Quote:
Originally Posted by Solid_State
Charter Communications went 100% digital in my area back in September 2014
They tout it like that is a good thing (Good for them as they get more $ as everyone gets to rent a STB from them)
I used to have a TV tuner card in my PC and I recorded my shows from the clear QAM tuner but now that there is no more clear QAM I bought a CableCard tuner for the computer (One plus side is I get all of my shows in HD now not just the networks)
I get a free year of up to 2 devices (I got one set top box and one cable card) at the end of the free year I will be paying an extra $12 to them
Also more and more channels are moving to the silver package which is an extra $20
I need cable as in my area antennas simply do not work (Unless you want PBS and one Spanish station)
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In what city, town, area, etc. are you located? I cannot imagine any area of the United States being as completely blocked from receiving OTA signals as yours seems to; I would think that if you put up a long-range antenna you should be able to receive many more than just two stations. In most areas, an antenna will work to bring in one or two channels (as in your case), but to be entirely cut off from the networks... You must be in a mountainous area (such as California, some parts of Pennsylvania, et al.) that is in fact blocked from getting TV from most cities.
If you are having that much trouble getting OTA reception and cable's ever-increasing rates bother you, I would suggest you get a Roku streaming player. These little wonders operate by streaming video from your local TV stations, cable, etc.; they have absolutely
nothing whatsoever to do with cable. I have a Roku box and am currently using it alongside my cable service, but when (not if) the cable rates go through the roof, I just might drop the cable altogether and use the Roku box exclusively. As it stands now, I can get every channel that is presently on my cable, by virtue of an application program from Time Warner Cable (their TWC TV app).
While I do not receive digital subchannels of the local stations through the Roku player, I can get the stations' primary signals just fine, and in HD to boot. The loss of the digital subchannels does not bother me, as I can still see them on my cable; when and if I drop cable, I have DVDs and VHS tapes of a lot of the old classic shows now on MeTV and Antenna TV. For programs I do not have on DVD or VHS, I can find them on my Roku player via Hulu, Amazon, Crackle, et al. I have Amazon Prime, so I have unlimited video streaming as well as 2-day shipping when I order anything from them online.
Streaming video via devices like the Roku player, Apple TV, et al. seems to be the way things are going for television programming (the wave of the future, if you will) these days. I will not say these platforms will mean the end of OTA TV any time soon, or that they will put traditional TV stations out of business; however, I do feel that they are claiming a large share of the networks' viewers. The networks may not like it (truth be known, they don't, since every lost viewer means that much lost advertising revenue--and the networks darn well don't like
that one bit), but that's the way things are in the 21st century and beyond.
I have a Roku player so as to "future-proof" my TV; that is, the cable rates can go as high as they need to, but that won't bother me since I am getting a lot of my TV through that little coaster-size player. I like it so well that I am wondering why I waited so long to get one. Between the Roku player and my tapes and DVDs, I am now getting more TV than I could watch in 50 years, and I will not miss cable when the time comes to drop it. Not that I will have it disconnected, as I found out today through TWC's "TWC on Roku" website that the TWC TV app will not work unless you have an active cable connection and at least Standard TV (what TWC used to call "expanded basic"). I am saying that, when the time comes, I will simply watch most of my TV through my Roku player. I can get the local stations plus most cable channels through the box, so my cable connection will only be there to fulfill the requirements for the TWC TV app. At least one other VK member has cable service similar to mine, but he says he no longer uses the cable-TV connection; just the phone and Internet service.
Only time will tell how many other people will do the same when cable rates go through the roof, as they have in so many areas, including the small town in which I live. I see a day coming in the not-too-distant future when most folks will be watching television exclusively via streaming video, DVD, and VHS, rather than over standard TV stations. This will actually benefit most viewers, even those in fringe areas, as there is no fading, ghosting, multipath, etc. with video streams as there so often is with traditional OTA TV. Certainly, there will be the occasional dropout or freeze, but for the most part, video streams are much more reliable than OTA TV signals. I also notice that many video streams from my favorite TV and cable channels look better through the Roku box and my flat-screen TV than they ever did on cable, but that's probably because I am receiving unmodified video streams via the player. With cable, the signals are compressed and goodness only knows what else by the time they get to our TVs, so we probably are not seeing the absolute best picture quality our flat screens can deliver. I don't know what resolution value constitutes "HD" TV, but the number that sticks in my head (and the resolution my FP TV is designed for) is 720p.