Big John Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 (edited) Wait, what's this about an antenna? Wasn't there a big to do less than a year ago about TV no longer being antenna accessible? And it was put off for a few months by congress or something? They are still available by antenna. But they need a conversion box so the older TVs can read the new signals that are not compatible with them anymore. Edited March 10, 2010 by Big John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I think your DSL provider is really jerking you around with that policy. I cancelled my land line phone months ago and still have DSL. BTW, We don't miss the land line phone one bit. I've heard the same before...how do you dial in to DSL then? I asked them if I could cut back to one number dialed...whatever the number you dial to receive the DSL service, and they said no. I wish I could go antennae only and do what Egret is doing, but I'm too far out in the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Egret, I know it's not On Demand viewing since you are at the mercy of others, but Justin.tv is pretty good entertainment and you can mostly find what you want alot of times. Hell, I'm watching Robot Chicken right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SayItAintSoJoe Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I've heard the same before...how do you dial in to DSL then? I asked them if I could cut back to one number dialed...whatever the number you dial to receive the DSL service, and they said no. I wish I could go antennae only and do what Egret is doing, but I'm too far out in the country. As far as I know there is no dialing in with DSL since it is an "always on" internet connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SayItAintSoJoe Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I"m thinking about ditching cable/satellite. I don't blame you. I have satellite and I think its a big rip off. If you subtract the air time that is given to infomercials how much programming are you really getting? They also keep inching up their rates. I think they feel that if they raise their rates slowly ($5 - $7) you'll just except the increase. Well I didn't. Just this Monday I called to reduce my service after the latest increase. I figured that I didn't really watch the channels I was losing anyways. Of course since then I've had my father-in-law (who lives with us) ask me what happened to the channel that shows old westerns, and my boys wanted to know why they could no longer see their wrestling show on WGN. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I've heard the same before...how do you dial in to DSL then? I asked them if I could cut back to one number dialed...whatever the number you dial to receive the DSL service, and they said no. I wish I could go antennae only and do what Egret is doing, but I'm too far out in the country. Who's your service provider? That's BS. We ditched our landline and still have DSL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 As far as I know there is no dialing in with DSL since it is an "always on" internet connection. I have to plug my wireless router into a phone jack with a filter for it to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 (edited) I was going to get a roku for netflix but I also have an xbox360 which can stream it as well. Is there any conversion loss for streaming HD through the 360. Mines an older box so it doesn't have an HDMI input which was why I was going to get the roku. I use a 360 for Netflix, but I use HDMI. I'm interested in the other features of the Roku too. Isn't this illegal? Nope. All of the shows listed are available as free podcasts. The channels are basically setting up a rss feed for the casts and organizing them. It's all perfectly legal. I have done all of my stuff legally. I know there are other ways of getting signals, but I'm not interested in doing that. Wait, what's this about an antenna? Wasn't there a big to do less than a year ago about TV no longer being antenna accessible? And it was put off for a few months by congress or something? Analog signals were shut off. Now all antenna signals are digital. Most of the signals are also crystal clear HD... for free! No static. You either get the signal or you don't. All new tv's have the tuner built into them. I wrote about it on my blog here. The picture is of the antenna that I have behind my tv. It gets all of the networks in my area without needing to be moved around when I change the channel. Edited March 10, 2010 by Egret Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 I have to plug my wireless router into a phone jack with a filter for it to work. You can ditch the landline and keep dsl. We looked into it, but keeping the landline only cost us an extra $7 per month. No call waiting, no caller id, and a limited number of calls out. AT&T bundled the DSL with a landline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Hey Egret, I'm doing this now. I'm going to set up a Mythbuntu backend with an antenna card downstairs in my office so I can record and pause live broadcast TV. Then I'm getting an Acer Aspire Revo nettop for my TV that will run Boxee and the MythTV frontend. I got a demo of Boxee today from a buddy that was running it, and it blew me away. I've been reading how to do Myth and Boxee together on a low-power box all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheikYerbuti Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Hey Egret, I'm doing this now. I'm going to set up a Mythbuntu backend with an antenna card downstairs in my office so I can record and pause live broadcast TV. Then I'm getting an Acer Aspire Revo nettop for my TV that will run Boxee and the MythTV frontend. I got a demo of Boxee today from a buddy that was running it, and it blew me away. I've been reading how to do Myth and Boxee together on a low-power box all day. Atomic's new TV hookup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 Hey Egret, I'm doing this now. I'm going to set up a Mythbuntu backend with an antenna card downstairs in my office so I can record and pause live broadcast TV. Then I'm getting an Acer Aspire Revo nettop for my TV that will run Boxee and the MythTV frontend. I got a demo of Boxee today from a buddy that was running it, and it blew me away. I've been reading how to do Myth and Boxee together on a low-power box all day. Boxee is the shiz. I'm also looking at this . It's a networkable tv card. It seems like a better option to me than a traditional tv card. My five-year-old has loved the move. He prefers the "black remote" for the tivo to the "white remote" we had for DirecTV. For him it mostly boils down to Netflix access. He has a list of movies and shows that he streams from Netflix. My summer project is going to be setting up a dedicated nettop or desktop for the basement tv. Be prepared for the Wife Acceptance Factor. As much as my wife said she didn't watch much tv, she does miss her HGTV type networks. She says that she misses being able to just pick up the remote and leave it on a channel instead of picking her show. That being said, she doesn't want to pay the ~$90-$100 per month that we were paying. Let me know how you like the new set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Be prepared for the Wife Acceptance Factor. As much as my wife said she didn't watch much tv, she does miss her HGTV type networks. She says that she misses being able to just pick up the remote and leave it on a channel instead of picking her show. That being said, she doesn't want to pay the ~$90-$100 per month that we were paying. That was definitely a consideration. We probably have HGTV (or in my case, Sportscenter) on for like 20+ hours a month in my house, but it's always as background noise while we do other things. I'm not sure if that's worth $75-$100. I think we'll find a way to adapt... either by putting on our music library, Pandora or NPR or maybe by actually turning off the TV when we're not watching it (crazy talk). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 maybe by actually turning off the TV when we're not watching it (crazy talk). whoa, whoa, whoa...let's not get all medieval now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 (edited) whoa, whoa, whoa...let's not get all medieval now. I'm actually looking forward to this. My wife leaves the TV on when she leaves the room, and she doesn't give me the remote. At night, her AFV turns into the 700 Club , and in the morning, the kids programming turns into Barney . So I'm working on my laptop and in the background is probably the two worst TV shows I could ever torture myself with. It's always a test to see what wins... my laziness, or my hatred of those programs. Edited May 19, 2010 by AtomicCEO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 I'm all hooked up with the Roku HD wireless. I haven't messed around with it too much but I have netflix and a few other music channels streaming through it now - Pandora included. Pretty cool little box - I also have an app that I can control the roku through wifi since the remote that comes with the box requires you to point it directly at the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Great stuff guys. I've got 6 months left in my DirecTV contract and am thinking of going this route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 That was definitely a consideration. We probably have HGTV (or in my case, Sportscenter) on for like 20+ hours a month in my house, but it's always as background noise while we do other things. I'm not sure if that's worth $75-$100. I think we'll find a way to adapt... either by putting on our music library, Pandora or NPR or maybe by actually turning off the TV when we're not watching it (crazy talk). My wife would blow a hole in my chest if I took away her Food Network and Bravo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted June 25, 2010 Author Share Posted June 25, 2010 I'm all hooked up with the Roku HD wireless. I haven't messed around with it too much but I have netflix and a few other music channels streaming through it now - Pandora included. Pretty cool little box - I also have an app that I can control the roku through wifi since the remote that comes with the box requires you to point it directly at the box. Awesome! Check out this guy's list of channels for the Roku. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeR Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 God bless bit torrent. Also there's one I just heard of called slashcontrol.com, FYI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 Hulu unveils its pay model today. $9.99 per month for Hulu Plus. The original Hulu should remain the same... for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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