[Steveknj]

Hey all, with the new announcement yesterday that they will be increasing streams from 3 to 20 for most channels and unlimited DVR option, I'm back to seriously considering moving from DirecTV to this. There are still a few questions, some I might have asked before, and some I was just wondering if things have changed:

With the DVR....I have 5 users in my household. Is the DVR provisioned by user, or is it one massive DVR for the household?

Advanced sound....Are the streams using DD or other advanced sound?

Any word about bringing in PBS? Outside of PBS (and in my area CW) this has all the other channels I'd need with the right package.

Do I need the external (Osprey) device or can I just use the app? What is the cost of the dedicated box? I have all kinds of streaming devices (roku, Firestick, Android TV, smart TV), so adding another device would be something that might be nice to avoid. I see Roku at least has the app. How much is the external device?

I'll skim though the thread for the rest of my questions. But at least we are getting closer to chord cutting than ever.

 

[Steveknj]

With the DVR....I have 5 users in my household. Is the DVR provisioned by user, or is it one massive DVR for the household? The DVR is one massive for the account

Advanced sound....Are the streams using DD or other advanced sound? DD+ 5.1

Any word about bringing in PBS? Outside of PBS (and in my area CW) this has all the other channels I'd need with the right package. No Word on PBS

Do I need the external (Osprey) device or can I just use the app? What is the cost of the dedicated box? I have all kinds of streaming devices (roku, Firestick, Android TV, smart TV), so adding another device would be something that might be nice to avoid. I see Roku at least has the app. How much is the external device? For the as close to Directv experience get the Osprey Box with the remote. You can buy the boxes used on ebay for 50 bucks

Thanks for your response. I'm surprised that they haven't provisioned the DVR at all. I think some of the other streaming services do that. And I think of services such as Netflix, Disney+ and so forth that allow different "accounts" so that you can see just what you want to see and set up watch lists. Currently, I know DirecTV has moved to a ONE DVR for all model as well, but, we still have three DVRs and thus three "separate" views if we want to have it that way. That might be a sticking point in my house as I can see it being a pain to scroll through all the stuff other people have recorded to get to what you want to watch.

Shame about PBS. I still (believe it or not) have a basic cable account so I can still pull in CW and PBS that way, just can't record. I can live with that. Does the app use DD 5.1 as well? I'd probably get at least one Osprey box, but I don't know if I'd spring for 5.

 

[Steveknj]

Since my sound system always reports DD+ when using the Osprey box, I tried the CW app on my Roku Ultra. Just stereo for the few shows I checked.

I don't do PBS so can't say what that app might do.

I'm not overly worried about sound for PBS/CW. What about streaming through the AT&T TV app? Is that also DD+?

 

[Steveknj]

If the app does DD or DD+ on AndroidTV versions, then yes it is. And for those apps that only provide stereo the device will attempt to fake it with fairly good results IMO. And with the ATT TV app itself on the Osprey, if the channel is in DD5.1 then it will give you DD+.

On other boxes, it varies a bit. For the most part the ATT TV app does the same as on the Osprey with sound, but for some odd reason there are a few channels that don't when using the AppleTV version.

Thanks. Lastly is there a "free trial" offer? I'd like to give it spin without having to sign up and go through all that.

 

[Steveknj]

If you get the 2 year contract version they give you one box free. If you get the no contract version and want the unlimited DVR you'll have to pay an extra $10 per month over the price of the package. You would have to buy any boxes you might want. $120 a piece from AT&T or as mentioned earlier you can get them on ebay for around $50. I know on the contract version you can cancel before 2 weeks are up and you must return the free box. Not sure if the no contract version has a trial period or not.

Thanks. My assumption here is you sign up, and once the box is hooked up, you get 14 days from that point? Wow that sounds so pricey for those boxes when I can buy a 4k streamer from Amazon for example for around $30. Even $50 for a used box sounds crazy. I guess I would get the one box and then use the app for the other TVs. Still mulling it over in my head if it's worth it to save $50 and "downgrade" from a very stable system with few glitches. AT&T Now is about as close as any streamer has gotten to make me seriously consider making the jump.

 

[Steveknj]

Thanks everyone. Nobody has any experience with using the app (I have the Roku one downloaded)

 

[Steveknj]

We just signed up for AT&T TV and we are going to give it a thorough 2 week run through before we cut the cord on DirecTV. This is how we are testing:

I bought one Osprey box from eBay for approx. $50. The rest of the TVs in the house (and there are 5 others) will be testing with either a Roku or Firestick using the app. I have completely disconnected the C61k from my main TV (though the HR54 is still connected to the TV in my bedroom.

Known issues going in:
1) Missing CW, PBS, NFL Network, 4k channels from what we had before. We are supplementing this with a combination of Locast and Channels DVR so my son, a huge comic book fan can record his DC shows on the CW. The Channels DVR works well and has the added feature of one button press commercial skip. Nice feature. Total cost of the two is about $13 per month.
2) Learning curve....getting the family used to something new after 20 years of DirecTV. Don't underestimate this. But so far, it's not bad. Added beneifit that the one room that didn't have DirecTV in it now has a full Live TV solution.

Testing so far (and questions):
1) Setup took awhile with the Osprey. There was one update, that took about a half hour to complete. During this time we set up one TV with the app and was playing around with it. Osprey set up with Ethernet. Other rooms are wireless.
2) Took awhile to get used to the new interface, but I really like it. Looks much more modern than what DirecTV has. While setting up the Season Passes. The box started lagging badly, and eventually rebooted itself.
3) The Osprey uses the DirecTV channel numbers, but the streaming apps have no channel numbers, so everything is alphabetized. That will take some getting used to when steaming.
4) Recordings - missing a way to set up "teams" so that when recording sports, for example, I'd like to set just NY Rangers, but instead it picks up all NHL games regardless of team. Not a huge deal with an unlimited DVR, but it just means more to scroll through. I don't think there's a way to pad, which is going to cause problem with shows that regularly are delayed due to sports overruns or games that run long. I THINK I noticed that the one game I recorded last night was scheduled for 2.5 hours, and it looked like it recorded past that, but I'm not sure. I'll have to look.
5) There's no real instruction manual, but I was able to accidentally find out how to do trick play, which seems to work well on the Osprey. Not sure about the app, yet.
6) Only one shared favorites list for channels. I wish you could do multiple favorite lists so that we could each use our own. We just had a consensus on which to put on our favorites list and we'll go from there. Minor nitpick.
7) I think the picture quality is better than DirecTV, but of course a lot of this has to do with what the networks are streaming in.
8) Tried using Google Voice during SP setup, it found the term, but it lagged badly.
9) No way I could find to record upcoming shows that are some time in the future. For example I could set up Holey Moley on my DirecTV box even though it's not recording any content for awhile. I didn't see a way to do this.
10) We took the second to most expensive package, which gave us as close to what we had on DirecTV as possible. Missing the above channels already mentioned, but added in StarzEncore. Missing WestCoast feeds of some of the Viacom content and HBO which I had on DirecTV. Again, not a huge deal.
11) We got HBO Max for a year as part of the package. I also noticed that it added linear HBO channels. I guess that just came with getting HBO Max
12) Apps on the Osprey box. Only useful app for me at this time is HBO Max. Netflix has no DolbyAtmos or DolbyVison (which my other Android TV device, TiVo streaming stick, has). Disney + is also missing any 4k streaming or Atmos. So I'll continue to use those devices that support that. I was hoping I could get rid of those devices if this had what I was looking for.

Wishlists:
1) The most obvious is the missing channels. That would save me $13 a month. Hopefully they are coming
2) Multiple Favorites lists
3) Profiles...DirecTV doesn't have them either (but was able to supplement that with multiple DVRs). It would be nice to have Profiles for the cloud DVR, and I can't see that as being too difficult to install.
4) 4k content. I'd pay for that if there was some significant 4k.

If I go this route, I'll probably save somewhere between $70-$80 a month. My current D* bill is a little over $200. Not including the price of the Osprey which is a one time expense, this system will cost the following:
$105 for AT&T TV (Ultimate package + Unlimited DVR). After a year, it will go up about $15 for HBO Max
$13 for Locast + Channels DVR

So that's a significant savings without a huge drop off in service and offerings.

More testing to follow.

 

[Steveknj]

Just a couple quickies for you

I got Atmos on Disney+ and Amazon Prime as well as the rare shows on HBO Max that have it. As you noted, none on Netflix which doesn't make sense to me.

Trickplay on the Osprey works as expected including voice skip/rewind and so forth. That's also true on the Roku devices. FireTV devices don't do voice trickplay with the AT&T app.

No padding of shows and it is one of the most requested features, right behind Profiles.

For The CW you can use the Discover ->Networks to find the channel and the shows in VOD. Of course with the requisite ads. IMO, the VOD on ATT's service is great and compares well to YouTubeTV's which is also great. Each are missing some shows or episodes and not always the same ones.

For instance, Vagrant Queen on ATT's VOD is the complete one season it was on. On YTTV is isn't there, or maybe it was one episode. Some other VOD channels are the same and there seems to be no rhyme or reason why they are on one and not on the other services.

That's weird about Disney+. I had that issue before on Roku where it wouldn't find Atmos and eventually it did. Maybe that will happen with the Osprey box eventually.

Thanks for the tip on VOD. My son likes to watch as close to airing as possible, and the problem with VOD (same with Hulu for example) is that you usually can't get the shows for about a week later (maybe it's better here? I don't know). That hurts his ability to discuss these shows with his colleagues at work. I'll have to see how it works here.

 

[Steveknj]

Usually the VOD for The CW shows up the next day. As you noted, it does vary by channel though.

I just looked at this and yes, it does appear to that each episode is about a week old.

One other weird quirk that I discovered by accident is that my Harmony Companion remote, without any type of reprogramming, works with the Osprey, which is really nice! I picked up the wrong remote and just started hitting the logical buttons and it worked. I didn't even realize I was using it.

 

[Steveknj]

It depends on the streaming box.

AppleTV doesn't really do skip in a normal manner, you 'scroll' with the trackpad and is very irritating.

On the FireTV you hit the center button on the d-pad and it brings up play controls and you use them to do 15 second skips.

On the Roku you can bump it 15 seconds or use voice.

On the Osprey it is 30 sec forward, 15 seconds back and you can use voice trickplay.

My experience with the Osprey is that it's 15 seconds per skip but you can hit the button multiple times and piggy back the skips (for example, hit the button 4x and it will skip 60 seconds.) That's similar to how it worked on DirecTV. I haven't played enough with the controls on the other boxes yet. This is on recorded material, not sure how it works on paused live.

 

[Steveknj]

So while we all rail on ATT TV with regards to padding. I had recorded MLB Tonight last night on the Mets. Was supposed to be on from 7-730. The previous game ran late. The recording is an hour long and got all of the delayed airing

I was watching hockey the other day, and while I watched it live, I did notice the recording went longer than the scheduled 2.5 hours. So I wonder if it just waits for the show to end before it stops recording? If so, how does it do that, and, that's pretty cool!

 

[Steveknj]

ATT TV just went out.
"We're aware of the issue and are working on it" 50001-001

Wonderful. Its only the cloud DVR too, live is working.

Got the same thing last night while watching a recording on the cloud DVR using the Osprey, I switched over the the app on Roku and it seemed to be working. Maybe by the time I switched over it was fixed?

 

[Steveknj]

More playing last night with the Osprey and streaming app. I realized another DirecTV feature that I use quite a bit but not available here is "Cast&Crew" of a particular show. It's not complete on DirecTV but at least it's here. I'm sure I'll just do a search for it to replace it.

Also, how do you get to your Season Pass list (or whatever it's called). For example I wanted to check to see if I have a SP setup to record only new episodes but couldn't find a way to do that. Can that be found in the Menu section somewhere?

 

[Steveknj]

No season pass list exists, or if it does the app for ATT TV doesn't allow you to see it. The only way I've found is to just cancel the series recording and reset it to what you want. This is another of the repeating complaints about the app.

Note that if you look at 'upcoming recordings' over a few days out you may notice a slew of recordings scheduled on the 'rerun' channels. Usually as the date gets closer those start to drop off and you only get the ones you want with some screwups along the way.

Thanks as always. That's what I figured I'd have to do. In the old days on DirecTV with only 2 tuners, I'd tweak my list so that channels that showed shows "one and done" would get priority over shows that repeated a new episode a few times a week. With 20 streams, this shouldn't be an issue, so removing a SP and then adding it back, is fine in this case.

 

[Steveknj]

The streams don't really have anything to do with it. Using a cloud DVR as they do you are not dependent on tuners. Theoretically you could record an unlimited number of shows simultaneously. The only real downside to the way it works is that the recordings list can get huge and unwieldy, which is one of my biggest gripes with the way YouTubeTV does it.

Perfect thanks.

 

[Steveknj]

The same thing happens here in Oregon. Absent local franchises, we're split between California and Seattle for NFL and MLB. It comes down to the markets that the teams claim and since Hawaii has no top-league pro teams, it is otherwise unclaimed and California is "closest".

As James points out, the purpose of blackouts is now to protect TV rights rather than ticket sales as they used to be before sports networks.

My question here is. Are those games shown in Hawaii through an RSN? If it's California, then he should be able to watch games of the Padres, Dodgers, Giants, A's and Angels through some sort of RSN (of course he's have to subscribe to something that carries those). Are the RSNs for ALL of those teams even available in Hawaii? If they aren't then the blackout rules are incredibly stupid and unfair. If they are, then I can understand why it's there (though I think, in 2021, they could figure out a way to monetize this somehow so you can buy an RSN stream at least if you are deemed in their home market.)

 

[Steveknj]

A couple of things I noticed during testing last night:

1) My son and I were both able to watch a recorded show at the same time, starting at different points. I like that.

2) I noticed on my TV that the resolution that's showing is 2160 HDR10 for standard broadcast content (NBC in this case). Why would that be? Is this that dreaded forced HDR that people complained about on the TiVo 4k streaming stick until they fixed it? I noticed that for some of the content looks kind of overly bright and washed out. With this I was using the Osprey, I'll have to test with the app on Roku to see if it's the same

3) So it does look like it auto pads sporting events that run over, which is great. What about shows that are "off schedule" due to sports overruns? For example a NASCAR race ran long a couple of weeks ago and it screwed up my recording of Family Guy on my DirecTV box because I forgot to pad. This happens frequently during football season on CBS and I pad the shows I watch there because of it. But, does this cloud DVR account for that? Has anyone run into the issue?

 

[Steveknj]

On Number 2.. yes that is the forced HDR.. Google has to fix it.. they fixed it on Tivo probably because they are using a new version of Android TV. I would not expect a fix for the Osprey.. You should be able to tweak your TV if it has HDR adjustments to fix it pretty easy.. It look like 2 min to adjust on my LG OLED

Thanks. What types of settings should I look for on my TV? I have a Vizio Series M (2020 Model). I get that LG and Vizio settings might be called something different.

 

[Steveknj]

Yes, all the RSN's for those teams are available in Hawaii on ATT TV. I think they are available on Spectrum too, but not completely sure about the NBC RSN's for the A's and Giant's.

You're right, at least if we wanted to watch those teams there is an option even if it's more expensive than we'd like. It really stinks for folks where MLB.TV says you are local, yet there is no physical way to watch them.

I remember a few years ago the Spectrum Sportsnet LA fiasco, where Spectrum was the only carrier that had the new channel for the Dodgers. There are areas of LA that don't have Spectrum as their cable provider, so people couldn't even subscribe if they wanted to. And of course the Dodgers are blacked out for them on MLB.TV.

In that case, I actually think it's kind of lucky for them that they'd have 5 baseball teams to watch games from. Most of us don't have that. So if you buy a service like AT&TV you'd be able to watch quite a few games.

 

[Steveknj]

From your fingers to their ears!

The part that ticks me off is that the pricing between services for comparable lineups is very close these days but the quality of service and offerings varies widely.

There is simply no excuse for poor PQ and audio these days for those services not offering full channel/content considering how close together the prices actually are.

For instance, YouTubeTV is $65/month and has a great channel lineup, only missing RSNs. AT&T Choice is $85/month, includes HBO Max for the first year and has the RSNs. So YTTV @$65+$15 for HBO Max is $80, how much are the RSNs worth? You can bet your butt that when/if Fox/Sinclair/Ballys figures it out it will be a lot more than $15/month IMO.

And that's it. You get what you pay for. The idea for me, was figure out what I need, and go with the best deal. AT&T TV meets that need. It's the only streaming service that's even close.