I'm testing DirecTV Stream to cut the cord — here's the pros and cons
I'm testing DirecTV Stream to cutting the cord — here'due south the pros and cons
I'm nearly fix to cut the cord, simply after testing DirecTV Stream I've realized that it comes with an asterisk I didn't anticipate. This service, readers, is a lesson in reading the fine print. Because while you lot may have heard that information technology's the identify for regional sports networks, you don't get them in every package.
DirecTV Steam, if you've not heard of it, is the newly rebranded AT&T TV. It was AT&T Tv set Now earlier that, and DirecTV At present before that. It's never been i of our favorites, merely I feel the need to brand sure I've checked nether every rock. And unfortunately its wins are mostly found in competition to cable Goggle box, and not upwardly against the likes of Sling Telly or YouTube TV.
To give y'all some context, I am cutting the string because of the cable box'due south archaic nature. That said, my roommates don't want to give up their specific channels, and and then I'm planning on getting rid of my cable box, and telling them that their $127 per month cablevision bill (which volition get cheaper without that cable box) is their trouble. I'll even offer to allow them share my business relationship with me.
DirecTV Stream Cheat sheet
Cost: $70 per calendar month
Channels: More than 65
DVR: 20 hours
Simultaneous streams: 3
Circulate networks: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC
My ultimate goal in all of this is to find a service that is corking enough to convince them information technology's time for all of us to wave goodbye to cable. I was trying to be optimistic nearly DirecTV Stream, formerly known as AT&T TV, since it's the simply place you can get the YES Network (and I live with some Yankees fans).
The elevation two competitors for my dollar are Sling Tv set and YouTube Tv set, which impressed with price and excellent apps, respectively. Unfortunately, not all of its competitors can say that much. Hulu with Alive Boob tube, for instance, didn't show stable plenty for my liking. And fuboTV doesn't have TNT, which means much fewer NBA Playoff games.
Based on my testing, here'southward the pros and cons of DirecTV Stream for cord-cutters.
- The all-time streaming devices right at present
- How to watch all of the NFL alive streams
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Where DirecTV Stream beats (or matches) cable
Unfortunately, the upsides of DirecTV Stream against cable are the aforementioned upsides you go with all of the best cable TV alternatives. For starters, you can stream all your favorite channels anywhere you proceed your phone. Spectrum's mobile app just gives me that whole channel guide if I'grand logged in on my home network.
Secondly, DirecTV Stream offers the same month-to-month contract structure that the other cord-cutter services do. It'southward great, especially if you find that you don't similar DirecTV Stream.
I wish this section were longer. But that's not the example.
Where DirecTV Stream fails against cable (and Sling and YouTube TV)
DirecTV Stream suffers from ane of the problems I found in Sling: less-than-alive TV. YouTube TV is already about xx seconds or more backside my cablevision box, and that's not smashing (watching live events with friends and constantly beingness behind them stinks). Just Sling was even further behind YouTube Television set, and I timed it out that DirecTV is 10+ seconds behind YouTube Television.
Only I had problems with DirecTV Stream before I could even become my account going. Information technology all started when I clicked the wrong Google result for DirecTV Stream, which gave me traditional DirecTV packet options. Things got even more annoying when I idea I'd made information technology to the correct page, and a DirecTV rep called me out of the bluish (which my iPhone flagged every bit a spam adventure) to sell me standard traditional DirecTV and not the DirecTV Stream parcel.
It turns out I didn't expect closely enough at the fine print of the site I was using, which states "By clicking "SEE PLANS" above, I consent to receive from DIRECTV and whatsoever political party on behalf of DIRECTV emails, telemarketing calls using an autodialer or pre-recordings and SMS text messages, which could result in wireless charges, at the number provided. I empathise that consent is not a status of purchase."
And that'southward not great. I hate to be a cliche millennial, but I do non want to get a call from DirecTV ever. That's why we take websites. But and then when I found the correct Google result, I couldn't check out, as it kept giving me errors at the billing page. When I got it to work on another device, I learned that the 'payment address' field may not accept been working correctly.
This is all to say, though, that any suspicions of DirecTV Stream existence a service that seems stuck in the blowsy methods of DirecTV and cable providers are warranted. Everything about the service just feels old. I don't desire to cut the cord to get back to something that's rooted in the past.
And then there'due south the whole "rewinding alive shows" outcome that I've run into elsewhere. Say you're watching a evidence that you lot've got ready to tape, and so aqueduct surf over to something else during the commercial interruption (to bank check out your other options). When I did this, and went back to the show I was watching, I lost the ability to rewind past a certain point, even though I was recording the show. I had to and then navigate the menus in the organisation to the My Library section to find the full recording of the live show.
This is worse than cable (shocking, I know) and is the kind of thing that could send people running back to their cable box. You don't have this consequence on YouTube Television receiver either. If you lot've set a show to tape, the service you're using should know y'all'll want to search around it, and not strength yous to practise weird things to get there. Sling has been inconsistent at this, sometimes letting me rewind live recorded content, and other times not.
DirecTV Stream also just doesn't aid itself. It puts up these interstitial title cards for the channel and testify y'all're nearly to watch when information technology's loading — which makes it seem similar the load time is longer than it should be. But when I tested YouTube Television set and Sling TV, I realized that those apps just take a black screen that shows upward as the channel loads, which takes up the same second or two.
The DirecTV Stream app on the Apple tree TV 4K also just seems very buggy. It once randomly spammed me with the Welcome to DirecTV Stream splash window when I was switching apps, long afterwards I'd signed upwards. It would also randomly throw upwardly a title card for the evidence and channel I was watching.
Another annoyance you may accept with DirecTV Stream is the lack of a Chromecast with Google TV app. It'southward one of the best streaming devices, and I can't imagine what the hold-up is. I also looked for an AT&T TV app. Cipher. Instead, DirecTV advises you bandage your mobile device app to your Telly. And that'due south non plenty.
Does DirecTV Stream hit my sweet spot for channels and price?
DirecTV Stream has been one of the services we're interested in for channel parcel reasons, but later I started using the service I realized that the DirecTV Stream entry-level package is lacking in the i mode the service stands out.
That's regional sports networks, such as the Yep Network our apartment total of Yankees fans is interested in. It turns out that Yeah (which is only on DirecTV Stream, and no other service) is not in the $lxx per month DirecTV Stream Entertainment bundle, simply express to the $85 per calendar month Choice package. And that price, vs the $127 cable bill, doesn't offer plenty savings.
Information technology'due south really irksome that people would have to spend an extra $20 — vs. fuboTV or YouTube Telly, two relatively strong picks in this field — to follow the sports team of your selection more closely. Especially for all of DirecTV Stream's other flaws.
Otherwise, though, the $seventy per month Entertainment package of DirecTV Stream has a perfectly decent channel lineup, but not one that makes paying $five more per month over those competitors make sense. You go CNN, MSNBC and Play tricks for news, and some of the ESPN networks (only not ESPNews, which might irk y'all).
You get all the local broadcast channels such as ABC, CBS, Flim-flam and NBC (something Sling can't offer without AirTV now that Locast is nether footing), and I get all the other channels I need, with AMC, USA Network, TNT, Comedy Key and Cartoon Network.
DirecTV Stream, by way of charging more for these channels, takes an Fifty on the Roommates Test, charging $15 more than for the packet with YES and a whopping $25 more for the $95 per calendar month Ultimate bundle that has the BBC World News (which YouTube Television set has in its regular packet). That said, PBS is accessible for donors via the Thirteen Passport. It would only be nice to have it packaged in with everything else.
The other DirecTV Stream pricing fail is its DVR, which just has 20 hours of storage by default, though an extra $x per month gets y'all 500 hours. By comparison, Hulu and Sling give y'all l hours by default, fuboTV includes 250 hours and YouTube TV has an unlimited DVR (with a nine-month expiration window).
All of this — channels and DVR — adds up fast, and we'd probably spend $105 per calendar month for DirecTV Stream. That'due south style too much.
DirecTV Stream is non a contender to replace cable
Now having tested 5 of the best cable Idiot box alternatives, I've still got two main contenders and three coulda-been-a-contendas. DirecTV Stream'due south pricing and bugginess and rewinding issues simply kicking information technology to the curb.
DirecTV Stream is basically the aforementioned app every bit AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now before it. The proper noun may change, but the problems stay the same.
my cord-cutting power rankings so far
Next upwardly, I'm making sure I've tried everything by kick the tires on Philo to see what information technology's like. That said, it lacks TNT and USA, two of the almost important channels for me, so I'thou worried about its chances.
Right now, Sling is still winning with the best pricing for my detail needs. YouTube Goggle box'south superior app and mid-stream navigation help brand it my favorite if money were no selection. Nonetheless, a yr of YouTube TV is $780, which is 85% more than than the $420 per twelvemonth for Sling Blue.
If only DirecTV Stream didn't seem like DirecTV minus the cable box.
Stream Time is where Tom's Guide senior editor Henry T. Casey dives into the big choices we brand nigh streaming media. We tackle it all, from the best and worst streaming services and devices, to the never-ending list of shows to sentinel.
Exist sure to check out my guides to the all-time streaming devices (and best streaming services ) for more recommendations. Email me at henry.casey@futurenet.com or go out a comment beneath with anything yous'd similar to come across me encompass in the streaming globe — I might merely address it in a futurity installment.
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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/im-testing-directv-stream-to-cut-the-cord-heres-the-pros-and-cons
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