# TVision Mini Review



## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

Ordered TVision today since DirecTV wouldn't re-up my promo, so I'll do a little mini review. Not going to take a bunch of pictures or anything like that though, too much work .

Based on what I know so far:

* You need a set top box at each TV
* No contracts
* Currently no ads in the guide or UI
* 8 tuners on the server
* Server has to be hard wired (but I'll be using an AC bridge), clients connect to the server through a hidden wifi network (but I won't be testing the clients)
* 400 hours HD local DVR
* The server can output HD and 4K directly, so if you have 1 TV, you only need the one box
* UI supports profiles and voice and recommendations, etc.
* Data usage:

HD = about 1.8GB/hr
4K = about 7.7GB/hr
Home Screen = about 5 - 6GB/hr

* Only 2 4K channels now. FSN and Nasa, but they have 4K PPV and On Demand. HDR is supported.
* Locals are similar to cable where they provide you with some of the sub channels as well (at least in my area, so no need for OTA)
* No concept of packages. It's $90 flat rate for TMobile customers + $10/box. So $100 for me plus taxes. Supposedly the taxes will only be on the $10 portion. They have all the premiums which are extra of course.
* TMobile recommends 50Mbps for the service, I have 1Gbps, but as noted above, the server will be running on an AC bridge, so that port will max out at about 500Mbps.

I've visited 2 tmobile stores to check out the service, and at both, the PQ sucked if I'm being honest. The sales people at both locations gave me the same story: We have slower internet and every device in the store is on it.

They offer an 21 day money back guarantee if you don't like the service.

You can theoretically order the service on the TVision web site, but it doesn't work with Chrome+Ghostery. I disabled Ghostery and I was able to get a few steps further, but it still didn't accept my order, so I had to call in.

That's all the info I have for now...


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

I just took a look at the Tvision site, not available in my area. But cost wise it seems to be about the same as ATT TV but without contract and 1st year promo deals. Certainly not a bargain.

Hope it works out for you.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> I just took a look at the Tvision site, not available in my area. But cost wise it seems to be about the same as ATT TV but without contract and 1st year promo deals. Certainly not a bargain.


I asked about any promotions and stuff like that. Nothing right now, but they said when they spin up 5G, they'll be bundling deals there. The no contracts is a big deal to a lot of people. I wouldn't sign up to a streaming service with contracts, that's for sure. The key selling point of streaming for a lot of people is to sign up for a month or two, binge, then move on to the next service.

In regards to the price, I don't believe TVision has had any price hikes since launch. Which is more then we can say for T & DirecTV. TMobile seems to keep their prices pretty steady on other services, so fingers crossed. ATT TV doesn't seem to carry any sub channels for locals. I'm not really sure which one of the T services you are talking about since they have a bunch with almost identical names lol. When you were comparing the price, did you include all the extra fees? I checked one of the services and it had about $11 of fees tacked on from the advertised price when I got to the cart, and that was a first yr promo rate.

The channel selection is larger on Tvision from what I can see. Although the premiums seem to be more expensive.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

I just looked at the TVision streaming site. It isn’t available here so I didn’t delve into it much. As to extra fees, ell some streaming services have them and some don’t. At the sub level I’m with on ATT TV I don’t have any extra fees though all the other levels had rsn fees


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## rnbmusicfan (Jul 19, 2005)

It shows as available in my area. 

I'm not sure that I get the point. It depends on high speed internet, but Verizon FIOS has triple play bundles.

The website also doesn't specify the actual local channels carried, just vague description like Public Broadcasting System.

It's definitely targeted to the viewer that is not price sensitive and wants everything. Even though the lineup is extensive with more channels than YouTube TV, and Hulu Live, however it looks like it carries fewer channels than FIOS and Comcast in my area. So it's a charge high and offer fewer channels approach.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

rnbmusicfan said:


> It shows as available in my area.
> 
> I'm not sure that I get the point. It depends on high speed internet, but Verizon FIOS has triple play bundles.
> 
> ...


In my area, it shows the specific locals like Cozi. You can consider it a skinny-*ER* traditional package delivered over the internet with traditional hardware. As a comparison, my DirecTV bill is $130 since they aren't re-upping my promo (so far) vs. $102 on TVision, so quite a savings there. The box is being delivered Friday, so I can't comment on the PQ yet.

My issue with Youtube is that the basic package doesn't carry all the channels I want, not to mention the weird DVR behavior. To get all the channels I want via OTT, I priced it at at LEAST $70+ and I wouldn't have PBS and I'd need 3 providers. So yeah, I could probably save another $20 - $30, but managing 3 OTT providers sounds like a huge PITA I'm not ready to deal with yet lol.

Another selling point is the supposedly fixed pricing. We'll see if that holds up if I keep the service. Definitely better then $7+ hikes every year on DTV and some of the OTT providers have jacked up prices 25%+ in one shot.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

Got the Tvision box today early enough in my lunch hour that I hooked it up real quick.

* packaging is nice -- I've had some DTV shipments where the contents were almost spilling out -- triple boxing here with all the TMobile branding everywhere
* set up is super easy -- plug in the ethernet and hdmi and power and you're done. the box came pre-activated and pre-configured with a profile for me
* UI has more modern features then DirecTV, but only played with it for 15 mins or so
* box boots up in a few seconds vs DirecTV equipment

That brings us to the PQ... real mixed bag here... some of the channels were very good, much better then DirecTV I would say, but out of the 5 channels I played with real quick, I'd say at least one of them -- Lifetime -- was TERRIBLE to the point of being unwatchable.

I'll give the service another chance tonight / this weekend since the internet is overloaded during the day with people wfh, but if the Lifetime PQ is what is now, I'd say I'm going to return the box.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Thanks for for the quickie!! Hopefully the PQ turns out better than you’ve seen during the day.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> Thanks for for the quickie!! Hopefully the PQ turns out better than you've seen during the day.


Seems to be the main Lifetime channel. Lifetime Discovery seemed much better. I'm getting full speed on speedtest though, so I'd say they just have a lousy feed for Lifetime. I looked through some other channels and that seems to be the worst one. I called up tech support and well, lets just say crappy tech support people aren't exclusive to DirecTV lol. She claimed my box was showing bandwidth issues... weird that the 4k channel worked great lol. Google Fiber speedtest shows 540Mbps right now where after hours its closer to 900+.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

One of the things that keeps coming up in various forums about apps and streaming boxes is that the routers in homes are often just not up to snuff. Changing routers or sometimes just pulling the power off them for a short while and restarting fixes some issues that wouldn’t be what you’d think a router could cause.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> One of the things that keeps coming up in various forums about apps and streaming boxes is that the routers in homes are often just not up to snuff. Changing routers or sometimes just pulling the power off them for a short while and restarting fixes some issues that wouldn't be what you'd think a router could cause.


I have a good AC router. Although to be fair, I am running the box through a bridge (which is exactly the twin of the main router and they are set up to bridge on "exclusive" 160mhz channels) because I have no way of getting an ethernet cable to the living room, but I didn't want to reboot my cable modem and router right now since its during business hours.

Honestly, I'm skeptical I'll see a difference after I reboot everything since the 4K channels were working and its only a few channels here and there, but if the box is reporting bandwidth issues to TMobile I'll give it another chance just to be safe.

I may even try to hook a laptop up through the bridge to make sure I'm still getting ~500Mbps at the bridge since that's the max on AC.


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## armchair (Jul 27, 2009)

SledgeHammer said:


> I have a good AC router. Although to be fair, I am running the box through a bridge (which is exactly the twin of the main router and they are set up to bridge on "exclusive" 160mhz channels) because I have no way of getting an ethernet cable to the living room, but I didn't want to reboot my cable modem and router right now since its during business hours.
> 
> Honestly, I'm skeptical I'll see a difference after I reboot everything since the 4K channels were working and its only a few channels here and there, but if the box is reporting bandwidth issues to TMobile I'll give it another chance just to be safe.
> 
> I may even try to hook a laptop up through the bridge to make sure I'm still getting ~500Mbps at the bridge since that's the max on AC.


Can you make that bridge wired Ethernet rather than wireless backhaul?

One of the first things I did whenever I've suspended DirecTV is repurpose my coax for MoCa 2.0 -I even had my ISP run extra wires when moving my router so I've now got extra coax for when I'm using DirecTV again.

I've had a AC mesh system and now an AX mesh. The radio backhaul just isn't as robust as the MoCa 2.0 backhaul on either mesh setup.

But when using radio as backhaul, even with the dedicated 3rd band, placement may override purpose, forcing users to place where best backhaul is optimal rather than convenient. I've found barriers like firewall, HVAC duct, exterior walls like stucco, and even stairwells are obstacles.

With MoCa backhaul, I can bridge isolated TV locations and dedicate wireless to mobile devices. Part of my 3rd band is even dedicated to mobile devices.

Or just try a wired Ethernet connection at another TV location?

This may be something to narrow the cause of your yellow TVision connection status. Because I'm wondering if there's any wireless between your ISP and TV provider? Is 5G limitations limiting the areas supported by TMobile's TV? They're pointing at your network when it may be theirs.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

Well. Crap. TVision seems like they're giving me West Coast feeds for stuff like USA, History, etc. where DirecTV gives me the East Coast feeds. Gold Rush would air here at 6pm, but on TVision its on at 9pm. That would be a second deal breaker for me after the PQ I think.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

armchair said:


> Can you make that bridge wired Ethernet rather than wireless backhaul?
> 
> One of the first things I did whenever I've suspended DirecTV is repurpose my coax for MoCa 2.0 -I even had my ISP run extra wires when moving my router so I've now got extra coax for when I'm using DirecTV again.
> 
> ...


So I rebooted my cable modem and router(s).

PC hardwired into main router which is hardwired into the cable modem: 844mbps down
Laptop hardwired into bridge: 380mbps down (ch100), 423mbps (ch104) -- so I'm pretty much maxing out AC


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## armchair (Jul 27, 2009)

SledgeHammer said:


> Well. Crap. TVision seems like they're giving me West Coast feeds for stuff like USA, History, etc. where DirecTV gives me the East Coast feeds. Gold Rush would air here at 6pm, but on TVision its on at 9pm. That would be a second deal breaker for me after the PQ I think.


I hear that. I've ran into same issue trying other TV services. My wife did notice at least some of her shows on Sling are East coast feeds. Maybe all? Haven't asked.

But a big deal breaker with Sling not allowing pause on live TV. Comes back to record everything and yet DVR capacity is limited. 50 hours may be doable but this may require constant maintenance; delete it after watched, don't keep long. I looked back as far as 2016 and found complaints about can't pause live TV on Sling. No excuse for that; get better channel already, Sling! I likely won't stay with Sling past the billing date.

Thought it would be a good time to try something else to save a few bucks. If there was a lot of TV to watch right now, I'd likely go back to DirecTV or pony up for better service. I did the recent trial with YTTV; that would make me happy but not so much the wife. Keeping Philo may be an option but as you suggest, too many compromises for saving a few bucks.

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## armchair (Jul 27, 2009)

SledgeHammer said:


> So I rebooted my cable modem and router(s).
> 
> PC hardwired into main router which is hardwired into the cable modem: 844mbps down
> Laptop hardwired into bridge: 380mbps down (ch100), 423mbps (ch104) -- so I'm pretty much maxing out AC


MoCa 2.0 backhaul gives me subscribed connection speeds at my TV locations.

As you're finding, half isn't bad but Ethernet is two way traffic simultaneously whereas radio wireless isn't. Then there's radio scheduling that adds latency. AC wireless and dedicated 3rd band for bridging helps but not as much as wired Ethernet.

Have your tried direct Ethernet to the TVision? I'm curious if TMobile would still show the yellow status when you're wired direct?

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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> One of the things that keeps coming up in various forums about apps and streaming boxes is that the routers in homes are often just not up to snuff. Changing routers or sometimes just pulling the power off them for a short while and restarting fixes some issues that wouldn't be what you'd think a router could cause.





armchair said:


> I hear that. I've ran into same issue trying other TV services. My wife did notice at least some of her shows on Sling are East coast feeds. Maybe all? Haven't asked.
> 
> But a big deal breaker with Sling not allowing pause on live TV. Comes back to record everything and yet DVR capacity is limited. 50 hours may be doable but this may require constant maintenance; delete it after watched, don't keep long. I looked back as far as 2016 and found complaints about can't pause live TV on Sling. No excuse for that; get better channel already, Sling! I likely won't stay with Sling past the billing date.
> 
> ...


Ya... I'm out... that was fast lol

1) as posted above, I hooked up my laptop at the bridge using the same exact port / ethernet cable and it maxed out AC @ 400Mbps, I had a chance to look at other channels and found more with crappy PQ. If my laptop can get 400Mbps on speedtest, I don't know what else to tell tmobile, they're either overly compressing stuff or have bad feeds.

2) giving me the west coast feeds for nationals is a deal breaker I think, while I live in california and "should" be getting the west coast feeds, for the cable channels, that totally screws up my schedule. I eat dinner @ 5ish, work out and am ready to watch some tv by 7. The 3 hr shift is something I don't want to deal with.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

armchair said:


> MoCa 2.0 backhaul gives me subscribed connection speeds at my TV locations.
> 
> As you're finding, half isn't bad but Ethernet is two way traffic simultaneously whereas radio wireless isn't. Then there's radio scheduling that adds latency. AC wireless and dedicated 3rd band for bridging helps but not as much as wired Ethernet.
> 
> ...


I realize there is overhead and latency with wireless. If I upgraded to an AX router, I'd get closer to the hard wired speed, definitely not going to do that lol. I don't have a long enough cat 5 cable to try hardwiring the box.

Not really worth messing with it anymore if the time shift is going to screw me up.

I'll probably try hit up loyalty again and see if they'll bring my bill down.


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## armchair (Jul 27, 2009)

SledgeHammer said:


> I realize there is overhead and latency with wireless. If I upgraded to an AX router, I'd get closer to the hard wired speed, definitely not going to do that lol. I don't have a long enough cat 5 cable to try hardwiring the box.
> 
> Not really worth messing with it anymore if the time shift is going to screw me up.
> 
> I'll probably try hit up loyalty again and see if they'll bring my bill down.


I wouldn't have upgraded to AX now if my AC router hadn't started going bad. I was actually trying to tell you, you should at least wait for WiFi 6e before upgrading if you like your AC router. There's only a few AX devices but none here atm.

The AX was only an upgrade for the speedy processor. I'm still tweaking it and learning and dealing with the bugs. Better than what I had but already superseded for sure. I wish I could have waited but also could've gotten something cheaper too. I could likely get by until 2nd generation WiFi 6e routers are introduced with less of 1st generation bugs.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

armchair said:


> I wouldn't have upgraded to AX now if my AC router hadn't started going bad. I was actually trying to tell you, you should at least wait for WiFi 6e before upgrading if you like your AC router. There's only a few AX devices but none here atm.
> 
> The AX was only an upgrade for the speedy processor. I'm still tweaking it and learning and dealing with the bugs. Better than what I had but already superseded for sure. I wish I could have waited but also could've gotten something cheaper too. I could likely get by until 2nd generation WiFi 6e routers are introduced with less of 1st generation bugs.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


Ya, I'm not ready to pull the trigger on a 1st gen AX router. I pulled the trigger on a draft AC bridge and an early AC router and both were garbage. Right now both my main router and bridge are Linksys WRT3200ACM, so a high end AC router.

I read the AX reviews on Smbforum and they don't seem to be quite ready for prime time yet, although the Netgear RAX80 looks really cool. But for $300+, I don't want to be a beta tester. I've reported a few bugs to Linksys like parental controls not working on bridged devices and they never fixed it. Had to find a workaround instead.

I can do Amazon Prime 4K, Netflix 4K and also stream movies over DLNA over the bridged connection with 0 hiccups or pixelation as well.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Watching you go through trying to figure out a streaming service that suits you reminds me of the games I played with nearly all of them at one time or another.
The one thing I found out was that it is nearly impossible to find one service that will provide all that I wanted. The one service that actually comes closest is ATT TV, but that comes with contracts, ETF and a doubling of price in the 2nd year.
I’m with ATT TV right now, and will be for about a year. At the end of a year I’ll re-evaluate. I’m pretty sure that before the year is up ATT TV will figure out that their pricing structure isn’t going to cut it and will adjust. Probably will remain the highest priced just not so much higher.
If I’m wrong I’ll cancel and pick another service(s).


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> Watching you go through trying to figure out a streaming service that suits you reminds me of the games I played with nearly all of them at one time or another.
> The one thing I found out was that it is nearly impossible to find one service that will provide all that I wanted. The one service that actually comes closest is ATT TV, but that comes with contracts, ETF and a doubling of price in the 2nd year.
> I'm with ATT TV right now, and will be for about a year. At the end of a year I'll re-evaluate. I'm pretty sure that before the year is up ATT TV will figure out that their pricing structure isn't going to cut it and will adjust. Probably will remain the highest priced just not so much higher.
> If I'm wrong I'll cancel and pick another service(s).


I can't keep track of all of AT&Ts streaming services lol. Is that the one with the STB + 2 yr contract + RSN + Xtra for $64.99? How is the PQ on that?


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

SledgeHammer said:


> I can't keep track of all of AT&Ts streaming services lol. Is that the one with the STB + 2 yr contract + RSN + Xtra for $64.99? How is the PQ on that?


Yep, that's the one. Box works well though is a bit sluggish. HDPQ is very good IMO. Even though you get the box as part of the deal you don't have to use it as there is an app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and some smart TVs. The Roku version works best overall IMO.

And they have a 2 week trial period.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

BTW, if you do the math for the 2 years it works out to about $100/month average using an RSN fee of $8.49.


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

lparsons21 said:


> Watching you go through trying to figure out a streaming service that suits you reminds me of the games I played with nearly all of them at one time or another.
> The one thing I found out was that it is nearly impossible to find one service that will provide all that I wanted. The one service that actually comes closest is ATT TV, but that comes with contracts, ETF and a doubling of price in the 2nd year.
> I'm with ATT TV right now, and will be for about a year. At the end of a year I'll re-evaluate. I'm pretty sure that before the year is up ATT TV will figure out that their pricing structure isn't going to cut it and will adjust. Probably will remain the highest priced just not so much higher.
> If I'm wrong I'll cancel and pick another service(s).





SledgeHammer said:


> I can't keep track of all of AT&Ts streaming services lol. Is that the one with the STB + 2 yr contract + RSN + Xtra for $64.99? How is the PQ on that?





lparsons21 said:


> Yep, that's the one. Box works well though is a bit sluggish. HDPQ is very good IMO. Even though you get the box as part of the deal you don't have to use it as there is an app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and some smart TVs. The Roku version works best overall IMO.
> 
> And they have a 2 week trial period.





lparsons21 said:


> BTW, if you do the math for the 2 years it works out to about $100/month average using an RSN fee of $8.49.


AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now have the same PQ since they both use the same channel feeds and the AT&T TV app.

Here is a comparison between AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now with the Xtra package:
Some things to note:

AT&T TV Now only offers a 7-Day free trial on the Plus and Max base packages.
The channel lineup on AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now for the Xtra package is identical to each other.
New AT&T TV Now customers for Plus, Entertainment, Choice, Xtra, Ultimate and Optimo Mas are eligible for 1 month of HBO Max at no additional charge.
There is also a 1 month trial of Showtime available to new customers that is stackable with the HBO Max offer. The Showtime trial is also available to those subscribing to the Max base package. (Must cancel both HBO Max and Showtime prior to Month 2 otherwise they auto-renew at $14.99/mo and $11/mo respectively.)

All channel add-on premiums/packs available on AT&T TV (i.e. Epix or Movies Extra Pack) are also available with AT&T TV Now.







​Depending on how much you are paying for D* for your current package even the AT&T TV Now version maybe a cheaper option. Especially if you don't want to pay an RSN Fee or have a 24 month commitment.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

techguy88 said:


> AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now have the same PQ since they both use the same channel feeds and the AT&T TV app.


Are the nationals like USA, History, etc. the east coast feeds like on DirecTV?


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

SledgeHammer said:


> Are the nationals like USA, History, etc. the east coast feeds like on DirecTV?


YES! Actually they don't even have the west coast feeds of the kids channels like Nick or Cartoon Network lol


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

My friend who works for AT&T has their employee offer for AT&T TV Now (gets a big discount on the Ultimate package) and Logo is in HD on AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now while D* has it in SD only btw.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

techguy88 said:


> YES! Actually they don't even have the west coast feeds of the kids channels like Nick or Cartoon Network lol


Yeah, the thing that sux is, its the same price as DirecTV! For less functionality. And a 2 yr contract. Although the first year discount brings it down.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

techguy88 said:


> My friend who works for AT&T has their employee offer for AT&T TV Now (gets a big discount on the Ultimate package) and Logo is in HD on AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now while D* has it in SD only btw.


Only thing I ever watch on Logo is the occasional MWC re-run. Wouldn't pay any extra for that lol.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Nice write up. 

ATT TV Now - As you said, but they also have their basic and Max package. Basic IMO, is just not very good, too many missing channels considering the price. 

The Max comes closest to being a fair value, IF and only if, HBO & Cinemax have value to the person considering that package. Otherwise it is overpriced.

And using ATT TV Now to get the other packages is just pure idiocy IMO. The single benefit to doing that is you can cancel at any time. But for those that would be interested in those expanded subscription levels, I don’t think that would be a huge advantage, especially at the financial penalty you pay every month you have them.

Currently if you need/want all those channels that are offered, ATT TV (not Now) makes more sense. Sign up for the deal, keep it a year and cancel at the end of the year. In every case that makes it cheaper than Now’s version of the same thing.

For example :
ATT TV Now = Xtra is $124 every month
ATT TV = Xtra is $65 for a year, if you cancel and pay the ETF at the end of a year, the true average cost is $80/month. Both prices not shown with RSN fee as that varies.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> Nice write up.
> 
> ATT TV Now - As you said, but they also have their basic and Max package. Basic IMO, is just not very good, too many missing channels considering the price.
> 
> ...


Well Youtube is a non-starter. No History, DIY or Science, I'd have to do YouTube + Philio + PBS and there is, at least for me, a "cost" involved with juggling 3 services. Seems like AT&T TV doesn't have PBS? Ugh. It has everything else. Actually, its missing one of my locals. WB or whatever they call it now. And of course some local sub channels.

Man, when you add everything up and get all the channels under one roof, its really starting to look like DirecTV, Dish and Cox are my only options and Cox will have the same issue as TVision with the west coast / east coast feeds. So down to DirecTV and Dish lol and people complain about dish PQ and then I'd have to deal with getting the whole dish installed, etc.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Didn’t you say that ATT TV’s Xtra had all you wanted? If so, sign up with a deal and you have 2 weeks to figure out if you want to keep it or not.

If you keep it a year and cancel the true cost is $80/month + RSN fee. And in a year either something better comes along or not and you can make a change.

Or keep it and the true cost averages about $95 plus RSN fee. For all that’s in that package that’s not a horrible deal either IMO.

That gets it all in one subscription. And the current deal is still $100 rebate, free year of HBO Max.


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

lparsons21 said:


> Didn't you say that ATT TV's Xtra had all you wanted? If so, sign up with a deal and you have 2 weeks to figure out if you want to keep it or not.
> 
> If you keep it a year and cancel the true cost is $80/month + RSN fee. And in a year either something better comes along or not and you can make a change.
> 
> ...


He would first need to cancel D* then sign up for AT&T TV. He can't do that as a current DirecTV subscriber as per the fine print and I'm sure the website has something to catch this type of thing.

Also AT&T TV Now doesn't charge an RSN fee on any base package including Xtra. The $124/mo price you see on AT&T TV Now for Xtra is the price you pay + any applicable sales taxes that's it. (I tested that out during the sign up process before I settled on the Max package for testing the beta Opsrey box I got off of eBay. If you try signing up for Choice, Xtra or Ultimate through AT&T TV Now and get to the very end of the checkout process it will only charge you the base package price + sales tax for your area.) Only AT&T TV and DirecTV charge the RSN fee. U-Verse TV has the Broadcast TV fee.

If @SledgeHammer has a compatible device (like a Roku or a Fire TV device) I would recommend creating an account with AT&T TV Now and selecting either the Plus or Max package and try that out for 5 days to see if he likes the picture quality. Just be sure to cancel the free 7-day trial before Day 7 to avoid being billed for a month of service. During those 5 days he can watch say TBS or Freeform on AT&T TV Now and Discovery and AMC on DirecTV. It would be the best way to compare for him to be sure if he would like the service AT&T TV / TV Now Picture Quality / Interface first.

Here is how all three services stack up against each other based on the price SledgeHammer pays for D* without discounts







Even though the savings are not substantial on AT&T TV Now (only $6/mo) he would get way more features with AT&T TV Now versus DirecTV.

AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now doesn't carry PBS at all and the markets that have a CW affiliate is rare at the moment. CW shows are available via on demand the day after their broadcast premiere through the AT&T TV app. The CW also has their own app on all major streaming devices with their shows available the next day to stream and they don't require a provider's login credentials.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> Didn't you say that ATT TV's Xtra had all you wanted? If so, sign up with a deal and you have 2 weeks to figure out if you want to keep it or not.
> 
> If you keep it a year and cancel the true cost is $80/month + RSN fee. And in a year either something better comes along or not and you can make a change.
> 
> ...


I thought it did, but it didn't have the WB/CW local and PBS. It has everything else. It's not a bad deal though.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

techguy88 said:


> He would first need to cancel D* then sign up for AT&T TV. He can't do that as a current DirecTV subscriber as per the fine print and I'm sure the website has something to catch this type of thing.
> 
> Also AT&T TV Now doesn't charge an RSN fee on any base package including Xtra. The $124/mo price you see on AT&T TV Now for Xtra is the price you pay + any applicable sales taxes that's it. (I tested that out during the sign up process before I settled on the Max package for testing the beta Opsrey box I got off of eBay. If you try signing up for Choice, Xtra or Ultimate through AT&T TV Now and get to the very end of the checkout process it will only charge you the base package price + sales tax for your area.) Only AT&T TV and DirecTV charge the RSN fee. U-Verse TV has the Broadcast TV fee.
> 
> ...


That sucks that you can't try out AT&T TV as a DirecTV sub lol. Man, the rules AT&T comes up with.

At $124/mo, no point in making the switch over $5/mo. Reconnections offered me $5/mo on my pending cancel. As lparsons pointed out, with the 1st year promo, AT&T TV is a lot cheaper, but I lose a few channels vs DirecTV. I only watch one summer show on CW really.

My promo fell off in April, but loyalty gave me a $65 one time credit, so I paid that bill. Then I got another bill for the $130, but loyalty gave me a $25 one time credit. I sent in that bill, but it hasn't posted to my account, so my account is showing a balance. I might try call loyalty & reconnections again after it posts to see if that makes a diff. The reconnections guy did say my account has a balance on it. *shrug* worth a shot lol. Also I might have to pay a full month once to get the system to regenerate a loyalty offer?


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

SledgeHammer said:


> That sucks that you can't try out AT&T TV as a DirecTV sub lol. Man, the rules AT&T comes up with.
> 
> At $124/mo, no point in making the switch over $5/mo. Reconnections offered me $5/mo on my pending cancel. As lparsons pointed out, with the 1st year promo, AT&T TV is a lot cheaper, but I lose a few channels vs DirecTV. I only watch one summer show on CW really.
> 
> My promo fell off in April, but loyalty gave me a $65 one time credit, so I paid that bill. Then I got another bill for the $130, but loyalty gave me a $25 one time credit. I sent in that bill, but it hasn't posted to my account, so my account is showing a balance. I might try call loyalty & reconnections again after it posts to see if that makes a diff. The reconnections guy did say my account has a balance on it. *shrug* worth a shot lol. Also I might have to pay a full month once to get the system to regenerate a loyalty offer?


Well... typically for the traditional pay-TV industry as a whole the summer and winter seasons are considered their normal churn seasons under normal circumstances. Summer because of vacations and people typically calling into cancel or put accounts on suspend. Winter because that's when the whole "snowbird" activity picks up. Usually during these periods traditional MVPDs cut back on their retention based offers. Also if you have had a lot of loyalty offers back to back and now there are no offers available sometimes it does help if you just wait out a bill cycle or two with no credits at all (including one time courtesy credits.)

A lot of people I know that stick with D* because they hate change and are too familiar with the channel numbers usually wait 2-3 months once they are told by loyalty no offers available after having something like 2 to 4 years of back to back loyalty offers and they say that works for them. Based on the offer thread usually AT&T/D* ramps up loyalty offers around the time NFL Sunday Ticket is about ready to start which is late August/early September if past years are anything to go on.

Personally I haven't had to do this where I switched from Verizon to AT&T when they first introduced their Unlimited Plus plan that included the $25 Video Loyalty Credit and Select has most channels I watch. Unlimited Plus also included free HBO. The only paid extras I have are Epix and Movies Extra Pack. Equipment wise I currently have HR44, HR24 and C41W. I recently changed from Unlimited Plus to Unlimited Elite because AT&T allowed me to keep my grandfathered $25 VLC. The only loyalty discount I have is a $10/12 so my bill is $74.97 before taxes.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

techguy88 said:


> Well... typically for the traditional pay-TV industry as a whole the summer and winter seasons are considered their normal churn seasons under normal circumstances. Summer because of vacations and people typically calling into cancel or put accounts on suspend. Winter because that's when the whole "snowbird" activity picks up. Usually during these periods traditional MVPDs cut back on their retention based offers. Also if you have had a lot of loyalty offers back to back and now there are no offers available sometimes it does help if you just wait out a bill cycle or two with no credits at all (including one time courtesy credits.)
> 
> A lot of people I know that stick with D* because they hate change and are too familiar with the channel numbers usually wait 2-3 months once they are told by loyalty no offers available after having something like 2 to 4 years of back to back loyalty offers and they say that works for them. Based on the offer thread usually AT&T/D* ramps up loyalty offers around the time NFL Sunday Ticket is about ready to start which is late August/early September if past years are anything to go on.
> 
> Personally I haven't had to do this where I switched from Verizon to AT&T when they first introduced their Unlimited Plus plan that included the $25 Video Loyalty Credit and Select has most channels I watch. Unlimited Plus also included free HBO. The only paid extras I have are Epix and Movies Extra Pack. Equipment wise I currently have HR44, HR24 and C41W. I recently changed from Unlimited Plus to Unlimited Elite because AT&T allowed me to keep my grandfathered $25 VLC. The only loyalty discount I have is a $10/12 so my bill is $74.97 before taxes.


Lol, well, I've gotten loyalty discounts for probably 10+ yrs lol. Yup, I'm greedy haha. Nah, it's like I posted earlier, I'm cool with paying for premium stuff, I do it all the time. But thats when its FMV for the premium.


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## armchair (Jul 27, 2009)

SledgeHammer said:


> Well Youtube is a non-starter. No History, DIY or Science, I'd have to do YouTube + Philio + PBS and there is, at least for me, a "cost" involved with juggling 3 services. Seems like AT&T TV doesn't have PBS? Ugh. It has everything else. Actually, its missing one of my locals. WB or whatever they call it now. And of course some local sub channels.
> 
> Man, when you add everything up and get all the channels under one roof, its really starting to look like DirecTV, Dish and Cox are my only options and Cox will have the same issue as TVision with the west coast / east coast feeds. So down to DirecTV and Dish lol and people complain about dish PQ and then I'd have to deal with getting the whole dish installed, etc.


Dealing with multiple apps may be an issue for some but I think it's more of a learning curve. I don't know the devices you have but some have found a free service like this handy as opposed to s platform handling what's next to watch.
https://reelgood.com/faq

And looking for a service that most likely has what you want or cobbled, this bundle search may help narrow what you find in one place or combo to save. Hint: you can bypass the personal info share and email by selecting "show my results" so you don't have to share info like email address.
https://www.mybundle.tv/start

To answer your question in the DirecTV thread, I've mentioned I did get a Reconnections offer on 2018. Cancelled and called back about 2 weeks later and was automatically transferred there. Winback was also an offer I got years back when I left DirecTV and went back to Dish. That was mailed to me but also tied directly to my DirecTV account number.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## crkeehn (Apr 23, 2002)

SledgeHammer said:


> Well Youtube is a non-starter. No History, DIY or Science, I'd have to do YouTube + Philio + PBS and there is, at least for me, a "cost" involved with juggling 3 services. Seems like AT&T TV doesn't have PBS? Ugh. It has everything else. Actually, its missing one of my locals. WB or whatever they call it now. And of course some local sub channels.
> 
> Man, when you add everything up and get all the channels under one roof, its really starting to look like DirecTV, Dish and Cox are my only options and Cox will have the same issue as TVision with the west coast / east coast feeds. So down to DirecTV and Dish lol and people complain about dish PQ and then I'd have to deal with getting the whole dish installed, etc.


Does Youtube TV not offer PBS in your area? They added PBS and PBS Kids in Raleigh, NC a few months ago. I know that there were some delays in getting rights straight for each PBS area.


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

crkeehn said:


> Does Youtube TV not offer PBS in your area? They added PBS and PBS Kids in Raleigh, NC a few months ago. I know that there were some delays in getting rights straight for each PBS area.


YTTV has both WVPB and KET PBS main signals and the WVPB PBS Kids subchannel for the Charleston/Huntington, WV DMA (we have a KET PBS member station because Ashland, KY is part of our DMA) YTTV doesn't carry the KET PBS Kids subschannel because both the WVPB and KET versions air the same thing in the same 480i SD quality.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

I've long thought that TVision's tech platform was already outdated, given that they stream video over the internet but only over certain broadband partner networks and only to TVision's own STBs with internal hard drives. That's as opposed to the more modern, fully OTT cloud-based model like AT&T TV, which can be accessed on the operator's own customized STB but can be streamed to other OTT TV devices, as well as to mobile devices, over any network in or out of home, with all DVR recording done in the cloud.

Looks like TVision has retooled their underlying technology as they look to relaunch the service in the coming months. Per this new article, they've worked with OTT TV distributor/tech platform MobiTV on the revamp, and the new TVision will "emphasize home and mobile delivery". The tech is ready to launch but they're holding off on a national rollout until later in the year due to market conditions/the pandemic. They're mainly looking to market the new TVision as a complement to T-Mobile Home broadband service, which will grow as they bring Sprint's midband 5G spectrum onto the T-Mo network.

I'd say that the new TVision will look a lot like AT&T TV but with the TVision channel bundle and their no-BS philosophy of no contracts and no added fees. Basically, here's a flat price you pay to get a big bundle of channels with cloud DVR, on-demand, HD and 4K included. Wonder if they stick with the current $90/mo price and how/if they'll charge for access on additional TVs, which are currently $10 extra each per month.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

Following up on my last post, here's the forthcoming Android TV-based streaming device customized for the revamped TVision:

T-Mobile is working on its own Android TV device - 9to5Google

So, as I said above, looks like TVision is very much following in the footsteps of AT&T TV.


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

NashGuy said:


> Following up on my last post, here's the forthcoming Android TV-based streaming device customized for the revamped TVision:
> 
> T-Mobile is working on its own Android TV device - 9to5Google
> 
> So, as I said above, looks like TVision is very much following in the footsteps of AT&T TV.


Let's hope that their new TVision doesn't require you to lease additional proprietary boxes (like the current TVision) and a TVision app is available on third party hardware similar to AT&T TV otherwise it will make both AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now attractive options.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

techguy88 said:


> Let's hope that their new TVision doesn't require you to lease additional proprietary boxes (like the current TVision) and a TVision app is available on third party hardware similar to AT&T TV otherwise it will make both AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now attractive options.


Who knows how the New TVision will handle secondary TVs but my guess is that it will work like other OTT TV services, giving you X number of simultaneous streams that can be accessed via their app on a range of devices, likely including the major TV-connected streaming platforms. I also think that's a pretty common scenario among the traditional pay TV operators who have worked with MobiTV to structure and implement a next-gen OTT or managed IPTV service.

It was specifically reported that mobile access will be a feature of the New TVision, so I'm sure it has iOS and Android mobile apps too.


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