TV Service Provider Question

[Defender]

I recently dumped Comcast cable and went with ATT Fiber. I was going to consider Google fiber but it wasn’t available in my neighborhood.   I went with the 1gig plan for 80 bucks.  I compared YouTubeTVand Hulu+LiveTV and decided to go with Hulu.  I’m doing the no ads one at around 98 bucks.  It comes with Disney plus and espn+ which I really don’t care about.   I get 2 screens at once and that works though more would be better.  One thing I like is unlimited dvr cloud storage and the ability to delete a recorded program after it’s watched.  A friend who has YouTube tells me he has to leave recorded programs there for 9 months.   I looked at fubu also but didn’t like some things. I know live TV can be had via an antenna and I have that setup in my office.  I get local channels and their sub channels on it fine but dvr is important for other TVs in the house. Cloud dvr is good if it works like I need.  I don’t really want to buy multiple dvr devices for each room.  My wife likes all the true crime shows that are like documentaries and also records many shows on local channels to watch later and zip thru commercials.  I like history, military history, American Heroes Channel, NatGeo, etc…with Hulu I don’t get the military history channel unless I pay extra. Cable was the same.  Also the Hulu guide sucks big time.  Its not intuitive, is hard to navigate and can’t be really personalized.  Also, it’d be nice if all TVs could see the same recorded shows under both my wife’s and my sign on.  Comcast didn’t do a lot right, but I liked their guide and their cloud dvr. What are yall using?  Anyone have similar needs as me and have a better solution? I like the att fiber but would like a better tv provider.  

[monkeylizard]

Currently Comcast (Xfinity) but am seriously considering going the route you took but not with AT&T. A couple of neighbors have them and they have issues several times a year. It seems like the trucks are in the neighborhood several days a month fixing problems for somebody.

I'm probably going to get Verizon 5G for Internet and each of the TV providers for their free trial period (or pay a month if I have to) and see which I like best: Fubu, Hulu+, YouTubeTV, maybe Sling.

Comcast as a company sucks, their customer service is the worst, their rates are too high, and they somehow always manage to mess up the billing if any change is made at all. But I can't fault their product. I almost never lose Internet or TV service and I don't have to switch between multiple services to get all my channels in one place.

Edited January 18 by monkeylizard

[jpx2rk]

I have Dish service and Spectrum/charter for internet, the total for both is under $225/mo and no real complaints about either.  (No movie channels or sport package extras).  Dish signal does go out during heavy rains (not loss of power), internet seldom goes out but does get wonky at times for various reasons but is functioning 99%+ of the time.

I've considered going with a streaming service but with Dish, (had Directv before), everything for TV is all in one place, channel selection suits my needs/wants.  Press the guide button on the remote and scroll to my hearts content (which frustrates the wife), and I channel hop quite a bit as well. I hate commercials and try like hell to avoid them.

I assume you have to close out one app (appletv for example) and open up whatever app you want to want, true or not???  If I'm correct in this assumption, I think it would be a PITA as much as I channel hop.  LOL  

[OldIronFan]

United for internet but we pay extra for increased bandwidth speed since the wife works from home pulling large amounts of code and data from off site locations or cloud storage. Company pays a stipend that covers part of that bill. 

We dropped Hulu Live when they jacked up their live rates a few months back. We run Netflix, the cheap Hulu, Amazon Prime, Max, and Disney+ for the paid stuff. We use Freevee, Peacock, Vudu, and occasionally Tubi on the free side. We are about to drop Disney+ since we only got it as a trial and to see a few things on it. Once we did that we seldom use it. Even with all the paid channels we have our bill is significantly cheaper than the old Internet and traditional cable plans we had. 

We are currently getting most of our live TV, on the rare occasion we watch it, via Peacock. I do not watch sports on TV so I have little to no use for live TV. Most of the movie watching is either Netflix or Max. 

[NoBanStan]

**Disclaimer** I don't watch anything anymore, I'm over TV. The last two shows I watched were Alone and Forged in Fire. I'm pretty much over both,  but we keep TV because the wife still has some shows she watches

We were Comcast people forever, (Since '@home' was a thing). Namely, because it was THE option. They had a great TV experience with a lot of stuff available via OnDemand, but their internet speeds, data caps and moving target bill were awful. Plus any troubleshooting was maddening. As soon as we had the opportunity we ditched out fast.

We went with TDS fiber and their TV service. The internet is great but TV is abysmal. We had their original box which was like a 1990s TV experience. Eventually we got the Tivo box and it still sucked. I ditched it and went internet only, which is great so far by the way. We got a lifetime 1gb up/down for a fixed fee. I think it's $70? I know people got cheaper in the past but that's still WAY cheaper than anything I've gotten from other providers.

From there we bought into YouTube TV. The UI was very.... OK. It's feels like YouTube. I hated the DVR for it. If memory serves, you couldn't record only new stuff. You picked a show and it recorded every time it played. My kids recorded Impractical  Jokers once.... came back to hundreds of episodes. No history channel either (at the time, which was a deal breaker for me). They have also hiked the price several times in the last year or two.

We switched to Hulu which has been a better experience. I got history.. which I don't even watch anymore and she gets her stuff. Occasionally there's a decent movie. I do not pay for ad free because I can innately tune them out.

Edited January 18 by NoBanStan

[analog_kidd]

We cut Comcast TV a few years ago, but kept their Internet. I need fast internet for work, and they are really the only option where I live.

We tried both Hulu with Live TV, and You Tube TV, and decided we liked YTTV better. I hated the Hulu interface, especially the guide which at the time could not be sorted. The DVR was not as good, and you couldn't fast forward thru commercials.

Hulu had better content than YTTV, but we never really watched any of that. We mostly used it for recording stuff on ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox, and for watching news. We mostly kept it around to watch Fox news <ugh>. We have since detached ourselves from watching cable news and are way more happier for it.

We have since cut out YTTV. I like Tech stuff and roll my own now. This might be a little too nerdy for some, but I use Plex. You can sign up for free and load the Plex app on your streaming device and get 100's of free live channels, just like Comcast gives. Granted, it's 90% crap you probably don't want to watch, but for totally free you can find something. There is also a large library of movies you can stream for free, but there are a lot of commercials.

Here's the nerdy part... I built a Plex server. Cost like $150 for a small desktop on EBay, plus another $100 for a big hard drive. Then I got an antenna for $50, and a device called an HDHomerun tuner. I got the better one, but the cheapest one would have done fine for what I use it for. I think it was like $150 for what I got, adn the cheaper one is maybe $80-ish. I also have a Plex Pass I paid for. It's like $30 annually, or you buy a lifetime for $100 on sale. I bought mine several years ago, so that didn't count toward my recent cost. So, for about $450, I was able to put all this together. 

The HDHomerun is a tuner that you connect to the antenna, and then streams video out across your home network. The Plex server sees it, and can connect to it. There is a lot Plex can do for free without the paid for pass, but connecting to this, the pass is required. Once it sees the HDHomerun, you get this really cool TV guide of all your channels, and can schedule recordings. Works just like the Comcast Guide and DVR. You can watch live TV, pause rewind, all that. Plex even has a cool commercial skip button for any shows you record. 

Any streaming device in my house can watch the live TV or the recordings. I can even watch on my phone / laptop when I'm away. You can also make a library of your own movies or TV shows for any video file you can gather. If you have a collection of DVDs, you can easily rip them to a video file and watch them any time on Plex. And that library can be shared with friends and family. The TV recordings too. I would record UT games for my out of state son, where he may not have gotten the game in his area, but he could watch on my Plex server.

One other feature I just started using, is Plex can also stream your music. I copied my MP3 Files over to the server, and installed the Plex Music app on my phone and computer, and now I can stream all my music commercial free. And its all songs I like. You don't get to sample new stuff tho, so that is one bummer.

Truth be told, this thing has become sort of a hobby of its own.

[Johnny Rotten]

Dropped Hulu live few months ago, they like raising prices $10 bucks a year.

on Youtube tv, so far so good....

 

[Pain103]

We have YoutubeTV base plan it allows 3 devices to stream at once. Unlimited recording space, the 9 month deletion after you remove it from library seems crazy but I don't record much. Also I like the option to set the channel order up by most watched. 

[Defender]

I’m slowly getting used to hulus menu.  It’s very confusing and not very intuitive at all.  Must be designed by an idiot.  There’s a ways to see a guide by recently watched channels or favorites.  It would be so much easier if they numbered the channels and either let you add the numbers you want or at least let you punch in the number of the show you want to watch rather having to scroll through everything to find the one. 
‘I’m not planning on returning to Comcast, but yes, their product was pretty good and reliable and I like their guide and.recording methods.  I see a lot of comments in Hulu communities about the guide so I’m wondering why they don’t fix it. Also wish I could get the military history channel without paying for another package.

[analog_kidd]

51 minutes ago, Defender said:

Also wish I could get the military history channel without paying for another package

The free channels on Plex includes a couple from the History channel. I see "History and Warfare" and "Military Heroes". Look at their site, uncheck the "Show Local Channels" and browse the channels they have to offer. These are all free, with ads.

https://www.plex.tv/live-tv-channels/

 

[Defender]

1 hour ago, analog_kidd said:

The free channels on Plex includes a couple from the History channel. I see "History and Warfare" and "Military Heroes". Look at their site, uncheck the "Show Local Channels" and browse the channels they have to offer. These are all free, with ads.

https://www.plex.tv/live-tv-channels/

 

that seems pretty good for free!  Thanks.  Looking now to see if they have an app on my apple tv box.  i think they do.  is there an advantage to signing up f0or an account?

Edited January 19 by Defender

[analog_kidd]

I think you have to sign up. You need to log in thru the app that installs to your streamer. I rarely get any emails from them.

[Defender]

On 1/19/2024 at 10:45 AM, analog_kidd said:

I think you have to sign up. You need to log in thru the app that installs to your streamer. I rarely get any emails from them.

Thanks

[Danger Rane]

We haven’t had a regular TV service provider in probably 12 years. I only watch shows once they are complete and I can binge watch them all at once, for which I use Netflix and Prime. The wife only watches HGTV and college football, which she streams through something, not sure which one. I do watch a lot of free YouTube and my son and I both game a good bit.  We’ve had AT&T fiber for a few years and it’s kept up with our needs. I have about 32TB of movies that I downloaded via bit-torrent while working overseas. I could probably watch then delete a movie every day for the rest of my life and still have some leftover.