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Alternatives to Cable Television

#23
OTA, netflix and Hulu over here. Have a homemade antenna for OTA, but looking to improve on that.

And, yes, Venture Bros. is on Hulu for sure, all 5 seasons, but not the new one (yet).
Hulu actually has a whole Adult Swim section.
 
#25
Super Duper:

Did you know that Comcast offers a level of programming they don't advertise? I have the everything that's available over the air plus The Discovery Channel for less than $11 extra on my bill, which used to be Internet only.

Cable companies are the devil and how dare they try to stop net neutrality. It's their own fault that customers are downgrading and dropping service completely. Should've offered ala carte programming years ago and maybe they wouldn't be whining like they are now.
 
#26
Killed_by_Death said:
Comcast/xFinity just sent me a notice that they're raising my rate yet again.

I've decided to do something about it this time.

As far as Cable goes, I need to use Comcast, because that's what everyone is on here.
I will continue to use them for internet.

I won't go to Dish or Direct TV. I worked for Dish for a hot minute, and those bastards will never see a dime of my money.

I consider getting one of those Clear TV antennas just for local broadcasts, but I doubt they're any good.
I have seen one used to good effect in a pub, but it was on the top of a hill.

I am also considering getting a Minix. It's a little Android box you hook up to your TV and it has apps you can watch television broadcasts for free.

I've already got Amazon Prime, so I can watch a lot of stuff online, but I will miss catching stuff On Demand the day after it's broadcast.

I guess I could still use Hulu for a lot of stuff that was only just broadcast.
Click to expand...

I use an antennae for broadcast tv. I have internet with hulu and netflix. they pretty much both suck. hulu doesn't have a lot of what you wanna watch. netflix is getting worse and worse old shows and old b movies mostly.
 
#28
Immigrant said:
Did you know that Comcast offers a level of programming they don't advertise? I have the everything that's available over the air plus The Discovery Channel for less than $11 extra on my bill, which used to be Internet only.
Click to expand...

I used be on Limited Basic, but it doesn't provide you with HD. HD is an extra $10/month.
I think it's total BS to have to pay extra to get HD programming.

I got the RCA antenna, which is marginally better. I can now get the CW & NBC w/o repositioning the antenna, but then FOX goes out.

I am going to dig around here & find one of those diplexers and see if I can position two antennas to get all the channels w/o repositioning.
 
#29
I use bunny ears at my place. Any modern flat screen will have a digital converter built it. My current TV actually pulls a guide OTA just like digital cable, it's pretty sweet. I only have 2 channels though. You seem to get quite a few there, I'm jealous. I just plop my antenna by the window and it does a good job. I did make a point to buy some fancy antenna though, it had good reviews online and cost me $60~.

Also, OTA digital signal is odd. You do not get static. Instead you get pixelated images and distorted sound, like an internet video buffering.
 
#32
I was just reading an article about how one of the US cable / broadband providers will start charging for bandwidth to offset the cost of all the data being used by streaming & people cutting their TV service.
 
#33
I do slightly envy you gents who are in urban areas. The closest TV signals to my place are 60 miles away in Denver, and after repeated attempts with antennas in both analog and digital versions...no joy here, no reception. My house was built in 1968 and there is actually a large analog antenna still in the attic, so I'm pretty sure that an earlier owner had at least grainy analog reception of some stations, but in digital days that means no signal.

Generally speaking, if you're that distant from a TV station you're probably not going to get a digital signal over the air at all.

I've been in the radio/TV biz for a long time, and I'm enough of an NFL fan to want the Sunday Ticket - so I've been a DirecTV guy since 1996. I'd like to be able to drop the local channel coverage they offer, but no joy since there's no OTA option here. BTW - My daughter has worked for Dish twice, and I agree it's not a great place to work.
 
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#35
Might not work for your situation, Pilgrim, but the OTA antenna I use is a DIY solution that is about as easy as it gets- might work for someone here:

1. Get a standard RG6 co-ax cable, the kind that goes from the wall jack to the cable box (or tv). Threaded jacks at the ends, 3-6 feet long. Invalid Link Removed
2.From one end, measure 10 inches, and from this point cut off the outer cover, shield, insulator etc, leaving only the solid copper inner core sticking out.
3. Thread the other end onto your TV and scan for channels and see what you get.

You may need to find the best position, mine is 6 feet and lays behind the TV.
Went from no channels at all to over 20.

Have found some more complex ways to improve on it, but this simple thing really can work well.
 
#37
Killed_by_Death said:
The last time I tried using Kodi, in December, I gave up after 40 minutes of digging around among the various add-ons for a movie I could actually stream.
I distinctly remember Ice Films, & Genesis. I think there was another called 1-Click, or something like that.
Click to expand...
I'm surprised you had such bad luck, it's pretty rare that we can't find something to watch on there. It does demand a lot of your internet connection
 
#38
My neighbor across the street is still using her analog antenna from 40 years ago; it's on a rotor. She gets 30-40 channels without need of the rotor, while I have an indoor digital antenna and get about 15. She does a have a twenty foot height advantage over me
 
#39
Had TWC cable for years until they raised mine to $185 a month. That's with no pay channels and not all the HD tiers. When I went to try and get a reduced rate they said no, that's the rate and that's what I'll pay. Told them I'd cancel then and she told me go ahead, we don't care. Must add that TWC is a monopoly in Lincoln. Tried an OTA antenna but since I live in the lowest part of Lincoln I couldn't pull in many channels and not even all the networks. I live in an apartment so I can't put an antenna outside, but if I could I probably could have gotten more channels to come in.
Had to go back to basic cable for the locals and use Amazon Prime and Netflix for everything else.
 

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