Which Live Tv Service Allows Commercial Skipping

I thing I've learned from writing most cord-cutting is that people are particular nigh their DVRs. If a streaming service's DVR doesn't provide the aforementioned creature comforts equally cable set-top box, it can be a dealbreaker.

Visual preview is the perfect example. With cable, y'all tin can typically see a thumbnail preview while fast forwarding or rewinding through recorded programs, then y'all know exactly where you'll be later hitting play. Over the years, I've gotten a bunch of messages from readers who won't tolerate any live TV streaming service that lacks this feature.

Upon digging into the matter, I've discovered that visual preview is a nuanced and occasionally vexing event in the world of live TV streaming services. The ability to skip past commercials with ease can depend not only on which service you choose, but on the device y'all're using and even the button you printing to fast forwards on your remote. Afterwards a whole bunch of testing, here's what I've learned.

Philo

Philo is close to the platonic for how visual preview should work on alive TV streaming services. Whether you're watching on Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire Goggle box, y'all'll get a large popular-up window showing what'southward on as you fast forward. On Roku and Fire Goggle box, this preview appears with both the directional pad (which jumps ahead in 10-second increments with each press) and the fast-frontward button (which scrolls ahead continuously until you hitting play).

The Apple TV feel is slightly inferior—there'due south no preview when you lot tap left or right on the Siri remote—but yous tin can still see a preview by pausing and scrolling forward or backward.

Sling Television receiver

Sling TV too gets high marks for its implementation of visual preview, which was available on every platform I tested, including Roku, Amazon Fire Television, Apple tree TV, and Android TV. Similar Philo, information technology provides a preview with both directional-pad scrolling (on all platforms except Apple TV) and with your fast-forward and rewind buttons. My only gripe is that clicking the directional pad advances the video by 30 seconds, which is decumbent to overshooting the commercial interruption.

YouTube Tv set

YouTube TV's visual preview is well-nigh the head of the class, with a small thumbnail popping upwards on Roku and Android TV when you striking the directional pad (to jump ahead in measured increments) or the fast-forwards (for continuous scrolling through the video). YouTube has also fabricated some improvements since I beginning wrote this story: Thumbnails are larger and less pixelated than they used to be, and bringing upwards the previews on Apple TV devices is easier; you can just swipe left or correct on the touchpad to encounter them.

Hulu with Live TV

Hulu deserves credit for going beyond mere visual previews and actually highlighting commercial breaks in the video progress bar on Roku and Amazon Burn down Television.

Unfortunately, these features aren't available on Apple tree Boob tube, whose Hulu app doesn't offer visual preview at all. And no matter which device you're using Hulu'due south DVR has 1 major caveat: Ad-skipping isn't even immune unless yous pay $10 per month extra for Hulu's "Enhanced" DVR, which also gives you 200 hours of storage instead of 50 hours.

AT&T Tv set

AT&T's live TV streaming service is hit-or-miss for visual preview support. It's bachelor on Roku players and on the AT&T Goggle box streaming box, only not on Amazon Fire TV devices or Apple Television set.

Whether you'll run across the preview also depends on how you skip through the video. On Roku, for instance, you have to utilize the remote's fast forward or rewind buttons; using the directional pad will instead give you a 10-2d skip with no preview at all.

FuboTV

FuboTV lands at the bottom of this list for visual preview back up—it'southward bachelor only on Apple Tv set by pausing, and then swiping left or right. Yous tin quickly leap ahead in ten-2d increments on Roku and Apple Boob tube, or 15-2d increments on Burn TV and Android TV, just you won't become a preview while doing and so on any of them.

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Jared Newman has been helping folks make sense of technology for over a decade, writing for PCWorld, TechHive, and elsewhere. He also publishes two newsletters, Advisorator for straightforward tech communication and String Cutter Weekly for saving money on TV service.