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Should I buy a more expensive antenna, and what did you folks who also ditched your cable or satellite TV wind up spending on your antenna?
Thanks!
I stopped watching TV altogether, both cable and over the air. I get all my entertainment online and from what is on my video server, which is now up to 9.6 terabytes. I never see a commercial, I watch only what interests me, and I can pause it if I need to.
I stopped watching TV altogether, both cable and over the air. I get all my entertainment online and from what is on my video server, which is now up to 9.6 terabytes. I never see a commercial, I watch only what interests me, and I can pause it if I need to.
How do you get internet? We only get cable, the very basic, so that we can get internet. It costs the same for plain internet without the cable to it's a no brainer. We sometimes watch the news or weather channel on the tv but the rest is mostly trash.
How do you get internet? We only get cable, the very basic, so that we can get internet. It costs the same for plain internet without the cable to it's a no brainer. We sometimes watch the news or weather channel on the tv but the rest is mostly trash.
To me it's a no brainer too. When I wanted internet, I called around and asked what was the price for JUST internet and went with the lowest price. Sure It was the same price as basic cable and internet, but I didn't want cable, so I didn't get it. I didn't want cable in my house, so I didn't get it. Interestingly they have never raised my rate, so in effect I know get just internet for quite a bit less than the cable/internet combo. YMMV
We've gone to the extreme to ditch the dish/cable tv. Keep in mind we live in a single family house.
Here's what we did.
Installed Roku boxes on our tvs.
Installed an OTA indoor/outdoor antenna in the attic with signal boosters for local channels.
Installed the desktop PC in the living room to stream websites that do not have channels on Roku.
Purchased the lifetime membership to Playon with Playlater ($44 & play later is a DVR service) to get most channels that we used to have.
Installed a 1TB network hard drive. I can place movies/tv shows on it and watch from any Roku box in the house in the event that we lose internet service.
Subscribe to Hulu Plus for tv shows we can't find online and for the kids to watch cartoons.
Total start up cost was ~ $250.
We used to pay $101 per month for satellite tv and another $40 for 15 mb internet.
We now pay $56 per month or 50mb internet and $8 a month for Hulu plus. So we save almost $40 per month and we have way more tv than we could ever watch. We found that we actually watch a lot less than we used to and we do have the benefit of avoiding commercials on everything other than Hulu Plus.
It was nerve racking when we started, but it only took about a week to get comfortable with it. Now we don't know why we didn't do this sooner.
Should I buy a more expensive antenna, and what did you folks who also ditched your cable or satellite TV wind up spending on your antenna?
Thanks!
I ditched my cable a few days ago even though I was paying $29 a month for it. It may sound like a reasonable price only because my apartment manager or whoever got some kind of deal with Comcast. Anyways, I watched a few youtube videos on how to make my own antenna. I'm currently using a foil cake pan as my antenna. I'm able to get anywhere between 8-11 channels at the moment. I plan on trying to make "the biscuit tin antenna" as soon as I get some tools such as a soldering iron and a rotary tool.
You need to install your antenna outside. I don't know how far away you are from the transmitter site(s), so I can't counsel a specific antenna, but it could be very simple. The reason indoor antennas and DTV don't play well is because DTV is very susceptible to multipath. Even if you have all the signal in the world, indoor environments tend to be cluttered and have several objects that waves can be "bounced" off. As a result, the receiver confuses the actual signal from the transmitter with bounced reflections, and the result is the breaking up of the signal. Of course, you could just have a weak signal, too - they're kind of difficult to tell apart without further information.
........ Should I buy a more expensive antenna, and what did you folks who also ditched your cable or satellite TV wind up spending on your antenna?
Thanks!
I got a good digital antenna when we got rid of cable years ago. It's worked in the L.A. area, then in Tennessee and now in the Denver, CO area. I don't remember exactly how much it cost, but I believe it was under $70. That was several years ago and I believe I've got my money's worth.
Good luck!
PS. I got mine from Target back then. I believe they are more options now as well as better prices.
I am moving soon and will get a roku.The initial change seems hard because I had cable for the majority of my life.
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internet and went with the lowest price. Sure It was the same price as basic cable and internet, but I didn't want cable, so I didn't get it. I didn't want cable in my house, so I didn't get it. Interestingly they have never raised my rate, so in effect I know get just internet for quite a bit less than the cable/internet combo. YMMV
