By Martin Jansen, Owner of Jansen-PCINFO
Got Internet? Then you can “theoretically” stream TV to your devices. I say theoretically because you need a few things first:
- Your download internet speeds must be good to stream video, around 5GB Mbps per stream.
- Run https://www.speedtest.net/ in your favorite browser to determine your download and upload speeds.
- Provided your internet speeds are good, you need a streaming service (some are free):
- Tubi, Plex, Pluto and Xumo offer a variety of content at no cost.
- When you purchase a streaming device like Roku, it comes with Roku Channel which is free to stream.
- Samsung TVs offer Samsung TV Plus and I am sure other TV manufacturers have their own selection of free streaming services.
- And you need a device like a Smart TV, Tablet or Computer with the capability of downloading and installing apps or a browser like Google Chrome.
All of these “free” services come with some commercial interruptions – fewer still are downright loaded with commercials every few minutes making TV hard to watch.
Paid Services
Paid streaming services have unique content not available on other services. Pricing is more expensive for commercial free viewing. All the paid services have older movies and TV series available as well as their own new content. Here’s a list of the most popular services:
Netflix was founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in California in 1997, but is now owned by major shareholders. The company started by shipping DVDs to customers, but was the first to transition to streaming services in 2007. Netflix started producing its own content in 2013 with many award winning shows. The company is now a worldwide enterprise with pricing starting at $8 per month.
Prime Video has streaming movie and TV content for members who pay to avoid shipping fees from Amazon. There’s plenty of older movies and TV series and original content from Amazon – even some sports in the form of WNBA and NFL Thursday Night. Other benefits include:
- Prime Reading on Kindle
- Prime Music
- Some Prime Gaming
- Amazon Drive for personal Photos and Videos
Yearly cost has gone up to $139 per year with monthly rates at $15. Students and people qualifying for Medicare, SNAP or other benefits can pay less.
YouTube is an all in one streaming service offering all kinds of content. Anyone can upload a video to YouTube with a free signed in account. YouTube was bought by Google in 2006 and has since offered YouTube TV which is a complete replacement for cable TV offering over 100 channels costing $83 per month.
Hulu, Disney+, ABC, ESPN and now FuboTV (at 70% of shares) are all owned by The Disney Corporation, a major entertainment conglomerate. It owns the rights to the Star Wars franchise. Hulu + Live TV offers unique content from Disney and ESPN+ at the familiar rate of $83 per month.
Paramount+ has CBS related content. It owns the rights to the Star Trek franchise and all CBS TV shows as well as movies from Paramount. Plenty of content starting at $8 a month.
Peacock, of course, has NBC related content. Sporting events like Track and Field and the Olympics are featured. NBC TV shows and exclusive TV series are available for streaming also at $8 per month. Peacock offers special deals from time to time.
Less expensive streaming services limit the amount of major sports viewing as in these steaming services:
Sling TV has the best deal in streaming services. The viewer can select from packages in Orange (sports and family) or Blue (news and entertainment) or order both. Sports viewing is not comprehensive, but competitive with other streaming services with prices starting at $46 per month.
Philo is an entertainment based streaming service at $28 per month. Philo focuses on lesser channels and does not include local TV viewing, but does include older AMC+ Movies and TV series.
Least Expensive Route
If you add up all these streaming services the consumer would get a whole lot of duplication and pay much more than cable. What’s the better solution?
For live local TV get an amplified antenna good for at least 50 miles from the TV tower. In our case we have the antenna mounted in the attic of our ranch home and pointed in the general direction Green Bay, WI. ChannelMaster has some great antennas as well as a website listing the channels available. We ordered a GE antenna from Amazon.
Barring very windy days (lots of Trees in the area), we get great HD reception and over 30 channels of TV. We get Packer games directly from Green Bay and other sporting events from ABC, NBC and CBS.
Our primary TV is an older Samsung Smart TV that works OK for streaming, but it is slow and sometimes the firmware forgets about the streaming services we have added. About a year ago I purchased a Roku Ultra LT and connected it to a spare HDMI port on the TV. Now we have additional streaming channels from the Roku Channel. Switching channels and streaming services is fast and trouble free. Our other TVs in the house also have lesser Roku’s. I’ve tried other streaming devices from Amazon, Google and Android TV, but none seem to last as long as the Roku devices.
With the Roku in place we now can add streaming services. We had Netflix, but as prices went up we cancelled. We have stuck with Hulu and Disney+ for a while enjoying their older movies, and they sometimes release newer movies on their streaming service first. We have Peacock, but it is about to expire. It was nice to have the service during the Olympics.
At one time we had YouTube TV, but they started raising prices as well. As usual it is the professional sports that cost the most to stream and price is always going one direction – up. Besides, YouTube TV has many news channels – I can get those via the antenna. Duplication of channel selection is something to avoid to keep costs down.
My son had a subscription to Walmart+ and that allowed us to add Paramount+ for a while. We enjoyed catching up on the Star Trek series.
Digital Video Recording
If you want to record live TV, one method is to subscribe to plex.tv at $40 a year. We ordered a HDHomeRun with TV tuners and turned my Linux Mint desktop computer into a Plex server as well as my regular computer. Adding additional storage and Plex Pass, I was able to digitize our collection of DVD movies using HandBrake. Plex also has a wide selection of movies and TV series.
Tablo is another device for recording live TV and it also works with Plex.
Conclusion
There is no shortage of streaming services available. With an amplified antenna and streaming device there’s a world of entertainment to explore. Just make sure you spend wisely and avoid duplication of streaming channels.