Got a Roku Streaming Stick - wanted a simple device I could use to test things out.
Plugged it in last night and signed up for YouTube TV. Going well so far.
I expected to like the channel selection and certainly the cost. What I had failed to expect was how much more I would like the Roku's performance and interface compared to what you get from a cable box. That was short sighted of me, as cable boxes are among both the worst and most expensive consumer products on the planet.I think the performance of the box might even be as big an improvement for me as anything else.
My cable company charges me $56/month for the 3 piece of shit boxes I am forced to use. That's more per month than YouTube TV. It's more per month than the entire purchase price of the Roku stick now attached to the back of my TV and conveniently out of sight.
True story. In 1999 - at the height of the Internet bubble - I worked on the IPO of a set top box software company. They were going to be the Microsoft of the set top box, or some such thing. They had a friendlier, simpler interface and the capability to do interesting, innovative things that were not only revolutionary at the time, but today's cable boxes still don't match it. It was a great product, but none of the cable companies were interested, and they ultimately were bought by one of them who more or less shut the project down.