Gadgetory

hello again ladies and gentlemen i'm joe hindi the android authority app guy internet TV is hitting the market in a big way especially this year and we wanted to see which ones were worth checking out it's gonna be a long one folks so let's get right into it okay let's start out with channel selection and prices now I could drone on and on listing off the same old stuff over and over again forever but I'll spare you the pain the written version of this has all of this information along with links to the various services for more information thus instead of boring the hell out of you with long list of stuff that really don't translate well over video let's go over some of the highlights instead for starters all 5 TV services offer local channels in every package that should cover most local sports news and the weather whether or not the channel is available on a particular service depends mostly on your location we couldn't test all of the 43,000 zip codes in the United States so you might have to dig a little deeper to see what local channels are available in your area additionally all 5 services offer a decent selection of on-demand content or stuff that you can just stream even if it's not live this usually includes movies and TV shows that have aired recently and in many cases it's the entire currently airing season of a TV show most services don't offer local live TV in every area but those local channels usually have on-demand content 24 hours after airing for instance the Superbowl was available on NBC on all of these services 24 hours after the event in areas that didn't have live local NBC coverage of the 5 sling TV has the cheapest starting package at $20 per month for about 30 channels the most expensive individual package is PlayStation views top tier which is 70 $4.99 for just over 70 channels including HBO and Showtime the rest of the services and packages fall somewhere in between those two of these sling TV also has the fewest channels in its most basic package with just over 30 while DirecTV now has the most channels in a package at just over 120 the rest of the packages fall somewhere in between those finally all five services also have add-ons along with the base packages these mostly comprised of premium channels like Showtime HBO Starz sports channels and other such channels they range from $5 per month to $15 per month or even more in some case slang TV has over 30 add-ons that include multilingual channels and a bunch of other stuff each of the services supports a different set of platforms however most of them do support the big players like Apple TV chromecast Amazon fire and Roku with sporadic support for Android TV consoles and other Fringe devices again we encourage you to check out the written version for the full rundown of everything these services mostly focus on delivering live TV content however all of them do offer some additional features to entice us the consumers there really isn't anything dramatic but some of these perks are quite nice we'll also mention how many concurrent streams each service allows and for clarification concurrent streams is simply how many devices can stream these services at the same time let's start with Direct TV now it's the only service that doesn't offer cloud DVR although that service is coming within the next couple of months so by mid 2018 it won't be an issue anymore some of the other features DirecTV offers includes a 72-hour rewind feature as well as a restart feature to watch stuff that you may have recently missed additionally Amazon fire and Apple TV devices get support for Dolby Digital 5.1 and that's neat we guess finally the service offers up to two simultaneous streams per accounts Hulu does have cloud DVR service with up to 50 hours of recording time the service also offers two continuous streams per account perhaps its best feature is a baked in subscription to the normal Hulu service that gives it live TV as well as a healthy batch of binge friendly content that no other service can match for additional fees you can upgrade the DVR to 200 hours and upgrade the number of concurrent streams to unlimited over your home network or three outside of your home network however those are fairly expensive and we honestly don't recommend them PlayStation View also has a cloud DVR but they aren't very transparent on how much of it you get they say you get hundreds of hours but there is no specified maximum additionally PlayStation 4 owners get a unique multi stream view mode while PlayStation Plus members get discounts on premium channels and channel bundles PlayStation views most unique feature is the ability to use your credentials to login to TV apps like Fox Sports go discovery go watch ESPN and similar apps like a real cable provider lastly the service allows for up to five concurrent streams but each device has to be registered under the main account holder sling TV is one of these simplest services available it does offer 50 hours of cloud DVR but it does cost an additional five dollars per month it also has integration with air TV a digital TV antenna box that grants unlimited access to local TV channels as long as you're in range of the broadcast towers thus it always ensures that you have those channels even if sling TV itself does not sling TVs biggest feature is its ala carte style with over 30 add-on packages to add whatever kind of TV that you want beware though because these packages ramped up the monthly cost rather quickly and also sling TV allows for up to two concurrent streams YouTube TV proudly flaunts an unlimited cloud DVR service that we really appreciate additionally it allows for up to six accounts per membership with each account having their own cloud DVR favorites recommendations etc it does only allow three concurrent streams though so all six accounts cannot be active at once you also get access to YouTube red originals which is okay we guess but it's got nothing on Hulu's additional content offerings otherwise YouTube red is actually a fairly simple service overall PlayStation View has the most robust set of features with the fewest compromises but as we saw earlier it's also the most expensive service and now we all know why YouTube TV banks heavily on its cloud DVR service and its sixth account membership but it doesn't really have any other unique features DirecTV now lags behind with no cloud DVR but that's a very temporary problem and they have other features to mitigate that problem so we didn't really judge it too harshly Slean TV is probably the least interesting service when it comes to extra features and we're not happy that cloud DVR costs extra when it comes in the base price of the other services Hulu including its regular service in the base price really gives a ton of extra stuff to watch and makes it a better value but it's expensive add-ons kind of negate that bonus those with bigger households should probably stick with YouTube TV or Playstation view streaming quality is a bit of a hairy subject because there are so many variables that control it your internet speeds consistency and quality will all affect the streaming quality of live TV additionally those with 4k TVs with subpar upscaling may see additional softness even if the stream is razor sharp and of course if the services themselves are having issues that will affect streaming quality as well to make matters even more complicated different broadcast or extreme at different qualities all five services can do basic HD at 720p at 30 frames per second per channel some channels offer 60 frames per second 1080p and up to 1080p at 60 frames per second however this is largely out of the hands of these streaming services and more on the broadcast networks providing the stream thus you can't complain to YouTube or Hulu or DirecTV because they don't have a specific channel in 1080p it's usually not their call and there's usually nothing that they can do about it obviously 1080p at 60 frames per second is the sweet spot but in our experience 720p at 30 frames per second is passable in most cases each service streams in a slightly different bit rate and that is controllable in the settings menu and a few of them including sling TV none of these companies publish their bit rates and stream quality varies for all sorts of reasons thus an academic view of their streaming quality is outside of my abilities to provide and for that I am sorry the best I can do is the old I test and I looked around at what other people said based on that research most seem to agree that YouTube TV and PlayStation View have the best streaming quality while sling TV is often described as the worst with Hulu and DirecTV now slotting somewhere in the middle however during my eye test on a note 8 and an LGB 7 oled TV I found the differences to be fairly marginal at best all of the services had the occasional hiccup or skip or long load time but I experienced no serious problems while streaming with any of them my recommendation is that you don't turn down the right service for you because it isn't the sharpest according to most people the differences aren't night and day and all 5 services have the same ceiling when it comes to video quality channel selection of price extra features and value will ultimately matter more at least for right now design and UI is another difficult subject to approach mostly because what constitutes as good is highly preferential none of these services do design poorly however all five of them have some minor elements that are undesirable for instance sling TVs mobile app looks rather antiquated PlayStation views TV Guide is a little difficult to use on mobile and YouTube TV's mobile app has some inconsistent layout features none of these things are overly bad but rather nitpicks additionally most of these services are available on a minimum of half a dozen platforms and each platform has a slightly different UI to take into account things like control mechanic design standards and other stuff quite frankly an in-depth view of the UI isn't necessary on TV facing devices like Android TV Roku Apple TV etc because they all do a good enough job with very little issues in reality the mobile and tablet apps differ far more than their set-top box counterparts plus it would take like 40 minutes to talk all of that out and neither of us want that there are a few observations worth making for starters all five services look and act nicer on set-top box devices and Smart TVs than they do on mobile devices all five mobile apps do have chromecast support and they also allow for cross device syncing between devices for things like DVR favorites and other stuff so that's good news as far as we could tell none of the services offer an alphabetical TV Guide view although most do offer alphabetical lists of available channels somewhere within the app perhaps the most interesting point of note is how much like TV these apps try to feel when they really don't need to the little quirks like TV guides and channel flipping or quaint however in 2018 we would have liked a more efficient system still none of these services are difficult to use nor are they hard on the eyes ultimately the one that you like will be a matter of opinion more than anything because all five services have apps on supported platforms that hold to basically the same thing now we could go and rank all of these as best to worst however we felt that it would be more appropriate to outline what each of these does well calling one of them the worst and the other the best could easily get taken out of context and it's not necessarily accurate in reality all of these services are good in their own way and it all really depends on what you're looking for so here's what each one of these does well and what they do poorly we'll be honest with you we went into this project thinking that Direct TV now was going to be an easy scapegoat and we were wrong the service excels at providing a very PlayStation view like experience for even less money it features tons of channels for decent prices and several packages to choose from additionally it's HBO stars and Cinemax add-ons are cheaper than any of the other services 60 channels and HBO for $40 per month is a surprisingly excellent value especially when compared to Hulu and YouTube TV it does lack DVR but it does have a 72-hour rewind feature that acts similarly Plus DVR is coming before too long anyway so it's really not that big of a deal we would recommend this service to people who like a ton of tea and also on HBO additionally AT&T customers get some extra perks so we would definitely recommend that AT&T customers look at this one first Hulu TV honestly doesn't excel at much they get outperformed in channel selection DVR price concurrent streams and even streaming quality by at least one other competitor however Hulu does have its benefits a subscription to the service also gets you a subscription to the regular Hulu and that makes Hulu the only service with a one-two punch of live TV and also binge friendly streaming selections it's also available on more platforms than many competitors although live TV support still hasn't rolled out to all of the platforms that Hulu usually supports it does have cloud DVR included in the base subscription which is nice we recommend this one to existing Hulu customers who may want to add a bit of live TV to their experience and don't necessarily need a lot of channels or a lot of customization we would also recommend this to people who enjoy binge watching old TV but also want a little bit of live TV as well PlayStation View slots into a weird spot in this space it runs a little more expensive than DirecTV now for less channels however it has more concurrent streams excellent DVR and it also has above-average streaming quality that makes it a decent choice if you don't mind paying a premium for fewer channels but for better features additionally PlayStation Plus members get additional discounts and deals and it also comes with multi-screen support for PlayStation 4 that makes it a good first choice for PlayStation 3 or 4 owners and it's five concurrent streams also makes it great for busy households however under most circumstances DirecTV now does what PlayStation View does but cheaper slim TV is the cheapest solution for those who want the most basic TV access its ala carte approaches refreshingly different and it's 30 Plus add-on packages really let you customize your TV subscription it's a level of customization that no competitor even comes close to matching those add-ons do add up quickly though resulting in higher prices than some competitors in some cases sling TV also has the unique ability to integrate digital TV antennas into its service via air TV although that device does cost you a hundred bucks that guarantees local stations support for those who live close enough to a city the biggest con to sling TV is the cost as you add more and more channel add-ons there comes a point where it may be more economical to just do one of the big packages from a competitor to save yourself a few bucks otherwise there really is much wrong with Celine TV the services selection of international TV content also makes it great for non-english speakers as well YouTube TV is actually one of the weaker options overall right now it's unlimited cloud DVR service is unrivaled in the industry but it is somewhat mitigated by strong offerings and on-demand content from all of its competitors plus its channel add-ons are on the expensive side and YouTube TV offers no customization in terms of pricing finally YouTube's bread is one of the weaker perks compared to something like Hulu's extensive on-demand library of binge worthy contents still there are some benefits to YouTube TV it caters well to large households with its six accounts per membership offer even if only three concurrent streams are allowed at once plus it offers some of the best streaming quality and app design among all five services and it's relatively simple to understand if that's what you want then YouTube TV may be for you however it has a long way to go before it starts outright beating competitors in this space here's the thing folks the Internet TV market is rather young the oldest of these services is a mere three years old to date and we expect to see massive improvements changes and other new features rolling out over the coming months and years right now is an excellent time to take advantage of these services however don't expect all of this stuff to be the same in the future in fact most of these services should see major updates within the next six months if we miss something that you think is important about these services make sure to tell us about them in the comments and that about does it for this one folks don't forget to check out the written version of this article linked up in the video description below and make sure to subscribe to Android Authority because we are your source for all things Android thanks again for watching everybody and have a wonderful day