My wife and I just had another conversation about Comcast Internet and cable tv It went up yet a...

[G+_Rud Dog]

My wife and I just had another conversation about Comcast Internet and cable tv. It went up yet again.

She asked if we could get rid of cable and keep internet only because there is no alternative where we are located.

There is a plan for Internet service alone costing 39.99 for the first year then climbing to 59.99 after the first year.

 

If we go with that we then have to pick up an OTA antenna, Synology, and a box with the ability to have TV type guide. This will allow us to record video. But there is an additional fee for the guide service.

 

This is madness.

 

I need my internet connection its what I do. As for a simple way to record programs in the now and in the future let's just say it gets costly.

 

My Tivo had the input for the antenna but to my surprise, they removed the software supporting this feature sometime between the time I bought it and the present.

 

So freaking fustrating.

[G+_Kyle Trail]

Cable companies are evil. We dropped AT&T Uverse back in the day when Google Fiber came to town. $70/mo everything included for their internet only service. Never looked back. But, the cable companies have done their damndest to eff over Google and thus consumers in our area. I have friends that got Google Fiber with TV and I hear their bills are raising to $160/mo from $130/mo next month. Bullshit!

 

I've advised them to drop the TV and just get DirecTV Now for $35/mo. They'll already be saving $25/mo from what they had. We use OTA antenna ourselves, but we watch mostly streaming across the board (Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime)

[G+_John Sullivan]

I can't get cable in my location. I pay $56.35 every month for 6 Mbps down UVerse (Internet only) and it's worth every penny to me.

[G+_Black Merc]

I'm in 'the sticks' as they say... Did have a ptp wireless isp, then their h/w repair bumped us out of range.

My remaining options are satellite internet(mega data caps v. money) or cellular hotspot. (Both options suck)

[G+_Randy Widell]

Here's what my wife and did when we won a Roku at a company Christmas party 8 years ago. We unplugged the TiVo to see if we could go a month without watching anything except for Netflix. After that month, we realized we were watching way less TV and simply didn't care. So, we killed our cable subscription, gave the TiVo to my parents, and haven't looked back.

 

Eventually, we bought an HD antenna just to host a Super Bowl party one year. Since then, the antenna comes out, at most, once a year.

 

So, my advice is: go ahead and kill it without worrying about OTA, Plex, a Synology DVR, etc. If you want those things later, worry about it then.

 

I mean, I just watched the Synology / Plex DVR episode of Know How this morning and thought: "That could be a fun project... Actually, nope. Don't care."

[G+_Ken Curtis]

Years ago we cut the cable, went to Inet only.

We went a little nuts. I installed the free Plex server, added a freenas server, got HD home run connected to an antenna and put a small computer at each TV to view everything using the free Mediaportal. I auto record all the series we watch, ripped our DVD collection.

The plex now is just to stream to phones and tabkets

[G+_Jason Brown]

Back when Hulu was still free, my wife and I cut tv, and bought a cheap Dell with an HDMI port. It paid for itself in 6 months. We never looked back once. Even after Hulu started charging, we happily shelled out the extra bucks for it. Unless you NEED sports, there's not really any reason to keep a set top box.

 

I tried live TV a few weeks ago. The commercials had me near homicidal. At least with Hulu, you only get 1-3 ads, and they're never that obnoxious.

[G+_Randy Widell]

Jason Brown Hulu still has ads even if you pay for it? Like cable?

[G+_Rich Sobocinski]

Just. Use. Terrarium TV.

 

All you need is the high speed internet service and TTV and you can drop all the DVRs and media servers and stream just about ANY content ever produced.

 

I used to be addicted to my TiVo. I think I went through 3 or 4 of them. When I decided to cut the cord it turned out that I got a better deal by keeping 'local channels' only. I bought a $7 HD antenna that pulls in about 30 local channels. The HD channels come in WAY cleaner than they ever did on my HD cable PKG, so I don't even have the cable plugged in (local channels only PKG is SD only)

 

The only time I miss my TiVo is for watching cable news. I used to watch it on the 30 minute buffer to avoid commercials. Small price to pay for saving over a hunnert bucks a month.

 

The other benefit, like the other commenter is that I watch way less TV anyway. When I do watch it's mostly YouTube.

 

 

[G+_Juanramon “Oso” Hervas]

We too are frustrated with cable TV raising costs. We are currently researching the use of an antenna, and comparing inet costs between the different providers.

[G+_Jason Brown]

Randy Widell they do, but very few by comparison. It's usually 1-3, 30 second ads per break. You can pay a couple bucks more for no ads like we did.

 

An adblocker is another option, but then you get a 90 nag screen about how they need to make money.

[G+_Jason Brown]

The ads are usually repeats, and less God awful.

[G+_Jason Brown]

The other nice thing about Hulu is that when the seasons are over, it's much easier to deactivate your account

[G+_Paul Hutchinson]

Rich Sobocinski Based on his previous posts I suspect Rud Dog, like me, is not looking for a player to get pirated material. I like to pay creators for their creations.

[G+_Rich Sobocinski]

Paul Hutchinson those creators have already been well paid.

[G+_Rud Dog]

I can not sit and watch commercials anymore, I have been spoiled by Tivo.

During the early evening, I take in the local news and world news that raps up the daytime portion of my media.

 

I do have a few shows I record for my 3 to 4 hours of viewing in the evening. These are recorded and this allows me to choose the times (evening) to watch my favorite shows.

 

How can it be too much to ask for a person to record favorite shows and watch them when they feel like watching them?

 

I thought it was this simple:

HD antenna->DVR->Flat screen

In my research, this setup requires some sort of show guide to allow setting up what we used to be able to do with the VCR.

 

 

[G+_Rud Dog]

Jason Brown what kind of content does Hulu supply. Finding everyone is in the game with movies and shows from the 50's. I have never checked out Hulu?

[G+_Nelson Jesudas]

So that's one option.

I use an OTA antenna ($10), HD Homerun ($60-$150, depending on the model), my QNAP NAS, and Plex (w/ PlexPass). I bought Plex lifetime, so I get the DVR and guide w/ no recurring fees.

 

If you don't want to use a NAS, get the NVidia Shield.

 

And if you don't want to bother w/ any of that, get the Channelmaster Stream+ DVR. (I haven't used this personally, so not sure how good this is. From what I've seen, this is still a Work in Progress.)

[G+_Nelson Jesudas]

Keep in mind that these solutions are kinda out the window when ATSC 3.0 is released... eventually.

[G+_Jason Brown]

Hulu has most of your basic cable stuff. CBS is limited because they want you on their platform. You can add some other channels and love TV. Also check YouTube TV.

[G+_Jason Brown]

Both services should show you their channel lineups.

[G+_Rud Dog]

Nelson Jesudas Confused? The two components used;

the HD HomeRun hardware and the Plex software.

 

I am guessing the program guide is how you program what

programs you record via Plex.

Not sure what function the HD Homerun plays.

How many tuners or I should say how many program recordings can be programmed at one time and how does this affect watching live board cast?

With the (Older) Tivo I am limited to record 2 programs at a time during which time the channel can not be changed until the program completes. Unless of course, you wish to stop the recording and use the channel for live viewing.

 

Lastly, what is the reference to "ATSC 3.0 is released... eventually."

Assuming you are saying it will affect the configuration (you are mentioning) many are using?

 

Thank you will need to do more research on the combo you called out.

[G+_Paul Hutchinson]

AFAIK ATSC 3 will not be backward compatible with the current ATSC 2 ATSC 1 so OTA tuners may need to be replaced. Similar to what happened when we went from ATSC 1 to ATSC 2 NTSC to ATSC 1 back at the turn of the century.

[G+_Rud Dog]

Paul Hutchinson do they have an estimated date of this transition? I'll bet the average person has no idea this is coming I know I didn't. What effect does it have on all the tuners in our equipped hardware?

[G+_Paul Hutchinson]

AIUI the FCC is allowing an almost completely market driven timeline for the transition. The reasoning is that the OTA stations as an industry are in such bad financial shape almost anything that can help them stay afloat should be allowed. The high power stations will have to simulcast ATSC 1 for five years. The low power stations can jump straight to ATSC 3 with 30 days notice to consumers.

 

Once a station switches off ATSC 1 all currently available US TV tuners will stop working for that station. Since OTA stations get paid based on number of viewers they will be doing everything they can to not loose one viewer in the switch over process.

 

ATSC 3 has been deployed for a while in other countries so inexpensive adapter tuners should get to US shelves as fast the market demands. I can even see some large market stations offering free external tuners to get people to move over (there are many broadcaster benefits). I can also see some markets holding off the transition for many years to come.