We've cut the cable (1 Viewer)

[seahawk 17]

Good news for those of us NFL Fans thinking of "cutting the cable"..

CBS to carry the First 8 weeks of Thursday Night games

Just coming in to post the same good news. Now OTA you can get Thursday, SNF, and your local games. Not to bad for free.

 

[culdeus]

Good news for those of us NFL Fans thinking of "cutting the cable"..

CBS to carry the First 8 weeks of Thursday Night games

Just coming in to post the same good news. Now OTA you can get Thursday, SNF, MNF, and your local games. Not to bad for free.

NFL is easy to get and reliable even with out OTA.

 

[seahawk 17]

Good news for those of us NFL Fans thinking of "cutting the cable"..

CBS to carry the First 8 weeks of Thursday Night games

Just coming in to post the same good news. Now OTA you can get Thursday, SNF, MNF, and your local games. Not to bad for free.

NFL is easy to get and reliable even with out OTA.

If you could share or PM me further details, that would be appreciated.

 

[tonydead]

Haven't tried it yet but as mentioned earlier it seems Verizon $5/mo is the answer for non-OTA games. Includes redzone. If you have an LTE Verizon device, or are willing to get one that is.

How'd that look on a 60 inch plasma?

 

[culdeus]

Good news for those of us NFL Fans thinking of "cutting the cable"..

CBS to carry the First 8 weeks of Thursday Night games

Just coming in to post the same good news. Now OTA you can get Thursday, SNF, MNF, and your local games. Not to bad for free.

NFL is easy to get and reliable even with out OTA.

If you could share or PM me further details, that would be appreciated.

There is actually a separate thread on how to go about getting NFL through certain back doors like buying video games (legit), and sharing others DTV credentials (less legit).

 

[Tiger Fan]

3. I fully expect to subscribe to cable again only for football season, but if I can save $110/month for 6 months out of the year, I'll do that

I won't be able to tolerate buffering or whatnot during key games. Plus, I don't think there's an easy answer for getting non OTA football games

Haven't tried it yet but as mentioned earlier it seems Verizon $5/mo is the answer for non-OTA games. Includes redzone. If you have an LTE Verizon device, or are willing to get one that is.

BTW.. I just ordered a Mohu Leaf 50 (they changed the name from ultimate). Will see what I can get from it this weekend and if it's good, the cable gets cut. I'll probably do Netflix (mostly for the kids content) and HuluPlus. Already have and use Amazon Prime.

even college games? is there a link to what that provides?

 

[BlueDredSo]

Sounds like a good set up, I'm thinking the same. HD Antenna (so far the Leaf is a popular choice), a couple Roku's, probably Chromecast since it's cheap and seems like it has a lot of room to grow, a TiVO of some sort (the box and lifetime membership is expensive but worth it in long-run).

Is there any way to wirelessly transmit the antenna signal? I've looked all over the place and can only find sketchy solutions. Is it because of broadcast laws? If there is something that can hook up to the Leaf and transmit a wireless signal to the other TV's or receivers on the other TV's that'd be great. So far I'm coming up blank though. Any ideas without having to run cables all over the place?

Outside of buying a Tivo Mini that can use your wifi to watch live TV from the Tivo Roamio's OTA tuner, I don't know of another wireless solution. Just getting an antenna for the 2nd and 3rd TVs is a wireless solution.

I think I'm going to try using the existing FiOs coax cables running all over the house to set up the antenna for multiple TV's. All I'd have to do is make sur the FiOs cable from the modem to the router is connected, but all others can be disconnected from the modem. If that's too much of a pain I guess I'll just have to get antennas for each TV, which really isn't a big deal besides taking up extra space.

I'll have to look further into the TiVO Roamio/mini combination. That may actually work perfectly besides the fact the router is in the basement, where the main TiVO would have to be, and it wouldn't get a great OTA signal. I guess I might be able to move the router up to the bedroom and use the Roamio up there with Roku and put the wireless Tivo Mini in the basement with another Roku. Hmmm....

 

[17seconds]

Haven't tried it yet but as mentioned earlier it seems Verizon $5/mo is the answer for non-OTA games. Includes redzone. If you have an LTE Verizon device, or are willing to get one that is.

How'd that look on a 60 inch plasma?

Great question - I was looking around and it looks like there are some huge issues. People say the vid quality is not that good but more importantly it seems to disable itself when you try to attached HDMI for your TV. Looks like you'd have to hack it to watch games on the big screen.

So I'm not liking this option now.

 

[None_More_Black]

Good news for those of us NFL Fans thinking of "cutting the cable"..

CBS to carry the First 8 weeks of Thursday Night games

Just coming in to post the same good news. Now OTA you can get Thursday, SNF, MNF, and your local games. Not to bad for free.

How do you get MNF ota?

 

[mquinnjr]

Taking baby steps here.

Just setup a trade-in with Amazon for my old PS3, rockband set, and 8 games that I never, ever play. Going to take the value (~$115) and get a WD TV Live and a 4 TB external HDD for the net. Cut all of the movie channels on DirecTV, and am down to the Xtra package. I never watch the movie channels, and plan to use the WD TV Live to watch anything I "find" on the internet.

Not sure that I'll ever get past live sports, but I'm at least getting down to the bare minimum with the DTV bill.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

I see this mentioned a lot, but you can get live sports. I guess it comes down to accepting less than ideal stream sometimes {Personally I always find a solid one for every event that I can remember)

I'm not familiar with WDLive, but I watch live sports via Chromecast anytime.

 

[17seconds]

BTW.. I just ordered a Mohu Leaf 50 (they changed the name from ultimate). Will see what I can get from it this weekend and if it's good, the cable gets cut. I'll probably do Netflix (mostly for the kids content) and HuluPlus. Already have and use Amazon Prime.

So I was messing with the Mohu Leaf this weekend. I think it will work if I put it upstairs in a window in our MBR with blinds that we never open. My TV shows 10 bars of signal for OTA. As long as you get 2 bars then it's fine. When it goes to 1 bar you start seeing some screen artifacts. Here's what I'm seeing:

CBS, ABC: 27mi away getting 4 bars

PBS, FOX: 45mi away getting 2-3 bars

NBC: 45mi away getting 1-2 bars

NBC is shaky, the others are OK

I'm trying to connect it through existing coax in my house. We don't have a TV in our MBR so I'm connecting the Mohu to that coax and then at the splitter on the side of the house I connect that cable to the cable that goes to the living room. That makes probably 200ft of RG6 between the antenna and the TV. If I run the cable straight to the TV I get about 1 bar more on each channel, but to run that through the wall from upstairs to downstairs will be a PITA.

A problem I have with the cabling setup is if I want to put my Roku2 XS on wired ethernet. My Roku is on WiFi and is great but does struggle occasionally on 1080p. It would be best to get it on wired. I use MoCA to run ethernet through my coax system. In order to use my Mohu AND cable internet on a single wire I have to put in a diplexer at the switch box to combine the antenna and cable internet, then have a splitter at the TV to feed both the MoCA box for Roku and the antenna for the TV. That will degrade the antenna signal somewhat and I'll probably lose NBC or worse.

I guess another option would be to return the Leaf 50 and spend an extra $90 on a Mohu Sky for the attic. That might give me the extra signal strength to use the existing cables, wire the Roku, and get a solid NBC.

anybody confused?

 

[seahawk 17]

Good news for those of us NFL Fans thinking of "cutting the cable"..

CBS to carry the First 8 weeks of Thursday Night games

Just coming in to post the same good news. Now OTA you can get Thursday, SNF, MNF, and your local games. Not to bad for free.

How do you get MNF ota?

You don't, I'm just an idiot. Will edit.

 

[snogger]

As we talk more about this I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to Non-Network shows, which I can get with a OTA, the only shows I find "Must see" are The Walking Dead, The Vikings and The Americans.

Does anyone know if "The Walking Dead" is always available the next day on amctv.com, or is this week just special since it was the return after a break?

Looks like Vikings is available on Hulu, but not Hulu Plus and Plus is the only option on a Roku.

But the History channel app seems to have the episodes, so.... Anyone know how soon are they available to watch after a new episode airs?

Same question for "The Americans" are they available anywhere else other then Amazon?

Other then those 3 shows I really won't miss DirectTV, since the rest of the programs I watch are either Network TV, or not on my "Can't miss a new episode" list.

 

[Zasada]

anybody confused?

Have you considered powerline networking for your Roku? I used that in my old house and it worked fine for everything except BD ISOs (a very high bar).

 

[17seconds]

anybody confused?

Have you considered powerline networking for your Roku? I used that in my old house and it worked fine for everything except BD ISOs (a very high bar).

Seems like a cheap thing to try. The 1080p stuff that doesn't work well are home movies off my Nikon D5100 so I may still run into that.

 

[17seconds]

Last night I signed up for trials of Hulu Plus and Netflix. I'm doing it for TV, don't care about the movies as I have a massive media server already. Sorry to say it looks like we're sticking with cable.

Major Reasons:

- The only 3 shows my wife watches aren't available on TV or mobile devices. This was deceiving because they show up when you search on Hulu's site.

- Video quality is not good. Even Super HD looks like highly compressed DVD quality to me.

- With Hulu and Netflix apps on my Roku, the HDMI goes out briefly all the time, causing my TV to reboot. This has never happened with any other Roku apps and I can't figure out how to fix it.

Inconveniences:

- Navigation is daunting for wife and kids, annoying to me. Just way too much content to wade through to find something. Kids have access to all content. Searching by using the remote to type in letters is ridiculously slow. Cable TV menus are 100X better.

- Audio levels vary immensely from show to show. One show sounds right at -26dB, then another show you have to go to -42dB

- No DVR

...add to that the fact I'd have no MNF, TNF when on NFL network, no ESPN channels, no Fox sports, no Pac12 network, no CNN...

It's too much to overcome. I'll keep paying $110/mo for HD cable with DVR. The OTA HD channels look really nice though, I'll keep the Mohu Leaf.

 

[glock]

BTW.. I just ordered a Mohu Leaf 50 (they changed the name from ultimate). Will see what I can get from it this weekend and if it's good, the cable gets cut. I'll probably do Netflix (mostly for the kids content) and HuluPlus. Already have and use Amazon Prime.

So I was messing with the Mohu Leaf this weekend. I think it will work if I put it upstairs in a window in our MBR with blinds that we never open. My TV shows 10 bars of signal for OTA. As long as you get 2 bars then it's fine. When it goes to 1 bar you start seeing some screen artifacts. Here's what I'm seeing:

CBS, ABC: 27mi away getting 4 bars

PBS, FOX: 45mi away getting 2-3 bars

NBC: 45mi away getting 1-2 bars

NBC is shaky, the others are OK

I'm trying to connect it through existing coax in my house. We don't have a TV in our MBR so I'm connecting the Mohu to that coax and then at the splitter on the side of the house I connect that cable to the cable that goes to the living room. That makes probably 200ft of RG6 between the antenna and the TV. If I run the cable straight to the TV I get about 1 bar more on each channel, but to run that through the wall from upstairs to downstairs will be a PITA.

A problem I have with the cabling setup is if I want to put my Roku2 XS on wired ethernet. My Roku is on WiFi and is great but does struggle occasionally on 1080p. It would be best to get it on wired. I use MoCA to run ethernet through my coax system. In order to use my Mohu AND cable internet on a single wire I have to put in a diplexer at the switch box to combine the antenna and cable internet, then have a splitter at the TV to feed both the MoCA box for Roku and the antenna for the TV. That will degrade the antenna signal somewhat and I'll probably lose NBC or worse.

I guess another option would be to return the Leaf 50 and spend an extra $90 on a Mohu Sky for the attic. That might give me the extra signal strength to use the existing cables, wire the Roku, and get a solid NBC.

anybody confused?

Following closely. Looking at this antenna as well.

 

[BlueDredSo]

BTW.. I just ordered a Mohu Leaf 50 (they changed the name from ultimate). Will see what I can get from it this weekend and if it's good, the cable gets cut. I'll probably do Netflix (mostly for the kids content) and HuluPlus. Already have and use Amazon Prime.

So I was messing with the Mohu Leaf this weekend. I think it will work if I put it upstairs in a window in our MBR with blinds that we never open. My TV shows 10 bars of signal for OTA. As long as you get 2 bars then it's fine. When it goes to 1 bar you start seeing some screen artifacts. Here's what I'm seeing:

CBS, ABC: 27mi away getting 4 bars

PBS, FOX: 45mi away getting 2-3 bars

NBC: 45mi away getting 1-2 bars

NBC is shaky, the others are OK

I'm trying to connect it through existing coax in my house. We don't have a TV in our MBR so I'm connecting the Mohu to that coax and then at the splitter on the side of the house I connect that cable to the cable that goes to the living room. That makes probably 200ft of RG6 between the antenna and the TV. If I run the cable straight to the TV I get about 1 bar more on each channel, but to run that through the wall from upstairs to downstairs will be a PITA.

A problem I have with the cabling setup is if I want to put my Roku2 XS on wired ethernet. My Roku is on WiFi and is great but does struggle occasionally on 1080p. It would be best to get it on wired. I use MoCA to run ethernet through my coax system. In order to use my Mohu AND cable internet on a single wire I have to put in a diplexer at the switch box to combine the antenna and cable internet, then have a splitter at the TV to feed both the MoCA box for Roku and the antenna for the TV. That will degrade the antenna signal somewhat and I'll probably lose NBC or worse.

I guess another option would be to return the Leaf 50 and spend an extra $90 on a Mohu Sky for the attic. That might give me the extra signal strength to use the existing cables, wire the Roku, and get a solid NBC.

anybody confused?

I'm thinking of running a very similar set up, and will have the same issue with running the antenna and Internet into the same coax line to the basement (where we watch most of our TV). I'm worried it's just not going to work that well and make all this work not worth it.

 

[Politician Spock]

BTW.. I just ordered a Mohu Leaf 50 (they changed the name from ultimate). Will see what I can get from it this weekend and if it's good, the cable gets cut. I'll probably do Netflix (mostly for the kids content) and HuluPlus. Already have and use Amazon Prime.

So I was messing with the Mohu Leaf this weekend. I think it will work if I put it upstairs in a window in our MBR with blinds that we never open. My TV shows 10 bars of signal for OTA. As long as you get 2 bars then it's fine. When it goes to 1 bar you start seeing some screen artifacts. Here's what I'm seeing:

CBS, ABC: 27mi away getting 4 bars

PBS, FOX: 45mi away getting 2-3 bars

NBC: 45mi away getting 1-2 bars

NBC is shaky, the others are OK

I'm trying to connect it through existing coax in my house. We don't have a TV in our MBR so I'm connecting the Mohu to that coax and then at the splitter on the side of the house I connect that cable to the cable that goes to the living room. That makes probably 200ft of RG6 between the antenna and the TV. If I run the cable straight to the TV I get about 1 bar more on each channel, but to run that through the wall from upstairs to downstairs will be a PITA.

A problem I have with the cabling setup is if I want to put my Roku2 XS on wired ethernet. My Roku is on WiFi and is great but does struggle occasionally on 1080p. It would be best to get it on wired. I use MoCA to run ethernet through my coax system. In order to use my Mohu AND cable internet on a single wire I have to put in a diplexer at the switch box to combine the antenna and cable internet, then have a splitter at the TV to feed both the MoCA box for Roku and the antenna for the TV. That will degrade the antenna signal somewhat and I'll probably lose NBC or worse.

I guess another option would be to return the Leaf 50 and spend an extra $90 on a Mohu Sky for the attic. That might give me the extra signal strength to use the existing cables, wire the Roku, and get a solid NBC.

anybody confused?

I'm thinking of running a very similar set up, and will have the same issue with running the antenna and Internet into the same coax line to the basement (where we watch most of our TV). I'm worried it's just not going to work that well and make all this work not worth it.

One method is to buy a tuner and put it right next to the antenna with the shortest cable available. Then run the cable from the tuner to where ever the TV is in the house. To remotely control the tuner use wireless remote control extenders like this: http://www.amazon.com/X10-Powermid-PM5900-Control-Extender/dp/B00023KG40/ref=lp_11039361_1_14?s=audio-video-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1392135803&sr=1-14

So if for example, the antenna is in your attic, then so is your tuner and so is one of the repeater devices. Your TV just stays on channel 3 (probably), and when you click your remote to change the channel, the other repeater devices captures the IR signal from your remote and wirelessly sends it up to your attack to repeat it to your tuner where the channel changes. The new channel is then sent down the coax to your basement where you continue to view the tuner on channel 3 (probably).

 

[17seconds]

I'm thinking of running a very similar set up, and will have the same issue with running the antenna and Internet into the same coax line to the basement (where we watch most of our TV). I'm worried it's just not going to work that well and make all this work not worth it.

Have not tried it but my understanding is you can use a diplexer to combine antenna+satellite or antenna+internet, but you cannot combine antenna and cable TV. I wouldn't think the signal degrades much with a diplexer because you are just inserting 2 signals with different frequencies into a single line. My concern is the splitter you need on the other end. Most of those degrade the signal by about 3dB and if your signal is weak already that could be a problem. You could try putting an active booster in the line.

 

[17seconds]

BTW.. I just ordered a Mohu Leaf 50 (they changed the name from ultimate). Will see what I can get from it this weekend and if it's good, the cable gets cut. I'll probably do Netflix (mostly for the kids content) and HuluPlus. Already have and use Amazon Prime.

So I was messing with the Mohu Leaf this weekend. I think it will work if I put it upstairs in a window in our MBR with blinds that we never open. My TV shows 10 bars of signal for OTA. As long as you get 2 bars then it's fine. When it goes to 1 bar you start seeing some screen artifacts. Here's what I'm seeing:

CBS, ABC: 27mi away getting 4 bars

PBS, FOX: 45mi away getting 2-3 bars

NBC: 45mi away getting 1-2 bars

NBC is shaky, the others are OK

I'm trying to connect it through existing coax in my house. We don't have a TV in our MBR so I'm connecting the Mohu to that coax and then at the splitter on the side of the house I connect that cable to the cable that goes to the living room. That makes probably 200ft of RG6 between the antenna and the TV. If I run the cable straight to the TV I get about 1 bar more on each channel, but to run that through the wall from upstairs to downstairs will be a PITA.

A problem I have with the cabling setup is if I want to put my Roku2 XS on wired ethernet. My Roku is on WiFi and is great but does struggle occasionally on 1080p. It would be best to get it on wired. I use MoCA to run ethernet through my coax system. In order to use my Mohu AND cable internet on a single wire I have to put in a diplexer at the switch box to combine the antenna and cable internet, then have a splitter at the TV to feed both the MoCA box for Roku and the antenna for the TV. That will degrade the antenna signal somewhat and I'll probably lose NBC or worse.

I guess another option would be to return the Leaf 50 and spend an extra $90 on a Mohu Sky for the attic. That might give me the extra signal strength to use the existing cables, wire the Roku, and get a solid NBC.

anybody confused?

I'm thinking of running a very similar set up, and will have the same issue with running the antenna and Internet into the same coax line to the basement (where we watch most of our TV). I'm worried it's just not going to work that well and make all this work not worth it.

One method is to buy a tuner and put it right next to the antenna with the shortest cable available. Then run the cable from the tuner to where ever the TV is in the house. To remotely control the tuner use wireless remote control extenders like this: http://www.amazon.com/X10-Powermid-PM5900-Control-Extender/dp/B00023KG40/ref=lp_11039361_1_14?s=audio-video-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1392135803&sr=1-14

So if for example, the antenna is in your attic, then so is your tuner and so is one of the repeater devices. Your TV just stays on channel 3 (probably), and when you click your remote to change the channel, the other repeater devices captures the IR signal from your remote and wirelessly sends it up to your attack to repeat it to your tuner where the channel changes. The new channel is then sent down the coax to your basement where you continue to view the tuner on channel 3 (probably).

I'm not understanding how this fixes the issue. All you've done is moved the tuner from the TV up to the attic near the antenna. You still need coax from the attic down to the TV, carrying antenna signal.

What would be nice is if the antenna connection to the TV was wireless. They have those types of systems, but I'm not seeing any that are HD and take an RF antenna input. They are all HDMI or RCA. So you'd need what you describe plus a wireless HDMI transmitter/receiver. :(

 

[glock]

:whoosh: Dam. When you guys get this #### all straightened out, lemme know.

TIA

 

[Politician Spock]

BTW.. I just ordered a Mohu Leaf 50 (they changed the name from ultimate). Will see what I can get from it this weekend and if it's good, the cable gets cut. I'll probably do Netflix (mostly for the kids content) and HuluPlus. Already have and use Amazon Prime.

So I was messing with the Mohu Leaf this weekend. I think it will work if I put it upstairs in a window in our MBR with blinds that we never open. My TV shows 10 bars of signal for OTA. As long as you get 2 bars then it's fine. When it goes to 1 bar you start seeing some screen artifacts. Here's what I'm seeing:

CBS, ABC: 27mi away getting 4 bars

PBS, FOX: 45mi away getting 2-3 bars

NBC: 45mi away getting 1-2 bars

NBC is shaky, the others are OK

I'm trying to connect it through existing coax in my house. We don't have a TV in our MBR so I'm connecting the Mohu to that coax and then at the splitter on the side of the house I connect that cable to the cable that goes to the living room. That makes probably 200ft of RG6 between the antenna and the TV. If I run the cable straight to the TV I get about 1 bar more on each channel, but to run that through the wall from upstairs to downstairs will be a PITA.

A problem I have with the cabling setup is if I want to put my Roku2 XS on wired ethernet. My Roku is on WiFi and is great but does struggle occasionally on 1080p. It would be best to get it on wired. I use MoCA to run ethernet through my coax system. In order to use my Mohu AND cable internet on a single wire I have to put in a diplexer at the switch box to combine the antenna and cable internet, then have a splitter at the TV to feed both the MoCA box for Roku and the antenna for the TV. That will degrade the antenna signal somewhat and I'll probably lose NBC or worse.

I guess another option would be to return the Leaf 50 and spend an extra $90 on a Mohu Sky for the attic. That might give me the extra signal strength to use the existing cables, wire the Roku, and get a solid NBC.

anybody confused?

I'm thinking of running a very similar set up, and will have the same issue with running the antenna and Internet into the same coax line to the basement (where we watch most of our TV). I'm worried it's just not going to work that well and make all this work not worth it.

One method is to buy a tuner and put it right next to the antenna with the shortest cable available. Then run the cable from the tuner to where ever the TV is in the house. To remotely control the tuner use wireless remote control extenders like this: http://www.amazon.com/X10-Powermid-PM5900-Control-Extender/dp/B00023KG40/ref=lp_11039361_1_14?s=audio-video-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1392135803&sr=1-14

So if for example, the antenna is in your attic, then so is your tuner and so is one of the repeater devices. Your TV just stays on channel 3 (probably), and when you click your remote to change the channel, the other repeater devices captures the IR signal from your remote and wirelessly sends it up to your attack to repeat it to your tuner where the channel changes. The new channel is then sent down the coax to your basement where you continue to view the tuner on channel 3 (probably).

I'm not understanding how this fixes the issue. All you've done is moved the tuner from the TV up to the attic near the antenna. You still need coax from the attic down to the TV, carrying antenna signal.

What would be nice is if the antenna connection to the TV was wireless. They have those types of systems, but I'm not seeing any that are HD and take an RF antenna input. They are all HDMI or RCA. So you'd need what you describe plus a wireless HDMI transmitter/receiver. :(

The longer the cable from the antenna to the tuner is, the weaker the singal is for the tuner. This is less of an issue regarding the signal the tuner sends to the TV. So what I described above is how to maintain a strong signal when the antenna needs to be far away from the location of the TV. Move the tuner next to the antenna instead of being next to the TV.

 

[culdeus]

Cutting the cable is probably easy in older homes where they just ran coax everywhere. That is no longer standard practice and perhaps hasn't been since maybe 2005. Most are opting to chase cat5 everywhere instead. The idea that you can have a whole home OTA solution without having coax as a major distributor is not really practical in 2014.

You are going to have to look at solutions like Aereo and HTPC if it is simply not possible to get a good signal everywhere in the house and cabling becomes too burdensome.

 

[Tick]

Going to be Captain Obvious here, but I have to say, I really don't miss TV all that much and learning to go without, even with my options still available.

Was out of town for business for three weeks in Jan and never turned the hotel TV on other than for the AFC/NFC Championship games. I would have on The Daily Show/Colbert/@midnight while working out in the gym or ESPNNews depending on the time I was down there, but that was it.

And now I have been home for a week and the only time I have turned on the TV was to catch some of the Grammys, and I was doing other things around the house.

I know it's not prime time season for shows and for me I don't live and die regular season hockey and basketball, but it's felt good not to kill three hours every night on the couch.

This has been my experience as well. Two years or so after cutting the cable, I don't regret missing anything other than sports... and that's not really such a big deal either. I might pick it back up for the World Cup, though...

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Going to be Captain Obvious here, but I have to say, I really don't miss TV all that much and learning to go without, even with my options still available.

Was out of town for business for three weeks in Jan and never turned the hotel TV on other than for the AFC/NFC Championship games. I would have on The Daily Show/Colbert/@midnight while working out in the gym or ESPNNews depending on the time I was down there, but that was it.

And now I have been home for a week and the only time I have turned on the TV was to catch some of the Grammys, and I was doing other things around the house.

I know it's not prime time season for shows and for me I don't live and die regular season hockey and basketball, but it's felt good not to kill three hours every night on the couch.

We are a lot more active with no cable.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

TL;DR - I want a BR/HT player with multiple HDMI ports.

What you really want is a home theatre receiver. It will give you much more flexibility in the future to add/remove devices. It will also give you the ability to add a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup, which is a HUGE improvement over your TV speakers.

That said, you don't have to do any of that now except get more HDMI inputs. And it doesn't have to be expensive:

Onkyo TX-SR313 5.1 Receiver with 4 HDMI inputs for $199

If you're willing to watch Slickdeals for a few weeks you'll probably find a better model for a similar price. But the above is a great entry into the home theatre market.

A combo BD/Receiver is just going to keep you tied to both in the future. What if you want to upgrade the BD player in the future? Or the receiver? Better to go modular and scalable.

My two cents.

Ok, I bought this (thanks, Z) and am steeling myself up to switch everything over (if you see a mushroom cloud near the Blue Ridge on the 15th, you'll know how it went). One thing I noticed is that this receiver's input for the subwoofer is for a male/female A/V cable. The subwoofer I have has regular speaker wire with the exposed ends. The rest of the speaker connections are the clips that accept the exposed speaker wires.

Best way to handle this? Adapter? Plug the subwoofer into one of the "regular" clips?

I'm not an audiophile, nor is my room really set up for optimal listening, so I'm not all that concerned about the perfect listening experience - just want the stuff to work.

 

[Zasada]

TL;DR - I want a BR/HT player with multiple HDMI ports.

What you really want is a home theatre receiver. It will give you much more flexibility in the future to add/remove devices. It will also give you the ability to add a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup, which is a HUGE improvement over your TV speakers.

That said, you don't have to do any of that now except get more HDMI inputs. And it doesn't have to be expensive:

Onkyo TX-SR313 5.1 Receiver with 4 HDMI inputs for $199

If you're willing to watch Slickdeals for a few weeks you'll probably find a better model for a similar price. But the above is a great entry into the home theatre market.

A combo BD/Receiver is just going to keep you tied to both in the future. What if you want to upgrade the BD player in the future? Or the receiver? Better to go modular and scalable.

My two cents.

Ok, I bought this (thanks, Z) and am steeling myself up to switch everything over (if you see a mushroom cloud near the Blue Ridge on the 15th, you'll know how it went). One thing I noticed is that this receiver's input for the subwoofer is for a male/female A/V cable. The subwoofer I have has regular speaker wire with the exposed ends. The rest of the speaker connections are the clips that accept the exposed speaker wires.

Best way to handle this? Adapter? Plug the subwoofer into one of the "regular" clips?

I'm not an audiophile, nor is my room really set up for optimal listening, so I'm not all that concerned about the perfect listening experience - just want the stuff to work.

Hmmm, I don't have a sub in my system, but I think that by having RCA-style outputs for the sub, the amp is assuming that the sub is powered (the sub does the amplification and not the receiver). This could be a function of your all-in-one before. You might want to see if there is an option to power the sub from the amp via a different output. Could be in the manual. But I would NOT simply plug the sub into those RCA plugs. Most likely you just wouldn't get any sound. Worst-case you might damage the sub or the amp.

Which receiver did you actually end-up with? I can try to find an manual online and see if anything catches my eye for a solution.

ETA: I just read the manual (presuming you purchased the HT receiver I linked above) and I was right. The receiver only supports a powered sub (most receivers are like this). Take a look at the manual (or link the model here, and I'll investigate) and see if the sub is powered or not. It most likely isn't. In that case you have to get a different amp for the sub or a new sub. Apologies for not catching this before, I never think to check if these all-in-one systems have nonstandard speakers. Or you could also go without (I do).

New sub: http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-10-Inch-Monitor-Subwoofer/dp/B0002KVQBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392585670&sr=8-1&keywords=home+subwoofer

ETA: There is a chance your sub is powered with nonstandard connections. If it has its own electrical plug to the wall socket, then this is the case, and we just need to find a good way to connect it.

 

[culdeus]

Going to be Captain Obvious here, but I have to say, I really don't miss TV all that much and learning to go without, even with my options still available.

Was out of town for business for three weeks in Jan and never turned the hotel TV on other than for the AFC/NFC Championship games. I would have on The Daily Show/Colbert/@midnight while working out in the gym or ESPNNews depending on the time I was down there, but that was it.

And now I have been home for a week and the only time I have turned on the TV was to catch some of the Grammys, and I was doing other things around the house.

I know it's not prime time season for shows and for me I don't live and die regular season hockey and basketball, but it's felt good not to kill three hours every night on the couch.

We are a lot more active with no cable.

sexually?

 

[culdeus]

TL;DR - I want a BR/HT player with multiple HDMI ports.

What you really want is a home theatre receiver. It will give you much more flexibility in the future to add/remove devices. It will also give you the ability to add a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup, which is a HUGE improvement over your TV speakers.

That said, you don't have to do any of that now except get more HDMI inputs. And it doesn't have to be expensive:

Onkyo TX-SR313 5.1 Receiver with 4 HDMI inputs for $199

If you're willing to watch Slickdeals for a few weeks you'll probably find a better model for a similar price. But the above is a great entry into the home theatre market.

A combo BD/Receiver is just going to keep you tied to both in the future. What if you want to upgrade the BD player in the future? Or the receiver? Better to go modular and scalable.

My two cents.

Ok, I bought this (thanks, Z) and am steeling myself up to switch everything over (if you see a mushroom cloud near the Blue Ridge on the 15th, you'll know how it went). One thing I noticed is that this receiver's input for the subwoofer is for a male/female A/V cable. The subwoofer I have has regular speaker wire with the exposed ends. The rest of the speaker connections are the clips that accept the exposed speaker wires.

Best way to handle this? Adapter? Plug the subwoofer into one of the "regular" clips?

I'm not an audiophile, nor is my room really set up for optimal listening, so I'm not all that concerned about the perfect listening experience - just want the stuff to work.

Hmmm, I don't have a sub in my system, but I think that by having RCA-style outputs for the sub, the amp is assuming that the sub is powered (the sub does the amplification and not the receiver). This could be a function of your all-in-one before. You might want to see if there is an option to power the sub from the amp via a different output. Could be in the manual. But I would NOT simply plug the sub into those RCA plugs. Most likely you just wouldn't get any sound. Worst-case you might damage the sub or the amp.

Which receiver did you actually end-up with? I can try to find an manual online and see if anything catches my eye for a solution.

ETA: I just read the manual (presuming you purchased the HT receiver I linked above) and I was right. The receiver only supports a powered sub (most receivers are like this). Take a look at the manual (or link the model here, and I'll investigate) and see if the sub is powered or not. It most likely isn't. In that case you have to get a different amp for the sub or a new sub. Apologies for not catching this before, I never think to check if these all-in-one systems have nonstandard speakers. Or you could also go without (I do).

New sub: http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-10-Inch-Monitor-Subwoofer/dp/B0002KVQBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392585670&sr=8-1&keywords=home+subwoofer

ETA: There is a chance your sub is powered with nonstandard connections. If it has its own electrical plug to the wall socket, then this is the case, and we just need to find a good way to connect it.

My bet is, and trying to not sound like a jerk, that he's never actually seen the back of an amp and what he's looking at is/are standard connections.

Without putting too fine a point on it, these RCA connections you see, try to turn them counter clockwise. Report back.

 

[GroveDiesel]

Not sure if it's been discussed, but Red box Instant seems pretty decent. The movie selection is actually pretty good. I'll have to browse through the tv stuff to see if it's any decent. I signed up for a free trial month. $8 for a month plus 4 free DVD rentals. If you want blurays instead of DVDs it's $9 a month.

 

[Quez]

How in the hell does Snogger pay 1k a month for satellite TV? I didn't even think that was possible.

 

[snogger]

How in the hell does Snogger pay 1k a month for satellite TV? I didn't even think that was possible.

say what

My original post had this:

Current DirectTV bill is over $1000 per year

Did I mistype somewhere else and say 1k a Month? Is so sorry, as that would be worthy of a

 

[Quez]

Oh sorry I must of read it wrong.

 

[cubd8]

I haven't read everything, but sure sounds like an informative thread should I decide to switch because I'm definitely spending way too much - I think my last bill was $207.00, including internet, but no premium channels. From what I've seen, I can save probably well over $100.00 a month after the initial costs.

My big hang-up, and maybe I missed it being resolved is sports.

Can I watch my favorite local football/baseball team through a MLB package or out of town only?

I realize I can get some games (both local and national, which solves the NFL issue since FOX/CBS have those local games) using the antenna, but that's where it ends right?

Is there anything on the the horizon to get all sports live when I want to watch it?

 

[Politician Spock]

I haven't read everything, but sure sounds like an informative thread should I decide to switch because I'm definitely spending way too much - I think my last bill was $207.00, including internet, but no premium channels. From what I've seen, I can save probably well over $100.00 a month after the initial costs.

My big hang-up, and maybe I missed it being resolved is sports.

Can I watch my favorite local football/baseball team through a MLB package or out of town only?

I realize I can get some games (both local and national, which solves the NFL issue since FOX/CBS have those local games) using the antenna, but that's where it ends right?

Is there anything on the the horizon to get all sports live when I want to watch it?

MLB.tv will black you out when you try to watch within an area that Fox Sports (or some local sports channel) has bought the broadcast rights. In those areas, the only way to watch without cheating is to subscribe to cable/satellite and get Fox Sports (or the local sports channel). MLB sold those rights to Fox Sports (or the local sports channel), so there is no way around that (again, without cheating) until those agreements end and are not renewed.

That being said, a VPN connection to your employer before launching MLB.tv can trick (cheat) the software into thinking you are physically located at your employer. If you happen to work for an employer where the VPN connection exists outside of the blackout area for your team, then you're in luck. If not, you can pay to subscribe to a VPN service to accomplish that. Or you can pay for a DNS masking service which essentially produces the same results.

While this is cheating, there's really not a whole lot of legal recourse MLB.tv has to take on the issue. Really all that could happen is Fox Sports (and the local sports channels) use their contract rights to shut down MLB.tv for everyone since they can't technically enforce who and where people are watchcing the streams. So while it is cheating, I say go for it, because it's only hurting Fox Sports (and the local sports channels) when you do it. MLB.tv is more than happy to have you subscribe to them and watch what you want.

And this is why I predict these blackout agreements from cable/satellite channels will end. If I'm paying to watch the sports I want to watch, I want to have them on any device, and not just have my subscription on a box next to my TV in my family room. Streaming accomplishes that. Cable/satellite broadcasts do not. In fact, Cable/satellite companies are developing streaming into their offerings because they know this is where it is all going. If MLB (and NFL, NBA, NHL, etc) can stream on their own, the cable/satellite companies have a lot less leverage in their contract negotiations to buy the rights to show those sports. Streaming makes every sports league more profitable and every cable/satellite company less profitable.

As for NFL today, I got most of the Bengals, Browns, and Steeler games here in central Ohio. When I didn't, every sports bar around me had it if I really, REALLY needed to watch it.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

TL;DR - I want a BR/HT player with multiple HDMI ports.

What you really want is a home theatre receiver. It will give you much more flexibility in the future to add/remove devices. It will also give you the ability to add a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup, which is a HUGE improvement over your TV speakers.

That said, you don't have to do any of that now except get more HDMI inputs. And it doesn't have to be expensive:

Onkyo TX-SR313 5.1 Receiver with 4 HDMI inputs for $199

If you're willing to watch Slickdeals for a few weeks you'll probably find a better model for a similar price. But the above is a great entry into the home theatre market.

A combo BD/Receiver is just going to keep you tied to both in the future. What if you want to upgrade the BD player in the future? Or the receiver? Better to go modular and scalable.

My two cents.

Ok, I bought this (thanks, Z) and am steeling myself up to switch everything over (if you see a mushroom cloud near the Blue Ridge on the 15th, you'll know how it went). One thing I noticed is that this receiver's input for the subwoofer is for a male/female A/V cable. The subwoofer I have has regular speaker wire with the exposed ends. The rest of the speaker connections are the clips that accept the exposed speaker wires.

Best way to handle this? Adapter? Plug the subwoofer into one of the "regular" clips?

I'm not an audiophile, nor is my room really set up for optimal listening, so I'm not all that concerned about the perfect listening experience - just want the stuff to work.

Hmmm, I don't have a sub in my system, but I think that by having RCA-style outputs for the sub, the amp is assuming that the sub is powered (the sub does the amplification and not the receiver). This could be a function of your all-in-one before. You might want to see if there is an option to power the sub from the amp via a different output. Could be in the manual. But I would NOT simply plug the sub into those RCA plugs. Most likely you just wouldn't get any sound. Worst-case you might damage the sub or the amp.

Which receiver did you actually end-up with? I can try to find an manual online and see if anything catches my eye for a solution.

ETA: I just read the manual (presuming you purchased the HT receiver I linked above) and I was right. The receiver only supports a powered sub (most receivers are like this). Take a look at the manual (or link the model here, and I'll investigate) and see if the sub is powered or not. It most likely isn't. In that case you have to get a different amp for the sub or a new sub. Apologies for not catching this before, I never think to check if these all-in-one systems have nonstandard speakers. Or you could also go without (I do).

New sub: http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-10-Inch-Monitor-Subwoofer/dp/B0002KVQBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392585670&sr=8-1&keywords=home+subwoofer

ETA: There is a chance your sub is powered with nonstandard connections. If it has its own electrical plug to the wall socket, then this is the case, and we just need to find a good way to connect it.

Yeah, I never thought to look and had no idea a subwoofer would be powered. That's not a big deal - I'll get a new one when/if I need it. Thanks for your help, guys.

 

[BeTheMatch]

Read an article this weekend saying that this Comcast-Time Warner merger could kill cable cutters because they're going to jack prices way up on those streaming a lot or even put caps on how much usage is allowed in a month.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Read an article this weekend saying that this Comcast-Time Warner merger could kill cable cutters because they're going to jack prices way up on those streaming a lot or even put caps on how much usage is allowed in a month.

Screw them - cutting their noses off to spite their faces. Reminds me of the way the music business acted during the Napster days and they've never recovered.

Hell, I stream through freaking DSL and it's fine.

 

[culdeus]

Read an article this weekend saying that this Comcast-Time Warner merger could kill cable cutters because they're going to jack prices way up on those streaming a lot or even put caps on how much usage is allowed in a month.

If that happens then you'll see lots of downstreams pop up again. Broadband bandwidth has never been cheaper so the market forces are going to drive this to a great extent.

 

[culdeus]

And this is why I predict these blackout agreements from cable/satellite channels will end. If I'm paying to watch the sports I want to watch, I want to have them on any device, and not just have my subscription on a box next to my TV in my family room. Streaming accomplishes that. Cable/satellite broadcasts do not. In fact, Cable/satellite companies are developing streaming into their offerings because they know this is where it is all going. If MLB (and NFL, NBA, NHL, etc) can stream on their own, the cable/satellite companies have a lot less leverage in their contract negotiations to buy the rights to show those sports. Streaming makes every sports league more profitable and every cable/satellite company less profitable.

This can't be further from the truth.

Start here. If you can the WSJ.com article that they link is also gold when considering this.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dodgers-could-be-last-team-to-strike-gold-with-local-tv-deal/

I've made this example here before, but consider the Texas Rangers. It was said that on any given week only 40,000 households in the DFW area watch 2hours or more of the Rangers.

If you instead said, here take a streaming deal at 150/year lets say just for arguments sake all 40,000 sign up. That's $6,000,000 right there, but that's to MLB, not the Rangers. Maybe they give 2/3, so $4MM.

The current Rangers deal. $150MM per year.

So who really makes money under the streaming system? Not MLB, not the clubs, the question is if the cable companies are making any money either.

 

[NutterButter]

Read an article this weekend saying that this Comcast-Time Warner merger could kill cable cutters because they're going to jack prices way up on those streaming a lot or even put caps on how much usage is allowed in a month.

I know some ISP's already have that, but you have to be really egregious. I think I read somewhere that over 250 GB/month could get you flagged. My bigger concern is ISP's throttling. Some developer last week got a verizon support tech to admit that they were throttling netflix when he contacted Verizon about ridiculously slow speeds he was getting with netflix. Whether that was actually the case, no one outside of Verizon really knows. The possibility is certainly there.

 

[belljr]

Say I have a bunch of videos - how can I get a folder or drive to act as a media server. I tried sharing the drive but my device says it's not configured. If I put videos into my router that media center option works ok.

Is there an easy way to get the folder on my pc to work properly

 

[Zasada]

Say I have a bunch of videos - how can I get a folder or drive to act as a media server. I tried sharing the drive but my device says it's not configured. If I put videos into my router that media center option works ok.

Is there an easy way to get the folder on my pc to work properly

Going to need some more detail than this. What type of computer is the media on? What type of device are you trying to use to play the content?

 

[belljr]

Say I have a bunch of videos - how can I get a folder or drive to act as a media server. I tried sharing the drive but my device says it's not configured. If I put videos into my router that media center option works ok.

Is there an easy way to get the folder on my pc to work properly

Going to need some more detail than this. What type of computer is the media on? What type of device are you trying to use to play the content?

Ok. This is how it all started. I have always had videos I rip or record and put on my phone for travel etc. I have a small collection nothing too crazy. I just bought a new tablet and phone. I don't know if it it is part of the stock video player or an app that cam on them but if I select videos it gives me the option to view whats on my phone OR it it see my network at home.

It sees the 2 computers (WINDOWS 7) and my router has a media server option that I just discovered.

So last night I put some files on a usb stick. Plugged it into my router and my phone could now stream those videos.

What I want to know is - can I do this with one folder on my PC. I tried sharing the drive but that did not work.

I basically want to do the same thing but without having to use the USB stick. I just want to use one folder on my PC if possible.

TIA

 

[culdeus]

Say I have a bunch of videos - how can I get a folder or drive to act as a media server. I tried sharing the drive but my device says it's not configured. If I put videos into my router that media center option works ok.

Is there an easy way to get the folder on my pc to work properly

Going to need some more detail than this. What type of computer is the media on? What type of device are you trying to use to play the content?

Ok. This is how it all started. I have always had videos I rip or record and put on my phone for travel etc. I have a small collection nothing too crazy. I just bought a new tablet and phone. I don't know if it it is part of the stock video player or an app that cam on them but if I select videos it gives me the option to view whats on my phone OR it it see my network at home.

It sees the 2 computers (WINDOWS 7) and my router has a media server option that I just discovered.

So last night I put some files on a usb stick. Plugged it into my router and my phone could now stream those videos.

What I want to know is - can I do this with one folder on my PC. I tried sharing the drive but that did not work.

I basically want to do the same thing but without having to use the USB stick. I just want to use one folder on my PC if possible.

TIA

This isn't ideal. It can create lots of network overhead. You are better using this method with a NAS or similar setup.

That being said it's possible. The normal way to manage it is to try and partition your hard drive (just for ease and lesser extent security) and set that up as a share drive. It's a fairly straightforward process in Win7.

 

[belljr]

Say I have a bunch of videos - how can I get a folder or drive to act as a media server. I tried sharing the drive but my device says it's not configured. If I put videos into my router that media center option works ok.

Is there an easy way to get the folder on my pc to work properly

Going to need some more detail than this. What type of computer is the media on? What type of device are you trying to use to play the content?

Ok. This is how it all started. I have always had videos I rip or record and put on my phone for travel etc. I have a small collection nothing too crazy. I just bought a new tablet and phone. I don't know if it it is part of the stock video player or an app that cam on them but if I select videos it gives me the option to view whats on my phone OR it it see my network at home.

It sees the 2 computers (WINDOWS 7) and my router has a media server option that I just discovered.

So last night I put some files on a usb stick. Plugged it into my router and my phone could now stream those videos.

What I want to know is - can I do this with one folder on my PC. I tried sharing the drive but that did not work.

I basically want to do the same thing but without having to use the USB stick. I just want to use one folder on my PC if possible.

TIA

This isn't ideal. It can create lots of network overhead. You are better using this method with a NAS or similar setup.

That being said it's possible. The normal way to manage it is to try and partition your hard drive (just for ease and lesser extent security) and set that up as a share drive. It's a fairly straightforward process in Win7.

Thanks. I setup the folder to share but my phone could not see it, So you are saying if I share a whole drive the phone should see that? I know it's not ideal and worst case I use the routers built in media server.

I just couldn't figure out why my computers can see the shared drives but the phone could only could see video on the router media server and not the shared folders

 

[culdeus]

Say I have a bunch of videos - how can I get a folder or drive to act as a media server. I tried sharing the drive but my device says it's not configured. If I put videos into my router that media center option works ok.

Is there an easy way to get the folder on my pc to work properly

Going to need some more detail than this. What type of computer is the media on? What type of device are you trying to use to play the content?

Ok. This is how it all started. I have always had videos I rip or record and put on my phone for travel etc. I have a small collection nothing too crazy. I just bought a new tablet and phone. I don't know if it it is part of the stock video player or an app that cam on them but if I select videos it gives me the option to view whats on my phone OR it it see my network at home.

It sees the 2 computers (WINDOWS 7) and my router has a media server option that I just discovered.

So last night I put some files on a usb stick. Plugged it into my router and my phone could now stream those videos.

What I want to know is - can I do this with one folder on my PC. I tried sharing the drive but that did not work.

I basically want to do the same thing but without having to use the USB stick. I just want to use one folder on my PC if possible.

TIA

This isn't ideal. It can create lots of network overhead. You are better using this method with a NAS or similar setup.

That being said it's possible. The normal way to manage it is to try and partition your hard drive (just for ease and lesser extent security) and set that up as a share drive. It's a fairly straightforward process in Win7.

Thanks. I setup the folder to share but my phone could not see it, So you are saying if I share a whole drive the phone should see that? I know it's not ideal and worst case I use the routers built in media server.

I just couldn't figure out why my computers can see the shared drives but the phone could only could see video on the router media server and not the shared folders

No, I would split and share so the set top box isn't constantly having to index your root folders.

Some set tops manage this two ways there are "network shares" and "Media servers". Setting up a partition as a network share is a much more reliable way to do it.

 

[belljr]

No, I would split and share so the set top box isn't constantly having to index your root folders.

Some set tops manage this two ways there are "network shares" and "Media servers". Setting up a partition as a network share is a much more reliable way to do it.

I understand what you are saying and will do that but I just wanted to know for my own knowledge.

What is the difference in setting up a shared folder VS creating a partition and sharing that drive?

Why will my tablet see the whole drive but not the shared folder? Is that just differences of network sharing?

Thanks!