Cutting the cord in SA (stations, location, working)

[Pancho-Villa]

That's what I thought too. I guess he's misinformed.

[Bo]

Streaming currently exists in a sort of legal gray area in the United States. It’s illegal to reproduce copyrighted content - - meaning downloading commercial entertainment or broadcasting streams to thousands of people is explicitly prohibited - - but viewing one of those streams seems to be okay. Even if it were illegal, the chances of getting caught are minimal enough to be nonexistent.

Source

[CyVaquero]

Providing streams IS illegal, it comes down to distribution rights. When you are paying for content, you are only paying for the right to consume that content, not reproduce or retransmit it, even over a different medium. There is a long standing fair use argument for maintaining a personal backup copy, but that gets muddled by the DMCA and the fact that there has never been a case brought against someone copying for just that purpose. International laws (or lack of) muddy the waters further. However, I have never heard of a case of someone facing legal action for CONSUMING a pirate stream.

Some newer 'streaming' services like Popcorn Time piggybacked BitTorrent, which has had it's fair share of casualties over the years (google 'RIAA MPAA and BitTorrent'). Although again, it should be noted that suits were always brought against providers of pirated content, not the consumer-only users.

Honestly, the biggest threat you face is compromising your system due to malware as streamers may have somewhat 'loose' ethics when it comes to their advertising and script sources. Remember if there isn't an obvious product for sale, you are the product.

I would suggest looking into Kodi and some of it's add-ons as it can be loaded on cheap $40 Android-based streaming boxes (Amazon Fire Stick, Chromecast) and you won't risk compromising sensitive data on your computer(s).

Personally, I would gladly pay for NBA League Pass.....if they would let me watch my $%@$#@ home town team live. So, until the NBA wises up about the amount of money they are leaving on the table in pursuit of ticket sales and local TV blackout deals, I'll consume the only 'live' TV I care to watch via alternative methods.

[Pancho-Villa]

Didn't they actually go after some end users of Napster? I will advise my friend of these options, but also that they are illegal, so tread lightly. She'll probably just do the indoor antenna and something simple and legal, like the Roku/Apple TV and Netflix.

[CyVaquero]

Originally Posted by Pancho-Villa

Didn't they actually go after some end users of Napster? I will advise my friend of these options, but also that they are illegal, so tread lightly. She'll probably just do the indoor antenna and something simple and legal, like the Roku/Apple TV and Netflix.

Only those who were sharing out. Mainly it is because of the way the technology works - you are able to see who is making what content available - it's how discovery works on these networks, but you can not see who else is downloading from those sources. Likewise on BitTorrent you can see who is seeding to and leeching from you but you can't who is seeding and leeching those people.

I can't remember the name of the company that was hired by the RIAA and/or MPAA to find copyright infringers, but they got in a bit of trouble because they were polluting the networks with malware/spyware inflected files, which is falls under computer hacking statutes. I also believe there was a legality question of whether the property rights holders would still be able to claim damages if an agent of theirs was distributing content - kind of like putting goods out with a 'for free' sign and then claiming people were shoplifting.

[Pancho-Villa]

Understand, thanks.

[EntropyGuardian]

I got an external antenna, put it up where the former homeowners had a satellite dish. Took the dish off and screwed in the coax to the one that ran down to the splitter on the outside of the house.

Now I can't figure out which wire that runs out the back of my house connects to the coax outlet behind my TV.

I normally just use a little inside directional antenna which just screws directly into the TV.

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by EntropyGuardian

I got an external antenna, put it up where the former homeowners had a satellite dish. Took the dish off and screwed in the coax to the one that ran down to the splitter on the outside of the house.

Now I can't figure out which wire that runs out the back of my house connects to the coax outlet behind my TV.

I normally just use a little inside directional antenna which just screws directly into the TV.

The satellite dish should only be feeding the TV(s), so if you simply disconnect the feed from the satellite, then connect the coax inside that was feeding the receiver that was hooked up to the satellite, it should work, but the splitters that a satellite dish is hooked up to aren't always the type of splitter you need for an antenna, as it may have been designed specifically for satellite signals.

[EntropyGuardian]

Originally Posted by ged_782

The satellite dish should only be feeding the TV(s), so if you simply disconnect the feed from the satellite, then connect the coax inside that was feeding the receiver that was hooked up to the satellite, it should work, but the splitters that a satellite dish is hooked up to aren't always the type of splitter you need for an antenna, as it may have been designed specifically for satellite signals.

The satellite dish ran down to the 8-way splitter and then terminated. It wasn't actually connected to the internal house wiring when we bought the home.

Now, there is a hole in the wall that wires are coming out of. One bundle of three wires, another set of three, and then two other single wires. The single wires are plugged into the time warner box and something else I can't remember but it was something we actually use.

The other 6 wires weren't connected to anything, just zip tied up.

I plugged them into the splitter one by one and searched for OTA stations on the TV and nothing ever came up.

I moved the TV later and saw that there was another coax connection down there so I screwed the TV into that. I haven't tried all the wires again since then.

It'd be so much easier just to run a long wire from the dish, around the side of the house, and then through an open window to the back of the TV.

But alas.

[penpen631]

Our setup is as follows:

Living Room TV:

• Dedicated laptop that is connect to the TV via HDMI cable. We stream Netflix (only one account), Amazon Prime (only one account), and whatever free episodes are showing on channels like Food Network, HGTV, etc.
• OTA antenna gives us about 27 channels (English and Spanish).
• NFL Sunday Ticket is now available for all viewers (if you have a student in the family, I've heard you can get the package for $99).
• MLB offers streaming options, including single-team streaming starting this year.
• NBA blackouts are the devil so we are creative with watching Spurs games. Non-Spurs fans can do single-team or league pass through NBA.com.
• We already have a giant collection of movies so we watch whatever we want.

Bedroom TV:

• No OTA antenna
• Chromecast which lets us watch Netflix, Youtube, CBS, ABC, etc. via phone apps.

I have friends with better setups (no dedicated laptop) using X-box, Smart TVs, and wireless internet. Still trying to figure all that out.