Just wanted to report my OTA experience / setup. Over a year ago I posted a question about canceling cable / sat and going strictly OTA. I played around with PCs / Mini's / XBOX 360s to get the optimum TV experience. Finally, after several months of burn in time, I'm very happy with the setup. First my antenna:
Winegard FV-HD30:
http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FV-HD...3563375&sr=8-8
I'm about 12-15 miles from the broadcast towers so I get great reception -- even mounted in my attic! OTA picture quality is unbelievable.
Tivo HD - Reconditioned
I got a great deal on a reconditioned tivo, but the first one died on a firmware update. Second one is working perfectly. $10 /month for service plus the sunk cost of the hardware. This was probably the biggest decision I made. I figured tivo is probably overkill for just OTA, but like most I want my stuff to be reliable and work. I don't have time to fiddle. Oh, and anything less wouldn't pass the wife test. Netflix too -- oh, and Amazon shows too.
MacMini (FrontRow, Plex)
XBOX (Netflix streaming)
So, all added up, I lowered my phone/cable/internet bill by $60. IMO there isn't $60 worth of programming that I want to watch. Do I miss sports? Sure, but it's not worth $60. I don't think I'll ever go back. It's been almost 25 years since I had basic OTA tv -- 25 years! It was pretty strange for the first week, but I'll tell you it's totally worth it. I don't miss it at all.
Winegard FV-HD30:
http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FV-HD...3563375&sr=8-8
I'm about 12-15 miles from the broadcast towers so I get great reception -- even mounted in my attic! OTA picture quality is unbelievable.
Tivo HD - Reconditioned
I got a great deal on a reconditioned tivo, but the first one died on a firmware update. Second one is working perfectly. $10 /month for service plus the sunk cost of the hardware. This was probably the biggest decision I made. I figured tivo is probably overkill for just OTA, but like most I want my stuff to be reliable and work. I don't have time to fiddle. Oh, and anything less wouldn't pass the wife test. Netflix too -- oh, and Amazon shows too.
MacMini (FrontRow, Plex)
XBOX (Netflix streaming)
So, all added up, I lowered my phone/cable/internet bill by $60. IMO there isn't $60 worth of programming that I want to watch. Do I miss sports? Sure, but it's not worth $60. I don't think I'll ever go back. It's been almost 25 years since I had basic OTA tv -- 25 years! It was pretty strange for the first week, but I'll tell you it's totally worth it. I don't miss it at all.
