News I’m cutting the cord — here's what I think of YouTube TV

[admin]

I'm testing all the cord cutting services to see which is the best for me. Here's what I like and hate about YouTube TV.

I’m cutting the cord — here's what I think of YouTube TV : Read more

 

[Rich 1944]

It, for me, is all about the Channels and then the price - Everything else is secondary. So for me, Sling Blue for $35 has every one of my channels, the DVR is adequate, and believe it or not - none of the others do because of AMC and Hist and in one case TNT. I could get it all with AT&T for $75 but no thank you or a combo for $89.

As to 4k on my 70" non HDR (missed it by 6 months) TV, I have to look and see if what I am watching on Netflix is 4K. I really don't see the difference.

 

[Uniblab]

I feel thats its time every story about "cutting the cord" starts with a disclaimer / explanation what it means. Your story basically says in order to save on my cable bill I am going to spend the "same amount" with an online subscriber. So what money is being saved? Its one thing to drop cable to save money, its another to just pay cable for broadband and then pay a similar or more amount (a situation with many youtube TV packages) for content. What cord is being cut? I will not subscribe to Youtube TV for that reason. Their package deals is exactly the same amount as a cable content subscription and I will still have to pay for broadband for youtube TV access. Why change where my money goes when YTTV pays cable companies for their content in the first place. Its not new YTTV content its content gotten from cable companies and rehashed for their service. There are better ways to cut the cable - if that means saving money and still getting content that you want. If the YTTV subscription included broadband then it would be on my maybe list. As it is, no way would I. What convinced you to split your bill and drop broadband. How do you get to stream YTTV?

 

[Bill from.PA]

A couple things about YouTube TV DVR. When you add a movie to the library, it not only records the movie from the channel/time you added it to the library, it also records the movie from any channel you have access to at any subsequent time from when you added the movie without you needing to add the movie to your library again. Each of these recordings expires 9 months after it's recorded. So, if you add a movie to the library, your initial recording of the movie will expire in 9 months, but if the movie is available on a channel you have access to a month later, your library will then have 2 recordings of the movie and at that point the recordings will have different expiration dates. In this case, one other thing to note is that if you have channel(s) available that transmit in Spanish, if a recording is from a channel that transmits in.Spanish, that recording will be in Spanish only. It's possible to have a movie with an English recording and Spanish recording. I'm not sure, but there does not seem to be a limit to how many times a movie can be recorded. When you add a TV show to your library, there are some other things to note. Adding a TV show to your library results in each episode subsequently being recorded without you needing to do anything else. Each recording of each episode has its own expiration date. An episode will record each time it's shown by a channel you have available. So, in your library, you may have multiple recordings of episode 1 with it's own expiration date and episode 2 may also be recorded with a different expiration date. Using the example of Rick and Morty from the article, if it's in syndication on a channel(or two) that you have access to each episode that's shown will be added to your library as they are shown and if the channel then shows the episodes again, the episodes will be recorded again. In this way, you may find that all of the show you added to the library will be available when you're ready to start watching it. Recording sports let's you choose to record a game, team, or even sport to add to your library. If you add your favorite team to the library, it's pretty good at recording each upcoming game your team is playing on a channel or channels you have available. During the pandemic, some previous games did not automatically record. I think they were labeled an event instead of sport and weren't identified by team. So, they didn't record based on team. Upcoming games have automatically recorded based on teams I added to my library. With the way the library works, recordings do expire after 9 months, but if a movie or show is shown often enough, you may end up with at least one recording remaining in your library long after the initial 9 month expiration date. Even if all of your recordings expire, the movie or show or spirt or event will remain in your library and if it's shown again after all recordings expired, it will record again without you needing to do anything.

 

[Uniblab]

A couple things about YouTube TV DVR. When you add a movie to the library, it not only records the movie from the channel/time you added it to the library, it also records the movie from any channel you have access to at any subsequent time from when you added the movie without you needing to add the movie to your library again. Each of these recordings expires 9 months after it's recorded. So, if you add a movie to the library, your initial recording of the movie will expire in 9 months, but if the movie is available on a channel you have access to a month later, your library will then have 2 recordings of the movie and at that point the recordings will have different expiration dates. In this case, one other thing to note is that if you have channel(s) available that transmit in Spanish, if a recording is from a channel that transmits in.Spanish, that recording will be in Spanish only. It's possible to have a movie with an English recording and Spanish recording. I'm not sure, but there does not seem to be a limit to how many times a movie can be recorded. When you add a TV show to your library, there are some other things to note. Adding a TV show to your library results in each episode subsequently being recorded without you needing to do anything else. Each recording of each episode has its own expiration date. An episode will record each time it's shown by a channel you have available. So, in your library, you may have multiple recordings of episode 1 with it's own expiration date and episode 2 may also be recorded with a different expiration date. Using the example of Rick and Morty from the article, if it's in syndication on a channel(or two) that you have access to each episode that's shown will be added to your library as they are shown and if the channel then shows the episodes again, the episodes will be recorded again. In this way, you may find that all of the show you added to the library will be available when you're ready to start watching it. Recording sports let's you choose to record a game, team, or even sport to add to your library. If you add your favorite team to the library, it's pretty good at recording each upcoming game your team is playing on a channel or channels you have available. During the pandemic, some previous games did not automatically record. I think they were labeled an event instead of sport and weren't identified by team. So, they didn't record based on team. Upcoming games have automatically recorded based on teams I added to my library. With the way the library works, recordings do expire after 9 months, but if a movie or show is shown often enough, you may end up with at least one recording remaining in your library long after the initial 9 month expiration date. Even if all of your recordings expire, the movie or show or spirt or event will remain in your library and if it's shown again after all recordings expired, it will record again without you needing to do anything.

Question? Do you consider yourself a "cord cutter"? Im one of those folks that feel that any service that relies on streaming at a comparable cost of regular cable tv, a not cord cutting option. Since youtube is such a megalith, dont you feel that at the price they want they should include a broad band service or a discount on the service of your choice, so folks would feel that they are saving money?
What do you think.Thx

 

[Upperninth]

My elderly mother had DirecTV for a long time, she decided after my dad passed she wanted to "save some money" so she switched to Comcast. The package they sold her included a home phone (which she didn't need) and didn't include cable news (which may or may not be okay, lol). It also didn't include Cartoon Network and a few other channels I used with her cable log in. To get the same amount of channels with the cable company she would've wound up spending close to $100 more than she had with DirecTV! And it still didn't include a few channels I was using.
So we started looking at other options, she needed local channels as part of the experience. She wasn't going to switch to an antenna or not be able to DVR her soap. So Sling was out for that reason only. Next I did Hulu Live, it was a tad pricey but I liked the interface and all the channels we both like are included (like Vice). But I share my Hulu account with her and we live several states away. Hulu only allows one IP address, but can have several log ins for the live tv. Which lead us to YouTube TV. It's not drastically less expensive, but for the channels it's certainly cheaper than what the cable company was trying to charge her and it doesn't have stuff she doesn't want like a land line. The interface is easy to use, the DVR works great, and you can have up to 6 people share the account in different locations. She's already paying for internet so that's a fixed cost that wasn't going away just because she had cable. She still uses Prime, Netflix, and a bunch of other streaming services. But for her this seems to be working as intended, with the added bonus that now I can DVR AEW Dynamite on Wednesday's instead of having to catch the live stream on the TNT app.

 

[Grizzley333]

Here’s my question. I watch a lot of racing. It starts late or runs very long. Currently I add an hour and a half or 3 hours to record time. This covers most issues. YouTube tv adding 30 minutes won’t cut it. Is there a work around?

 

[Stoogie76]

In regards to your issue with no picture-in-picture on your iPhone, that is a Google and iOS thing. Both of my Androids (Galaxy and OnePlus) allow it. I believe YouTube doesn't allow PiP on iOS either (even with YouTube Premium). I don't agree with that. It should be allowed on both platforms.

 

[Fitzy128]

I'm testing all the cord cutting services to see which is the best for me. Here's what I like and hate about YouTube TV.

I’m cutting the cord — here's what I think of YouTube TV : Read more

I disagree with the comment regarding live sports. I tried and discontinued YouTube TV when they dropped their regional sports channels. In the Boston market that meant no access to live Red Sox and or Boston Bruin’s games…a deal breaker! Fubo TV which I have now is 10 times better for viewing live sports!!

 

[Disgusted666]

It, for me, is all about the Channels and then the price - Everything else is secondary. So for me, Sling Blue for $35 has every one of my channels, the DVR is adequate, and believe it or not - none of the others do because of AMC and Hist and in one case TNT. I could get it all with AT&T for $75 but no thank you or a combo for $89.

As to 4k on my 70" non HDR (missed it by 6 months) TV, I have to look and see if what I am watching on Netflix is 4K. I really don't see the difference.

I never thought I'd miss CONcast but for about the same extortionate price, YT-TV has been a nightmare from the start. It only got worse with the Roku travesty. It started out with excessive buffering, syncing, & exiting programs, to now having to jack up the volume level on MSNBC programming to a phony 40 (while most channels are on 24-28) that blasts you out of your chair when endless ads come on at TRUE 40, WHICH IS AGAINST THE LAW. They have also started having 3-minute INFURIATING NONMUSICAL "commercial break" interludes about every 5 minutes before and/or after the endless ads. It now seems criminally stupid ads have equal time with poor-quality audio programming on MSNBC. Arrogantly dismissive Google always promises to fix the endless problems but nothing ever changes except to get WORSE. Do the other streaming providers or cable have these "commercial break" interruptions? And is it for lack of paid commercials?

 

[yaretiree]

Don't forget to factor in data costs if you don't have an unlimited plan with your ISP.

 

[Disgusted666]

Don't forget to factor in data costs if you don't have an unlimited plan with your ISP.

The problem with streaming is that when you have problems, you never know which criminal conglomerate is responsible. I had to reset my router 2x one day last week when 2 Rokus & 2 computers went down & still don't know if it's Google, CenturyLink or Roku. With CONcast cable, at least you could narrow it down. The Roku's remote eats batteries and is often unresponsive. It often takes 5x to try to mute & unmute. When you want pause, it comes back on as soon as you put the remote down. When I contacted Roku about this, they said the remote we got with the set isn't their reponsibility. It is from another company. It seems like the whole world has adopted MAGA MOB ethics.

 

[IHateThinkingUpUserNames]

The picture-in-picture cutting out when you leave the app seems like a strictly iOS issue. I have no problem using PIP in Android while moving from app to app. And what is "leaving the app" anyway? Doesn't it run in background when you switch to another app?

This might be an "Apple doesn't allow it" kind of thing.

 

[Bill from.PA]

Question? Do you consider yourself a "cord cutter"? Im one of those folks that feel that any service that relies on streaming at a comparable cost of regular cable tv, a not cord cutting option. Since youtube is such a megalith, dont you feel that at the price they want they should include a broad band service or a discount on the service of your choice, so folks would feel that they are saving money?
What do you think.Thx

What is a cord cutter? It seems to me that alot of different things get lumped into cord cutting. People who cancel their account with a TV service provider such as cable or satellite and use an antenna instead are lumped into cord cutters. People who stream from on demand services are lumped into cord cutting and people who stream from services that provide live TV are also lumped into cord cutting. Since so many things are lumped into cord cutting, I don't think general statements like cord cutting will save money should be made. Some cord cutters cut the cord to save money. Using an antenna, streaming free services like
Crackle, Tubi, Pluto, and/or other free providers, subscribing to on demand service(s), or subscribing to a live TV provider with a smaller package of channels are ways cord cutters can save money by cutting the cord. Some people who are lumped into cord cutting choose to subscribe to live TV providers like YouTube TV because of the large number of channels offered. I was OK with cable but prefer the choices of content I have streaming several free services and streaming YouTube TV and Frndly TV to provide a wide variety of channels. My cable provider is my best option to provide internet for wifi. So my internet cost is a wash from when I was cable only. When I add YouTube TV and Frndly
TV to my internet cost, it is roughly what I would be paying for cable internet and TV. I also now stream a number of free services such as Crackle, Tubi, and Pluto. My cable internet and TV bundle did not include DVR either in the bundle. My cable company charges extra for DVR. Now I have unlimited DVR with recordings expiring after 9 months on YouTube TV and 3 months on Frndly TV. What do I think? I think instead of making general comments about a large group that cord cutters includes, it might be better to make comments about specific groups of cord cutters. Such as people who cancel cable or satellite and use an antenna save money. I also think that it's important for each individual to be happy with the choices they are making as to how they are cutting the cord or not(Some people are happier with cable or satellite).

 

[Uniblab]

The problem with streaming is that when you have problems, you never know which criminal conglomerate is responsible. I had to reset my router 2x one day last week when 2 Rokus & 2 computers went down & still don't know if it's Google, CenturyLink or Roku. With CONcast cable, at least you could narrow it down. The Roku's remote eats batteries and is often unresponsive. It often takes 5x to try to mute & unmute. When you want pause, it comes back on as soon as you put the remote down. When I contacted Roku about this, they said the remote we got with the set isn't their reponsibility. It is from another company. It seems like the whole world has adopted MAGA MOB ethics.

Have you tried the new voice remote. I have and unless you connect through optical it works fine and in any orientation. 20 bucks at most places. Maybe worth the try since Im also sensitive to mute buttons that dont want to work. BTW, realize that the older roku remotes are line of sight. Yep. They area fallback to older infrered led remotes. If something is blocking the sight between the remote and your device it wont work. Enter the new voice remote that is Rf or blutooth. (not sure which). It will work even if you point it away from the tv set. .......or under bed covers......aimed at a window - you get the picture. You might be dealing with thinking that the roku oroginal remote is new tech. Its not, its a line of sight remote.