OT: Cutting the Cord 2.0 - ESPN/Fox/Warner Launching Combined Sports Streamer

[ackypoo]

For all you indoor antenna folks out there, what would you consider to be the best one? I was looking at a few- that have ampllifers built into them, and a 4g lte filter that is supposed to help with the signal- the best one i have come across is
https://www.amazon.com/ANTOP-Multi-Directional-Tools-Free-Installation-Performance/dp/B01LSPKWUS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1518717116&sr=8-4&keywords=antop

if anyone has had any success with an ANTOP model would like to know.

i live in madison and use a mohu leaf. it works fine and i get all of the madison stations without issues. if this got me milwaukee or chicago stations though, id be very curious.

[Shinyhubcaps]

Any Milwaukee-area PlayStation Vue users able to get tru-TV, TBS, and TNT?

I am considering signing up to watch the tournament, but I am getting contrasting information about whether those channels are available in my region.

[0BobLobLaw0]

Any Milwaukee-area PlayStation Vue users able to get tru-TV, TBS, and TNT?

I am considering signing up to watch the tournament, but I am getting contrasting information about whether those channels are available in my region.

Yes, I get them all.

[Shinyhubcaps]

Any Milwaukee-area PlayStation Vue users able to get tru-TV, TBS, and TNT?

I am considering signing up to watch the tournament, but I am getting contrasting information about whether those channels are available in my region.

Yes, I get them all.

Thank you. I spent 30 minutes trying to reach PlayStation Vue support because the listing on the website included Turner channels, but the one from my PS4 did not. When I finally got through, the tech said that Turner channels are not included but that's OK because March Madness was on CBS and CBS Sports Net anyway

[MadBlueEdwards]

Chiming in here because I finally decided to tell Spectrum/Time Warner to get bent (though I did have to keep their internet service). I tried out PS Vue for a week and the service itself seems really good and they have a good selection of networks to choose from, but the fact that FS Wisconsin isn’t directly available in their app was a dealbreaker.

Fox Sports Go blows and I was having major issues using it with Chromecast. Kept on freezing and losing the connection altogether so I’d have to restart it over and over. It was actually happening during the end of that sh*tshow Nuggets game the other night and I was losing my mind.

I just signed up for a trial of YouTube TV and it’s way better streaming through Chromecast. Fox Sports Wisconsin is one of their actual channels so no need for Fox Sports Go. I’ve been watching a replay of the Brewers/Cardinals for about a half hour and it’s been perfect. Not as much of a channel selection as Vue, but it’s decent and slightly cheaper than the second tier Vue package.

[bhchrist]

YouTube TV is designed for sports. Now that I have used it for a month+ and fully dropped DirecTV ($160/mo to $35/mo), about the only thing I miss is a recall button to switch back and forth between two programs/recordings. The FF and RW features are 15 seconds rather than 30. This is ideal for baseball between pitches or FTs. The quality has been surprisingly good on TV (through ethernet wired Roku Ultras), on PC, or on iPad. Used it on my iPad while in DC for vacation to watch the Bucks last week.

Recording is nice. Once you add a team, there is no need to do anything else for future games. Automatically records any extra time needed and adjusts for networks. Got all of the Brewers extra inning opening day game in SD. Recorded the FS1 game last night. You can tell that sports fans were the focus of their service. Also all local channels, with the exception of PBS.

Tempted to get a Chromecast for travel, but really like the Roku set up so far. They added a user switch feature 2-3 weeks ago that works well. My wife has her DVR shows, recommendations, etc. on her user account through YouTube TV and I have my own. She does not have to filter through a bunch of sports recordings as recommendations at the top of her page and I am not bothered by the Bachelor, Survivor, and other stuff on mine.

[MickeyDavis]

Can you pause live TV on Youtube (or any other of these services)? How much recording space do you get with YouTube?

[MadBlueEdwards]

Can you pause live TV on Youtube (or any other of these services)? How much recording space do you get with YouTube?

Yes, you can pause live TV. There is no space limit for recording and you can keep recordings for up to 9 months.

[Badgerlander]

Last time I tried YouTube tv you could pause but you couldn’t rewind or fast forward, nice to hear they are upgrading. Be nice if they added TBS and TNT

[sidney moncrief]

Last time I tried YouTube tv you could pause but you couldn’t rewind or fast forward, nice to hear they are upgrading. Be nice if they added TBS and TNT

Pretty sure they have the Turner channels

[Badgerlander]

Last time I tried YouTube tv you could pause but you couldn’t rewind or fast forward, nice to hear they are upgrading. Be nice if they added TBS and TNT

Pretty sure they have the Turner channels

They didn’t have it when I tried it out over Christmas but I see that they do now, cool have to try it out again

[bhchrist]

Last time I tried YouTube tv you could pause but you couldn’t rewind or fast forward, nice to hear they are upgrading. Be nice if they added TBS and TNT

Pretty sure they have the Turner channels

They didn’t have it when I tried it out over Christmas but I see that they do now, cool have to try it out again

They added them prior to the NCAA tournament.

[crkone]

https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/03/youtube-tv-finally-lets-choose-dvr-vod-versions-saved-content/

YouTube TV will now list multiple versions of TV shows and movies that you've added to your library. Just tap the drop-down arrow next to an item, and it (might) show you the versions recorded straight from the live feed (traditional DVR-style) in addition to a VOD version. The DVR versions will have the same ads that the station aired live, but you can skip through them. The VOD most likely has unskippable ads.
Unfortunately, this feature is not available on all channels. Stations that really want you watching those VOD ads can disallow access to the DVR versions, which is dumb. This feature appears to be rolling out sans app update—we haven't seen any hint of the new dialogs in APK Teardowns. The first reports were about two weeks ago, but I only saw the popup a few days ago.

[Gant]

YouTube TV is designed for sports. Now that I have used it for a month+ and fully dropped DirecTV ($160/mo to $35/mo), about the only thing I miss is a recall button to switch back and forth between two programs/recordings. The FF and RW features are 15 seconds rather than 30. This is ideal for baseball between pitches or FTs. The quality has been surprisingly good on TV (through ethernet wired Roku Ultras), on PC, or on iPad. Used it on my iPad while in DC for vacation to watch the Bucks last week.

Recording is nice. Once you add a team, there is no need to do anything else for future games. Automatically records any extra time needed and adjusts for networks. Got all of the Brewers extra inning opening day game in SD. Recorded the FS1 game last night. You can tell that sports fans were the focus of their service. Also all local channels, with the exception of PBS.

Tempted to get a Chromecast for travel, but really like the Roku set up so far. They added a user switch feature 2-3 weeks ago that works well. My wife has her DVR shows, recommendations, etc. on her user account through YouTube TV and I have my own. She does not have to filter through a bunch of sports recordings as recommendations at the top of her page and I am not bothered by the Bachelor, Survivor, and other stuff on mine.

I don't know how recent this feature is, but on YTTV on a Roku, if you push the down arrow twice you get to select from the last 4 things you were watching. In other words you get a quadruple powered recall gizmo.

[bhchrist]

Gant, I noticed that recently. The only issue I have had so far was the system has occasionally gotten confused when I have started watching a program in the middle of recording. It happened a couple days ago with the Brewers game. I switched on in the 7th (after having watched the start of the game). When I went back the next morning to check out what I missed, the recording started in the 7th and I couldn't rewind any further.

It also got confused when the Bucks were on ESPN and for some reason, did not record the win. Had to watch it on ESPN+ later. Given the number of recordings that have worked just fine and the relative newness of the service, I can easily live with this at $35/month.

[Gant]

Gant, I noticed that recently. The only issue I have had so far was the system has occasionally gotten confused when I have started watching a program in the middle of recording. It happened a couple days ago with the Brewers game. I switched on in the 7th (after having watched the start of the game). When I went back the next morning to check out what I missed, the recording started in the 7th and I couldn't rewind any further.

It also got confused when the Bucks were on ESPN and for some reason, did not record the win. Had to watch it on ESPN+ later. Given the number of recordings that have worked just fine and the relative newness of the service, I can easily live with this at $35/month.

Yeah I've had a few rare glitches of other sorts, but overall the service has exceeded what I expected. And they keep improving it. I really like that you can hide channels you don't want to watch, and rearrange the guide now.

Google is good at technology it turns out.

[M-C-G]

Switched from Sling to Hulu and other than the user interface and navigation being wonky by comparison, much happier with it. Biggest issue with Sling was getting access to the local channels and major public networks which all my wife's show were on.

Also really impressed with the user interface on Netflix these days. Not sure when they made the changes but really like the quasi trailers you get when you scroll around.

[MickeyDavis]

I still haven't found the right combo of alternatives for me to completely "cut the cord" but the increased competition has been great. I have Uverse (personally very happy with them) and a few months ago I did an online chat with them and told them that I had better and cheaper alternatives and they immediately cut my rate way down and sent me a $200 Visa card. Yes I had to sign on for 12 months but at that rate I'm happy to do it and I figured after 12 months I'd negotiate again. Then when I moved recently I contacted them to move my service and they cut my rate again, I didn't even ask for that. The 12 month clock started over and again, I'm happy with that because the rate is so good.

The bottom line is if you still have UVerse or Spectrum or Comcast or whoever you can ALWAYS negotiate a new better deal. It's a lot cheaper for them to keep you as a customer than acquire a new customer.

[M-C-G]

I still haven't found the right combo of alternatives for me to completely "cut the cord" but the increased competition has been great. I have Uverse (personally very happy with them) and a few months ago I did an online chat with them and told them that I had better and cheaper alternatives and they immediately cut my rate way down and sent me a $200 Visa card. Yes I had to sign on for 12 months but at that rate I'm happy to do it and I figured after 12 months I'd negotiate again. Then when I moved recently I contacted them to move my service and they cut my rate again, I didn't even ask for that. The 12 month clock started over and again, I'm happy with that because the rate is so good.

The bottom line is if you still have UVerse or Spectrum or Comcast or whoever you can ALWAYS negotiate a new better deal. It's a lot cheaper for them to keep you as a customer than acquire a new customer.

Back when we had Uverse we did that frequently, but found after a month or two of billing, even though they said the rate was locked, it would change. Like it takes some kind of super computing algorithm to just lock a damn rate in for 12 months.

[jschligs]

I still haven't found the right combo of alternatives for me to completely "cut the cord" but the increased competition has been great. I have Uverse (personally very happy with them) and a few months ago I did an online chat with them and told them that I had better and cheaper alternatives and they immediately cut my rate way down and sent me a $200 Visa card. Yes I had to sign on for 12 months but at that rate I'm happy to do it and I figured after 12 months I'd negotiate again. Then when I moved recently I contacted them to move my service and they cut my rate again, I didn't even ask for that. The 12 month clock started over and again, I'm happy with that because the rate is so good.

The bottom line is if you still have UVerse or Spectrum or Comcast or whoever you can ALWAYS negotiate a new better deal. It's a lot cheaper for them to keep you as a customer than acquire a new customer.

Spectrum is actually one of the more difficult ones to negotiate a better deal. I've spent far too much time on the phone with them while being extremely polite and letting them know I want to cancel and the best I get is "if you bundle with phone your bill will drop $10"...

I even straight up had the person on two separate occasions say "you're not going to get a better rate or a discount if you say you're leaving, we don't do that anymore." I cancelled and the only way to get the intro rate is to wait 6 months before signing up again. My brother went through the same situation.

Now all I do is Charter Spectrum internet (100mbps but I get 20...called on this multiple times too) and DirecTV Now. If I don't get the particular sports channel my parents have a Charter login we can use for it.