I cut the cord

[hendrickx]

I cut the cord. My main living room TV has no digital tuner. Bedroom TV does.

If I hook up the cable line in the bedroom I get 40+ channels, TBS is one, but otherwise it looks like it's all broadcast TV in the expected spots. I plan to test with an antenna as well to see which gets me more. I have a Wiegand antenna from 2011 (30 mile range) that I was using last time I quit cable.

Here's my questions:

1) I want to get a box for the living room. I'd prefer to have the ability to record (2 tuners would be ideal, but I'll be OK with one) and a guide would be awesome, but again, I can do the old school "look it up on tv guide and set the box" method.
2) I want to be able to save some programs for offline/later viewing (over plex or something) so being able to extract the recordings would be awesome.

Suggestions on equipment I should be looking at? I'd prefer under $50, but will go up to $100 if it's worth the extra investment. I don't plan on returning to cable soon, and even if I do the annual summer slump in my budget will force me to go this way again each year. Was looking at Mediasonic HW180STB on Amazon, but I have no idea if that's decent or not.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[jayn_j]

Sorry, you didn't cut the cord. You simply stopped paying for lifeline cable. Cutting the cord means using an antenna, not the cable signal.

That said, you are going to run into issues. Modern TV has two different channel numbers. One is the mapped channel, and that's what you are seeing. The other is the actual frequency the signal is being broadcast on. These broadcast signals use an encoding scheme called clear-QAM and that has slowly been going away in the wake of several court decisions.

So, in order to make this work for a recorder, you need a DCR that decodes QAM, operates on the cable signals and properly maps the channel numbers. For NBR to work the quide needs to operate on the mapped channel number and not the actual frequency (since OTA and cable are different). Finally, this will only work as long as your cable company continues to offer broadcast in clear QAM. Here in Milwaukee, TWC has removed most of the subchannels and the HD feeds for NBC and CBS.

 

[osu1991]

The OP has an antenna and is looking at using that or the unencrypted QAM signal, which I assume is from their internet service.

Channel Master DVR+ and Tivo are the most well known and most expensive, but they work just like most pay tv dvrs. I haven't used any of the cheaper ATSC tuner/dvr solutions like the Mediasonic but other around here have.

If your locals stay unencrypted from the cable source, a Tivo would work as long as the QAM channels are mappable. My Tivo works just fine without a cable card for digital QAM locals from Cox, but as stated that could eventually go away.

For an antenna, my Tivo works great and the ChannelMaster DVR+ also is a good option. Both provide listings and the advanced dvr features you find with any pay tv dvr. However you are looking at $200-$400 for those solutions, unless you can find a good deal on a used device.

You can get the Tivo Roamio OTA dvr new for $49 and pay $15 a month for guide and dvr service. The Tivo is worthless without the service though.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/tivo-ro...lack/8758098.p?id=1219364357147&skuId=8758098


A used DTV Pal Dvr is a good option too.

You can look thru the HDTV Recorders section at AVS to see what everyone is using and/or having problems with

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/42-hdtv-recorders/

 

[Titanium]

Quick clarification on North American TV:
Broadcast over the air channels use the ATSC format. Cable TV channels use the QAM.

Is your basic cable provided for free? If so, you may continue to receive the QAM cable channels that are unencrypted with a QAM tuner. If you just cancelled your cable, they may not have physically disconnected the drop (or they may never physically disconnect). As jayn_j stated, this is not cutting the cord....

No experience with the Mediasonic HW180STB. Personally, I use and recommend a SiliconDust HomeRun dual tuner and Windows Media Center software on a WIN7 PC to record with full (free) 2 week and series EPG. Watch on any computer, tablet or phone on the LAN. Silicon Dust just announced their own DVR application, which is good as WMC will no longer be supported with the release of Win10.

 

[hendrickx]

I get nothing from cable. The wire is acting as an antenna near as I can tell. The subchannels that I see on my local stations are nowhere on the cable service. I was happy to find Buzzr, as I was a GSN addict.

I plan to compare tonight or tomorrow what channels I get from the cable line plugged in versus the antenna plugged in, had to stop and get the antenna from storage.

On the living room TV I get nothing at all. That's where I'm putting the indoor antenna and whatever box I buy. There is no digital tuner there built in, that's why I'm asking the questions. Clear QAM shouldn't matter for that if I pull the cable line and hook to my antenna am I right?

Basic cable is not free for me. My internet is from the cable provider. They did put a filter on my line to kill the TV signal which has not affected my internet this time around. Last couple years it made my internet so crappy they eventually pulled the filter and didn't care I was getting basic cable free. Last year's round took 28 tech visits to fix my internet and that was the solution. This year it seems like they got it sorted out.

Primarily I want OTA to watch hurricane coverage when Tampa gets a storm, but some network football or Nascar would be cool too, which is why I'd like to get the living room hooked up.
I do have chromecast on both TVs and Roku on one, so might look into using the PC for recordings. Just have to run some wires for the antenna to hit the living room, bedroom and PC.

 

[Titanium]

What confuses me is that you are receiving TBS. Is this available over the air in your area?

You are correct. If you are going to be exclusively OTA ATSC channels, you do not need equipment that is capable of receiving clear QAM. The equipment needs an ATSC tuner only.

 

[hendrickx]

TBS is not OTA in my area. That was my clue that my cable provider may not be blocking everything and why I dug the antenna out. I'll have to compare channel listings from the cable feed versus the antenna tomorrow night, looks like I won't make it home in time to do it tonight.

I'm looking though the AVS Thread referenced. Lots of stuff to look at there.

SiliconDust is cool, but I'm primarily concerned with live OTA signals to my living room TV. If the box does recordings too, awesome. Not ready to drop $100+ on something that will record to the PC without solving the live viewing issue.

 

[Titanium]

Good luck with your testing!

More info... The Silicon dust is simply a LAN based tuner with no AV output. Just an antenna in and LAN connection. It is tuned and a viewer can watch live programming using a media box on the network. (like and android STB), computer, tablet or smartphone. Recording capability is provided by DVR software on the computer Android STB and soon on a NAS drive. The features are very rich and it can be simple or very advanced depending on your needs. Just wanted to make you aware that there are some very cool devices available and not just a STB with now and next EPG data.

 

[jayn_j]

I can only speak for TWC here in Milwaukee, but when I cut my cable and kept internet, they sent someone out to put in a blocking filter. Yje filter was quite effective from channel 5 up to around channel 60. I was still able to receive a good signal of TBS on channel 3, Lifetime on 65 and FOOD network on channel 66. There were a number of stations available in clear QAM. I continued to receive with an antenna, but the experimenter in me continued to check back. About 1 year ago TWC killed the clear QAM feeds for NBC, CDS and most of the sub channels of the other majors. They sent out a notice that low tier subscribers could continue to receive these stations, but they would need to use a cable box. The cable box would be free for 2 years, but no discussion on what the cost would be after that.

The fact that you get TBS proves to me that you are using the cable feed, probably with a trap installed, so all this stuff applies.

I continued experimenting with my TIVO and discovered some interesting things. If I used the TIVO in OTA mode, I could not receive the stations as they were not being sent in the broadcast VHF or UHF bands. If I switched to the cable setting, the stations would come in and be decoded. They would decode to xx.x for channel numbers. However, the guide would not work because TIVO was expecting the broadcast channels to map to 10xx where they are on the cable box. So, I could receive the channels, but could not do name based recording or see the guide data.

BTW, if you do look into the TIVO, be sure to look at the Roamio basic model. The 4 tuner one. The more expensive ones are cable only and will not work without a subscription and cable card. I expect the TIVO is too expensive as it is either $15/mo for 2 years, or a lifetime subscription of $400-500. You can purchase older Premiere and series 3 units with a lifetime subscription already applied for around $300.

Is your living room TV high definition? Do you know/care? If not, your cheapest solution is to purchase an ATSC tuning adapter. The government used to give out coupons for these, but that program is long gone. Something like this will allow you to receive ATSC on your TV:
Amazon product ASIN B00IYETYX8It claims a DVR capability, but that requires external memory and the reports are that the scheduling is terrible.

Finally, I hate to repeat it, but continuing to use the cable signal is probably theft of service and they could come after you.

 

[Tampa8]

I think of the Silicon Dust Home Run boxes as a distribution box. It takes a signal you already get OTA and makes it easy to watch on TV's and other devices throughout the house.

I don't see it as theft of service. The signal is coming into his home through no making of his own. And in fact he is using the system legally for Internet. They can block them all if they want to and he would receive nothing.
Unless you need more than two tuners the Channel Master DVR for my money is the one to get. No ongoing fees and you get a guide and two tuners to record from. Hook it up to the Internet and get a few Roku like channels as well as an extended guide. Again, free. If you want to watch away from home, a Slingbox works very well in conjunction with it.

 

[Albiondon]

Here is a over the air device that might interest you:
https://www.tablotv.com/

 

[radio]

Have been using one for many months. GREAT box, especially since the app update. Just been too busy to review here! (TabloTV) Excellent forum with other users, excellent support. A few quirks, but minimal to the "above average" user who owns roku boxes and has an efficient home network! Highly recommend. If I had it to do again, I'd get the 4-tuner unit, not the two.

Jay: the Homeworx boxes are not bad. Friend of mine got mine when I upgraded to TabloTV, and he's put a few in for friends. Occasionally has issues with voice to video sync, but show me a digital device that eventually DOESN'T! Recordings looked good. Clunky operation, but you get used to it, and for the price, WHY NOT have one! Beats not having recording capabilities! Guide from each station went out far enough to plan on most of my local channels.

 

[osu1991]

Lots of choices

Pachinko over at AVS created a program to off load the OTA files from the 16GB DVR+ that uses an external hard drive, so you can edit the commercials out and archive the files.

I use pyTivo to export the files from my Roamio to the computer. Tivo just added Plex to the Roamio. Plex is starting to win me over, as I have been using it a lot lately on the Roamio. Plex still needs to fix a few things buts its a good start with the Tivo integration.

ChannelMaster DVR+ is 2 tuners and you add your own external USB drive. It has an internet guide as part of purchase price or reverts to psip from the local station if no internet connection is available.

Tivo you want the Roamio Basic or the Roamio OTA. Roamio Basic can do cable or OTA. The Roamio OTA is obviously OTA only. They come with 4 tuners and require internet connection for guide data

 

[hendrickx]

Lots of options. I think if I'm going to drop a couple hundred, it'll be a channel master, Tabelo or Tivo, probably not the HD Home run as much as I like it.

I'm most likely to pick up that cheap $40 Mediasonic box and move to something fancier and more expensive if we stick OTA for longer than a few months,

As far as theft of service: Bright House has been told that I'm not interested in TV Service. I ordered internet only. They want to provide me with the few channels I'm getting, that's on them, not me. I haven't done anything other than plugging a wire between the wall jack and my TV hoping my interior wiring might prevent me from hooking up an antenna (not knowing any better) -- Imagine my surprise when I channel scanned and got lots of hits.

My current game plan is to re-run the Bright House line in my attic directly to the cable modem's outlet. Then I was going to stick my antenna up there using the splitter and the remainder of the existing cable wiring to got it to my TVs.

Thanks so much for the helpful discussion and pointing me towards products. I have a bit of reading, comparing and work to do.

 

[osu1991]

If interested in Tivo, now is a good time

https://www.tivo.com/roamiopma15

TiVo Hot Summer Sale
Save BIG on TiVo Roamio series DVRs while supplies last!

New Roamio OTA ($50)
New Roamio Basic ($150)
Renewed Roamio Basic ($50)


Product Lifetime service $349.99 reg. $499.99

 

[primestar31]

If interested in Tivo, now is a good time

https://www.tivo.com/roamiopma15

TiVo Hot Summer Sale
Save BIG on TiVo Roamio series DVRs while supplies last!

New Roamio OTA ($50)
New Roamio Basic ($150)
Renewed Roamio Basic ($50)


Product Lifetime service $349.99 reg. $499.99

Any idea how long their sale is going to last this time?

That "renewed" Roamio basic for $49.99 + Lifetime service at $349.99 is MIGHTY tempting! I'm not quite ready for it yet (I have to do some work on my OTA antennas), but those prices can't be easily beat.

Personally, I prefer factory "renewed" devices to brand new. At least you know they were (supposedly) gone through by a human, and they made SURE they worked before selling them. As opposed to being boxed on an assembly line without testing, and shipped to a store...

 

[osu1991]

2 of my 3 Roamio Basics are factory renewed. Looked brand new and work great.

 

[primestar31]

What's the learning curve on a Roamio basic, compared to say the Dish VIP722k? I'll probably switch from Dish to a Charter sub (I already have Charter for internet-only)

I have one of those wives that is completely technologically challenged, to an extreme degree.... But she knows how to run the 722k.

 

[osu1991]

Tivo is very close in operation to Dish. My stepmom and mom both learned it in a week and they were coming from using 722 and 211's. Tivo is very easy to learn and adapt to.

No stop button. Use pause and back button.

You can change the 30sec scan to 30sec skip.

You can go in and preset some things so making a One Pass timer already has defaults like New Only and pad ending by 1min etc.

The Live TV button cycles thru each of the tuners.


Skip fwd buttons jumps 24hrs in guide fast fwd jumps 2hrs in guide.

Tivo Central button is the DVR button to get to recordings list and settings.

One Pass is integrated with Netflix, Amazon, VUDU etc if you so subscribe, searches will bring up listings for those services as well as broadcasts or recordings.

Big bonus is the hard drive is user replaceable. You can pop the cover and replace the stock 500GB drive with up to a 3TB and the Roamio will automatically format and prepare it for use.

 

[primestar31]

Well, I ordered the refurb standard Tivo, and lifetime. With tax, it's $402.98.

That's around 6 months of my Dish bill. I'll really miss the stuff on my external drive though. Maybe I'll drop to a real minimum Dish sub for a while, to make sure the wife can adapt to the Tivo. Worst gets to worst, I'm sure I could resell the Tivo and get all my money back...