This week on TechHive: The live TV integration guide

Cord Cutting

Let’s assume for a moment that you’re starting your cord-cutting journey from scratch.

To help ease the transition from cable, perhaps you’ve picked a live TV streaming service such as YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, or Sling TV, and now you need a streaming device to go with it. If you want the best possible experience, this decision is more complicated than it might seem.

Some devices, for instance, let you launch live channels by voice and have grid guides on their home screens, so you can quickly and easily tune to your favorite channels. Some also have quick-launch buttons on their remote controls, so your live TV app is never more than a click away. But depending on which streaming device you buy, these neat features may not available at all.

That means you’ll have to choose choose wisely. In this week’s TechHive column, I’ve walked through all of the major live TV streaming services, and the best streaming devices for each one. Read the full column on TechHive.


Weekly rewind

Reviewing the Comcast TV: Also on TechHive this week, I reviewed Hisense’s 50-inch XClass TV, a smart TV powered by the same software as Comcast’s X1 and Flex set-top boxes (though you wouldn’t know it from the packaging, which doesn’t mention Comcast anywhere). I tried to give it a fair shake, as I’ve heard good things about Comcast’s modern cable experience, but the TV hardware is nothing special, and the software ultimately can’t keep up with the likes of Roku, Fire TV, and Android TV.

App selection, for instance, is inferior, with no apps for FuboTV, Philo, Frndly TV, Apple TV+, or Funimation, among others, and there’s no way to hide or rearrange any of apps that XClass does have. And while I like how the TV suggests things to watch on its home screen, those recommendations aren’t personalized enough, and it’s too hard to tell which streaming services they’re coming from. Combine those shortcomings with a few missing features—like being able to listen privately through headphones or toggle between inputs with one button—and it’s death by a thousand cuts.

Comcast might be accustomed to having little competition in the cable TV realm, but streaming is a different ballgame with no shortage of more polished options. Being a contender in smart TVs will take a lot more work.

Spectrum’s price hike: On March 18, Spectrum will increase its broadcast TV fee from $18 to $21 per month for cable subscribers, while also raising equipment fees by $1 per month, Cord Cutters News reports. That fee was just $5 per month in 2016.

The blame for this largely falls on broadcast TV networks, which have sought increasingly higher fees for their channels even as the cable audience shrinks. But breaking those costs into a separate fee also works out nicely for Spectrum, which can advertise a much lower price than what you actually pay.

Philo’s Apple TV integration: As of this week, Apple TV owners can use Siri voice commands to launch live channels on Philo, the sports-free streaming bundle that costs $25 per month. Philo’s on-demand catalog is also now integrated with Apple’s TV app, which acts as a universal guide to streaming services, and you can use Philo as a single sign-in source for individual TV network apps. Alongside FuboTV and DirecTV, Philo is one of the few that fully integrates with Apple’s streaming box.

Philo also has similar integrations on Fire TV and Android TV devices, and it’s the only live TV streaming service whose on-demand catalog shows up in Roku search results. Kudos to Philo for being a stellar example of feature integration—and the impetus for my TechHive column this week.

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Save more money

Roku Streamingi Stick 4K+

Amazon currently has a nice deal on the Roku Streaming Stick 4K+, which is on sale for $49 instead of the usual $69.

The dongle itself is identical to that of the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, a simple and speedy streamer with 4K, HDR, and Dolby Vision support. The “+” in the name means that it includes Roku’s Voice Remote Pro, which has a headphone jack, two programmable buttons, a remote finder function (which you can ring through Roku’s mobile app) and support for hands-free voice control. Unlike Roku’s other remotes, it also has a rechargeable battery so you don’t have to constantly chew through AAAs.

Just don’t confuse it with the Roku Streaming Stick+, which launched in 2017 and continues to be sold by some retailers. Never a dull moment with Roku product naming schemes.

Also notable: Amazon’s Fire TV Omni television—with hands-free voice control and Dolby Vision HDR—is down to a record low of $500 for the 65-inch model and $750 for the 75-incher.


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Until next week,

Jared

Last week’s newsletter: My YouTube TV wishlist.