NGC~Youtube TV via ROKU dongle

[jcctx]

I am the recipient of "free" access to YTTV via one of the 6 sub accounts on my son's subscription; question is~ do any other that have the service find it as incredibly clumsy to use the service?? Things like changing "channels" or surfing the available programming are tasks I find exasperating!!!
Note~ I do not plan on cancelling Dish just because this is free!!

[old head]

Roku has thousands of channels

only need to put in a code and can watch the channel, if you like it, just save it to the favorites
I have about 20 saved, watch youtube quite a bit.
tubi is good
Pluto is fair
many, many movie channels,

https://cordcutting.com/devices/roku/channels/

[Aaron D.]

I ditched DirecTV, Youtube TV is different but no harder to use. Roku is wonderful BTW. Tubi for movies-best thing ever.

MotoGP I watch on a ChromeCast.

[Zoom Zoom]

I have been working on reducing this expense as well. As of right now, I have not subscribed to any pay service available through the Roku. I have added a Tablo OTA DVR, trimmed down my dish bill by eliminating extras. I will likely stop paying them for my locals soon since I can get all that off the antenna. (I actually get more off the antenna along with a better picture than Dish provides. Even in high def.)

I would agree that searching through stuff is a bit more troublesome, but I don't feel it is horrible. There are a few things I like better and a few things I don't like as much. I'm able to receive nearly 50 OTA broadcasts, way more than paying 12 bucks or whatever it is now for the locals on the dish. And now, I can record them like I have been doing for some time and fast forward through commercials.

At the end of the day, I'm willing to deal with the trade offs for the cost savings. Probably sooner than later, I'll make a list of the stuff I am interested in getting, (Smithsonian, Discovery, BBCA), and decide what I need to do to get them over a streaming service. Even though some of the services have increased their prices recently, I'm fairly certain I can save money by doing so.

If the cable and sat companies want to compete, they need to start offering more ala carte channels instead of making you buy 200 channels you never look at just to get one or two you really want! Until they do, they'll continue to hemorrhage customers.

John Henry

[Zoom Zoom]

BTW, and I realize this is only a part of your frustration, but there is a Roku app you can put on your smart phone. If you use the search function a lot, it gives you the ability to use a keyboard instead of highlighting letters to spell out something you're looking for.

The Roku I bought has a mic in the remote that works pretty good for searching. There are limitations though. If you're inside a particular app, (YT, Pluto, etc.), some do not support the voice search function. But, when on the main Roku screen, it will search across apps to locate what you want. Often there are multiple choices. Some free and some not.


John Henry

[xackley]

If you have and older/slower roku, lots of their channels will be frustrating. The code writers expect you have the current generation roku. The actual code for each channel is written by the provider, so the only button on your remote that is consistent thoughout is the home button.

The cell phone android app can be used for a keyboard and/or voice if  the channel provider included code for it. Using headphones on your cell phone is also supported on new units.

And don't let the sales people and talking heads convince you that you need a fat pipe to the internet to stream. I pay spectrum a flat 14.99 a month for 3.5Mbs. On a 42 inch screen everything displays nicely, and 99% of the stream channels never buffer.

Don

[jcctx]

This one is new as of Christmas and has the mic button so I guess it supports voice commands (have not tried it yet)/ Have only tried it a couple times and usually get frustrated. Have to stream over my Visible cell service (restricted to 5MB/s, but unlimited as to total data usage) as I only can get 1.5 MB DSL here. Seems to stream the programs ok; just moving around and changing channel is aggravating! Would not pay anything for the service but since there is no xtra cost, guess it will stay as a curiosity. May check on the spectrum @ $15/ month for my house in Allen. Have only seen the $30 (in a bundle) advertised there??

[kirkemon]

I have Youtube TV but with the Apple TV box. The interface is ok, not nearly as clumsy as the Hulu interface.

I don't have a son to get it free and they're raising the rate to a whooping $55 per month.

There is a lot of competition coming via Apple and Disney both announcing streaming services to be launched soon.