The YouTube TV Thread

[Zookster]

PBS is live here in San Diego now. OWN has also finally been added (it was promised by end of year with the Discovery channels in April). Be sure to update your custom guide to see any new channels.

BTW, if anyone is on Facebook, I started a new YouTube TV group called YouTube TV Support Community. Feel free to send a join request. Some of the veterans of the main YouTube TV Facebook group are leaving due to poor moderation that has resulted in a negative if not hostile environment. This new group is focused on being helpful and friendly (like the other group originally was).

 

[osu1991]

OETA in Tulsa for PBS and PBS Kids are showing live in my guide now.

 

[Zookster]

The Streamable posted a list of all the markets PBS is available now.

 

[docdaddy]

I'm going to be in an apartment for a while due to a job change, need to sell a house, find and buy a new house in the new city, etc. We have Dish at home but YTTV seems like a no-brainer for TV while in the apartment. The one question my wife has is whether there's any discussion of YTTV adding A&E, History channel, and Lifetime network in the near future?

Thanks

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

I'm going to be in an apartment for a while due to a job change, need to sell a house, find and buy a new house in the new city, etc. We have Dish at home but YTTV seems like a no-brainer for TV while in the apartment. The one question my wife has is whether there's any discussion of YTTV adding A&E, History channel, and Lifetime network in the near future?

Thanks

Just add Philo Service for $20.00 a month. With both Philo & YTTV, you should be good.

 

[raven316]

I've had yttv via ROKU for about 7 months. It was flawless until I cancelled my dish and then started having buffering issues. I have fiber and my signal is really strong but it keeps happening to the point that I have basic cable for one tube because I can't hack buffering during games. We were at the beach twice this fall and we rent a place that has the same setup but no buffering ever. I can'r figure it out.

 

[harshness]

The lesson to be learned here is that not all high speed internet is provisioned well and even if you have the highest tier, too many simultaneous users can lead to an overload. Top speed isn't as important as sustainable speed. Multicasting (sending out a dedicated stream to each and every user) requires mass quantities of bandwidth and the more that depend on it, the worse it gets.

Obviously this doesn't happen with cable TV or satellite's conventional linear channels as they're sending a good portion of their content to everybody 24/7 with some spill into broadband for demand content.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Obviously this doesn't happen with cable TV or satellite's conventional linear channels as they're sending a good portion of their content to everybody 24/7 with some spill into broadband for demand content.

Nevertheless, the incessant march toward streaming-only platforms continues.

 

[Bruce]

Nevertheless, the incessant march toward streaming-only platforms continues.

And I am so happy about it.


Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[comfortably_numb]

And I am so happy about it.

Everyone who has fast, reliable broadband is. It will continue to leave a vast rural area unserved or underserved, though.

 

[Bruce]

Everyone who has fast, reliable broadband is. It will continue to leave a vast rural area unserved or underserved, though.

And corporations do not care, they only think about the 80% that can, did Disney care that the rural population might not have fast enough internet for their new service, nope, they only cared about the majority that do, if they did care it would have been a premium channel on Traditional Service.

As far as rural folks getting faster broadband, hope that Starlink works as they say it will, there is no way that 5G will work based on the proximity it needs to have to the homes from the towers/Poles and no one from cable companies is going to run cables to serve just a few customers.


Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[comfortably_numb]

And corporations do not care, they only think about the 80% that can, did Disney care that the rural population might not have fast enough internet for their new service, nope, they only cared about the majority that do, if they did care it would have been a premium channel on Traditional Service.

Maybe C-band will make a remarkable resurgence into the 2020's!

 

[osu1991]

Maybe C-band will make a remarkable resurgence into the 2020's!

Oh, I think I can help that along.

I've been thinking about offering mine to someone that wants to pick it up, since I'll probably never use it again.

I guarantee, a week after I get rid of it, the flood gates of programming will open once again.

 

[TheForce]

The lesson to be learned here is that not all high speed internet is provisioned well and even if you have the highest tier, too many simultaneous users can lead to an overload. Top speed isn't as important as sustainable speed. Multicasting (sending out a dedicated stream to each and every user) requires mass quantities of bandwidth and the more that depend on it, the worse it gets.

Absolutely correct! All consumer accounts share bandwidth with others so you may have good numbers in the off hours but during prime time could suffer. There is a way around that. If you qualify with a business in your home, you can get a business account that offers sustained bandwidth 24-7. You may not need much if it is a sustained speed. I have 100megabits download that varies about 3-5 mbits. A consumer account might connect at 100, but in 2-3 minutes average only 30-60. With a business account you can specify your upload requirements too but here you might need to show you are serving content. Static IP's are also available. The other advantage here is a consumer account might get 72 hours for a service call response. My business account is 3 hours back up and running except in a disaster. Cost? Now that it does. I used to pay Comcast $150 a month for 100 up and down plus one static IP. Since I retired from the video business, I backed it off to 100 down and 25 up sustained dropped the static IP. I now pay $90 a month. And there has never been a cap on bandwidth. So if you own a business, and have speed trouble this may be a way around it. Don't call your regular consumer phone number. look up the business account number for the cable provider in your area. Ask to speak to an Account Executive and they will determine if you qualify. One more thing, a business account doesn't guarantee an exclusive line to the head end unless you are in a top tier. But what's important is the sustained speed guarantee. Note- I didn't even have Comcast TV. However, when I used to do freelance shooting and remote location engineering for them they gave me free internet and Cable TV as a perk. When I retired that all went away and I had to pay.

 

[harshness]

I have Comcast Business at work and we're nowhere near the advertised speed perhaps half of the workday. We're way out on the end of their fiber and they tell me to be happy to get what we get. Our service guarantee is best effort and that can regularly be a day or more. We had a cable cut and it took three days to repair.

I maintain a flexible T-1 that carries our phone traffic and some data (security cameras and PBX traffic between other campuses) and I've had to cut over to it more than once while waiting for Comcast to show up. That's when you learn how much impact streaming music has on bandwidth.

Your mileage will most certainly vary widely as they roll out business services to residential addresses (I get weekly mail pieces about setting my home up).

 

[harshness]

Nevertheless, the incessant march toward streaming-only platforms continues.

The march may slow to a crawl as performance declines such as raven316 is experiencing become an issue for more viewers. Hoping, wishing or reasoning that viewers will lose interest in UHD streaming or that your broadband provider is just about to go into rapid build-out mode isn't going to fix the bandwidth problem.

I'm not convinced we're near the tipping point yet so I suspect it is going to get much worse before it gets better.

 

[Zookster]

I've had yttv via ROKU for about 7 months. It was flawless until I cancelled my dish and then started having buffering issues. I have fiber and my signal is really strong but it keeps happening to the point that I have basic cable for one tube because I can't hack buffering during games. We were at the beach twice this fall and we rent a place that has the same setup but no buffering ever. I can'r figure it out.

What model Roku are you using? Are you connecting via WiFi or a wired connection? And have you tested YTTV on other devices on your home internet, including mobile and PC? Lastly, have you tried lowering the YTTV video setting on your Roku from Auto/1080p to 720p or 480p to see what happens, not as a permanent solution of course, but just for troubleshooting purposes. I'm assuming you've done the standard troubleshooting steps (rebooting home internet setup, rebooting your Roku, uninstalling/reinstalling the YTTV app, etc.)

 

[raven316]

What model Roku are you using? Are you connecting via WiFi or a wired connection? And have you tested YTTV on other devices on your home internet, including mobile and PC? Lastly, have you tried lowering the YTTV video setting on your Roku from Auto/1080p to 720p or 480p to see what happens, not as a permanent solution of course, but just for troubleshooting purposes. I'm assuming you've done the standard troubleshooting steps (rebooting home internet setup, rebooting your Roku, uninstalling/reinstalling the YTTV app, etc.)

I have 3 of the pluses and google mesh that shows a great signal. I also use and iPad and iPhone and they rarely spin.

thanks

 

[raven316]

What model Roku are you using? Are you connecting via WiFi or a wired connection? And have you tested YTTV on other devices on your home internet, including mobile and PC? Lastly, have you tried lowering the YTTV video setting on your Roku from Auto/1080p to 720p or 480p to see what happens, not as a permanent solution of course, but just for troubleshooting purposes. I'm assuming you've done the standard troubleshooting steps (rebooting home internet setup, rebooting your Roku, uninstalling/reinstalling the YTTV app, etc.)

I switched to 720 and it really seemed to help. The bonus is I can't tell the difference on my tv!

Thanks

 

[Zookster]

I switched to 720 and it really seemed to help. The bonus is I can't tell the difference on my tv!

Thanks

In one of the YouTube TV Facebook groups, a few people have been reporting some new buffering issues specifically on Roku devices this past week. Sometimes an app or a device OS update will affect different users differently causing unexpected problems (this goes for any streaming app/service). I remember at the start of 2019, a new issue on certain Rokus emerged where the picture would randomly freeze and trigger the Roku to reboot. This happened to me about once every other day over a month or so, and then it was fixed and all was good again.

What I'm trying to say is, in a few weeks your particular issue may sort itself out and you can switch back to "Auto" for video quality. But yeah, I generally can't tell much difference between 720p and 1080p on streamed live TV, especially since the channels I watch where it could make the most difference (for sports) are all already 720p anyway (ESPN, Fox Sports etc.).