How many are still using satellite or cable for TV?

Johnny11

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G62000HST
Nov 29, 2020
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Maryland
Do the amplified antenna really make that much difference. I had an antenna up here for a while and all we could bring in was 2 local channels. You guys have a link to the antennas you're buying?
Just posted the link, but here's the description.
[2020 Version] GE Attic Mount TV Antenna, Long Range Indoor Directional Antenna, Supports 4K 1080P Digital HDTV VHF UHF, Mounting Pole Included, Out of Sight Compact Design

Probably should check out some youtube for some installation tips.
Although one major tip is don't trust splitters/connectors, they can really degrade a signal and the signal will be weak.
 

bearbait

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leveraddict

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I ditched cable over a year ago! Smart TV and rabbit ears I can watch whatever I want! Should have done it years ago! Happy camper!
 

leveraddict

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I use an amplified antenna, Its a cheap one. Sometimes not using the amplifier is the ticket depending on the channel. My antenna was $20. When I first got it it didnt work so well till I found out getting it about 5 foot off the ground made all the difference so I made a stand for it!
 

Tornado

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I have a cheap set of rabbit ears I can use in a tight as well. they were $7. They will pick up HD channels from stations over 70 miles away. It takes some playing with antennas though and these vhf/uhf radio signals. You may have to move the antenna around, spin it around, angle the ears etc different for each channel. Digital HD tv signals also are a little harder to tune for cause, being digital, its either Clear and in, or its out and nothing but snow. In the old analog days you could see weak pictures starting to break through the snow when you were positioning the antenna in a better spot.
 

Tornado

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So far for the live/local stuff we have tried HULU, YouTube, IPTV, a Data Center HD Antenna DVR (they were sued out of existence), and a bunch of others. None have been able to replace DTV with a multi-tuner DVR.

And NONE of them are free. They all require good bandwidth (the cable that was cut) and 50.00+ a month for a comprehensive lineup. Hardly "cutting the cord". and none of them provide what DTV does for live and sports.

If I had better OTA coverage I would consider a TIVO for locals. That would still allow me to skip all the commercials.

What I can say is we have DirecTV multi-tuner setup for the rooms and between the wife and kids, I am pretty sure we pay for every other streaming service out there. So I am surrounded by "cords".

We haven't watched live TV, LIVE since 1999.
yea I think it just depends how much the person watches tv. My wife and I really dont watch much actual tv at all. If it weren't for college football, I could honestly do without any live tv option at all. It is the only thing I really ever watch from live tv channels anymore. All the tv shows that come on most all the other channels are just bad shows. I'm a tough critic on shows. I just cant do the typical "New cbs drama" The shows are always mediocre crap. I watch some stuff on netflix. We have watched the odd HBO show, given they produce the best typically. But really I don't watch a lot of shows or anything either. Most of my entertainment time I spend playing video games. Im a former competitive PC gamer, and still game pretty hard on PC. I also still watch a lot of esports tournaments and follow those scenes, so that's honestly probably 70% of my tv watching.
 

Johnny11

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G62000HST
Nov 29, 2020
20
1
3
Maryland
This will be a nice OTA upgrade, we've been using 720p/1080i for a long time now:

There are currently only a few more select stations in the US announcing that there will be new ATSC 3.0 technology that will be transmitted with 1080p Broadcast television. All other major broadcast networks use either 720p or 1080i. There is no official word about when any of the major networks will consider airing at 1080p in the near future.
 

random

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L3301, bucket, backhoe, grader, plow, harrow, cultivator
Nov 2, 2020
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What I can say is we have DirecTV multi-tuner setup for the rooms and between the wife and kids, I am pretty sure we pay for every other streaming service out there. So I am surrounded by "cords".

We haven't watched live TV, LIVE since 1999.
We have Dish, but basically the same. Don't know when we last watched any regular show live, but we often have live tv on kinda as background noise. Usually DIY or Science channel. How It's Made is a good background sound track :)
 
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lugbolt

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Oct 15, 2015
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heck no I don't pay for tv

don't watch it much anyway, most of it is either garbage or filth

I put an antenna on the house, and another one on the shop roof

57 channels in the house, shop is partially blocked by a bunch of trees mostly pines (only have about 30 out there), then there's a hill about 5 miles in the same direction, and another hill over at mayflower that blocks broadcast signal so I'm fortunate to see 57 channels where I am at. Regardless I watch about 3 of them at the most, that is IF I turn the stupid thing on. Just as soon leave it quiet in the house without the filthy tv on last time I turned it on (ABC), there were a couple men acting like passionate lovers and it made me sick to my stomach and I turned the thing off immediately. That's an image I can't unsee but it's what is broadcast nowadays I'm told. If that's the case Ill sell both of my tv's and go without just fine.
 

Daren Todd

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heck no I don't pay for tv

don't watch it much anyway, most of it is either garbage or filth

I put an antenna on the house, and another one on the shop roof

57 channels in the house, shop is partially blocked by a bunch of trees mostly pines (only have about 30 out there), then there's a hill about 5 miles in the same direction, and another hill over at mayflower that blocks broadcast signal so I'm fortunate to see 57 channels where I am at. Regardless I watch about 3 of them at the most, that is IF I turn the stupid thing on. Just as soon leave it quiet in the house without the filthy tv on last time I turned it on (ABC), there were a couple men acting like passionate lovers and it made me sick to my stomach and I turned the thing off immediately. That's an image I can't unsee but it's what is broadcast nowadays I'm told. If that's the case Ill sell both of my tv's and go without just fine.
There is always Grit, comet, and the station that plays reruns of Hawaii 5.0, magnun pi, chips, and walker Texas ranger 👍👍👍👍👍
 

Stmar

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B2650HSDC
May 23, 2017
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Buffalo, Wyoming
We were with Direct TV since ir was Prime Star, 30 years give or take. Price kept going up so we finally looked at options. Settled on YouTube TV at less than 1/2 the cost and more flexibility. Put as much as you want in your "Library" and watch whenever you want, plus fast forward through commercials most of the time.
 

lugbolt

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There is always Grit, comet, and the station that plays reruns of Hawaii 5.0, magnun pi, chips, and walker Texas ranger 👍👍👍👍👍
yup GF is here and we're watching the quick & the dead on grit. Re-run but who cares. Beats paying $200+ a month for a couple channels worth watching
 

armylifer

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yup GF is here and we're watching the quick & the dead on grit. Re-run but who cares. Beats paying $200+ a month for a couple channels worth watching
Don't forget about Joe TV, H&I, ME TV, COZI TV, RETRO TV, CW, ANTENNA TV, DECADES TV, ION TV, and ION PLUS TV. All of these are available on Locast.org.
 

random

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Don't forget about Joe TV, H&I, ME TV, COZI TV, RETRO TV, CW, ANTENNA TV, DECADES TV, ION TV, and ION PLUS TV. All of these are available on Locast.org.
I'm pretty amazed at just how much retro TV there is out there. And even the big broadcast channels seem to be doing a lot of "retro" - remaking old series (SWAT, MacGyver, etc).
 

Daren Todd

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I'm a fan of the new MacGyver, Hawaii 50, and Magnum PI series. I'm not a fan of Swat though.
 

RCW

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I'm going to resurrect an older thread.

A lot has changed with Discovery+, Disney +, etc.

We're still looking for a way to cut the cord for TV purposes.

Our Wifi is pretty stout at the house, and now we have 3 Roku TV's.

I have looked at Roku TV some, and today loaded Amazon Prime Video and Pluto TV. I'm a Prime member and Pluto is free.

I just don't understand how this stuff works with live TV versus on-demand ....it's all new stuff for us..

We probably have On Demand now, but I don't think we've ever used it.

Best I can figure, we would likely go:

1. Spectrum TV Streaming App - $25/mo. - gets us local TV (news)
2. Discovery + - $5 or $8/mo. - looks like many networks we watch now.
3. Netflix - $15/mo. - didn't realize we had it, but our kids use it.....

Not sure how these fill in the blanks, like:

Weather Channel
RFDTV - what can I say, it's a favorite for a Redneck like me.
Sports - mostly college basketball and lacrosse
Motortrend Network
REELZ - my wife likes to see autopsy stories about famous people

I'm sure there's 6-10 others, but I'll try to track them some

We don't watch movies much.

That's $45, and we're currently at ~$130 with Spectrum just for TV service. We also have a DVR, which adds another $15 or so.
 
Last edited:

bearbait

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I'm going to resurrect an older thread.

A lot has changed with Discovery+, Disney +, etc.

We're still looking for a way to cut the cord for TV purposes.

Our Wifi is pretty stout at the house, and now we have 3 Roku TV's.

I have looked at Roku TV some, and today loaded Amazon Prime Video and Pluto TV. I'm a Prime member and Pluto is free.

I just don't understand how this stuff works with live TV versus on-demand ....it's all new stuff for us..

We probably have On Demand now, but I don't think we've ever used it.

Best I can figure, we would likely go:

1. Spectrum TV Streaming App - $25/mo. - gets us local TV (news)
2. Discovery + - $5 or $8/mo. - looks like many networks we watch now.
3. Netflix - $15/mo. - didn't realize we had it, but our kids use it.....

Not sure how these fill in the blanks, like:

Weather Channel
RFDTV - what can I say, it's a favorite for a Redneck like me.
Sports - mostly college basketball and lacrosse
Motortrend Network
REELZ - my wife likes to see autopsy stories about famous people

I'm sure there's 6-10 others, but I'll try to track them some

We don't watch movies much.

That's $45, and we're currently at ~$130 with Spectrum just for TV service. We also have a DVR, which adds another $15 or so.
Like you said Pluto is free with a lot of content. Wife and I like Philo and for the price it's great, well for us. We also had Netflix but just recently dumped it because we like Amazon prime better but as always it ends up being a personal thing. We had Sling for a few months and it was good but really didn't watch it enough to justify the cost.
 

Lil Foot

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Still using cable (Cox) here, and broadcast tv (8 channels) at the cabin. Will go to something else up north, if we ever get to spend more time there.
 

jimh406

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It’s internet tv for us via ATT home internet mobile. At our previous place in the city, I got all major networks with an outside antenna. I haven’t had “cable” for about 10 years.