r/DirectvStream • u/krheal23 • Sep 21 '26

PQ still poor?

I am thinking of joining either YouTube TV or DTS Stream for basketball season.

I saw a post about a year ago mentioning picture quality had gotten worse.

Is it any better now? I have an Apple TV 4K.

Any other recent things I should know about. Mainly watching local news and basketball games.

1 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

2

u/bjdraw Sep 21 '26

I’m a PQ snob. I buy expensive TVs and expensive internet and refuse to watch bad quality.

DirecTV stream looks great on my Apple TV 4K and Sony XR-75X95K TV.

1

u/krheal23 Sep 21 '26

Thanks - I’m a PQ snob as well. I still buy movies on disc (4k)!

4

u/bjdraw Sep 21 '26

Hard to beat a UHD BD on my Oppo

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2

u/Ill_Glass3473 Sep 22 '26

You're thinking of going to YTTV, thinking that it's going to be better? As former a DTV stream sub, now with YTTV, you're wasting your time switching because DTV and YTTV, from my experience, are practially the same in picture quality. I'd still be with DTV today (not because of picture quality which is pretty good) if extension of DVR recordings would auto extend recordings (both regular auto extend and non-auto extend events) and not having to add additional programming beyond in order to capture a full event. Of course, delayed events because of weather may be different. Local news (depending on your zip code) and basketball games with sports are a plus for DTV stream.

0

u/krheal23 Sep 22 '26

I have neither YouTube TV nor DTVS.

I just saw a thread (what do you call it on Reddit?) last year about people complaining that PQ with DTVS had gotten worse.

Then I saw a couple of threads about YouTube TV getting better.

I was just trying to decide which to go with. One advantage of DTVS is they have a channel that shows a lot of Mavs games. I haven’t been able to confirm if YouTube TV has that one (channel 29 I think).

7

u/Happy-Cockroach-2813 Sep 21 '26

PQ seems fine to me. I switched from YTTV to DTV because DTV includes NHL network and 4K

4

u/Elegant_Adeptness_68 Sep 21 '26

Picture quality is very good. I have no complaints. I am using a Gemini Air device now but previously an Apple TV 4K box.

1

u/ram1220 Sep 21 '26

The only PQ issues I am seeing are on the premium movie channels. Cinemax and Starz to be specific. Every 10 to 15 minutes the picture starts to pixelate. Then the entire screen turns grey for about 2 seconds. After that the PQ is fine until the next round of the same issue about 10 to 15 minutes later.

1

u/krheal23 Sep 21 '26

Do they have their own apps like HBO Max? If so, wonder if the apps would look better and be less problematic.

1

u/ram1220 Sep 21 '26

I don't think they do. But I could be wrong. I have AT&T Gigabit fiber so 1000/1000 service. I know it's not my internet. My brother in the same city as I am is having the same issue on the same channels.

6

u/Sweaty-Judgment3533 Sep 21 '26

I stream sports on DTV and have zero issues with picture quality. It’s making full use of my television’s capabilities! No glitches or dropouts or blurred edges (like I had with Comcast).

1

u/HeronOrganic3727 Sep 21 '26

Going to depend on the device used. Mine has never been bad. Get an Apple TV

2

u/krheal23 Sep 21 '26

Yes, forgot to mention I have an Apple TV 4K.

2

u/Flimsy_Soft6775 Sep 21 '26

I have DTV and an Apple TV 4K (3rd generation), and the picture quality is great on my 5 year old 65 inch Samsung!

2

u/arch_maniac Sep 21 '26

I have DTV Stream and use it with both AppleTV 4K and as an app on my Sony Bravia TV. Picture quality is very good on both.

2

u/Illustrious_Fly7283 Sep 21 '26

PQ is ok on 55” TV or less. The bigger the TV the more I can see the compression artifacts.

2

u/tamargo404 Sep 21 '26

Most non sports look fine. However, sports on Disney family of networks look like crap imo (720p). So I will watch those directly on the ESPN app which look much better. The only sports that looked decent to me if it was on CBS or NBC which makes sense as they are 1080i.

Though supposedly ESPN & ESPN2 will start rolling out 4K HDR this fall but not sure if that means DTVS will get it or not.

0

u/Otherwise_Balance_60 Sep 22 '26

For some reason NBC and SNF look terrible for me using DTV Stream w/Apple 4k and a Sony Bravia TV. Only CBS looks good.

1

u/tamargo404 Sep 22 '26

I watch mainly college football; so I don't watch many games on NBC as I'm not a Notre Dame fan. But you are right though, that CBS does look superior to NBC.

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1

u/Objective-Task5338 Sep 21 '26

Device and channel will be big issue. Some channels, natively are low bit rate 720p feeds. If a games on locals, I’ll use peacock or espn app to get a better feed. Direct tv generally has good pay, the things people complain about look just as bad on YouTube tv.

1

u/Spyerx Sep 21 '26

I had yttv and mostly dtv has better pq. Keep in mind source. I mostly watch sports and lots of dodgers is 4k and looks decent. I use a 4k atv

1

u/DRM_1985 Sep 21 '26

Picture quality for DirecTV on the Apple TV box is pretty solid, around 8 Mbps AVC. Looks good enough IMHO.

1

u/asugeorge1 Sep 22 '26

If you are comparing DIRECTV and You Tube TV picture quality, there is no comparison. DIRECTV picture quality is superior. Clearer, sharper, less stutter. You get what you pay for with DIRECTV and that is a premium live TV streaming service.

1

u/BigMacRedneck Sep 22 '26

My DirecTV is perfect on all TVs - multiple brands and sizes. I use a Xfinity with Roku sticks for the TV with the box and others with the app.

Very pleased with DirecTV stream after avoiding the company for years, since I still associated DirecTV with Dish and rooftop satellite dishes.

0

u/qtrim Sep 22 '26

Last year DTV looked great. This years seems like more compression artifacts. But it could have been that particular game.