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Minidust posted:I floated the idea of ditching cable to the wife-to-be. I soon realized this will be a losing argument if we can't get Food Network and TLC. Any streaming options for those? Tell her that she will quickly forget about all the poo poo on cable she used to watch.
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Feb 17, 2014 20:34
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Don Lapre posted:Tell her that she will quickly forget about all the poo poo on cable she used to watch. This is true. I now use a roku with netflix and hulu plus. There is more content available then there is time in my life. I am constantly finding things I would be interested in viewing, when I finish viewing all of what I am currently viewing. That said there are a few fix your business type reality shows I enjoyed like Restaurant Impossible, Hotel Impossible and a few other similar ones that I can't get through other places. I am sure they are on Amazon, but I was saving money by the change, if I pay $2 an episode I will quickly be back to my dish bill. Bottom line I don't miss that stuff that much. She will find new content that she will enjoy just as much.
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Feb 17, 2014 21:36
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Thwomp posted:No on both Food network and TLC. My wife was the same way when we ditched cable. Granted, she missed having an actual DVR for live events more than white-noise channels (yes, I know there are standalone DVRs for this purpose). BigFactory posted:A lot of cable shows that air on Food Network, etc, can be purchased on Amazon (right through Roku if you're going that way) pretty soon after they air. They're like 2 bucks each. Not a great option. Older seasons are usually free with Prime but not always. dimmlight posted:This is true.
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Feb 17, 2014 22:38
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Apparently Charter is getting really dumb in my city (Madison, WI) in a few months and they are going all-digital, requiring every TV to have a digital cable box. I'm pretty close to ditching cable altogether, and if there is no way around this bullshit, it will probably be the last straw. We watch the majority of our TV in the living room which already has a box, but none of the other TVs in my house do. This would only be a major issue for the TV in the bedroom where we'd need to get another box. As for the TV in the guest bedroom and basement, I guess we'd need to either get a couple more boxes or just deal with OTA TV, which is less than ideal. So rather than getting raped by Charter for another $20+/month, I'm wondering if there's a way to convert my existing cable box into a whole-home type thing. Would it be possible to continue to use my existing DVR and simply run the coax out of the box (still connected to living room TV via HDMI) and back down to the basement where I can tap the bedroom/guest bedroom/basement TVs off? So all 4 TVs would be getting their input from the cable box in the living room? I know the HD signal won't transmit over the coax, but I'm wondering if this setup is even possible and, if so, will the signal be unwatchable garbage quality. With this setup I'd also need UHF remotes since 3 of the TVs obviously won't have line-of-sight to the cable box. I assume these UHF remotes exist? My in-laws have this kind of setup in their house with Dish. They had one HD box in their living room that controls the main TV. And then the cable box spits out some coax down to the basement with a different signal that all the other TVs are linked to. Is this sort of thing possible with cable/Charter?
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Feb 17, 2014 23:00
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Minidust posted:Aha, thanks. Probably gonna end up going for a low-tier package at least. That's the one thing that VOD doesn't do. I probably watch less TV because of it. You get used to it.
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Feb 17, 2014 23:13
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Mr Executive posted:Apparently Charter is getting really dumb in my city (Madison, WI) in a few months and they are going all-digital, requiring every TV to have a digital cable box. I'm pretty close to ditching cable altogether, and if there is no way around this bullshit, it will probably be the last straw. We watch the majority of our TV in the living room which already has a box, but none of the other TVs in my house do. This would only be a major issue for the TV in the bedroom where we'd need to get another box. As for the TV in the guest bedroom and basement, I guess we'd need to either get a couple more boxes or just deal with OTA TV, which is less than ideal.
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Feb 17, 2014 23:14
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Going "all digital" is not a problem for any TV with a ClearQAM tuner (so almost any TV manufactured in the last 8-10 years). In fact it will result in a better picture for a lot of channels, as wa27 noticed. Now if your provider starts encrypting channels - yes you will need a converter box. I'd say wait it out until they make the switch and see if you lose service before going for the nuclear option. Also a lot of providers will usually send letters notifying subscribers if they are encrypting channels to let you know you need to pick up converters.
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Feb 17, 2014 23:29
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It sounds like Charter is legitimately going all-digital. All my TVs are HD and can currently pick up the HD versions of the local stations straight off the coax. From what I understand, these are the ClearQAM channels. From Charter's press releases, it sounds like its pretty clear that you will 100% be required to get a box for each TV. From doing a little Googling, it looks like Charter has already done this in some areas and will be doing it in St. Louis and Michigan. It does say all customers will notified by mail at least 30 days prior to the switch, but that seems like a pretty short notification window and I'd think a shitload of people would get really pissed when their TV stops working all of a sudden. And even if you wanted to get new boxes for all your TVs, that's a pretty tight timeline to get all that ordered/installed. Here is the article in the local paper: http://host.madison.com/business/ch...c17c39f9cb.html St Louis: http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/charter-cable-to-require-set-top-boxes/article_29a6a2c8-e5ad-5ffe-9f4b-b6af780e3748.html Michigan: http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2014/01/charter_communications_goes_al.html
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Feb 18, 2014 01:24
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Mr Executive posted:It sounds like Charter is legitimately going all-encrypted. C'mon man, at least read what I posted. It's an important distinction to make.
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Feb 18, 2014 01:58
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Panty Saluter posted:C'mon man, at least read what I posted. It's an important distinction to make. When you put all digital in quotes, I somehow thought you were implying that they weren't really going digital and were doing something else. After re-reading, I don't know how my brain came to that conclusion. In any case, you're right, it looks like Charter will be all-encrypted. Some forum post I found had some people claiming that the current local channels (on ClearQAM) would stop being transmitted too. But them somebody said they were required by law to transmit the local channels in ClearQAM, but I don't know if one or both of these people are full of poo poo.
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Feb 18, 2014 02:30
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Until recently - yes they were. The FCC ruled last year that cable ops can encrypt local stations since it will cut down on piracy. Sadly many people seem to think that free OTA HD includes those same channels being free when transported over a cable network. In reality the charges for any "basic" type cable package are covering costs for retransmission fees and maintenance (you would be amazed at how much TLC a cable network needs). I would imagine most cable ops are going to go all encrypted before too long for just this reason. I'm sure a lot of people won't like it but the cable operator's position is not completely without reason.
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Feb 18, 2014 02:54
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Panty Saluter posted:Until recently - yes they were. The FCC ruled last year that cable ops can encrypt local stations since it will cut down on piracy. Sadly many people seem to think that free OTA HD includes those same channels being free when transported over a cable network. In reality the charges for any "basic" type cable package are covering costs for retransmission fees and maintenance (you would be amazed at how much TLC a cable network needs). Dont understand how many arguments ive had with people, that just because hooking your cable line up to your tv and getting channels works, doesn't mean its not considered cable theft.
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Feb 18, 2014 03:52
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Train them to say "I thought that this wire connects to the antenna on the roof?  "
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Feb 18, 2014 04:11
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Don Lapre posted:Dont understand how many arguments ive had with people, that just because hooking your cable line up to your tv and getting channels works, doesn't mean its not considered cable theft. I set up my in laws like this, they are a little technology naive, so my mother in law called the cable company and specifically asked them. The rep sort of laughed and was like "whatever". I get this is not justifying it, but it's funny that they basically got permission from the provider. It doesn't work now, though, I guess they encrypted it.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:00
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Jerk McJerkface posted:I set up my in laws like this, they are a little technology naive, so my mother in law called the cable company and specifically asked them. The rep sort of laughed and was like "whatever". I get this is not justifying it, but it's funny that they basically got permission from the provider. It doesn't work now, though, I guess they encrypted it. Yes nothing they can really do about it except encrypt.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:24
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So assuming this all goes through and Charter goes all-encrypted, am I just going to have to suck it up and get more boxes for the other TVs? Is my plan of powering all the coaxial jacks in the house off the coax output of my one cable box feasible? Will this produce terrible/unwatchable picture quality? If this is something that could work, do they make UHF remotes for cable boxes?
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Feb 18, 2014 17:10
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Mr Executive posted:So assuming this all goes through and Charter goes all-encrypted, am I just going to have to suck it up and get more boxes for the other TVs? Is my plan of powering all the coaxial jacks in the house off the coax output of my one cable box feasible? Will this produce terrible/unwatchable picture quality? If this is something that could work, do they make UHF remotes for cable boxes? Do they charge for the little decrypting box?
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Feb 18, 2014 17:15
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Do they charge for the little decrypting box? Yes. Each box costs $7/month. So I would be looking at another $21/month to get three more boxes for the other TVs in my house (or get antennas/etc and live with OTA).
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Feb 18, 2014 18:15
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Mr Executive posted:Yes. Each box costs $7/month. So I would be looking at another $21/month to get three more boxes for the other TVs in my house (or get antennas/etc and live with OTA). So the box you have no choice but to use costs $7 a month? Pro-consumer indeed!
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Feb 18, 2014 18:37
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Mr Executive posted:Yes. Each box costs $7/month. So I would be looking at another $21/month to get three more boxes for the other TVs in my house (or get antennas/etc and live with OTA). Cable boxes cost $7/m. But do the basic basic DTA's? They are the size of playing cards now. For comcast they are free for 2 years if you already had basic cable and $1.99 after.
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Feb 18, 2014 20:11
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Should a Roku 1 be an adequate model if I'm just gonna throw it on an old SDTV? I see the 2 has improved wireless capabilities, but I'm not sure if SD streaming would actually benefit from that.
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Feb 18, 2014 20:53
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Don Lapre posted:Cable boxes cost $7/m. But do the basic basic DTA's? They are the size of playing cards now. For comcast they are free for 2 years if you already had basic cable and $1.99 after. I don't think Charter has DTAs. I can't find anything when Googling and the press releases don't mention that possibility.
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Feb 18, 2014 23:57
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Don Lapre posted:Yes nothing they can really do about it except encrypt. There's always diconnecting your line or trapping it appropriately but that depends on how much the technician gives a poo poo. 
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Feb 19, 2014 02:32
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Panty Saluter posted:There's always diconnecting your line or trapping it appropriately but that depends on how much the technician gives a poo poo. Don't think they can trap clearqam.
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Feb 19, 2014 02:49
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Don Lapre posted:Don't think they can trap clearqam. Sure you can. Just cut the frequencies the channels ride on -> porblem solved
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Feb 19, 2014 02:57
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Panty Saluter posted:Sure you can. Just cut the frequencies the channels ride on -> porblem solved Yea I guess so, I guess I've just never seen it done for digital TV frequencies.
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Feb 19, 2014 03:11
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Don Lapre posted:Yea I guess so, I guess I've just never seen it done for digital TV frequencies. THat's going to be highly dependent on the provider. TWC here in central Texas has QAM channels all across the spectrum, some sitting right next to analog channels. Plenty of other providers are mapped differently for sure.
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Feb 19, 2014 03:16
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Don Lapre posted:Cable boxes cost $7/m. But do the basic basic DTA's? They are the size of playing cards now. For comcast they are free for 2 years if you already had basic cable and $1.99 after. I have my antenna connected via coax to a TV Capture card (Happauge 1600 I think) in my HTPC (Windows Media Center) and I use it for DVR. If I get one of those boxes and switch to basic cable, will I be able to use my WMC and TV card? I wonder if they hand off coax or HDMI and if it's QAM or whatever. I have FIOS now if it matters. Maybe I should call them?
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Feb 19, 2014 20:25
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Jerk McJerkface posted:I have my antenna connected via coax to a TV Capture card (Happauge 1600 I think) in my HTPC (Windows Media Center) and I use it for DVR. If I get one of those boxes and switch to basic cable, will I be able to use my WMC and TV card? I wonder if they hand off coax or HDMI and if it's QAM or whatever. I have FIOS now if it matters. Maybe I should call them? No, DTA's are just cable boxes but really really small. Most are only SD also though you can get HD ones in some markets (with hdmi obviously). They dont actually decrypt the signal and send qam out, they are just super basic cables boxes without on screen guides or anything. To use with WMC you would need to use a capture card with hdmi or composite input and ir blasters.
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Feb 19, 2014 20:41
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Minidust posted:Should a Roku 1 be an adequate model if I'm just gonna throw it on an old SDTV? I see the 2 has improved wireless capabilities, but I'm not sure if SD streaming would actually benefit from that. I would say as long as it supports Wireless G standard, you could push standard def through it, probably even some HD, depending upon wireless conditions and compression. The internet pipe coming in has more bearing on it than the internal wi-fi speed, unless you're streaming from within the network. (plex, etc)
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Feb 19, 2014 22:31
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Would running Plex Media Server on an SSD have any benefits over a traditional hard drive if all my media is accessed remotely via Apple TV and Roku? The SSD in my server just died and I'm considering if I should just go back to mechanical if there's no real benefits. The only thing I think might be useful is possibly serving up artwork quicker but I don't know if it cached on the device at all.
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Feb 22, 2014 19:10
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It seems like the network or the transcoding is a lot more likely to affect Plex's performanc than the speed of the HD.
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Feb 22, 2014 19:59
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FCKGW posted:Would running Plex Media Server on an SSD have any benefits over a traditional hard drive if all my media is accessed remotely via Apple TV and Roku? The SSD in my server just died and I'm considering if I should just go back to mechanical if there's no real benefits. No. Your hard drive isn't the bottleneck for streaming and transcoding.
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Feb 22, 2014 22:23
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Bizarro Kanyon posted:For those of you who are using Bing Rewards to get Hulu Plus for free, I had a quick question. To those who used my referral link to Bing Rewards, thanks so much! This makes hitting those marks so quickly. I would say to get that information out to everyone as quickly as possible. In the matter of a month, I have gotten 3 months of Hulu for free. I was wondering a question though. Previously I had thought about suspending Hulu for the summer time when shows are just reruns. If I add my Hulu months to my account and then suspend the account, will I lose all those months?
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Feb 23, 2014 05:21
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Is it possible to get Youtube captions to show through the Roku using the Plex Media Server? I haven't seen any settings that suggest it's possible but I thought I'd check. Also, I have a 2 XS so I can't use the official Youtube channel yet. Is it possible to enable captions on the official Youtube channel at this point?
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Feb 24, 2014 02:06
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I've cancelled my Xbox Live subscription and need a good solution for getting Netflix and Youtube on my living room TV. Since it's less than the one year Live renewal would have been, is Chromecast one of the better options for me? e: I will still be using TVersity for streaming local content so I've got that covered. Teeter fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 07:07
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Teeter posted:I've cancelled my Xbox Live subscription and need a good solution for getting Netflix and Youtube on my living room TV. Since it's less than the one year Live renewal would have been, is Chromecast one of the better options for me? So long as you have a phone or tablet that can run Netflix then a CC is the best option for it.
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Feb 26, 2014 07:57
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Finally broke down and bought a Tivo Roamio after trying a Boxee with HDHomerun Streaming, a Raspberry Pi with Openelec, a SimpleTV, and a Windows Media Center HTPC (also tried MediaPortal) to watch live TV. Just set it all up, and I'm impressed by how fast it switches channels, and it picked up a few that I've never seen before. Going to play around with it a bit more, but so far it looks good.
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Feb 27, 2014 03:16
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Silly Burrito posted:Finally broke down and bought a Tivo Roamio after trying a Boxee with HDHomerun Streaming, a Raspberry Pi with Openelec, a SimpleTV, and a Windows Media Center HTPC (also tried MediaPortal) to watch live TV. Just set it all up, and I'm impressed by how fast it switches channels, and it picked up a few that I've never seen before. Going to play around with it a bit more, but so far it looks good. Can the Tivo Roamio do network videos? I see on the website it does "My Movies" but I couldn't find any detail on it playing video from a NAS or anything over the network.
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Feb 27, 2014 05:15
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ShadowStalker posted:Can the Tivo Roamio do network videos? I see on the website it does "My Movies" but I couldn't find any detail on it playing video from a NAS or anything over the network. So far, the only thing I've seen is using pyTivo to do something with that. I haven't messed with it yet, sorry. I have found one major flaw, though. Apparently they disabled RSS feeds for the Roamio line. If you go to https://www.tivo.com/tivo-tco/go.do?def=tco.webvideos.page, there are some podcasts that you can subscribe to, and there's a custom RSS feed input at the bottom. However, it appears that it doesn't work, and if you try to let them know about new feeds to add, that link is broken. That sucks, because I really enjoy the HD interface and the speed of flipping OTA channels, along with having Netflix, OTA, Hulu, and Youtube on the same box (having the Roku with SimpleTV was close, but man was SimpleTV slow on the Roku 3 for me when it wasn't rejecting all my hard drives.) No idea why they took that away.
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Feb 28, 2014 02:49
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