tv streamers

[Brandon]

ok dudes and dudettes, staring to make the plunge since I see everything is damn near streamable and ridiculously less than the ~$250 a month we pay for tv and internet.

some of you here are already on point with this stuff and can share a wealth of knowledge to us all. what's your setup, providers, apps, preferences, etc.?

I'll save you the elongated story of how I spilled a drink on my laptop and it turned into me going down this rabbit hole, but I got directv now the other day since I have an unlimited plan so it's $10 a month for what I watch now (hbo is free) and I added cinemax and starz for a couple extra pesos. the downside here is no showtime, but I know I can get that directly from them on an app. also, some of the networks seem a bit behind on programming.....for instance, the show power isn't up to date like it is in reality and that new show snowflake on fx is not coming until next week when it premiers tomorrow (granted, I would be able to watch it then).

I have a ps4 with hbo go, hulu (someone's account), and amazon (again, someone else's account that I'm not sure how it got there).

seems like between them all I have everything covered as I have the shows I like and directv now is also live tv so I can catch sports.

am I missing anything? when I signed up for directv now I also grabbed two fire sticks for the service which I'm going to jailbreak with kodi like everyone else. is this the way to go? any channels or apps you peeps like or have?

[gotbeer]

Netflix?  Between Netflix and Amazon Prime, it really covers all the bases for me.  Haven't even seen the need to do Kodi yet.  I haven't tried Crackle, but heard it's free. 

I did look into RSN's since that is the biggest thing I'm missing.  There is something called FuboTV that seemed promising for $39.99.  Just haven't done it yet.  Your DirectTV now probably covers it, and at the price you got it for, it's a really good deal. 

Also, as far as shows go.  I'm seeing a lot of shows that go on regular cable or tv, show up on Netflix after the season is over. 

Not sure how much OTA programming you watch.  But a digital antenna for that purpose might cut costs even more.  I just stuck an antenna on the roof, and used all the old cable lines to hook up all the tv's. 

[notherhalo]

I'm guessing Angel baseball should be mentioned here.  

Any options besides MLBtv?  I've been using that and a proxy service for years now.  However that drains $30 a month

For other sports, I'm good with whatever is televised on the networks, and +1 to rabbit ears. People are shocked to see crystal clear 1080p from those, with a cableTV like guide button, provided from the smart TVs internet 

[gotbeer]

42 minutes ago, notherhalo said:

I'm guessing Angel baseball should be mentioned here.  

Any options besides MLBtv?  I've been using that and a proxy service for years now.  However that drains $30 a month

For other sports, I'm good with whatever is televised on the networks, and +1 to rabbit ears. People are shocked to see crystal clear 1080p from those, with a cableTV like guide button, provided from the smart TVs internet 

You'd be paying more.  Looks like it's now $34.99 a month.  But if you are looking for sports, it seems to have almost everything.

https://www.fubo.tv/watch/sf?utm_source=radio-sf&utm_medium=radio&utm_campaign=Radio&ftv_campaign=radio-sf

Oddly, ESPN is not included.  But I never watch it anyways. 

[Brandon]

oh yeah, I have Netflix, too. I use my sisters account, just don't watch much at all.

kodi is the shit. I smashed some chick about a month or two ago and in the morning she went to take a shower and tossed me the remote and said, "watch whatever you want". the format was like Netflix, but it was literally everything on tv and in the movie theaters. I saw whatever the top movie in the theater was at the time right there for free. it reminded me of Napster for movies. you have to see it to consider it. the stick is like $35 and people post jailbreak videos on youtube.

for angels games, when I was trying to setup and mess around with the directv now I was watching the normal fsw feed on fox in real time. what I like about directv now is it has live tv and also shows in a Netflix/ on demand type feature.

the only negative is no dvr and they don't have every channel.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Im an idot Brandon, did you say you have direct tv for 10 bucks?

[Brandon]

kind of. there's two versions of directv.....standard directv that we all know and directv now which is their streaming platform like a Netflix or amazon. it's live tv and a on demand type of dealio. 

I'm not a big tv watcher outside of a few shows and sports. they have tiers like everyone else and the base is $35, which has all I want. on the flip side, att who owns directv, offers a $25 discount on their service if you have an unlimited plan with att, which I do. so that $35 tier is now $10 and includes hbo for free.

it's cool, but still in a new phase. I'm going to ask about directv and the discount there instead. I'm not gonna lie, I'm lazy as fuck. I want everything in one place even though it's more cost effective to do what I'm wanting to do. although, I keep the tv on and with what I have now will sit in front of the tv whereas all these streaming devices will make me do other things.

it sounds weird because I'll eat at Morton's on a Tuesday and not care about the tab, but for some reason paying $250 a month for internet and cable drives me nuts. it's purely a value thing when other things are out there that are better. it's like driving around in a car that you know you got took to the cleaners by the dealership....just a violating feeling.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Im the exact same way. I am cheap as hell on certain things, waste money like water on others.

[Make Angels Great Again]

PS Vue is the way to go. I cancelled my time warner TV package a few months back and haven't missed it at all. Biggest channel lineup as far as I know, bunch of different tiered packages.

 

You can check out the plans here: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/network/vue/channels/

[Lou]

Anyone still paying high monthly bills for viewing television shows deserves to be taken to the cleaners. 

Get a streaming device that you can download Kodi onto and save your money for tickets to the upcoming Alien Ant Farm reunion tour

[mrwicked]

i enjoyed their smooth criminal rendition and video, and i don't care what anyone says. mostly because i just love smooth criminal.

[mrwicked]

you will be able to get amazon prime stuff on appletv soon for the record, don't need firetv for that (but firetv/stick are the way to go for kodi).

[Brandon]

11 hours ago, Lou said:

Anyone still paying high monthly bills for viewing television shows deserves to be taken to the cleaners. 

Get a streaming device that you can download Kodi onto and save your money for tickets to the upcoming Alien Ant Farm reunion tour

weird. second time in a few days I heard alien ant farm mentioned. reconnected with an old buddy and he mentioned the drummer of the band just hit him up to see if he wanted to jam.

[Brandon]

looks like they messed up and are sending a firestick and a roku premium. I guess they have kodi out for that now too. 

I need to pm with one of you dudes on how to do kodi.

[Lou]

You can't install Kodi directly onto Roku. There's a way to stream the content but you have to download Kodi onto a different android device then do some other shit. 

I can show you how to load onto FireTV. It's very simple. If you don't have real good internet service or know you won't be using it away from home, (most people get it for this reason yet never take it out of their home) spend the extra money and get the box. 

[Lou]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

weird. second time in a few days I heard alien ant farm mentioned. reconnected with an old buddy and he mentioned the drummer of the band just hit him up to see if he wanted to jam.

They're no Dexy's Midnight Runners but I hear they put on a great show. 

Jugglers and shit...

[Jay]

8 hours ago, Lou said:

spend the extra money and get the box. 

What kind of box, you mean something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/GooBang-Doo-Android-Amlogic-Playing/dp/B01JOT42JW/

 

[mrwicked]

10 hours ago, Jay said:

What kind of box, you mean something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/GooBang-Doo-Android-Amlogic-Playing/dp/B01JOT42JW/

 

he means the fire tv. not the stick.

i agree. anything that doesn't move, use wired ethernet and not wireless.

[Brandon]

22 hours ago, Lou said:

You can't install Kodi directly onto Roku. There's a way to stream the content but you have to download Kodi onto a different android device then do some other shit. 

I can show you how to load onto FireTV. It's very simple. If you don't have real good internet service or know you won't be using it away from home, (most people get it for this reason yet never take it out of their home) spend the extra money and get the box. 

bummer. I may get that anyway after some research. I spent a grip at the att store so the dude basically gave me the two fire sticks. figured I would try them.

[Lou]

On July 6, 2017 at 8:25 PM, Brandon said:

bummer. I may get that anyway after some research. I spent a grip at the att store so the dude basically gave me the two fire sticks. figured I would try them.

As long as you have a good wireless connection you'll be fine. 

I have the fire stick and use it almost exclusively when I watch tv. 

[Tank]

16 hours ago, Lou said:

As long as you have a good wireless connection you'll be fine. 

I have the fire stick and use it almost exclusively when I watch tv. 

how exactly does a fire stick work? i've seen them for sale but don't know anything about them. i'm assuming it connects to your computer somehow.

[Brandon]

they connect to the tv, but essentially are pre-loaded or allow downloadable apps.....like Apple TV or roku.

watch your Hulu, amazon prime, hbo go, etc. in one place.  

[gotbeer]

So can someone explain Chromecast for me?  Is it like Amazon's Fire Stick, but you can download apps directly from the play store?  And are the types of apps you can download limited like on the Fire Stick? 

[mancini79]

I made the jump 3 weeks ago and cut the cord. Very happy with the results. Here is my breakdown:
- Bought a Fire TV. I had a Roku stick, but noticed a huge improvement in performance going to a Fire TV. I hard-wired the Fire TV from my router into my TV.
- Signed up with Playstation Vue. $45/mth gets most of the channels I want and MLBTV with DVR included.
- Downloaded Kodi, Hulu and Netflix onto FireTV

For the first 2 weeks everything was blazing fast. Very little buffering and the PS Vue felt much like a wired cable box. But the last few days I noticed my connection getting A LOT slower. I have Spectrum Internet and they claim they do not "throttle". So after waiting a couple days just to see if the speed would go back to normal (which it did not), I subscribed to a VPN (IP Vanish). The very second I turned on the VPN, my internet speed shot back up. The problem is that Hulu will not allow me to play videos behind a VPN. So I may have to ditch Hulu. If people move to VPN's to avoid being throttled, this could really hurt Hulu in the long run.

As of now I don't see myself ever going back to traditional cable. I encourage people to cut the cord and see what streaming option works best for them.

All in all, I'm saving about $80/mth

[arch stanton]

I use a VPN with my Hulu all the time. Just have to find the right IP