All these streaming services are just like cable companies… there is NO DIFFERENCE!!! They offer a small package/bundle which never includes all the channels or shows you watch. Then lets say you want to add 5 other channels. They have packages/bundles that include them, but they are usually not in the same bundle so you end up having to add 3, 4 or 5 additional bundles/packages so then you are spending the same or more than cable. Then if you want DVR for live channels you have to buy DVR cloud service for an additional price. No matter what you do it is a rip off. They are ALL the same.Reply
Terra, there is one major difference. With a cable company, you often need to rent a cable box. Plus there are other fees on top of it. With streaming, you get more options. YouTube TV for example is $40/month with unlimited DVR. No single streaming option will have every single channel, so if you really want to save, the key is to eliminate what you don’t have to have.Reply
True, these Philo and Sling are just other platforms to get customers to purchase expensive media-viewing services, perhaps slightly less expensive at first, but which will have eventual price increases like every other good or service in the free marketplace.If one really wishes to view free films and television series’, then check out the apps on Roku and other streaming devices which offer truly free programming. Of course most of these apps will feature poor quality public domain media or else illegal video the apps have uploaded from having recorded the films and TV series’ over-the- air (OTA).A small number of apps on Roku do offer legitimately-licensed programming, such as on Crackle, The Roku Channel, Shout! Factory TV, and Tubi. There are also a select number of free films and TV episodes made available from broadcast networks (ABC, CW, FOX, NBC and PBS) and some cable networks (freeform, FX, Sundance, etc.) with short-term viewing windows. Usually one will have to sign-in with a cable or satellite provider to obtain the free video, although sometime, as in the case of PBS, only a zip code is necessary to obtain the limited programming from one’s geographic region.My long-term advice for viewing video (without becoming financially strapped by so doing) is to download as many of one’s favorite films and television episodes (including complete seasons of favorite TV series’) as one can, from home video, free video from Internet streaming sites (such as DailyMotion, Internet Archive, Shout! Factory TV, Vimeo, Yahoo View, YouTube, etc.) and/or from peer-to-peer file-sharing sources (such as bit torrents), and then upload the video to several 1-3 TB hard drives one may (if one has a modern enough TV set) connect to the USB ports of one’s TV set, to access favorite films and TV anytime one wishes without need of cable, OTA, and/or satellite signals, and/or standalone DVD players and/or VCRs. Then one would, effectively, have one’s own extensive film library and TV network to which one could continually build upon by adding more ancillary hard drives as one obtains more films and TV episodes. The biggest problems with this type of video-viewing system will be keeping these videos organized. I would also recommend searching the possible pitfalls of p2p file-sharing, which, inherent with such, may require subscribing to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to avoid possible interference by one’s Internet Service Provider, for various reasons.One other word of advice–because of partition issues I don’t fully understand (but which one may research online), it is best to stick with hard drives which are less than 3 TB. Although, from my experience, the 3 TB drives (and perhaps other, larger flash-based drives) may be accessed by plugging them into a Roku box and watching the video using Roku as a kind of intermediary source, instead of plugging the flash drive directly into a TV’s USB port.Reply
The one primary difference I see is not having to commit to a year or two. You make a one-time purchase for a streaming device. I agree with Terra, these skinny bundles are fine, but there is always something missing. While many have TCM, INSP is pretty hard to find. It seems really crazy to pay for the UP channel as an add-on, all by itself. I am stuck with cable until cord cutting makes better sense. Funny, TV Land is not in HD on my cable. Do they have an HD option?Reply
From one “Jim” to another,” I gather by inference TCM is an initialism for “Turner Classic Movies.” But what are “INSP” and “UP?” Those are not so common in the manner of TCM, CNN, GSN, TNT, etc.Certain TV networks (such as ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, and some PBS sub-networks), even on over-the-air (OTA) broadcast television, offer a truer high definition (HD) picture when available, according to what a cable TV technician once told m). But some broadcast TV networks may not be in HD, such as Buzzr, Get TV, LAFF, and THIS, while MeTV seems to be a combination of SD and HD formats, according to the retro programming network’s profile on Wikipedia. These networks are carried by affiliates on their digital sub-channels and are also known as “multicasting networks.”I have a weird situation with the LAFF network, two channels of which I may obtain if I play around with my OTA antenna, as that multicasting network is carried by both the Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island FOX affiliates on one of each’s respective sub-channels–on Ch. 25.03 in Boston and on Ch. 64.03 in Providence. And while LAFF is in SD (or 480i format), the Boston FOX channel of LAFF has configured the picture properly for widescreen TV, while the Providence FOX of LAFF broadcasts its picture “center-cut,” meaning the picture is cropped improperly. Also, the closed-captioning of the Boston LAFF channel is for contemporary digital TV, while the Providence LAFF has old-school, analog-style captioning with no option to adjust background, color, opacity, etc. Hopefully, someone who knows more about these issues than I will read this post and offer some advice on how these problems may be corrected and reported to the Providence LAFF affiliate. So much the better io someone from Providence FOX would actually be reading this post.Reply
I have sling tv. I am suppose to get over 70 channels. Just now looked and am only get 25. So I am paying a dollar a channel. Guess it’s time to cancel sling. Cost way to much to start it up. Paid 2 months in advance. Had to change my email address. So they used my old and new email. So I was charged twice. Even told them. Sorry no refunds. Glad I caught it. 55 dollars a month is a little to much. Good bye sling.Reply
