Streaming TV

[gm280]

I went antenna about a year ago. The channels I had on cable I never watch. Now it is antenna and Roku. There are about 22 channels on antenna here.

thumper, and what is really exciting is the channels I am receiving via the home-made antenna are all HDTV as well. I am not even getting HDTV with the cable system presently. We only have the very basics to get the high seed internet. So when I go strictly antenna, the basic cable leaves our house for good. Why pay for things you can receive over the air for free, with better clarity? :noidea:

 

[thumpar]

thumper, and what is really exciting is the channels I am receiving via the home-made antenna are all HDTV as well. I am not even getting HDTV with the cable system presently. We only have the very basics to get the high seed internet. So when I go strictly antenna, the basic cable leaves our house for good. Why pay for things you can receive over the air for free, with better clarity? :noidea:

Yea, the over the air signal is not compressed like cable or satellite so the quality is better.

 

[alldodge]

Yea, the over the air signal is not compressed like cable or satellite so the quality is better.

Never noticed a difference between satellite and over the air other then a couple second delay in the picture. Never had cable so cannot say

 

[bruceb58]

Yea, the over the air signal is not compressed like cable or satellite so the quality is better.

It is compressed and is a lossy compression type so you do lose some quality although I doubt you would see it. I know that many websites claim that they aren't but they definitely are.

 

[Tim Frank]

Haven't heard of the smart blue ray player, would guess it has a hard drive in it. I have the older HD-DVD player, hardly ever use it. With satellite the weather is always a factor, so when it gets bad the TV goes out :facepalm: when you could really use it.

I have satellite in the country and snow and ice could be a PITA.and a couple of years ago someone suggested a cover. i was not optimistic, but tried it anyway.
It's just a mesh material, but works really well. No snow build-up. Now it's only a very occasional torrential downpour that can mess with the signal....and it has to be almost a flood.

My nephew uses the X-box but never asked how it works, and don't play games. Wouldn't mind getting rid of satellite if I could stream live, or next to live shows.

At home in town, my ISP (also the guys who do my satellite service) offered a streaming-type TV service that has some really great features and some advantages over the satellite service which I was subscribed to. Many live shows have a "Start over" feature so if you've copme in 10 minutes in, you can start over.
I switched and am fairly pleased with the results....One great add-on ($4-) a month is called "Crave TV"....For sure there will be a US equivalent, probably a few. The specialty is entire runs of old shows. e.g. The entire Sopranos series....all of Frasier....All 10 episodes of the Pacific and Band of Brothers....Cheers...just as a few examples.

But there are some satellite features that I miss; guess you just have to pick your poison.
.Does your ISP offer anything in this line?

 

[bruceb58]

I have satellite in the country and snow and ice could be a PITA.and a couple of years ago someone suggested a cover. i was not optimistic, but tried it anyway.
It's just a mesh material, but works really well. No snow build-up. Now it's only a very occasional torrential downpour that can mess with the signal....and it has to be almost a flood.

Definitly more of an issue the more north you are since you are looking through more atmosphere. Make sure you antenna is perfectly aimed. Antennas that aren't properly aimed are more susceptible to weather outages.

 

[MTboatguy]

Haven't heard of the smart blue ray player, would guess it has a hard drive in it.

No hard drive, just has the apps in it to do online streaming, the one that I have is a Sony that I picked up at a pawn shop, the player part of it does not even work anymore, but the streaming does, and this one has like 45 different services in it with Wi Fi as well as hard cable network cable hook up, quite a little unit for the price I paid for it, and the only reason the play stopped working is because I screwed it up trying to get a disc out of it. If I can find another one with the same features for cheap I will buy it and throw this on in the trash or give it to someone that is interested in the streaming features in it. I have a LG blue ray player that I watch discs on when I need to, in addition all of my computers have blu ray burners in them

 

[bruceb58]

in addition all of my computers have blu ray burners in them

Do people actually burn blu-rays anymore now that hard drives are so cheap?

 

[alldodge]

I have satellite in the country and snow and ice could be a PITA.and a couple of years ago someone suggested a cover. i was not optimistic, but tried it anyway.
It's just a mesh material, but works really well. No snow build-up. Now it's only a very occasional torrential downpour that can mess with the signal....and it has to be almost a flood.

But there are some satellite features that I miss; guess you just have to pick your poison.
.Does your ISP offer anything in this line?

Don't have the start over feature, I've got Dish and anything more then a slight rain I loose signal. Direct is better but they cost more and I don't want to pay it. We have cable but it cost more then Dish and the channels don't line up as well. I like where 3, 11, 32, 41, etc are those channels. Direct and cable they are on different numbers.

Agree snow and other stuff can mess it up but being lower latitude makes it easier

 

[alldodge]

No hard drive, just has the apps in it to do online streaming, the one that I have is a Sony that I picked up at a pawn shop, the player part of it does not even work anymore, but the streaming does, and this one has like 45 different services in it with Wi Fi as well as hard cable network cable hook up, quite a little unit for the price I paid for it, and the only reason the play stopped working is because I screwed it up trying to get a disc out of it. If I can find another one with the same features for cheap I will buy it and throw this on in the trash or give it to someone that is interested in the streaming features in it. I have a LG blue ray player that I watch discs on when I need to, in addition all of my computers have blu ray burners in them

Guess I to just need to do some more looking around for a smart player. Will continue to look thru the other items folks have mentioned to see what I can find. Did some other streaming from the computer and it does work but will hang every once in a while

 

[Tim Frank]

Don't have the start over feature, I've got Dish and anything more then a slight rain I loose signal. Direct is better but they cost more and I don't want to pay it. We have cable but it cost more then Dish and the channels don't line up as well. I like where 3, 11, 32, 41, etc are those channels. Direct and cable they are on different numbers.

Agree snow and other stuff can mess it up but being lower latitude makes it easier

I don't have the start-over feature with satellite either, just the Bell Fibe TV service in the city.
What diameter dish do you have? I moved up to a 24" and the problems with rain fade and other weather issues dropped dramatically.

 

[Tim Frank]

Definitly more of an issue the more north you are since you are looking through more atmosphere. Make sure you antenna is perfectly aimed. Antennas that aren't properly aimed are more susceptible to weather outages.

I frequently check the signal strength that is arriving at the receiver; it is rated as a %....anything more than 75% is OK.
I have a really clear shot, no trees or obstructions at all, and presumably pointed correctly.
The scale reads 95-100%. Of course, that may not guarantee that it is correctly aimed.

 

[bruceb58]

I would shoot for way more than 75%. That's the lazy installer threshold. You can do way better. One of the biggest problems is if the mast isn't perpendicular to the ground. That prevents you from getting good signal form multiple satellites because when you tilt the antenna after aiming at the center one, the others are way off.

I moved up to a 24" and the problems with rain fade and other weather issues dropped dramatically.

Definitely agree with this.

 

[MTboatguy]

Do people actually burn blu-rays anymore now that hard drives are so cheap?

Ya, we do Bruce, it is not as easy to ship a Hard Drive to a buddy who wants a copy of some video I have, I know lots of people that burn their own blu rays because they want to keep a copy of the content they are watching.

 

[bruceb58]

Ya, we do Bruce, it is not as easy to ship a Hard Drive to a buddy who wants a copy of some video I have, I know lots of people that burn their own blu rays because they want to keep a copy of the content they are watching.

I just send the ripped files. Can't get any easier than that.

 

[MTboatguy]

I just send the ripped files. Can't get any easier than that.

That works for you Bruce, others don't want to pursue that method, many of the guys I am friends with don't even have computers, so a blu ray disc works for them. Remember I live in rural Montana, not the metropolis of California, many of my friends live very simply and some of them only have DVD players so I do up DVD for them. A lot of my friends still own 20 - 25 inch tube sets. I have a couple of friends that live back country, no electricity other than the few hours they fire up the generator and I will record a weeks work of news broadcasts for them and put a full season of the nighttime dramas they like to watch and take them up to them, in exchange they give me full access to some of the best elk and moose hunting country around, pretty fair trade if you ask me.

 

[bruceb58]

Probably always niche users like that I guess. Some people still listen to music on CDs too probably!

 

[MTboatguy]

Probably always niche users like that I guess. Some people still listen to music on CDs too probably!

Hell I know guys that still listen to music on record players, but man can they cook some good BBQ!

 

[bruceb58]

Vinyl is making a come back! My boss is one of them that likes vinyl including his tube amp. I don't get that at all.

 

[MTboatguy]

I have a couple of old Mark Levinson mono block amps that I picked up while overseas and love to hook them up to my nice old Carver preamp and turn table, throw some nice old vinyl on them hook up my older Bose series 4 901's then kick back with a nice single malt and listen to some real music, I know that current music is digitally perfect, but, there is just something about that warm sound through vintage equipment that I truly love.

Our daughter just bought a new turn table, with a USB interface that they play through their computer and love it with the older vinyl on it.