OTA is an acronym for Over the Air, meaning antenna. OTT means
Over the Top and refers to watching TV using the internet (also
called streaming). Millions of people around the world have been
replacing cable with OTT monthly offerings, due to cable's
extremely high fees and multi-year no-cut contracts. All of the
OTT offerings have a free period, usually seven days to test and
see if you like the service.
Many people are also discovering antennas today are not like the
old days and offer many more free channels. Additionally,
antennas produce a better picture than any of the cable or OTT
services (excluding 4K) because they do not compress the signal
coming into your house. Also, there are many relatively
inexpensive (less than $20) indoor antennas that can be attached
to a window, so no need to climb up on the roof as we did in the
past. Unfortunately rural areas still mostly lack local service.
There are eight OTT players with live TV vying for your TV
dollars: PlayStation Vue, AT&T TV NOW, AT&T Watch, Hulu,
Sling TV, Philo, FuboTV, and YouTube TV. Each has a curated list
of offerings, with some catering to sports fans, or families, or
variety. Most offer multiple options to use and pay for more or
less channels.
They all stream live TV and selected movies over the internet
and require a smart TV or a box, like fireTV, Roku, Chromecast,
etc. Luckily, each device is a one time purchase, some as low as
$24.95. Some services do not play on all boxes, so check before
you buy. Almost all offer addons, like Netflix and Prime
purchased through them or separately. Many, but not all offer
live sports.
Disney+ is coming this fall, but will not offer live TV, just
movies, old TV reruns, and some original content, like Netflix
and Prime. Incidentally, Netflix will have 158.8 million
viewers of the 182.5 million people using OTT services in
2019. Amazon Prime Video is the second most-popular service
behind Netflix, with 96.5 million subscribers.
AT&T TV (not to be confused with AT&T TV NOW or AT&T Watch) is
a new service that is meant to eventually replace satellite
services AT&T Uverse and AT&T DirectTV. It is sold as a
two year bundle and prices like traditional cable. Also, like
cable, has penalties for early termination, requires a box like
cable, and extra fees.
The major benefits for considering OTT is to save money, as much
as $100 per month or more by not paying for all the extra
channels on cable that you do not watch. Some people switch out
one service for another, such as for those that provide sports
in the fall, then switching again in spring or adding Netflix to
watch new series, then dropping when the series is over. This
adds variety and still keeps costs down. Services begin as low
as $15 per month and can go as high as close to $100 per month.
Many seniors especially, have found that an antenna alone
provides enough entertainment and is totally free of monthly
payments. Others have added an antenna as a backup for OTT
sports blackouts or when there are contract disputes and local
channels are temporarily unavailable. Many places have over
thirty channels available for free with an antenna. You can find
more info. Use the
search box for 'antenna'.
Showing posts with label OTT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OTT. Show all posts
Aug 23, 2019
Jul 7, 2017
Streaming vs. Casting
These terms are used when discussing getting
information from devices to your TV. Streaming is video-delivery
sent over the internet to your computer or smart TV. It also may
refer to Internet Protocol television (IPTV) also called just
Internet TV. It includes Live TV, time shifted replays of live
TV, and video on demand, such as movies. IPTV is delivered over
a closed, proprietary network, accessed via a specific internet
service provider. It is different from OTT (see below), which is
open and delivered by providers over the top of any internet
service.
Casting refers to the delivery of audio, video, or other media types from a users mobile device or PC to a Television or connected TV device. For mobile devices, such as smartphones, mirroring means casting uses your bandwidth allocation and costs money each time you use it. Video uses an extremely high amount of bandwidth and if you do not have unlimited use, your monthly phone bill could be enormous. Mirroring takes the display from a sender devices and replicates that on a receiving device. Casting without mirroring means that after you cast the video to your TV, you can use the phone as normal, because it hands off the original signal to the TV.
Bottom line, streaming goes directly to a device and casting sends a stream from one device to another.
Casting refers to the delivery of audio, video, or other media types from a users mobile device or PC to a Television or connected TV device. For mobile devices, such as smartphones, mirroring means casting uses your bandwidth allocation and costs money each time you use it. Video uses an extremely high amount of bandwidth and if you do not have unlimited use, your monthly phone bill could be enormous. Mirroring takes the display from a sender devices and replicates that on a receiving device. Casting without mirroring means that after you cast the video to your TV, you can use the phone as normal, because it hands off the original signal to the TV.
Bottom line, streaming goes directly to a device and casting sends a stream from one device to another.
OTA vs. OTT
The often used abbreviations can be confusing. Think of OTA
(Over The Air) as using a TV antenna, where the signal comes
into your antenna, literally over the air from satellite or huge
broadcast antenna at a TV or radio station, vs. on a cable.
Think of OTT (Over The Top) as directly accessing the internet via a physical cable (such as the one that goes into your modem/router LINK). WiFi also gets its input from that cable. It refers to audio, video, and other media transmitted via the Internet without cable or direct-broadcast satellite television systems controlling content. No TV tuner or receiver is necessary.
OTT devices which support streaming include Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, and FireTV, etc. OTT services include video on demand services like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Sky Go, BBC iPlayer, etc.
Bottom line, OTA uses the air outside of your house to receive signals and OTT uses cables outside of your house to receive signals. They both use cables from the wall to devices inside the house.
Think of OTT (Over The Top) as directly accessing the internet via a physical cable (such as the one that goes into your modem/router LINK). WiFi also gets its input from that cable. It refers to audio, video, and other media transmitted via the Internet without cable or direct-broadcast satellite television systems controlling content. No TV tuner or receiver is necessary.
OTT devices which support streaming include Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, and FireTV, etc. OTT services include video on demand services like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Sky Go, BBC iPlayer, etc.
Bottom line, OTA uses the air outside of your house to receive signals and OTT uses cables outside of your house to receive signals. They both use cables from the wall to devices inside the house.
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