Was finally able to cut the TV cable cord and felt like sharing

[pavelbure]

Originally Posted by BigDukeSix

Well, I have Amazon Prime for $78/yr. But I probably use that slightly more for the shipping than for the streaming. I do have Netflix for streaming and 1 DVD at a time, so that is $15/mo. We will porbably sign up for Hulu+, but have not done so yet.
I will indeed keep track of stuff purchased for other content/subs and let ya know.

If you have a Mac mini set up you probably won't even need Hulu+.

[mpgolfpro]

Originally Posted by pavelbure

If you have a Mac mini set up you probably won't even need Hulu+.

Why do you say this? Just curious because Ive recently thought about getting Hulu+.

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Is there anyone who can elaborate a bit on what you can use Usenet for. What kind of content is available on there. My understanding of Usenet is that it is basically the exact same content available from torrent sites, but you have to pay to access Usenet. I guess I just don't understand the purpose of it. Hopefully someone can shed some light on that for me.

Thanks

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I wish that there was a more convenient way to stream live COLLEGE sports. That is probably the only thing holding me back from "cutting the cord." I realize there are plenty of options for watching Pro sports but besides espn3, it is tough to find the college content. I care way more about watching college sports than pro sports.

[linds15]

Originally Posted by mpgolfpro

Why do you say this? Just curious because Ive recently thought about getting Hulu+.

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Is there anyone who can elaborate a bit on what you can use Usenet for. What kind of content is available on there. My understanding of Usenet is that it is basically the exact same content available from torrent sites, but you have to pay to access Usenet. I guess I just don't understand the purpose of it. Hopefully someone can shed some light on that for me.

Thanks

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I wish that there was a more convenient way to stream live COLLEGE sports. That is probably the only thing holding me back from "cutting the cord." I realize there are plenty of options for watching Pro sports but besides espn3, it is tough to find the college content. I care way more about watching college sports than pro sports.

hulu plus is more or less hulu access on anything not in a browser, ie. ipad or ATV. through a browser, you can access hulu for free, i believe a main difference is that you have a longer back catalogue of the current season on TV, this may only be for some shows though

usenet is like torrents but incredibly faster, you can get sustainable speeds that are as fast as your access prtty much

[pavelbure]

Originally Posted by mpgolfpro

Why do you say this? Just curious because Ive recently thought about getting Hulu+.[COLOR="#808080"]

You can access everything through your browser. Even more than Hulu+. I can't watch the Simpsons with Hulu+ unless I'm on the computer. If I didn't pay, I could still watch for free. Unless streaming to your i devices is important, save yourself $8 a month.

[Zeke D]

I didn't feel like wading through 5 pages of off topic, so here is my story:

I cut the cable in 2008. I subscribe to Netflix for the kids, and I use amazon prime for movies and shipping. I live in a semi-rural area, and I receive 22 channels with my rooftop antenna. Half are analog and the other are digital.

I differ from most as I built a cheap windows7 media center. I have 3 atsc and 3 NTSC tuners. I just use the media center to record all my shows.

Finally, I use my appleTV and Ps3 for my music and blueray/games.

I will never go back to cable, because I don't see the reason to pay $40 a month to watch the same stuff I get OTA.

[Ezra923]

What exactly is OTA? Over the air? How do i get that started? I own an apple tv 2 and an ipad 3 if that helps

[linds15]

Originally Posted by Ezra923

What exactly is OTA? Over the air? How do i get that started? I own an apple tv 2 and an ipad 3 if that helps

yes it is Over The Air. you will need some sort of antenna to gain access to theses channels. there are many options from in room, to antenna, to rooftop. go to tvfool.com to get an idea of what you can expect to get in terms of channels

[Ezra923]

Originally Posted by linds15

yes it is Over The Air. you will need some sort of antenna to gain access to theses channels. there are many options from in room, to antenna, to rooftop. go to tvfool.com to get an idea of what you can expect to get in terms of channels

Thanks ill check it out.

[5 String]

I plan to put a Mac Mini (with eyeTV and HDHomerun) on TV-1 and an AppleTV on a TV-2

Can I stream one DVR show (via AppleTV) to TV-2, and watch a different DVR (via Mac Mini) show on TV-1?

Basically, can multiple DVR recordings be watched simultaneously?

[BigDukeSix]

So far, I am happy without cable, and the $75.00 and I am saving!

[Bozley0621]

Originally Posted by Bozley0621

My husband was living and working in NC and I in MD outside of DC. He had cable with a lot of the extra channels such as HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime. I tried oodles of antennas in MD, but was never able to find one that brought in even one channel since half of my condo was semi-subterranean, so I had cable and FIOS for a bit after I tired of Comcast's left hand not speaking to the right hand.

We have recently relocated to San Diego, but lived out of our camper for about a month and a half with only access to Hulu and Netflix on the iPads and laptops when the campground we were in had a reliable wifi signal. Realizing that he was satisfied with Netflix and Hulu only and his recent addiction to Lost on Hulu, my husband has agreed to a trial period of being cable free. I was also able to get OTA content from all of the major networks, except CW and some great sub-channels using the Leaf antennas. I like sports but am satisfied with what is shown on the networks.

I don't think that I have a "stick it to the man" mentality regarding cable companies. I decided that their tv service was not for me since many of the shows were redundant with way too many commercials or the content didn't interest me. I wasn't willing to pay their price for the service and equipment. I do use Cox for internet which is necessary for Hulu and Netflix. However, I don't mind this charge because I feel that I get use the service enough to justify the cost.

As an aside, the movers broke our Sony Bravia 55" XBR6 tv, so we are now in the market for a new TV. The moving company will reimburse us for the full replacement value once we submit the claim. So many choices! For the sake of our sanity and to avoid paying sales tax, I think we are going to limit our decision to what is available at the PX. We strangely have more ATVs right now than TVs.

Last night I realized our trial period is over. My husband finished all of Lost and expanded his viewing beyond one show. We watch Hulu and Netflix 99% of the time. Last night I suggested that we see what is on regular TV during prime time. We watched Raising Hope and 10 minutes into it he said, "I don't like commercials." I responded that we watch commercials on Hulu, but he rebutted that there are far less and Hulu is kind enough to give us a count down so we know how long we have to grab the cookies or make a head call.

We are officially cable TV free.

[BigDukeSix]

Bozley, I know what you mean. The more I watch shows on Hulu,Netflix, etc, the less I like network tv and the multiple commercials I have to endure with them.

[brendu]

Sorry if this has been posted already, I didn't read through every post.

OP, since you stated you have Cox Cable. If you plug your TV directly into the wall via a coax cable and then run the auto program you will likely get all the over the air (local antenna) channels as well as possibly some random cable channels. The local channels should come in crystal clear HD too. That is what I do with Cox and I get TBS, ESPN news, Bravo, and a couple other random channels as well as NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, CW, and several PBS WETA channels...

[Bozley0621]

Originally Posted by brendu

Sorry if this has been posted already, I didn't read through every post.

OP, since you stated you have Cox Cable. If you plug your TV directly into the wall via a coax cable and then run the auto program you will likely get all the over the air (local antenna) channels as well as possibly some random cable channels. The local channels should come in crystal clear HD too. That is what I do with Cox and I get TBS, ESPN news, Bravo, and a couple other random channels as well as NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, CW, and several PBS WETA channels...

I tried several months ago when we moved in, but I'm off to give it another whirl.

[brendu]

Originally Posted by Bozley0621

I tried several months ago when we moved in, but I'm off to give it another whirl.

Let me know what happens...

[Bozley0621]

Originally Posted by brendu

Let me know what happens...

It's a no go. It may have to do with the fact that the family who lived in the house prior to us had satellite. When we moved in, we only had the internet hooked up to one outlet in the office. Cox hasn't serviced our house with TV while we've lived here.

[cdavis11]

Originally Posted by brendu

Sorry if this has been posted already, I didn't read through every post.

OP, since you stated you have Cox Cable. If you plug your TV directly into the wall via a coax cable and then run the auto program you will likely get all the over the air (local antenna) channels as well as possibly some random cable channels. The local channels should come in crystal clear HD too. That is what I do with Cox and I get TBS, ESPN news, Bravo, and a couple other random channels as well as NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, CW, and several PBS WETA channels...

I wouldn't count on that for too long. Recent FCC actions have given the big cable cos. the green light to start encryption of all channels over their coax.

Clear QAM tuners may not work for much longer. Nobody quite knows how long before all signals can be encrypted - it could be as long as 3 years.

[phr0ze]

Originally Posted by Bozley0621

It's a no go. It may have to do with the fact that the family who lived in the house prior to us had satellite. When we moved in, we only had the internet hooked up to one outlet in the office. Cox hasn't serviced our house with TV while we've lived here.

This may be a matter of correcting the wiring in the office. Split the cable going to the modem to a nearby TV with a QAM tuner and see what happens.

[whooleytoo]

I'd love to cut the cable (my broadband & cable package is €145 per month, so there's room for significant savings!), but I'd find it hard to do without the sports. Then there's no Hulu here. The Netflix content library here is smaller than in the US (I believe). And I don't think iTunes is good value.

I'd happily pay €60 or a little more per month for a quality streaming service with a huge collection, but there's no such option.

[brendu]

Originally Posted by cdavis11

I wouldn't count on that for too long. Recent FCC actions have given the big cable cos. the green light to start encryption of all channels over their coax.

Clear QAM tuners may not work for much longer. Nobody quite knows how long before all signals can be encrypted - it could be as long as 3 years.

I saw that recently. I am going to be bummed when that happens and will likely end up building an antenna in my attic. I will not pay for cable in its current form.

[GarrettL1979]

Originally Posted by dgalvan123

Agreed.

BUT I'll point out: Depending on your main home computer's specs and your use of it, you may not need to dedicate a computer for this purpose.

When I was first looking into this, I was expecting that I'd need to buy a computer to be my Home Theater PC (HTPC), just dedicated to being my DVR. I wanted a Mac Mini for this, but that added enough to the cost that it kept me from pulling the trigger. (a Mac Mini at $600 or $700 is comparable to the cost of a Tivo with lifetime subscription, arguably)

But then I decided to just try using the EyeTV setup with my existing desktop computer, a MacBook Pro 17" mid-2009, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz. This is our main home computer, which my wife and I use primarily for web browsing, e-mail, iPhoto, and iMovie. We basically use it as a desktop computer, with no need to move it from the desk since we got our iphones and an ipad.

I expected that the performance impact of running EyeTV in the background, especially with the transcoding exports, would be too much of an annoyance during our regular use of the machine and would convince me I that I did indeed need a separate HTPC. But I figured I'd try, so I bought an EyeTV One tuner and the software used on Ebay. I figured if it didn't work out I'd just resell the tuner/software on ebay.

To my pleasant surprise, I found that the transcoding, while creating a noticeable increase in CPU cycles and usually triggering the computer's cooling fan, didn't actually impede our use of the computer significantly. We could still use iPhoto and iMovie happily while a transcode (EyeTV --> iTunes) was taking place. Sure it would cause a momentary (several second) hang once in a long while, but it always resolved fairly quickly. Enough that my wife didn't think it was worth complaining about.

This meant I wouldn't have to buy a HTPC at all: I could just use the computer I already had.

I have been running the system in this way for the last year and a half: The 3.5 year old machine is always on (sleeping when it can), EyeTV is always on recording and transcoding shows, and iTunes is always running to serve my Apple TVs. We just sit down and start using the computer for regular home tasks whenever we like, whether a transcode is going on or not, and it has not been a problem.

Your results will depend on your own machine's specs. But I can tell you that dedicating a computer to just be your HTPC is probably not necessary if you have a mac from the past 3 years or so.

dgalvan (or anyone else with a similar setup), do you think I will have problems if our 2011 MBP is not ethernet connected to our AEBS? I have read some reviews which state that it's best to have you computer connected directly to the router in order to avoid pixelation and stuttering when recording with HDHomeRun & EyeTV. I'd rather not have the MBP tied down with an ethernet cable though.

Thanks for the help!

[mic j]

Originally Posted by GarrettL1979

dgalvan (or anyone else with a similar setup), do you think I will have problems if our 2011 MBP is not ethernet connected to our AEBS? I have read some reviews which state that it's best to have you computer connected directly to the router in order to avoid pixelation and stuttering when recording with HDHomeRun & EyeTV. I'd rather not have the MBP tied down with an ethernet cable though.

Thanks for the help!

Just as a side note, if the HDHR that is supposed to be released this summer does in fact have built in h.264 transcoding, that would take care of needing to have your laptop hardwired. All it would be doing is streaming an already converted file to your storage location.

[Avatar74]

Doing some rough math, to get access to the content I'd want on cable would cost, roughly, $1200 a year in subscription fees (digital package, movie package, HD package, DVR package).

For that amount, I could subscribe to around 40 TV series or watch nearly 500 hours of movies (9-10 hours of movies a week).

The reality is that I watch more movies than TV, and (full disclosure) I'm not big on sports but there are options. Generally most of the big games are on broadcast TV (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX) because of network contracts which assure that they won't get scattered across random channels, so an OTA will cover you there. Quality? It's still digital, more importantly it's free.

We really watch maybe 3-4 series, and then maybe 3 new movies a week at most (excluding purchases or movies we already own, which comprise a good deal of our viewing). So in a year that's $120 for TV and $780 on movies. We could probably leverage Netflix and Hulu more, and if we did we'd easily be able to reduce the movie expenditures to next to nothing.

But the thing is, we're not locked into a price or a contract in any case... unlike cable which you will throw away $1200 a year on whether you can watch all 900 channels of garbage or not (and you won't... ever).

I love that flexibility and convenience, and more importantly it's all on demand which makes it worth many times more than standard programming.

[GarrettL1979]

Originally Posted by mic j

Just as a side note, if the HDHR that is supposed to be released this summer does in fact have built in h.264 transcoding, that would take care of needing to have your laptop hardwired. All it would be doing is streaming an already converted file to your storage location.

that's a very good point, mic. I will just wait until the summer in that case. thanks!

[NRak]

Currently in the process of cutting the cord. Installed my OTA antenna last week. Split to two TVs and an amazing picture. Actually watched the NFC/AFC Championship games on it this weekend.
Jailbroken Apple TV is on its way to my house as well.

And I'm a sports nut. I work in the sports field, so I have to watch games. NHL, MLB, NBA, college and NFL. Still have comcast internet, so I will have access to ESPN3. Subscribed to NHL GameCenter and MLB TV. Probably wont do the PS3 Sunday Ticket though due to the outrageous cost. Works better for me since I recently relocated to FL from Chicago, so my Chicago teams are only blackouted a handful of times each year when they're in FL or on national TV.
And for the games I can't watch over OTA or my packages, that's what the ATV and illegal streaming sites are for. Or a sports bar.

Calling Comcast this week to downgrade to internet only. Been thinking about it for years and finally gonna do it!