OT: Roku

[GemParty]

wife wants to ditch cable bill. No clue how this works. How many UConn games am I going to miss? I attend the XL Center games. Why am I paying so much for cable? Which Roku do I need. Don’t have a smart tv.

 

[Minicoop69]

Roku stick would work. If your cutting cable what service are you going to go with?

DirecTV Now
YoutubeTV
SlingTV
HuluTV
PlayStation Vue

Which one of those are you looking at?

 

[GemParty]

Roku stick would work. If your cutting cable what service are you going to go with?

DirecTV Now
YoutubeTV
SlingTV
HuluTV
PlayStation Vue

Which one of those are you looking at?

Didn’t look st any. Where do I start?

 

[Minicoop69]

Didn’t look st any. Where do I start?

I guess it depends on what you are looking for. YoutubeTV is probably the best sports option for cordcutters and the only put one that stands in full 1080p and 60fps. If it is in your area it will include all local channels as well. Has unlimited cloud based DVR that holds all does for 9 months. This is $40 a month. Gotten better since it's inception to the point I think it's the best one there is. If your internet is strong there shouldn't be any buffering issues.

DirecTV Now is decent as they have tiered options. They sometimes run a deal where if you prepay for 3 months then you can get an apple TV or other promotions. They also have DVR, but it is called at 20 hours for the free version. You can pay a little more for more hours, but that's up to you. This service is the best if you like HBO or other add ons. HBO add on is only $5 a month instead of the normal $15. Also if you have ATT cell phone plans you could get a discount on this service. Buffering is a huge problem here no matter how far your internet is. I have 100mbps and it buffers and says it can't load shows all the time.

Not to sure about Hulu or Playstation. They are in the same team price wise as the ones above.

SlingTV is the last. They have cheaper options and is closer to a la carte as you can get. There smallest package is increasing price, but that shouldn't stop you if you are trying to lower your price.

As for UConn games, I have YouTubeTV and DirecTV Now, so my bases are pretty much covered. I do miss a couple of games at the beginning of the season, but you can Periscope those. If you can't get the game through a provider, you still might get the game through the provider, but you need to watch the game through watch ESPN. With Roku you would need to make sure that App Tile is on your home screen to access it.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Roku stick would work. If your cutting cable what service are you going to go with?

DirecTV Now
YoutubeTV
SlingTV
HuluTV
PlayStation Vue

Which one of those are you looking at?

I would not recommend the stick if it’s going to be stationary. I have the full box (wired with Ethernet) and my dad has the stick and the speed differential and lack of buffering on mine is significant compared the stick. The sticks are less powerful and really more designed for people that travel and want to take something with them.

 

[GemParty]

If I canecl my cable bundle, what’s a reasonable price for internet alone these days? I’m in Newington.

Do you need a Roku for each tv in the house?

 

[husky8273]

wife wants to ditch cable bill. No clue how this works. How many UConn games am I going to miss? I attend the XL Center games. Why am I paying so much for cable? Which Roku do I need. Don’t have a smart tv.

How to cut the cord is the cover story in the August issue of Consumer Reports, Consumer Reports Magazine | August 2018

 

[RayRay34]

wife wants to ditch cable bill. No clue how this works. How many UConn games am I going to miss? I attend the XL Center games. Why am I paying so much for cable? Which Roku do I need. Don’t have a smart tv.

YouTubeTV ($40/mo) with Google Chromecast. Great quality streaming. Got it and haven’t looked back. Here’s the channel lineup: YouTube TV channels: Here's every available channel on YouTube TV | TechRadar

 

[scottydont]

Who is your cable provider?

You should test the service you choose for a month while keeping your cable and make sure it fits your needs.

Directv now offers cbs sports, espn and now sny. I had had the service for over a year now (its basically cable once you are in the app). Roku remote is easier to navigate the menus, but the apple tv app is faster. Depending on your internet provider you may see buffering occasionally.

I have not used the DVR much but its not really a true DVR option. They delete the recordings after a period of time.

I have not had a problem with the service and it has replaced cable for me. I have spectrum internet and pay $45 a month for internet service $35 for directv now (grandfathered go big plan)

The biggest savings you will see is the in the taxes and fees part of your bill.

 

[GemParty]

Who is your cable provider?

You should test the service you choose for a month while keeping your cable and make sure it fits your needs.

Directv now offers cbs sports, espn and now sny. I had had the service for over a year now (its basically cable once you are in the app). Roku remote is easier to navigate the menus, but the apple tv app is faster. Depending on your internet provider you may see buffering occasionally.

I have not used the DVR much but its not really a true DVR option. They delete the recordings after a period of time.

I have not had a problem with the service and it has replaced cable for me. I have spectrum internet and pay $45 a month for internet service $35 for directv now (grandfathered go big plan)

The biggest savings you will see is the in the taxes and fees part of your bill.

Cox

 

[Purple Stein]

I have 2 Expresses - one hooked up to a TV and one to a monitor. Both are snappy and work great. You need one Roku per screen. I got the Express instead of the stick because it works so cleanly with a universal remote. Most of what I read said the stick won’t work with a Harmony remote.

I don’t subscribe to any TV replacement - just a few channels like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc. You can get most UConn games through the WatchESPN and CBS Sports apps. Wouldn’t be surprised to see UConn/AAC content move to the $4.99 per month ESPN option down the road.

 

[Rico444]

I cut the cord in January, and it's the best thing I ever did. Signed up for Hulu Live, but it was terrible. Constant buffering issues. I switched to PS Vue a few months ago and it's been terrific. I signed up for the mid-tier option, which is $45 (believe it's called Core) and gets pretty much any sports channel I would ever need. The quality is very good too (60 FPS for all channels, which is great for sports). I get SNY for early season games, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN U, ESPN News, CBS Sports Network, Big Ten network (I think we played Ohio State on that channel a few years ago), FS1 and 2, MLB and NFL network, TBS/TNT/TruTV for the NCAAs, and all the major networks.

As for internet, I just googled "introductory internet offers" and browsed each website for their best deals. Right now I have a one-year contract with Frontier for 90 mbps internet for $40 per month. It'll go up after the contract is over, but I'll be shopping deals with other cable companies around that time and if Frontier can't match their offers, I'll go elsewhere. Just making a phone call to your current provider and telling them you're going to cancel might also get you a pretty good deal too.

So all things considered, I'm paying about $85 a month for internet and TV, compared to my Comcast bill which had gotten up around $220 a month. I even called to see if they could lower it at all, but because SNY is considered a premium channel they could only lower it about $10-15 and it would've meant losing other channels. So I'm pretty happy with where we've gotten.

 

[Rico444]

Also, I can't attest to Roku, but I have an Amazon Fire 4k and it works well. If you have Netflix or Amazon Prime, it can stream shows and movies in 4k if you have the right TV and internet speed. If you end up wanting to do YouTube TV, it is not compatible with Amazon Fire, though.

 

[tjhusky]

Started with a Roku 4 a couple of years ago. Dropped Comcast channels and signed up for Hulu Live.
Bought a Roku,Express stick for 2nd TV.
Hulu live was painful for me. Lots of buffering, confusing interface. I have a 200+ mb internet so,it,was not the cause of the buffering.

When YouTube TV came out on Roku I,tried it and immediately signed up for it and dropped Hulu Live.

I also bought a 3rd Roku, a 4K Ultra. I use that wired and the other two,on wifi.

YTTV has all the ESPN, sny,,cbs sports, nbc sports, fox sports. You can also watch any of these on their apps.
You can DVR anything. It is stored for 6 months.

We also have netflix and Amazon prime.

More channels, more features, overall lower cost. Go,for,it,and don't look back.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I don’t see how it works. You ditch cable and you lose ESPN streaming and CBSSN. That’s 95% of Uconn games.

 

[Minicoop69]

I don’t see how it works. You ditch cable and you lose ESPN streaming and CBSSN. That’s 95% of Uconn games.

You ditch cable like Comcast or directv, but sign up for a cordcutter alternative like 1 of those mentioned above. When you sign up for those streaming services they give you access to ESPN and to watchespn which you can use on the Roku to stream UConn games .You aren't paying the fees for the multiple boxes anymore this way and because there are more offerings depending on where you live the prices are cheaper because now they have to compete for business unlike hardwired cable services.

 

[noeynox]

Honestly, I have a roku TV, roku, amazon fire tv and chrome cast. The the fire tv, is by far my favorite of the three. I use playstationvue. Pay for their top package. If you call cable and tell them your switching they will likely match the price. Your not going to save bucket loads cause you're still gonna pay for internet service.

The Roku has added a guide similar to Amazon, for playstationvue. A guide is a must for me, and for the longest it wasn't available on roku. The device you use is 100 percent personal preference. My main grip with Roku, I think their remotes suck. They're chintzy, they brake, and I find them harder to operate/less functional than FireTV remotes.

On PSVUE, I now have locals wfsb, wtnh, nbc30, and fox61. I also have CBSsportsnetwork, and they added SNY in May. I also get ESPN's foxsports 1 and 2, NESN, YES.

I truly love it, I do get occasional buffering which got better when I got a wifi repeater/extender. Hope that helps.

 

[noeynox]

One other advantage, though you probably get this from cable as well these days.

Go on vacation, take your firestick/roku with you and you've brought your shows and DVR with you.

 

[Ukonnfan]

FWIW..I got tired of the cable company, Dish and more. Bought my own modem, gateway, switches and wireless access point. Just pay for internet through the cable company, no cable tv. Then hooked up with sling. Savings from not paying the cable company for the equipment and tv service has paid for my hardware in a year. Only negative about it all, Slings packages are a little odd. Using Ubiquity hardware and their software to monitor traffic and all that stuff. Pretty simple. I would recomend it if you’re a bit handy running ethernt cables. Pretty happy with what I got. Also running Xbox X, 4K Apple TV, Roku 4 and Onkyo Receiver. If you go this route, don’t cheap out on the receiver. It all doesn’t cost as much as I thought it would when I started out. Also able to run Apple homekit. Nice for the lights to be on when I walk in the door at night. Like I said, I’m pretty happy with it all....o yeah, we are able to do wireless cellphone calling with all we have. Great for living in a rural part of the northeast with lousy cellphone coverage. Goodbye to the landline. More savings more doing...