[jnick1]

My wife and I have realized that we do not watch TV other than whatever shows we DVR, which are all on network broadcasted channels. Other than channels 2/4/5/7, we are rarely watching TV.

With that said, we are both tired of paying $171.50/month for TWC, for 1 DVR box, 200+ channels we never watch and a measly 20Mbps/2 Internet service. So we have decided to cut the cord. The dream was to go to at least 30/5 while we do this, if not 50/5 for Internet, then run an OTA antenna to a TiVo. This would allow us to grab network television, record what we want and stream it to other TV's in the house (TiVo mini was on sale!)

I was all game for an Antenna based OTA setup (as a matter of a fact, my Mohu Leaf 50 will be here tomorrow). However, I'm starting to think that my location will not permit me to grab any channels other than the most local channels. Living just about 50-60 miles from NYC, I think I'm out of luck for the OTA 2/4/5/7. The only other option I could think of was to pay TWC $20/mo extra for their "starter TV" package. However, before I do this, I was wondering what other options (if any) are out there?

I figured the TiVo will serve as my DVR service and will allows allow me to bring the recordings/TV to all of the TVs in the house by using their mini (TiVo comes today). However, did I make a mistake here? Is that even necessary or would I be better off going with Hulu/CBS all access and calling it a day?

I thought the TiVo would be a nice touch if the OTA antenna worked or even with the Starter TV pack as it functions just like a cable box, maintains it's own guide and is only $14.99/mo.

By doing this, even if I had to get the Starter TV, my monthly will be knocked down to $111/Mo - a $60 savings.

Is there anything I'm missing? Is there anything you would do differently?

 

[drunkpenguin]

Get the antenna first, see what you can get. Antennas are cheap. Get yourself setup for internet tv, IMO you need netflix, hulu, and amazon prime.

At this point do both for a while and see if you can make the switch. We ran this way for a few months and one day realized we were no longer watching dish tv so we cancelled. It's like quiting smoking tho, don't go cold turkey. Get used to it first.

 

[C0rk]

Not exactly what you asked, but if you haven't done it yet, try this site to see if you'll have an OTA problem:
http://www.antennaweb.org/Address.aspx

For myself, just watch what I get OTA, supplemented by a large DVD collection and Netflix.

 

[jrref]

My wife and I have realized that we do not watch TV other than whatever shows we DVR, which are all on network broadcasted channels. Other than channels 2/4/5/7, we are rarely watching TV.

With that said, we are both tired of paying $171.50/month for TWC, for 1 DVR box, 200+ channels we never watch and a measly 20Mbps/2 Internet service. So we have decided to cut the cord. The dream was to go to at least 30/5 while we do this, if not 50/5 for Internet, then run an OTA antenna to a TiVo. This would allow us to grab network television, record what we want and stream it to other TV's in the house (TiVo mini was on sale!)

I was all game for an Antenna based OTA setup (as a matter of a fact, my Mohu Leaf 50 will be here tomorrow). However, I'm starting to think that my location will not permit me to grab any channels other than the most local channels. Living just about 50-60 miles from NYC, I think I'm out of luck for the OTA 2/4/5/7. The only other option I could think of was to pay TWC $20/mo extra for their "starter TV" package. However, before I do this, I was wondering what other options (if any) are out there?

I figured the TiVo will serve as my DVR service and will allows allow me to bring the recordings/TV to all of the TVs in the house by using their mini (TiVo comes today). However, did I make a mistake here? Is that even necessary or would I be better off going with Hulu/CBS all access and calling it a day?

I thought the TiVo would be a nice touch if the OTA antenna worked or even with the Starter TV pack as it functions just like a cable box, maintains it's own guide and is only $14.99/mo.

By doing this, even if I had to get the Starter TV, my monthly will be knocked down to $111/Mo - a $60 savings.

Is there anything I'm missing? Is there anything you would do differently?

If you can get FiOS you can get their basic broadcast plus HBO and 50/50 internet for $59.99/month plus the box, router and tax.

 

[pittsoccer33]

I use Windows Media Center as my DVR. I will subscribe to cable for a while, record a bunch of stuff, then cancel after hockey season. I still have everything I recorded available to watch afterward.

Right now I am subscribing to 25Mbps internet and local channels. The price for 25Mbps internet alone is $66.95. They discount it to $53.95 when you add another product (tv, home security) and their basic service is $11.70. So I'm basically saving $1.30 by adding local tv. I'd imagine your internet pricing changed when you dropped expanded tv service - see what it costs to add a local package.

With WMC I can use both the cable feed and my antenna, giving me the ability to record 4 programs at once. I also can tell it to use the cable tuner as the preferred one for ABC and Fox, which both come in a tad bit worse than the others.

If I wasn't going to use WMC I don't think I would spend $15 a month on a Tivo for what you could get via Hulu and the CBS service.

There are plenty of ways to leverage a desktop PC in the house as a DVR. Your recordings will all be playable on any device with an MPEG2 decoder. For example, my Samsung TV can not only see all my recorded files, it can actually access my cablecard tuner too.

Something like Plex could be used to allow you to get those recordings to a Chromecast or Roku.

 

[Aero 1]

Is there anything I'm missing? Is there anything you would do differently?

yea, you got a crap antenna. 60 miles out of ESB, you will not get WABC (RF 7), WPIX (RF 11), WNET (RF 13) with that crap antenna. forget about WJLP/MeTV (RF 3) if thats important to you. The leaf does not do VHF well and at your location, you can forget it. depending on your location, you will most likely need a big antenna placed high.

go to this forum, follow the sticky and post your www.tvfool.com report in that forum to get antenna recommendations.

 

[jnick1]

yea, you got a crap antenna. 60 miles out of ESB, you will not get WABC (RF 7), WPIX (RF 11), WNET (RF 13) with that crap antenna. forget about WJLP/MeTV (RF 3) if thats important to you. The leaf does not do VHF well and at your location, you can forget it. depending on your location, you will most likely need a big antenna placed high.

go to this forum, follow the sticky and post your www.tvfool.com report in that forum to get antenna recommendations.

Which forum?

 

[Aero 1]

Which forum?

sorry, this one: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hdtv-technical/

 

[mdavej]

I save $50/month by simply using my own DVR and cable boxes (Windows Media Center plus extenders). I would give the Hulu plan a dry run before cutting anything. It's a really terrible experience (endless, unskippable commercials, low picture quality, limited selection).

 

[drunkpenguin]

I save $50/month by simply using my own DVR and cable boxes (Windows Media Center plus extenders). I would give the Hulu plan a dry run before cutting anything. It's a really terrible experience (endless, unskippable commercials, low picture quality, limited selection).

I wouldn't call it terrible. On average there is only 2 commercials, vs maybe 10 on cable/sat? Some of the older content on hulu has none. I do agree that people should try it first tho to make sure this will work for them. This lifestyle is not for everyone, but I have grown to love it and if sat/cable offered me free tv at this point I would not convert back.

 

[veedon]

It is not reasonable to expect to receive OTA signals at a distance of 50 or more miles with an indoor antenna. There are some very good indoor antennas, but they cannot perform magic. An indoor antenna is usually useful only within twenty miles of the transmitters.

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

We tried to cut the cable since we do not watch much TV but what is on the main networks.

I wanted to use OTA, but where I am located, I cannot get all the local stations. We ended up purchasing a TiVo for the main living room and the mini for the Theater Room. I was able to get our basic channels in HD for $20 a month including HBO and my internet is $50. With taxes, it ends up being $78 a month. Much better than the almost $200 a month we were paying. We have had this setup for a year now and quite honestly I have not missed all the channels we used to get. Only once in a while do I actually miss ESPN or the NFL network. They are not worth the difference in price. I am glad we changed our service!

Jeff

 

[jnick1]

That sounds about what I'll need to do. Nice! I'm definitely going to try the antenna tomorrow but I don't have my hopes up. Just curious, what Internet speeds are you subscribed to? Also, seeing as you have basic and a TiVo, is it safe to say you do not have Hulu? (I already have Netflix and Prime)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mdavej]

I wouldn't call it terrible. On average there is only 2 commercials, vs maybe 10 on cable/sat? Some of the older content on hulu has none. I do agree that people should try it first tho to make sure this will work for them. This lifestyle is not for everyone, but I have grown to love it and if sat/cable offered me free tv at this point I would not convert back.

I just pulled up SNL and it had 5 in an hour long show. My DVR recordings have zero because I have software that strips them out. Even without that software, I can skip them entirely. I wish I could cut the cord, but I've grown so accustomed to no commercials, I can't go back. And by the time I've paid for several subscriptions like Hulu, I'm back up to the $60 I'm paying for cable with far more channels, including HBO/SHO/MAX, all in full 1080i glory with 5.1 surround.

 

[drunkpenguin]

I have hulu amazon prime and netflix. I think I pay 25ish a month for all 3. For me I can live with a couple comercials in exchange for picking what I want when I want. I dont have to wait for something to get recorded, I dont have to wait a week to watch the next episode in most cases. And the only comercials are hulu, which I watch the least out of the 3. I think there is better content available once you get away from the reality tv land of cable channels.

And fwiw you dont lose national news when u cut the cord. Cbs is streaming the riots live on my roku as I type this.

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

That sounds about what I'll need to do. Nice! I'm definitely going to try the antenna tomorrow but I don't have my hopes up. Just curious, what Internet speeds are you subscribed to? Also, seeing as you have basic and a TiVo, is it safe to say you do not have Hulu? (I already have Netflix and Prime)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My internet speed is 25 megs. I have Netflix but not Hulu. Our kids watch quite a bit of Netflix.

 

[drunkpenguin]

Heres netflix recomendations on speed. With my own testing at work these are pretty accurate.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

 

[PixieVampyress]

I have Netflix, SlingTV (tho what the point of having A&E when most of the time "content unavailable should be the name) Amazon Prime (originally for shipping), Acorn and CBSAll Access. I go back and forth on having Hulu because they have taken money out twice a month, a few times.

I also use Plex Media Server, and DL shows I can not access via those options within 15 to 20 minutes of them airing. Laughlin has no local channels, and we are unable to pick up the digital signal from Vegas. But most stations at least stream the news live, online, as mentioned the drunkenpenguin (cute name) so I rarely miss anything. Going on 3 years of no more Directv, and I was addicted to that, heh.

Cheers~

 

[drunkpenguin]

Im gonna be in vegas next week! If I sober up long enough ill tell them to fix their transmissions!

 

[PixieVampyress]

Im gonna be in vegas next week! If I sober up long enough ill tell them to fix their transmissions!

Please do