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PHILO REVIEW: The Best Live TV Streaming Deal for 2021? What You Get for $25/Month!
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Dec 23, 2020
PHILO REVIEW: Philo is a live TV streaming service that offers 60+ channels for only $25 a month. (Price was $20/month before June 8, 2021.) Philo's specialty is entertainment networks, but it lacks cable sports, major news networks and local stations. In this video, I give you a complete walkthrough of Philo to help you decide if it's worth signing up. LEARN MORE: https://michaelsaves.com/streaming/philo-review/ UPDATED REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX4ugi1X6Dk See my guide to the best live TV streaming services here: https://michaelsaves.com/streaming/best-live-tv-streaming/ CHAPTERS: 0:00 What Is Philo? 1:23 Fast Facts 2:14 Home Screen 2:59 Live Guide 5:05 Top Playable 5:55 DVR 7:36 Settings 8:33 Final Thoughts RELATED VIDEOS:
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0:00
hey it is michael welcome to the channel
0:02
and you know if you're trying to cut the
0:03
cord
0:03
youtube tv hulu live and sling tv are
0:06
pretty much the top three
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choices but there's another service a
0:10
fourth service that
0:11
i don't talk about a whole lot and
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that's gonna change today
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this service is called philo and as
0:17
those other services have raised their
0:19
prices
0:20
philo's starting price has remained
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steady for quite a while
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at twenty dollars a month but filo is
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not for everyone
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in my opinion it works primarily for two
0:30
types of people
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first anyone who doesn't really care
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about cable sports
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or cable news and can find local
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channels their abc
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cbs fox and nbc using an antenna
0:43
and second households who already have
0:45
another primary live tv streaming
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service
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but they aren't getting all of their
0:49
must-have channels and they're looking
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for an affordable way to do so i've
0:54
tested filo a few times since it first
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launched in 2017
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but just recently i had the opportunity
1:01
to have a zoom call
1:02
with two really smart people who work at
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philo
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and i fired off all my questions about
1:07
the service including questions that
1:09
i've received
1:10
from people who watch my youtube videos
1:12
and read my articles
1:13
on michaelsaves.com i am about to swing
1:16
my camera around and show you my tv
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screen
1:19
but before i do that i want to lay out
1:21
some of the key features of fido
1:23
first filo has one plan it is 20 a month
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as of december 2020. they used to have a
1:29
16
1:30
plan but got rid of that in 2019.
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there are more than 60 channels
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available i'll show you the live guide
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in just a moment but no cable sports or
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major news networks and no local
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broadcast networks
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philo comes with unlimited dvr you can
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keep your saved shows for
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up to 30 days all the major streaming
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media players are supported roku
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amazon fire tv apple tv and google
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chromecast
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and three streams at a time are allowed
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to watch either on your phone computer
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or stream to a tv now let me show you
2:02
around
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filo we'll go over the navigation and
2:05
i'll answer the number one question that
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i receive about the service it has to do
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with the
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unlimited dvr and the ability to skip
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ads
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we begin on the home screen and i'm
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streaming philo using a google
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chromecast but the look and feel
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it is similar with other types of
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devices the home screen has
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a lot of the features that we've come to
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expect from streaming services
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trending content right at the top of the
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screen there is a keep watching section
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to quickly get
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back to shows and movies that you've
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already started watching
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saved is filo's name for dvr and i can't
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wait to show you more about that
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trending live is next and the list goes
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on
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there are shows to watch from categories
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like reality
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kids true crime food nature and science
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as well as home improvement i'll scroll
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back to the top of the screen to the
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menu because next
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is the live guide and the live guide is
3:00
pretty interesting because remember that
3:02
philo doesn't have
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a lot of the live content that people
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like to watch
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things like sports and cable news as
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well as local stations that also are
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heavy on
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local news now i don't use the live
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guide all that much but it is good for
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browsing as well as scheduling
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recordings and here is the live guide at
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the top you see
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i have several channels favorited they
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stick out because you can see
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the hearts to favorite a channel just
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click and hold
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the logo and the next time you open the
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guide you're going to see it right at
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the top
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below your favorites you will see all
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channels and those are in
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alphabetical order now there are 60 plus
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channels here so this can take a long
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time to scroll through
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that is why i recommend that you
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favorite your must-have channels
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philo's lineup is made up primarily of
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entertainment and lifestyle networks
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from programming groups like a
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e amc discovery and viacom
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specifically popular networks include a
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e amc
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comedy central discovery food network
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hallmark channel hgtv lifetime mtv own
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tlc i'm out of breath the list goes on
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now this live guide shows you what is on
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now and
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up to two weeks in advance when you
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select a title from the live guide
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you are taken directly to the content if
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it's airing right now
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but here's something interesting this
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show is already in progress
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but it's playing from the beginning not
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live that is by design you can adjust
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this from your settings if you want to
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the default is to start channel playback
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from the beginning
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but you can always switch it to live now
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if you click on something that is airing
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later you'll be taken to a page that
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looks like this
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click save and add it to your dvr or
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scroll
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to all showings to see when it is airing
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and if there's a play button
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you can watch it right away on demand
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and by the way
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filo streams video in hd resolution live
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tv
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in 720p and on demand in 1080p
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i never had any issues with buffering or
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playback errors with philo and i've
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tested this service a few times
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that is all for the live guide and the
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next section is called
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top or top playable and this section is
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perfect
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if all your friends and family are
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talking about a show that they watched
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the night before
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you missed it well this is where you're
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going to want to go to catch up
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here is the top playable section again
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you can see the favorited channels at
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the top
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followed by all channels in alphabetical
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order
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philo has a feature called 72 hour
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rewind
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and it lets you replay content that is
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aired in the last
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72 hours this section includes mostly
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vod
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video on demand content but things saved
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to dvr
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can show up here too what everything in
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the top playable section has in common
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is that you can watch it right now so
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think of the live guide as what is
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coming
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up and top playable for the most part is
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the best of what has already aired
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we are moving now to the saved section
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and that is philo's name for dvr
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and i'm hoping now that i can clear up
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some confusion about the dvr
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compared to vod the saved section
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displays the shows and movies that you
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have added
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to your dvr you can see recent
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recordings first
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but you can also switch the view to
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alphabetical
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let me click on the office as an example
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it takes me to the show
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page and if i scroll to the right i'll
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see what is on now or upcoming
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if you add a show to your dvr before it
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airs
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you'll have the ability to fast forward
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through the ads
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this is important i saved the office to
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my dvr
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a few weeks ago so if i scroll to the
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left i'll see
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lots of episodes but if i hadn't saved
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the show to dvr
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there wouldn't be nearly as many
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recordings and it would also say
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vod for video on demand and in that case
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there are usually ads and you can't skip
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them and if you're trying to watch a
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show
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in order season one season two season
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three
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you can try to do that from the show
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page click on seasons and then you'll be
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able to narrow down the list of
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available
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episodes in your dvr by season the
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bottom line is this
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if you want to be able to skip the ads
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just remember to save the show or movie
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to your dvr before it airs i showed you
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how to do that from the live guide just
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a moment ago
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but here's how to do it from the search
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function i'll type in 48
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for 48 hours the show page displays
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then i can just click on save and add it
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to my dvr
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and remember you can save as many shows
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as you want but you only have
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30 days to watch there's just one more
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section
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and if you have more than one person in
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your household you're going to want to
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see this
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the last section is the settings and
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that is where you can go to create
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profiles for
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everyone in the house up to 10 of them
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and as i mentioned
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you can change the channel playback
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setting from beginning to live or
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live to beginning if you want to take
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care of any billing matters
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you can't do that from your tv log in
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from your computer though to cancel your
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free trial or
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paid subscription quickly the navigation
8:05
for filo is similar whether you are
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streaming on your phone
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computer or to a tv set personally i
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like to watch phylo on a tv
8:13
or using my phone but there is a purpose
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for
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the computer and that is where i go to
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manage
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my dvr for whatever reason i find it
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faster to
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add or remove things from the dvr with
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the click of a mouse
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compared to using my streaming media
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player that is just a little bonus tip
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hopefully can save you a bit of time i
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think philo is one of the few remaining
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values
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in live tv streaming if you watch mostly
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reality
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shows and documentaries philo could be
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your primary live tv streaming service
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just pair it with
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an antenna and pick up your local
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stations too
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and for others philo will have enough of
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the missing channels from their primary
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live tv streaming service
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to justify the added subscription cost
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for at least
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part of the year so let me know what you
9:00
think about philo in the comments below
9:02
and if you found this video helpful
9:04
please like it consider subscribing to
9:06
my channel
9:06
i thank you for watching this time and i
9:08
hope to see you back here soon take care