New Stuff for Old Farts

[PapawBrett]

Yep, I did start this ...

What is "Television" ? It used to be "Go outside and turn the antenna !", grab my coat, stand outside and twist a pole until Dad hollers "Right There !"
...but that was a long time ago...
Now that I am retiring, I need to cut the cord, send back the dish and find affordable Television. Mamaw likes "Ovation", "Murder Mystery", ID something-or-other (I think she's looking for a way to get away with getting rid of me). I would like to keep local channels for news, weather, and maybe an occasional movie or ballgame.
What is FireTV ? Is it better than Roku ? or Netflix (which I need to unsubscribe) ?

We'll discuss "Smarter than me" Phones and services later...

 

[Katmar]

Long story short, you need a roku, or fire tv stick to get the streaming channels. Keep your internet. Hulu live is good, but we left it for Youtubetv for more selection, including stuff MaMaw would LOVE. Bunch of those channels. And may give her some good ideas...
It depends on what you want to spend. We have youtubetv, netflix, amazon prime and hulu regular, which has tons of good stuff. Go check each one out and see what you and MaMaw like. Local tv comes with Hulu live AND/OR YoutubeTv. Fire sticks are cheap and work VERY well, just need hdml cable on your tv. They run around $25.
We cut cable a good while back, and thought it may seem like a lot of work, it went easy and FAST and couldn't be happier, as now we have the channels we WATCH and not a lot of garbage channels that they charge you and arm and a leg NOT to watch. Good luck.

 

[PapawBrett]

Thanks, @Katmar. We've got Spectrum (used to be Road Runner) streaming, 5G and 2G. Or something like that.
But the Firestick we currently have does circle spins. My son calls it "buffering", I call it "boring".
Mamaw won't even watch it...

 

[Katmar]

Thanks, @Katmar. We've got Spectrum (used to be Road Runner) streaming, 5G and 2G. Or something like that.
But the Firestick we currently have does circle spins. My son calls it "buffering", I call it "boring".
Mamaw won't even watch it...

We don't have those problems with our firestick. In fact, we have 4 of them and they all work quite well. Maybe you have an older version? Sometimes, they buffer, but not very often at all, since they upgraded them. Get the 4K ones, even if you don't have 4K. Seem to be far superior.
OR, you can put up a roof antenna and go sit up there and let MaMaw make her plans...errr...watch her shows.

 

[r77r7r]

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[Bronze]

Pop, Roku no longer carries Spectrum. I don't think Firestick ever did. Why do you want Spectrum? If you ever get Spectrum cable TV then you can stream it through a streaming device to any/all of your TVs. You'll have to check who streams Spectrum now but I know they got in a fight with Roku several months back so it is no longer offered on Roku.

 

[Bronze]

Long story short, you need a roku, or fire tv stick to get the streaming channels. Keep your internet. Hulu live is good, but we left it for Youtubetv for more selection, including stuff MaMaw would LOVE. Bunch of those channels. And may give her some good ideas...
It depends on what you want to spend. We have youtubetv, netflix, amazon prime and hulu regular, which has tons of good stuff. Go check each one out and see what you and MaMaw like. Local tv comes with Hulu live AND/OR YoutubeTv. Fire sticks are cheap and work VERY well, just need hdml cable on your tv. They run around $25.
We cut cable a good while back, and thought it may seem like a lot of work, it went easy and FAST and couldn't be happier, as now we have the channels we WATCH and not a lot of garbage channels that they charge you and arm and a leg NOT to watch. Good luck.

Well, not exactly true. Smart TVs have their own streaming lineups.

 

[Katmar]

Well, not exactly true. Smart TVs have their own streaming lineups.

I have a smart tv, but did not know that. What are their lineups and how do I check?

 

[cats5365]

I have several older Firesticks/Fire TV connected to old TV's that I got when the world went digital and flat screens went affordable. I was on copper DSL internet, but upgraded to fiber from my phone company a few years ago. I still have the landline phone. I dropped the cable several years ago, and mostly use antenna or streaming for TV. Are you close enough to the TV towers to get good reception with an antenna? I am using rabbit ears, but am fairly close to the antenna farm for my city.

I subscribe to YouTube TV for the motorsports and DVR service. I can get my favorite old cable channels on YouTube TV, and our local OTA TV stations have some pretty decent options on their sub-channels. I have an Amazon Prime account, so I get the TV and music stuff along with the shipping and books. I might use the music more than TV since I'm kind of picky about tv shows.

If you look at the streaming service websites, they should have a list of the channels available, especially if there are specific sports teams/leagues that you want to follow.

Unless your firesticks are the kind without the microphone on the remote, they should be fine, but if you want to upgrade, Prime Day is coming soon and they usually have some really good deals on the firesticks during that time.

How old is your wifi modem? The modem might be causing the buffering if it doesn't send a good connection to the internet for your firesticks. My original DSL modem needed an antenna upgrade to send enough signal out to the big TV in the living room. I ended up with some 12-inch antennae that made the poor router look like a semi with the dual CB antennae on the side mirrors.

 

[Bronze]

I have a smart tv, but did not know that. What are their lineups and how do I check?

Well, I don't have a smarttv so I'd be talking out my bunger trying to tell you how to do it. But there has to be a way you can see all the streaming channels you can download. Go on you tube and look it up.

 

[Bronze]

I have several older Firesticks/Fire TV connected to old TV's that I got when the world went digital and flat screens went affordable. I was on copper DSL internet, but upgraded to fiber from my phone company a few years ago. I still have the landline phone. I dropped the cable several years ago, and mostly use antenna or streaming for TV. Are you close enough to the TV towers to get good reception with an antenna? I am using rabbit ears, but am fairly close to the antenna farm for my city.

I subscribe to YouTube TV for the motorsports and DVR service. I can get my favorite old cable channels on YouTube TV, and our local OTA TV stations have some pretty decent options on their sub-channels. I have an Amazon Prime account, so I get the TV and music stuff along with the shipping and books. I might use the music more than TV since I'm kind of picky about tv shows.

If you look at the streaming service websites, they should have a list of the channels available, especially if there are specific sports teams/leagues that you want to follow.

Unless your firesticks are the kind without the microphone on the remote, they should be fine, but if you want to upgrade, Prime Day is coming soon and they usually have some really good deals on the firesticks during that time.

How old is your wifi modem? The modem might be causing the buffering if it doesn't send a good connection to the internet for your firesticks. My original DSL modem needed an antenna upgrade to send enough signal out to the big TV in the living room. I ended up with some 12-inch antennae that made the poor router look like a semi with the dual CB antennae on the side mirrors.

Never hurts to do a speed test.

Internet Speed Test – AT&T Official Site

 

[PapawBrett]

So I purchased a TCL 4K 55" smart TV at Wally World for about $325, added the meaningless $50 four year warranty (mostly because it was the last one on the shelf) and set it up.
Using basic Hulu, Roku and Tubi for now. Looked it up, I am an Amazon Prime member already (how about that) and I've been reading that for about $120 aa year we can do the Fire TV.
I won't be able to get YouTube TV with a Roku TV, but that just means no more NFL Network.
Watching The Last Witch Hunter on Tubi now, incredible picture. No Buffering. This will work out eventually, starting with a call to customer service at DirectTV tomorrow.

 

[Bronze]

So I purchased a TCL 4K 55" smart TV at Wally World for about $325, added the meaningless $50 four year warranty (mostly because it was the last one on the shelf) and set it up.
Using basic Hulu, Roku and Tubi for now. Looked it up, I am an Amazon Prime member already (how about that) and I've been reading that for about $120 aa year we can do the Fire TV.
I won't be able to get YouTube TV with a Roku TV, but that just means no more NFL Network.
Watching The Last Witch Hunter on Tubi now, incredible picture. No Buffering. This will work out eventually, starting with a call to customer service at DirectTV tomorrow.

 

[PapawBrett]

Next we take a nice long look at Visible for cell service....

 

[Bronze]

Next we take a nice long look at Visible for cell service....

Definitely shop for MVNOs. Mobile Virtual Network Operators. You can probably find a list of these companies online. They do not own cell towers. They simply sell you the plans and use the big cell company towers (e.g., Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc). Essentially, MVNOs are a sales team for the big cell companies. Makes sense if you think about it. Spectrum is an MVNO for Verizon. They can bring millions of customers to Verizon. The incentive: Spectrum offers very inexpensive plans. What Spectrum gets: cable/phone/internet bundling! What does Verizon get: A whole lot more customers to access their fixed assets (i.e., their cell towers).

 

[r77r7r]

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[Bronze]

Definitely shop for MVNOs. Mobile Virtual Network Operators. You can probably find a list of these companies online. They do not own cell towers. They simply sell you the plans and use the big cell company towers (e.g., Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc). Essentially, MVNOs are a sales team for the big cell companies. Makes sense if you think about it. Spectrum is an MVNO for Verizon. They can bring millions of customers to Verizon. The incentive: Spectrum offers very inexpensive plans. What Spectrum gets: cable/phone/internet bundling! What does Verizon get: A whole lot more customers to access their fixed assets (i.e., their cell towers).

And take your time to shop around. Spend more time than you did buying your TV. . And make sure the grid they use will work best for you.

 

[PapawBrett]

As I was piddlin' with the FireTV, I couldn't help but notice YouTubeTV is available through Amazon.
Mamaw gets her local channels, and her murder mysteries, and I get my sports for less than half of what DirectTV was gouging me for.

Definitely shop for MVNOs. Mobile Virtual Network Operators. You can probably find a list of these companies online. They do not own cell towers. They simply sell you the plans and use the big cell company towers (e.g., Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc). Essentially, MVNOs are a sales team for the big cell companies. Makes sense if you think about it. Spectrum is an MVNO for Verizon. They can bring millions of customers to Verizon. The incentive: Spectrum offers very inexpensive plans. What Spectrum gets: cable/phone/internet bundling! What does Verizon get: A whole lot more customers to access their fixed assets (i.e., their cell towers).

Will look into that. Thanks for the info.

 

[r77r7r]

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[r77r7r]

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