If not for my wife's insistence on football on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday's, I'd still be on SlingTV. Ironically I think its owned by DirectTV or someone like that. I predict the cable companies are in for an awakening.
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Cutting the Cable Guide
- Thread starter Huntn
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Well the deed has been done, I'm now full on streaming. Its not like this is set in stone, so if it doesn't pan out, I can always go back.
On the DirectTV front, I was tempted to take their offer to not cancel. I told them that I was cancelling because of the price and I told them I get all the channels I need with streaming including a cloud DVR - all for 35 bucks. They offered to cut 75 dollars off my 150 bill. In a sense I could justify spending 75 bucks for DirectTV but the it was only for 12 months and I'd be locked into a 24 month contract. I couldn't and would accept that commitment.
On order is a Mohu for any OTA channels, though PS VUE offers my CBS and NBC live.
On the DirectTV front, I was tempted to take their offer to not cancel. I told them that I was cancelling because of the price and I told them I get all the channels I need with streaming including a cloud DVR - all for 35 bucks. They offered to cut 75 dollars off my 150 bill. In a sense I could justify spending 75 bucks for DirectTV but the it was only for 12 months and I'd be locked into a 24 month contract. I couldn't and would accept that commitment.
On order is a Mohu for any OTA channels, though PS VUE offers my CBS and NBC live.
Last status of my transition on cutting the cable - unless something changes materially speaking.
I've been on streaming for almost 2 weeks, and the transition has been smooth. The loss of the hundreds of channels of DirectTV has been a non-issue. My kids have not noticed the lack of Nickelodeon. I have two broadcast networks working on the PS Vue - CBS and NBC, ABC and Fox are there but on demand only. I ordered a hidef anntenna to get regular OTA broadcasts but sadly that did not work at all. It was an utter failure. There may be other antennas that work better and perhaps I'll do more research but so far we're living without OTA TV channels.
Using the PS Vue has been decent, not as smooth as DirectTV but its more how we interact with the shows then watching them. For instance with DirectTV I can easily type 284 for the science channel, or hit the prev button to jump to the prior channel I was just watching. With the PS Vue, I have to keep swiping to the right to get to the science channel. Nothing major but its a small inconvenience that prevents you from randomly jumping from channel to channel.
Overall I give my experience a B+, and I'm very happy that I no longer see 150 dollar bills for TV. I don't know what the future will hold but so far this decision has been something I wished I did earlier
I've been on streaming for almost 2 weeks, and the transition has been smooth. The loss of the hundreds of channels of DirectTV has been a non-issue. My kids have not noticed the lack of Nickelodeon. I have two broadcast networks working on the PS Vue - CBS and NBC, ABC and Fox are there but on demand only. I ordered a hidef anntenna to get regular OTA broadcasts but sadly that did not work at all. It was an utter failure. There may be other antennas that work better and perhaps I'll do more research but so far we're living without OTA TV channels.
Using the PS Vue has been decent, not as smooth as DirectTV but its more how we interact with the shows then watching them. For instance with DirectTV I can easily type 284 for the science channel, or hit the prev button to jump to the prior channel I was just watching. With the PS Vue, I have to keep swiping to the right to get to the science channel. Nothing major but its a small inconvenience that prevents you from randomly jumping from channel to channel.
Overall I give my experience a B+, and I'm very happy that I no longer see 150 dollar bills for TV. I don't know what the future will hold but so far this decision has been something I wished I did earlier
How do you do that? I use an apple tv and I have to keep swiping to the left or right.
Could you explain the failure of your OTA antenna? You seem to be a rather thorough gent, so you've got me curious.Last status of my transition on cutting the cable - unless something changes materially speaking.
I've been on streaming for almost 2 weeks, and the transition has been smooth. The loss of the hundreds of channels of DirectTV has been a non-issue. My kids have not noticed the lack of Nickelodeon. I have two broadcast networks working on the PS Vue - CBS and NBC, ABC and Fox are there but on demand only. I ordered a hidef anntenna to get regular OTA broadcasts but sadly that did not work at all. It was an utter failure. There may be other antennas that work better and perhaps I'll do more research but so far we're living without OTA TV channels.
Using the PS Vue has been decent, not as smooth as DirectTV but its more how we interact with the shows then watching them. For instance with DirectTV I can easily type 284 for the science channel, or hit the prev button to jump to the prior channel I was just watching. With the PS Vue, I have to keep swiping to the right to get to the science channel. Nothing major but its a small inconvenience that prevents you from randomly jumping from channel to channel.
Overall I give my experience a B+, and I'm very happy that I no longer see 150 dollar bills for TV. I don't know what the future will hold but so far this decision has been something I wished I did earlier
The only thing holding me back is lack of live/local channels and my relatively rural location, so OTA is a bit of a must for my situation.
The failure is the most basic, I was unable to see any OTA channels, whether we're talking about ABC, NBC, FOX, etc. The channels just would come up - just static.
I purchased this antenna which was highly rated and billed to have a 50 mile range, yet sadly it didn't.
Press and hold the touch surface on the remote...a little menu pops up...the first icon on the menu will jump you back to the previous channel you were watching (the icon does not appear if you just opened up the Vue application since you have no previous channel to view).
Hmmm, have you used OTA signal sites like these?
https://www.antennaweb.org/Address
https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps
Yes, I discovered those after I bought my antenna, once the dust settles and I'm ready to try OTA again I'll visit those. I'm happy with what I have and I already have two networks, just not ABC and FOX.
I also heard (though haven't tried) that I may get those broadcast channels on youtube tv, so I may look into that
We have it. If you need the Viacom channels (Comedy Central, Spike, etc.) it's a great service, otherwise Vue is better.
Here's an interesting turn of events that occurred last week and felt it was material change in my situation
I needed to call DTV because they never sent boxes out for my receivers, they took that opportunity to try to lure me back to fold. If I returned, they promised to cut my bill to 57 dollars, by way of rebates and incentives, and give me 3 months free of of HBO/Cinemax/Starz (this isn't unusual, they did that the last time I complained).
I take the plunge since I get more channels for 57 dollars then I would with streaming at 35, but after my service is re-activated, I don't see the promised premium channels. I give it an hour, just incase something needs to sync up. So then after the hour is up, I call them and after being on the phone for about 45 minutes, talking to 3 different people, the end result is they have no record of any of the promised incentives. The order number I provided only shows only the request to reactivate, nothing of rebates/price cuts
At that point, I cancelled them, I suppose I could pursue the promised price cuts, but why bother ,they seemed willing to promise something and deliver another. I'm not sure why they did that, but in the past DTV was known for excellent top notch customer service, what I went through seemed rather sleazy to me, which is why I didn't want to push the issue and stick with streaming.
I opted for Ps Vue, because I could live without the Viacom channels, and I've not really missed them. When I think about it, I never watched the comedy channel, and only cops or jail seemed to be on spike.
Wow. How disappointing, especially in regard to time lost.Here's an interesting turn of events that occurred last week and felt it was material change in my situation
I needed to call DTV because they never sent boxes out for my receivers, they took that opportunity to try to lure me back to fold. If I returned, they promised to cut my bill to 57 dollars, by way of rebates and incentives, and give me 3 months free of of HBO/Cinemax/Starz (this isn't unusual, they did that the last time I complained).
I take the plunge since I get more channels for 57 dollars then I would with streaming at 35, but after my service is re-activated, I don't see the promised premium channels. I give it an hour, just incase something needs to sync up. So then after the hour is up, I call them and after being on the phone for about 45 minutes, talking to 3 different people, the end result is they have no record of any of the promised incentives. The order number I provided only shows only the request to reactivate, nothing of rebates/price cuts
At that point, I cancelled them, I suppose I could pursue the promised price cuts, but why bother ,they seemed willing to promise something and deliver another. I'm not sure why they did that, but in the past DTV was known for excellent top notch customer service, what I went through seemed rather sleazy to me, which is why I didn't want to push the issue and stick with streaming.
I opted for Ps Vue, because I could live without the Viacom channels, and I've not really missed them. When I think about it, I never watched the comedy channel, and only cops or jail seemed to be on spike.
Yes, because I think I was on the phone arranging the process of rejoining DTV for well over an hour. Then having spend so much more time later on to only find out I'm SOL. I was not a happy camper.
I think less and less, companies are standing behind promises made by their employees. In the past, if a CSR make a promise, even mistakenly, the company would honor it. This is decreasingly so.
I'm sure there are still decent and honorable DTV CSRs, but that one lost them a customer (and probably several more), most likeLy for life.
That's gotta be frustrating, especially if someone was screwing with you.Here's an interesting turn of events that occurred last week and felt it was material change in my situation
I needed to call DTV because they never sent boxes out for my receivers, they took that opportunity to try to lure me back to fold. If I returned, they promised to cut my bill to 57 dollars, by way of rebates and incentives, and give me 3 months free of of HBO/Cinemax/Starz (this isn't unusual, they did that the last time I complained).
I take the plunge since I get more channels for 57 dollars then I would with streaming at 35, but after my service is re-activated, I don't see the promised premium channels. I give it an hour, just incase something needs to sync up. So then after the hour is up, I call them and after being on the phone for about 45 minutes, talking to 3 different people, the end result is they have no record of any of the promised incentives. The order number I provided only shows only the request to reactivate, nothing of rebates/price cuts
At that point, I cancelled them, I suppose I could pursue the promised price cuts, but why bother ,they seemed willing to promise something and deliver another. I'm not sure why they did that, but in the past DTV was known for excellent top notch customer service, what I went through seemed rather sleazy to me, which is why I didn't want to push the issue and stick with streaming.
I opted for Ps Vue, because I could live without the Viacom channels, and I've not really missed them. When I think about it, I never watched the comedy channel, and only cops or jail seemed to be on spike.
I had that antenna for a minute and returned it the next day. You're right it doesn't work. My old school rabbit ears are getting better reception than the Mohu antenna.
That's another reason I like the CTC model, granted there's still an internet CS component, but that's one point of contact with a service provider that I would have anyway. No upsells, no promise of better services, no contracts - I want HBO for a month, click, $14.99, watch the entire season of GOT over a weekend, click, cancelled. No calls, no waiting, no returning equipment
That model Leaf works great in a decent signal area, if anything, they're probably a little optimistic about the range. FWIW, there is an Amazon Basics that's the same design/style, and you can generally pick them up as a Warehouse Deal (like I did) for $12-15.
This is what I do with HBO Now via iTunes, for Game of Thrones. I let a couple episodes be aired, and then subscribe for 2 months.That's another reason I like the CTC model, granted there's still an internet CS component, but that's one point of contact with a service provider that I would have anyway. No upsells, no promise of better services, no contracts - I want HBO for a month, click, $14.99, watch the entire season of GOT over a weekend, click, cancelled. No calls, no waiting, no returning equipment
That model Leaf works great in a decent signal area, if anything, they're probably a little optimistic about the range. FWIW, there is an Amazon Basics that's the same design/style, and you can generally pick them up as a Warehouse Deal (like I did) for $12-15.
GOT is the trickiest one for that, since it's so popular, and episode details are everywhere, we generally just sub in "real time" to avoid spoilers.
That's another reason I like the CTC model, granted there's still an internet CS component, but that's one point of contact with a service provider that I would have anyway. No upsells, no promise of better services, no contracts - I want HBO for a month, click, $14.99, watch the entire season of GOT over a weekend, click, cancelled. No calls, no waiting, no returning equipment
That model Leaf works great in a decent signal area, if anything, they're probably a little optimistic about the range. FWIW, there is an Amazon Basics that's the same design/style, and you can generally pick them up as a Warehouse Deal (like I did) for $12-15.
Thank you.
I had purchased the Mohu Leaf 50 Amplified antenna twice the first one was defective - the cable wouldn't stay attached to the bottom of the antenna, so I exchanged it for a second one. So, I had the Sales Rep open up the box to see if the connector at the bottom of the antenna would stay attached and that was fine. But this second one still didn't work for me, it pulled in less TV channels than my old school antenna. Therefore, I went back to the rabbit ears and I now know how better to adjust my rabbit ears and my TV. For example, for some channels I just need to swivel my TV to right side in order to get better reception.
Here's a link to the antenna that I purchased:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/mohu-le...v-antenna-black-white/3488006.p?skuId=3488006
ETA: Maybe when the ATSC 3.0 Is released may be OTA reception will improve.
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My wife likes some shows on ABC, and I do enjoy watching some football on occasion. I think for the latter, I'll have options to catch some football (I'm mostly interested in college), but we'll have to figure something out for the bride.