I Cut the Cord and Couldn’t Be Happier (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

Robert you are exactly right. And Yes a big part of my thing is a lifestyle of over 50 years of watching tv the way I’m used to and that includes the evolution of cable or satellite integration.
So changing from that is a huge change in the way things are for me.
My wife couldn’t care less.

I get the Basaball package on Dtv which includes a “free” MLBTV and MLB AtBat app subscription.

PQ on the mlb apps and mlbtv is actually better then live tv at 60fps but the ability to record and watch a game on regular tv is much easier for my viewing enjoyment.
But I can live with the streaming version if it came down to it. Plus it’s much cheaper.

This don’t subscribe to Flyers or Sixers but still manages to watch almost every game.
Eagles are the tough one.
Only Dtv has NFL so I need to keep that if I want all Eagle games.

If it came down to it we could cut the cord.
I’m not counting it out but we pay $110 for Dtv plus the baseball package so it isn’t out of hand.

Everything detailed in the op is way beyond anything I want to do right now. I’m sure I could do all that with not much issue but just not now.

I have a ton of admiration for you guys who are doing this.
I’m just not there now and may never be.
I’d have to buy a dvr anyway because I rarely I’d ever watch anything live so That’s another thing I’d have to address.

I love reading this kind of topic though very interesting seeing what people are doing to cut the cord.

Edited to add that I do need to call my WiFi provider to get that lowered.
I’ve been out of contract on that for a year now and the $90 a month for 150-300+ internet speed
Might be too much.

One other thing. Those that subscribe to the mlb atbat app have access to the mlb network on the app. Not sure if that is the same as a sub to mlbtv.com

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’m not sure yet - well, I’m really not sure about how I’d go about any of this yet - but I think I might skip the antenna portion altogether. Right now, there’s only two programs I watch on broadcast networks, and both are shows that are now in the habit of doing short seasons with breaks between seasons that last over a year, and one of those shows is in its last year (or maybe last two years), and another is likely to be canceled.

I think I’m more worried about the idea of losing broadcast access in general more than I’m actually concerned about losing access to a specific program. And I’m wondering if that in and of itself is enough to justify the efforts on an antenna.

 

[Matt Hough]

Regarding recording new vs reruns there is an option where you can set it system wide, but as soon as you schedule a series to record, you can go into its recording options and under recording preference select new or all episodes. I agree it would be nice if they prompted you for which option you wanted when you are first scheduling it, like they prompt you for which channels you want to record it on. It’s doable, it just requires you to do an added step.

I guess I need to keep digging. I haven't found that option yet, but I'll look for it later tonight.

 

[John Dirk]

I got rid of cable and satellite maybe 15 years ago and have never looked back. I am fortunate in that I live only about 15 miles away from the broadcast towers for most stations. I have my antenna [the exact Yagi you started with] mounted on my rear side deck and get over 90 channels, of which maybe 40 are unique and interesting.

My particular installations [this house and the prior one] have been relatively straightforward but I faced similar challenges as you when I did an installation for a friend who lives well outside of the metro area. That ended up being an attic installation using the Clearstream 2 Max.

Thanks for posting your experience. I love reading accounts of persistence paying off in the end.

 

[Sega]

I cut the cord on Cable TV years back. Nothing on anyway. Don't miss a thing.
I just use Hulu $12 bucks a month for the old stuff they have on.
I have more DVD's Laser Disc & VHS tapes then I can watch. And more on the way.
No need for cable TV. And I do have over the air, if I want it. But can't remember the last time I used it.

 

[Bartman]

I've never had CATV, friends with analog cable had all sorts of picture quality issues, that put me off. I have a UHF antenna and RCA preamp in the attic and iView STB3500ii DVR in the TV room that gives full HD picture quality. Rain on the roof or siding seldom causes signal strength problems. Live TV usually has the best quality but not all network shows are top quality. The iView works best with a self powered USB 7500rpm HDD. I use a hard wired Roku 3 for streaming, works great. Beware of re-encoding to reduce bandwidth in some of the streaming devices.
Make sure the antenna down feed is well grounded at the TV, you don't want secondary lightning current flowing thru your TV or AV system.

 

[Osato]

Question.
I have a 2 story home and my antenna is in a second floor space avarice my garage.
My signal is good at the antenna. The coax goes down to the first floor into a splitter. The feed at the splitter is still ok but when it goes to the out by my tv on the first floor the signal is barely making it. As a result sometimes the signals works and sometimes not.
So. When I run a cable direct from the splitter to my tv I get decent signal about 30% or so.

Question I’m trying to answer. Do I need / try a pre amp or a distribution amplifier. Or both?

I’m an using an hd stacker antenna.

I’m in the Atlanta area but about 42 miles from Atlanta.

Thanks!!!

 

[David Norman]

Sorry, wrong post

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Question.
I have a 2 story home and my antenna is in a second floor space avarice my garage.
My signal is good at the antenna. The coax goes down to the first floor into a splitter. The feed at the splitter is still ok but when it goes to the out by my tv on the first floor the signal is barely making it. As a result sometimes the signals works and sometimes not.
So. When I run a cable direct from the splitter to my tv I get decent signal about 30% or so.

Question I’m trying to answer. Do I need / try a pre amp or a distribution amplifier. Or both?

I’m an using an hd stacker antenna.

I’m in the Atlanta area but about 42 miles from Atlanta.

Thanks!!!

If you could get F to F (barrel?) connector to temporarily bypass your splitter allowing the antenna to be connected to only one TV and check your signal strength on the TV it might give you an idea. If you see an improvement I would recommend a distribution amp to replace your splitter. Depending on how many outputs your splitter has it could be having a large negative impact.

 

[JohnRice]

Question.
I have a 2 story home and my antenna is in a second floor space avarice my garage.
My signal is good at the antenna. The coax goes down to the first floor into a splitter. The feed at the splitter is still ok but when it goes to the out by my tv on the first floor the signal is barely making it. As a result sometimes the signals works and sometimes not.
So. When I run a cable direct from the splitter to my tv I get decent signal about 30% or so.

Question I’m trying to answer. Do I need / try a pre amp or a distribution amplifier. Or both?

I’m an using an hd stacker antenna.

I’m in the Atlanta area but about 42 miles from Atlanta.

Thanks!!!

In my case, I use a bullet (also called "insertion" or satellite) amp at the antennas, with a power injector later in the line. You can't have any splitters between the power injector and amp, unless they are bi-directional ones designed to pass the power back to the amp. I did it that way simply because if you need to amplify the signal, it's best to do it at as far upline as possible. I have a good, strong signal at all my (4) TVs, from transmitters that are about 70 miles away.

 

[Osato]

In my case, I use a bullet (also called "insertion" or satellite) amp at the antennas, with a power injector later in the line. You can't have any splitters between the power injector and amp, unless they are bi-directional ones designed to pass the power back to the amp. I did it that way simply because if you need to amplify the signal, it's best to do it at as far upline as possible. I have a good, strong signal at all my (4) TVs, from transmitters that are about 70 miles away.

I’m feeling a bit silly. It never occurred to me to just bypass the splitter.
I currently and will most likely only have 1 tv hooked up to the antenna. That could solve it for now. In the future if I want the line split I could then order the distribution amp.

Is the insertion amp used to amplify, boost or power the signal like the pre amp?

 

[JohnRice]

Is the insertion amp used to amplify, boost or power the signal like the pre amp?

The difference between an insertion amp and a distribution amp is the insertion amp amplifies the signal at the source, or the antenna in the case before any additional signal loss. Distribution amps are installed where you split the signal, after it's already degraded. Insertion amps have two components. 1, the actual amplifier and 2, the power supply. The amplifier installs inline at the antenna, then the power supply (power injector) goes inline later, where you have A/C available. It sends power back through the cable to the amplifier. They were invented for satellite systems, where the satellite dish might be hundreds of feet away, as a way to amplify the signal at the dish, even if there was no power available there.

 

[Osato]

I appreciate the knowledge and information that is being shared here.
I’m going to try running the connection direct and bypassing the splitter as I really don’t need it at this point.

Eventually I would like to get connections throughout the house so I’ll have to figure out what I need. I’m motivated by cost of course too.

John - is there an insertion amp that you recommend?

 

[Garysb]

In the NY City area both Hulu TV and Youtube TV don't carry the local CW station (WPIX 11) and the PBS station (WNET 13). Is this true everywhere? In addition these happen to be the two local stations I can't get using an antenna. It is a big deterrent that stops me from considering giving up cable when my contract expires later this year.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I can’t speak to CW content, but a great deal of PBS content is available for free through their website and app - that may be worth looking into if you haven’t already. The PBS stuff you watch may be on it already.

 

[David Deeb]

A slew of PBS programs are also available via Hoopla - a free digital streaming service available through many public libraries.

You borrow digital movies & TV series via your Roku, Apple TV or Firestick just like you would check-out a library book - except you don't drive to the library. You can also borrow digital books, comics and music through it.

 

[Osato]

Update...

Splitter removed and problems resolved. Signals are at 70-92% depending on the channel.

Very pleased! Thanks again!!

PBS in Atlanta comes in great!!
Good to go with Fox as well for Saturday baseball!!

 

[Al.Anderson]

That was a good post Adam, I felt like I was there! The jaw dropping line for me was, "After testing, I pulled the pole and antennas down to install new coax." Man, once I get something working I *never* redo anything; I'm that lazy.

I threw up an antenna about 25 years ago. Mine is on a middle peak, so everyone can see it. I consider it a badge of honor. My wife rolls her eyes but is otherwise okay with it. Best part of my story is I got two of the mongo "tradition" antennas from Radio Shack for $10 because they were the last two they had and they wanted to get them out of their store -AND- Radio Shack had someone who would install it on my roof for $79.

Sports is a problem, but my wife and I find we enjoy going out to local pubs to get out of the house to watch the games. So in the end we wind up spending about the same amount of money each month during baseball season, but I feel like I'm getting more fun for my money.

 

[PatWahlquist]

Adam, glad you did this thread as I was kind of in the middle of experimenting with cord cutting.

Last year we were at my family's house in Florida and they showed me how they had a Roku, Hulu and OTA. Slick set up. Problem for me was I was feeding 4 TV's, so I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with 4 Roku's. I also had my wife and son write down what channels they wanted so I could compare. I've been running OTA HD to my theater with a little antenna that sits in the gutter above my front door and works surprisingly well. I tried a bigger antenna a few years ago on a pole on the back of the house but the antenna was garbage. Looks like there's much better options out there now. So, after comparing Hulu, Direct Now, You Tube, Sling, Vue vs. Cox Cable or Direct, I couldn't get everything we wanted.

Jump ahead to this year and I ran the comparison's again. Hulu seemed to deliver more and the DVR capability was attractive. The other thing I found was IPTV. If you haven't checked it out, there's a thread on Reddit that was informative. Basically, the providers stream up to 7000 channels from around the world. For about $15 a month. It's really quite insane but I question the legality of it. So I am trying Hulu with DVR, Showtime added on, and an IPTV for backup in addition to Netflix and Prime which we already had. The cost of all this is slightly over $100 a month, saving me $90 a month off my cable bill as it stands.

The main thing I'm having trouble with is the quality of the live streams. I'm used to the quality of picture and sound cable delivers. I've been doing A/B comparisons and cable keeps winning every time. Not sure if I can give that up.

I've been researching outside antennas again as I'd like to run an OTA signals to all the TV's using the existing cable run in the house. Just have to figure out how to do that.

 

[Osato]

Adam, glad you did this thread as I was kind of in the middle of experimenting with cord cutting.

Last year we were at my family's house in Florida and they showed me how they had a Roku, Hulu and OTA. Slick set up. Problem for me was I was feeding 4 TV's, so I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with 4 Roku's. I also had my wife and son write down what channels they wanted so I could compare. I've been running OTA HD to my theater with a little antenna that sits in the gutter above my front door and works surprisingly well. I tried a bigger antenna a few years ago on a pole on the back of the house but the antenna was garbage. Looks like there's much better options out there now. So, after comparing Hulu, Direct Now, You Tube, Sling, Vue vs. Cox Cable or Direct, I couldn't get everything we wanted.

Jump ahead to this year and I ran the comparison's again. Hulu seemed to deliver more and the DVR capability was attractive. The other thing I found was IPTV. If you haven't checked it out, there's a thread on Reddit that was informative. Basically, the providers stream up to 7000 channels from around the world. For about $15 a month. It's really quite insane but I question the legality of it. So I am trying Hulu with DVR, Showtime added on, and an IPTV for backup in addition to Netflix and Prime which we already had. The cost of all this is slightly over $100 a month, saving me $90 a month off my cable bill as it stands.

The main thing I'm having trouble with is the quality of the live streams. I'm used to the quality of picture and sound cable delivers. I've been doing A/B comparisons and cable keeps winning every time. Not sure if I can give that up.

I've been researching outside antennas again as I'd like to run an OTA signals to all the TV's using the existing cable run in the house. Just have to figure out how to do that.

I had a good experience with this retailer about antennas.

http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/hd_stacker_tv_antenna-html.html

I even connected over the phone and email with him.

Mine stacker antenna is indoors above my garage and I’m getting great signal. I’m using the cabling that was put in the house for cable tv. I just did a bit of reworking with cables in the garage. Pushed the exterior line inside so that it could be inside up to my space above the garage.