You won't regret it. It's like switching from Pandora to Spotify - you can pick and choose on a more selective basis what entertainment you want to enjoy (and save that $$).

$15 price hike.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

After more than 17 years, I just gave Direct TV the heave-ho. I am absolutely done with that company and will never, ever return.

I don't know if this is available in your area but I switched to Spectrum Choice TV, which is their best streaming option, IMO. It includes all local channels and ten channels of your choice. I added a few for my wife and several for me including NFL Network, Fox Sports, ESPN 1 & 2, History, Discovery and a few more. The price was $30.99 per month.

For an additional $15 dollars, I purchased the Premium Package, which includes HBO Max, Showtime and Starz! along with their Cloud DVR service for a total of $50.98 per month. I have access to all of the associated apps, which is generally how I watch TV programs, as I can rarely watch anything other than sports in real time.

But going from $159 per month to $50.98 per month is nice and with Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney Plus and ESPN+, I think I'm set for the foreseeable future.

As for Chiefs games, I have three nieces and one nephew in college, so I'll have one of them sign up for the Sunday Ticket app so I won't miss a minute of Chiefs games.

Congrats on getting out from under DTV; I'm getting close to doing so as well. I have every channel they provide but watch maybe 5 or 6 of them. My sons don't watch anything on TV. It's all streaming content for them. The market has really psed DTV up.

You can get Sunday Ticket STudent without having Direct TV?

That's what happened on my end as well. With Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Amazon, my kids weren't watching any of the 315 DTV channels, other than local live TV such as game shows. I found that outside of ESPN and the NFL Network, I wasn't watching anything other than the streamers and locals. I normally watch the NBA on TNT, so I added it and TBS to the my 10 channel choice.

There are just so many options these days with all of the streamers that there's really no need to pay $175 dollars a month for Direct TV.

College students with a valid educational email can sign up for Sunday Ticket for $99.99 for the season, making the switch a no-brainer for me.

Still have DirecTV and while I think it's still a great service, it does cost way too much. That and the persistent rumors of it being killed off in the not too distant future has me looking elsewhere.

I was really looking into YTTV, only negative I had with it is the lack of NFL Network. I really like the ability to watch any channel including the locals on any device, as well as the account sharing and unlimited DVR. Not a fan of it increasing in price just to add the Viacom channels, wish I could opt out of those. I don't watch any Viacom channels except maybe Comedy Central on occasion, and I'm perfectly fine waiting for the shows to pop up elsewhere.

I'm still with Directv, have been since 2008. With youtube.tv do you have an on-screen guide? If not, how do you know what shows are on? I figured since I'm retired and only have just a few enjoyable things in life, I'm not going to sweat spending an extra $100 a month when I watch a lot of TV and find it's convenient with Directv.

Good tip for me to pass on to my son's friends, thank you.

No worries, Dude!

The other cool thing about Spectrum Choice is that their app works on Roku, Apple TV, iPad's, phones, etc. and so on. So unlike Direct TV, which requires a receiver in every room, I can now watch Live TV on all six of my Roku TV's throughout the house, which is awesome, as I dumped all of the boxes, save for the Family Room, back in 2016.

Paying like $40+ dollars per month for Direct TV box rentals makes zero sense in 2020. With Sunday Ticket, my bill routinely topped out at $200+ per month. It's crazy awesome that I can get every channel that I watch and more for $50.98 per month.

Sounds like Spectrum will pay for itself quickly for you. Roku box is my box of choice as well. Someday soon we'll look back on the days we let DTV place clunky big boxes all over our houses and paid them big dollars to do so and just shake our heads.

Youtube TV? That additional content isn't worth 15 more bucks a month. I need to go back to the drawing board.

I dropped TWC when they were acquired by Spectrum. I may have to look there way.

AT&T raising their streaming service rates today too. Big Streaming is becoming....cable TV. All over again.

Yep, it was a good thing once but going out like a Dinosaur seeing a big ol fireball heading their way.

It’s become so fragmented. But I guess we do have the option now of signing up for a month or two, then canceling once your done with the show or shows you want to watch.

AT&T is an epic disaster.

Not only are they losing 2 million customers per quarter with Direct TV, their 'Entertainment Arm" is a gigantic mess. HBO Max has been anything but, while they continue to argue Rights Fees with Roku and Amazon, which make up 80% of HBO standalone app market. They're not offering anything substantially new with their "new" service: No 4K, no UHD or HDR, so new subscription numbers are way, way off their projections.

I've had T Mobile for cellular for the past 2.5 years, which has been completely flawless and they provide the MLB.TV package for free each year. Now that I have my internet, phone and TV through Spectrum, I've thought about switching my cell service over but T-Mobile has been so good and so affordable that it's probably not worth the hassle. I wouldn't even consider AT&T as a cellular provider.

I don't see how AT&T in its current incarnation can survive. It's safe to say that their CEO needs to be replaced ASAP but they're too stupid and out of touch to make that move.

Also, I cannot wait until their deal with the NFL expires at the end of the 2021 football season and I kind of have a feeling that they're looking forward to getting out of satellite TV business as well. They're carrying a massive debt load, so changes are definitely coming.

Well that sucks. $50 was already pushing it.

I did about 5 years ago and never looked back. Took a little bit of getting used to but definitely worth it.

Yes, YouTube TV has an on-screen guide. And the best feature is you can program the stations in any order you like. I programmed all the stations I watch the most at the front. The rest I put in order of my old DirectTV list.

One more $15 hike is going to lose me, I’m not letting them get to the same price as cable which they’re getting really close.

Yeah... so much for that. They've priced themselves out of my range. That's too bad...

https://equity.guru/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/done.gif

Yep, I've been on the fence about it for awhile now. I really like the service in general, but I find I'm not watching much these days. I'll probably go back to it (if, big if) the NFL starts back up, but otherwise I'm not getting much value.

Youtube TV adds NFL Network for next week.

NFL Network and YouTube TV reach new carriage agreement

NFL Network and NFL RedZone are now on YouTube TV.

One week before the start of the 2020 season, NFL Media and YouTube TV announced a new carriage agreement to bring the two NFL-based channels to YouTube TV subscribers.

NFL Network is available on YouTube TV's base package as of Thursday. NFL RedZone is also available now, as part of YouTube TV's new add-on package, Sports Plus, which launched Thursday. Host Scott Hanson will be delivering every touchdown from every game on Sunday afternoons during the NFL regular season beginning Sept. 13.

Good news. Hope they can keep the monthly cost down for a couple of years.

Greatest move we ever made. I love Roku and YouTubeTV. I wish I would have cut the cord 2 years ago. It's nice paying $63.00 a month (includes Netflix) vs. close to $300 for DirecTV or cable.

I had a message about this this morning when I logged in to youtube tv. Sports Plus which includes Redzone and lesser channel with a lot of bs soccer will add 11.00 bucks a mont to your billing.

I am happy to get the NFL Network added to my standard package but I don't think redzone for 11 bucks more is worth that.

Change my mind as I have never had redzone

NFL network is the first new channel YTTV has added that I might actually watch.

They keep adding channels and jacking up the price so you are back to a cable bundle.

I wish they would offer a sports lover package for a reduced price. But like cable companies they are gonna charge as much as they can.

There aren't a lot of options. Could probably save a few bucks with sling but by the time you add additional channels and the DVR option it wasn't much. At least last time checked.

If they could just end the monopoly on Sunday Ticket.

If KC is not playing, RZ can be fine to have on in the background. But for me, RZ without Sunday Ticket would be a little irritating. If I start to get into a game on RZ, I like to be able to directly switch to it.

I totally avoid RedZone for that reason. It's like the ADHD version of NFL. Drives me crazy.

I love Redzone because they show you every TD and any big plays like turnovers, incredible catches, etc. It really is the best way to take it all in in highlight form. The problem is, like said, you can't really follow the story of a particular game. If you get invested in a matchup that isn't marquee you'll be missing a lot as they bounce around and focus on other, bigger games.

But for me, Redzone is awesome. I usually have the Chiefs/local game on TV and then Redzone open on my laptop.

Yeah this doesn't sound like its for me for that price. If I want to watch highlights of other teams I don't want it popping in my chiefs game day experience. I can get that package to watch any game after its live viewing has ended for next to nothing on eBay.

I was about to 86 YT TV after this last increase glad I waited as NFL Network will keep me hanging in.

Has anyone signed up for Fubotv? I almost did but went the YT route.

It is only good for Fantasy Football - close coverage of all games as they enter the red zone. That's about it.

Adding NFL Network was the last piece of the puzzle for YouTube TV. All of the stations I watch now, good price at $65. I love YouTube TV.

If you're considering YoutubeTV, now is a good time to sign up...

Try YouTube TV free, and get a Chromecast on us!

Sign up for YouTube TV and get a new Chromecast with Google TV ($49.99 value) after your first payment of $64.99, while supplies last. Limited time offer.

https://tv.youtube.com/

I agree if you really want to watch a single game, RZ will let you down, but honestly its tough to follow 7/8/9 games at once anyway so RZ is perfect for that. If KC is playing I'm only glancing over anyway.

When it gets to the 3pm games, there are only a few and they focus on the biggest one with just pop-ins from the others.

Ditching direct TV for YouTubeTV. So good so far.

You won't regret it! I wish I had done this years ago I would have saved a fortune. Cut that cord! :thumb:

YTTV is great. Just got it but before the free chromething.

You can also share it with 7 other ppl. Two families or a group of buddies could easily share it.

That is correct. Off topic, I shared my Netflix account with my brother and he shared his Disney account with me so I get more options! So does he.

It really is an incredible change from DTV and Cox or any other ass rape provider, again, CUT THE CORD! You will thank US later! Going from $350 to $250 to $160 is remarkable! :thumb:

This. I couldn't have done it too many years ago because I didn't have the internet to handle it, but it is superior.

Don’t miss the free preview of NFL RedZone from NFL Network. Tune in Sunday, November 8 — no extra steps required.

Why is Yellowstone not streaming on youtube tv I can only see season 1.

If anyone has YouTubeTV and doesn't use the many streams let me know. I'd be willing to chip in for another stream. You apparently can only stream 3 TVs at once per YouTubeTV account. We usually don't have an issue but sometimes we get up to 3 when Chiefs games or popular TV is on. Really just need 1, or 2 streams more max.

FYI, subscribers... I just got this in the mail... you probably have the same offer...

https://i.imgur.com/cnBjhvb.jpg

Free is free so Ill get it to try out. I hated my first go round with Chromecast but I understand they made improvements.

I didn't get it. Only been a subscriber for a few months, if that. But I understand that you can use any email and just change the address.

So... My new Chromecast with GoogleTV arrived. And this thing is actually pretty ****ing cool.

Quick rundown:

It's actually running Android TV 10, and not just native Android OS, it's running the actual TV version like the Nvidia Shield. Which is a pretty big deal for HDCP DRM purposes. Your normal cheap Android box that's meant for hooking up to your TV only runs normal Android OS and not the Android TV version of Android. Android TV allows for HDCP passthrough, which allows you to watch DRM protected streaming services in full HD. Which is the difference between running Netflix/YoutubeTV/Prime/Disney+/etc in 1080p/4K as opposed to 480p limit on native Android OS devices. Being an unlocked Android TV device, that also allows you to sideload any .apk files you want. Meaning easy install for Kodi, Cinema, Mobdro, etc.

The video quality is really impressive even compared to my FireTV. Performance itself is very good. The only possible drawback is that it's wifi only, with no ports on it other than the USBC power port. Would be nice to use an ethernet adapter. Which may be possible with a dongle of some sort, I haven't looked into it.

EDIT: This hub is reported to work just fine: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FX2LW35

The remote is very cool. It has built in IR functionality that allows it to control your TV's native power/volume via the remote. You just tell it what TV you have, and it configures the remote to work with your TV and then allows you to test it. Very cool feature allowing me to ditch my old TV remote which was only used to turn the TV on and adjust volume. Has direct keys on the remote for YoutubeTV and Netflix. Protip: Can use your phone as a gyro mouse using an app called Android Box Remote. Allowing you to use basically any Android app.

The home screen is similar to FireTV, but works much better. Gives good offerings of movies and TV that are available from the services you subscribe to. In addition to offering rentals that don't feel forced. Allows integration with almost all the normal streaming services to offer content in one integrated menu.

Anyway, I'm crazy impressed with it already. Didn't think Google would use standard AndroidTV OS and allow all developer options available on a device like this. Crazy potential for this device. For $50, this will probably be my go-to recommendation for streaming services going forward.

I checked on that. The offer was only made to subscribers who had been with YoutubeTV since 2018 OR new subscribers. Sorry...

This Sunday only — your free preview of NFL RedZone from NFL Network

We’re giving you a sneak peek of the NFL RedZone from NFL Network experience. The free preview kicks off at 1 pm ET on Sunday, September 26. The best part? There’s no action needed on your part — just sit back and enjoy every touchdown from every game this Sunday afternoon.

[...]

Your free HBO Max™ and Cinemax preview starts now

During September 23-27, you can take the weekend (and then some) to explore HBO Max’s long list of absolute classics, from Game of Thrones to Gossip Girl and everything in between. And don’t miss Cinemax original series like Strike Back and movies like Dirty Dancing. There’s no action needed on your part — it’s on the house. Just watch away through Monday.

We just switched to youtubeTV from google fiber TV. Google gave us a free chromecast for every TV box we had. Liking it so far, although it froze up on me three times during the Ravens game Sunday night. Other than that it has been flawless.

Love that it runs Android TV as I have two nvidia shields on my main two tvs, so the home screen looks the same and doesn't confuse the wife.

Google bill dropped from 200 to 70. YoutubeTV for three months at 54.99 plus another ten for redzone. Figured I would only do the redzone package during the season, as the other sports channels that are a part of the package I can live with out, so it is a net savings every month.

How did you get the preview? I am not seeing it in the app.

Thanks!

Go to your account settings. Find Live Guide. Scroll down through the list of channels, and check the boxes for the HBO/Cinemax/NFL Network.

You can also rearrange your list of channels there too.

I'm facing this right now. Other than having a SOHO router and some other devices that require an RJ45 connections and the WiFi router now only having a single RJ45 port, it seems like I'm going to be getting into the Chromecast game. We've used Amazon's Firestick for years, but it's not what we use most of the time, and with Netflix being a component of the Smart TV, we're really more of a hodgepodge of stuff than one-stop shopping with a single remote. Oh well...

Anyway, did you end up with more than one Google WiFi box? I ask because the current network box has both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, and each current TV box offered 2.4GHz too, and I'm just concerned that having just one box offering WiFi for the whole house might not provide a great experience on the opposite end of the house. Unfortunately the Fiber Jack isn't in the middle of the house.

And last, since my wife is mostly into local channels, have you found any issues with YouTubeTV not providing local channels? And it's $65 a month now, so I'm wondering just how much this will really reduce my current TV bill...

Any thoughts about your experience would be appreciated.

I love youtube TV and it carries all the local channels in KCMO. I have a one remote for everything with the amazon fire TV Cube 4K. It set up all my AV gear in one scan. It turns my avr on and selects the correct mode. I never use the voice commands because you have to learn basically a whole new language that fire tv only knows.

it was 125.00 for a long time I bought mine when a sale occurred a year ago for 90 bucks. Amazon had it for 70 bucks yesterday I saw. I got the google tv free as a promotion. It was good also with the Android tv but could never get my AV equipment to connect all at once.

Thank You.

I've order a digital antenna just to see how well it works too. I'm not sure that'll be the complete answer but I figured I might as well get one and see how well it works. If it sucks, I'll simply return it.

I'm also wondering if there's a way to "inject" the received signal into the house's COAX cabling and be able to get away with only buying on digital antenna. :hmmm:

No network box at all. You get 2 google wi-fi "pucks" for your wireless. One of them acts as the network box and the other is a Mesh access points. There is only one ethernet port on the puck, so I had to get a network switch since I was using all four of my ethernet ports on the network box.

There is only one wi-fi network, the 2.4 and 5.0 are the same with the pucks. Supposedly the puck is advanced enough to decide which band your device needs, but I have found almost all of my devices landed on the 2.4, including my brand new iphone I got a couple of months back. The Mesh improved the signal strength in the house, and my wifi feels about the same as it was with the network box. My fiber jack is in the basement. I have one puck where the network box was in our living room near the TV, and the other one is upstairs in our Master bedroom. Wifi upstairs does connect better than before.

No issues with local channels, other than YouTube's dispute with DIsney a few weeks back. We lost ABC and all of the Disney owned networks for a day while they hammered out a new deal.

I have noticed that Chiefs games run about 5 seconds behind (I only noticed because of the discord chat). The network box was perfectly timed, so I just have to watch myself in the chat to not look ahead.

Cost wise we were at $206 with google---1GB internet, TV, five TV boxes, and the sports package for NFL Redzone. No longer use the TV Boxes, Google gave us 1 Chromecast for each TV box we had. Paying 75 for Youtube TV during football season (extra 10 bucks to get the sports package for NFL Redzone...the rest of the package is crap so I am dropping it once the playoffs start), and our Internet bill is $70, so we are saving around 50 bucks a month. If you want 4k TV, that is 10 bucks extra for Youtube TV, but I did not see the value in paying extra as there is not much 4k TV content out there.

Hopefully that answers your questions!

Thanks. I think we'll start with YouTubeTV in some fashion, I have plenty of switches (I'm a network dude), but I've bought a Digital Antenna to give it a shot. If it works, great, if it doesn't I'll either return it or sell it to my neighbor for his RV.

And thanks again for the feedback.

There's probably a way to do that. I have an external digital tuner box that the COAX plugs into. I used to plug it directly into the router (via ethernet) to feed the other TVs.

But now I have it plugged into an old desktop that I use as a DVR and only use it with one TV.

Agree. Just like any COAX system, I'd think I would be able to plug it into the closest wall COAX connection and "light up" the rest in the house. Basically the tame thing we did when we got rid of Time Warner and want to Google - we just disconnected from the TW network and put the Google signal into the closest jack, and that's how many of the current GF TV boxes are connected.

So I'll get it working on the main TV, then see if it works to light up the rest of the house. Should be a fun little experiment.

That seems simple enough. Never thought of it. I have a digital antennae on the TV in the basement, it's the only place in the house I get good reception, which is kinda odd. I never thought about plugging it in to the coax for the house...let us know how it goes. I would think the signal would not be strong enough for the whole house...

Will do. I know it works for Google Fiber's TV boxes; 2 of our 4 TV boxes are connected via Cat-6 Ethernet connections, the other two to their COAX wall outlet, as well as the Google Fiber Network Box, so I know those two TV boxes are feeding off the GF network box using the house's internal COAX cabling, so it should work for the digital antenna too.

And it should allow me to find the best place for the antenna too. Unfortunately, looking at the FCC's map, our house in Lee's Summit the best option would be a high NE facing window and we simply don't have that, it's N, S, E or W in this house. We'll see.

I have good news to report; you can indeed drive all you home's TVs off of one inexpensive digital antenna. Just buy a COAX splitter (if you don't have one laying around) if you need to put it into a TV near the antenna, split the COAX signal coming from the antenna, put one into the local TV, put the other into the local/closest coax wall outlet, and every TV that's connected into that COAX system should be fine. I'm driving four TVs on it as I type... Just make sure your COAX isn't connected to the local TV provider's COAX in the ground. You may need to go outside to disconnect that if you hadn't done that before. I had, so it was n problem.

So find the place where the antenna will get the best signal, hopefully near one of your home's COAX outlets, and make it happen.

Now, to see if we can live with what's offered "over the air" (digital or not)!!!

It's cheap to buy an amplifier. Or at least it used to be.

My antenna came with one.

https://www.amazon.com/GE-Amplified-...80&sr=8-3&th=1

I've been doing that very thing for the last 10 years. Used all the wires that were being used for my cable at the time.

Been using it for a week or two. Have a gig of fiber so making the switch from cable tomorrow. Got the 4K and sports package.

Been up on the new Google configuration for about a week. All I can say that I like about it is that the cable bill has gone from $195 a month to $70. We're still resisting paying for anything while we sort out what we can get for free, and what might drive us to going with one of the streaming services like YouTubeTV, FUBO, or the likes.

We have four TVs, only one is a true "Smart" TV, all now have the Chromecast dongle, two have the Firesticks that we already owned, and all are being fed by the digital antenna.

Perhaps I've created a monster, but "loading Apps" is getting old. Yeah, $125 a month is worth some pain, and maybe we'll figure out how to watch what we want among all the options, but we'll see how things go as (if) the MLB season starts, and next season for the NFL.

I might buy that this is better because it's cheaper, but it sure as hell is more complex as you sort through options.

All these streaming sites and new cable sucks. There are no scrambled channels like the 90s when I could listen to soft porn on Cinnamax and occasionally see a titty for a half a second. Those were the good days.

Agree. And it's having to decide which service you want to go with that 'most generally' gets you what you want. Add local sports blackout possibilities to the mix (hence the digital antenna) and it's all the worse.

I'm a tech guy, I do it all day every day (hell I'm on a call as I type (**** CISCO!!!)), so I guess I'm officially getting closer to being a luddite, I just want what I want without so many options and clicks. NOT that Google Fiber TV had everything I wanted, not that TimeWarner did before we have GF, but you didn't have to go through a bunch of shit to find you wife her favorite shows she uses as background noise while she works...

Well I almost signed up for the trial of YouTube TV yesterday so we could watch the Royals game, but did enough digging to find out that they (Bally's) doesn't stream on stream on YouTube TV. It seems like buying the MLB package or going back to Spectrum (which was Time Warner when we left for Google) are my two most realistic options.

Reading Bally's complaints about a few of the companies that have told them to pack sand was pretty funny...

This new à la carte paradigm we're all getting forced into pretty much sucks IMO. Nothing is perfect, but this sucks...

DirectTV Stream is your option for the Royals. Its about $20 bucks more than YouTubeTV but they are similar. I have had both.

The MLB.tv deal blacks out local games. I'm not sure where you live but if you're in the KC area, the royals games will be blacked out.

So, before the cowards at Google decided to get out of the TV provider business our bill was ~$190, now it's $70 because we only get Internet. But, as is so often the case, nothing ends up being as awesome as you think or were told..

We simply decided to not do the YouTube TV trial and we'll look into Spectrum in a few months after we get back from Bonaire. Nothing is perfect, but right now Spectrum seems to offer the most of what we'd want, the simplicity we want, and pretty-much without all the à la carte bullshit. At least until they start doing the same shit and we find out what THEY weren't telling us. LMAO

The only thing a la carte sucks for is sports. Blame the leagues and the teams for the exclusive contract bullshit. Ask Avs fans in Denver who haven't been able to watch a record breaking season without going to a game or a bar.

Oh, I get it. And with a digital antenna that I've back-wired into the whole house, TUBI, and Pluto, there's very little the wife and I need/want to justify $20 a month, much less $70 - $90 a month.

Honestly, short of the potential for Spectrum's reliability to SUCK and their WiFi option being one where I'd have to rebuild good coverage around the house, At $99 a month for Cable (400Mbps) and TV (125 channels), that's $30 a month more than Google, but we'd be back to a scenario that's less stupid than the à la carte bullshit we suffer today because with Spectrum we'd just turn the TV on and it's pretty-much all there; none of this "fire up this App to get this program/game, and fire up that App to get that program/game" bullshit.

Like I said, I'll stop by the Spectrum store later in June to see what they say, but as of right now, we'll just have to skip watching the Royals.

And I agree, the leagues and the teams are to blame.

I love youtube TV