For as long as I can remember I have used direct tv so that I could get the NFL Sunday Ticket. But now that I have made the decision cancel that subscription I am wondering if there is a cheaper alternative that I could switch to. My sister uses hulu but cannot watch anything live. There is a hulu live option that is a fair bit more expensive though I think still a good bit cheaper than direct tv. Does anybody use that? What else do you you? Share the good and the bad for how you watch tv.

Keep in mind when commenting that generally when I am home I like having the tv on for background noise even when not actively watching tv. The biggest thing is that I don't want to lose the ability to watch the Cavs, Guardians, and Browns live should they make the playoffs.

We have DirecTV due to Sunday Ticket. I am really looking forward to the redo of the contract so we can, hopefully, get a better option.

We also have multiple streaming services: Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, Prime. I think we can also have ESPN+ but we don't watch it. The Hulu/Disney/ESP thing is from the phone carrier with my current plan. We also have things like HBO MAX because we have HBO through DirecTV.

I did a work up of keeping DirecTV on the basic level and going pay per for other services to replace what we would be missing and care about and it was a wash cost wise, it might have been more. That redo of the Ticket contract cannot come fast enough.

With any of the non direct tv services you have, would you have been able to watch the Guardians in the playoffs live?

I use Youtube TV. I share the platform between Fort Wayne and our home in Ohio. My son uses it at his place; the in-laws use it at their home in Ohio and in Florida. Up to six devices can be registered at any time with up to three streaming simultaneously -- all that for $65. Obviously it's easy to see where this benefits me much more than it may many others, but honestly, I'd probably still use Youtube if it were only used in one place.

At first, you had to merely login to an account from your "home" location in order to have your local programming wherever you go. In late 2020, they started reading the i.p. address. Sooo, being in Fort Wayne, I can still watch local (Cleveland) games, just not until they're actually over. That's a bit annoying at times, but if I had cable programming here I wouldn't be watching at all.

DVR is unlimited. One click records all subsequent Browns games (or any program). Recordings are available for six months (longer if the show has been rebroadcast at any time during that period).

User interface absolutely blows away any other platform I've seen... including navigation with the remote. Every RW or FF is a 15 second increment if you "click"... If you hold down the button, it's gradually faster until you're ripping through a three hour program, with a thumbnail, in about 20-25 seconds.


All that with a big "bummer" at the end -- you (we) won't be watching the Cavs or Guards unless the telecast is from something other than Bally Sports. Bally is broadcast on DirecTV. Bally has recently introduced Bally Sports+ streaming, but it's $20 per month... and from what I can surmise... will be reading your ip to determine availability.

For the Cavs, I'm going to subscribe to Game Pass on Black Friday. Last year it was offered at half price.

I don't think so. Most of the current streaming is movie/series type stuff (Netflix). To be honest though I am not really into baseball and, as such, I haven't looked for The Guardians at all. I peeked at DirecTV for game 5 and did not see it listed in the guide in the 5 seconds I was looking.

I am all in on NFL and the Browns though.

Cable.

Good info

I don't live in Ohio anymore so I don't get any regular season Cavs or Guardians games. Honestly I wouldn't watch that many. I do want to be able to watch their playoff games live though

Playoff games are always a national broadcast. I don't see how you would ever have a problem watching a playoff game with YTTV, Hulu or cable.

EPB streaming. It's just local.

The local utility ran fiber optics making us one of the first GIG cities. The service carries pretty much what Comcast carried, plus more.

With my eye balls

Sometimes with my eyeballs shut


I have Hulu and it lets me watch a lot of live TV

Gives me all kinds of options

I have Hulu Live. It has most local/regional sports. It doesnt have Balley. Which means I dont get some regional MLS games. It has ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNNews and NFLN. I can watch UFC because ESPN+ is bundled with it. It doesnt have most Browns games since I dont live in CLE. I go to the bar to watch Browns games. It does have tons of college football.

I used to have cable and this is better/cheaper. I also have Netflix and Prime. I dont miss cable at all.

1, with hulu I understand that there are 2 different packages. Hulu live where you get live tv and regular hulu where a lot of things can only be watched 24 hours later. My sister has the regular hulu and loves dancing with the stars but has to wait at least a full day to watch it.

2, interestingly, I was out of town for some of the guardians playoff games. The hotel I was staying at had all kinds of channels available including 4 or 5 different HBO's but the didn't get TNT or whatever channel the Guardians-Yankees games were on. It wasn't avaiable in the room or in the lobby/bar areas. So we walked over to the hotel across the street and had beers at their bar while we watched the game there.

What does EPB stand for?

Hulu has some goofy rules, that's why I chose YTTV.. Hulu live is a little less restrictive, but I believe the subscription it's about 5 bucks higher than YT.

"Is YouTube TV or Hulu live better for sports?
YouTube TV has 16 sports channels while Hulu Live has 14, which is why YouTube TV is the second best live TV streaming service for sports. YouTube TV is the only live TV streaming service that includes NFL Network, MLB Network, and NBA TV for only $65 per month."

https://www.reviews.org/tv-service/hulu-live-vs-youtube-tv/

Roku to get Youtube TV. 1 additional pay subscription to Friendly (wife likes Hallmark). I also have a cheap $15.00 OTA antennae that really gets a great picture. My Roku gets Roku channel, TV, Tubi among others. Way too many options most pf the time.

I turn the television on, and then look at the screen

I watch using a streaming service called Eyestream. Had it over 2+ years. Haven’t missed a Cavs, Browns, Guardians game since I’ve had it. I pay $42/month. You gotta have great internet, I have spectrum’s 400mps. The dvr system they have is crap but I get pretty much everything live I want. It is good 90% of the time. I use a firestick, but you can use everything but Roku.

I get every NFL, Redzone, NBA, MLB, NHL game. All the movie channels, most ppv except wwe. With using a streaming service, I have no major complaints about it.

Also if you refer 5 people and the subscribe and keep service, yours is free.

Electric Power Board. It is our local utility provider.

https://epb.com/fi-speed-internet/

.

I switched to streaming for pretty much one reason and your reasons for switching over will dictate the manner in which you do. For me it wasn't so much a cost saving measure but rather how much more could I be getting for my money? I tried youtube TV but simply didn't care for the format. Hulu live was far more to my liking. It's a lot more like DirecTV in that the way the DVR service works and just the overall format. You have unlimited recording space and it keeps your recordings for six months. The channel selection is extensive. I was able to get Hulu live, Netflix, Paramount Plus, Apple TV and HBO plus for pretty much the same cost of what I was paying for DirecTV.

I'm sure it's on an individual basis but I'm getting a lot more content and choices for my money and unless there's some drastic change would never go back to DirecTV or cable again.

You can make a decision to stop paying for TV.

Do you have buffering issues with the firestick?

No issues at all if you have high speed internet.

I use Spectrum streaming, with Netflix, Amazon prime video, Hulu, Paramount, Peacock, Disney, and Espn. I pay for Spectrum, Prime (because we buy a lot from amazon), and Peacock. Got Hulu, Disney and ESPN free via Verizon for a year. One daughter shares Netflix with us and another daughter shares Paramount. These streamers don't care a bit if two houses are running on one service.

Then I fill in anything I might miss with grey area free movie sites.

It sounds like Netflix is going to start cracking down on credential sharing in earnest.

We got booted once in the last six months and I was in shock. Didn't really care, really just clicking on some programming to put us to sleep; but yeah, they're "enforcing" the rules going forward.

Bottom line, there are so many choices at this point, I can't realty ever see a scenario where I won't just shrug it off and move on. Surprised it hasn't happened sooner, especially in Netflix's case. They are really the outlier in unique content (imo).

I don't have an issue wit Netflix cracking down. They provide a service, and consumers of that service should pay for it. Everyone using it paying for what they use should mean me not having to pay more for it.

We are watching Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities and it is a lot of fun.

No biggie. I still save enough to pop for any add-ons I want to get. Just letting the OP know how I stream it all. I'm sure I'm not the only one doing it. And Netflix seems to have allowed it so far. I think they are just limiting the number of connections and IPs. Part of their pitch is that you can take it with you when you travel. Between both houses, we might watch 40 hours or so a month and I doubt that is setting off alarms at corporate.

Just did a little research into this, so your internet is publicly owned. I wish every community had the balls to break up the cable monopolies. Hat's off to Chattanooga for actually doing what the cable companies hate to do -- spending money on infrastructure and providing great service at a reasonable price.

I have DirectTV mainly for Sunday Ticket... but I also like having general cable and frequently will stream the DirectTV app when traveling...

also have a few streaming services...

Me2... but I'm starting to consider other options... which id why I'm here.
To listen, and learn.

It's pretty sweet. They put a big dent in the comcast monopoly. Now Comcast is offering all kinds of deals and have added content to all their package levels, and the net isn't even close. If I have a problem, I only had a question early after making the switch, I talked to a person in a building maybe 10 miles away rather than some guy named "William" in New Delhi.

Not that I am against "William" in New Delhi, but I would rather to speak to Susan in Chattanooga.

I have looked into the other options and for me and my family cable is it. We also have firestick, Amazon prime, HBO Max, Paramount plus, Peacock, which we pay for through amazon instead of cable because it's cheaper, and we get netflix for free from T-mobile.

I'll vouch for Eyestream. It's a shame they were dropped by Roku, but it's supposed to be coming back.

I've had direct tv for at least 10 years now. Never realized that there was an app.
Anyway, great input, appreciate all of you guys.

So I called direct tv and told them that I wasn't happy with how much I was paying and asked what they could do for me. The 1st person I talked to couldn't do much but she transferred me to the loyalty center because they have more they could offer. Left the phone call with a 30% decrease in my monthly bill for the next 12 months. With no extension of my contract.

It's been great - you can't stream all of your channels, but can stream several... I used it when traveling frequently... this weekend we were in college station for the weekend staying at an Airbnb... we had the Stros game on the TV but I could also stream games on my phone through either the DirecTV app or I could sign into the ESPN app with my DirectTV login in...

Makes me think of a buddy of mine, not technically savvy at all. He had DirectTV for many years, the development he lives in had a contract with Xfinity for internet and TV, so he got a little more than basic channels with his HOA fees. He was complaining about the cost of DTV one say so I asked why he kept it, and he said because he uses that account to stream at work with the app on a TV while he's working (has his own print shop). I told him Xfinity has an app as well, and he was floored that he was paying DTV like $180/mo for stuff he could get on the Xfinity app just as easily.

What's the lowdown, bro? Bill just too high? Looking for better content?

I've been with DirectTV a very long time because of the Sunday ticket. It's they only way I can watch my Browns. I live in rural western Pa. and they don't run cable out my way so I depend on satellite for my internet too. I have no idea what I'm going to do when DTV drops the Sunday ticket.

How far west? You can get up to 70 miles from a HDTV antenna... about $80 - $150.

This site will let you put in a zip code and check the range of their products...

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

EDIT: to say -- Youngstown stations very often have the Browns games.

If you get a smart tv it probably has a built in antenna (mine does) It gets tons of channels I never watch because I dont like the interface.

I'm about 50 miles from Younsgtown (as the crow flies). My neighbors tried a similar antenna with no luck, sent it back. The rep said we were in too mountainous area, tree's everywhere and something about the HDTV waves and how hilly areas effect them.
Relatives in Youngstown say they often don't get Browns games...the city is split with Steeler fans...thanks anyway.

I ditched them and went with the group that left Eyestream. We have MUCH better service now. It's great, though, to watch anything you want wherever you are.

Is Eyestream still alive? Can't find it on Roku. Fed up with YTTV's restrictions and constantly (over the past two weeks) telling me I'm out of my viewing area. It would be different if there was a reasonable fix that didn't involve resetting location on multiple devices. Now that is not even working and I'm locked out of my TV.

I'm reading now that a VPN won't even work... they want to read your GPS on a mobile device. Tired of giving one of the most corrupt corps in the history of mankind my money anyway.

Anybody with any suggestions, tips, reliable services for IPTV -- I'd appreciate it.

Eyestream no longer works with Roku. I stopped them at that time, about a year ago. I can't find anything recent about them on a google search either. Their website has always been weird and outdated. BUT, when I had it, it was wonderful. You could get just about any live channel out there, including all major sporting events and PPV. Maybe Frenchy will chime in here.


https://www.eyestreamtv.net/streaming-devices[/url]

jfanent is right...Roku doesn't support other IPTV services. Last I tried they didn't allow side loading of third party apps. Eyestream is still around, but I'm not sure where to find them as I switched to the service that broke away from them. It has it's glitches, but for the most part it's fine. You get what you pay for at $40 a month. Due to ROKU being dolts I switched to FireCubes and sticks, although Amazon is starting to getting funny about side loading as well. The best, so I hear, is the Nvidia Shield...easiest to work with but pricey. There's also an ONN product around $20 at Walmart that works well if it works for you. I have one I loan out to people to try the streaming service before they buy. You can get a 48 hour trial from the new service and I suggest doing it over a weekend if you want to test it. You also need fairly good internet speeds. They say 100mbps+ depending on how many devices are using it.

Thanks to you both.

Did a bunch of research last night. Enough to learn, while still confusing (lol), this is a different format than your average streaming service. Nvidia Shield works better because of a faster graphics processor (Nvidia wrote the book). Many people said "don't even bother" with just a Smart TV because the processor is way too slow.

And then... the huge key is internet speed. That's fine at my home, last I checked it was pushing 450mps. Not so much at my apartment. Long story, but I worked a sweet deal, every discount possible, because "I'm only here for work". I'm capped at 50mps for under $30 per month. It's hard enough to duplicate every bill known to man by living in two locations, we try to keep costs down here.

Youtube TV has been "working on my problem" since 11:04 last night. Here's protocol: Online portal to customer support... enter your phone number. Computer initiates call to customer, puts them through a menu, puts them on hold for 10 minutes, human gets on phone, says "let me look up your account", HANGS UP ON YOU, doesn't call you back...

Now there is an online ticket saying they're "working on my problem" and no way to create another ticket. So I guess I just wait until Google deems me worthy to enjoy a service I already pay for. Fun times.

I wouldn't be so mad if I were doing something wrong. I didn't / I'm not. I've tried everything to make their channel tier system work at both locations. I've tried changing my location to "Fort Wayne", to no avail. It just reloads my Youngstown channel tier next time I log in... then tells me I'm not allowed to watch local shows (while they're live), but lets me watch from DVR them after they have aired. Very aggravating.

To finish venting. Finding a stream for the Cavs game is probably the only way to watch anyway. We were home over the weekend but hanging out with family. Went to watch the Cavs game after the fact, and the score is plastered on the screen right under the broadcast tile. We just look at each other and laugh. NEVER has that happened before. I go to the Cavs channel, "show scores" is (and has always been) turned off. Go to the NBA channel -- no option for such action. So now that we're in the playoffs, what do I do? Make a cardboard cutout to cover the bottom portion of the screen when I want to watch a game that has already started? Can't make this stuff up. Can there be a greater "spoiler" than scores of a game?? Why not just put a blurb under every movie as well... "Everybody dies except the babysitter".

I'm done. 🤣

I still use Eyestream and it is still working just fine for me. I use a firestick and it runs fine, my internet regularly runs over 400mps consistently so I very rarely have problems.

I got a chromecast in a white elephant exchange at christmas, that I have been unable to hook up, something with the new HD model not allowing certain certain things.

Again, I’m keeping Eyestream til it goes away. For $43.99/month, I get all of my Guardians, Cavs, Browns games, and about 95% of sporting ppv’s, and all the movie channels.

All this tech talk gives me heart palpitations. I just want to watch tv without having to learn coding for crying out loud. Lol.
Makes me kinda long for the days of my youth when I was my dad’s remote control, VHF and UHF dials were the tech (STOP CRANKING THE DIAL SO FAST… I can still hear the old man yell), and tower antennae. My dad had a rotor on his antennae. With it he could pull Detroit stations so we could watch the Tiger’s games. That was high tech.
It’s all moving so fast that you have to have an in-house Geek Squad just to do what we did more easily just a few months back.

…I’m starting to sound like an old man…

All you need to do now it start yelling at the kids in your neighborhood to stay off your lawn!

Many parts of that post are a verbatim account of my rant to my wife last night. A lot of today's tech has me longing for the days of old. Tired of needing a tech degree to operate a remote. 🤣

I keep the TV on a low volume all night and I Iike the soft glimmer of it too.


I did the same when I was a kid and the overnight UHF channels.

AT&T the bill's too high, they carry too many QVC-type channels, and they dropped NFL Network a few years back.
Wife lost her soap opera because it's now on Peacock. Lost a couple other shows to Paramount+.

In the end, I'm looking to find a couple streams that allow me to ala carte our programs and be able to watch them on demand.


that's kind of where we are right now.

I think a lot of people are in that quagmire. There are 4-5 programs you want, but they are spread over 2-3 different platforms. Cable companies have done that for years. Offer different tiers, with the "Gold" tier having that 1 program you really want, so you end up going for that even though you get another 20 channels of crap you never watch. With mine I probably have 300 channels available, probably more when you start counting all the loaded channels on the TV, and others you add, but really only watch maybe 20 with any regularity.

I've got a rant too. The Web OS platform that came with my LG smart tv just sucks a big one. It's a confusing mash of bizarre, nonsensical steps to do what you want with a weird remote whose buttons are in the most inconvenient locations. The most used buttons are also the smallest. The system has a lot of useless functions, but fewer useful features than Roku. I'm just going to plug my Roku stick in and be done with this mess. The wife and I wasted a few months giving it a fair trial and we both agree that Roku is much better in terms of user friendliness.

What year is the TV? I dont find WebOS confusing at all. I just wish it sepulcher update apps automatically instead on telling me to update when I try to launch.

I agree. You have to use this remote to do this, that remote to do that.

Maybe I am just a dumbass, but universal remote is just a concept and not a reality. I manage my way through, but dang if I need to try to explain it to my wife.


Between me telling here to take this thing and pressing that thing twice, and her two left hands, she's screwed. If I go out of town for a few days, I just tell her to leave the TV on 24 hours and use this to change the channel and volume. She can do that.

My wife is a smart woman, but damn, when working a TV remote she looks like Stephen Hawkings trying to work the controls on his chair.

I use a LogiTech Harmony remote to rule them all. I am looking for a viable replacement as Logitech has decided to get out of that space.

The Logitech Harmony was really close to "universal" but didn't fit all my needs (waaay back, probably 15 years ago).

When I married my TV to a PC and an old Pioneer stereo system (still about ten years ago) a did a bunch of research to make sure I was getting what I wanted. I bought a URC. Newer model is here:

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Control-MX-450-Programmable-Editing/dp/B001HKLA60/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=URC&qid=1681911661&sr=8-8&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840

There was definitely a learning curve to programming macros, but it performed really well.

Thanks, I will give it a look. The Harmony is so easy a caveman could do it. I have the one with hub and IR blasters and it works great. But it is aging.

I don't know about that. I free;y admitted i am somewhat of a dumbass as far as tech. I blame older age, and am entering, if not there, I can blame anything I want.

I just know I have 3 remotes and all are needed for some function, depending on what function I ask another to perform. I have it down, so I am not going to screw up the system. See??...in my Jimmy Cagney impression.

Just bringing up Jimmy Cagney should clue you in that I am not a pup.

Granted, I have internet and I use services like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime, but the vast majority of my viewing is pretty much exactly what you just described. Antenna on my roof goes to the TV. No rotor, so I can't change the positioning to get different stations, but I don't really need to. I do have a remote and no old school chunky, clunky dials, but that's about it.

It's kinda perfect. I think that if I ever feel like I need more than this, that's a sign that I am spending too much time with the TV.

I always blame the cats when something goes wrong.

It's a 2023 LG OLED. Web OS defaults to that ridiculous home page of useless channels and you can't change that. Searching for and choosing apps, setting up the order and things like that take way more steps than Roku. Just using the settings is also much more complicated. Look at the home, back and guide buttons on that remote and tell me you have no problem finding those in the dark. My remote is similar, but more ergonomic. Doesn't help much because the most used buttons are just as small and poorly located. Anyone looking at those remotes will tell you which would be more user friendly....especially for 60+ year olds with fumbling fingers and old folks vision. About the only thing I like about the LG remote is the floating cursor on the screen. Another thing is that Roku itself has a decent set of programs that we watch, much better than the Web OS/LG selection of old movies that weren't even good when they came out and mediocre live programs.

I do want to say that we love the TV itself....the picture is out of this world good once we got it dialed in.

Ours is a 2016. I wonder if they "improved" it in later versions.

On ours the apps are just a scroll across the bottom that you can select. Some times I have to hit the home button on the remote to get it to pop up.

My brother-in-law has a 2022 and wants to get rid of it. I tried surfing through that b.s. at his house and laughed out loud at how ridiculous it was. Wife's grandmother in Florida has a 2021, pops called from down there and said they were having problems... I told him to go to Wal-mart and buy a Roku, all is well now lol. It's just one of those UIs (to me, anyway) that would have had better results if designed by monkeys.

I have a LG smart tv. 1 remote. I only do streaming. Easy peasy.

Looking at some videos of WebOS it looks like mine is not as busy as more current versions. I love when engineers "improve" things and make them worse. Symantec has done that for years.

It's like adding a cheese grater app to your cell phone -- it may be cool, but it is so unnecessary -- and the cheese is probably going to clog up your charging port.

Wait.. is that only for iPhone or can Android get it as well?

Android is actually easier. With iPhone you need an Android emulator and the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter... and the cheese comes out of your earbuds. The upside is if you use Apple Beats you can grate cheddar and not just parmesan.

Got a Roku. It’s working great.
I also just called Direct TV and ‘threatened’ to cancel if they couldn’t lower my bill. They did. The change entirely offsets the cost of a YouTube TV subscription.
Now I’ll subscribe to that and get the Season Ticket.

I still have directv. Cost is $115 w/HBO.

I have to have Bally sports south so I can watch the Braves. Most streaming does not have it.

Youtube without subscription for NFL games is going to be $349 pre-sale. $20.52 per week.

I am going to have get the directv bill down.

Hell I don't watch much other than sports and a couple shows on History and Discovery.

I wish I could select like 10 stations and the football package.

bone…
give DirectTV a call. They’re losing customers left and right over the NFL departure. They drastically cut my bill for the next 12 months. I now have 12 months to decide if YouTube TV works well enough for me to drop DirectTV next year. If I decide I don’t like YouTube TV, I’ll cancel it after the season ends. Next season I’ll repeat the stupid platform change game.
Maybe one day the NFL will do right by the fans and let us purchase ala carte. I’m not holding out hope. Until then it’s a stupid dance we’ll all have to play.

Did they put you into a 12 month contract? Is there a termination fee now?

Thanks Port.

That is my hope as well.

Yes, but I’m not planning on cancelling. If I’m going to cancel a service it’ll likely be youtube tv after the nfl season ends. I can always pick it back up next May when my DTV contract ends and drop DTV then. Or maybe threaten them again with cancellation to see if they reduce my bill once more.

…What a ridiculously colossal waste of time this all is… just so we can waste time watching tv…
I hate that this is the system they’ve trapped us in.

Thank you. Don't look to hard or you might see the code scrolling underneath the reality.