home theater, cord cutting, video streaming, a/v tech, and more!

Postby **NTP66** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 10:53 am

I’m going to show some restraint and hold off for now.

Postby **eddy** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:21 am

I’m going to show some restraint and hold off for now.

I love going down the rabbit hole and researching and reading about the newest tech and how awesome my home theater could be with this or that and then have to tell myself to walk away. Wonder if there are any good deals this week with Superbowl coming up?

Postby **NTP66** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:51 am

I saw a bunch of TV deals - including my own (wish I didn’t look) - but not much else.

Postby **skullman80** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:54 am

I'm really trying to hold off on any upgrading to the HT until we move this spring/summer. Hoping to have more room to work with.

Postby **NTP66** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:00 pm

Yeah, I’m your case I would wait. Atmos likely won’t matter to me, as I can’t really place all of the speakers where they need to be for an optimal setup.

Postby **dodint** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:15 pm

I need strength, fam. I'm finding myself drawn to AT&T TV Now which I know, as a former DirecTV subscriber, can only end badly.

Postby **Viva la Ben** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:11 pm

It’s too expensive.

Postby **tifosi77** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:21 pm

Don't do it dodint.

Wow, a four-word sentence comprised only of five letters.

Postby **dodint** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:27 pm

Right now I use Vue at $90 and Philo to fill in the gaps at $20 a month. So I'm looking at $110 a month.

Where I'm trapped is I need CBS Sports Network and they only offer it at the $124/mo tier and higher. I don't mind paying a little more to have everything under one interface, but due to AT&Ts weird tier structure you lose HBO when you move past the lowest two tiers.

So I'm back to looking at $140/mo.

I'm still ahead from the $215/mo I was paying for a satellite, but still, it's not great. I don't even watch that much TV. I really wanted to pull everything under one app but it looks like I'm going to end up with YoutubeTV + Philo and then add HBO through Amazon. So, $85 which is right where I was with Vue.

Postby **willeyeam** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:27 pm

I need strength, fam. I'm finding myself drawn to AT&T TV Now which I know, as a former DirecTV subscriber, can only end badly.

I switched from it to YouTube TV and can't understand why anyone would do the opposite

Postby **NTP66** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:34 pm

I don’t know what I’d do if I fell out of love with FiOS ($163/mo with the second highest tier cable, gigabit internet, and VOIP). Nobody seems to have the silver bullet in terms of streaming, though my Sony does the best job of any that I’ve found in terms of aggregating things.

Postby **mac5155** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 10:20 pm

I need strength, fam. I'm finding myself drawn to AT&T TV Now which I know, as a former DirecTV subscriber, can only end badly.
I switched from it to YouTube TV and can't understand why anyone would do the opposite

I had ATT TV NOW and was pleased with the service, the only negative was the price seemed to go up a lot. But then I got on the ATT Unlimited and more premium plan which includes streaming so I canceled it. I get less channels but it's free so I'm not complaining. Only thing that's tough to find are Pens hockey games

Postby **dodint** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:21 pm

In looking at everything, YoutubeTV + Sling Orange and two add-on packs + HBO through Prime gives me about the same coverage I had with Vue and Philo. I will pay about $20 less per month. To get all of it under AT&T Now would have cost about $140, or about $40-$50 more.

Just not thrilled to run two DVRs and have two channel guides like I do now with Vue/Philo. But I almost always watch from DVR so I guess it doesn't matter.

Luckily all this stuff is month to month so if I hate it I can switch.

Unrelated to any of this, NBC Gold IMSA Trackpass is good stuff. No commercials, when they cut away they just play cameras around the track with no announcers. Good stuff.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:08 am

YouTube TV is probably what I'd look at the hardest. I wish they had an option to condense their guide layout so that you could see more than 5 channels at once, similar to my current TiVos:

It's cool that the selected channel will actually display the current video feed when you're on it, but I'd prefer the option to change that. One major knock on YTTV is that you apparently can't create series recordings. This is a must have for me, and I can't believe that they haven't added this feature yet.

Postby **eddy** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:44 am

superbowl will be streaming in 4k (well apparently upscaled 1080p - 4k) on the fox sports app

Postby **skullman80** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:45 am

superbowl will be streaming in 4k (well apparently upscaled 1080p - 4k) on the fox sports app

I saw a commercial on Fios last night that they are broadcasting the Super Bowl in 4k on one of their dedicated 4k channels so that is nice. They need to have more 4k content as those channels are basically showing nothing 95% of the time.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:46 am

And that is the only downside to my TiVos - they're all 1080p max. I'm going to install the Fox Sports app on my Sony TV so that I can stream the game in 4k.

There is far too little 4k content available currently, which is why I laugh at people who buy 8k **** right now (@shmenguin probably).

Postby **eddy** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:47 am

superbowl will be streaming in 4k (well apparently upscaled 1080p - 4k) on the fox sports app
I saw a commercial on Fios last night that they are broadcasting the Super Bowl in 4k on one of their dedicated 4k channels so that is nice. They need to have more 4k content as those channels are basically showing nothing 95% of the time.

this is true. I think DirectTV has a designated channel as well. I'm wondering if Comcast will hop on board, but just nice you can stream it on an app without cable subscriptions too. For the biggest game in the world, it's kinda shocking that they wouldn't be filming and broadcasting in native 4k

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:50 am

FiOS has 2 dedicated 4k channels, IIRC.

Postby **skullman80** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:54 am

And that is the only downside to my TiVos - they're all 1080p max. I'm going to install the Fox Sports app on my Sony TV so that I can stream the game in 4k.

There is far too little 4k content available currently, which is why I laugh at people who buy 8k **** right now (@shmenguin probably).

I only bought 4k tv's to future proof, and because I like tech. Fios gave me their new Fios one boxes which do 4k recently for little cost upgrade or I wouldn't even have the capability now with them. Outside of 4k blu ray movies (which I buy plenty of but don't watch enough of haha), on a day to day basis, there isn't much out there. Basically Youtube and Netflix I think.

Postby **skullman80** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:55 am

FiOS has 2 dedicated 4k channels, IIRC.

They do 1498 and 1499 (I think), but they broadcast nothing 95% of the time. The odd college basketball game here and there, and now the super bowl. I think there was one NFL game this season that was on there.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:57 am

And that is the only downside to my TiVos - they're all 1080p max. I'm going to install the Fox Sports app on my Sony TV so that I can stream the game in 4k.

There is far too little 4k content available currently, which is why I laugh at people who buy 8k **** right now (@shmenguin probably).
I only bought 4k tv's to future proof, and because I like tech. Fios gave me their new Fios one boxes which do 4k recently for little cost upgrade or I wouldn't even have the capability now with them. Outside of 4k blu ray movies (which I buy plenty of but don't watch enough of haha), on a day to day basis, there isn't much out there. Basically Youtube and Netflix I think.

There's more than enough 4k content available to justify buying one, and that applies to the last 4+ years. Not as much as there should be, mind you.

Postby **eddy** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:59 am

I like how Amazon will put movies (not necessarily their own) in 4k HDR to stream, I wonder why Netflix doesn't do this?

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:01 am

If FiOS starts adding 4k versions of channels I regularly watch, it would make me seriously consider moving away from TiVo. I've got Netflix and Prime access via Android on my Sony TV, so I have no issues with 4k HDR there. My XBox One could benefit from a new receiver, though, now that I think about it...

Postby **skullman80** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:05 am

And that is the only downside to my TiVos - they're all 1080p max. I'm going to install the Fox Sports app on my Sony TV so that I can stream the game in 4k.

There is far too little 4k content available currently, which is why I laugh at people who buy 8k **** right now (@shmenguin probably).
I only bought 4k tv's to future proof, and because I like tech. Fios gave me their new Fios one boxes which do 4k recently for little cost upgrade or I wouldn't even have the capability now with them. Outside of 4k blu ray movies (which I buy plenty of but don't watch enough of haha), on a day to day basis, there isn't much out there. Basically Youtube and Netflix I think.
There's more than enough 4k content available to justify buying one, and that applies to the last 4+ years. Not as much as there should be, mind you.

I guess I should have been more specific when saying the lack of 4k content meaning TV. I know obviously there are streaming services that have 4k stuff up (Youtube, Netflix, Amazon), but sometimes I just want to sit down and watch something on TV in 4k without having to go out to another service or search it out. Obviously that isn't going to be the norm for a while.

According to my blu-ray.com library I own 54 4K blu ray titles and I would say that is where the majority of my 4k watching has been outside of the occasional Netflix/Amazon series. I really just want all sports to be broadcast in 4k at this point haha. I'm pumped that the superbowl is in 4k this weekend.