Antennas (build, to work, compare)

[davephan]

Originally Posted by HarborRat

Wow Dave that sounds like one heck of a setup. I had a PC based recorder back in the day, before Tivo and DVRs came out. Today we can't live without our Comcast DVR with 5 tuners.

But I gotta ask, why go through all the trouble and expense these days when you can buy a Tivo that has 6 tuners and a couple TBs? Cheaper ones start under $150 and the top of the line model is about $450 (no monthly charge). The they have built in wifi and can stream to any of your devices, anywhere in the world. TiVo TCD840300 Roamio Pro DVR - Walmart.com

Also, I can rarely find one good show to watch on OtA TV, let alone 6 at once! Cable is a different story. I think if using an antenna a simple old 1 or 2 tuner Tivo would work just fine.

I setup that SageTV system 10 years ago. I refreshed the computer with a new computer about 5 years ago. Tivo and DVRs are alternatives. As I understand it, you have to pay hundreds of dollars for the Tivo lifetime license. But I think that is only good for that hardware. If you need to replace the hardware, you have pay the license fee again. I also understand that Tivo inserts advertisements. I don't know if that is still occurring. If Tivo inserted advertisements, that would be very annoying!

The problem with the Comcast DVR is you don't own it. I think it costs $20 a month, forever. Over time, that $20 a month will get jacked up even higher. I assume you can manually fast forward thorough commercials, but you probably don't have totally automatic commercial skipping with the Comcast DVR and Tivo systems. There are more choices today, so you don't have to waste your valuable time putting up with annoying commercials.

You can configure SageTV to record video at different quality levels. The highest is very high quality HD, I assume much higher quality than the Comcast DVR or Tivo. I probably have about 10,000 hours of video on file, so you can store a lot more than with the Comcast DVR or Tivo. I have about 20 TB of storage. Some of the videos are DVDs that are on the system. That way if we want to watch a DVD, we don't have to try to find a DVD that is lost somewhere around the house. When you scale up the video recording system that high, you'll never have time to watch more than a small fraction of the video, even if you were retired and had plenty of spare time. Although, the retired people I talk to never seem to have any spare time, even though every day should be like a Saturday for them!

Just a small note about the making money side of the streaming video technology. The number one streaming company, Netflix, was surging, up 3% yesterday and closing in on 5% today (so far). If I put money into Netflix a few years ago, I would absolutely be retired today, probably boating round SW Florida or maybe in Hawaii! But I only put money in recently. I could probably afford to retire today, but I'm holding out for a little more money, stuck working for a few more years.

[MartyGras]

Originally Posted by MikMal

I think the "HD antennas" are a scam.

It's not that HD TV antennas are scam there just regular antennas.

They added the HD label when the frequency switched over so that people would purchase the antennas, if they didn't add the HD label no one would ever buy one thinking that it wouldn't work.

Gary

[MartyGras]

If you know your way around the Internet and you have the correct equipment there isn't anything you can't watch for free in high definition.

And that's all I'm gonna say about that......LOL

Gary

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by MartyGras

If you know your way around the Internet and you have the correct equipment there isn't anything you can't watch for free in high definition.

And that's all I'm gonna say about that......LOL

Gary

Exaaactly... I use those sites mostly for watching the NFL games or new release movies...or a TV series that isn't on Demand. But I still need my cable.

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by davephan

.....
The problem with the Comcast DVR is you don't own it. I think it costs $20 a month, forever. Over time, that $20 a month will get jacked up even higher. I assume you can manually fast forward thorough commercials, but you probably don't have totally automatic commercial skipping with the Comcast DVR and Tivo systems. There are more choices today, so you don't have to waste your valuable time putting up with annoying commercials.
.....

I pay about $10 per dvr box/mo.

I got rid of all my tower PC's many years ago in favor of laptops due to electric costs. You have to figure in the costs to run that 300w energy hog all month compared to a 45w DVR.

If you are running that video server 24/7 that is about $28 a month at FPL rates (was much higher up north). Of course if it is sleep mode or off most of the day that price would go way down.

With upfront costs added in I think it's a wash.

No auto commercial skipping that I know of, but it takes less than 5 seconds to FF through them.

I opt for simplicity these days since she watches more TV than I do, a power button and channel changer on the remote is all she can handle .

If I was strictly using an antenna I wouldn't even bother with a recorder as I rarely watch those shows other than at prime time. I watch Fox News or CNBC most of the day while working on the computer (trading stocks)....it beats the soap operas and Dr. Oz that seem to be on the air channels all day. At night I usually watch the Discovery or History channels or similar.

[MartyGras]

Might I suggest an Amazon search for the following "Android XBMC box fully loaded"

You won't be disappointed.

Gary

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by MartyGras

Might I suggest an Amazon search for the following "Android XBMC box fully loaded"

You won't be disappointed.

Gary

I have been using my laptop and streaming to the TV's with Chromecast but have been thinking of getting a stand alone XBMC/Kodi box. Could you recommend a good one? (PM if needed)

[MartyGras]

Originally Posted by HarborRat

I have been using my laptop and streaming to the TV's with Chromecast but have been thinking of getting a stand alone XBMC/Kodi box. Could you recommend a good one? (PM if needed)

Dm sent

[davephan]

Originally Posted by HarborRat

I have been using my laptop and streaming to the TV's with Chromecast but have been thinking of getting a stand alone XBMC/Kodi box. Could you recommend a good one? (PM if needed)

I briefly checked XBMC Kodi, it looks like it has a lot of features that are on SageTV. I looked into XBMC years ago, and decided against switching to it. Maybe I should revisit it, and research XBMC Kodi again.

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by MartyGras

Dm sent

Thanks...going to do some research and order one tonight.