Free over-the-air TV still looks better than every streaming service I pay for
Streaming still has other perks.
On Sunday afternoon, the most vivid picture in the reporter's living room came from a $20 HD antenna mounted on a window, connected to a cheap tuner and an HDHomeRun. This surpassed the picture quality from multiple paid streaming services, including YouTube TV, Netflix, and others, all of which cost the reporter more money. The antenna provided a live sports feed with a fixed-rate MPEG-2 transport stream, transmitting exactly what left the tower, without any compression or hidden degradation.
In contrast, the streaming services used adaptive bitrate streaming, quietly lowering the picture quality when the connection was poor, without notifying the user. This resulted in a softer, less clear picture that could only be noticed if you were closely examining it. Additionally, streaming services had additional features like content profiling, dynamic ad insertion, and ISP monitoring, which the antenna did not have.
The antenna also remained functional during internet outages, which was crucial during bad weather. The reporter measured the quality difference between the antenna and streaming services using various tools, and found that the streaming service's picture was consistently softer and less detailed, even though both were broadcasting the same game.
Written by urgent.news from XDA Developers's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
