DirecTV Now

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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ATT went live today with its new DirecTV Now streaming service, so figure this might warrant its own thread.

https://directvnow.com/

No roku support yet (expected Q1 2017) and ATV support only on ATV4. (those two shortcomings are what kept me from trying it out first thing this AM)

Four tiers of channels:
Live a Little (60-plus channels, for $35 per month),
Just Right (80-plus channels for $50 per month),
Go Big (100-plus channels for $60 per month),
Gotta Have It (120-plus channels for $70 per month).

Intro pre-pricing on GoBig: $35/month, and they claim you'll keep the discount price so long as you dont cancel service.

HBO or CineMax is an extra $5/month.

Also: prepay GoBig one month and they'll give you an Amazon Fire Stick free; prepay GoBig three months, and they'll give you an ATV4 for free. Free devices will be shipper if you order online, but can be picked up immediately of you order the service in a corporate ATT store.
 

brandonchristensen

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I have an Apple TV 4 and 2x 3's...this is kinda cool, but it's a lot of channels, most of which are likely junk.
 

AlNipper49

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See ya later Sling TV. Can't wait for the Roku to pick up this app. As long as I can get Sunday Ticket through it we don't use dtv for anything else
 

Vinho Tinto

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I did the 3 month deal for the ATV. Tried the app on my phone. Worked pretty well. Liked the interface.

The network OnDemand doesn't have the same number of offerings that the TWC app does, but that can change with time. They don't offer networks for Boston right now, so I'm not holding my breath for when they will get Maine. There is no CBS. No NESN either. DVR is coming next year. 40 bucks for the discounted package and HBO is pretty good. TWC charges $15 just for HBO. I understand the discounted prices, and why they will go up in the future, but the regular prices wouldn't me to dump cable or satellite.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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I have an Apple TV 4 and 2x 3's...this is kinda cool, but it's a lot of channels, most of which are likely junk.
Admittedly, it's not for everyone. But:

1) Fios rakes you over the coals with their STB fees;

2) this includes ESPN and sports channels, without skimping on the other popular channels (Fios' Custom TV basic packages offer you EITHER the sports/ESPN package OR the popular channel TBS/TNT/USA/CNN package: if you want both, then you have to pay for both);

3) some providers have killer deals on HSI only service, I guess figuring you cant do without TV from them;

4) $5/month for HBO or CineMax, while also allowing you logins to their apps HBOGo/CinemaxWhatever, which is pretty reasonable;

5) if you dont need the ATV4, ebay it, and you have a three month test drive, with money in your pocket;

6) saw one report from a cable writer that at $35 and including the channels that they do include, ATT is making a buck/month on a sub, so something has to give';

7) streaming on an iphone or ipad, and aircasting to an ATV3 works fine;

8) primary channel complaint today: no beIN for soccer (which is likely to tick off my younger son as well).

Update on Roku: there was a video of the rollout presser, and some exec says Roku is 2-4 weeks away, which puts it right around NYE.

EDIT: I thought the word "presser" got Buchholz'ed on SoSH, guess not.....
 
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Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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NB: Reports are that once you commit to the free ATV4, there's no way to get a refund, even if you're still withing the seven day "free" trial. (with the three month/free device commitment, the 7 days are added onto the END of the three months)
 

brandonchristensen

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Went in, $105 later, I have a new apple tv 4 and now it's all set up. Need to figure out what to do with the 3 that was in the living room...I have no more TV's to put it on.
 

brandonchristensen

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Oh you!

We have a fire stick in our bedroom and directtv now is very slow. It's more just the stick is slow period. A minute or so to get it fully warmed up.
Atv4 is very fluid.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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I've been debating this - and really still am if for nothing else than a discounted AT4 - but no DVR, no NESN and no CBS is kind of a deal breaker for me. I know the latter two can be solved by additional apps but that defeats the purpose in my view. And anyway I'm not willing to go DVRless.
 

brandonchristensen

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I got mine by going into store and love it.

I have a first gen Fire Stick and ATV4.

ATV4 experience is very smooth, Fire Stick v1 is kind of a slow nightmare.
 

trekfan55

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Question: Is DirecTV Now geolocked? (Is it only available with a US IP address)?

I am assuming there is IP monitoring since some channels are only available in certain areas.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Question: Is DirecTV Now geolocked? (Is it only available with a US IP address)?

I am assuming there is IP monitoring since some channels are only available in certain areas.
My bad. Straight from their website:

’s good to know that there are 3 main variables to factor in when considering watching local channels:

https://forums.att.com/t5/General-Questions/I-don-t-see-locals-NBC-ABC-or-FOX-is-anyone-else-having-this/m-p/4939986#M93

  1. Where we offer local channels
    • Local channels are only available in selected markets
  2. What location you are billed
    • Your billing address must be within one of the local channel areas
  3. What location you are streaming
    • You must be within the zip code geolocation of the selected area to view the local programming available
  4. Type of device you use to stream
    • You can only stream NBC via web browser or the DIRECTVNOW app. You cannot stream from Apple TV, Amazon Fire, or a streaming device.
 
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Papelbon's Poutine

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I've never really considered cutting the cord but this is intriguing. My main concerns:

- No DVR is a deal breaker, but seems it might be coming
- no NESN; not looking to try to do the dance to somehow watch Sox games
- additional fees for CBS, though seems they might be getting on board, main concern is NFL games, I don't think I watch anything on CBS

I'm extremely tempted to sign up, get the ATV4 for the $105 and reserve the right to stay at the $35/month price. Test drive it and see what improvements they make. But if I can't lock that in, once you factor in internet increase from breaking up the package, add in HBO, etc etc, I'm not sure it's worth it for me for the hassle. I absolutely pay more than I should, but there's a convenience factor built in that I'm ok with.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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What store? Where can you do this in person? Best Buy?
ATT corporate stores only, tho some reports you also could at one particular reseller chain: SpringMobile. There's also word that if you are able to signup at SpringMobile, you should ask for the "$50 in free accessories" coupon they're supposed to hand out when you open a new acct.

One more perk if you order at an ATT store: there's a box on the order form that the salesman is supposed to check off if he gives you an ATV at the store. If he forgets to check off that box, they'll likely ship another ATV to you.
 

bowiac

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I bit. The ability to lock in the $35 pricing, and the free Apple TV were enough to give this a shot. We'll see how the $35 lock-in actually works out (will CBS be added to it, or will I need to drop the plan to get it, will I be able to pay extra for DVR, or drop the plan, etc...), but it's promising enough that it's worth trying.
 

SumnerH

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  • You can only stream NBC via web browser or the DIRECTVNOW app. You cannot stream from Apple TV, Amazon Fire, or a streaming device.
This is wishful thinking on their part; once you allow an Android app and web browsers to run it, streaming devices can use those just like anyone else can. And indeed there are already plenty of streaming devices that can run DirectTV Now, including the Amazon Fire stick.
 

MikeM

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I've never really considered cutting the cord but this is intriguing. My main concerns:

- No DVR is a deal breaker, but seems it might be coming
- no NESN; not looking to try to do the dance to somehow watch Sox games
- additional fees for CBS, though seems they might be getting on board, main concern is NFL games, I don't think I watch anything on CBS

I'm extremely tempted to sign up, get the ATV4 for the $105 and reserve the right to stay at the $35/month price. Test drive it and see what improvements they make. But if I can't lock that in, once you factor in internet increase from breaking up the package, add in HBO, etc etc, I'm not sure it's worth it for me for the hassle. I absolutely pay more than I should, but there's a convenience factor built in that I'm ok with.
I cut the cord a while back, and just finished up my 7 day trial of Directv Now going in with the same concerns as you.

- The no DVR was indeed a huge deal breaker, especially coming from Playstation Vue (the only one of these services that has one) and their free unlimited cloud option. Which sucks because DirecTV's "coming soon in 2017" is probably typical "we really mean late 3/4Q of the year" talk, and it certainly does offer the best overall selection of decent channels. I had thought I would at least try and see if DTV's 72 Hour rewind feature would offer me a compromise, but was quickly disappointed when it turned out to be a select channels only type thing. The on-demand availability factor was fairly terrible too imo.

- You *might* be screwed on NESN regardless which of the Big 3 (this/Sling/Vue) you pick. I plan to get the online MLB package next year to cover this need.

- Most cable cutters seem to fill this void with a simple HD antenna, which is actually better for NFL stuff since the major network streams tend to be subject to blackouts. I live about 45 miles outside Orlando, and after trying a few settled on decent brand i got for $17 shipped. Pretty easy setup and I get 51 free channels. Most of which were worthless to me, but it does have what you are mainly after there in FOX/NBC/ABC/CBS.

I also wouldn't advise immediately buying into these 3 month package deals being offered simply to snag yourself a free device. Those Apples seem to be universally rated by reviews/consumers as being a worse product then the Amazon's Five TV for example, yet more expensive simply because of the brand name. My own experience with the sticks is that they make for rather poor subs of the full versions too. Doing it over I definitely would have the spent the extra few dollars on another Fire TV over the stick I bought latter, given the stick's slower rate of navigating through the menu.

**Edit - NESN
 
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Marceline

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Vue has NESN and DVR, so that made up my mind for me. I've been on the free trial and it's pretty good. My only complaint is the DVR doesn't always seem to work right, but it seems to be the best of the 3 services overall from my perspective.
 

MikeM

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My bad I didn't realize Vue offered in area coverage on NESN.

That is indeed a nice bonus for some of you.
 

MikeM

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So i got my mother an Amazon Fire TV pre-loaded with Directv Now and a Kodi build for Christmas, and am pretty disappointed with where Direct TV seems to be since my trial a few weeks back. The overall stability on the server side has gotten a lot worse. Lots of buffering and error issues. Christmas day was a complete joke, and I couldn't even get more then a few minutes of uninterrupted service since.

Searched online for a work around (where it's a madhouse of negativity) and the only one that somewhat worked was lowering the video down to 720p. Or at least it looked like it was mostly holding up for the hour I stuck around afterwards before leaving.
 

Marceline

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Can anyone confirm that NESN won't blackout the Sox games if you live in the broadcast area? I'll buy Vue right now if I can get all NESN broadcasts of Sox games.
No clue since I just signed up 2 weeks ago. I've had no issues watching Celtics games on CSN though and I live in MA. I can let you know in April if the Sox games are blacked out.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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No clue since I just signed up 2 weeks ago. I've had no issues watching Celtics games on CSN though and I live in MA. I can let you know in April if the Sox games are blacked out.
Much appreciated! It does sound promising that you can get the Cs on CSN (and presumably the Bs on NESN), I was a happy MLB.TV subscriber for years when I was following the Sox out-of-market, but now I've moved back into the MLB.TV Red Sox blackout area, yet I can't get cable without first paying thousands of dollars to service the area (so I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place). PlayStation Vue seems like a viable solution.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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No clue since I just signed up 2 weeks ago. I've had no issues watching Celtics games on CSN though and I live in MA. I can let you know in April if the Sox games are blacked out.
If it helps anyone out of market:

Nice little unofficial channel/app on some platforms known as Pear Channel. It allows you to watch, among many other things, CSN-NE including Celts games.
 

Marceline

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Much appreciated! It does sound promising that you can get the Cs on CSN (and presumably the Bs on NESN), I was a happy MLB.TV subscriber for years when I was following the Sox out-of-market, but now I've moved back into the MLB.TV Red Sox blackout area, yet I can't get cable without first paying thousands of dollars to service the area (so I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place). PlayStation Vue seems like a viable solution.
I'm not a hockey guy but I checked NESN tonight just to see and the Bruins game came on just fine.
 

MikeM

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Frack, just found out DTVN won't run on Android tv boxes, not even on the boxes with the newest chips.
They aren't missing much.

Overall stream stability has gotten somewhat better for me over the last 10 days or so. I can actually watch a prime time show now with only a few buffering instances here and there. But man, the having to re-enter your password to get back in glitch that happens every time it randomly drops (once an hour an average) gets old really quick.
 

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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They aren't missing much.
But it's still ticking a lot of folks off: It's an Android box, you can d/l the app legally from the Goggle store, yet it doesnt work for whatever reason. At first the idea was that it was due to some boxes being rooted, but hiding the rooting doesnt help, nor does it work on non-rooted boxes.

(btw, I got a tv box with a s912 chip 2gb/16gb, and I am blow away by how freaking fast that thing is for a bit over $50)
 
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MikeM

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I been looking at ditching the DirecTV/Vue altogether and just going the IPTV route with a Mag 254.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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IPTV is pretty sweet. Not only can't I get cable, but my OTA reception is bunk because I'm so isolated. The local cable company offers 15 "basic cable" channels through a Roku box (and only a Roku box... no apps for Apple TV, Android, or Amazon) for $15 a month. Watching the Divisional Round game last week was great: HD and stutter-free. I'll do a free trial of PSVue when John Oliver goes back on the air at the end of February. If I can get NESN, they'll keep me as a customer.
 

LoweTek

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Signed up for this the other day to compare it to Sling. So far, so bad. It cuts out a lot. Does it do this on the various devices (ATV, Fire, etc.) as well or is this a browser phenomenon? I've tried both chrome and IE with similar results. Sling's app has a lousy interface but at least the service is reliable (and cheaper).

Also, anybody have any insight as to when they anticipate the Roku App availability?
 

MikeM

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Signed up for this the other day to compare it to Sling. So far, so bad. It cuts out a lot. Does it do this on the various devices (ATV, Fire, etc.) as well or is this a browser phenomenon? I've tried both chrome and IE with similar results. Sling's app has a lousy interface but at least the service is reliable (and cheaper).
Mine is working infinitely better lately on the latest Fire TV. Seemed to have got past the password issue over the last few days, and only had a couple of very random pauses all last night. Although that probably doesn't mean much to you, as I was right there 2 weeks ago reading about how other people were seeing similar results while my service was sucking. Who is getting good service and who isn't seems pretty freaking random.

That said I went ahead and pulled the trigger on an IPTV package last night and loaded it up on my Kodi. Can't get the guide to work right, although from what i read that is to be expected on Kodi. Stability seems rock solid though. Quality ranges from standard on some select channels to HD on quite a few (again, knew that going in when picking this particular provider). Had it on since noon est today and still haven't seen it buffer. If this keeps up I'll be buying that Mag box and ditching my DirecTV sub at month's end.