Made the switch - Cable TV to Over-the-Air

Ron Czapala

Bruce's thread about UHF/VHF antennas prompted me to finally make the switch.

My internet, phone and TV service is a bundled package from the local cable company. The prices keep going up, up, up...

While they provide access to 172 channels, I primarily watch TV programs on the major networks (ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX...) and the charges for TV service was around $80.

I bought a terrestrial digital db2 antenna years ago, as a standby, in case the cable was out.

I mounted it on the back of the house and drove an eight foot ground rod below it. I have RG6 coax outlets in most rooms and an amplifier in the basement.

I bought a TIVO Premiere PVR to replace the cable company's box. The TIVO gets the program guide information using a USB phone adapter, wireless G or N adapter or hard-wired ethernet. I bought a D-Link gigabit switch and ran ethernet cables to wall jacks in four rooms and to my router.

Luckily most of the local channel antennas are within 17 miles of my home in the same direction (the hills of southern Indiana).

I am saving $80 $65 a month and get great reception. The TIVO has two antenna tuners and can record two shows at the same time. You can update the recording schedule via the web. It also lets you test/view the channel signal strength. You can also access YouTube, Netflix, HULU Plus, etc. You can also purchase an external 1TB eSATA Western Digital drive to expand the storage capacity.

I am very pleased so far!

erco

Yep, I ditched Time Warner many moons ago. $70 for all the junk on TV was too much. OTA DTV is especially great here in LA. Plenty of crystal clear channels. What most people don't know is that their old rooftop TV antenna works just fine. Actually, the small UHF array is all you need, the bigger (and likely rusty & damaged) VHF were for the pre-DTV days. I grabbed a small new rooftop antenna from Radio Shack years back as they were phasing them out for $20. Higher mounted antennas pull in more distant signals, can get signals from 100+ miles away sometimes. You can mount them inside your attic if neighbors complain.

idbruce

Ron

Glad to here you made the switch. I just got my wireless keyboard and mouse last weekend. All I need now is new power supply for the PC I want to use for Netflix.

Bruce

Spiral_72

Good for you! TV is generally a waste of time anyways. We shut off our overpriced sat. service about a year ago. $75 per month is crazy. It's a tank of gas every month, or any number of things.

Broadcast TV for news and the typical turn your brain off and relax shows. If you have internet the Netflix isn't an expensive choice (so far) the occasional movie or non-broadcast television show.


Oh, uh I wouldn't front the $15 per month for TiVo, so I hooked up the old VCR as a AnalogVR, My wife groaned, but it's not too bad actually. It's not exactly 1080 high res, but it gets the job done. The hardest part was "learning" the wife how to program it.

davejames

One of the nice things about being a broadcast receptor is the look on the ATT guy when they come calling and want to sign me up. I mention that I "get the signal outa the air", and he assumes that I have satellite service. Then I smile, walk him out to the front lawn, and point to the chimney where a monster (by today's standards), old fashioned arial is strapped.

The confused look his face just tickles me no end. Add to that, a shake of his head in disbelief is icing on the cake!

:thumb:

Ron Czapala

Spiral_72 wrote: »

Good for you! TV is generally a waste of time anyways. We shut off our overpriced sat. service about a year ago. $75 per month is crazy. It's a tank of gas every month, or any number of things...

With gas over $4 a gallon a lot of people may be watching more TV and driving a little less...

davejames wrote: »

One of the nice things about being a broadcast receptor is the look on the ATT guy when they come calling and want to sign me up. I mention that I "get the signal outa the air", and he assumes that I have satellite service.
:thumb:

A salesgirl at Radio Shack was talking about how great her satellite setup was and how you couldn't beat $30 a month - I told her "Yes you can!"

tonyp12

Comcast high-speed: $29/month for 1 year, I always threaten to cancel when the price goes up so they give it to me for another 6 months.
No tv subscription but they did not block the basic channels (around 20 of them for free) so I have not made the switch to OTA.

Netflix streamming $8.
3 Sony bluray players with neflix/hulu/amazon etc (one time fee $40 each. refurbs from sony.com, look new)
Total: $37 a month.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I grew up in the '60s in a TV fringe area in the Midwest. Everyone, it seemed, had tall towers for their high-gain TV antennas. Here's a recent Google Streetview image of the old neighborhood:



Apparently, cable/satellite/digital TV hasn't changed a thing ... or maybe the NSA bought the entire neighborhood and is using it as a covert listening post.

Oddly enough, I live in a deeper fringe area now, but you don't see these kinds of towers anywhere, even though there are no ordinances or covenants prohibiting them.

-Phil

Wa_Mo

Two years ago, when the local stations were forced to switch to digital TV, I build a really simple Gray-Hoverman single bay antenna . It gives such a good picture, that I wouldn't want to switch to cable for anything.

prof_braino

I picked up an "HDTV" antenna from American Science and Surplus for $24.00. (Its from UK but doesn't get BBC)
Dropped the 3 way TV-Internet-Phone bundle and switched to "internet only" from comcast.
Advertised speed is 12Mbps, claimed speed (by marketing) is 15Mbps, and measure speed by DSL Reports is 25Mbps.
Also got a Blu-Ray play with a Netflix application built in.

Of 9 or 10 stations in Chicago, we only get about three, but one is PBS. Even so, we only use the Netflix now.
Turns out is worth it, getting a specific show over Netflix with no programming is a zillion times better than watching irritating commercials. The benefit of the faster internet at a fraction of the price is great.