I've found that Tivo and a good antenna covers most of what I care to watch.

Prime is okay for some movies but most of their stuff is old or from the UK (cannot understand half of what they're saying).


Currently using a Snap 8x8 HDMI matrix at the beach, and an very old Key Digital Component matrix at the main house.


Truth be told using OTA and a Roku would probably suffice but a Tivo or something else to get rid of all the commercials IS a requirement for this house...

Noted. Thank you, Brent.

My wife gives zero sh!ts about my industry and never has.  As long as one TV in the house works for her (and the kids), I'm free to do what I want.

In the last 12 years she has mentioned 2 things to me related to what I do-

1. YouTube TV looks like shit (the dark scenes are nothing but large dark squares)
2. We (her and the kids) hate Hulu TV (because they force you into commercials).

The first one was about 10 months ago and the second one was tonight.

The current streaming platforms that are meant to replace cable and satellite will never win with their approach.

My TV watching is very limited, but YouTube TV lets me save the programs I want to see in my library. I watch them delayed, so never see any commercials.

I went to turn on my TV on Christmas day to use the YouTube "Fireplace" video, but no love the TV was dead. Last time that I know that it worked was on Thanksgiving when I used the YouTube "Fireplace" video.
That about covers it.

Ah, you must not have read the disclaimer - leave the fireplace on 24/7, and it will roast your TV!

Brent burned his TV up with some real logs?

I cut the cable one year ago and haven't looked back. Our bill with HBO, Showtime, Epix and Internet had swelled to $250/mo. Trying to keep us, Spectrum offered $210 and one less service. No thanks.

Started out with DirectTV streaming and cancelled after 2 months. Had YouTube TV for about 8 months then cancelled after they raised the price AGAIN to $64.99. I'm now on OTA antenna for local, Philo, free Hulu (using a relative's plan), Prime and Netflix. All in with Internet less than $100. I don't count the cost of Prime since my wife saves $5,000 in shipping.

What I really hate with all the streaming services is having to scroll to the channel you want to see vs inputting a channel number.

I use a couple older Sonos connects with amps for dist audio. I find their app a pain in the ass to use and it's glitched a couple times in 1 month.

Hats off to all of you converging all this technology for your clients.

We have abandoned HDMI distribution other than a remote rack to a single point like a Projector, or when having the equipment in room doesn't work with décor.

I'd like to see more solutions for the abundance of wall warts and source boxes that we are trying to cram behind TV's

Our typical scenario is a TV and HEOS bar with a Dish Joey and or Roku Ultra. Then we have a power surge and 5 port Araknis switch.

In rooms where we send audio back to IC speakers, it gets even more cluttered with a DAC on the Toslink then a Muxlab balun added to the mix.

Snaps recessed boxes are ok, but I never want to commit to placement at rough, and I dont really want to cut them in at trim. So I am trying to formulate my plan forward on this.

Regardless, much better than telling a client 3 years later that their 20k HDMI switch that never really worked well is now obsolete and they need to buy the new 16K model to replace the 8K model that replaced the 4K model and it will be 60k in price.

Big fan of MOIP (or any flavor of IP distribution) as they have audio only product as well. Prewire is Cat6 to all locations. That being said, setting up a several hundred $$ transmitter/receiver scenario for a $89-$149 streamer (Fire/Roku/ATV) is becoming less attractive. I am in the "device at TV" camp now, with the future option of MOIP if larger / more expensive sources are needed.

With ROKU you can change the order on the Home Screen. Or, with IP control you can brew up your own button to go directly to an App.

He is talking about 'IN' the app. Not getting to a specific app.

If only it were as simple as you say. I remember when I first bought a reseller iptv and started streaming everything I could only get through that kind of medium. VLC media player, acestream and others were all in the add-on with adapters and re-broadcasting options to improve quality and quantity. Now you have more options for streaming and broadcasting. I don't think there will be a problem with connecting a new channel via such forms of communication.