After 20 years, Ive divorced from Direct tv

Yeah, what a rip off, huh? $50 lol... by the way, just a heads up, you might want to call Cox loyalty. I complained to them that I'm paying a ton more on my "promo" rate then what the current "promo" rate is AND on top of that, the current promo rate includes unlimited data. They wouldn't bring my monthly down any, but they at least comp'ed me the unlimited data. You might want to try that and save the $50.

 

A lot depends on whether or not the streaming device is dual band for wifi. I have 1 single band Roku Premier that has occasional buffering issues. The 4K Fire Stick and the dual band Rokus have no buffering issues. Fire Stick will soon support YouTube TV so I might just add the 4k Fire Stick to the TV that has the Roku Premier.

 

I have a promo price on the 300 MB service, which saves me about $40/month. They said they are unable to do anything with the $50. I'll have to call in to "quit" again sometime soon and see if that changes. Seems they know the tipping point for those who want to go without video service and set the "cap" to 1 TB.

 

Have you cancelled Cox before and gotten back in through promo pricing? I was thinking of closing mine and opening under a relatives name, but with my current pricing, that's like $25/mo or so... when my promo pricing falls off, we'll see. At that point it'll be up a lot.

 

I did the same two years ago. After a year with the family bitching about Spectrum I went back. All the providers suck but Directv seems to suck a bit less.

 

Yup. So far, DirecTV & Cox are the only providers that I've seen that are willing to negotiate. My parents are on Spectrum and Spectrum won't budge a penny. In fact, my parents downgraded to one of the bundles that has to honestly be one of the biggest rip offs in the history of the universe. Phone + 100Mbps + probably about 20 channels for over $120/mo. They are paying the same amount as me for the 3 pieces except I've got 200+ channels + Phone + 1Gbps. Also had a few co-workers that I mentioned negotiating too and none of them can seem to get any discounts either.

 

Try an Apple TV box. No problems at all. A bit more expensive than a Fire Stick, tho. I'd definitely go with a Fire Stick rather than a Roku.

Rich

 

Easily the best choice out of a list that hasn't any GREAT choices. Seems to be the nature of the beast. I don't see any providers doing all that much for their subscribers.

Rich

 

I had their Gold Bundle, which has all movie channels, 300 MB service and home alarm. When the bundle expired, I cancelled all services and scheduled the disconnect for the following Friday. I was going to go with a WISP that charges $75 for 25 MB unlimited service. I could bump it up to 50 MB for $125 if it wasn't enough. Cox called me on the Saturday before the disconnect and got me to $112 for 300 MB plus unlimited. Figured it wasn't worth the gamble, so that's what I have. It expires in a year. Will find out what I have to do when it expires. At least I have options.

 

I still think roku is the best and I have them all.

 

If this is a poll, IMHO the Apple TV 4K is the hands down winner. Pricey, but worth it. It's fast, and the new Apple TV app is growing on us.

I'd go with the Apple TV 4K, even without the new Apple TV app. Great picture and sound. I have a Roku 3 in our guestroom and a TCL Roku 4K TV in our bedroom. The Roku is easy to use and also quick, but the Apple is better. How much better? If the apple is a 9 (on a scale of 1 to 10), I'd rate the Roku a 7 or 8.

The Apple TV app 'knows' which series you are watching and keeps track of them for you. When a new episode or season is released, it automatically gets added to your list of things to watch. Everything you watch is automatically added to one app from across many apps (HBO Go, Starz, Prime Video etc.). It's very convenient for sure.

 

I too just made "the call".

Just a year or two ago, I would have never even considered leaving D* but after 21+ years, I did the previously unthinkable and called yesterday to suspend my D* account with a second call expected as soon as we return home so I can send the equipment back.

Unlike many, our reason for leaving wasn't for the reasons many others are leaving. Our last straw was ATT ending the ability to do temporary service address changes while we are away at our seasonal RV site a few months each year. If we were still able to do that, I wouldn't have had the necessary approval from the wife to look for something else.

With the majority of our viewing being network OTA content, a comparable DVR capability to our Genie was critical. This also mitigates any concerns I had about data caps. I went back and forth between a Tivo and a FireTV Recast and the Recast won out for a number of reasons. No monthly fees, a better "wireless" solution for remote locations, a much larger streaming app catalog, literally could be hidden out of sight at every TV location and can easily be transported back and forth in nothing larger than a shoe box made it an easy winner. Combined with FireTV sticks and a couple streaming subscriptions (PS Vue, Philo) as well as what we already had in Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Vudu (our DVD/Bluray collection as well as PPV) and I now have a setup that even the wife is giving her stamp of approval.

It's kind of like going back to the good old days of D* where you could own your own equipment, do your own installs, and tweak your setup at will without worrying about warranties, lease agreements, commitment renewals or lease fees. Add in things like whole home viewing, commercial skip on recorded DVR content that we were used to having with D* and a couple things we didn't have with D* like a voice control remote and the ability to stream ALL of our paid content as well as recorded shows on our Recast DVR when away from either location and it's the best of the old and the new. Then to add the icing on the cake, we will be saving about 160.00/month which pays off the upfront costs of the FireTV Recast and 3 Fire Sticks in less than 3 months.

There is a bit of a learning curve, especially for the wife who just doesn't do well with change. But still having a combined channel guide for OTA and "cable" channels where the wife can "surf" the old fashioned way, a new tile interface that she is getting used to for everything else, using one remote for everything instead of 3 and even more flexibility in our viewing options than ever before, it's hard to look back.

But the real turning point was when after a few weeks of playing with the new FireTV Recast setup, the wife looked at me with a smile and asked the question, "Why didn't we do this before now?", it's a good day indeed! THANKS ATT! I couldn't have done it without you!

 

Unfortunately their isn't one streaming box that can do it all currently for me. As an example, in my home theater I have an Nvidia Shield, a FireTV Stick 4k, and a Apple TV 4k and in my family room I have a FireTV Stick 4k and an Nvidia Shield. It's the only way I can get support for everything I want. For example (and this is not meant to be a complete and exhaustive list) currently to get PSVue multiview (mainly for sports) and ATMOS support on NetFlix you need a Apple TV 4k but the ATV does not support ATMOS thru Plex and I can't easily load and run the Android only apps I use on it. The Nvidia Shield does almost everything but it does not support DV at all and it doesn't support YouTube HDR (no VP9 profile 2 support). I could go on, hence the need for multiple streaming devices. Unfortunately it's just the state of the streaming world currently, particularly if you are looking to have support for high end capabilities.

 

Yup, best streaming box out there, I think. I've tried just about every streamer and none compare to the ATVs. Also the only streamer that has an iTunes app, I think. Certainly not trouble free but if you have a problem a reset of the box usually fixes things quickly. I bought a bunch of Fire TV devices last year when all the new models came out and all I use are the Cubes. Gave all the other devices away. ATVs kinda spoil you once you get used to them. I can see a difference in PQ between the ATVs and FTVs. It's not much but it's there and it annoys me. I tried all the more expensive 4K Rokus and found the PQ from them to be a bit worse than the FTV devices, so they were all returned quickly. Had a bunch of non-4K Rokus before that and never saw any PQ differences when I compared them to FTV devices.

Everything I just wrote is opinions, just my opinions. No need to go berserk because I don't like the Rokus. This is one of those "YMMV" moments.

Rich

 

First world problems are always interesting. Good post!

Rich

 

I forgot the Nvidia Shield! Fastest remote out there. Pretty neat device.

Rich

 

I agree that the Apple TV 4K is tops. That said, Apple is bringing their new Apple TV app (which replaces the old iTunes app) to other devices now. Already on Samsung smart TVs, coming to Roku, Fire TV, and LG and Sony smart TVs. It won't have the full cross-app integrated Up Next watchlist functionality that's so great about the app on the actual Apple TV box but their app on non-Apple devices will give those devices the ability to access iTunes purchases and rentals as well as the upcoming Apple TV+ subscription service.

 

First world problems for sure...LOL!

 

Had no idea they were doing that with the app. That's a good thing, I like using Apple for movies. Renting or buying.

Rich

 

So is mine. Having them merged saves me $30.00 a month on my internet no cap on how much streaming I do.