Getting rid of cable.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I am thinking of getting rid of cable in favor of watching things via roku, over the air HD etc.

I am just learning about this, I didn't even know there were over the air HD channels until the other day.

I currently have RCN for HD tv & DVR and "Mach 5" Internet. I just got a ROKU player, but I may trade it in for TIVO HD and get a digital antenna, but I'm not sure yet. I have a plasma, so I would like to get the best picture quality possible, I like having all the channels but mostly it's just background noise and I dvr network shows with a few exceptions.

I am wondering what set ups people are doing to get around cable? What works well in this area? There seem to be a lot of possible combos. Thanks.

Comments

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I got rid of cable about 2 years ago. I use roku to watch netflix and a handful of other things, and I plug my laptop in to watch Hulu on the big screen. I have a digital antenna, but I really only get PBS, a black and white movie channel and a bunch of stuff in Spanish. I think if I had the ability to put an outside antenna it would work significantly better.

I really only miss cable for things like the academy awards, but I don't follow sports, which seems to be a major thing that people miss.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

Where do you live that you get such poor reception? I have an indoor antenna placed on a window sill in my basement just outside of Davis and I get a bunch of channels. Most importantly, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS, WLVI, WSBK...

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

powderhouse square. I also tried about 5 different antennas, powered and unpowered. They didn't make much of a difference.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

That's most odd, we had the anachronistic experience of hooking an HD to rabbit ears last week and watched the superbowl just fine, in ball square. Maybe there's some building screwing things up over there.

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

Where did you get the antenna you're using to get all these channels? What brand/model please? Thanks!

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

cnet did a series on dropping cable. you should read it before you cut the cord just to get another person's perspective.

Over the air HD suffers from directional signals

[djethan.livejournal.com]

I did this for a while - dropped my cable and hooked up an powered antenna to my Tivo HD. It was moderately successful. The biggest problem was pixelation due to temporary interference or loss of signal, and the fact that the antenna needs to be setup in such a way to best receive as many signals as possible. I had to lookup maps of where signals originate in order to achieve the best orientation of my directional antenna. I was on the third floor of a building with a relatively clear line of sight.

Even with the best orientation, I had issues where walking in certain areas of my condo temporarily disrupted signals for certain channels, resulting in many small missed segments of programming (very annoying) and/or pixelation. So unless you find an antenna that is good at being omni-directional in its reception, HD over the air can be problematic.

I now use RCN cable with Tivo (no Tivo purchase nor monthly service fee, other than the cable charge). I've found this to be fairly cost efficient for the level of cable I desire.

Re: Over the air HD suffers from directional signals

[bettyw.livejournal.com]

This, re directionality and interference. We tried over-air digital for a year, but due to the location of our house (wrong side of a hill for satellite TV and also for Boston station signals, both the former analog and now digital) it was too frustrating trying to watch anything with a linear story. If you can find someone with a digital converter and antenna, try borrowing it to see how your signal reception is at your house.

[808.livejournal.com]

I used an indoor HD digital antenna with no problems for a couple of years. All of the channels came in strong and clear. It was $25 at Target. It had an option to be amplified by plugging it into a power source, but I never needed to do that. Boston channels are pretty strong around here. (I'm now using satellite because I need international channels for my wife.)

[avjudge]

I have over-the-air and Netflix. We are down near the Lowell line tracks so not great elevation, but own our single-family house so early on we put a big old-fashioned roof antenna up. We get all the networks - PBS (including 44's 4 PBS stations), NBC, CBS, Fox, ABC, CW - and some independent stations. Only Boston stations, though. We have a Mac Mini attached to the TV with an EyeTV tuner & DVR software, and of course it also handles Netflix & Daily Show streaming. Hulu too, but I haven't been there in ages.

I hardly have any time to watch TV so I have more to watch than I have time for. But we will probably have to up the number of disks on our Netflix subscription now that our 14yo nephew is living here, to keep him happy - there's not enough of interest available for streaming, and the 3-day wait from disk to disk is interminable to him (since his entertainment is pretty much limited to video games & TV, hard as we try to get him to read or develop hobbies - and my large collection of off-the-air *old* movies is of zero interest to him).

[exsplusohs.livejournal.com]

I'm in East Arlington, so though not quite in Davis, I'm going to chime in.

Boyfriend and I went cable free about 3 months ago. We watch Netflix through the Xbox 360, and have an HD hook-up for our laptops to the TV, so whatever is more recent we're able to watch on Hulu or some of the network sites. We also have a digital antenna with the power boost and get a good range of channels (the same avjudge has listed above). We're in a first floor apartment and just tacked the antenna to the molding above a doorway and our reception is pretty good. We've experienced some pixelation/just not working when the weather is crappy, but not enough to justify the expense of cable.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I have been cable free for about 6 months now. We use Terk indoor antennas and get fantastic reception on them. On the upstairs TV, I have a TiVo HD for recording the shows we care about (5 or 6, maybe). The TiVo HD can stream netflix, though it's only OK at doing so. The interface isn't very enjoyable. TiVo can also stream from Amazon On Demand, which is another nice avenue to have as I occasionally get free credits via various amazon purchases.

We also have a 2nd generation AppleTV on the main television. This is my preferred Netflix interface. Seems to be the nicest looking and stream at a consistently higher quality than the TiVo can. With our Netflix Instant queue running low, I'm finding we turn to iTunes movie rentals more and more. I find it a hassle to always have to know what you want to watch on Friday a few days early so you get the disc in time. It's worth it to me to pay the $4.99 and get a stream of whatever hit movie is out there that I decide I want to watch RIGHT THEN. Try getting a disc of "The Social Network" from Netflix for Friday... "LONG WAIT."

We also turn to bit torrent for some content. I download, convert to an itunes format, add to my itunes library, then use the AppleTV to watch it on my TV. A bit convoluted, but we don't do this for very much at all.

I really don't miss cable all that much. The biggest thing I miss is Celtics games, though now that they are good, they are on National, OTA, TV a couple times a month, which is nice.

We have the Mach10 internet service from RCN and bought our own Cable Modem. Our bill is $35+taxes, I believe.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

For your tivo HD dvr do you pay for monthly tivo service, or did you just buy the tivo without service?

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I've had a TiVo since the Series 2 first came out about a decade ago or so. The series 2 was on lifetime when I made the move to HD a few years ago. TiVo "allowed" me to transfer the lifetime service to my new unit for $199, I think. I jumped at it. As far as I know, the TiVo is basically useless without service. I'd recommend lifetime if it's still available. If you look around, the TiVo's themselves can be had for < $100 often... even the new Premier (which I hear isn't so hot, actually). Lifetime service is probably an additional $399 or something? Big chunk of change to invest up front, but I prefer it to being nickle and dimed every month.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, I had series 2 back in the day and gave it up when I went to HD - I didn't want to make another investment in a box. I just have to figure in the cost of Internet + 8.99 for netflix + whatever tivo is charging am month now to see what that would cost vs. what I pay now to RCN.

I refuse to give up the internet. Right now my modem is from the cable company, but the router is mine. I will also need to figure out what kind of modem to get or to just stick with RCN's and if I need a new router, I've heard of Wireless N routers, but I'm not sure what the diff is. So glad to hear people are getting decent over the air reception - I'll have to test that out. I wish RCN had a cheapy HD basic. If I could get just the networks on HD i'd be a happy camper.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

As somebody with a sports-related icon, I'm curious if you've found a good way of overcoming the lack of sports content OTA and online? (MLB.tv etc would be great if it wasn't for the damn blackout policies!)

Though at this point, the sports media overload is such that I probably wouldn't mind going back to radio and box scores.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

I have only OTA and Verizon DSL, but Verizon gives me access to ESPN3 online. That gives me more sports events that I can handle.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

The short answer: I get by with whatever is available via OTA and radio. For big games I go to a friends house or the the bar with friends. I tell myself not paying for cable leaves me money to spend on actually GOING to games.

The long answer: let's break it down by sport:

MLB: I've long since soured on spending 3+ hours watching a baseball game. I have the MLB At Bat app for my iphone and will use that (or the radio) to listen to games on summer afternoons when I'm working in the yard or on my bike or something. I really enjoy this. Also, the Red Sox tend to be on Fox a decent amount during the dog days if you really want to see the game.

NFL: Every single in-market game is available on free, OTA television. Yes, even when the Patriots play ESPN Monday night, or NFL Network on Thursday night. WCVB (local ABC affiliate) carries the broadcast on OTA. The NFL is great like that! Shaping up like there's going to be no season next year though, so who cares, I guess?

NHL: I really only ever watch playoff hockey, and even then not very often. I haven't given hockey much thought.

NBA: This one pains me the most. I used to watch about half the Celtics games during the regular season, and every single playoff game. This is my first celtics season without cable and for the regular season, anyway, it's been fine. I have the (extremely buggy) NBA app that lets me stream the game audio and I do that on occasion. I really like the play by play guy (Sean Grande). Also, the Celtics have been on ABC at least 4 times in the last 5 or 6 weeks, and I make those games appointment television. Playoff games on TNT will be a killer. Not sure what I'm going to do. Going to the bar for every game won't fly. I'll have to live and die via the radio call for some.

When the NBA was having free trials of League Pass Broadband I tried a little technical "work around" that did allow me to overcome the regional blackout of Celtics games. Basically, you just need a proxy server so they think your traffic is coming from out of market. Getting a reliable proxy can be an issue. I found that I could spin up an Amazon EC2 instance and use that for fees of < $1/game (+ whatever LPB costs). I didn't pursue for various reasons, but it is possible and would probably work similarly with MLB. The biggest downside is that even that won't work for national (TNT, ESPN) games.

Cycling: This one is a bit off the wall, but my wife and I like to watch a few stages of the Tour de France every year. Not sure what we'll do about this. I think they have a (paid) streaming service though... or maybe we'll just have to hit up the red bones breakfasts where they ride, watch a mountain stage, and chow down.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

Addendum: RCN provides access to ESPN3.com which gives you things like the World Cup, Tennis, etc. March Madness is streamed online every year. Big golf tournaments are also often streamed online. The quality is really pretty impressive.

hulu & build your own

[artguychris.livejournal.com]

If my wife didn't want it, I'd drop cable in a minute.

If you're even remotely handy, you can build your own antenna from coathangers. It'll have to be mounted someplace where it won't poke anyone in the eye, but it works great. I have one mounted on my basement ceiling and it pulls in all the local stations no problem. It actually had better signal strength than a friend's $100 outdoor antenna.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/maker-workshop-pdf-dtv-antenna.html

Also check out Hulu Plus. For $7/month, you get a lot more than the free service.

Wired magazine had an article about dropping cable and discussed services & how to hook up a PC to your TV. My Google foo is failing--I can't seem to find the link.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

well, if you want cable internet over dsl, it's actually cheaper to bundle comcast with basic (you get $15 off for a bundle, and basic cable is like $9)

So, we own our own cable modem, don't use a cable box (seriously, cable boxes cost upwards of $5/month in electricity on top of the ridiculous rental charges), and have a $50ish bundle total. We have netflix, occasionally use hulu and itunes, plus rent stuff or borrow from the library.

At the same time, we really don't care about tv that much and figure if a showis really that good, we can netflix it next year ;) So, it's more than enough for us, but that's pretty personalized.

[push-stars.livejournal.com]

what's your total bundle cost w\ comcast?

[binarytb.livejournal.com]

As most people here I dropped cable, well "dropped". I kept internet via Comcast and dropped all the cablebox/hd stuff and kept the regular/local-only channels, which comes out to $9/month ($19/month, but with internet it's $10 cheaper).

So instead of going through the hassle of antennas and reception and hoping to get all channels, I just plug in the comcast cable coming out of my wall directly into my tv and get all the local channels in HD (and standard def AND digital, so almost all channels are in triplicate, just ended up blocking the non-HD versions in my TV settings).

I checked and looks like RCN doesn't offer their non-cablebox package for local channels only anymore, so I have to stick with Comcast.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I might have to switch back to comcast anyway because RCN tells me the best deal they can give me is 5MBS for 65$. I don't think so! I haven't talked to their retention office yet, i'm waiting until after my oscar party.

Are you saying that with comcast you can just plug the coaxial in your tv and with their basic service you still get HD network channels?

So with RCN right now fox is like channel 5 or something, and in HD is channel 605. They told me if I drop to basic I won't see it on 605 in HD. So is comcast different? If so you may be right, that might be easier than antennas etc.

[binarytb.livejournal.com]

If your TV has an HD tuner, it should work fine (unless it's a really old HDTV, it should have one; search the manual for ATSC or Clear QAM or Tuner to make sure). But yup, you get local channels all in HD, I think I get around 4 HD PBS channels, the regular FOX, NBC, etc. And some channels I've never heard of (MyTV and some other stuff I don't remember). All in all (not counting the Spanish ones), I think 10-12 unique HD channels.

RCN is "all digital", requires a box for tv viewing (according to them), but Comcast has local channel only package and HD definitely works with it, just the broadcast local channels though (FOX, NBC, etc), none of the premium channels because they're all encrypted (Comedy Central, TBS, etc) and require a box.

[kalimba21.livejournal.com]

When television went digital the other year, we learned that every tv channel has the option of having up to 3 more channels carried on their signal. So, with a basic $40 antenna from target, we now get about 20 stations over the air - some of these have useless content, but some new additions are pretty good. Channel 7 (whdh) has a second channel that broadcasts old movies all the time. PBS on channel 2 just has the one signal, but PBS channel 44 has 4 channels altogether which is fabulous. There is also a channel that broadcasts old tv shows.

Great Idea

[push-stars.livejournal.com]

I catch several HD Channels over the air with a little antenna I bought at Costco. Besides, how many channels can any one person watch at any given time?

I stream Hulu & my Netflix account and order the Netflix DVD's but I also copy my *purchased* DVD's with a free app called "DVD Shrink" to my DVR box...

Go to AntennaWeb.org. You tell it where you are, and it’ll help you choose the best antenna and show you what stations you could catch for where you are & type. The ATSC Tuner needs to be good as well. It’s not just the antenna, it’s also the tuner!

Get a Yagi Antenna, not a brand it is a type http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagi-Uda_antenna

For Netflix I enjoy instantwatcher.com to find TV shows or Movies to watch. It has a Much much better interface than the Netflix web portal.

To find TV on various other web pages other than Hulu using a PC based DVR setup you can install Boxee. It is pretty neat but kind of kludge sometimes but it is really great for knowing where to watch all the TV available on the web.

so I save about 1200 dollars a year, With that much savings you can buy all kinds of hardware. Try a "loop mouse" with the PC based DVR. It is great too.

Cheers!

Oh! And if Somerville doesn't win the Google Fiber bid shouldn't we just start our own Munifiber ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_broadband )?. After all, isn't that what it is all about?

Re: Great Idea

[push-stars.livejournal.com]

Also try www.tvfool.com to see a list of channels you could catch...