Looking to Drop Cable TV

[Peppered]

I am thinking of trying to go back to over the air TV. It is suppose to be a better picture anyway if you get a good signal.
I am lost as to what to get though.
Are indoor antennas any good and what would be my best way to record or a DVR to use?

Thanks:

 

[jpeyton]

Do you get internet from your cable company?

Chances are you already get free access to OTA channels through your cable line. A newer HDTV already has the built-in tuner necessary to view those channels. No need for a antenna.

The next thing you pick up is a good, cheap streaming device like a Roku2. It's $60, gives you a lot of free streaming content, and more importantly gives you access to the big three: Netflix, Hulu+, and Amazon Instant Video. For less than $30/month, you could subscribe to all three and have access to more streaming content than you know what to do with.

 

[Peppered]

yes

 

[slag]

I was having just this conversation yesterday. We pay close to $95.00 month for a bronze package internet! Problem is, we have 6 TV's in the house and with cable, 3 of those dont need a box hooked up to them. With satellite, every tv would need a box, with subscriptions to netflix, amazon, etc, every TV needs a box, its just a hassle.

Also, I wouldn't be able to watch the shows that come out that week, no history channel, food network, home improvement channel, biography, etc. All those would be gone and those are the ones we watch the most.

 

[Peppered]

Yea I jhave 3 tv's in my home too. What I am afraid I would lose is The kids channels for my grandson that lives with me and the scfi channel my with looks at a lot.

I maily look at movies so it isn't a big loss to me to drop cable most of wht they have I dont watch anyway.
I will miss Game of thrones when it comes back on though.

 

[mshan]

See what signals you get and how far from transmitters you are: http://www.tvfool.com

 

[Peppered]

Is there a way to see stations like Scfi real time with out cabel?

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Is there a way to see stations like Scfi real time with out cabel?

Unfortunately the answer is no.

I gave up cable for over a year to try to cut costs. While not having a cable bill was nice we were still paying $60 for internet, plus Netflix, and our viewing options were somewhat limited. Then I found that using a Ceton card cable would only be an extra $25 a month to have cable service (FIOS) with 4 tuners. I cancelled Netflix and went with FIOS TV. Don't regret it one bit. My wife is happier too because she can DVR all her favorite progs again. You can't put a value on a happy wife.

 

[velillen]

Is there a way to see stations like Scfi real time with out cabel?

Try unplugging the cable box and plug your tv directly to the wall jack. See if/what channels you get by doing it that way. Theres a chance if you cancle your cable you might still get those channels that you get by plugging in directly. In my home i purchased internet but no tv. They didnt put a line filter in so i still can get some channels out of the "basic" package (espn, espn 2, syfy, comedy central, and local channels minus fox for some reason). There is no guarantee but its worth a shot.

As for dvr...i have an htpc i use to watch tv anyways (hdhomerun serves the signal) so i just use windows media center. I dont really watch tv though.

 

[bobdole369]

Totally doable. My wife and I realized that most of the shows we "actually watched" came OTA. It isn't a "supposed to be a better picture" it IS a better picture. All providers compress by a minimum of 1/3 the HD signal. UVerse is the biggest offender, the "1080i" stream they provide is down to like 8mbit from the original 19+mbits. They do this to "fit more channels in" and that Joe Kool isn't going to notice that football looks like ass. On OTA - you essentially get the full 1080i or 720p MPEG-2 stream.

What is your home situation like? (Rent/Own/Parents?) - House, Townhouse, Apt (what floor and what "exposure" do you have)? Any attic space?

Indoor antennas (rabbit ears) are perfectly usable in major metros, and your first stop should be http://www.antennaweb.com - to see which direction the stations transmit, and what you are likely to pick up. In the burbs its more dicy - your best bet is an old school outside antenna. Attic mount is the next best bet, but if you are on the ground floor of a 2 or more story apt and your living room is inside leading out to an enclosed courtyard - boy are you screwed.

TiVO works perfectly fine on OTA - you can even find a deal with them $9.99/mo for OTA users last I heard. Otherwise - roll your own. You'll need a P4 class + machine (core preferred), and a PCI or PCI-e "digital antenna tuner", which normally costs about $80. Add software like MythTV (Mythbuntu is an excellent distro for it) or Windows Media Center and you are pretty good to go.

 

[Oyeve]

I use a $2 pair of rabbit ears I bought at radio shack literally 25 years ago. I do have cable but when the games are on regular TV I switch to OTA for a much better picture. I live in Manhattan so signals are all over the place.

 

[dclive]

Switched to OTA only about 5 years ago after I realized most things on cable were crap. Comcast gave me free basic cable with my cable internet for about 3 years, and for the last two years, without that, in a new house with AT&T fiber $35/mo internet, I'm pay-tv free and loving it. I can't imagine why so many would spend $100/mo for a TV bill! Anyway, I spent $80 on an antenna, and I have XBOX360 or MCE Extenders on all TVs in the house, and a cheap PC with 2 HDHomerun dual-tuner boxes on the network, and it's perfect.

Oh, and every night it rips out all the commercials. I haven't seen a commercial in this house on recorded TV in ages.

 

[ericlp]

Hmmm, interesting about the OTA digital server to watch tv commercial free... Can you stream live tv as well? I'd like to know more about this or if anyone wants to give some good links for more reading on the best equipment to buy for this application.

 

[dclive]

Yep, I stream live TV as well; you should look into Windows Media Center from Microsoft; it can do just about anything you could want.

Ask any questions. Basically you need a PC and a tuner, like the HDHomerun from Newegg or Amazon.

 

[monkey333]

Find a buddy with cable or dtv, buy a sling box and give it to him, profit..

 

[zerocool84]

It sucks but I could never get rid of cable. I watch too many sports to get rid of it. Plus it seems pretty much every show on regular network tv is pretty crappy so I could never live on regular OTA tv.

 

[bobdole369]

It sucks but I could never get rid of cable. I watch too many sports to get rid of it. Plus it seems pretty much every show on regular network tv is pretty crappy so I could never live on regular OTA tv.

Agreed with the first part - sports fans, forget about it. NO WAY you can see everything OTA. Even Formula 1 and NASCAR have most of the events on the ESPN or SPEED only. And its fairly hard to find a torrent of the race right away, so I've forsaken that part. Though you can "usually" catch your local geographically-closes hand-egg (american football) teams game somewhere on the OTA, its not guaranteed all the time with blackouts and such. Baseball is also pretty much a no-go, as are any other non-major sporting event.

We found that while we did "record" non-OTA shows (like stuff on AS, Discovery, food network) - the only ones that we couldn't live without are only on OTA. I sacrificed racing (formula 1 and Indy - only watch nascar when literally nothing else racing is avail lol), she sacrificed food network and we both sacrificed the discovery stuff, but still able to get it. Nothing on cable is worth really watching paying for IMHO. Maybe Weeds. But thats available in a couple different ways both nefarious and non-nefariously.

 

[Kadarin]

I gave up cable tv over two years ago, and haven't looked back. The few shows I watch I just buy or rent on iTunes, and I don't miss paying the $90 or so per month.