Named for the inventor of the television, Philo is a streaming service with plenty to offer any TV viewer. Featuring both live and on-demand offerings, the service is relatively inexpensive, with packages available at two different price points.
— $16 a month, 40 channels
— $20 a month, 49 channels
This streaming service is well-suited for cord cutters who don’t care much about sports, but want to find top content in the service’s channel lineup. Read on for tips to get the most value out of Philo.
[See: Cord-Cutters, Consider These Video-Streaming Services.]
Watch on your own schedule. Some viewers are too busy to watch their shows as they air, and if you’re one of them, Philo will help you work around your schedule with an unlimited digital video recorder to save all your content. Unlimited DVRs are rare among popular live-streaming services, but it’s even more rare for them to come included in your initial subscription. So the fact that you won’t have to pay more for this benefit with Philo is a huge boost for your budget.
There is one drawback: Although you can record all you want, your content will delete automatically after 30 days. This is pretty standard for unlimited DVRs, but it does mean that you should plan to use the recordings more for catch-up purposes and less for hoarding all those episodes of “Chopped.”
[See: 10 Steps to Cut the Cable Cord.]
Control how you watch. Watching when you want to is great, but watching how you want to adds an additional layer of value to your TV-watching experience. Philo offers a uniquely powerful feature for recorded content: unlimited ad-skipping. Most streaming services with ad-skipping have certain channels or programs restricted, but Philo’s DVR will let you skip over any ad during any recording, which means you’ll never have to wait through endless car commercials to get back to your show.
In addition, you’ll be able to watch anything that aired in the last three days with “72-hour rewind,” even if you didn’t record it. When you’re watching content with this feature, on demand or with the standard DVR, you’ll be able to pause, fast-forward and rewind anything you watch.
Tune in on multiple devices. If several people in your household will be watching TV at once, Philo allows up to three simultaneous streams on a subscription at no additional cost. This means you could have, for example, Comedy Central, HGTV and Nick Jr. all playing at the same time, which is a great way to keep the whole family happy.
One warning is that Philo is only available for viewing on TVs with Roku streaming devices. That said, it’s available on most computers and mobile devices, so if you usually watch on your phone, this shouldn’t be a problem.
[See: 6 Ways to Treat Yourself on a Budget.]
Keep track of your content. Philo’s interface is designed to create an easy-to-navigate user experience. The main screen has four primary sections:
— Home. This main screen showcases top titles, upcoming episodes and what’s airing live.
— Live. This menu gives a more detailed view of currently airing shows. You’ll be able to go back to the beginning of live episodes from here, as well as add them to your list or tune in from the current spot.
— Guide. This section is similar to a traditional guide, with a grid-style schedule showing what’s on and what’s coming up on each channel.
— Saved. This page collects your saved titles, so when you add something from one of the other menu pages, it will show up here.
Using these pages will help save you time and provide organization for your streaming content, adding more value to your TV time.
Supplement your subscription. As mentioned before, Philo is pretty inexpensive for a live-streaming service. One way the company makes this possible is by offering limited sports programming and local networks. An inexpensive fix for this problem is adding a digital antenna. Most decent antennas fall between $20 and $100, and that one-time purchase will give you access to a ton of local and national programming. Supplementing your Philo subscription with a digital antenna can help fill some of the content gaps while still remaining affordable.
With live and on-demand content all available for a low price, Philo gives you a lot of bang for your buck. If you have a busy schedule and don’t want to worry about missing your favorite shows, Philo could be a good fit for you. Utilize its available features and add low-cost supplements to get even more value from your subscription.
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How to Get the Most Value Out of Philo originally appeared on usnews.com
