# FuboTV revisited - quick thoughts



## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

Decided to give Fubo another spin to watch some of the World Juniors tournament on the NHL network, and see how things are looking since they've added the ESPN/Disney channels. This might be the most impressive jump in interface I've seen in a streaming service. Here are some of the unique features to this service that are worth pointing out:


On the AppleTV, multiview 2-4 channels. Only "complete" service I've seen this on since Vue.
Jump to last channel by holding the AppleTV trackpad
72 hour lookback. You can go back in the guide and watch any program on any channel that happened over the last 3 days - you can't skip commercials, but you can watch even if you forgot to DVR.
When you start a recording on a show already in progress, the recording goes back to the start. You can immediately select the program out of your DVR queue, watch from the beginning, skip commercials, etc.
The service incorporates 4K feeds from FOX and NBCSN. You can watch those games through the Fubo interface without having to jump out to the FOX Sports app.
The DVR integrates into AppleTV's up next, so it will show your DVR queue items. You can also search for shows in the TV app and it will link to content available in Fubo's on demand catalog.
Their 1080i de-interlacing is superior to YoutubeTV. NBCSN looks _substantially_ better on FuboTV than it does on YTTV.
Their DVR now has series record (but not league/team record). It has the usual options (new episodes only, or new & repeats)
Downsides still remain:

WarnerMedia channels (TNT, CNN, etc) were lost when they added ESPN/Disney
No Sinclair RSNs. Just like YTTV, Sling, and Hulu Live.
Numerous channels are still 30fps. Notable networks include A&E, History, Smithsonian, and some local networks.
DVR can't be extended. This can be somewhat mitigated by the 72 hour lookback feature. 
TV devices are restricted to a home network. Viewing outside the home is restricted to mobile devices
I only anticipated getting this for a month to have access to the NHL Network, but I think we might stick with it instead of going back to YoutubeTV.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Is the live TV sound still limited to stereo? That's what killed it for me earlier this year.

The channels you listed are all 1080i from the factory. Shouldn't they show as 30fps?


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## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

harsh said:


> Is the live TV sound still limited to stereo? That's what killed it for me earlier this year.


Yep, still stereo.



harsh said:


> The channels you listed are all 1080i from the factory. Shouldn't they show as 30fps?


For 1080i content, it's still coming in as 60 fields per second, so pixels are moving every 1/60th of a second. The really good de-interlacing algorithms (like those native to TVs) process the fields to continue rendering a full frame with each update every 1/60th of a second. When they process this down to 30fps, the biggest problem shows up when it comes to fast motion or panning shots.

Take this interlaced image of a car in motion:









When you de-interlace this to 60fps, you'd get a frame where the wheel's left edge is maintained by anchoring to the "odd" scan lines and the image is de-combed so it's stitched back together again, then another frame anchoring to the "even" scan lines where the wheel's right edge is maintained and de-combed back to a sold image.

When this is de-interlaced to 30fps, the image is only de-combed by anchoring to the odd scan lines. For motion like this, the position of the wheel on the right edge of the above frame gets scrubbed out, and you only start building a new frame with the next odd scan line update. This produces a noticeable "jump" between frames because you end up with nice clear processed frames that have been de-combed, and you're losing the intermediate pixel positional changes from the even scan line fields. The end result is something that looks a lot like a flipbook because things just jump position without the motion blur or intermediate frame to help your brain see the change as fluid.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Are any of the streaming services 1080 AND Dolby ?


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## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

Davenlr said:


> Are any of the streaming services 1080 AND Dolby ?


Live? Just ATT TV.

The catalog services that have content normally aired on live TV have 1080p video with 5.1 audio:

CBS All Access
Peacock
HBO Max
Disney+ 
Hulu is still mostly 720P/stereo, even on the catalog content.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Yea, Live. Only reason I stay with DirecTv. I need 1080 AND Dolby. I have Peacock, HBOMax and Disney+ and they all look great. I was just curious if there was any streaming service on par with DirecTv for less money.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

espaeth said:


> I only anticipated getting this for a month to have access to the NHL Network, but I think we might stick with it instead of going back to YoutubeTV.


Yeah, I don't think Fubo TV gets enough attention/credit given its channel line-up, feature set and price. As I posted on another thread here recently, I'd say it and YTTV, which are both priced at $65/mo, are kind of a toss-up for best value in the intermediate range of vMVPD, depending on your channel and feature preferences. (Sling's $35 packages owns the cheap low-end and AT&T TV has the high end for those who want RSNs and/or the best HD picture and sound quality. Hulu Live at $65/mo is not a great value for most folks, given what it offers vs. Fubo and YTTV at the same price.)


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Davenlr said:


> Yea, Live. Only reason I stay with DirecTv. I need 1080 AND Dolby. I have Peacock, HBOMax and Disney+ and they all look great. I was just curious if there was any streaming service on par with DirecTv for less money.


The only current live streaming service that is even close to DirecTV in channels, PQ and DD5.1 audio is AT&T TV. It is also the only one that has the Fox/Sinclair RSN's.

The current offerings are nearly the same lineups as the DirecTV though notably all are missing the NFL Channel for some odd reason. Pricing is close to DirecTV's pricing minus the equipment costs.


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## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

lparsons21 said:


> The only current live streaming service that is even close to DirecTV in channels, PQ and DD5.1 audio is AT&T TV. It is also the only one that has the Fox/Sinclair RSN's.


It's a good thing they have those channels and qualities, because the ATT TV user interface and pricing is pretty much the worst in the streaming industry.

When DIRECTV NOW launched in 2016 they started off with the best picture quality of any live streaming services at the time, but about the best you can say for progress they've made in nearly 5 years is that it doesn't crash nearly as often now and they added a somewhat adequate DVR.

Like I said in another post, Fubo isn't going to work for everyone because of the programming gaps. If channel selection isn't an issue, however, for the sports channels (NBCSN, league networks, FS1/2, ESPN, etc) you could do a double blind trial and I'm confident 99% of people wouldn't be able to tell ATT TV or Fubo TV apart based on video quality. Where it will really shine is the UI offers meaningful improvements like the 48-hour lookback (that doesn't rely on a VOD catalog, so you can do things like watch your 10pm local news from last night), having recordings start from the beginning of the programming block even if you start recording in the middle of airing, and the ability to do multi-channel viewing.


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## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

3 month update: FuboTV continues to work well for everything I need. Video quality continues to be good, app runs great on the AppleTV, and the gaps in channel coverage continue to be a non-issue.

This remains the most expensive and least used streaming service I have, but it continues to work reliability for the live sports events I have to it watch.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

FUBOTV, MARQUEE SPORTS NETWORK SIGN CARRIAGE AGREEMENT


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## Tiki God (Sep 3, 2007)

After years of Dish and doing the yearly dance to get a deal, I decided to try the FuboTV free week. I recently downloaded the Dish app on my firestick to see if it could replace the Joeys. I found the interface to be simple and clunky with lots of buffering and freezing. FuboTV has been great thus far. I'm still learning the functions on the simpler firestick remote, but I think saving almost 50% over Dish for basically the same channels maybe the clincher. And I find it odd that Dish still presents some channels in SD for that big price.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Tiki God said:


> After years of Dish and doing the yearly dance to get a deal, I decided to try the FuboTV free week.


Have they implemented streaming of greater than two-channel audio?


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## Tiki God (Sep 3, 2007)

harsh said:


> Have they implemented streaming of greater than two-channel audio?


I guess it is still just 2.0, but it's fine for what i watch. I read on a few websites that even the streaming services that tout 5.1 sound only deliver it on certain programming.


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