We've cut the cable (3 Viewers)

[Politician Spock]

I was a little concerned about losing my DVR (I like to record stuff that's not available on Hulu/Netflix etc like the local news) but it looks like the Tivo Roamio will record off an HD antenna. If that's the case I might not need to go with Hulu after all.

I think Tivo has a monthly fee though so thats a negative.

I haven't looked too much into this, but seems interesting

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2464714,00.asp

Don't have cable or satellite TV service, but still want a DVR? TiVo has just the thing.

The company on Monday unveiled the limited-edition TiVo Roamio OTA, a DVR for cord cutters. The device lets you record up to four shows simultaneously, and offers 500GB of storage, which is enough space for 75 hours of HD programming.

I got a TiVo Premier back in May of 2012 when I cut the cord. I use it with an OTA antenna. In my area we get about 25 stations, but I only record shows from 12 of them. But in over two years I've never sat down to watch TV and not had something good to watch. I rarely watch live TV except for news and sports. I'd also estimate only around 10% of my viewing is from Netflix/Amazon (although the kids watch their stuff streamed 100% of the time). 90% of what I watch is DVR'd free from OTA signals. Sometimes I have to delete good shows to make room for the shows I refuse to miss.

I honestly believe that if DVR technology existed before cable and satellite offerings arrived, people would have been more than satisfied with free TV. VCRs were too limited to keep people from going the cable/satellite route. Today, the number of free OTA channels far exceeds the days of ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS. Back then getting a cable package of two dozen channels was considered AWESOME! Today two dozen channels are free OTA. In some markets its four dozen channels.

Also, the $15 a month TiVo fee can be eliminated by purchasing the lifetime subscription for $500. It takes 34 months to break even, but then after that all the Tivo service is free for the life of that device. The most common reason they die is the hard drive, and you can replace the hard drive while keeping the lifetime license on the device.

 

[Bucks]

Tried the amplified Mohu Leaf 50, Mohu Curve 50, Mohu Sky 60, and now the Winegard Flatwave Air. None of them pick up more than 3 or 4 channels and even those are iffy. I even mounted the Winegard outside b/t the 1st and 2nd story with a direct line of sight to closest antenna array.

This is just nuts, i'm on one of the highest pats of the state, with less than 25 miles to the antennas. And i cannot pick up 2 of the 4 major broadcast networks.

Any ideas? Is there even such a thing as a professional antenna installer these days?

Damn Supreme Court and their Aereo decision, screwed up my whole plan

Go to tvfool and run their analysis for your location and then post the results link back here for us all to take a look at your situation: http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

And report which 2 come in good and which 2 you cannot pickup.

Link to report - http://pl.vc/4evxo

NBC and CBS come in crystal clear, no distortion or pixelation (is that a word?). Don't get ABC and FOX. One time i was holding the mohu leaf in my hand, turned it 90deg, reran channel scan, and picked up both Fox and ABC...but immediately lost NBC and CBS

Here's my thoughts. First off, your ABC is in the VHF-Low band. It really needs it's own antenna with a combiner to merge them together. All the antennas you've tried are UHF or UHF/VHF combos. The combos would probably only do an ok job for 15-20 mile range VHF-High bands. The VHF-Low band really needs some length to capture the much longer frequency waves.

Second, all the other channels you are interested in are all in the Northeast direction. Your best best is to use a directional antenna. It seems all the antennas you've tried are multi-directional. There are also several close stations due East so I'd try a directional antenna with about a 45* beam and point it NE-E to target the middle of the two clusters and diminish the pick-up of all the other stations.

The difficult question is why are you not picking up Fox-42. It very well be because you are using a multi-directional antenna and there is a competing weaker channel 42 almost 180 degrees in the other direction. When you point your flat-waves directly towards the Fox-42 it is also pointed directly at the other more distance tower so the signals could be knocking each other out. When you move the antenna 90* the weaker station probably maybe too weak to still interfere.

ok, that makes sense. If i go with a longer directional antenna would that solve the issue with ABC as well? or should i just go with a VHF specific antenna and combine as you mention?

one thing i was trying to avoid was that typical, gaudy antenna look. Are there any directional antennas that are...sleek, for lack of a better term

Thanks for the info and help, much appreciated!

Any decent VHF-Low band antenna is going to be gaudy. They are more subject to interference and their wave lengths are 10x that of UHF so there's no getting around it. You could hide it in the attic if there's no metal in the roof but then you need twice the antenna power for the same signal level. Any antennas that do a decent job at UHF and VHF-Low are really going to be too antenna's stacked together in one package like this popular UHF antenna that has an optional dipole VHF antenna added on: http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=OBO-C2-V-CJM&d=OPEN-BOX-ITEM-Antennas-Direct-C2VCJM-ClearStream2-Outdoor-Digital-HD-TV-Antenna-With-Dipole-And-CJ-Mount-%28C2VCJM-%29&c=TV%20Antennas&sku=

If the theory about the problem with Fox being the other channel 180* in the opposite direction then the challenge is making the desired signal strength stronger relative to the other channel. Reducing or eliminating the amplification might actually improve it. Another alternative would be to put a parabolic reflective screen behind your flat antenna to strengthen the forward signal, and reduce the rear station signal strength.

There are very few stations broadcasting on VHF-Low so there's limited real-life experiences to be found. To eliminate much of the guesswork plug your zip code in this page and see what antennas others in your same area are having luck with: http://www.solidsignal.com/cview_Antennas_zipcode.asp?mc=03&d=over-the-air-tv-antennas-supplies&c=TV+Antennas

 

[ForWhoForWhat]

Can’t take it anymore. Comcast bill almost 200/mo for the triple play that started out at 99/mo. Dropping landline and cable and just keeping internet. We are not big tv watchers. We mostly DVR the limited stuff we watch so we can check it out after kids go to sleep. We’ll live without it – no way am I paying for a Tivo subscription. Have the Amazon hdtv antenna (the knock off of the Leaf) coming this weekend to check out while we get ready to cut the cord.

My question – we already have Netflix and Amazon prime – does anyone think Hulu Plus at 10/mo is worth it as well? From those who have or have had all 3 is there anything special about Hulu Plus that will help us miss cable even less? TIA

 

[hotdogcollars]

Can’t take it anymore. Comcast bill almost 200/mo for the triple play that started out at 99/mo. Dropping landline and cable and just keeping internet. We are not big tv watchers. We mostly DVR the limited stuff we watch so we can check it out after kids go to sleep. We’ll live without it – no way am I paying for a Tivo subscription. Have the Amazon hdtv antenna (the knock off of the Leaf) coming this weekend to check out while we get ready to cut the cord.

My question – we already have Netflix and Amazon prime – does anyone think Hulu Plus at 10/mo is worth it as well? From those who have or have had all 3 is there anything special about Hulu Plus that will help us miss cable even less? TIA

Hulu+ is more for tv shows as opposed to movies (netflix) or full season purchases and binges (amazon). We use it to watch shows like MasterChef, Top Chef, Daily Show, @Midnight. We just wait a day and then those first run shows are up on H+.

We actually didnt renew our netflix and only have amazon b/c of the 2 day shipping. So for us OTA and H+ would be enough

 

[ForWhoForWhat]

Can’t take it anymore. Comcast bill almost 200/mo for the triple play that started out at 99/mo. Dropping landline and cable and just keeping internet. We are not big tv watchers. We mostly DVR the limited stuff we watch so we can check it out after kids go to sleep. We’ll live without it – no way am I paying for a Tivo subscription. Have the Amazon hdtv antenna (the knock off of the Leaf) coming this weekend to check out while we get ready to cut the cord.

My question – we already have Netflix and Amazon prime – does anyone think Hulu Plus at 10/mo is worth it as well? From those who have or have had all 3 is there anything special about Hulu Plus that will help us miss cable even less? TIA

Hulu+ is more for tv shows as opposed to movies (netflix) or full season purchases and binges (amazon). We use it to watch shows like MasterChef, Top Chef, Daily Show, @Midnight. We just wait a day and then those first run shows are up on H+.

We actually didnt renew our netflix and only have amazon b/c of the 2 day shipping. So for us OTA and H+ would be enough

Awesome. We love the Daily Show. I'll have to see everything else they have. If they have Colbert Report as well I may have to splurge.

 

[Politician Spock]

Can’t take it anymore. Comcast bill almost 200/mo for the triple play that started out at 99/mo. Dropping landline and cable and just keeping internet. We are not big tv watchers. We mostly DVR the limited stuff we watch so we can check it out after kids go to sleep. We’ll live without it – no way am I paying for a Tivo subscription. Have the Amazon hdtv antenna (the knock off of the Leaf) coming this weekend to check out while we get ready to cut the cord.

My question – we already have Netflix and Amazon prime – does anyone think Hulu Plus at 10/mo is worth it as well? From those who have or have had all 3 is there anything special about Hulu Plus that will help us miss cable even less? TIA

If you come to the conclusion that Hulu is worth the $10 a month, then I'm not sure why you conclude there is no way you'd pay $15 a month for a Tivo subscription. Hulu is essentially just on demand access to free OTA shows. But Tivo does this for 100% of the free OTA shows in your area, while Hulu only does it for a subset of those shows. For only $5 more a month you can record anything, and not just have what Hulu decides to provide.

Hulu recently began offering cable channel shows, but from what I understand you have to be a pay-TV subscriber of those channels to watch the shows via Hulu. So without being a pay-TV subscriber, Hulu is just on-demand free OTA shows.

ETA: if you did the life time subscription, then after 50 months Tivo becomes cheaper than Hulu.... and cheaper and cheaper and cheaper as time goes on.

 

[Random]

Anyone figure out a way to get ESPN/NFL network yet?

 

[ForWhoForWhat]

Can’t take it anymore. Comcast bill almost 200/mo for the triple play that started out at 99/mo. Dropping landline and cable and just keeping internet. We are not big tv watchers. We mostly DVR the limited stuff we watch so we can check it out after kids go to sleep. We’ll live without it – no way am I paying for a Tivo subscription. Have the Amazon hdtv antenna (the knock off of the Leaf) coming this weekend to check out while we get ready to cut the cord.

My question – we already have Netflix and Amazon prime – does anyone think Hulu Plus at 10/mo is worth it as well? From those who have or have had all 3 is there anything special about Hulu Plus that will help us miss cable even less? TIA

If you come to the conclusion that Hulu is worth the $10 a month, then I'm not sure why you conclude there is no way you'd pay $15 a month for a Tivo subscription. Hulu is essentially just on demand access to free OTA shows. But Tivo does this for 100% of the free OTA shows in your area, while Hulu only does it for a subset of those shows. For only $5 more a month you can record anything, and not just have what Hulu decides to provide.

Hulu recently began offering cable channel shows, but from what I understand you have to be a pay-TV subscriber of those channels to watch the shows via Hulu. So without being a pay-TV subscriber, Hulu is just on-demand free OTA shows.

ETA: if you did the life time subscription, then after 50 months Tivo becomes cheaper than Hulu.... and cheaper and cheaper and cheaper as time goes on.

I am confused. What is OTA? Over the air? Local? Comedy Central shows like Daily report are on Tivo?

 

[culdeus]

OTA = Over the air. Antenna reception.

 

[ForWhoForWhat]

Just caught the part about needing a pay TV subscription to watch cable shows on Hulu Plus. Ok, no thanks. The Tivo at 15/mo is a much better option - thanks Spock!

Anyone get the Tivo Roamio? They're offering it for only $49 with one year activation at 15/mo. Not bad!

https://www.tivo.com/discover/antenna

 

[Al Czervik]

Started my move into the steaming TV world by getting a Roku streaming stick.

We signed up for the Amazon Prime free 30-day trial and are giving it a go. However, I've been underwhelmed with Amazon Prime. For the $99 per year, I am surprised at the number of TV shows where you still have to pay $1.99 per episode.

 

[saintfool]

Started my move into the steaming TV world by getting a Roku streaming stick.

We signed up for the Amazon Prime free 30-day trial and are giving it a go. However, I've been underwhelmed with Amazon Prime. For the $99 per year, I am surprised at the number of TV shows where you still have to pay $1.99 per episode.

the value with AP is actually using Amazon for more than TV. for me, i bounce between AP and Netflix. it's enough for me and my ligth viewing habits. i'm actually considering giving up Netflix's dvd service. i haven't watched one of those DVDs in about a year. if i want to watch a new or current movie - which is maybe once a month? - i will just stream it from AP. it's cheaper at this point than paying $7/month for a movie that just sits around.

 

[hotdogcollars]

Just caught the part about needing a pay TV subscription to watch cable shows on Hulu Plus. Ok, no thanks. The Tivo at 15/mo is a much better option - thanks Spock!

Anyone get the Tivo Roamio? They're offering it for only $49 with one year activation at 15/mo. Not bad!

https://www.tivo.com/discover/antenna

this is not true, i've got H+ without a pay tv subscription and get all comedy central, bravo, etc

Not every channel puts their content up on Hulu, with Discovery and Food Network being 2 that stand out. But you can go to the H+ website and see literally every show they offer. i.e. you can decide before paying them if they have content you want to see

 

[NutterButter]

Started my move into the steaming TV world by getting a Roku streaming stick.

We signed up for the Amazon Prime free 30-day trial and are giving it a go. However, I've been underwhelmed with Amazon Prime. For the $99 per year, I am surprised at the number of TV shows where you still have to pay $1.99 per episode.

If you're just signing up for streaming, you're going to be as satisfied as you are with netflix which isn't very satisfied. Be a good american and go buy some stuff and have it delivered for free in 2 days.

 

[Politician Spock]

Just caught the part about needing a pay TV subscription to watch cable shows on Hulu Plus. Ok, no thanks. The Tivo at 15/mo is a much better option - thanks Spock!

Anyone get the Tivo Roamio? They're offering it for only $49 with one year activation at 15/mo. Not bad!

https://www.tivo.com/discover/antenna

I got the Tivo Premier in May 2012, before the Roamio came out. I'm on the $15 per month plan.

I've found on the Tivo forums that if you buy a Roamio and put a lifetime subscription on it, if you tell them you are just going to throw away the Premier they will offer a lifetime on it for $99, but only if 3+ plus years of month by month subscription has been paid. If it's between 2 and 3 years they offer a lifetime on it for $199. So I'm waiting until May 2015 to get the Roamio and going the full lifetime on both route.

 

[Politician Spock]

Started my move into the steaming TV world by getting a Roku streaming stick.

We signed up for the Amazon Prime free 30-day trial and are giving it a go. However, I've been underwhelmed with Amazon Prime. For the $99 per year, I am surprised at the number of TV shows where you still have to pay $1.99 per episode.

If expectations are too high, Amazon Prime streaming would disappoint. We have it, and it's kind of "last resort" option for us.

We were already Prime subscribers before the streaming service began as we were using it for the free shipping. Before we signed up for Netflix, we looked at the offerings of the two, and Amazon was so short compared to Netflix, we decided to pay for Netflix in addition to the Prime service we were already getting. Amazon has improved a lot over the past two years, but Netflix is still better.

But even Netflix for my wife and I is a rare option. 90% of what we watch is Tivo'd via free OTA signal. 7% is us paying for a subscription to a season of a cable show delivered via Amazon, and then the other 3% is watching what is provided via Netflix and Amazon Prime.

It's our kids who hammer away at the streaming services. I suspect they watch Netflix 90% of the time and Amazon Prime 10% the time. They never watch anything we've Tivo'd or anything on live OTA signal.

If we didn't have kids, we'd drop Netflix. We'd keep Amazon Prime for the free shipping, and the occasional Amazon Prime provided show would just be a perk. We'd still buy seasons of cable shows on Amazon if they're worth it. We've found we used to watch some cable shows that we weren't willing to pay for. Just showed us that by paying for cable/satellite we were watching crap not worth a dime to us. We're glad to have gotten rid of that crap from our lives.

 

[NutterButter]

I do use that feature with Amazon where you can get a $1 credit if you don't need it in 2 days. I hardly ever need anything in 2 days. If I'm ordering multiple things, I break it into an order per item to get a $1 credit for each item. It might seem like not worth the hassle, but checking out is so simple with Amazon and I'm typically ordering while at work so why not make a few bucks in credits.

 

[mquinnjr]

Amazon just let me know my Winegard antenna has been delivered today

 

[Long Ball Larry]

.

 

[ForWhoForWhat]

Just caught the part about needing a pay TV subscription to watch cable shows on Hulu Plus. Ok, no thanks. The Tivo at 15/mo is a much better option - thanks Spock!

Anyone get the Tivo Roamio? They're offering it for only $49 with one year activation at 15/mo. Not bad!

https://www.tivo.com/discover/antenna

Researched it more and this $49 deal starts 9/14 in Best Buy stores. I'll be there first thing to snag one! These have always been $169-$199 - $49 is a steal! They are definitely going after the growing "cord cutter" market....

 

[matttyl]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but here goes...

So apparently you can "stream" live NFL games on your phone if you have Verizon, which I do. I'll try this out during the season, but if that's the case is there a way that I can "cast" them to my chromecast, or Roku, or laptop or anything - or am I limited to just my phone?

Also, anyone familiar with Verizon's NFL thingie? Can I stream ANY NFL game, or just my locals, or just Thursday/Monday night?

 

[Random]

Anyone recommend a laptop that would be good for streaming sports? Ideally to my tv/projector?

My work laptop is a 8Gig intel i7-4800MQ cpu @ 2.7 GHz with windows 8.1. Would this be good?

 

[Politician Spock]

Just caught the part about needing a pay TV subscription to watch cable shows on Hulu Plus. Ok, no thanks. The Tivo at 15/mo is a much better option - thanks Spock!

Anyone get the Tivo Roamio? They're offering it for only $49 with one year activation at 15/mo. Not bad!

https://www.tivo.com/discover/antenna

Researched it more and this $49 deal starts 9/14 in Best Buy stores. I'll be there first thing to snag one! These have always been $169-$199 - $49 is a steal! They are definitely going after the growing "cord cutter" market....

Just to be clear, these new $49 boxes are not the same as the $169-$199 Tivos.

They are manufactured with a cheaper CPU, which doesn't mean anything if all you will ever do is just use the one Tivo box. But if you ever decide you want to buy a Tivo Mini to view your Tivo content in another room, you find that this unit doesn't support the mini. It's not just a licensing issue. The CPU is too slow to support the Mini.

Also, you can never opt for a lifetime subscription on this unit. While this is 100% a licensing issue, and 0% a hardware issue, Tivo gets to make the rules.... so while you'll save $120 to $150 in buying the unit, you could end up paying hundreds more in the long run due to always having to be month to month with the unit.

I'm not saying it's a bad unit to buy. It's a good option for the right customer.... I just wanted to make sure you didn't think it's the same as the $169 to $199 units. They are better hardware and can be licensed for lifetime service.

 

[Drifter]

Yeah - I'm not much seeing the point of having a Tivo service and Hulu plus. Hulu Plus seems to offer much more for cheaper. The OTA Tivo would only make sense if you didn't have internet or had constrained bandwidth.

 

[Politician Spock]

Yeah - I'm not much seeing the point of having a Tivo service and Hulu plus. Hulu Plus seems to offer much more for cheaper. The OTA Tivo would only make sense if you didn't have internet or had constrained bandwidth.

They definitely overlap.

Where Hulu makes more sense is areas where the number of OTA channels are limited... which typically happens to be where internet bandwidth is limited too. Satellite is always going to be the go to provider in those areas.

 

[Drifter]

Yeah - I'm not much seeing the point of having a Tivo service and Hulu plus. Hulu Plus seems to offer much more for cheaper. The OTA Tivo would only make sense if you didn't have internet or had constrained bandwidth.

They definitely overlap.

Where Hulu makes more sense is areas where the number of OTA channels are limited... which typically happens to be where internet bandwidth is limited too. Satellite is always going to be the go to provider in those areas.

But Hulu also gives you things like Comedy Central and Nickleodeon which you can't get OTA so if you aren't in an area where internet is limited, it still seems better than OTA Tivo.

 

[Politician Spock]

Yeah - I'm not much seeing the point of having a Tivo service and Hulu plus. Hulu Plus seems to offer much more for cheaper. The OTA Tivo would only make sense if you didn't have internet or had constrained bandwidth.

They definitely overlap.

Where Hulu makes more sense is areas where the number of OTA channels are limited... which typically happens to be where internet bandwidth is limited too. Satellite is always going to be the go to provider in those areas.

But Hulu also gives you things like Comedy Central and Nickleodeon which you can't get OTA so if you aren't in an area where internet is limited, it still seems better than OTA Tivo.

If I swaped Tivo for Hulu, I'd lose more than I'd gain. They do overlap a lot, so which one is "better" depends on which one offers more than the other does. That will depend a lot on how much OTA a household can get.

 

[Drifter]

Yeah - I'm not much seeing the point of having a Tivo service and Hulu plus. Hulu Plus seems to offer much more for cheaper. The OTA Tivo would only make sense if you didn't have internet or had constrained bandwidth.

They definitely overlap.

Where Hulu makes more sense is areas where the number of OTA channels are limited... which typically happens to be where internet bandwidth is limited too. Satellite is always going to be the go to provider in those areas.

But Hulu also gives you things like Comedy Central and Nickleodeon which you can't get OTA so if you aren't in an area where internet is limited, it still seems better than OTA Tivo.

If I swaped Tivo for Hulu, I'd lose more than I'd gain. They do overlap a lot, so which one is "better" depends on which one offers more than the other does. That will depend a lot on how much OTA a household can get.

Can you elaborate for me? I don't know enough about what the full entitlement is for OTA to judge by anything but what I see available in my very limited (1) dataset.

 

[Politician Spock]

Yeah - I'm not much seeing the point of having a Tivo service and Hulu plus. Hulu Plus seems to offer much more for cheaper. The OTA Tivo would only make sense if you didn't have internet or had constrained bandwidth.

They definitely overlap.

Where Hulu makes more sense is areas where the number of OTA channels are limited... which typically happens to be where internet bandwidth is limited too. Satellite is always going to be the go to provider in those areas.

But Hulu also gives you things like Comedy Central and Nickleodeon which you can't get OTA so if you aren't in an area where internet is limited, it still seems better than OTA Tivo.

If I swaped Tivo for Hulu, I'd lose more than I'd gain. They do overlap a lot, so which one is "better" depends on which one offers more than the other does. That will depend a lot on how much OTA a household can get.

Can you elaborate for me? I don't know enough about what the full entitlement is for OTA to judge by anything but what I see available in my very limited (1) dataset.

We get 25 channels in my area. I record shows from a lot of them. For example NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, CW, PBS, This TV, Bounce TV, Ebru TV, Create TV, Me TV, Antenna TV...

Most of the new shows are from the major networks, and that's the content that Hulu overlaps with. What Hulu won't give you is when one of these channels broadcasts a movie. Sure you could watch these movies broadcasted "live" if you have no DVR and went the Hulu route instead, but who watches "live" content anymore (except for sports)? It's not even "live". "Live" just means you watch a non-live show at the exact momement it's being broadcasted. And you can't fast forward through the commercials.

There's also quite a few rerun shows I like to record that Hulu, nor even Netflix or Amazon Prime provide. Like Friends, Seinfeld, etc.... These are still being broadcasted by all these channels. If I ditched the DVR and went the Hulu route, again I could watch them "live", but again I want a DVR so I can watch things on demand, not "live".

And last but not least, I like to watch the local news on demand. We fast forward through news stories we don't care about (as well as the commercials).

I'm also pretty sure our kids put one hell of a demand on our internet pipe with all their Netflix viewing. So I also feel better that 90% of the viewing by my wife and I do is not flooding the pipe too. I like to use the internet for other things than video too. I also expect the internet providers are planning on fighting back against the cord cutters. At that point my kids are in for a big change. My wife and I, not so much.

 

[Random]

Can anyone tell me why Time Warner Cable is not listed as an option for internet provider on nfl.com?

 

[ForWhoForWhat]

Just caught the part about needing a pay TV subscription to watch cable shows on Hulu Plus. Ok, no thanks. The Tivo at 15/mo is a much better option - thanks Spock!

Anyone get the Tivo Roamio? They're offering it for only $49 with one year activation at 15/mo. Not bad!

https://www.tivo.com/discover/antenna

Researched it more and this $49 deal starts 9/14 in Best Buy stores. I'll be there first thing to snag one! These have always been $169-$199 - $49 is a steal! They are definitely going after the growing "cord cutter" market....

Just to be clear, these new $49 boxes are not the same as the $169-$199 Tivos.

They are manufactured with a cheaper CPU, which doesn't mean anything if all you will ever do is just use the one Tivo box. But if you ever decide you want to buy a Tivo Mini to view your Tivo content in another room, you find that this unit doesn't support the mini. It's not just a licensing issue. The CPU is too slow to support the Mini.

Also, you can never opt for a lifetime subscription on this unit. While this is 100% a licensing issue, and 0% a hardware issue, Tivo gets to make the rules.... so while you'll save $120 to $150 in buying the unit, you could end up paying hundreds more in the long run due to always having to be month to month with the unit.

I'm not saying it's a bad unit to buy. It's a good option for the right customer.... I just wanted to make sure you didn't think it's the same as the $169 to $199 units. They are better hardware and can be licensed for lifetime service.

thanks for clarifying. that was not clear on their website. will ponder the right move.

 

[culdeus]

frontrowsports was great last night for SEC network.

 

[Uwe Blab]

frontrowsports was great last night for SEC network.

So when I search this out, the first link is for FIRST rowsports. Just making sure...is that the same? First year we are going to try to stream some college football today. Also, any tips on navigating the infinite number of little "x" all over the place and "close" tags across the stream. I have adBlock but it seems like there are all sorts of false buttons and pop-ups. Super paranoid about downloading a virus. Thanks!

 

[culdeus]

frontrowsports was great last night for SEC network.

So when I search this out, the first link is for FIRST rowsports. Just making sure...is that the same? First year we are going to try to stream some college football today. Also, any tips on navigating the infinite number of little "x" all over the place and "close" tags across the stream. I have adBlock but it seems like there are all sorts of false buttons and pop-ups. Super paranoid about downloading a virus. Thanks!

yeah, front, first, i never remember.

 

[culdeus]

If you want to beat those popups you need to use streamtorrent or something similar. I would absolutely not advise that on your work computer as those sites are virus magnets. frs is actually pretty safe imo.

I do streamtorrent on my pron computer

 

[Politician Spock]

http://www.collegesportslive.com

It was just announced yesterday that today's Ohio State/Navy game video stream is available to subscribers to the above. It's $9.95 on a month to month.

I couldn't find any other Ohio State games or other schools games being offered via video this year, but the offering of the OSU/Navy game was just announced yesterday, so maybe we will see more games announced as the season progresses.

Regardless, I just paid $9.95 to watch today, with the assumption this is the only game my money will get me.

 

[Uwe Blab]

http://www.collegesportslive.com

It was just announced yesterday that today's Ohio State/Navy game video stream is available to subscribers to the above. It's $9.95 on a month to month.

I couldn't find any other Ohio State games or other schools games being offered via video this year, but the offering of the OSU/Navy game was just announced yesterday, so maybe we will see more games announced as the season progresses.

Regardless, I just paid $9.95 to watch today, with the assumption this is the only game my money will get me.

Whoa, nice. Run by CBS it looks like? Quick glance doesn't tell me what other games they'll have this season. Any insight?

 

[Politician Spock]

http://www.collegesportslive.com

It was just announced yesterday that today's Ohio State/Navy game video stream is available to subscribers to the above. It's $9.95 on a month to month.

I couldn't find any other Ohio State games or other schools games being offered via video this year, but the offering of the OSU/Navy game was just announced yesterday, so maybe we will see more games announced as the season progresses.

Regardless, I just paid $9.95 to watch today, with the assumption this is the only game my money will get me.

Whoa, nice. Run by CBS it looks like? Quick glance doesn't tell me what other games they'll have this season. Any insight?

Looks like none.

I hope this OSU/Navy game is the first of more to come though.

 

[culdeus]

FOX is carrying 101 games streaming, but they are getting on the carrier restriction bandwagon.

This is going to be how the cable companies win in the end.

You are welcome to stream as much as you want, you just have to have a cable package first.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

FOX is carrying 101 games streaming, but they are getting on the carrier restriction bandwagon.

This is going to be how the cable companies win in the end.

You are welcome to stream as much as you want, you just have to have a cable package first.

Are these games not on Fox or Fox Sports 1?

 

[culdeus]

FOX is carrying 101 games streaming, but they are getting on the carrier restriction bandwagon.

This is going to be how the cable companies win in the end.

You are welcome to stream as much as you want, you just have to have a cable package first.

Are these games not on Fox or Fox Sports 1?

They are, but this is a very alarming trend long term. Here we have a broadcast network carrier restricting. This is unprecedented.

 

[derek245583]

So I am still confused about how y'all watch live sports

NFL Football-- antenna picks up local cbs and fox games. NBC for he Sunday night. You miss the Monday night game

College football-- only what's on local tv. Usually get the Saturday night abc game. Going to miss the Thursday night ESPN game and some Saturday games on sec network, big ten network, etc

Golf-- local tv carrying Saturday/Sunday coverage. You miss Thursday Friday

Baseball-- is baseball ever on local tv?

NBA-- maybe a few games on abc on the weekend

Hockey-- going to miss everything but the Stanley cup

College basketball-- weekend ball and the tourney should be covered

Soccer-- NBC for the premier league, but that's one game a week usually.

Does that sum it up?

 

[culdeus]

So I am still confused about how y'all watch live sports

NFL Football-- antenna picks up local cbs and fox games. NBC for he Sunday night. You miss the Monday night game

College football-- only what's on local tv. Usually get the Saturday night abc game. Going to miss the Thursday night ESPN game and some Saturday games on sec network, big ten network, etc

Golf-- local tv carrying Saturday/Sunday coverage. You miss Thursday Friday

Baseball-- is baseball ever on local tv?

NBA-- maybe a few games on abc on the weekend

Hockey-- going to miss everything but the Stanley cup

College basketball-- weekend ball and the tourney should be covered

Soccer-- NBC for the premier league, but that's one game a week usually.

Does that sum it up?

There are some quasi-legal ways to avoid blackouts for the major sports. Most use a DNS unblocker service which runs about 10 bucks a month and a paid sub to a league. This covers MLB NBA and NHL plus your soccer stuff in HD with no commercials.

College football is the hardest one to do. I assume college basketball is as well, but I only watch march madness. You have few options other than going to a bar, or dropping to one of the very illegal streams at lower quality than HD.

Golf isn't that hard either. I actually think the golf channel broadcasts tournaments for anyone right now, but need to verify this.

 

[hotdogcollars]

So i ended up getting the Windegard GS2200 along with a GS Wing upgrade, then had a local installer come out to put it up nice and high. Probabyl didnt need the installer but he also checked the spaghetti coax wiring that is in our house. had to remove some old splitters and put in some made specifically for amplified OTA.

Bottom line, got 58 channels and only issue is that when heavy weather rolls in a few will fuzz out. Then again that happened with DirecTV too. Considering Simple.tv to tie everything together, add DVR and watch anywhere capabilities. Just cant tell, does Simple.tv charge you that $249 every year? their website is intentionally deceptive when it comes to what exactly it costs

 

[Politician Spock]

So I am still confused about how y'all watch live sports

NFL Football-- antenna picks up local cbs and fox games. NBC for he Sunday night. You miss the Monday night game

Five NFL games each week is more than enough for me.

College football-- only what's on local tv. Usually get the Saturday night abc game. Going to miss the Thursday night ESPN game and some Saturday games on sec network, big ten network, etc

I usually get 7 to 10 college games each Saturday. ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, the CW, and two of my local subchannels broadcast games.

Golf-- local tv carrying Saturday/Sunday coverage. You miss Thursday Friday

I don't care if I miss Thursday or Friday... but I'm not much of a golf fan. Sometimes I like to watch the last day though.

Baseball-- is baseball ever on local tv?

Rarely. Fox shows a game a couple times a month. That's about it. I subscribe to MLB.tv. Non-subscribers get a free game everyday, so I'm thinking of dropping it as I only watch it a couple times a week. A free game a day is probably more than enough for me.

NBA-- maybe a few games on abc on the weekend

Don't care for the NBA, but if I did, I could get NBA League Pass.

Hockey-- going to miss everything but the Stanley cup

Same as MLB and NBA, if you need it, stream it.

College basketball-- weekend ball and the tourney should be covered

This is where ESPN is a must. If you're a college basketball fan, cutting the cord isn't for you. And if you'd subscribe to every pro sports streaming service, it would probably be cheaper to just get cable/satellite.

Soccer-- NBC for the premier league, but that's one game a week usually.

Soccer?!?

Does that sum it up?

Yep

 

[joker]

Are there any indoor antennas that get VHF signals? I can get all my local stations except NBC due to it broadcasting in VHF. Also, I plugged in my Chromecast for the first time downstairs and the picture quality leaves much to be desired. I didn't even play around with it yet, but the lag was noticeable and it wasn't playing on the entire screen. Is there a User Guide for dummies that I can check out?

 

[17seconds]

So I am still confused about how y'all watch live sports

Soccer-- NBC for the premier league, but that's one game a week usually.

There's only 1 game on NBC each week, usually 2 or 3 on NBCSN, so you'll miss those.

 

[Bucks]

Are there any indoor antennas that get VHF signals? I can get all my local stations except NBC due to it broadcasting in VHF. Also, I plugged in my Chromecast for the first time downstairs and the picture quality leaves much to be desired. I didn't even play around with it yet, but the lag was noticeable and it wasn't playing on the entire screen. Is there a User Guide for dummies that I can check out?

Have you tried a good ole simple rabbit ears antenna? For the chromecast you probably have a weak wifi signal to the router. Can you try moving the tv or router location / orientation to test? Are you using the HDMI short extension cable? That could move the wifi receiver enough to change the wifi signal strength.

 

[hotdogcollars]

Are there any indoor antennas that get VHF signals? I can get all my local stations except NBC due to it broadcasting in VHF. Also, I plugged in my Chromecast for the first time downstairs and the picture quality leaves much to be desired. I didn't even play around with it yet, but the lag was noticeable and it wasn't playing on the entire screen. Is there a User Guide for dummies that I can check out?

Have you tried a good ole simple rabbit ears antenna?For the chromecast you probably have a weak wifi signal to the router. Can you try moving the tv or router location / orientation to test? Are you using the HDMI short extension cable? That could move the wifi receiver enough to change the wifi signal strength.

first off, thanks bucks for the info and help. learned a lot through this ordeal process.

The guy who installed my antenna said that those set top boxes work surprisingly well, so long as you're in the right area relative to the broadcast antenna arrays. Otherwise, at least from what i've learned, VHF needs such a big physical presence to pick up those long waves that only a bigger outdoor antenna does the trick.

For chromecast, i actually do have experience in this dept (internet, wifi, network gear, etc)...what kind of wifi router are you on, AC or N? Is it dual band? How many devices are connected to your wifi?

Are you running apps that offer chromecast(ing)? Or are you streaming from a browser extension? The fact that you said "wasnt even on the whole screen" makes me think you're running a browser in a laptop and streaming to the chromecast via an extension. Depending on your laptops ability, some lag is certainly possible. try using an app that has chromecast built in, still see the lag?

What is your average up/down speed? you can go to speedtest.net to find out.

 

[hagmania]

http://qz.com/263950/hbo-is-now-seriously-considering-whether-to-offer-hbo-go-without-cable-tv/