How to watch the Illini

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#52      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Yeah I haven't tried using the VPN at the router level. It could work, not sure how else they would identify location. I usually watch whatever on my TV and switch to cast outside-region sports to tv via phone when I want.

I used to use a service when I lived in the UK to stream US programming. The service I used would charge me 5 bucks a month and I could choose my country. Worked fine for me.
 
#53      
Currently have Hulu...huge savings vs what were on. Sure there are little glitches, but I can deal with it to save a c-note each month. Only issue I have is it doesn’t have MLB network and YTTV does.
 
#56      

Deleted member 29907

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Short answer, "YES". Make a list of the channels you want. Compare your list to the channels offered by the live streaming service (vue, hulu, sling, yttv, fubo, & directtv), pick the best ones for your requirements and try the free trial period. In my experience, psvue and yttv have been the best for sports. Note that not all services have the four national networks in every area, though yttv does. Good luck, it's definitely worth the effort.
I'd also add to this list : Know how many concurrent viewers you need. Some of the services allow more, some less for the price. YTTV allows 3 concurrent (6 total authorized) viewers (devices) at a time, whereas when I was looking, some only offered 2.
 
#57      
I'd also add to this list : Know how many concurrent viewers you need. Some of the services allow more, some less for the price. YTTV allows 3 concurrent (6 total authorized) viewers (devices) at a time, whereas when I was looking, some only offered 2.

Is sharing a thing? I've heard of people sharing services in different households, with one paying for Amazon, another paying for Netflix.

Asking for a friend....
 
#58      

Hoppy2105

Little Rock, Arkansas
Is sharing a thing? I've heard of people sharing services in different households, with one paying for Amazon, another paying for Netflix.

Asking for a friend....

I’m pretty sure only one person actually pays for Netflix. The rest of us just bum off of them in some way.

Kidding aside, some services find ways to limit sharing and others haven’t perfected it yet.

For instance BTNplus wouldn’t let both my brother and myself watch an Illini basketball game this past year since we were both logged in on my username at the same time. It kept bumping one of us off.

Yet, I’ve had no trouble using other people’s Amazon prime/direct TV accounts at the same time as them.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
#59      
I've had HuluLive (Hulu+ ?) for almost 2 years. Never missed a football or basketball game that was broadcast (had to get the BTN+ subscription for 30-60 days for Nov/Dec MBB games that don't air). Hulu has BTN, the various Fox Sports channels, and the key ESPN channels.

Rumor is that YTTV is better. I might check that out this fall for a trial and see how it works. Right now I think they are pretty equivalent from a Sports PoV but I think the big plus is getting AMC on YTTV (Walking Dead).
 
#60      
I started with PSVue three years ago and it worked well for me. I switched to YTTV last year and prefer it as it has been technologically better. My purchasing decision is very heavily weighted to sports content and I considered Sling, Hulu, Fubo and found Vue & YTTV the best overall choices for me. The biggest sports viewing difference between the two is Vue has NFL (with Redzone optional at add'l cost) and YTTV does not. Both have everything else for American sports viewing, although all of the four national networks are not always available in some locales on Vue. For reference, I would estimate that 85-90% of my live streaming service viewing is sports, when it's in season.
 
#61      
I started with PSVue three years ago and it worked well for me. I switched to YTTV last year and prefer it as it has been technologically better. My purchasing decision is very heavily weighted to sports content and I considered Sling, Hulu, Fubo and found Vue & YTTV the best overall choices for me. The biggest sports viewing difference between the two is Vue has NFL (with Redzone optional at add'l cost) and YTTV does not. Both have everything else for American sports viewing, although all of the four national networks are not always available in some locales on Vue. For reference, I would estimate that 85-90% of my live streaming service viewing is sports, when it's in season.

Another thing to note is to compare to YYTV you have to go with Vues elite channel lineup. Both have channels you don't want at that point, but that's how it goes.

YTTV will work on the Xbox platform too, if you have one. I use XB1 and Chromecast, but more current smart TVs can run it too, if you don't want to go through an amp for sound first.

Also, Vue only does 720p...
 
#62      
Another thing to note is to compare to YYTV you have to go with Vues elite channel lineup. Both have channels you don't want at that point, but that's how it goes.

YTTV will work on the Xbox platform too, if you have one. I use XB1 and Chromecast, but more current smart TVs can run it too, if you don't want to go through an amp for sound first.

Also, Vue only does 720p...
Most networks don't even broadcast anything better than 720p anyways
 
#64      
We were happy with our Hulu Live last football & basketball season. All BTN, FS1, & ESPN family games. Some streaming issues, but I attribute that to my iffy Comcast. The tv channel listing is a bit weird in that if looking for all channels, it just goes alphabetically. But if not searching all, the other submenus of Sports, News, & recent watched make it easy enough to navigate. It also allows picking favorite sports team defaults where it automatically DVRs your teams' games. Pretty sure that when I have had streaming issues that the games would resume from where an interruption hit at, getting me behind real time, but not missing anything. No WGN for us, so about every 5th Cubs game not available.
 
#65      

Atgers

Birmingham, AL
Does YTTV have a DVR function similar to Hulu?
 
#66      

Deleted member 29907

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Does YTTV have a DVR function similar to Hulu?
Not sure what Hulu's exactly is - but its basically an unlimited Cloud based DVR. You record a game or tv series, etc and it shows up in your "Library" listing. Nice part is - that your Library is available from any device - so you can rewatch games on your phone, etc via the recording. Obviously its just a pointer to their library of requested recorded shows, etc. But it works very nicely and is very simple. Other nice part is that if a game is extended - it keeps on 'recording'.

YTTV gives 3 simultaneous streaming users vs Hulu only 2 so that made a huge difference for us.
 
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#67      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
I've had HuluLive (Hulu+ ?) for almost 2 years. Never missed a football or basketball game that was broadcast (had to get the BTN+ subscription for 30-60 days for Nov/Dec MBB games that don't air). Hulu has BTN, the various Fox Sports channels, and the key ESPN channels.

Rumor is that YTTV is better. I might check that out this fall for a trial and see how it works. Right now I think they are pretty equivalent from a Sports PoV but I think the big plus is getting AMC on YTTV (Walking Dead).

When I finally cut the cord a few months back, I started with Hulu Live. I immediately switched to YTTV due to the terrible channel guide at Hulu. YTTV lets you rearrange your channels (favorites list) so you don't have to scroll through the entire list to get to a channel at the bottom of the alphabet.
 
#68      

Atgers

Birmingham, AL
Not sure what Hulu's exactly is - but its basically an unlimited Cloud based DVR. You record a game or tv series, etc and it shows up in your "Library" listing. Nice part is - that your Library is available from any device - so you can rewatch games on your phone, etc via the recording. Obviously its just a pointer to their library of requested recorded shows, etc. But it works very nicely and is very simple. Other nice part is that if a game is extended - it keeps on 'recording'.

YTTV gives 3 simultaneous streaming users vs Hulu only 2 so that made a huge difference for us.
Thanks for the info!
 
#69      
With the season upon us, could anyone outside B10 coverage areas please report if they get Illinois games on the likes of YT, Amazon, etc?

Thanks in advance.
 
#70      

haasi

New York
I cut cable and subscribe to Hulu live. Gets BTN ESPN and lots of other channels.
 
#71      
I’m also a Hulu live convert. Only things I don’t like about is it no MLB network, WGN lacking meaning a missed Cub game on occasion, and that alphabetical channel guide. But minor inconveniences for the cost savings.
 
#72      
I’m also a Hulu live convert. Only things I don’t like about is it no MLB network, WGN lacking meaning a missed Cub game on occasion, and that alphabetical channel guide. But minor inconveniences for the cost savings.

YouTube TV has BTN, MLB network, and cost saves about $100/month over cable and dish.
 
#73      

Deleted member 29907

D
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YouTube TV has BTN, MLB network, and cost saves about $100/month over cable and dish.
And you can rearrange the Live Guide however you want - order, leave out channels, etc. Has all the BTN overflows as well.
 
#74      

Deleted member 29907

D
Guest
With the season upon us, could anyone outside B10 coverage areas please report if they get Illinois games on the likes of YT, Amazon, etc?

Thanks in advance.
YTTV has BTN which is carrying the games. Both the main channel and the overflows.
 
#75      

Tophe

Middle TN
With the season upon us, could anyone outside B10 coverage areas please report if they get Illinois games on the likes of YT, Amazon, etc?

Thanks in advance.
Playstation Vue has BTN (and alternates) on the Core plan, plus lots of other sports networks.
 
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