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Has anyone here ever used an indoor antenna manufactured by Terk? The model below is on sale at a local store for about $20 (Amazon price is $46) and it seems to have mostly good reviews. http://www.amazon.com/Terk-FDTV1A-Directional-Amplified-Antenna-Black/dp/B001UE8KUW Basically, my eventual goal is to get a Mohu Leaf, unless I find a cheaper one that's just as good. I recently got a basic $10 Radio Shack rabbit ear antenna, but have only been able to get a few channels at a given time, if any.
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Mar 9, 2014 16:15
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Been thinking about cord cutting for a while, but I'm concerned about something. Here is a picture of my layout: That TV is only connected to that component shelf by 1 HDMI that runs into a Denon AVR-2309 receiver. Everything we own flows through that speaker system; the TV speakers aren't even functional. Does the Leaf antenna mentioned in the OP have the ability to connect to a receiver and get passed on to the TV and speakers? I guess I'm just spoiled by turning on the system and never having to worry about fiddling with the TV inputs; I don't want to have to start worrying about that.
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Mar 9, 2014 19:28
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I'm watching a lot of BBC News using bbc.co.uk/tv. I'm using Chrome and the Hola plugin. This is working allright, however I'd like to throw this up on my TV rather than having to watch it on my computer. Is there a combination of streaming device and unblock service that will let me do this? Specifically, I can connect my computer to my HDTV and just drag the screen over, but I'd prefer something where I don't have to have the two connected and just use a remote control to fire up the iPlayer app or something. I'm fine paying for unblock-us or whatever I need, but I'd like to hear from anyone who's currently using some streaming device to watch BBC News/iPlayer content from outside the UK.
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Mar 9, 2014 22:41
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well just know Roku does not support setting static ip info so you can't use that 
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Mar 10, 2014 01:04
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I use my Roku and watch BBC and Sky news broadcasts. Last time I checked I was able to watch Al Jazeera as well.
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Mar 10, 2014 01:23
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Bizarro Kanyon posted:I use my Roku and watch BBC and Sky news broadcasts. Last time I checked I was able to watch Al Jazeera as well. I've been googling a little and it looks like UK firmware Rokus have an iPlayer app. Do you have a UK model or do you have a North American model?
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Mar 10, 2014 02:21
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Martytoof posted:I've been googling a little and it looks like UK firmware Rokus have an iPlayer app. Do you have a UK model or do you have a North American model? North American model. (If this won't work for you because you are from the UK, then I apologize for assuming you were American.) There are separate BBC and Sky News channels. Al Jazeera is through NoWhere TV. Bizarro Kanyon fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 02:28
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No no, I'm in Canada  Thanks for the info!
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Mar 10, 2014 02:46
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I'm in the same situation and set this combination up today: Unblock US + Plex Media Server on home server laptop (could be any PC) + BBC iPlayer Channel for Plex + Plex Home Theatre on a Raspberry Pi (doing the actual playing + also has it's own interface that I control with my TV remote) - Could use the Chromecast here or any DNLA compatible TV or the WD TV or the PS3 or any region's Roku I believe. Added bonus is that you can use this on any device that Plex can stream to... even if you can't get an iPlayer app/similar on it for some reason (e.g. can't install that BBC Media Player app they require). Been using it today and it works well, and passed the girlfriend acceptability test. Rooted Vegetable fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 06:24
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chuck2020 posted:Been thinking about cord cutting for a while, but I'm concerned about something. Here is a picture of my layout: I had a similar dilemma when I cancelled my satellite service, my solution was to buy a standalone (set top box) HDTV tuner with an HDMI out that could be placed in the in wall cabinet and run through my receiver. I paid about $40 I think for this. I wouldnt really recommend that exact model, while it does the job, the IR sensor on the device is pretty crappy and it can be hard to use the remote. But there are other models to looks through.
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Mar 10, 2014 14:02
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emocrat posted:I had a similar dilemma when I cancelled my satellite service, my solution was to buy a standalone (set top box) HDTV tuner with an HDMI out that could be placed in the in wall cabinet and run through my receiver. I paid about $40 I think for this. The HomeWorx box looks interesting: http://www.amazon.com/HomeWorx-HW-150PVR-Converter-Recording-Function/dp/B00CXAE92K/ref=cm_cmu_pg_t For $5 more, it adds VCR-style recording functionality with a USB drive attached.
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Mar 10, 2014 22:55
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Still not terribly keen on being dependent on my computer, but this would be a good stopgap between being tied directly to my PC and all out cutting the cord. Also as good an excuse as any to actually go buy a RPI
some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Mar 11, 2014 |
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Mar 11, 2014 02:20
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Martytoof posted:Still not terribly keen on being dependent on my computer, but this would be a good stopgap between being tied directly to my PC and all out cutting the cord. Also as good an excuse as any to actually go buy a RPI I feel the same way about being dependent on a server, however, Plex has brought enough benefit to make it very worthwhile overall. I'll test with a Chromecast tonight to see if it works as well as the RPi
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Mar 11, 2014 05:01
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I'm about to lose it on Hulu. While Hulu+ used to offer me next day viewing on most shows, Hulu's mostly switched to requiring you to connect a cable/satellite account to view shows less than a month after air. I have basic Comcast cable for some reason, but oddly enough... Hulu (owned by Comcast) doesn't support Comcast. (And the show I want to watch is on USA, which is owned by NBC, which is owned by... Comcast.) So a Comcast site that won't let me connect my Comcast TV service or watch my Comcast show. **** Comcast. (As a note, I currently also have Netflix, and temporarily, Amazon Prime.)
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Mar 11, 2014 16:36
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Crasniya posted:I'm about to lose it on Hulu. While Hulu+ used to offer me next day viewing on most shows, Hulu's mostly switched to requiring you to connect a cable/satellite account to view shows less than a month after air. I have basic Comcast cable for some reason, but oddly enough... Hulu (owned by Comcast) doesn't support Comcast. (And the show I want to watch is on USA, which is owned by NBC, which is owned by... Comcast.) So do Bing Rewards and get Hulu+ for free every month?
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Mar 11, 2014 16:40
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Heners_UK posted:I feel the same way about being dependent on a server, however, Plex has brought enough benefit to make it very worthwhile overall. I've been using my Chromecast with Plex for a few weeks now and it's fantastic. I have no use for my HTPC or XBMC anymore.
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Mar 11, 2014 20:10
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I don't know if you guys saw this:quote:CBS may go online, cut off its broadcast signal if Aereo prevails -CEO Emphasis mine. So regarding that asinine quote, aren't commercials supposed to pay for OTA TV? Who's paying for a standard OTA transmission? I understand that the network has to make money, but this is a really petty way to say "if we can't play by my rules, then I'm taking my ball and going home." What an rear end in a top hat.
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Mar 11, 2014 21:44
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berzerkmonkey posted:I don't know if you guys saw this: The real problem is that if aerio is ruled legal then there is no reason comcast/twc/cox cant do the same thing and stop paying retransmission fees.
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Mar 11, 2014 21:48
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Those darn thieves are robbing CBS blind with their signal-stealing tools1! CBS needs legislative protection2. Footnotes: 1. TV antennae 2. Ban unauthorized antennae
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Mar 11, 2014 21:58
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Don Lapre posted:The real problem is that if aerio is ruled legal then there is no reason comcast/twc/cox cant do the same thing and stop paying retransmission fees. Do the cable companies pay the broadcasters like CBS fees though? I thought they were forced to carry them by the FCC.
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Mar 11, 2014 22:20
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porksmash posted:I've been using my Chromecast with Plex for a few weeks now and it's fantastic. I have no use for my HTPC or XBMC anymore. Where are you storing your Plex media? This is with PlexPass, correct?
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Mar 11, 2014 22:29
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Brock Landers posted:Do the cable companies pay the broadcasters like CBS fees though? I thought they were forced to carry them by the FCC. Yes. They pay retransmission fees. http://articles.philly.com/2014-01-06/business/45885511_1_retransmission-fees-tv-stations-similar-fees
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Mar 11, 2014 23:21
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Brock Landers posted:Do the cable companies pay the broadcasters like CBS fees though? I thought they were forced to carry them by the FCC. Pay TV companies would love for the FCC to mandate carriership rather than pay and squabble to retransmit.  If Aereo wins it certainly could set an interesting precedent. I don't know that it would apply 100% to satellite and cable because (at least in some cases) get direct fiber feeds from local affiliates rather than using an antenna. Since it's not technically the same as Aereo (and let's be real, Aereo is tap-dancing down the razor's edge of technicalities) the ruling might not apply.
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Mar 11, 2014 23:59
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porksmash posted:I've been using my Chromecast with Plex for a few weeks now and it's fantastic. I have no use for my HTPC or XBMC anymore. I've just started using it and it's working mostly perfectly. Very very happy with Plex. (Yes with Plex pass)
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Mar 12, 2014 01:21
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Gyshall posted:Where are you storing your Plex media? This is with PlexPass, correct? Correct, with PlexPass. I have a 8-bay Qnap NAS I keep my home movies on. I already had a virtualization server running 24/7 so I added a VM for the Plex server and shut down the HTPC.
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Mar 12, 2014 01:24
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What kind of specs are on your Plex server? I'm using the one built into FreeNas and it is kind of poopy, freezing during transcoding and so on. The FreeNas box is pretty solid too. Quad core 2.6 ghz, 8GB of RAM, SSD hard drive, etc.
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Mar 12, 2014 15:00
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I kinda went crazy with it but dual Xeon E5-2620 v2, 64GB of RAM, put into a Supermicro SYS-7037A-I workstation barebones. Is your RAM usage high on the FreeNAS box? I know ZFS is a RAM whore (if you are using ZFS) and it may be causing a lot of swapping to hard drive.
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Mar 12, 2014 19:55
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So thanks to some advice I picked up a Roku 3. Really dig the little box, but I'm kind of bummed that a lot of these channels are pretty low bitrate. A lot of artifacting everywhere. It's not the end of the world or anything, but I was kind of hoping a few of them would look better 
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Mar 18, 2014 22:01
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What are your thoughts on Ultraviolet? My current worry is older movies like Airplane! and such that don't come with codes from the blu-ray. I'm not sure if I'd have to re-buy them which is dumb or they just aren't supported leaving my library fragmented. I enjoy the idea of having everything movie wise on 1 app on my Roku. I'm wary of DRM and bandwidth usage but if it's an easy way to keep everything together, I'm willing to budge a little.
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Mar 19, 2014 15:06
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Martytoof posted:So thanks to some advice I picked up a Roku 3. Really dig the little box, but I'm kind of bummed that a lot of these channels are pretty low bitrate. A lot of artifacting everywhere. It's not the end of the world or anything, but I was kind of hoping a few of them would look better Most apps like Netflix and Twitch should start off at the lowest qualit and eventually end up at the max your connection supports. Unfortunately a lot of the smaller channels are just repurposing mobile streams.
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Mar 19, 2014 16:35
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Yeah, the default behavior for most streaming services these days seems to be to start the video ASAP at a relatively low bitrate then step it up once it buffers a lot and figures out how much bandwidth you have available. If you want HD from the start then you have to tweak a setting somewhere, and even then it might not do what you want it to.
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Mar 19, 2014 18:22
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berzerkmonkey posted:I don't know if you guys saw this: There's no way this isn't complete bullshit. If the board and investors didn't cut Les's heart out in some ritual blood sacrifice, the affiliates would dissect him in court.
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Mar 19, 2014 19:16
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Irritated Goat posted:What are your thoughts on Ultraviolet? My current worry is older movies like Airplane! and such that don't come with codes from the blu-ray. I'm not sure if I'd have to re-buy them which is dumb or they just aren't supported leaving my library fragmented. I enjoy the idea of having everything movie wise on 1 app on my Roku. I'm wary of DRM and bandwidth usage but if it's an easy way to keep everything together, I'm willing to budge a little. I originally signed up for Vudu a while back but never really used it. I then received an email about how you can convert DVDs and Blurays to digital copies at home. It is $2 for a DVD to SD transfer or HD to HD transfer and $5 for a DVD to HD transfer. The nice thing is that if you do 10 movies or more, it becomes half off (or $1 a movie). We transferred around 60 movies in a month (and have since added movies here and there from codes). The biggest problems we have had is having a special edition copy that is not recognized by the VUDU system. Everything else is awesome (and I have contemplated renting movies from Family Video for a dollar and creating digital copies of them too but I have not yet). It is awesome to have a bunch of my daughters movies on VUDU so that they can watch them practically anywhere.
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Mar 20, 2014 05:23
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Bizarro Kanyon posted:(and I have contemplated renting movies from Family Video for a dollar and creating digital copies of them too but I have not yet). It is awesome to have a bunch of my daughters movies on VUDU so that they can watch them practically anywhere. You might have issues here, as some rental copies are differently mastered and you might have issues getting it to ID them as well.
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Mar 20, 2014 21:46
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Brock Landers posted:Do the cable companies pay the broadcasters like CBS fees though? I thought they were forced to carry them by the FCC. This is how it USED to work, and some smaller channels can elect to not charge, but enforce "must carry" rules to get the eyeballs. But many years ago this changed and the broadcast stations can demand payment. If they can't come to an agreement, they forgo the "must carry" rules, which is why you get situations where a channel is taken off for a period while sandy vaginas reign supreme.
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Mar 20, 2014 21:50
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Mighty Horse posted:You might have issues here, as some rental copies are differently mastered and you might have issues getting it to ID them as well. Newer movies would definitely be a problem but the older movies (from 2-3 years ago and before) should just be the DVD set. When I worked there, we even had to go to Walmart to purchase some movies (I think Miramax or Weinstein titles) because our warehouse distributor did not carry titles from that production company(s).
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Mar 20, 2014 22:00
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I'm getting a QNAP TS-220 NAS thingy basically for free (though without HDs). Currently I keep videos and stuff on my computer's HD to stream to a Roku using Plex. I know that this particular NAS can't transcode, so I would probably move my movie/music files over to it and keep Plex running on my computer. Could this arrangement affect streaming performance through Plex? Is a USB3 connection likely to be a bottleneck in this situation?
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Mar 26, 2014 17:20
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withak posted:I'm getting a QNAP TS-220 NAS thingy basically for free (though without HDs). If you're using USB 3 I wouldn't think it would be a problem. I transcoding all the time on USB 2 and am generally fine.
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Mar 26, 2014 22:48
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withak posted:I'm getting a QNAP TS-220 NAS thingy basically for free (though without HDs). Which part would be connected via USB? The appliance you linked is a NAS, which is connected over the network, not USB. In any case, I have a similar setup, albeit with a Synology device, without issue.
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Mar 27, 2014 19:30
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Fillerbunny posted:Which part would be connected via USB? The appliance you linked is a NAS, which is connected over the network, not USB. Yeah for some reason I was thinking that connecting it via USB was an option, which would kind of defeat the purpose.
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Mar 27, 2014 19:42
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