Dropping Satellite for Streaming Service

[LarryJB]

Originally Posted by CWSWine

Larry
Where are you in your decision process? I we settled on You Tube TV but missing couple of our favorite channels and think of pickup Philo for A&E and History channel for 20 bucks a month.

Well, the DW is really having a hard time giving up her DTV. She is a channel surfer and likes to switch from channel to channel looking for something to watch. She also likes to swap back and forth between a couple of shows when a commercial comes on. None of this works well with the streaming services. AFAIK, it takes a few seconds to startup a channel and she finds that "clunky". So I am having a hard time convincing her to switch.
With that said, I am still leaning toward YouTube TV. We have a trip coming up after Thanksgiving and I am going to sign up for the 7 day trial. So we will see how that goes.

[Kluffinator]

Shadow Rip. To answer your question I am using Amazon Firestick. Funny you should mention the remote. I am using an app on my phone to control the TV in the office. The same beagle that peed in my leg and curiously smells a bit like skunk this morning took it outside. I think a squirrel found it though as sometimes for no reason the switches to Animal Planet. Good thing I love that Beagle.

[Shadowrip]

Originally Posted by Kluffinator

Shadow Rip. To answer your question I am using Amazon Firestick. Funny you should mention the remote. I am using an app on my phone to control the TV in the office. The same beagle that peed in my leg and curiously smells a bit like skunk this morning took it outside. I think a squirrel found it though as sometimes for no reason the switches to Animal Planet. Good thing I love that Beagle.

Thans, I'll dig out my Firestick and try it also.
Hard to get mad at a dog, even if you have to watch animal planet...be sure to turn your tv towards the window, so the squirrel can see it!

[LarryJB]

On the subject of streaming devices. We have a Roku on each of our home TV's which can stream just about any streaming service. In the coach I have one roku plugged into the HDMI port that had been used by the satellite receiver of the HDMI switch. This allows every TV in the coach to access the one roku. I use the roku app on my phone as the remote to control it. One of the secondary reasons I am leaning toward YouTube TV is that the TVs in the coach are LG smart TVs that have the YTTV app available which will allow us to use the TV remote to control both OTA and YTTV.

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by LarryJB

This allows every TV in the coach to access the one roku.

Just out of curiosity, are you able to tune the each TV to different networks at the same time?

[LarryJB]

Originally Posted by RonBoyd

Just out of curiosity, are you able to tune the each TV to different networks at the same time?

If I understand the question, Yes the other TV's can be tuned to OTA or even the TV's Smart TV apps. to use the roku on a TV I just select Satellite as it's input source. But, any TV using the roku as it's source has the same signal from the roku. Does that answer your question?

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by LarryJB

If I understand the question, Yes the other TV's can be tuned to OTA or even the TV's Smart TV apps. to use the roku on a TV I just select Satellite as it's input source. But, any TV using the roku as it's source has the same signal from the roku. Does that answer your question?

Well, no. Not really. I took what you said -- "This allows every TV in the coach to access the one roku. " -- to mean that each TV could be tuned to a different network. In other words, each TV would show a different network all at the same time.

I can see now that is not what you meant. It would have been a neat trick however. <grin>

[falconman]

Well, I was getting excited about the prospect of dropping DTV for a streaming service, so I just signed up for the free trial of U Tube TV. So far, so bad! I don’t have a smart tv but I am using Apple TV to make the connection. No issues with the iPhone or iPad but the TV is a no go. Have watched several u tube videos but all attempts
have failed, guess I’ll be calling them tomorrow. Unless I’m missing something I didn’t see a “normal” program guide to be able to see what’s coming up. Right now it seems cumbersome to navigate and not at all what I was hoping for. I guess I expected more of conventional guide/channel wise. I really don’t want to have to login into different locations and enter codes just to get it to work every time I want to watch TV. Maybe tomorrow will bring some progress.

[docj]

Originally Posted by falconman

Wts
Unless I’m missing something I didn’t see a “normal” program guide to be able to see what’s coming up. Right now it seems cumbersome to navigate and not at all what I was hoping for.

I'm not sure what you are looking at, but at the top of the YouTube TV screen there are three tabs--Library, Home and Live. Shows in the Library are the ones you have recorded. Home is a collection of "On Demand" shows that may or may not include ones you have recorded.

The Live tab is the channel guide which to me looks like any guide you encounter on cable or satellite. What I really like is that I can choose which channels show in the guide and in what order. That way I don't have to search through channels I have no interest in just to find the shows I want.

The only significant difference between how this guide works for recording and what I am used to on DirecTV is that to set a show to record you need to search for it using the search bar at the top. Once you have the show displayed, you schedule it to record by clicking on the "+" symbol at the top of the screen. Since the "capacity" of your DVR is infinite you don't worry about whether a show is a first run or a repeat. All shows are recorded; you watch the ones you wish. All recordings are saved for ~9 months.

[falconman]

I’ve made some progress in understanding this system and have it working in the TV. However I found that all controls relating to channel selection must be handled on the phone, any input on the Apple remote kills the YouTube. As far as the guide issue I did use the “live” feature and do get the channels listed but no long term guide. If I want to see what’s on later in the day I not sure how that’s done. I have located outside apps that will do that for me however.
One particular issue is that according to their website you can only change local channels twice in one year. How does that work if you travel?!

[LarryJB]

Originally Posted by falconman

One particular issue is that according to their website you can only change local channels twice in one year. How does that work if you travel?!

For me anyway, I would prefer to see the local channels from home, so I would not want to change which local channels I get when traveling. I can tune in the OTA channels if I want the local channels in the area I am in.

[docj]

Originally Posted by falconman

As far as the guide issue I did use the “live” feature and do get the channels listed but no long term guide. If I want to see what’s on later in the day I not sure how that’s done.

On my Windows laptop and my Roku all I need to do is scroll to the right on the live display and I can see future programs. I can't do that on my Android phone. I have no idea how it displays on your Apple device.

It sounds as if you are casting from the phone to the Apple TV. I use the YouTubeTV app on my Roku or the app on my smart TV and don't have any such problems.

[timjet]

Originally Posted by falconman

If I want to see what’s on later in the day I not sure how that’s done. I have located outside apps that will do that for me however.
One particular issue is that according to their website you can only change local channels twice in one year. How does that work if you travel?!

I have found You Tube TV not as intuitive as some other streaming services when it comes to the user interface.
This is probably because the remote you are using (Roku or Fire Stick) have buttons on them that do different things as opposed to a dedicated remote specific to the service you are using - like DirecTV and their dedicated remote.

That being said I had a heck of a time with You Tube TV getting back to the channel line up after watching a program until I discovered that on a Roku remote you must use the back key not the 4 position key just below it.

As far as channel lineup you must use the remote and select the channel (far left) that you wish to view future programs. However it will only show future programs out to about 24 hrs.

Thanks to docj for explaining how to record programs. I have some programs to record but couldn't figure out how I did it.

You Tube TV will display your local channels from your billing address no matter where you are. Even in Alaska we were getting local channels and weather from our hometown in Tampa.

You do not need to sign in from your billing address, at least we didn't for the 4 months we were on the road this summer.

Personally I like the Hulu interface better it was more intuitive but Hulu will not let you watch on the road, you must sign in from your billing address.

[LarryJB]

Several folks have mentioned they have combined YouTube TV with Philio. What channels does phillio have that youtube does not? Also, how much channel overlap is there between the 2?