Good by cable TV.

Maxmosbey

Maxmosbey

Final Approach
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
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San Juan, PR/Ames, IA
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I need to get serious.
After more than a year dealing with bad reception, or no reception at all. After more than a decade of paying bucks for bundled channels that I don't even watch, I installed an antenna on the roof, and canceled my cable. I hooked up everything myself and learned a lot. The most incredible part of the whole thing is the picture. My HD is so clear. I can not believe the difference. The colors are brilliant. It is crazy how much money I was spending, and how bad the picture was in comparison. I get sixteen stations. More than I will probably watch. There are some programs that I will not be able to get. Moto GP for one. But it is probably worth it in the long run.
 
I've never had cable. I just switched to broadcast HD after analog went off the air. TV isn't worth enough to me to pay for on a monthly basis.
 
Yep! The over the air HD signal is the best, uncompressed best picture quality. All TV providers compress to some facotr on other which makes teh picture worse.

I've been planning on erecting an antenna all along. In my case it looks like I'd have to put up a tower at a cost of up to $2000.

Go get yourself an HD TiVo and enjoy being a cable cutter - plus video on Demand and more.

http://www.solidsignal.com/p/?p=382...tm_medium=email&utm_source=banner&location=01
 
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Cable/Direct/Dish is a pain but........ I need my Weather Channel, Disc and Speed channel to support my habit .:yesnod::yesnod::nonod::confused:


Ben.
 
So this thread is making me want to try this. Luckily I live only a couple of miles from the big TV antenna farm here.

Can any of the resident RF nerds comment as to the quality of this TiVo / Antenna bundle, or suggest better or more cost effective antennas?

It looks like if this pans out I could conceivable save a huge amount on TV/Internet.
 
bluesky74656 said:
So this thread is making me want to try this. Luckily I live only a couple of miles from the big TV antenna farm here.

Can any of the resident RF nerds comment as to the quality of this TiVo / Antenna bundle, or suggest better or more cost effective antennas?

It looks like if this pans out I could conceivable save a huge amount on TV/Internet.
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I live 14 miles from the tower. My antenna came with an amplifier, but we can not tell the difference with the amplifier turned off. We have a newer 47" flat screen in the family room. It is the only one hooked up right now. We have an older TV in the bedroom, so we are waiting to get a smaller flat screen HD TV for Christmas, but I am curious if we will need the amplifier to run two TVs. I'm not sold on Tivo yet. I don't want to subscribe to a bunch of stuff, so I am going to be picky about it. I need to learn more.
 
bluesky74656 said:
So this thread is making me want to try this. Luckily I live only a couple of miles from the big TV antenna farm here.

Can any of the resident RF nerds comment as to the quality of this TiVo / Antenna bundle, or suggest better or more cost effective antennas?

It looks like if this pans out I could conceivable save a huge amount on TV/Internet.
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You want to check out what class of antenna you need at http://www.antennaweb.org

If you're luckier than me and can attach a 10 foot mast to your house to get at least 30-40 feet up you're in business.

Any HD TiVo will be fine except the new Premier Elite. That one is cable only. You can find an HD TiVo with lifetime service on eBay for $400 or so. That antenna deal is $9.95 a month for the first year.

I'll be selling one of my TiVos with Lifetime service and 1500 hour hard drive shortly.
 
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I'm actually in a condo, so no exterior mounting at all for me. Luckily I'm literally 3 or 4 miles from the antenna of every TV station I care about.

We DVR like crazy, so the TiVo is an absolute necessity. Luckily 90% of our recordings come from the networks, so I'm thinking the other 10% could come from Amazon, iTunes, or Netflix over the TiVo.

If this all works out it will drop my TV/Internet bill from around $150/month to just under $60.
 
bluesky74656 said:
I'm actually in a condo, so no exterior mounting at all for me. Luckily I'm literally 3 or 4 miles from the antenna of every TV station I care about.

We DVR like crazy, so the TiVo is an absolute necessity. Luckily 90% of our recordings come from the networks, so I'm thinking the other 10% could come from Amazon, iTunes, or Netflix over the TiVo.

If this all works out it will drop my TV/Internet bill from around $150/month to just under $60.
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My cable was bundled with my internet. When I dropped the cable they were going to jack up the cost of the internet. When I threatened to go to another internet provider, they dropped the cost of the internet down to $34.95 a month. I went from $163.99 a mo. to 39.95 a mo.
 
Georgetown, here, is no DC suburb. It's an island, though approachable by one bridge to Arrowsic Island, then another bridge from Arrowsic to Georgetown. There's no cable here, closest to it is DSL via telephone company. I'm up on a hill and in the trees; don't watch much television but have one each on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level. Each one has the converter box, probably 20-30 miles from towers, so my elevation is obviously key.

I bought a 2nd-hand antenna which is mounted on the roof(after photo was taken) because the lowest-level(entertainment/computer/hot tub) room is within concrete walls which could only be poured after tons of ledge were blasted out; and the rabbit ears didn't get enough signal. But I now get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, some other network, and the Public Television stations. 2nd and 3rd level TVs get all the same on simple bi-pole Radio Shack "ears." DSL for Internet = $33.00 per month.
Not a week goes by that I don't receive brochures for DISH or the other TV signal suppliers. $19.95 "Initial offer." It's what comes LATER that, I'm told, is expensive. Don't need the "Later."
(2007 pre-buy photo; may changes since then)

HR
(Oh, that 3rd floor room above the deck is the guest room, available on short notice to any pilot(s) who happen into the area from away.)
 

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I am very frustrated with the poor signal strength of the terrestrial TV here; whereas we were able to receive the local analog stations quite easily and with excellent quality using only rabbit ears, and (of course) exceptional quality using a basic rooftop antenna, the digital is very poor. No usable signal at all with the on-set antenna, and even with an outdoor amplified antenna at the eaves, poor reception. Only way we could use terrestrial digital is to install a costly antenna, high atop a large mast. This is not progress.

---

Guy I know, though, lives in a remote area, satellite the only option. Cut off the satellite several years ago, and does not miss TV at all. Funny thing - when I visit, I don't miss it either, with the quality of conversation and other activities.
 
I am very frustrated with the poor signal strength of the terrestrial TV here
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\

Spike, when we lived about 20 miles south of the Cedar Hill towers, I used a set top antenna from Radio Shack to pick up the digital signals and it worked very well. That was just after the digital startup and before the satellite system I was using at the time had local HD access.

Now (kids gone and tired of "big spread" maintenance) we live 30 stories up in downtown Dallas and the same antenna gets . . . . nothing. Go figure. Moved from the boonies to town and reception got worse! :dunno:
 
N801BH said:
Cable/Direct/Dish is a pain but........ I need my Weather Channel, Disc and Speed channel to support my habit .:yesnod::yesnod::nonod::confused:


Ben.
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Yeah that. What would I do without my "Ancient Aliens" fix? :hairraise:
 
We're looking at kicking the cable habit after college football season is over. We're not too terribly far from downtown ATL, so there should be several options for broadcast stations in the area as long as they haven't planted their towers on the northside of the metro.

I'll be interested to see how your reception survives the first few big snow showers ya'll have up in Iowa. Where did you get your antenna setup? I browsed the offerings at BestBuy a few months ago, but didn't really fell comfortable enough with what I wanted to take the plunge.
 
Guy I know, <snip> does not miss TV at all.
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I know him too. Only deal is you have to remind him who the current president is each time you visit. That, and he is clueless on any film since about 1973.

:D
 
CJones said:
We're looking at kicking the cable habit after college football season is over. We're not too terribly far from downtown ATL, so there should be several options for broadcast stations in the area as long as they haven't planted their towers on the northside of the metro.

I'll be interested to see how your reception survives the first few big snow showers ya'll have up in Iowa. Where did you get your antenna setup? I browsed the offerings at BestBuy a few months ago, but didn't really fell comfortable enough with what I wanted to take the plunge.
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Yes, it will be interesting to see how it works during the winter. I bought my TV from Travis Audio Video. They are a local TV dealership. They sell LG. They are also in Des Moines. I looked at Best Buy and Radio Shack, but I finally went down to Travis and asked Randy himself what he recommended. He handed me a box containing A Terk HDTVo Outdoor Ampified HDTV Antenna. He said, "this is the one I would use if I were going to put up an antenna." So that is the one I bought. That is pretty much how I research everything. I go to someone who has been in the business for forty or fifty years, and ask them what they recommend. If I do the research myself, I just get confused and frustrated.
 
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SCCutler said:
I am very frustrated with the poor signal strength of the terrestrial TV here; whereas we were able to receive the local analog stations quite easily and with excellent quality using only rabbit ears, and (of course) exceptional quality using a basic rooftop antenna, the digital is very poor. No usable signal at all with the on-set antenna, and even with an outdoor amplified antenna at the eaves, poor reception. Only way we could use terrestrial digital is to install a costly antenna, high atop a large mast. This is not progress.

---

Guy I know, though, lives in a remote area, satellite the only option. Cut off the satellite several years ago, and does not miss TV at all. Funny thing - when I visit, I don't miss it either, with the quality of conversation and other activities.
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It is definitely the main issue with digital. If you grab enough signal for the TV to process the picture will be perfect, if not, no picture. Not much in between.

With analog you can still get a picture, although noisy, until you get far enough away that the noise wins the battle. :D
 
One thing for anyone thinking about it, when I was setting everything up and testing it, I got a good picture and everything, but when I actually got to the last step, which was grounding the coax, the picture went from good to great. Grounding is important.
 
did the same thing when we moved. got a digital antenna and threw it up in the attic. Works good enough. The only thing I miss is that for 2/3 of the season I can't pick up the NASCAR races, but I'm usually at the airport anyway. When I can't get them on TV I usually can find them on the radio.
 
CJones said:
We're looking at kicking the cable habit after college football season is over. We're not too terribly far from downtown ATL, so there should be several options for broadcast stations in the area as long as they haven't planted their towers on the northside of the metro.

I'll be interested to see how your reception survives the first few big snow showers ya'll have up in Iowa. Where did you get your antenna setup? I browsed the offerings at BestBuy a few months ago, but didn't really fell comfortable enough with what I wanted to take the plunge.
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Sorry to revive an old thread.

We've been cable-free for a couple of months now. Believe it or not, you can waste just as much time with < 20 channels as you can with 300+. I actually deleted some of the channels from the TV's memory because I knew we would never watch them.

Ended up buying an off-the-shelf omni-directional HDTV antenna, hanging it on a cross-brace in the attic and splicing it into the existing coax that is wired throughout the house. Antenna farm for our area is about 30-40 miles away on the opposite side of the metro area, and we haven't had any issues with reception. In fact, broadcast HD shows are actually better quality than the old cable and/or dish.

I don't foresee us going back to cable any time soon.
 
We're still only on a DVD player for our entertainment. Honestly, I'm happy that way. When we go someplace with TV we might watch something, but if we curl up on the couch we have plenty of movies to watch.

Although I'm afraid that our 25-year-old TV might be starting to go out...
 
Maxmosbey said:
I get tired of looking at the walls after a while, and I can only surf the net for so long before I get a headache.
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There is this absolutely incredible 3D full surround sound, full feedback, including full textures and even smells and absolutely everything you could ever hope to have and moer...and it's quite inexpensive. It's called OUTSIDE.

GO OUTSIDE. ENJOY THE REAL WORLD.
 
fgcason said:
There is this absolutely incredible 3D full surround sound, full feedback, including full textures and even smells and absolutely everything you could ever hope to have and moer...and it's quite inexpensive. It's called OUTSIDE.

GO OUTSIDE. ENJOY THE REAL WORLD.
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Nah, there's bugs n' stuff out there.

THE REAL WORLD? No thanks, Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there.
 
cavmedic said:
UGH , you guys ditching cable are interfering with my paychecks :(
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Cable needs to get with the program. Pun intended. ;)

Pick which channels you want. Pay per view on ones outside of your package. Be able to switch channels on line logged into your account automatically.

If cable does not stay competitive an internet provider will, and cable will go the way of the 8 track tape player. You are welcome. You have 48 months to change or die. ;)
 
Geico266 said:
Cable needs to get with the program. Pun intended. ;)

Pick which channels you want. Pay per view on ones outside of your package. Be able to switch channels on line logged into your account automatically.

If cable does not stay competitive an internet provider will, and cable will go the way of the 8 track tape player. You are welcome. You have 48 months to change or die. ;)
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48 months, I think that's how long is left on my contract. :)

Seriously though, my contract runs out in under a year, I'll be dumping cable too. I'm not paying 100 a month to watch 17 minutes of commercials and 13 minutes of entertainment. I'll go to the sports bar to watch any game/boxing match I might want to watch.... which is approx. 4 a year.
 
bartmc said:
48 months, I think that's how long is left on my contract. :)

Seriously though, my contract runs out in under a year, I'll be dumping cable too. I'm not paying 100 a month to watch 17 minutes of commercials and 13 minutes of entertainment. I'll go to the sports bar to watch any game/boxing match I might want to watch.... which is approx. 4 a year.
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I agree. It is starting to **** me off too. We have a land line bundled into internet and cable TV $165 a month. Rediculous when I watch 5 channels. :mad:
 
Geico266 said:
Cable needs to get with the program. Pun intended. ;)

Pick which channels you want. Pay per view on ones outside of your package. Be able to switch channels on line logged into your account automatically.

If cable does not stay competitive an internet provider will, and cable will go the way of the 8 track tape player. You are welcome. You have 48 months to change or die. ;)
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Ala cart would be great IF the networks themselves wouldn't charge $xx.xx per household in coverage area AND dictate in the contract as to what other BS sub channels to be carried with main network and what tier it will be placed on.

As long as everyone collectively pays for it , the price stays a bit lower.

BUT I do not make the pricing , I do not make the contracts , I just repair the line. I'm at the bottom of what flows down hill .25"/foot.
 
UGH , you guys ditching cable are interfering with my paychecks
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If you're depending on me, you need to get another job because you're done. :lol:


bartmc said:
THE REAL WORLD? No thanks, Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there.
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Hmmm, I think the same basic thing about the fake world.
 
I'm still paying the cable company for Internet which keeps rising. New fees every year. Haven't paid for TV in a very long time. Well kinda. Wife likes newish(TM) movies on the AppleTV. And Netflix.

This year it was a fee to lease the modem I've used for free on a business class account for four years. All of a sudden, I'm being charged for that piece of crap SMC that was years old and used when they put it in? (Had a local college's IPs and DNS in it when it arrived. They forgot to wipe it.)

It's fully depreciated by now. What a sneaky/sleazy way for Crapcast to make money on stuff that was included for years. Free money.

They've slowly added $30/month in fees that didn't exist on my bill years ago. And of course the various taxes we all pay on everything telco related that no one wanted or voted for. ;)
 
fgcason said:
There is this absolutely incredible 3D full surround sound, full feedback, including full textures and even smells and absolutely everything you could ever hope to have and moer...and it's quite inexpensive. It's called OUTSIDE.

GO OUTSIDE. ENJOY THE REAL WORLD.
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Yes - was telling the grandkids just last night that when I was a kid there was this really neat video game that was on bigscreen with surround, called OUTSIDE! LOL

As for those who are using Tivo - you can save yourself the monthly fee if you have a computer laying around and can install Windows 7 Ultimate (or if you want to be more adventurous, there are Linux setups that work), and use Windows Media Center. I've been doing that for years (even when I did have cable). The computer is hooked to the TV, and it is my channel selector, DVR, and more. Plus, I can watch any of the many streaming options as well.

I haven't paid for TV since 2008, and believe it or not, there is plenty of content out there. I don't watch as much TV as most people (probably not more than about 3-4 hours a week), but I never find myself with nothing to watch when I do want to watch. The only thing I have missed is being able to watch local weather when there is a storm warning, but now that I have bought a house and can put up an antenna, I will be putting one in the attic just for that.
 
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fgcason said:
There is this absolutely incredible 3D full surround sound, full feedback, including full textures and even smells and absolutely everything you could ever hope to have and moer...and it's quite inexpensive. It's called OUTSIDE.

GO OUTSIDE. ENJOY THE REAL WORLD.
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I was at a New England Patriots game last season and overheard the guy behind me on the phone. He said "It looks like HD"
 
denverpilot said:
I'm still paying the cable company for Internet which keeps rising. New fees every year. Haven't paid for TV in a very long time. Well kinda. Wife likes newish(TM) movies on the AppleTV. And Netflix.

This year it was a fee to lease the modem I've used for free on a business class account for four years. All of a sudden, I'm being charged for that piece of crap SMC that was years old and used when they put it in? (Had a local college's IPs and DNS in it when it arrived. They forgot to wipe it.)

It's fully depreciated by now. What a sneaky/sleazy way for COMMUNISTCAST to make money on stuff that was included for years. Free money.

They've slowly added $30/month in fees that didn't exist on my bill years ago. And of course the various taxes we all pay on everything telco related that no one wanted or voted for. ;)
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I fixed that for you.
I worked for them for about 5 years , and contracted for about 6 years prior to that. I met my wife there and decided to not place all of our eggs in one basket. About a year after I left , they started wiping out benefits , raising the rates to employee services and doing all kinds of crazy stuff. They ax entire departments stating economy this and economy that, then a week later send out newsletters that stocks are up , purchased MSNBC, partnered with Verizon Wireless, got in deeper with Disney and how well the company is doing and all that other BS.

Glad I jumped ship when I did. Being I work for a smaller Cable Company now, ( actually the largest privately owned in the US) , I miss the CC technology, and being cutting edge with a lot of things, but I do not miss the corporate games.
 
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