Best TV plan for streaming? Hulu, sling, ???

[tanglemoose]

Just got starlink for our home and south trip... what streaming service do you like? One that travels to lots of different locations, we travel.. move usually every 14 days..
New thoughts... hubby likes college football and needs ESPN and we like to watch Fox news and business.. that puts a twist in it... we have a roku and paramount + but they don't do the ESPN.. hulu, I heard you can only change address 4 times, then you have to be at main residence... so, that would not work... ideas??

 

[Isaac-1]

This really depends on what you like to watch, we find plenty of stuff to watch most of it on Netflix and Amazon alone, followed a distance 3rd by Hulu, and the various free options, Pluto, Tubi, Roku Channel, CW, etc. The rest of the big name channels seem to mostly be one hit wonders, with one BIG show, plus some other stuff to watch, though having said that Amazon seems to be on a downward trend, with more and more pay per view content and less included free stuff.

 

[TheBar]

I have used Philo for 2 years. $25/month for 60+ quality channels, no infomercial or junk channels. Has an unlimited DVR with 1 year retention and a 1 click commercial skip. It doesn't care about your location as it is browser based. Runs on Roku, Fire Stick, PC, etc. The only drawback is there are no sports channels like ESPN. Have to get sports elsewhere.

 

[bzerull]

I have had youtube tv for three years now. You can watch everything you mentioned and easy to save shows for watching later. You can change your home location whenever you want. Same cost as Hulu and other streaming services. I think it is the best for what you want to watch.

 

[Ksouers]

The only drawback is there are no sports channels like ESPN.

That’s not a drawback. Really can’t stand football or basketball. A baseball game once in a while can be entertaining.

Kevin

 

[jadebox]

Most of the services now make it fairly easy to cancel. You used to have to call and talk to a person that would refer you to the "customer retention department" which would try to keep you from cancelling. Now, you can usually just fill out a form online.

So .. the reason I said all that is that you don't have to decide which is best for you. You can try them one at a time. And you can switch fairly easily to another whenever you want to help avoid multiple charges. Also, most offer a free trial period.

Having said all of that, I am lazy and have a subscription to several services. The most expensive one is YouTube Live. It is basically like a cable package with local channels and a lot of "cable" channels plus a lot of on-demand selections. One nice feature is that it has almost unlimited "DVR" storage. You can set it to save anything you are interested in and it'll keep the programs for up to nine months. It basically turns everything you DVR from the local and cable channels into on-demand stuff.

If you are interested in network programs but don't need local channels, you can subscribe to Hulu (mostly ABC and Fox), Peacock (NBC), and Paramount+ (CBS). All three also have movies and other things. If you choose the "with commercials" options, it isn't very expensive to get all three. I don't recommend the non-commercial options because you will be annoyed by how many commercials they still show you even though you paid extra to avoid them!

If you want live sports, I recommend YouTube TV.

If you have kids or just like Marvel, Star Wars, and other Disney properties, of course, you should consider Disney+. It's also a pretty good deal if you aren't a Disney fan because it has a lot of content and because you can bundle it with Hulu and ESPN+. My biggest nitpick is I don't like the interface it uses on our Roku TVs. The program icons and titles are too small especially on the smaller TV in our RV.

HBO Max is a good choice for more adult (not that kind of adult, though!) programming. Lots of good movies and series.

 

[Lou Schneider]

I subscribe to one or two of the streaming services at a time, currently I have Amazon Prime and Hulu. The latter is at a $2.99 a month special rate for three months and there is no need to tell them when I change locations, as far as they know I'm still at my billing address. Services that have geofenced programming like local TV channels or regional sports may be different.

I'll watch everything on it that interests me, then I'll cancel and switch to another streaming service when the promotional period ends. This way I'm not spending $50 or $100 a month for channels I rarely watch.

 

[DutchmenSport]

We have Roku televisions and just watch the "free" streaming sites. Lots to watch if you don't mind the commercials.

The only thing we actually "pay" for is Amazon Prime. But we also do a lot of purchasing through Amazon. There are other benefits to Amazon than just streaming video.

 

[jymbee]

hulu, I heard you can only change address 4 times, then you have to be at main residence... so, that would not work...

Hulu doesn't care where you are.

 

[jymbee]

I have had youtube tv for three years now. You can watch everything you mentioned and easy to save shows for watching later. You can change your home location whenever you want. Same cost as Hulu and other streaming services.

According to YoutubeTV's site:

A YouTube TV Base Plan costs $64.99 + tax/month.

What am I missing as this may be a great option but from what I see one of the most expensive services available?

 

[jymbee]

I have used Philo for 2 years.

Everyone has their own preferences of course, but their ad policy rules them out as an option for myself: I don't do any ads, ever.

Can you fast forward on Philo DVR?
You can fast forward through any saved shows that have been recorded, i.e. tiles marked with the. tag You can fast forward but the last ad break is required (... unless you watched it already)

 

[DutchmenSport]

Internet television (streaming video), anything over the internet, it doesn't matter, if you have a paid subscription to any site, you can access "it" anywhere you can get the internet and on any device that accesses the internet.

Streaming video is unlike Dish TV or Direct TV that uses satellite signals and you are required to have a receiver for their signal, be in a specific geographical location, and have a satellite dish set up somewhere.

Hulu? You just log in with your device (television, lap top computer, smart phone) and if you can get the internet, you can get Hulu (or any other paid service over the internet.)

 

[Reinigm]

I bought a Fire Stick TV from Best Buy. My Wifi is run off of the hotspot on my Verizon phone. The TV is preloaded with just about everything I have at my house. So when on the road, I get a lot to choose from. I found that YouTube Premium (not YouTubeTV) works really well. You can search and pull up just about every game you want to see (or at least the full highlights), and with Amazon Music (tied to Fire Stick), there is a huge array of music options (I'm a Blues fan and contemporary christian follower). All kinds of different genres to choose from. I'm a big history buff and no lack of options.

 

[Larry N.]

Streaming video is unlike Dish TV or Direct TV that uses satellite signals and you are required to have a receiver for their signal, be in a specific geographical location, and have a satellite dish set up somewhere.

Actually you don't have to "be in a specific geographical location." I have DirecTV at home, but I also have the Winegard Trav'ler for Direct on my coach, and taking one box from home lets me get Direct anywhere in the country, though for local stations I have to use the OTA antenna when away from home area (in my case, outside of Colorado).

Many do the same with Dish- in fact Dish has a special arrangement for RVs, month by month pay, stop it, then restart it as you wish.

 

[bzerull]

According to YoutubeTV's site:



What am I missing as this may be a great option but from what I see one of the most expensive services available?

Compare with what you get. Hulu is about the same and offers much less. To get the sports you pay more. I just use my cell phone hotspot and works just fine.

 

[Isaac-1]

I think on the bang for the buck basis it is really hard to beat netflix ($15.50 per month standard plan / $168 per year) and amazon prime is $14.99 per month / $139 per year, but includes other benefits like faster free shipping, prime discounts on products, etc. so its not just video. Hulu is cheaper at only $8 per month, but that is with adds, without adds it is in the same $15 per month ballpark as Netflix and Amazon, and has a lot less newer content, being mostly older tv shows and movies.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Actually you don't have to "be in a specific geographical location." I have DirecTV at home, but I also have the Winegard Trav'ler for Direct on my coach, and taking one box from home lets me get Direct anywhere in the country, though for local stations I have to use the OTA antenna when away from home area (in my case, outside of Colorado).

Many do the same with Dish- in fact Dish has a special arrangement for RVs, month by month pay, stop it, then restart it as you wish.

Dish also makes switching locals to your current location quite easy if you have an "Outdoor" account for RV'ers and tailgaters. Changing locals just involves a few taps on an app that uses the GPS function to determine your location.

 

[LarsMac]

According to YoutubeTV's site:



What am I missing as this may be a great option but from what I see one of the most expensive services available?

YouTube package is pretty much the same as the major Cable and satellite outfits [DirecTV, Xfinity, and the like.] but about 30 bucks less per month.

 

[TheBar]

Can you fast forward on Philo DVR?
You can fast forward through any saved shows that have been recorded, i.e. tiles marked with the. tag You can fast forward but the last ad break is required (... unless you watched it already)

Maybe that was true in the past but in the past 2 years there has never been a requirement to watch any ads on DVR. I watch Philo on a Roku TV and also a Fire Stick on another TV. On both Philo now has the best ad skipping feature I've heard of. With one click of the forward button it will instantly skip past all the commercials in that chain, whether it is one commercial or 8 commercials.

 

[Contributor]

I have DirecTV and they stream some of their programing. They do use your zip code for the package you purchase at home (I have ESPN in my package) so some programing has local blackout limits. The national stuff is available regardless of location. I watch ESPN on my tablet when camping and when I have cell service. Starlink is just a data provider so that eliminates the need for cell service.