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  #61  
Old 02-20-2019, 07:30 PM
Mille162 Mille162 is offline
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I basically cut the cord as well, comcast still for internet connection/streaming when we want to watch tv, but we also made a conscious effort to cut back watching tv. News comes streaming. Never finished the home theater, put the money into upgraded 2 channel and had plenty left over each month to expand vinyl selection. Several friends did similar de-emphasizing on home theater at same time (and friend with largest dedicated theater room has no outside
connection, purely blueray player only!). Quality of conversations and interaction with s.o. and friends has significantly improved. Forget the $ savings, the quality of life improvement is worth minimizing tv selections on its own. If sports are your thing, go somewhere and watch with friends. If updated news
Is a priority, there’s no shortage of websites and streaming services that can be accessed for free. If entertainment is the issue, rediscover your music library and practice conversation skills
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  #62  
Old 02-20-2019, 09:00 PM
Jdsmoke Jdsmoke is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crwilli View Post
The future of streaming TV as a means to save money is anything but clear. I have read a few reports foretelling a future of each content owner developing their own streaming service. Think Each major network, Disney, HBO, etc each forcing the consumer to have ‘their’ subscription. How many will we need with this niche programming? Who knows but it will take work to figure it all out so you get ‘that’ show or team.

Then, don’t count out the ISPs from trying to get their fair share of the pie as it is their ‘networks’ we are using. The end of net neutrality could further confuse our choices.

I spend $85 a month on 1GIG Internet. I don’t consider that too bad. But in order to be able to watch my Baseball team in SC, I need Direct TV in some format. Unless of course, the YES network develops their own service and holds their content on only their network. For me, that would seem to be a good option. Unless of course, I also need 15 other services, all at $15 a month...

They have us by the ‘you know what’. I see a world where the only way to manage our TV costs is to not watch TV.
I think 5G will provide increased competition which will result in reduced data transmission fees and more options. I could see networks having unique content but I think some will be subscription based vs free (w commercials).

Last edited by Jdsmoke; 02-20-2019 at 09:05 PM.
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  #63  
Old 06-05-2019, 10:38 AM
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audioguy3107 audioguy3107 is offline
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So I’ve been following this thread since Dan posted the topic and I’m in exactly the same boat, my Directv subscription runs me $164 a month, sounds like we have/had the exact same package, service fees etc. I’m dying to get rid of it and use a streaming service. I signed up for a free trial of YouTube TV which is only $49.99 /month and has every channel I need save the Weather Channel, but that’s another story. So here’s the rub, I watched 2 nights worth of programming flipped channels and two Atlanta Braves games. I love the interface etc, but.......I could tell a noticeable “digital” quality to the picture compared to Directv, especially on sports.......almost looked like a bit of macroblocking at times. I was able to switch back and forth easily and A/B the same channels, some better than others. That was on a 65 inch 4K Sony XBR TV, I haven’t tried it on my JVC projector in the theater but I would only assume it would look worse on the 110” screen but maybe I’m wrong. Has anyone ever compared the streaming quality of any of the other players like Hulu, Directv Now or Fubu? I want to switch desperately but being an AA audiophile, I’m afraid a noticeable drop in picture quality would bother me, especially during football season etc. what has been you guys’ experience in quality with the live streaming services?

- Buck
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  #64  
Old 06-05-2019, 04:33 PM
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W9TR W9TR is offline
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Buck, my experience has been mixed. We stream Netflix, VUDU, HBO Now, and Amazon Video. We also have an HD Dish Hopper3.

All of them use some type of video compression and the amount and visibility of it varies with service, content, and time of day.

Our local ISP and or the streaming service provider’s infrastructure gets overloaded during prime time - weekdays from 7:00P - 9:00P local time. Don’t know which, sometimes I get a good local Speedtest, other times not. So it is probably a combination of both.

HBO Now had compression problems during GOT. Still plenty watchable but I expected better.

Amazon Video seems the most consistent- we are watching Good Omens and it looks great. They have more bandwidth than God.

VUDU always manages to look good - don’t know what special sauce they are using.

None of them look as good as a Blu-Ray physical disk spinning in the Oppo.

I haven’t streamed any local sports so I can’t say how it would look. Best to try it out and see if you can ditch Direct TV after a season or so.
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  #65  
Old 06-05-2019, 07:14 PM
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The Lost Bears The Lost Bears is offline
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We cut the cable with Comcast a while back. We now use a Roku for streaming. The best $30. we ever spent. There is a ton of free stuff to watch. So far we have not felt the need to sign up for any of the pay streaming services.

We use a VPN on our router. The Roku targets ads to your location. So if I change the server location, the commercials also change. Pretty neat to see commercials from different city's and countries.
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  #66  
Old 06-05-2019, 07:27 PM
PHC1 PHC1 is offline
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While streaming does not quite match the 4K on physical media, I Have not noticed any video degradation worth talking about with Prime, Roku, Apple TV, amazon fire and even the 4K streaming content is pretty close to true 4K. Then again I have gigabyte service so it better be good.
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  #67  
Old 06-05-2019, 08:18 PM
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crwilli crwilli is offline
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Default Just cut the DirecTV cord.

Cutting the cord is not necessarily the long term $ saver we might think. The content owners are going to get their pound of flesh from all of us.

I think we can only make the best decision for you at a time and recognize that things are changing pretty quickly.

https://apple.news/A3fOF7WmTS1WU2_f3O_S75w
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Last edited by crwilli; 06-05-2019 at 08:36 PM.
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  #68  
Old 06-05-2019, 09:43 PM
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We have Dish and apart from the locals for current events and weather it is totally content-free. 400 channels and nothing on.
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Nottingham Dais with Wave Mechanic
Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation

SurfacePro 3, RPi 4, ROON, WW Starlight Platinum USB, Schiit Yggdrasil, Benchmark DAC3 HGC

MX 151, OppO BDP-95, JVC RS-500 DILA projector, 106" diagonal Stewart Luxus Screenwall Deluxe with Studiotek 130 G3 material.

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  #69  
Old 06-05-2019, 09:45 PM
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audioguy3107 audioguy3107 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crwilli View Post
Cutting the cord is not necessarily the long term $ saver we might think. The content owners are going to get their pound of flesh from all of us.

I think we can only make the best decision for you at a time and recognize that things are changing pretty quickly.

https://apple.news/A3fOF7WmTS1WU2_f3O_S75w
I think you're right, I think the major savings will be here in the short term. One thing I'm worried about is the possible fragmentation of content so in order to get the programming you want, you'll have to have 5 dang accounts with different apps etc. Disney is already doing this with their Disney + service......I don't know when but they're going to yank all their content from all other platforms so if you want it, you'll have to subscribe to their service. Like I said in my post above, aside from the Weather Channel, I could live happily ever after with YouTube TV's channel lineup for $49.99 and be done with it, but there seemed to be a noticeable drop in picture quality from my DirecTV, at least on Fox SportsSouth during the Braves game which is what I watched the most of.....of course I still think Fox broadcasts in 720p, so there's that. I'm planning on hooking up an Apple TV 4K tonight in the theater to see what it looks like on the projector so I can compare it to DirecTV down there. I'll report back later on.

- Buck
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  #70  
Old 06-05-2019, 09:48 PM
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audioguy3107 audioguy3107 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W9TR View Post
We have Dish and apart from the locals for current events and weather it is totally content-free. 400 channels and nothing on.
I hear that. ESPN, Fox News, The Weather Channel, CNBC and the Food Network make up about 95% of my TV viewing. I dream of the day for ala carte programming I'm not holding my breath.

- Buck
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