Video Streaming Services What’s Best?

phillihp23

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If one was too consider adding a streaming service which would be recommended? What are the pros and cons?

If my understanding is correct the following apply:

Amazon Video
-$13 a Month (essentially you join prime) $119 annual payment (Save $37)
-includes amazon music basic

Apple TV +
- $5 a month. $50 annual payment (Save $10)
-free for one year with purchase of qualifying Apple device
- adding Apple Music would cost an additional $10

Disney +
- $7 a month

Netflix
-$13 a month
-$17 a month UHD plan

Hulu
-$6 a month Basic
-$12 a month Premium commercial free
- $65 a month Hulu Basic with live tv
-$71 a month Hulu Premium with live tv

HBO Max
-$15 a month

Peacock (NBC Universal)
- $Free basic account
-$Free Premium account with qualifying xfinity service, otherwise $5 a month
- $5 a month premium commercial free with qualifying xfinity service, otherwise $10 a month


Paramount Plus
-$6 a month with commercials or $60 annual ( save $12)
-$10 a month without commercials or $100 annual. ( save $20)

YouTube Tv
-$65 a month

Locast
-$Free Live local tv stations. Applicable to select city’s only.$5 month to stop the contribution request that plays every 15 minutes.

Tubi
-$Free movies and shows with commercials

Pluto TV
-$Free live tv channels

Crackle
-$Free movies with commercials

The Roku Channel
-$Free movies and shows

Vudu
-$Free (Digital redemptions)

*********Limited Time Offers***********
*Apple TV+ is offering within app. CBS ALL ACCESS (commercial free) and SHOWTIME for $10 a month as long as you maintain an Apple TV+ subscription. So all three for $15 a month.*

*Disney+. And Hulu and ESPN+ for $12.99 a month*

*Paramount Plus is offering 50% off for annual subscription Promo Code: YEAR

* Free 3 months of Peacock
Code: PEAPUGLQLY3HUV
Redeem at: PeacockTV.com/ShopPlayWin
 
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tripplej

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Right now, I think it is too early to tell which will win.

Lot of the services are just so new that they don't have enough content to decide who would win.

Netflix has a lot of original programming that is excellent but lot of their movies are moving off to other streaming places..

Disney owns Hulu by the way so eventually, you will see package deal for those two.
 

phillihp23

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In general I see it playing out as such.

Apple + is primarily to drive Apple product sales. Apple is mostly stated this as fact. And they are basically giving you a year free service if you buy a new product.
I don’t see them as becoming a real competitor in the streaming market. Also as stated before they are keeping material family friendly. There shows will also be rolled out weekly rather than season at a time. It’s an inticement to use there product.

HBO Max is just a new version of HBO Now on steroids. Those that paid for HBO Now will likely continue just with HBO Max. I don’t think this changes the streaming market much at all.

Peacock and CBS All Access will likely flop....they won’t be able too compete with the high dollar productions of the originals on Prime or Netflix.

Disney+ I see as the only contender. They are offering a bundle with hulu and espn. Once again though I don’t think the market they are targeting really affects the markets that subscribe to Netflix and Prime.

In general if you have one of the main streaming services Prime / Hulu / Netflix you can add Apple or Disney for a minimal $5-$7 dollar cost.
 

tripplej

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It is like the early days of cable.. All these bundles to get your $$$. :)
 

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Prime and Netflix are the ticket really... I don't see anything competing with them at the moment.

Outside of these two.... we need the 4 major networks, mainly for our local news and football... then we have to have HGTV, History, A&E, Hallmark Channel, ESPN, SEC, Weather... and we'd be set. But to get all this... gotta go Dish Network or cable (if you have cable available).
 

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I'd add Hulu to the mix as well. As for TV, I like YouTube TV and Philo (for the History channel).
 

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For alternatives to mainstream films/shows I absolutely love The Criterion Channel. The quality of the content is nothing short of amazing.

$10.99/month or $99.99/year

https://www.criterionchannel.com/
 

mechman

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Do you get NFL and MLB games on YouTube TV and what quality video 1080?
You get the major networks and then some. But you do not get the NFL or MLB channels. Or the NHL channel for that matter.

They are 1080p feeds I believe but everything I have is upconverted to 4K and either HDR or Dolby Vision depending upon where I'm watching it. I should add that HDR and Dolby Vision add very little, if anything, in the upconversion from what I can tell. Probably because the lack of metadata I'd guess.
 

phillihp23

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Ok so I understand that you don’t get the NFL channel but most games are on fox sports or ESPN or CBS. Also online sites state they have MLB Network. Has this changed?
 

mechman

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Go with what it says online. I don’t have it listed on my customized guide but that’s because I could care less about that particular channel.
 

phillihp23

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You get the major networks and then some. But you do not get the NFL or MLB channels. Or the NHL channel for that matter.

They are 1080p feeds I believe but everything I have is upconverted to 4K and either HDR or Dolby Vision depending upon where I'm watching it. I should add that HDR and Dolby Vision add very little, if anything, in the upconversion from what I can tell. Probably because the lack of metadata I'd guess.
What is upconverting it to 4k?
 
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mechman

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Apple TV will upscale content to 4K. The scaler is actual fairly decent. As for HDR or Dolby Vision, it will convert to those as well which does bother some folks. But you can easily shut these off by switching ‘Match Content’ to on.
 

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take a look at the below link for more details..

 

phillihp23

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take a look at the below link for more details..

I was reviewing that article and one by CNET. I always like to get the down and gritty from actual users if possible though. These articles can be dated or sometimes somewhat misleading.
 

tripplej

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I still think it is a bit early to decide which is best while Disney+ and Apple+ are trying to get their legs out there. :)
 

tripplej

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Yes, I also think so but they will get a lot of consumers for sure. :)
 

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But what about sound? - it still seems that DVDs and BluRays gives better sound compared to the above...
 

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I have found the audio to be just fine on my Shield. As for Blu-rays and such, I have them all ripped to a PLEX server and I get excellent audio on the Shield from that. The AppleTV’s audio is fine for what I use it for as well.
 

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I’m using Netflix and Prime. Also jumped on the Disney+ as I received a discounted offer of just under $5/ month for 3-years.

I prefer Netflix over Prime based on what I presently watch.

Now I’m curious about the Apple TV upscale. :T
 

phillihp23

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My IPad was getting too slow....it’s 6 yrs old.plus ...so I just upgraded to get a faster newer one, better chip. So I guess I will have the bonus of Apple TV + for a year.
 

GFOviedo

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I use Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime for streaming content. I pay $4.99 for Spotify and Hulu due to student discount, Netflix is $12.99, and Amazon Prime $69.99 a year with student discount. So, about $286 per year. Not bad since I was paying $80 a month for DirecTV.
Now, I just need to find a way to stream live sports. Amazon streams Thursdays NFL games live. I wonder if Amazon will buy the NFL streaming contract once the DirecTV contract expires?
 

tripplej

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There are several options for sports streaming..

from livewire,

  • The site: ESPN.com
  • The sports can you watch: Football, basketball, baseball, college sports, hockey, golf, tennis, MMA, NASCAR, esports, UFC Fight NIghts, etc.
  • Notes: Only some of the streams on ESPN.com are free. Others require a valid login from a qualifying cable or satellite subscription
  • The site: Facebook Watch
  • The sports you can watch: One MLB game per week, soccer, women's basketball, surfing, and a range of unofficial streams covering virtually every sport.
  • Notes: Facebook Watch has a limited number of official sports streams, but Facebook users use the service to stream live sports.
  • The site: Laola1
  • The sports you can watch: Soccer, hockey, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, motorsports, others.
  • Notes: This streaming service is based in Austria, but it allows international audiences to view live sports streams.
  • The site: Reddit
  • The sports you can watch: Most profession sports, including baseball, football, soccer, basketball, hockey, etc.
  • Notes: Reddit doesn't host sports streams, but you will find subreddit communities that are dedicated to finding and curating links to live streams for every popular sport.
 
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