Streaming Television vs. DirecTV

[Speedling]

My single greatest requirement for cutting the cord was to ensure dvr capability to record Young and the Restless for the wife.

I have had great success with this: https://www.tablotv.com/ as the dvr. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815150324&cm_re=Tablo-_-15-150-324-_-Product

And the Mohu family of antennas. http://www.gomohu.com/ Also from newegg or Amazon.

I use the Amazon FireTV as the viewer. Also has apps for most of the content channels that you mentioned. But, you would need subscriptions. The FireTV, I would say is similar to a Roku, but I prefer having the cat5 connection over relying on my home wifi.

25mb package would be plenty, that's what I have, and rarely actually get that speed since my ISP blows. We use Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube apps for the majority of our viewing in addition to the Tablo.

1 downside is that grandma/babysitter never can work the tv after the kids go to bed. While they're up the 4 and 10yr old run the controls. So, we get home and grandma is still watching kid shows. Lol

Never used dvr. We stream what we want when we want with netflix, amazon, and Comcast on demand.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Save money of course!
We do use the internet a good bit. At my old house we realized 10 was too little. We got cable and 25 and they kept upping the speed for free to the 75 speed. Same price as it was just more speed.
We have ditched the home phone but i guess that could be the package deal instead of the tv.

If you can grab 25mbps at a good price and then grab vue or DTVNow then you should fulfill your needs list. Agree on the DVR, don't really need it if you are streaming what you want to watch anyway.

Guess I said the same thing as @BigAbe75 including the fact that my 7 yr old has to set everything up for my wife (direct tv convenience lost). But we will get her to figure out how to get to Bravo on demand. Thank god it's not YR!

 

[Big Shasta]

I thought all the streaming services had the same cloud DVR as playstation vue. I couldn't live without it. It's not as refined as a direct tv dvr but it gets the job done.

I started using vue and kodi on a fire tv box with just a 15mbps connection and it worked fine even with 2 tvs on and the kids on the wifi. I changed out my old DOCSIS 2.0 cable modem and my speed went up to 30mbps.

between vue, Netflix and kodi, I don't miss DirectTV at all....and I saved 100.00 a month.

 

[RightStuff]

I thought all the streaming services had the same cloud DVR as playstation vue. I couldn't live without it. It's not as refined as a direct tv dvr but it gets the job done.

I started using vue and kodi on a fire tv box with just a 15mbps connection and it worked fine even with 2 tvs on and the kids on the wifi. I changed out my old DOCSIS 2.0 cable modem and my speed went up to 30mbps.

between vue, Netflix and kodi, I don't miss DirectTV at all....and I saved 100.00 a month.

Not all have it. I do know that Sling TV has it in beta right now ('months away' I heard before it goes live). It does have shows available 'on demand' from most of the channels, but not all shows are listed. Also, some of the channels even allow you to go back in time a couple days to watch what was on previously. After our switch to Sling TV, Netflix and Hulu we'll be saving about $70/mo. from our Dish bill.

I have to admit this AirTV device has been pretty cool that it allows you to keep the OTA channels in the same interface (see my details earlier in the thread). That to me fixes the kids/grandparent/babysitter issue and makes use a lot simpler. Worth checking out if that does what you are look for.

 

[96Pirate]

One thing to keep in mind is the simultaneous streams. I went with PS Vue because of the 5 streams and the cloud DVR. The UI is definately different from Dish UI and will take getting used to but will be fine. There are some markets for PS Vue that give you the local channels (extra $10 and is required). My location doesn't have that so I use OTA with DVR capability through Plex. Still getting that set up. I am at a point now that I will be cancelling Dish this weekend.

@Speedling PS Vue has all the channels you mentioned except Lifetime. The top package is like $54 without locals or $64 with (see above comment as your area may or may not require them? They have lower packages down to $35. HBO would then be a $15 add on to the lower packages.

I have 50mbps so can't say how it would be with lower.

Oh and using 2 Roku's, a fire stick and PS3.

 

[Big Shasta]

I just realized the super bowl is on Fox. No Fox on my playstation Vue (we don't get NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX....Except on demand) I have an antenna but for some reason it doesn't pick up Fox. I may have to get an outdoor one SOON!

 

[Joe Hellaby]

Fox Sports Go will stream it for free without cable log in https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/17/super-bowl-51-will-stream-for-free-on-fox-sports-go/

 

[Speedling]

So I called Comcast to check on internet only pricing. They instead were scared I was leaving and dropped my current package (75 Mbps and 220 channels) and upgraded everything to the X1 Digital package.
Previous setup was $120 and was getting bumped to $150 because I was ending my 2 year contract.
Internet only was $80.
They gave me the same package and the X1 upgrade for $90. I am locked in for 2 years. Probably will put netflix back on as well since it is integrated into the x1 setup as well.

 

[PEARCE]

We're looking at cutting off our Dish account and going the internet and antenna route. We've got a few old tvs that need to be upgraded to smart flatscreens and a high quality digital antenna for the whole house. I'm not sure what our internet speeds are or what it's capable of yet. We're still looking into it. We know we're tired of paying the $100+ fee a month for what we actually watch is about 12 channels.

 

[Big Shasta]

We're looking at cutting off our Dish account and going the internet and antenna route. We've got a few old tvs that need to be upgraded to smart flatscreens and a high quality digital antenna for the whole house. I'm not sure what our internet speeds are or what it's capable of yet. We're still looking into it. We know we're tired of paying the $100+ fee a month for what we actually watch is about 12 channels.

www.speedtest.net I would recommend 20+ mbps download speeds for reliable streaming. I did it at 15mbps but it's better now that I'm at 30.

 

[mark_m]

I have been very happy with Directvnow and OTA antenna for the whole house. I was able to split the signal and feed the tvs coax directly, leveraging their individual tuners. The hdhomerun extend stream was pixelating across my network so I have left that part go.

I got a debit card from DIRECTV after sending the equipment back to them. Painless process.