world of dance?"

"Rabbit ears."

Dirty look (since we're old enough)

[expendable]

We finally got fed up with Comcast and cut the TV subscription and just kept the internet. 

I don’t know How far you are from the broadcast stations, but I put an antenna in the attic and hooked it into my cable for the whole house.  

We can bring in about 30 decent stations including NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, ME, PBS and some I’ve never heard of, we really don’t miss having 220 channels. 

[DaveTN]

2 hours ago, A.J. Holst said:

Thanks for all the info!

Got Netflix and HBOnow set up (son's subscription)

Streamed a bunch of Tim Conway YouTube vids last night.

Mrs. Holst's concern, "how will I watch the voice or world of dance?"

"Rabbit ears."

Dirty look (since we're old enough)

The Wife wanted an Amazon Prime account for our online shopping. (Which means we have it) It comes with Prime Video; lots of good stuff there. Your wife can watch her NBC shows (the voice or world of dance) the day after they air. I think CBS is also available.

Edited May 17, 2019 by DaveTN

[A.J. Holst]

Bought a Mohu Leaf Ultimate 60 at WM  today in my quest to dump paid televised programming.

Rabbit ears indeed, as my house sits on a downward slope (can't get Dish or Direct)

I'll update when I find the spot.

 

[expendable]

If you go to this website and put in your zip code it will show you the direction and distance to all of the broadcast stations in your area. 

 

https://www.antennasdirect.com/transmitter-locator.html

[DaveTN]

3 minutes ago, expendable said:

If you go to this website and put in your zip code it will show you the direction and distance to all of the broadcast stations in your area. https://www.antennasdirect.com/transmitter-locator.html

Or if you go to Mohu website it will show you which channels each model should get.

http://www.gomohu.com/tv-for-free-front/?ref=home-product-slideshow

 

[expendable]

16 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Or if you go to Mohu website it will show you which channels each model should get.

http://www.gomohu.com/tv-for-free-front/?ref=home-product-slideshow

 

It’s nice to know the direction of the station, so you can point your antenna in the right direction for the best reception on the channels you are most interested in. 

[bersaguy]

I cut my cable 18 months ago cause they were charging me $67.00 and all at once my bill went to $128.00 without any warning at all. I callled them up and learned that they hd been keeping my account in a promotional program which is why the prices were 60 some odd dollars. They said all those programs ended and my bill went up to where it was suppose to be. I told them fine and to just cut my service imediately. That was in December 2017. I had a heart attack and was in the hospital and rehab through 1/2 of January 2018 and when I returned home I still had cable so I called the again and told them to turn it off. They didn't turn it off till mid April and next time I was going near their office I took them their boxes and controls. And about a month later I got this bill for some kind of rediculous number for service from January through April. I called them and told them that twice I had call and told them to turn it off nd twice they failed to do so until they realized I had quit paying the bill.

I told them that I had no intentions of paying the bill for their stupidity and to have a nice day and hung up. Never got another bill from them. I went and bouht 2 antennas for my TVs and hooked up one on each and put the flat antenna in a window and put my TV on auto search and it picked up every channel the antennas could lock onto. I got 34 channels on 1 TV and 37 on the other one and I get a fairly good selection of good programing with Fox, CBS NBC, ION, which are the ones I watch the most so have not checked out the rest yet but probably will soon. Not to concerned cause gonna be moving in a month and already have an appointment with DISH to hook me up on Satelite a week after I move.  

[DaveTN]

39 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

I cut my cable 18 months ago cause they were charging me $67.00 and all at once my bill went to $128.00 without any warning at all. I callled them up and learned that they hd been keeping my account in a promotional program which is why the prices were 60 some odd dollars. They said all those programs ended and my bill went up to where it was suppose to be. I told them fine and to just cut my service imediately. That was in December 2017. I had a heart attack and was in the hospital and rehab through 1/2 of January 2018 and when I returned home I still had cable so I called the again and told them to turn it off. They didn't turn it off till mid April and next time I was going near their office I took them their boxes and controls. And about a month later I got this bill for some kind of rediculous number for service from January through April. I called them and told them that twice I had call and told them to turn it off nd twice they failed to do so until they realized I had quit paying the bill.

I told them that I had no intentions of paying the bill for their stupidity and to have a nice day and hung up. Never got another bill from them. I went and bouht 2 antennas for my TVs and hooked up one on each and put the flat antenna in a window and put my TV on auto search and it picked up every channel the antennas could lock onto. I got 34 channels on 1 TV and 37 on the other one and I get a fairly good selection of good programing with Fox, CBS NBC, ION, which are the ones I watch the most so have not checked out the rest yet but probably will soon. Not to concerned cause gonna be moving in a month and already have an appointment with DISH to hook me up on Satelite a week after I move.  

My elderly parents got mad because their Comcast bill jumped. I tried to explain to them that happens when your contract expires. My Dad called me and said he was calling Comcast and dropping his service and getting Dish. I ask if he had priced it; he had not. We checked it out and both Dish and AT&T were higher than Comcast. Yea, I couldn’t believe it either.

What I found was that when you sign a contract with Comcast you lock in the rate for the length of the contract. That’s what I have always done and assumed that was standard with everyone. Not so with Dish, your contact starts with Promo pricing and then kicks in a bunch more several months later. Be careful.

To me it’s like reloading…  The last time my bill jumped I looked at the options six ways from Sunday and couldn’t get a better deal than Comcast. However…. I need high speed reliable internet, 200 channels, and the ability to take equipment into a local office and get new when it quits working properly. I am spoiled and have no desire to live off the grid.

I’ve been a faithful Comcast customer for over 20 years, paying for all the options they have (around $200 a month recently). I recently retired and do you think they would give me a better rate? Of course not; they would rather use the discounts to get new customers instead of keeping the good ones they have. I had to drop the premium channels to reduce my bill. I also have a phone with them that I don’t need but dropping it would remove me from a “package deal” and cost as much or more.

I hate Comcast; but don’t have any better options; at this time. I keep hoping though.

[Quavodus]

I've had one for about 2 years. I've not got anything that I pay extra for. Its all free stuff. If there is such a thing.

[bersaguy]

23 hours ago, DaveTN said:

My elderly parents got mad because their Comcast bill jumped. I tried to explain to them that happens when your contract expires. My Dad called me and said he was calling Comcast and dropping his service and getting Dish. I ask if he had priced it; he had not. We checked it out and both Dish and AT&T were higher than Comcast. Yea, I couldn’t believe it either.

What I found was that when you sign a contract with Comcast you lock in the rate for the length of the contract. That’s what I have always done and assumed that was standard with everyone. Not so with Dish, your contact starts with Promo pricing and then kicks in a bunch more several months later. Be careful.

To me it’s like reloading…  The last time my bill jumped I looked at the options six ways from Sunday and couldn’t get a better deal than Comcast. However…. I need high speed reliable internet, 200 channels, and the ability to take equipment into a local office and get new when it quits working properly. I am spoiled and have no desire to live off the grid.

I’ve been a faithful Comcast customer for over 20 years, paying for all the options they have (around $200 a month recently). I recently retired and do you think they would give me a better rate? Of course not; they would rather use the discounts to get new customers instead of keeping the good ones they have. I had to drop the premium channels to reduce my bill. I also have a phone with them that I don’t need but dropping it would remove me from a “package deal” and cost as much or more.

I hate Comcast; but don’t have any better options; at this time. I keep hoping though.

Well I would go back with Comcast as I was a customer of theirs for 25+ years except where I am moving in about a month Comcast does not exist and has no intentions of coming there anytime in the next Century. Antenna or Satelite are the only options and antenna's are questionable. My daughter and son in law don't watch alot of TV and when they do it's a movie or DVD of some type or maybe local news off a little cheap antenna they have out side the house. My only hope is satelite or use High End Digital out side antenna until sometime next Spring  when Google is suppose to be bringing Fiber Optics through there and it is suppose to be more affordable than all the other options. We will see on that part when it gets there. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by bersaguy

[DaveTN]

7 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

Well I would go back with Comcast except where I am moving in about a month Comcast does not exist and has no intentions of coming there anytime in the next Century. Antenna or Satelite are the only options and antenna's are questionable. My daughter and son in law don't watch alot of TV and when they do it's a movie or DVD of some type or maybe local news off a little cheap antenna they have out side the house. My only hope is satelite or use High End Digital out side antenna until sometime next Spring  when Google is suppose to be bringing Fiber Optics through there and it is suppose to be more affordable than all the other options. We will see on that part when it gets there. 

If you have DISH you should be GTG for what you say you need. 

Antennas are the same as they have been forever. No such thing as HD or Digital antennas; those are marketing terms. The problem with any antenna is height; tower costs a lot. But if you found someone that had a tower and wanted it taken off their house; that would be great. But still with an antenna you can only get what is on the airwaves within a reasonable distance.

I suspect this problem will not be an issue in the next few years.

[Defender]

6 hours ago, DaveTN said:

If you have DISH you should be GTG for what you say you need. 

Antennas are the same as they have been forever. No such thing as HD or Digital antennas; those are marketing terms. The problem with any antenna is height; tower costs a lot. But if you found someone that had a tower and wanted it taken off their house; that would be great. But still with an antenna you can only get what is on the airwaves within a reasonable distance.

I suspect this problem will not be an issue in the next few years.

Why not in the next few years?

[DaveTN]

44 minutes ago, Defender said:

Why not in the next few years?

Because there will be high speed SAT that actually works, or they will overcome the issues of Broadband over power lines, or come up with some other option that get the folks out in the sticks up to speed.

[Erich]

Its good to see the resurgence in OTA now that the market has been collapsing with takeovers driving out consumerism and giving Big Cable more power.

After cutting the cord and dumping comcast a while back, I have played with Roku, Sling, et al.

2 questions are important to ask going into this:

1. how important is TV or specific programming, or is it just background filler when you're bored?

2. Can you or your significant other do without, or are you watching as its more important to your significant other

The item most struggle with, and the biggest loss is reliable DVR capability. Anyone considering this must look at the fix of network channels vs non network and how much they record from NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and CW.  With the number one thing being how much do commercials annoy you or your desire to skip them. At 20 mins of advertising out of every hour, you find out just how little $200 a month is!

The big providers have fully matured systems and equipment for a seamless experience. While you can back into much of what you had, there are tradeoffs. Yes you save money, but that margin decreases as you add on the optional service packages. And depending on your set of workarounds (that is what they are) you sacrifice some reliability. Specifically in your DVR capability.

Our current setup is Fiber internet, Sling DVR, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and OTA. I sent my Roku back as it lacked the integration offered by the Sling player and did not always play nice with a Sling player.

The best "deal" for DVR is thru a Sling device that allows you to hook up an external hard drive of OTA and the extra $5 a month for the Cloud DVR. These devices can be sensitive to signal quality and recordings can get lost if your OTA signal breaks up. So extensive testing of your OTA placement should be done. Also, if you use a wireless feed to your device versus a dedicated CAT5 hardwired internet connection, any packet loss to that feed can make you loose a recording. So you should have a wired internet connection where you locate your player.  This was a non issue pretty much with Big Cables device but you get to know how important that is why why they check it on installs until you have to figure that one out on your home brewed setup

Also, we found that watching a recorded show while 2 were recording could overtax the system and cause one of the shows being recorded to be corrupted (lost). So we watch Netflix if two things are recording at the same time, which is generally all night on must see Thursday.

And here is the other thing you don't realize at times. It can be important how many shows you record at once. We can record 2 at a time. Should have been good. But turns out networks like to compete and put shows on at conflicting times to draw audience. Or course we knew that, but didn't feel it until we dropped Big Cable's box that could record 4 at a time. So the first couple times my wife ran into her being unable to record her 3rd show and I got the earful....we had to sit and prioritize on those conflicts who did we skip or who had network On demand thru Sling.

We have landed on a mostly stable setup, occasionally skip recording a show that we were so so on. My wife curses much less now that she is accepting it and only occasionally asks when we'll go back to comcast versus every other day when we were sorting out what worked best. 

But looking at the "savings", there is a little, but surprising not that much. The big thing is, like so many hear have noted, you can buy and drop as needed. So you choose versus being forced into long term contracts/ But if you evaluate the base you ALWAYS pay outside the premiums to watch specific thing, you may be surprised.  The item most leave out of this is their stand along internet provider which was previously bundled in Big Cable's bill.

[A.J. Holst]

Once I get the Leaf situated, I'm good.

13 miles due south of Knoxville.

All I need if free ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox

We don't record much, so not a big issue.

 

[A.J. Holst]

Can't get the Leaf situated.

Enrolled in Hulu plus Live

$44.99 month

Programming is similar to an upgraded cable package, which I pay ATT $172 including taxes and fees.

Hope to maintain my internet at $50

Net savings will be $100 per month.

[btq96r]

1 hour ago, A.J. Holst said:

Can't get the Leaf situated.

Maybe try an outdoor one and run it through the existing cable jacks to your main TV?  The indoor models are not as good as advertised. 

[Defender]

My main issue is that its difficult to get  the programming i want via any source other than Comcast.  Not to mention that their DVR boxes allow me to record multiple programs at the same time to watch later.  Even Comcast  doesnt give me all i want without paying a lot extra.  I used to get the Military History Channel and recently lost it and Comcast said oh that was a mistake for you to get it in the first place.  It only comes with this particular Sports pkg, that you get get for another fee.  Not one to watch sports, i said no thanks.  I wish some kind of a la carte programming was available.  Like say give you a certain number of non premium channels for a certain fee, and you get to pick which channels of that number you want! Instead, they hide certain channels like the Mil History channel in with other programming that you dont want.  Probably the biggest thing for me though that both keeps me at comcast and adds to my monthly costs are the DVR boxes.  I have on main one in the living room and 2 satellite boxes in the bedrooms that we record shows on and watch different things on at the same time.   There are other solutions, but none as good as the Comcast one, though I pay more for it.