To Subscribe Or Not To Subscribe, That Is The Question: Paid Streaming Services

[SoMuchTV]

5 minutes ago, Bastet said:

That drives me nuts, too, as does the fact they seem to all have different ways of opting to watch the credits instead, and I'm not going to memorize which procedure goes with which service, so I wind up fumbling around a lot.

If cars were equipped with a system where you had to watch the credits on a randomly selected streaming show before you could put the car in gear, there’d be a lot fewer drunk driving crashes. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

6 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I've been watching a lot of Max lately, and I think the trick is to "up" to the box so it's highlighted, then "select".  All within about 2 seconds. (That's with my smart tv remote - I assume Roku has equivalent functions.)

Success!  I worked my way back to the end of the episode, without going too far and not being able to back up, and when it went to the little box format, I hit the UP button several times real fast on my Roku remote and couldn't see anything being highlighted different but then hit OK and I got full-screen credits, with the two scenes! 

Then I reloaded the episode and worked my way to the end without going too far and not being able to back up and did it again without hitting UP repeatedly, and I think all I have to do is hit OK with the Roku remote to get the credits to be full screen.  I think I never did that before because I assumed it would start whatever show it was wanting me to watch next and I knew I didn't want that.

And now I know that Chase made permanent his tattoo of Piglet with boobs.  A million thanks to you.

(One nice thing about having whatever is streaming going through the DVR is as a sanity check.  You know how you think, "Didn't I just see a box for whatever" or "How did I get to this screen"--I can replay what all happened on the screen by going back in the cache on the DVR, and tell Mr. Outlier, See?  See?  This is what happened.

And speaking of the Roku remote, its up and down volume buttons are glacial.  And when the volume is going up and down the bar thing showing the slowly creeping volume level blocks the captions.  I realized I have a remote for the TV, so I keep that around for its speedy volume control, the Roku remote for navigating the streaming stuff, and a remote for the DVR to use to skip commercials.  Argh.

[Jaded]

For anyone who might be interested. This was one of my Nana's favorite shows and I liked watching it with her. TVLine isn't sure about music licencing so some episodes I'm guessing might be missing.

Northern Exposure Is Streaming For the First Time Ever
 

Quote

 

Who’s ready for a return trip to Cicely, Alaska?

After years stuck in streaming limbo, early ’90s classic Northern Exposure — the fifth most sought-after, non-streaming show in a July TVLine poll — is now available to binge Stateside on Prime Video. All six seasons (110 episodes) have quietly been uploaded to the service in high definition and retain their original 4:3 aspect ratio.

 

 

[SoMuchTV]

5 hours ago, Jaded said:

For anyone who might be interested. This was one of my Nana's favorite shows and I liked watching it with her. TVLine isn't sure about music licencing so some episodes I'm guessing might be missing.

Northern Exposure Is Streaming For the First Time Ever

I've watched a couple already, and I'm disappointed that Prime's "xray" feature doesn't seem to be working (yet?) - where you can pause and see the actors' names and a very brief summary of what else they've been in.  That's something I use a lot on Frasier - where there are so many slightly familiar but much younger faces (and voices).

[andromeda331]

23 hours ago, Jaded said:

For anyone who might be interested. This was one of my Nana's favorite shows and I liked watching it with her. TVLine isn't sure about music licencing so some episodes I'm guessing might be missing.

Northern Exposure Is Streaming For the First Time Ever
 

 

Oh, that's great news! I loved that show as a kid.

[SunnyBeBe]

Glad to see tips on Max.  I’ll have to figure it out….True Detective with Jody Foster for new season has compelled me to get HBO. 

[meowmommy]

On 1/4/2024 at 7:34 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

And speaking of the Roku remote, its up and down volume buttons are glacial.  And when the volume is going up and down the bar thing showing the slowly creeping volume level blocks the captions.  I realized I have a remote for the TV, so I keep that around for its speedy volume control, the Roku remote for navigating the streaming stuff, and a remote for the DVR to use to skip commercials. 

In one room of my house, you have to be in direct line with the Roku TV for its remote to work, so I invariably use the Roku app on my phone to control that TV.

My cable company just announced another price increase, and their so-called "discounts" are expiring soon, and their DVRs poop out on us regularly, so I'm looking for an alternative.  Seems like every live streaming service I research has something wrong with it, whether it's missing channels I want (Sling), or being just about as expensive as cable (DirecTV Stream), or adding on hidden fees (looking at regional sports fees, Fubo!) that disguise the actual price, or not offering a free trial (why not, Hulu Live?) to see if it's worth dropping cable. 

I would hate to turn in my crappy DVRs and lose my plan only to find I don't like the streaming interface, but the only other option is to pay for both while I try it out.  If you cancel a service, they don't give you a refund but keep you on for the rest of the month.  That doesn't really save any money, does it?

No doubt, though, of course, the cable company will jack up my internet price to make up for it.

[SoMuchTV]

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

In one room of my house, you have to be in direct line with the Roku TV for its remote to work, so I invariably use the Roku app on my phone to control that TV.

My cable company just announced another price increase, and their so-called "discounts" are expiring soon, and their DVRs poop out on us regularly, so I'm looking for an alternative.  Seems like every live streaming service I research has something wrong with it, whether it's missing channels I want (Sling), or being just about as expensive as cable (DirecTV Stream), or adding on hidden fees (looking at regional sports fees, Fubo!) that disguise the actual price, or not offering a free trial (why not, Hulu Live?) to see if it's worth dropping cable. 

I would hate to turn in my crappy DVRs and lose my plan only to find I don't like the streaming interface, but the only other option is to pay for both while I try it out.  If you cancel a service, they don't give you a refund but keep you on for the rest of the month.  That doesn't really save any money, does it?

No doubt, though, of course, the cable company will jack up my internet price to make up for it.

Did you check YouTube TV? They had a trial period when we switched to it a little over a year ago. The “DVR” feature is great. The one channel they’re missing is the History channel, which my husband watched a lot of, but it turned out there was really just one show he cared about, and it’s one he can stream from their website. 

Good luck!

[EtheltoTillie]

The cable companies want everyone to switch to these app based formats.  For a variety of reasons, I don't want to do that.  I want to keep my cable boxes with DVRs.  I am grandfathered in with those.  Apparently, new customers can't get these systems.  And if I gave them up I couldn't go back. 

[Bastet]

16 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

The cable companies want everyone to switch to these app based formats. 

I have one TV that is no longer hooked up to my satellite receiver, but it does have a Fire stick, so I downloaded the apps for the networks I watch on that TV and signed into all them via Dish.  I like watching directly via satellite SO much better.  I never have problems there.  The frakking apps take turns having issues.  It's always simple to fix, but it's obnoxious, and an issue that simply does not exist with the regular set-up. 

[EtheltoTillie]

35 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I have one TV that is no longer hooked up to my satellite receiver, but it does have a Fire stick, so I downloaded the apps for the networks I watch on that TV and signed into all them via Dish.  I like watching directly via satellite SO much better.  I never have problems there.  The frakking apps take turns having issues.  It's always simple to fix, but it's obnoxious, and an issue that simply does not exist with the regular set-up. 

I can still use the Spectrum app on Roku if I want, but it doesn't work as well as the cable boxes watched directly.  Plus no DVR connection.   So I watch Spectrum through the cable boxes and I use the Roku for the streaming apps.  I can toggle back and forth between the two. 

[shapeshifter]

My 1st World complaint with the apps (on my Roku TVs) is that I have to reset the closed captions Every. Frickin’. Time. even though the setting is already on when I go in to turn it on.
And then I have to back out of the app and resume playing to get the captions to display.
Oh well. Next week I’m getting a hearing aid. Maybe I’ll try without the captions.

[JTMacc99]

23 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

The cable companies want everyone to switch to these app based formats.  For a variety of reasons, I don't want to do that.  I want to keep my cable boxes with DVRs.  I am grandfathered in with those.  Apparently, new customers can't get these systems.  And if I gave them up I couldn't go back. 

The problem cable companies have is that they're the Brick and Mortar Bookstore versus Amazon when it comes to delivering TV.

You can get YouTube TV or Hulu with a good cable bundle for like $80.  That is essentially selling it at cost (meaning that's how much they turn around and send to Fox, Disney, Paramount, etc. for all of the programming.)  Google can do that because they have the ability to make money from advertising and data that cable companies can't do, and losing a few million dollars in that business isn't a blip on their income statement.

And they pay exactly $0 to deliver their product to our home. They get 100% free access to the internet. Other than the few places where they have Google Fiber, they have no trucks, no employees, no upkeep dollars at all for the million miles of fiber and cable that connects them to our homes. 

Traditional cable can't compete.

So what they can do is stop delivering cable the way they always have and switch to app based. Meaning, they're also delivering the TV over the internet.

And that lets them use the entire system for delivering internet, which makes it MUCH more efficient. Imagine that the cable connecting your house to the cable company is a 7 lane freeway.  Like 4 or 5 lanes are being used exclusively for TV and the rest are for the internet.  When they go to all app based TV, all 7 lanes can be for internet, and the part that delivers TV might use up 1 lane.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, JTMacc99 said:

The problem cable companies have is that they're the Brick and Mortar Bookstore versus Amazon when it comes to delivering TV.

You can get YouTube TV or Hulu with a good cable bundle for like $80.  That is essentially selling it at cost (meaning that's how much they turn around and send to Fox, Disney, Paramount, etc. for all of the programming.)  Google can do that because they have the ability to make money from advertising and data that cable companies can't do, and losing a few million dollars in that business isn't a blip on their income statement.

And they pay exactly $0 to deliver their product to our home. They get 100% free access to the internet. Other than the few places where they have Google Fiber, they have no trucks, no employees, no upkeep dollars at all for the million miles of fiber and cable that connects them to our homes. 

Traditional cable can't compete.

So what they can do is stop delivering cable the way they always have and switch to app based. Meaning, they're also delivering the TV over the internet.

And that lets them use the entire system for delivering internet, which makes it MUCH more efficient. Imagine that the cable connecting your house to the cable company is a 7 lane freeway.  Like 4 or 5 lanes are being used exclusively for TV and the rest are for the internet.  When they go to all app based TV, all 7 lanes can be for internet, and the part that delivers TV might use up 1 lane.

Can you pause live TV with those systems? 

[SoMuchTV]

25 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Can you pause live TV with those systems? 

Speaking for TTYV, yes. And you can tell it all your “favorites”, and it will let you join them in progress or after they’re over, and skip through commercials. 

[peachmangosteen]

16 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Speaking for TTYV, yes. And you can tell it all your “favorites”, and it will let you join them in progress or after they’re over, and skip through commercials. 

When you say 'join them in progress' do you mean like say a show starts at 8, could you start watching it at like 8:20 and start at the beginning and skip the commercials?

[SoMuchTV]

22 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

When you say 'join them in progress' do you mean like say a show starts at 8, could you start watching it at like 8:20 and start at the beginning and skip the commercials?

Yes, if you had previously marked that show as a "favorite" or "add to my library" - whatever the term is.  It also "records" all your favorites and keeps them for some period of time (6 or 9 months maybe?).

You can also watch VOD versions of things (even if not favorites) but those have unskippable ads.  I just add pretty much anything I might ever want to watch to my library.  It's not like it takes up any space - I'm sure it's just a link to something on their server.

[peachmangosteen]

Thank you for the info, @SoMuchTV. I have another question lol: Are you able to watch TV on more than one device at a time? 

[SoMuchTV]

13 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Thank you for the info, @SoMuchTV. I have another question lol: Are you able to watch TV on more than one device at a time? 

For YTTV, I believe you can have up to 3 simultaneous streams (of course, you have to have a smart TV or a Firestick/Roku equivalent, or I guess a pc/ipad/smartphone).

If anyone here is seriously researching switching to a streaming TV service, I can tell you that when I was googling around, a little over a year ago, the most useful information came from CNET.com, including a downloadable spreadsheet that compared several of the services, showing what channels they had, prices, # of users, etc.

And full disclosure, a downside (at least for some) is that if you're used to channel surfing (with cable/satellite/OTA channels), it's not quite the same here.    Not a problem for me, but for my H who was used to using the remote to go through the channels looking for whatever, I was afraid it would be a deal breaker.  I was pleasantly surprised that the benefits (like unlimited DVR, skipping ads, etc.) won him over.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

And full disclosure, a downside (at least for some) is that if you're used to channel surfing (with cable/satellite/OTA channels), it's not quite the same here.

Not the exact same scenario here, because you're dealing with a single streaming service and I have apps for a bunch of different networks (not everywhere; just on one TV that's no longer connected to my satellite receiver), but that's the other thing that drives me nuts about watching via app on that TV versus watching via satellite on all the rest.  

I am going to eventually (I have a lot of projects to get to) change things so a different, lesser-used, TV is the one not connected to a satellite receiver, so I'll grumble even less, but I am holding onto traditional satellite (Dish, in my case) as long as it lasts.

Edited January 13 by Bastet

[Irlandesa]

12 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

When you say 'join them in progress' do you mean like say a show starts at 8, could you start watching it at like 8:20 and start at the beginning and skip the commercials?

Yes but the one thing I don't like about YTTV is that you can't rewind into a previous series.  So if you are watching a show and get called away by a delivery man (or something) and come back to see that the previous show ended and the next show on the channel has begun, you can't rewind back into the previous show to catch the end.  It'll rewind (even if it's not in your favorites) but only for the show that is currently "airing." 

But if you pause it, usually you're good unless the app kicks you out randomly--which mine does on one of my Fire sticks.

[BlackberryJam]

I am looking for a deal on ad-free Hulu. Any suggestions?

[EtheltoTillie]

22 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

And full disclosure, a downside (at least for some) is that if you're used to channel surfing (with cable/satellite/OTA channels), it's not quite the same here.    Not a problem for me, but for my H who was used to using the remote to go through the channels looking for whatever, I was afraid it would be a deal breaker.  I was pleasantly surprised that the benefits (like unlimited DVR, skipping ads, etc.) won him over.

I came here just now to report this same issue.  I just found this out by testing my own system.  I tried watching live TV on the Spectrum app on my Roku.  It starts on Channel 1 (the Spectrum proprietary local news channel), and there is no way to enter a different channel.  The Roku remote has no number pad.  So if I want to watch channel 82 (TCM) or 511 (HBO) or whatever, I'd have to scroll slowly to get to it.  I tried scrolling, and it was ridiculous.  There's no way I would use this app except as an emergency backup to the cable boxes.  Maybe they will fix these problems some day. 

Spectrum is promoting its own Roku substitute called Xumo, and it seems to have a remote with a number pad.  But I'm not switching yet.  

[SoMuchTV]

3 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I came here just now to report this same issue.  I just found this out by testing my own system.  I tried watching live TV on the Spectrum app on my Roku.  It starts on Channel 1 (the Spectrum proprietary local news channel), and there is no way to enter a different channel.  The Roku remote has no number pad.  So if I want to watch channel 82 (TCM) or 511 (HBO) or whatever, I'd have to scroll slowly to get to it.  I tried scrolling, and it was ridiculous.  There's no way I would use this app except as an emergency backup to the cable boxes.  Maybe they will fix these problems some day. 

Spectrum is promoting its own Roku substitute called Xumo, and it seems to have a remote with a number pad.  But I'm not switching yet.  

There’s sorta kinda a way around this. If you go to the YTTV website on a pc-type device, you can rearrange the order that the channels appear in. So if you’re willing to put in some time up front, you can get a lineup of the stuff you’re most likely to watch. I set it up with my locals, then the “cable” channels I watch the most, then maybe let the rest default to alphabetical order? Not really sure now. I just use the search function for anything that’s not at the top of my list. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Here's an additional tip:  If I watch Spectrum live on my iPad, I can easily scroll to any station using my finger on the screen.  That is very fast.  I use the iPad live TV function from time to time.  You can get all channels while you are in your home wifi network, and many of them when you are outside the home. 

[jennifer6973]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I came here just now to report this same issue.  I just found this out by testing my own system.  I tried watching live TV on the Spectrum app on my Roku.  It starts on Channel 1 (the Spectrum proprietary local news channel), and there is no way to enter a different channel.  The Roku remote has no number pad.  So if I want to watch channel 82 (TCM) or 511 (HBO) or whatever, I'd have to scroll slowly to get to it.  I tried scrolling, and it was ridiculous.  There's no way I would use this app except as an emergency backup to the cable boxes.  Maybe they will fix these problems some day. 

Spectrum is promoting its own Roku substitute called Xumo, and it seems to have a remote with a number pad.  But I'm not switching yet.  

If you use the right arrow to bring up the guide, you can then use the left arrow and the ok button to make a favorite list.

Then to get to your favorite list, you arrow right to the guide, press and hold the okay button and then arrow down to your favories.

[shapeshifter]

31 minutes ago, jennifer6973 said:

If you use the right arrow to bring up the guide, you can then use the left arrow and the ok button to make a favorite list.

Then to get to your favorite list, you arrow right to the guide, press and hold the okay button and then arrow down to your favories.

I really should do this with my Roku TVs, but I just keep arrowing over to the far left and selecting "Recent" and then choosing a channel that is close numerically to the one I really want, so I don't have to scroll too far to navigate between the Roku Live channels (5XX or 6XX etc.) and the channels from my Mohu Leaf antenna (6-4X).
(I don't have access to Spectrum channels anymore, which would be on the right, as you describe.)

[Miss Anne Thrope]

3 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

There’s sorta kinda a way around this. If you go to the YTTV website on a pc-type device, you can rearrange the order that the channels appear in. So if you’re willing to put in some time up front, you can get a lineup of the stuff you’re most likely to watch. I set it up with my locals, then the “cable” channels I watch the most, then maybe let the rest default to alphabetical order? Not really sure now. I just use the search function for anything that’s not at the top of my list. 

We set up the channels on YTTV and it really helps to ease navigation and facilitate flipping.  It takes 5-10 minutes, and then you're good to go.  I especially like that, since I put channels I'll never watch at the very bottom of the list, I don't have to see them if I do have to flip through the channels. Also -- when you access the guide/channel page, it shows the channnels you've visited recently or often across the top, so you can use that as a shortcut too. 

[peachmangosteen]

Does anyone know how long the free trial for Youtube TV is?

[SoMuchTV]

17 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Does anyone know how long the free trial for Youtube TV is?

I think the standard is 7 days but I'd suggest doing a search when you're ready to pull the trigger - sometimes they have longer offers, or you may be able to find a code.

[GHScorpiosRule]

WAHOOOOOOOO! I got a speshial, speshial discount for getting Verizon FiOs, plus $200 gifts card and two extra $50. And the cost is $100 less than what I have with Comcrap Xfinity.

Sure, Catchy Comedy (formerly Decades) isn't available...yet. But I only watch I Love Lucy on there and I have the DVDs, so no biggie. I can wait until they get that channel.

[Anela]

On 1/14/2024 at 9:43 AM, peachmangosteen said:

Does anyone know how long the free trial for Youtube TV is?

I think we had it for a month, but that was in the Spring of 2019. We had it for New Year's 2020, but I can't remember for how long in December. 

On 1/4/2024 at 2:21 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

It's a standalone Magnavox DVR that's pretty much just like a VCR, but it records to a hard drive and not to tapes.  And it caches six hours of whatever is being fed into it, unlike a VCR.  But like a VCR, I have to do everything manually on it, like set timers, tell it the source (Roku vs. over-the-air, for example), etc. 

Mr. Outlier, an electrical engineer (which I think is the minimum qualifications necessary to figure out how to just watch fucking TV these days), set this up.  To watch The Gilded Age, I did it regular--an HDMI cable goes from the Roku box to the TV.  So I got it in all its glory (considering I have kind of a crappy TV, though).

But he made a second path from the Roku box to the TV, into which he inserted the DVR, using a converter that makes the signal into whatever old-fashioned coax cables use.  The picture quality of anything that goes through the DVR is therefore vastly worse than HD, but it's fine for TV shows.  In fact, standard definition is what I had before, hanging on to my standard definition DirecTV receiver until it died and they were forcing an HD receiver on me, but my satellite dish doesn't work with HD (I'm in an RV). 

So I'm used to crappy images, although WHY WHY WHY do shows, especially TV shows intended to be shown not on giant movie theater screens, INSIST on having major plot points in fucking text messages that can be impossible to read?  Even in HD, I struggle.  Do you WANT people to understand or even be able to enjoy your damn show or not??

Also, unrelated, but I hate hate hate the way the streaming companies interrupt the credits by autoplaying the next episode.  I watch Family Affair on Roku (I think, and they do that but there's an option to click something to stay on the credits.

But the other day I watched the final episode of The Other Two on Max (which I pay for), and a few seconds into the credits that image went into a little box in the upper left corner, and the rest of the screen was full of other things they were desperate for me to click on.  But there was more SHOW during the credits--two more scenes.  And I use captions and they don't appear if the image is in the little box.  So there was a teeny little image in the corner, with dialogue I was struggling to understand.

Of course I wasn't watching it live, so I thought maybe I could have clicked on something to get the credits back, and I tried like five different times watching the end live (a struggle in itself, since once it goes up into the little corner Max doesn't let you rewind, so multiple times I had to load that episode, FF to near the end, and let it play, fail to prevent the image from going up in the corner, and trying the whole process again (and again) because maybe I was missing where it says how to do it).  But nope, there was no way for me to see the credits of the show I was watching, just because they're so damn desperate for us to click on something else, anything else.  Anything as long as we don't disengage. 

This is the sort of manipulation that just crawls all over me, and it's why I'll pay $1.99/month for Max for six months to catch up on stuff I've wanted to see, but pay full fare, never mind open-ended full fare?  Not a chance in hell. 

I just click the "OK" button, and it brings it back to full screen. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 1/13/2024 at 3:46 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

I tried watching live TV on the Spectrum app on my Roku.  It starts on Channel 1 (the Spectrum proprietary local news channel), and there is no way to enter a different channel.  The Roku remote has no number pad.  So if I want to watch channel 82 (TCM) or 511 (HBO) or whatever, I'd have to scroll slowly to get to it.  I tried scrolling, and it was ridiculous. 

I have Spectrum on my Roku and have been fiddling with it to try figure out how it works.  As with all of this streaming shit, it's unnecessarily difficult.

When I turn on Spectrum, sometimes it starts on Channel 1 and sometimes it starts on the last live channel I was watching.  I haven't figured out a pattern, but maybe it depends on how long it's been since I had it on, or maybe it depends on whether the last thing I watched was something on demand; if the last thing I watched was on demand, then it defaults to Channel 1 as the live channel.

Also, on the home screen, I get a list of previously viewed channels and can just click on that.  Of course sometimes I get the home screen when I turn on Spectrum, and sometimes it goes automatically to live TV.  Grrrrrr.  However, if it DOES go to live TV, I can hit that BACK arrow and get to the home screen with the previously viewed channels.

I'm annoyed by the lack of a number pad on the Roku remote, but the scrolling isn't all THAT slow, and it's a hell of a lot faster than the volume control on that thing.  Most of the channels I watch are in the lower range, like below 100 or so, except the CSPANs, which start at 225.  So scrolling isn't a huge deal for me.  What bothers me more than that is how on live TV now, there's a significant delay when you change the channel before the new channel comes in.  It's been that way for years, of course, but I recall the olden days when you tuned into a channel and it appeared instantaneously.

Also on Spectrum, I haven't figured out why there are two different channel numbers for a lot of the networks.  Like TCM is channel 64 and channel 631, and ESPN is Channel 52 and channel 301.  But CSPAN is only  channel 225.

A charitable view would be that it makes it possible to use their slow scrolling because you can be in a "range," but that's not the case because there's no pattern to the "sister" channels.  AMC is channel 63 and TCM is channel 64.  But the higher channel for AMC is 105 and the higher channel for TCM is 631.  That's not going to assist anyone in scrolling.

Finally, the captions are persistent on my Roku.  With DirecTV, if I hit the VOLUME button the captions would disappear briefly, but not with Roku.  And they cover up all the chyrons, so when I'm watching House Hunters I can't see all the stuff they put on the lower part of the screen, like the price of the house, the city they're in, who someone is, etc.  SOMETIMES I can go frame-by-frame and there might be a millisecond gap in the caption that allows me to see the chyron, but that's extremely time consuming and it doesn't always work.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

A cable company here (one I don't use) has offers with discounts.  However, they package their internet service with You Tube TV, and claim it's a discount.  It's far cheaper to subscribe direct to YT TV directly, and the price is a lot lower than through the cable company.     

[Miss Anne Thrope]

5 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

 

Also on Spectrum, I haven't figured out why there are two different channel numbers for a lot of the networks.  Like TCM is channel 64 and channel 631, and ESPN is Channel 52 and channel 301.  But CSPAN is only  channel 225.

 

The higher channel number may be a high definition version. 

Edited January 24 by Miss Anne Thrope

[BlackberryJam]

Ugh. I have been looking around for a Hulu deal and there is just nothing I can find. I don't really want to start out paying full price.

Also, I'm going to pay the extra for ad-free Prime. Northern Exposure just wouldn't be the same cut up with ads. 

[SoMuchTV]

3 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

Also, I'm going to pay the extra for ad-free Prime. Northern Exposure just wouldn't be the same cut up with ads. 

Haha, you could just pretend like you were watching tv in 1990, and go make a snack or move laundry to the dryer during the breaks. At least NE is a show that was originally designed around ad breaks. 

[BlackberryJam]

Just now, SoMuchTV said:

Haha, you could just pretend like you were watching tv in 1990, and go make a snack or move laundry to the dryer during the breaks. At least NE is a show that was originally designed around ad breaks. 

My fear is that the breaks would be at the wrong time. Could you imagine an ill-timed commercial in the middle of The Fling?

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Haha, you could just pretend like you were watching tv in 1990, and go make a snack or move laundry to the dryer during the breaks

That's what I do. 
Back in 2016 my daughter and I watched about an hour and a half of Duchovny's Aquarius aired on network TV uninterrupted by commercials. 
It was a race to the toilet at the end.

Edited January 26 by shapeshifter

[SoMuchTV]

25 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

My fear is that the breaks would be at the wrong time. Could you imagine an ill-timed commercial in the middle of The Fling?

It remains to be seen how Prime will handle things, but let's hope with broadcast shows, they can use the existing break points.  I do remember watching Mad Men on Freevee (maybe it was still IMDBtv back then) and the the ad breaks fell a second or two before the actual scene change.  I hope they've improved the process since then!

[Zella]

On 1/25/2024 at 5:38 PM, SoMuchTV said:

It remains to be seen how Prime will handle things, but let's hope with broadcast shows, they can use the existing break points.  I do remember watching Mad Men on Freevee (maybe it was still IMDBtv back then) and the the ad breaks fell a second or two before the actual scene change.  I hope they've improved the process since then!

I had that experience with Little House on the Prairie on whatever I watched it on a couple of years ago. It was very annoying and distracting.

[Jaded]

Netflix Reveals Plan to 100% Phase Out Cheapest Ad-Free Tier

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, Jaded said:

Netflix Reveals Plan to 100% Phase Out Cheapest Ad-Free Tier

"Netflix is going to take away its cheapest ad-free plan" (The Verge)
Updated Jan 23, 2024:

Quote

Although Netflix no longer allows new or returning members to sign up for the ad-free Basic subscription that costs $11.99 per month, company executives told investors while reporting its earnings results today that it’s retiring the plan in some countries where ad-supported plans are available. It’s starting with Canada and the UK in the second quarter of this year.

 

[possibilities]

Because everyone knows Netflix isn't making enough money as it is!

[Raja]

9 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Because everyone knows Netflix isn't making enough money as it is!

If I was a share holder then Netflix only makes enough money if they took  all the money. In a time of market flux with all the single studio sites proving that they don't have access to enough content we will just have to wait for the weaker players to drop out and a new stable price to be set.

[possibilities]

The thing is, the only reason I keep my sub month after month is because it's cheap. I don't even use it every month. So if they start raising the rates and forcing features I don't want as justification, I have no incentive to keep it. I have resisted the "churn" behavior where you sign up for a service and then binge everything they have before cancelling for most of the year. But that becomes much more appealing when the cost goes up for things you don't even want in the first place. For me, I don't give a damn about super high resolution, sports, live action whatever.

They have plenty of content, but a lot of it is garbage, or just not to my tastes. If I only watch a few things because only a few things are of interest to me, then I will only stick around if it isn't a pain the wallet or ass. 

[ABay]

Like Karma Chameleon, I come and go with regard to Netflix. I just unsubbed again and will resub when they have enough content I want to see. I read something on Deadline (?) about Netflix being top streamer because of its browsing feature and I had to wonder if anyone who thinks that has actually tried to find anything.

[cynicat]

Well crap, Netflix cut off my access to my friend's account.  Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!  Anyone figure out a workaround?  I'm not sure if I watch enough to subscribe on my own.

[Zella]

On 1/29/2024 at 12:43 PM, possibilities said:

The thing is, the only reason I keep my sub month after month is because it's cheap. I don't even use it every month.

Yeah this is what I did for years, on the off-chance something I wanted to see was on there. I finally cancelled it at the beginning of the year. I've not missed it. 

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, cynicat said:

Well crap, Netflix cut off my access to my friend's account.  Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!  Anyone figure out a workaround?

If your friend is okay with it, you can select the "I'm traveling" option for why you (as her/him/them to Netflix) are trying to access it from outside the household, and then they'll email "you" (your friend) a code to verify.  It's only valid for maybe 15 minutes or something like that, so you have to arrange this in advance; the friend will then give you the code to put in.  That will give you access for seven days (well, that's what it's supposed to be; last time I did that to access my parents' account, it worked for nearly two weeks, and I think only stopped working because they accessed the account from their house).  So, not a long-term solution, but if you want to be able to watch in bursts here and there, it works.