Vanity - Review of Directv streaming

Personal opinion ^ | 11/10/2024 | 6ppc

[6ppc]

A week ago I switched from a combination of Spectrum and Dish Network to Directv Streaming. So far I'm quite happy.

I live in a suburb of Birmingham Alabama and also have a small farm in Blount County. I had Spectrum cable, phone and internet in town, and Dish Network in Blount County. I also have Starlink which I use in Blount County as well as in my RV when I travel.

Spectrum was reasonably priced when I started, but had creeped up over the years to twice the original price. I had Dish for over 12 years, and the price crept up, but not as much as Spectrum.

I finally pulled the plug a week ago. I went from 2 cable bills (one of which included internet) down to 1 for both locations plus the 2 internet bills. The cost savings are hugh and series!

I went with the Directv Choice package...$94.99/mo for 2 months then $114.99.

You can install the Directv app on Roku and Firestick, but my wife is gadget challenged and basically does channel up/down only, so that wasn't an option. I bought 4 Gemini Air dongles on Ebay (2 tvs at 2 location). The dongle is similar to Roku, so you can install streaming apps. It also includes a remote which has numeric keypad as well as channel and volume up/down buttons.

BIG BONUS!!! NO SHOPPING CHANNELS!

Bottom line, I'm a happy camper and I thought other Freepers might like a review.

[CraigEsq]

I also switched recently from cable to directv. One native device and one fire stick. Overall happy, their native device is great, but the fire stick has been having issues with program restart feature for the last couple of weeks, either quitting restarting or restarting by itself.

[6ppc]

Gemini Air is working great. Not cheap, but worth it.

[TiGuy22]

Do you use this instead of Roku?

[Pollard]

HTPC - a mini PC with HDMI output
It runs Kubuntu Linux
43” Dumb TV acting as a monitor

Apps:
Spotify
Freetube (tracking free youtube viewer)
Plex TV Media Server

Web Apps:
Pluto TV
Tubi TV
Roku TV

The web apps are just websites and I use something called a Single-Site Browser for each one. That removes menu bar, url field, bookmarks, history etc, leaving just a stripped down window with Title Bar.

Plex TV has free streaming much like Pluto, Roku/free and Tubi but also serves my media library (TV Shows, Movies, Music)

Mini PC $125
Media keyboard $30

No monthly bills. No bloated Home Page trying to sell me Premium services.

I’m watching Sunday Morning Futures livestream on Freetube right now.

I can usually find full versions of most any FoxNews show. Only things I watch are Waters and Gutfeld.

I tried both Direct TV and Dish TV years ago but every time a thunderstorm came through, I lost signal due to “high clouds”.

[Pollard]

Fire Sticks are under powered as far as processor/RAM. A Fire Cube might do better for you.

[catnipman]

replace the firestick with a Roku Ultra Streaming Device 4K/HDR/Dolby Vision/Atmos, Rechargeable Roku Voice Remote Pro, Ethernet Port, Hands-Free Controls, Lost Remote Finder, Free & Live TV ... blah, blah, blah ... you won’t regret it ...

[mrmeyer]

👆
THIS

[6ppc]

Directv app runs on Roku. The Roku ultimate version is probably better. I’m using Gemini Air because it’s a better remote for my wife.

[Gaffer]

to me. As far as packages go, DirectV is the worst, followed by Hulu.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Hey thanks for posting this. I’ll have to look at this when we review our setup again.

This information is quite helpful.

Thanks again.

[plain talk]

We watch movies & documentaries and no interest in live TV anymore. I watch Amazon Prime almost exclusively which has a great mix of content.

I see your package includes lots of on-demand titles which sounds like you have that covered as well. Good luck!

[The Unknown Republican]

We dropped TV service providers 17 years ago. We subscribe only for shows we want to watch. We have about 1,000 movies on Vudu as well. Our monthly bill for services like MGM, Max, etc, is always under $60. We cancel subs and restart all of the time as our needs change. With the “years between seasons” approach of so many modern shows on streaming services, we cancel when seasons end. We watch what we want and we don’t have to support certain folks we don’t like. PlutoTV is free and gets lots of conservative news channels. Frndly TV is a good inexpensive “TV” provider as well if you want more traditional cable channels. If you haven’t given up Fox News, well you should.

[N. Theknow]

BUMP

[CraigEsq]

The fire stick definitely is slow, that’s true. But it worked fine until a couple of weeks ago when Verizon was having bandwidth issues and kept freezing and restarting. Since then restarting a show hasn’t worked right.

[JSM_Liberty]

I have an antenna and a Tivo for the OTA channels and various of the streaming only services (some free with T-Mobile, others on cheap deals)

Everyone once in a while, when there is something that is on a cable only channel, I will sign up for one of the cable replacement providers like YouTubeTV, sling or DirectTV stream. There are broadly similar bur I did think DirectTV was pretty user friendly when I used it recently.

If we couldn’t get stuff with an antenna, I might be tempted to get one of the streaming cable replacement services, but so far haven’t felt the need.

[Arlis]

Been a Directv customer for decades as it’s the only source I have in the country far from civiliztion.

To save costs I replaced 2 receivers for Streaming - and I hate it.

Cannot tell you all the times I cannot watch something important because their streaming - NOT THE INTERNET OR MY HIGH-SPEED CONNECTION - gets clogged and I get no signal. Their msg., “Sorry, network is congested..”

I pay but get nothing.

Then, they DO NOT SUPPORT THE STREAMING APP! I had problems with the App locking up on my Firestick. “Sorry, we do not support that.”

I’m mad and would change but I have no choice where I live.

Just wait til you cannot get a signal on Streaming or your app locks up.

They can do nothing but say, “We’re sorry.” and continue to take your money.

Refunds? Forget it.

[StAnDeliver]

"The fire stick definitely is slow, that’s true. But it worked fine until a couple of weeks ago when Verizon was having bandwidth issues and kept freezing and restarting. Since then restarting a show hasn’t worked right."

Is there an update pending? Worth a look.