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[adamsapple]

Looking for some help/advise from experienced users. Anyone Northern Virginia specific users's comments would be highly appreciated.

I am about to move into my first self-owned home and looking at cost cutting solutions while retaining as much as I can in terms of internet+TV. After all the research I've come at, the best solution I've come to is Fios's 50/50 MB internet and Sling TV's Orange package for basic channels.

We don't need more channels then what Sling Orange offers, TV is meant to be just something in the background or casual browsing and the Orange plan seems to offer most things we would need (the wife needs her Free Form and thankfully that's there).

Comcast seems to have cheaper internet + TV options but they have a 1TB cap and I've heard nothing but bad things about their customer service and troubleshooting. Fios has TV + Internet packages but they only either do local channels with the 50/50 connection, or you need to get the gigabit connection for custom channels, which ends up becoming $120/month. with the Fios 50/50 and Sling Orange, it's coming down to approx $60 a month regularly (buying the router, not renting it). Sling also offers a 2 month plan with a free Roku stick which is pretty good and it has apps on pretty much all devices besides PS4's.

Is there any cheaper/better solution ?

Also, is a 50 megabit connection sufficient enough for constantly streaming TV ?

 

[Schlep]

I'll answer the questions backwards:

• An average HD stream takes up 5mbps and a 4K stream takes 25mbps. 50mbps is more than enough.
• Most people seem to go with either Sling or Vue for TV. The benefit to Vue over Sling Orange is that you can have more than one stream going at a time. So $39.99 for up to 5 streams (in home), more channels, and DVR. Sling Orange with DVR is $24.99. Kind of up to you on which channels you 'need'.
• YouTube TV is rolling out support to STB's this Fall, so that may be another option. They're $35/mo.

Personally I have AT&T gigabit and Sling Blue (grandfathered $20 rate+free DVR for being in the beta). Sling is rock solid, however their DVR regularly seems to have issues lately.

 

[adamsapple]

I've been reading up on youtube TV and it seems to have a great lineup of channels for that price but then it's not possible to use it on a TV without 'casting' it with a chromecast or using it on a laptop or mobile .. which is a big deal breaker for me.

If they had some kind of dedicated box or compatibility with Roku or Amazon Fire sticks, it would be a very solid option for me, I guess I can wait for the STB to come out. Until then continue using Sling, which thankfully doesn't rely on any contracts and can be canceled any time.

 

[Schlep]

Yeah, the insinuation is that it will probably be available on Roku and Apple TV soon. Possibly Fire Stick, although I'd be shocked for that one to get priority given Google's love/hate relationship with Amazon.

 

[TheContact]

I need s better antenna. I bought the amazon one with the range extender but the only decent channel I get is NBC. I need CBS for my football games =x. My tv is on the first floor in my house and I’ve tried different spots but I don’t seem to pick up a good signal. I think maybe I need a stronger antenna, any recommendations? With the same antenna, I used to get more channels but I was on the second floor in an apartment.

 

[Schlep]

Not sure how accessible your wiring is. On mine, I plugged an antenna into a spare bedroom upstairs and rerouted that line to the bedroom and living room TVs downstairs with a splitter. It's worked flawlessly.

 

[captive]

if you can get it to a window that is your best bet. I built my own that worked really well, after buying one from the store that was junk.

 

[dskillzhtown]

I've been reading up on youtube TV and it seems to have a great lineup of channels for that price but then it's not possible to use it on a TV without 'casting' it with a chromecast or using it on a laptop or mobile .. which is a big deal breaker for me.

If they had some kind of dedicated box or compatibility with Roku or Amazon Fire sticks, it would be a very solid option for me, I guess I can wait for the STB to come out. Until then continue using Sling, which thankfully doesn't rely on any contracts and can be canceled any time.

Why would you not want to use a Chromecast, but fine with using a Firestick? I find it a easy to pick what I want on my phone or tablet and cast it to my TV. Curious as to what would turn people off to that solution.

 

[adamsapple]

Why would you not want to use a Chromecast, but fine with using a Firestick? I find it a easy to pick what I want on my phone or tablet and cast it to my TV. Curious as to what would turn people off to that solution.

For me, I don't want to have my phone being used for casting because I'm working on my phone even at home. A dedicated stick (Fire or Roku) is a self-contained solution which isn't keeping a necessary device I need occupied.

I would like my TV solution to be a plug-and-forget sort of deal and only have to worry about where the TV remote is.

 

[Cap'n Cook]

I need s better antenna. I bought the amazon one with the range extender but the only decent channel I get is NBC. I need CBS for my football games =x. My tv is on the first floor in my house and I’ve tried different spots but I don’t seem to pick up a good signal. I think maybe I need a stronger antenna, any recommendations? With the same antenna, I used to get more channels but I was on the second floor in an apartment.

Is an outdoor antenna possible? If all you're getting is NBC then I recommend an outdoor antenna. Enter your address here and it will show you the distance and location of the towers for the channels in your area. Most of the towers for my local channels were 50+ miles away, I purchased a few indoor antennas that were rated for 50+ miles but was still having a hard time getting channels, I went ahead and purchased an outdoor antenna and now I'm getting 38 local channels including all the major networks. Installing is very easy especially if you already have preexisting cabling from cable or satellite.

 

[Apt101]

Having cut the cord shortly before Obama was elected, I feel like an early adopter. After all of these years I am still surprised there isn't a solid, cheap option for sports though. Sometimes I just wanna watch a ball game, but the only options are clunky and expensive.