as an offhand thought u could use the coolsat to move the motor, then loop out the coax to the tuner... as far as streaming vlc does it wonderfully once its configured
Success with a ku motor.
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She is using a Hauppauge Nova S2, One of the few S2 cards compatible with MyTheatre. PCI of course. The big reason for staying with MyTheatre is the seemless intergration of a ATSC tuner (also Hauppauge) When Dee started this thread, I assumed she had the motor working with her setup. Guess not.
Yes, that's the tuner card I have.
The motor thing.. Oh boy..
Ok, so I got a motor like over a year ago but never could figure out how to attach it to any of my dishes so it sat around gathering dust for the last year or so.
Then about a month ago I think, one day I was sitting out back making wind chimes out of fence pipes and it dawned on me that I might could use a piece of fence pipe to adapt the motor to a dish. Long story short, I did some measuring and it worked. FINALLY, I found a way to put a motor on one of my dishes. I put the motor on a dish and just aimed it by hand at the satellite with the ABC stuff on it and left it there for a few weeks. I didn't attempt to use the motor, I was just using it as a fixed dish.
Then my dad brought up the issue again after he found a used 1 meter dish and I told him I could help them get a motorized system going. We got him an Openbox S9, I put his tuner on the motor and got it working here. We took it to my folks house and it worked even better there than I had it working here.
So I did have a motor working here, it just was never connected to my stuff. It only worked on my folks new Openbox tuner.
After having such great luck with their motorized dish I decided to do one for myself, I bought a new motor for myself and assumed it would be different because I have more stuff.
But the thing is, the motor is first in the line and it doesn't move it at all. The coolsat does. I remove the wire from the pc and put it on the coolsat and the motor works fine.
Back on the pc, nothing.
The coolsat does NOT like my 8 way switch though, I had fed the lnb from the motorize dish into #8 on the switch. When I tried to setup the coolsat I would tell it that I have satellite 83w on a USALS motor, uncommitted 8 and it would just change it back to uncommitted 1. It refuses to allow me to set it to uncommitted 5,6,7 or 8 even though those options are there, all the way up to uncommitted 16. If I set it above 4 it instantly changes it back to #1. So I went out and moved the wire from 8 to 1 on the switch and that works fine.
When I change satellites it moves the dish and the channels come in as they should.
On the pc, the motor does not move at all and when I change to a different satellite it might sit there for 2 minutes before the channel comes in, sometimes it won't come in at all unless I change back and forth between several satellites several times. The pc just plain and simple does not at all like the motor.
And now I just see a post about it maybe burning out the pc. Nope. That's it. I don't want to risk burning up the switch or the pc so I'm leaving the motor alone until I get an Azbox.
I record OTA tv shows everyday and satellite shows too so I need a single tuner box that will work with my C band, ku, S2 and OTA all in a single device, with a single remote control, that can record and keep shows (I've started a library of Highway Patrol, for one.)
I see that the Azbox also tunes in internet tv. That would be awesome to be able to use it to tune in Whitesprings because even though they are gone from satellite :cry: you can still see them on the internet. It also does Youtube and I think it might do Netflix and that other one like it.
What more could you ask for?
I also downloaded and looked at the apps for the Azbox and they look pretty impressive, you can control the thing from your pc! And of course you can edit all its settings six ways to Sunday.
The pc is very limited. It's like my Dad's 1990's cell phone (that he still uses and covets) it does one thing and it does it reliably. But that's all it does. No bells, no whistles. You can watch satellite, period. I can record of course and that's a biggie but that's pretty much all it does..
And it works with the tuner cards as if they were one tuner. THAT feature alone is the only reason I'm using it. That and I can't figure out any other app that will do that. So I'm stuck with the pc until Azbox fixes the problem preventing it from using satellite and OTA tuners at the same time. As soon as they can fix that, I'm all over this pc mess.
I don't want to at ALL sound glib here Dee-Ann, but jeesh, how much TV can one person watch in a day? You have invested a heck of a lot of time and money into your system, and I pointed this out to you before, the biggest thing that the AZ box does for satellite watching is 4:2:2 and that's mostly sports. And as Iceberg pointed out to you once before, they are even going away from that too and doing things in 4:2:0 which you can get on the s9 or s10.
As for watching Netflix, YouTube and a variety of other streaming programs, the cheapest new BluRay players are now all loaded with that, and you can't record what you get off Netflix anyway, so why bother?
We do most of our TV watching in the bedroom, it's the only place with an Air Conditioner now, long story, but it has ALWAYS been our most used room in the house, and with the OTA, BluRay and s9, with the attached hard drive, that's all we need. And I might point out, the TV is on all the time, for noise if nothing else.
We have a less expensive 32" Sony Bravia in the bedroom, it has three HDMI inputs plus the R/Y/W connectors, we could add as many as four inputs to that TV, but only have two connected. We have the S9 and the BluRay ($100 from Walmart) plus OTA and get ALL the TV we want, very little expense, and more dishes than I care to talk about but only four connected to the system.
We only have the CNX Duo and a BluRay player in the livingroom, but that doesn't do HDTV, so the only HD we watch is OTA in the livingroom. That is until the weather cools down a bit. Yesterday was 104 degrees and this is typical here in AZ.
I wish I could afford to replace the majority of my LNBs with dual feed LNBs, and replace the 4X1 switches each with 8X1s, but that aint gonna' happen for a while, but again and still, we watch everything we want to watch with our system, and I am the envy of all our neighbors, because our total bill comes to about $29.99 for cable for internet and $9.95 for netflix, that's it.
Don't take me wrong here, I and we here at satguys are proud as hell of you for what you have accomplished, but you have to stop somewhere and enjoy what you have done for yourself. I mentioned once in this thread (I believe it was in this thread) that it's time for you to sit back and relax, and watch TV instead of spending more money (you have complained about that several times).
Right now we have four dishes that we use the most, one each movable C and KU band, and one each fixed and movable C and KU band dishes, plus the OTA antennae.
With all you are now trying to accomplish, you must be luckier than I with a 48 hour day, sleep three of those 48 hours and watch TV the rest of the time.
Smile now Dee-Ann, enjoy what you have and have done, and feel VERY PROUD of all you have accomplished, and GO WATCH SOME TV.
Photto
As for watching Netflix, YouTube and a variety of other streaming programs, the cheapest new BluRay players are now all loaded with that, and you can't record what you get off Netflix anyway, so why bother?
We do most of our TV watching in the bedroom, it's the only place with an Air Conditioner now, long story, but it has ALWAYS been our most used room in the house, and with the OTA, BluRay and s9, with the attached hard drive, that's all we need. And I might point out, the TV is on all the time, for noise if nothing else.
We have a less expensive 32" Sony Bravia in the bedroom, it has three HDMI inputs plus the R/Y/W connectors, we could add as many as four inputs to that TV, but only have two connected. We have the S9 and the BluRay ($100 from Walmart) plus OTA and get ALL the TV we want, very little expense, and more dishes than I care to talk about but only four connected to the system.
We only have the CNX Duo and a BluRay player in the livingroom, but that doesn't do HDTV, so the only HD we watch is OTA in the livingroom. That is until the weather cools down a bit. Yesterday was 104 degrees and this is typical here in AZ.
I wish I could afford to replace the majority of my LNBs with dual feed LNBs, and replace the 4X1 switches each with 8X1s, but that aint gonna' happen for a while, but again and still, we watch everything we want to watch with our system, and I am the envy of all our neighbors, because our total bill comes to about $29.99 for cable for internet and $9.95 for netflix, that's it.
Don't take me wrong here, I and we here at satguys are proud as hell of you for what you have accomplished, but you have to stop somewhere and enjoy what you have done for yourself. I mentioned once in this thread (I believe it was in this thread) that it's time for you to sit back and relax, and watch TV instead of spending more money (you have complained about that several times).
Right now we have four dishes that we use the most, one each movable C and KU band, and one each fixed and movable C and KU band dishes, plus the OTA antennae.
With all you are now trying to accomplish, you must be luckier than I with a 48 hour day, sleep three of those 48 hours and watch TV the rest of the time.
Smile now Dee-Ann, enjoy what you have and have done, and feel VERY PROUD of all you have accomplished, and GO WATCH SOME TV.
Photto
How much TV can I watch? A LOT...
That's the whole, entire point of all this, isn't it?
As for the 4:2:2 stuff, as you guys have said, that's sports and I care not one iota about sports. Not in the least.
So the 4:2:2 feature is something I do not care at all about and will never use.
The thing about the Azbox is, it's the only tuner that tunes in satellite and OTA tv in a single box. No one else makes one that does that.
My pc, does that but it's very limited outside of that ability. I want something that is more friendly to me.
I can record things with the pc but playing them back is a miserable pain in the back side. I can not use the remote control to play back any recordings or anything else that is on the pc. The only way to play back recordings is to go TO THE PC and sit down, drag out the keyboard, drag out the mouse and go to the dos and open windows and look at little bitty file names that are hard to read and find the one I want then click on it. With the mouse. It is absolutely 100% impossible to do that with the remote control. NOT very user friendly......
I don't have netflix or that other one, their competitor, but I've considered it. There are some TV shows I can't get on satellite that I would like to watch. $10 a month IF they have them, is not too bad. But I'm not about to pay $100+ a month for pizza TV and you can't even record and keep shows. They have tivo things but you can't keep what's on them, they just erase them after a certain time period and you have no say so in it. I don't like that option. I want to keep what I record permanently.
As for a DVD player, I don't own one and don't really want one. I have less than a dozen DVD's, mostly gifts from my kids over the years. I had a DVD player about 7 years ago but it died about a week after the warranty ran out, I think it was 90 days. There's nowhere to rent movies and I honestly don't watch movies very much. I've sat through maybe 2 movies on TV in the last 3 years. I haven't been to a movie theater in 20 years with the single exception of Avatar in 2009.
And the prices they charge for DVD's now, $20 or more? Too much for something I ~might~ watch one time and put away on the shelf for 20 years. I've never even seen a bluray, I don't know anyone that owns one or anyone that has ever seen a bluray.
I can not see any reason to spend the money on a DVD player that's just going to die anyway if not become obsolete before you can blink. I don't watch movies enough to make it worth the expense. I am frequently interrupted and nothing gets on my nerves more than being interrupted during a movie. Short TV shows, that's different, I don't get too upset about that.
Another thing about DVD's that I find 100% intolerable is the 45 hours of commercials / trailers you are assaulted with before you can watch the movie! And you can not skip the commercials. THAT is absolutely unacceptable to me.
Yes, the Openbox is much cheaper but it will not tune in OTA TV. If I got one of those it would be a step backwards. Yes, I could hook it to my flat screen and get pretty pictures but then I would lose the ability to record OTA TV which I do every single day.
If there is any other tuner that will work with my dishes, let me view and record C band, ku band, S2 band AND OTA, I would be thrilled to take a look at it.
The pc theater app stinks. I do not like it, I want to get rid of the pc system because it's big, ugly, flaky, limited and just plain old unfriendly to use. It's too basic.
But back to the primary question, how much TV can I watch? LOTS and LOTS and LOTS..
That's what I'm in this for. Yes, I have a lot of dishes now but remember, each dish only gets a few channels, this is not pizza TV ya know.
83 - 2 channels. meh....
87 - 125+ channels, most of them duplicates, in actuality, call it 5 channels.
97 - 1 channel.
101 - 1 channel.
125 - ~10 channels.
Those are the satellites I call my staples. And 83, not so much anymore.
There are others but I rarely visit them.
I watched some of the Casey Anthony trial on the one with ABC but that's about it. Nothing on there is regular. I'm trying to find a channel called Free Speech TV (a left wing channel) on another satellite but I can't seem to find it. I see it listed as being an in the clear channel but I just can't find it. Oh well.
So I can find plenty to entertain me on those satellites and OTA combined with the exception of 1am to 4am. That's a dead zone for me. I do not like the war shows that come on and the westerns don't do much for me either. That's a pretty boring time frame for me. So during that time frame I can play back recordings of shows I missed earlier in the day due to naps or interruptions. I record Hawaii 5.0 because I frequently miss it, I can play it back then delete it. I don't really care to keep Hawaii 5.0 long term, I just like watching it and I can time shift it with the pc. I can also catch up on Highway Patrol which I record and keep. I want to have permanent copies of the entire series. Sometimes I fall asleep and miss it so I can always watch them later. I have several serious sleep disorders and keeping regular hours is completely impossible for me. The times that I go to sleep and get up change constantly. I usually stay up nights and sleep days but I often flip my hours to days every few months for a few weeks, which I'm in one of those flips right now. So time shifting is very helpful to me.
Why all this stuff? Because I'm bored. I used to be a very ambitious, hard working, never stay still kind of person, always on the go, always moving, always busy. I'm no longer employed and this stuff keeps me busy. And I'm learning something new. I'll never be anywhere near what you guys can do but I think I know at least a little more than your Average Annie..
And the good part is, I'm saving a lot of money by not having pizza or cable TV! I'm not going to pay $100+ a month for stuff that most of it I would never watch anyway.
As for finances, I'm on a fixed income now. I can cut corners some months if I need to get something. Or I can just eat Ramen Noodles for a few weeks if it's a big ticket item.
I'll be eating Ramen Noodles for a few months once they come out with a FIXED Azbox that works properly with satellite and OTA..
That's the whole, entire point of all this, isn't it?
As for the 4:2:2 stuff, as you guys have said, that's sports and I care not one iota about sports. Not in the least.
So the 4:2:2 feature is something I do not care at all about and will never use.
The thing about the Azbox is, it's the only tuner that tunes in satellite and OTA tv in a single box. No one else makes one that does that.
My pc, does that but it's very limited outside of that ability. I want something that is more friendly to me.
I can record things with the pc but playing them back is a miserable pain in the back side. I can not use the remote control to play back any recordings or anything else that is on the pc. The only way to play back recordings is to go TO THE PC and sit down, drag out the keyboard, drag out the mouse and go to the dos and open windows and look at little bitty file names that are hard to read and find the one I want then click on it. With the mouse. It is absolutely 100% impossible to do that with the remote control.
NOT very user friendly......I don't have netflix or that other one, their competitor, but I've considered it. There are some TV shows I can't get on satellite that I would like to watch. $10 a month IF they have them, is not too bad. But I'm not about to pay $100+ a month for pizza TV and you can't even record and keep shows. They have tivo things but you can't keep what's on them, they just erase them after a certain time period and you have no say so in it. I don't like that option. I want to keep what I record permanently.
As for a DVD player, I don't own one and don't really want one. I have less than a dozen DVD's, mostly gifts from my kids over the years. I had a DVD player about 7 years ago but it died about a week after the warranty ran out, I think it was 90 days. There's nowhere to rent movies and I honestly don't watch movies very much. I've sat through maybe 2 movies on TV in the last 3 years. I haven't been to a movie theater in 20 years with the single exception of Avatar in 2009.
And the prices they charge for DVD's now, $20 or more? Too much for something I ~might~ watch one time and put away on the shelf for 20 years. I've never even seen a bluray, I don't know anyone that owns one or anyone that has ever seen a bluray.
I can not see any reason to spend the money on a DVD player that's just going to die anyway if not become obsolete before you can blink. I don't watch movies enough to make it worth the expense. I am frequently interrupted and nothing gets on my nerves more than being interrupted during a movie. Short TV shows, that's different, I don't get too upset about that.
Another thing about DVD's that I find 100% intolerable is the 45 hours of commercials / trailers you are assaulted with before you can watch the movie! And you can not skip the commercials. THAT is absolutely unacceptable to me.
Yes, the Openbox is much cheaper but it will not tune in OTA TV. If I got one of those it would be a step backwards. Yes, I could hook it to my flat screen and get pretty pictures but then I would lose the ability to record OTA TV which I do every single day.
If there is any other tuner that will work with my dishes, let me view and record C band, ku band, S2 band AND OTA, I would be thrilled to take a look at it.
The pc theater app stinks. I do not like it, I want to get rid of the pc system because it's big, ugly, flaky, limited and just plain old unfriendly to use. It's too basic.
But back to the primary question, how much TV can I watch? LOTS and LOTS and LOTS..
That's what I'm in this for. Yes, I have a lot of dishes now but remember, each dish only gets a few channels, this is not pizza TV ya know.
83 - 2 channels. meh....
87 - 125+ channels, most of them duplicates, in actuality, call it 5 channels.
97 - 1 channel.
101 - 1 channel.
125 - ~10 channels.
Those are the satellites I call my staples. And 83, not so much anymore.
There are others but I rarely visit them.
I watched some of the Casey Anthony trial on the one with ABC but that's about it. Nothing on there is regular. I'm trying to find a channel called Free Speech TV (a left wing channel) on another satellite but I can't seem to find it.
I see it listed as being an in the clear channel but I just can't find it. Oh well.So I can find plenty to entertain me on those satellites and OTA combined with the exception of 1am to 4am. That's a dead zone for me. I do not like the war shows that come on and the westerns don't do much for me either. That's a pretty boring time frame for me. So during that time frame I can play back recordings of shows I missed earlier in the day due to naps or interruptions. I record Hawaii 5.0 because I frequently miss it, I can play it back then delete it. I don't really care to keep Hawaii 5.0 long term, I just like watching it and I can time shift it with the pc. I can also catch up on Highway Patrol which I record and keep. I want to have permanent copies of the entire series. Sometimes I fall asleep and miss it so I can always watch them later. I have several serious sleep disorders and keeping regular hours is completely impossible for me. The times that I go to sleep and get up change constantly. I usually stay up nights and sleep days but I often flip my hours to days every few months for a few weeks, which I'm in one of those flips right now. So time shifting is very helpful to me.
Why all this stuff? Because I'm bored. I used to be a very ambitious, hard working, never stay still kind of person, always on the go, always moving, always busy. I'm no longer employed and this stuff keeps me busy. And I'm learning something new. I'll never be anywhere near what you guys can do but I think I know at least a little more than your Average Annie..
And the good part is, I'm saving a lot of money by not having pizza or cable TV! I'm not going to pay $100+ a month for stuff that most of it I would never watch anyway.
As for finances, I'm on a fixed income now. I can cut corners some months if I need to get something. Or I can just eat Ramen Noodles for a few weeks if it's a big ticket item.
I'll be eating Ramen Noodles for a few months once they come out with a FIXED Azbox that works properly with satellite and OTA..
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"I don't have netflix or that other one, their competitor, but I've considered it. There are some TV shows I can't get on satellite that I would like to watch. $10 a month IF they have them, is not too bad. "
If you already have high-speed internet, Netflix is worth a try. I have played around with it at our daughter's house in town, and would sign up for Netflix today if we could get true high-speed internet at our rural location.
You need a good high speed connection for Netflix or other streaming video. Slow DSL or satellite won't cut it.
"Another thing about DVD's that I find 100% intolerable is the 45 hours of commercials / trailers you are assaulted with before you can watch the movie! And you can not skip the commercials. THAT is absolutely unacceptable to me."
As you know, the menu buttons are disabled in the previews. Try the "Skip to end of Chapter" button on the remote: >>I It usually will let you bop through them quickly. If it is disabled, set your fast forward >>> to warp speed and try to enjoy the ride. One or the other works most of the time for me.
If you already have high-speed internet, Netflix is worth a try. I have played around with it at our daughter's house in town, and would sign up for Netflix today if we could get true high-speed internet at our rural location.
You need a good high speed connection for Netflix or other streaming video. Slow DSL or satellite won't cut it.
"Another thing about DVD's that I find 100% intolerable is the 45 hours of commercials / trailers you are assaulted with before you can watch the movie! And you can not skip the commercials. THAT is absolutely unacceptable to me."
As you know, the menu buttons are disabled in the previews. Try the "Skip to end of Chapter" button on the remote: >>I It usually will let you bop through them quickly. If it is disabled, set your fast forward >>> to warp speed and try to enjoy the ride. One or the other works most of the time for me.
Arrrrgh! I was typing and a storm knocked the power out and everything was lost.
Long story short, it looks like I may be able to obtain a small C band dish for my folks. I called Mom and told her what comes on MeTV and she's excited.
I sure hope this works out, my folks have done a LOT for me, it would be so cool to give them a little back.
Mom loves Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart. Now if they would only run the old Carol Burnett shows and Red Skelton, we would all be happy campers..
Long story short, it looks like I may be able to obtain a small C band dish for my folks. I called Mom and told her what comes on MeTV and she's excited.
I sure hope this works out, my folks have done a LOT for me, it would be so cool to give them a little back.
Mom loves Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart. Now if they would only run the old Carol Burnett shows and Red Skelton, we would all be happy campers..
I do have really fast Road Runner. I've never seen Netflix or that other one, Hulu though I've heard a lot about them. I don't have a netflix or hulu tuner so I really never looked at them very much other than noticing stories in the news from time to time. I don't know anyone that uses them either. I had a friend once that used to get DVDs in the mail, I think she used netflix but I'm not sure. She couldn't watch videos online because she had very slow DSL so all she talked about was the DVDs and she said it was a good deal. Eh... She was into movies a lot..
I would like to get some of the TV channels like Lifetime, We, etc.. If you can get those on the internet, I would do that. I don't mind paying for what I watch but paying for a whole lot of what I would never watch, doesn't fit my idea of sane spending.
Even if I couldn't record the Hulu or Netflix, I would be ok with that, I guess. I just want everything in one tuner box.
But DVDs really just don't do anything for me because I just can't sit down and watch a movie for 2 hours. I can't see myself ever buying another DVD player. Even if there was one in an Azbox, I would never use it.
At our daughter's house they use their Nintendo Wii to access the NetFlix online service. I never checked to see if TV shows were available, just looked through the movies and chose one.
You can watch videos at hulu.com on your internet computer, no special equipment required. I think PBS has most of their shows available online too.
You can watch videos at hulu.com on your internet computer, no special equipment required. I think PBS has most of their shows available online too.
Dee,
Not sure what you want off of lifetime, but you can go to a lot of the networks websites and watch full episodes online even if you don't subscribe to their services on cable/sat.
Video | myLifetime.com
hulu.com is a good place for streaming episodes of shows also. Some stuff is available through their subscription service Hulu Plus
Browse by Network - Hulu
Not sure what you want off of lifetime, but you can go to a lot of the networks websites and watch full episodes online even if you don't subscribe to their services on cable/sat.
Video | myLifetime.com
hulu.com is a good place for streaming episodes of shows also. Some stuff is available through their subscription service Hulu Plus
Browse by Network - Hulu
where is this ota tuner for the azbox your talking about. last i heard they dont exist. why not try and find a coolsat 8000 / 8100. its probly better suited to the sat / ota solution your looking for. in my experience pc sat tv is fairly difficult to setup but once your done a pc can do alot more than any stb. also i wouldnt get your hopes up for the azboxes iptv capabilities. i havent had much success with it. instead google xbmc live and you will be alot happier. did you ever try sichbopvr deeann? i know he was adding tuner support for some other users so ota may be doable with an email or two. truth is the azbox is just as imperfect as everything else in this hobby. if it didnt do 4:2:2 i doubt we would have even heard of it in north america.
crackt out,.
crackt out,.
Doesn't the coolsat have a problem tuning S2 band? I checked on ebay for a coolsat 8000 or an 8100 and all I found were two very fishy looking clones. There's no way they are the real deal. And no mention of S2. The Engrish is atrocious and barely readable. The details they give for it are very sketchy. It's too cheap to be any good. I don't trust it.
coolsat 8100 | eBay
Last I read, the Azbox is being worked on to get OTA, they say it works fine in Europe but is buggy in the US and they are fixing it soon. That's what I read anyway.
Coolsat 8000 and 8100 tune DVB-S2 just great. My 8000 worked great tuning in S2
Those knockoffs I wouldnt trust
But most CS8000/8100 can be had for under $100
Well, that being the case, I am interested then. Any suggestions as to where to look for one?
Thanks!
Oh, and will they work with my discque 8 way switch?
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Dee-Ann, several people have already told you between my last post and your next post about options open to you without having to spend all the money an AZ box would cost, and I'll add a little more info.
You can join Hulu free on line, very easy, quick and simple. What I like is the ability to watch a TV series a day or two after it is shown on TV without having to put up with all the commercials. There ARE commercials on HULU but they are limited to a ONE minute break where the regular commercials would be. Most of the FOX programing is there, like Bones, House, and so many more that I can't think of them right now. Look at Hulu and see what you like, hey, like I said, it's free.
Netflix is NOT only mailed DVDs now, and if you didn't know it people, they are raising their price (again) to almost double what they are charging now. They offer streaming videos, Dee-Ann, for $7.95 per month, unlimited. Personally I like the MI5 series from BBC, plus several of the others, and if you are worried about interruptions, you can stop a show or movie anytime and pick up from where you left off, even if you turn off the receiver.
BluRay is HD on a disc, nothing more, but it is cleaner and clearer than anything you'll see on TV. You don't NEED any BluRay discs to use Netflix on line with your computer, but it will play standard DVDs as well as HD DVDs. What I was saying is that you can WATCH Netflix on a BluRay player, it's just a newer generation player than your old player, that's all.
Oh, and if you get one from Walmart, if it breaks in a year, just return it and exchange it for another, simple. Even the cheapest of them will allow you to play Netflix now, and then there is HULU PLUS, about $10 a month. They want about $10 a month also, but the weekly shows that you may have missed will surely be on Hulu FREE ON YOUR PC. Again, this is on almost any BluRay player. You can also access many many more services, like YouTube and several more, and that is free if you already have an account on your PC. If not, just sign up on your PC and add things to your favorites.
Back to your TV and satellite for a while, on the back of my Sony that I mentioned this morning, connect your OTA (hint: through a DVD burner or VCR if you still have one of those) and you can record everything, then connect your Satellite receiver, either S9, S10 or AZ to one of the HDMI inputs, and use the offboard hard disk and record, just like your parents do and you also have time shift, and use another HDMI input for a BluRay receiver and you have nearly EVERYTHING, and your remote for the TV can get you to any of these inputs. Hey, I was trying to tell you that this morning, but was too tired and had to leave anyway.
Good luck and keep us posted.
(Who am I kidding, of course she'll keep us posted)
Photto
You can join Hulu free on line, very easy, quick and simple. What I like is the ability to watch a TV series a day or two after it is shown on TV without having to put up with all the commercials. There ARE commercials on HULU but they are limited to a ONE minute break where the regular commercials would be. Most of the FOX programing is there, like Bones, House, and so many more that I can't think of them right now. Look at Hulu and see what you like, hey, like I said, it's free.
Netflix is NOT only mailed DVDs now, and if you didn't know it people, they are raising their price (again) to almost double what they are charging now. They offer streaming videos, Dee-Ann, for $7.95 per month, unlimited. Personally I like the MI5 series from BBC, plus several of the others, and if you are worried about interruptions, you can stop a show or movie anytime and pick up from where you left off, even if you turn off the receiver.
BluRay is HD on a disc, nothing more, but it is cleaner and clearer than anything you'll see on TV. You don't NEED any BluRay discs to use Netflix on line with your computer, but it will play standard DVDs as well as HD DVDs. What I was saying is that you can WATCH Netflix on a BluRay player, it's just a newer generation player than your old player, that's all.
Oh, and if you get one from Walmart, if it breaks in a year, just return it and exchange it for another, simple. Even the cheapest of them will allow you to play Netflix now, and then there is HULU PLUS, about $10 a month. They want about $10 a month also, but the weekly shows that you may have missed will surely be on Hulu FREE ON YOUR PC. Again, this is on almost any BluRay player. You can also access many many more services, like YouTube and several more, and that is free if you already have an account on your PC. If not, just sign up on your PC and add things to your favorites.
Back to your TV and satellite for a while, on the back of my Sony that I mentioned this morning, connect your OTA (hint: through a DVD burner or VCR if you still have one of those) and you can record everything, then connect your Satellite receiver, either S9, S10 or AZ to one of the HDMI inputs, and use the offboard hard disk and record, just like your parents do and you also have time shift, and use another HDMI input for a BluRay receiver and you have nearly EVERYTHING, and your remote for the TV can get you to any of these inputs. Hey, I was trying to tell you that this morning, but was too tired and had to leave anyway.
Good luck and keep us posted.
(Who am I kidding, of course she'll keep us posted)
Photto
Well, that being the case, I am interested then. Any suggestions as to where to look for one?
Thanks!
Oh, and will they work with my discque 8 way switch?
Try looking on eBay, but if I remember right, one or neither will blind scan.
Why buy someone's problem (or something they are discarding for $100 to upgrade) when you can buy a new S9 (or S10) for a few dollars more?
And yes, I believe they will run your 8X1 switch.
Photto
I've looked numerous times for a properly unified solution.
A few people on the forum have 'em, and they're based on multiple computers on a home network.
I think Pendragon has talked about his setup a few times, if you want to look into such a solution.
That's probably the only way to integrate OTA, satellite, and internet video into one place.
I've taken a slightly less sophisticated approach.
I have a small old laptop computer which downloads some shows.
Manually, I send those shows to a big server in another room.
In the bedroom, I have dedicated an unloved HP laptop with Vista Media Center to run my OTA recordings.
There is a Silicon Dust dual ATSC tuner with a LAN interface that grabs shows.
I got a $15 remote to run the system, and it is hooked to a 22" bedroom 1080 LCD TV set.
In the living room, I have a Western Digital Live Plus media player box with remote.
It does have two USB ports for local drives, but mainly it plugs into the LAN, where it has access to:
- OTA recordings off the HP
- downloads from both the server and the old laptop
- Netflix over high speed DSL
- HULU (and multiple other similar services)
Several satellite receivers connect only to the living room TV, but much of the common programming is available OTA, so that's not a major limitation.
I pretty much don't watch anything live any more, even though I can.
The living room and bedroom TVs both have outdoor antenna.
My point is, I couldn't get what I wanted either.
And I've made do quite well.
So, don't get yourself into a tizzy trying to get the AZbox to be your total solution, if it doesn't have the ... hardware.
A few people on the forum have 'em, and they're based on multiple computers on a home network.
I think Pendragon has talked about his setup a few times, if you want to look into such a solution.
That's probably the only way to integrate OTA, satellite, and internet video into one place.
I've taken a slightly less sophisticated approach.
I have a small old laptop computer which downloads some shows.
Manually, I send those shows to a big server in another room.
In the bedroom, I have dedicated an unloved HP laptop with Vista Media Center to run my OTA recordings.
There is a Silicon Dust dual ATSC tuner with a LAN interface that grabs shows.
I got a $15 remote to run the system, and it is hooked to a 22" bedroom 1080 LCD TV set.
In the living room, I have a Western Digital Live Plus media player box with remote.
It does have two USB ports for local drives, but mainly it plugs into the LAN, where it has access to:
- OTA recordings off the HP
- downloads from both the server and the old laptop
- Netflix over high speed DSL
- HULU (and multiple other similar services)
Several satellite receivers connect only to the living room TV, but much of the common programming is available OTA, so that's not a major limitation.
I pretty much don't watch anything live any more, even though I can.
The living room and bedroom TVs both have outdoor antenna.
My point is, I couldn't get what I wanted either.
And I've made do quite well.
So, don't get yourself into a tizzy trying to get the AZbox to be your total solution, if it doesn't have the ... hardware.
I've looked numerous times for a properly unified solution.
A few people on the forum have 'em, and they're based on multiple computers on a home network.
I think Pendragon has talked about his setup a few times, if you want to look into such a solution.
That's probably the only way to integrate OTA, satellite, and internet video into one place.
I've taken a slightly less sophisticated approach.
I have a small old laptop computer which downloads some shows.
Manually, I send those shows to a big server in another room.
In the bedroom, I have dedicated an unloved HP laptop with Vista Media Center to run my OTA recordings.
There is a Silicon Dust dual ATSC tuner with a LAN interface that grabs shows.
I got a $15 remote to run the system, and it is hooked to a 22" bedroom 1080 LCD TV set.
In the living room, I have a Western Digital Live Plus media player box with remote.
It does have two USB ports for local drives, but mainly it plugs into the LAN, where it has access to:
- OTA recordings off the HP
- downloads from both the server and the old laptop
- Netflix over high speed DSL
- HULU (and multiple other similar services)
Several satellite receivers connect only to the living room TV, but much of the common programming is available OTA, so that's not a major limitation.
I pretty much don't watch anything live any more, even though I can.
The living room and bedroom TVs both have outdoor antenna.
My point is, I couldn't get what I wanted either.
And I've made do quite well.
So, don't get yourself into a tizzy trying to get the AZbox to be your total solution, if it doesn't have the ... hardware.
WHEW!! That's a pretty serious setup you have there! A bit over my head I think however.
I'm still looking, considering options and still hoping for a single one box does it all solution.
I so very much want to get away from the pc. It just doesn't work right, doesn't do the things I need and doesn't even work right with my flat screen tv.
I'm no where near the point of making a purchase though, I don't want to jump off and buy something that I would regret later.
Thanks!
I wasn't bragging. I was complaining.
I've never seen any set top receiver that will do it all, and do it right.
If it does OTA, it damned well better have some guide!
I don't think any of the FTA receivers can do that.
Over the years I've been badly burned by PCI and USB tuners!
So, it's with some difficulty I recommend a computer based solution.
What I described above breaks down into four or five easy to build/troubleshoot/understand blocks.
Failure of any one doesn't kill the entire system.
Oh, and one thing I forgot -
One FTA receiver records to one of several portable 60gb hard drives.
I plug it into my server to dump shows, or directly into the living room WD media player to use it.
In the living room, there's also a nice DVD player which handles discs with DivX and some other compressed video formats.
It was an earlier acquisition, now somewhat obsolete, which can take a USB drive plugged in for shows, too.
Lotta little individual modules, all working toward one goal: entertainment on tap!
Oh yeah! I remember now one of the HUGE problems with the pc system. It uses that weird video cable that looks like USB.
When you plug it into the port 1 on the tv it makes this horrible popping sound on the speakers constantly.
The only way it would work was to plug it into the other port which does not accept sound through it.
Then there is a laser wire that runs from the pc to an amplifier with it's own speakers. So I have to turn on the tv, turn on the amplifier with a different remote and it only plays out of one speaker even though it has 6 speakers. There are three on the wall over the tv, two on the back wall and one big boom boom speaker. I ran the sound test app and it makes a bee buzz around the speakers and there is a helicopter too, I can hear it move around all the speakers so I know they work. But when I watch tv, it only ever comes out of the one center speaker.
Having two separate things there is a pain. And it doesn't even sound all that great. Thankfully the big thunder boom speaker never goes off. I hate that.
Originally there were three wires that went to the flat screen, the picture filled the screen and the sound came out of it's speakers. Now the picture is better but the sound is a step back to 1980. I do not know why he changed the wires from something that worked to this that is so totally lacking.
This is one of the reasons that I want to ditch the pc.
When you plug it into the port 1 on the tv it makes this horrible popping sound on the speakers constantly.
The only way it would work was to plug it into the other port which does not accept sound through it.
Then there is a laser wire that runs from the pc to an amplifier with it's own speakers. So I have to turn on the tv, turn on the amplifier with a different remote and it only plays out of one speaker even though it has 6 speakers. There are three on the wall over the tv, two on the back wall and one big boom boom speaker. I ran the sound test app and it makes a bee buzz around the speakers and there is a helicopter too, I can hear it move around all the speakers so I know they work. But when I watch tv, it only ever comes out of the one center speaker.
Having two separate things there is a pain. And it doesn't even sound all that great. Thankfully the big thunder boom speaker never goes off. I hate that.
Originally there were three wires that went to the flat screen, the picture filled the screen and the sound came out of it's speakers. Now the picture is better but the sound is a step back to 1980. I do not know why he changed the wires from something that worked to this that is so totally lacking.
This is one of the reasons that I want to ditch the pc.
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