Ways to watch local TV
One of the problems in the digital TV age is cable and satellite does not carry all local channels. They do not carry any sub-channels, only the primary channel. Below is part of the channel guide for Atlanta;
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On satellite I could only watch CBS on channel 46 and CW69 on channel 69. I mean who wants to watch Dr. Oz and Jerry Springer? What if I want to watch Laramie on 46.3 or The Rifleman on 69.4?
Using an Over the air Antenna
I got into this because of a screw up by the DirectTV tech that services the system for my apartment complex. The receiver lost it's lunch during a thunder storm and when he setup the new receiver he somehow added MeTV in place of another channel I never watched and I stumbled over it. Well, MeTV is great if you like old shows like Hitchcock Presents, Twilight Zone, Perry Mason or old westerns. Then he re-programed and put the original channel back in.
So I got an amplified digital antenna and plugged it into the antenna port on my TV and did the channel setup and found 50 some digital channels. I was beside myself with glee. Then I started going up and down with the channels.
The picture was great, far better than the satellite picture on the channels that worked. I had to fiddle with the antenna just like playing with old rabbit ears, it is very direction sensitive. Even when I got good reception, it would drop out for seconds at a time or the picture would tear a lot. Not real happy.
Over the Internet
I was talking with a neighbor and he suggested trying
https://www.locast.org/ and I'm glad I did. I run it through a laptop and cast to a Chromecast. Go to the channel guide, click on a station, click on Watch and a small preview pops up and then click on the Cast symbol. In a few seconds the my show is in front of my eyes. Outstanding picture quality and no drop outs or tearing.
Locast has two drawbacks;
- It isn't available nationwide and when you first go to the site it will ask to detect your location. As long as you're in a coverage area, it will choose the local channels for the area. You can get around that by using a VPN to fake a location. Here is decent write up on Locast and using a VPN - https://vpnpost.com/vpn-for-locast/
- Locast is free with a catch. They ask for voluntary $5/month donation with a 50 cent processing fee. If you don't ante up, they do what they call a subscription break, I call it a nag. You have to restart the service after every nag and just like live over the air TV, you miss what was on during the break. The nags are temporarily suspended due to COVID, so now is a good time to try it and 5 bucks isn't much to get all the local channels in your area.
