Look at the individual channel lineups vs. a list of channels you consider very important to have. That may decide for you. One of the great gripes about streaming services is that each seem to lack just a few key channels about which a potential subscriber cares.
Don't be fooled by apparent "locals" in their channel list presentations that aren't actually locals. Verify when in doubt. For example, just showing a network logo doesn't necessarily mean you will be getting your local affiliate.
Your best crack at real locals (with the bonus of best picture quality & sound) is putting up an antenna and bringing those in from over-the-air broadcasts.
ATMOS will probably come with NONE of these streaming services. None even have DD 5.1 now. Instead, they are all either stereo or mono at best. If you care about maximum
sound quality, you need to rethink this migration. Streaming services seem to be about compromising fundamentals like picture quality, sound quality, full (traditional) DVR functionality and so on, mostly for some kind of bragging rights about saving what is usually a relatively smallish amount of money plus maybe some kind of mentality of sticking it to the cable company.
- The former can usually be mostly overcome by flexing muscles as a consumer to talk companies down from turning off discounts and/or switching to an alternative if necessary to shift to another source of discounts (even a 1-cable supplier area has new subscriber discounts competition from the SATT players).
- The latter is usually undermined by the very same company typically be the supplier of broadband too, and the switch from a "double play" deal to single play (broadband only) usually involves that broadband going up in price. Even if not, the broadband usually has a hard cap on it which can be quickly eaten up by a household shifting to a stream-all-video model... and then the cap overages make the cable company more money.
My suggestion: look into HDHomeRun Prime (which leverages cable card for traditional cable programming) + one of the other HDHomeRun boxes which gives you multiple tuners for over-the-air signals. Put up a good antenna for local HD, which often comes with an abundance of sub channels (often loaded with lots of classic TV programming). Control all that with a unified on-screen guide via the terrific Channels app run on
TVs or Firesticks hooked to up to every TV in your home. Give the Channels devs $8/month for their DVR service and you'll have DVR functionality that works much more like traditional hardware DVRs than ANY of the virtual DVRs offered by these streamers.
That option gets you full HD picture and full 5.1 DD sound as it is broadcast by the various channels. You'll still have cable but eliminate ALL of the cable boxes (and their leases, which is where a LOT of the crazy costs of cable pile up in a typical household). The DVR won't come with a bunch of limitations, will work with ALL channels, etc. You can still bargain for "double play" deals (cable + broadband). Since you'll still have cable, all of the individual channel apps that require a cable subscription can still be utilized (because you technically still have cable). This video won't burn one byte against a broadband cap. When broadband is down, you'll still have access to all of your local channels as well as anything you've stored on your DVR. Instead of being storage limited on that DVR, the Channels DVR can basically be whatever size you want- just add hard drives. DVR'd content won't auto-expire after a period of time. And on and on.
Downside?: you don't get to brag about "cutting the cord" (which typically isn't cut anyway since it's the same cord that delivers broadband for most people). Total monthly cost may not get as low as some of these streaming services but the difference will probably be less than what one spends on a few trips to Starbucks each month or even one trip to watch about 2 hours of video at a cinema. Cost likely
will be less than what one pays for traditional cable TV (if, nothing else, you are getting rid of those cable box lease fees). In turn, you get better picture, DD5.1, more fully functional DVR, actual local channels, functionality even with broadband is down, etc.
