Posted on 03/13/2021 7:00:50 AM PST by Dad was my hero
I'm considering dropping cable, cutting the cord so to speak. My cable provider (Spectrum) has been to my house 3 times over the issue of dropped audio and pixelation. The issues have been so pronounced that it can make some shows almost unwatchable. They are coming again today but I spoke with a neighbor that also has Spectrum and he said they have the same issue, so I am sure it is somewhere in their lines feeding my development.
I'm not much interested in going to a satellite dish, I've had both dish and direct TV before. I dropped dish eventually because of loss of signal and they wanted to charge me to fix it. It later turned out the issue was the base mounting came loose d/t poor installation. But I went to Direct and had the pixelation issue with them and any storms. Being in FL, we have a lot of storms during the afternoon and I don't want to have shows I'm watching interrupted with pixelation again.
I have 3 TVs and 3 DVRs (probably only need one DVR now). What I am looking to replace is the channel lineup AND the recording function I had with the DVRs. I bought a Roku streaming stick plus and got that functioning last night. It appears that I can get almost all of the channel lineup if I download the AT&T app within Roku. My questions are:
Can I record (to a cloud maybe) shows I want to see? How? Can I record one show while watching a second or record two shows while watching something else I recorded or a third show live? How?
I still having 3 TVs, do I need to get two more Rokus to use the other TVs? Only one TV in the house is a "smart" TV, the other two are older flat screens but not "smart". The Roku is currently on the smart TV. Do I need to buy two more Roku sticks to use on those TVs? Do I also need to get two more AT&T subscriptions?
So how does this work, I'm not a highly technical person.
Open having issues with my spectrum Internet lately too. Once every 10 or 20 minutes it disconnects and reconnects.
I’m still trying to figure out where the issue lies. Yesterday I went to the spectrum website and reset my router.
We went with DISH. All in it costs us under $70 a Month with the $59.95 Package plus $5 for the DVR Upgrade and Taxes.
Much cheaper than the Sparklight Cable we used to have with much better Channel Selection.
The DVR has 24 Tuners and ridiculous Storage so you will never have an issue with recording conflicts.
The only Channel the Package didn’t have was TCM. Since their latest PC crappola, I don’t miss it. It has the Retro Channel that runs a lot of Classic Movies.
Had an issue with the original DVR and they came right out and replaced it. The Customer Service and Techs were great.
Think of the butterfly effect. A little data corruption coming into the house is them compounded when it’s decrypted in the cable box. That is why you would see worse crap through the box, rather than just coming through the modem. There is less processing.
Curious, what quality resolution are you watching? If your TV is not set to the proper resolution, it might be trying to keep up with the stream coming in. Streaming sticks (Roku, Amazon Fire, etc) process everything at the same resolution. 1900 pix will process slower than 4K. Pixelation happens when the color of the pixel changes. If the refresh value of the TV is not the same as the stream, it could cause some issues.
I forgot to mention I only use fast play on news programming, not for entertainment shows/movies.
Try these websites for excellent info:
https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/
Here is the solution that my family did. We had a older desktop computer and connected it to the TV using a really cheap HDMI cable we got from Amazon. I put all the weblinks to the local TV channels, Pluto.tv, TubiTV, Crackel, PopcornFlix, and a few others in a document then saved locally it as an HTML page. I use Excel to create the document because things line up better but any document than can be saved as an HTML will work. I made that my Home Page. Now, I can view all kinds of content and it’s all free except for the internet connection. I guess it’s like a homemade Roku box. Basically, if it’s on the web, you have access. All you need to do is find it and create a link.
I use cheap wireless mouse as the remote control for nearly everything. I also have a cheap wireless keyboard with a mouse pad in case I need to type something like a content search or IMDB.
The links to the local broadcast channels gives you most of what is currently broadcast and their older shows. The Pluto, Tubi and other sites give more content than you can ever watch. Pluto has streaming and On-Demand sides. You can also add any link you want to the page like for shopping, news, etc. I am a big fan of using local web pages for home and work. It’s better than searching through piles of bookmarks. If Excel is used, you can even have tabbed pages for grouping things.
I also have an antenna and can get about 30 broadcast channels. I find myself only watching reruns of things I have seen many times over. There isn’t a currently broadcast show I watch over the air. Love the reruns though.
If your equipment is capable, try streaming some 4K content, or at least 1080p HD on your ROKU. If it streams those without issue, then the internet connection to your router may be OK after all and the pixelation a coax issue inside the home.
I’m a home theater hobbyist, and out of all the streaming devices, I like the 4K Firestick best. If you need to add Ethernet capability to the Firestick, this is the one to use:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N2ZHFY9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I recently saved an $80 (minimum) repair on my furnace by finding out I just had to clean off the little L-shaped heat sensor.
Oops, just realized you already tried DISH.
I haven’t experienced any if the issues you dealt with.
Good luck finding a new provider.
Keeping in mind that the streaming business is still in the formative stage, there are streaming services for which there is a charge.......Netflix, Acorn, Brit Box to name 3 very good ones. There is Prime that is a frees service if you have Amazon prime.
A good streaming service I have just acquired is IMDB. It is entirely free and has good programming but has some commercials. IMDB has very good American Pre queer, diversity, PC programming. IMDB had some good movies as well. I believe it was aquired by Amazon because some of the IMDB programming with commercials pops up on Amazon Prime
With the streaming services of NetFlix, Acorn, Britbox , Prime and IMDB we do not watch any American programming on “cable”. I very highly recommend the two Brit streaming services.
I have you Tube TV but do not watch much of anything there. All I watch is fox news and fox business
For those here who complain about cable, I recommend a Roku and both Acorn and Brit box. They provide British, Canadian and Australian (some New Zealand) programming. The quality is very very good for the older stuff. Recent programming is clogged with unbelievable diversity and lots of queers and dykes. However there is uncountable programming prior to all the PC garbage that pollutes the TV programming
Many ignorant people here dis NetFlix. That is just total ignorance becoming a virtue signaling post. Net Flis is so large, I have never seen nor even been exposet to the programs they whine about.
very helpful post.
thanks.
Check out the link and also on Bing search for “Spectrum Outage Map”
You are not alone
I accused the guy who called me of throttling band width. He responded “we do not throttle band width”
2. www.ustvgo.tv
I run these 2 sources as a 100% replacement for cable TV and internet. Heck, I use my phone for a wireless connection and don't even need the cable modem setup. I can cast from a cell phone to the smart TVs. In addition, I use my cell phone”s Bluetooth for internet connectivity by the iPad and laptop computer. I really like the unlimited cellular data plans and have never been throttled due to overage.
Pluto has proprietary channels (several hundred) plus movies and various series on demand. Zero cost for Pluto, it is ad supported.
Ustvgo has about what you would get in a mid level cable TV package minus the fluff channels most find annoying. About 3/4 of the ustvgo channels are no cost but this excludes a number of the more popular channels. To get the full package, you need to subscribe to a VPN plan that is about $7 per month IIRC.
Be aware if you drop cable a lot of the channels will not be accessible with your Roku
Roku is good. Just overheats too frequently. Really frustrating. Another good thing about the sticks.... Take them with you when you travel. Just pop them into your laptop and you’re good to go. My phone has a TV remote control app built in and works great for TV surfing.
I would echo the Roku suggestion. We dropped cable a while back and went with Roku on all three TV’s . Don’t need to record a’tall since the Roku channels keep the same series/movie for watching for a very long time. If you watch it part way early in the week and want to finish it later, just go back in and restart.
However, you will start spending more if you subscribe to all the channels: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Britbox, etc. Their monthly charges will accumulate. However, you can sign up on a monthly basis, watch what you want, and drop them. Their contracts are not restrictive like what cable companies insist on. Another however, you will need a good internet connection (~20mbs). I use AT&T’s and have been happy for years.
Indoor antenna, fire stick, learn to dig through piles of crap apps, and shows. Good luck. The media is our enemy.
All I watch is youtube and some free apps and pay for a couple of them.
OANN for news.
Pluto is great. Nice selection. Even music. Also IMBD is nice freebie too. Also just plain ole YouTube keeps me entertained. Hulu... Had it but found it unnecessary.... Especially the monthly fee. Teathering from your phone is great too.
I have no premium services at all.
Only Internet and a magicJack to keep my phone number I had for 30 years.
They’re all online. You just have to be persistent to hunt them down. They’re also free of course.
Focus on Internet speed (mbps) plans and see if the '1 GIG' speed is available in your area.
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