Cutting the Cord?

[Flint]

My comments were about content which is not popular enough to remained "cached" near you. If Netflix or Hulu have to send the content from the primary source servers to you in real time, that stream could need to pass over several networks, through many bridges, before reaching your segment and reaching your streaming device. The caching servers on your segment probably hold about 30 to 100 shows on Hulu, similar for Netflix and Amazon, but vastly more content is cached for YouTube as it is more diverse. Each streaming service pays to have caching services on the internet, so they cannot afford to store their entire catalog on every segment of the internet. So, they use basic analytics to cache what id most popular on your segment, which could be different from other segments.

Anyway, sometimes poor performance is caused by the issue of trying to get content from a central data center during periods of high traffic on the internet.

 

[Huey]

Whatever it was, setting it to the highest setting rather than auto produced the best results.

 

[Flint]

Well, I started getting ads in the middle of some shows on my CBS All-Access service. So, I downgraded my service. I am not paying full price only to get ads.

 

[mzpro5]

Well, I started getting ads in the middle of some shows on my CBS All-Access service. So, I downgraded my service. I am not paying full price only to get ads.

What kind of ads? Only thing I occasionally get are 10-15 second ads for other CBS shows. I can live with that.

 

[Towen7]

Does anyone have any interest in the new Amazon Recast? Personally I don’t care enough about live TV to want to record anything but I’m weird that way. I also don’t know very many people who have an OTA antenna. Most of the cord cutters were know get their local channels via streaming services.

 

[Flint]

What kind of ads? Only thing I occasionally get are 10-15 second ads for other CBS shows. I can live with that.

It isn't in every show, but I often get an ad right in the middle of a show for other shows I would never in a million years watch, like Survivor. Occasionally I get similar ads at the beginning and/or end of a show, and if I stop playback when the ad starts at the end of the show, the UI suggests i resume that episode when i return later to catch up on new episodes- so I often resume the ending ad thinking I hadn't finished the episode. Really, the CBS app is still clunky and convoluted compared to the other services I use.

 

[Huey]

It isn't in every show, but I often get an ad right in the middle of a show for other shows I would never in a million years watch, like Survivor. Occasionally I get similar ads at the beginning and/or end of a show, and if I stop playback when the ad starts at the end of the show, the UI suggests i resume that episode when i return later to catch up on new episodes- so I often resume the ending ad thinking I hadn't finished the episode. Really, the CBS app is still clunky and convoluted compared to the other services I use.

Since I go through Amazon to get CBS All Access, it's all under the Prime app on whatever player I'm using for streaming, and it works well. It also seems to be show specific for the ones that they show commercials in, but like Mzpro said, it's only been for their shows, although it's still annoying.

 

[mzpro5]

I find it a bit amusing that after watching TV with 3-5 minute interruptions every 10 minutes for crap we have no intention of buying for most of our lives some find it annoying/inconvenient/whatever when a 30 second interruptible occurs.

Is this how far we have declined?

 

[The DirtMerchant]

I find it a bit amusing that after watching TV with 3-5 minute interruptions every 10 minutes for crap we have no intention of buying for most of our lives some find it annoying/inconvenient/whatever when a 30 second interruptible occurs.

Is this how far we have declined?

I don't think that's a decline. I think that's an incline.

 

[Flint]

But why pay $99 a year for commercial-free content which has commercials when I can pay $59 for content which has commercials.

It is a matter of principle now.

 

[mzpro5]

But why pay $99 a year for commercial-free content which has commercials when I can pay $59 for content which has commercials.

It is a matter of principle now.

You are certainly free to go back to all those commercials but for $3.33/month I can stand a 30 second interruption to any programming I want to watch on CBS.

 

[Flint]

Really, it is the whole concept. Either there are no commercials or there are plenty. There is no in between for me.

At least on Hulu, Netflix and prime when they run promos before a show you can skip them.

 

[Haywood]

If I find myself in a world where I have to pay high premiums AND watch an appreciable number of ads, I will go back to "alternative means of acquisition." I don't mind paying the $100/mo I am currently spending on content, but I refuse to spend that and watch tons of ads.

 

[Huey]

Those with DirecTV Now, what are your thoughts? After a couple of months of cutting the cord, we find ourselves missing some of the shows we used to watch. Hulu is great, but shows like Archer don't show up until a year after they've aired, or so I have read. I'm assuming that you can only stream the live broadcasts of the stations, and not choose like you can with Hulu, but the lowest priced tier is at $50, and that includes HBO, so really only $35 more a month. Not sure if it's worth it or not, and I find that I have more stuff to watch than ever, but it's something about familiarity to some shows.

 

[Batman]

I happen to like it @ the monthly cost. I think pretty much everyone here that’s gone this route, has stated that they’ve lost a little content as a result. And when this route is recommended, others have been warned of this, so one needs to consider whether having 80-90%+ of the content (when paired with other apps) they’re used to at 50-60% the cost is a move worth making. I’m unsure if I’m understanding your statement about live broadcasts only, do you mean with DirectvNow? If so, there is some on demand content if you do a search. I haven’t used it often, so I can’t speak to how much content from which channels is on hand. Overall I’ve been pleased with my combination of apps, costs have risen slightly, but I’m still saving around $90/mo vs when I had Dish.

 

[Huey]

Yes, wondering if they have some on demand stuff or if it is all just live streaming. Do they have any 4K stuff on there as well? I think I can use my Roku 3 box for this, which as glitchy as the Sony is, it does have the best picture but doesn't do many apps.

 

[Batman]

I don’t believe they have any 4K content, good question

 

[Huey]

Thanks for the help Chris!

 

[mzpro5]

Those with DirecTV Now, what are your thoughts? After a couple of months of cutting the cord, we find ourselves missing some of the shows we used to watch. Hulu is great, but shows like Archer don't show up until a year after they've aired, or so I have read. I'm assuming that you can only stream the live broadcasts of the stations, and not choose like you can with Hulu, but the lowest priced tier is at $50, and that includes HBO, so really only $35 more a month. Not sure if it's worth it or not, and I find that I have more stuff to watch than ever, but it's something about familiarity to some shows.

No 4k as Chris mentioned. I do use the DirectTV record options quite a bit. It only holds about 20 hours of content though.

I keep telling myself I am going to get rid of it as it only accounts for about 20% of what I watch. Most of that is the movies on TCM many of which I record and wouldn't be able to watch otherwise.

 

[Batman]

DirectvNow is my main source of live content. I rarely skip around (pause, rewind, skip back, etc) during live viewing so I find the DVR function a little cumbersome. But that’s more on me as I haven’t really taken the initiative to learn how to use it.