Do you need a cable box for AT&T TV?
Although AT&T TV is a completely new streaming TV, it is a counterpart of DirectTV wherein they transmit the channels live straight via the internet. Here it is: do you still need a cable box if you pay AT&T Internet TV subscription? The quick reply is no. Here are some important details about AT&T TV and cable boxes: The short reply is no. Here are some important details about AT&T TV and cable boxes:
What is a Cable Box? A cable box can be defined as a piece of equipment that is used to manage television signals in a home or any other building.
A cable box is generally a service you pay for and get from your cable company to access their TV channels. It receives the signal from the cable line that is connected to your house, demodulates it, and then amplifies it to your TV screen. This is why with conventional cable TV services like Xfinity or Spectrum, to get a live signal to watch, you need a cable box connected to your television.
AT&T TV is yet another television service that also does not require a cable box.
Unlike other cable television service providers, AT&T TV delivers live television directly through the internet and not through a cable line, and therefore, you will not need any sort of cable box. You just require the AT&T TV device, a high-speed internet connection, and the television set. AT&T TV works as a streaming box, much like a Roku or Amazon Fire Stick are streaming boxes.
In this regard, it’s still possible to dismiss renting large cable boxes since you just plug a small AT&T TV device into your television’s HDMI port and then connect it to your home’s Wi-Fi. You do not need to change the input to watch the TV app as it will directly load into the television screen. This is an AT&T TV device that lets you stream up to 500+ live channels, over 50000 on-demand titles, and many apps.
What is Required to Sign Up for AT&T TV?
Even though you don’t need a cable box, here is what you do need to get up and running with AT&T TV: Even though you don’t need a cable box, here is what you do need to get up and running with AT&T TV:
- AT&T TV Device: The device is a streaming player compatible with 4K and is offered to you on a rental basis just like the cable box. It is how you get all of AT&T TV in one place and one package, for a certain price.
- High-Speed Internet: For AT&T TV which is an IP-based streaming service, you require a high-speed home internet connection of not less than 8 Mbps. Stream faster the better, especially for those using multiple devices to stream.
- TV: A few possible requirements include: Your TV must be a smart TV with an HDMI input or connectors for the AT&T device can be plugged into any normal television with an HDMI port.
- AT&T TV Account: AT&T TV requires a subscription to access channels and streaming apps; however, you can watch thousands of movies and TV shows live and on-demand with packages starting at $69.99/mo. The package starts from 69.99 monthly.
Key AT&T TV Features
Some of the top benefits of AT&T TV related to not needing a traditional cable box include
- Stream on up to 3 Devices: Cable boxes can just accept a single TV input. However, AT&T TV has 20 hours of streaming from anywhere other than the home which means that consumers can watch live networks and on-demand shows on their mobile phones, laptops, or tablets.
- Voice Control: This means no more searching for the cable remote that is usually buried among other remotes. All you have to do is to instruct it verbally to look for shows, find channels, fast-forward, rewind, etc., but you’ll need to connect your AT&T TV device to devices like Echo or iPhones with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri respectively.
- 4K HDR Picture Quality: Thus, AT&T TV provides a higher quality of picture in comparison to traditional cable and allows for watching content in the 4K Ultra HD picture resolution and HDR contrast in case the client’s television supports these options. Much better than the max 1080p display of the old cable boxes.
- Access Apps like Netflix: That is, cable boxes only contain live TV channels and recordings and cannot show anything else. Yet with AT&T TV you can get original content accessed directly with HBO Max, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and many others at the touch of a button.
AT&T TV has introduced some new devices to its users, but does everyone need to have one?
Well, the short answer to that is yes, to get the full experience of DirecTV Now, you need to own the streaming device, developed by AT&T. As it was mentioned before, you cannot watch live channels or streaming apps and no on-demand content is possible without the AT&T TV device. Just as you would replace your conventional cable box to switch to satellite television, consider this as the same concept.
The AT&T TV device is the control center of your television which decodes video signals, and shows the channel lists, plays content from different apps and services, and does everything on the television. In the same way, while visiting the official website of AT&T TV the viewers realized that this platform doesn’t support other streaming devices such as Roku or Fire TV. The AT&T TV set-top box delivers everything through an individualized software platform.
As much as it may be inconvenient, there are no wires, except for the plug-in device that comes with the AT&T TV. All of the components plug straight into your HDMI port on the TV and Wi-Fi router to eliminate the mess of cords and cables associated with a cable box.
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