Well, this is the last straw...

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by earlyfilm

As for using Roku as a solution, that requires having high speed internet. There places within 80 miles of Washington, DC where the only internet available is still dial up! We have become addicted to cable. . . .




James

I do have broadband Internet service; haven't had dialup for years.

I cannot believe the Washington area's cable providers still offer only dialup Internet service. This is the 21st century, for crying out loud, and Washington is the nation's capital. There is no excuse, IMO, for one of the most important cities in this country to stick to such an antiquated Internet access method as dialup. I can see Internet providers in smaller cities and very small towns which may still offer only dialup service, but not the Washington area. The locations you speak of may be very small, rural areas that cannot afford to have broadband cable TV systems; their idea of "modern" cable TV service may well be standard cable and dial-up Internet.


BTW, I hate the term "smartphone" as it is applied to today's Internet-enabled mobile cellular telephones; I cringe every time I read or hear it. Just because these phones have a bunch of computer chips in them and are connected to the Internet does not make them "smart". Without the Internet connection, these phones are nothing more than glorified cell phones. There are probably many people who own cell phones with Internet capability, but they do not use the phone for anything other than making and receiving telephone calls; they could not care less that it can connect to the Internet.

As to your statement that "we have become addicted to cable", well, that's just the way it is. Most people today have some level of cable TV or satellite service, especially since the digital switch six years ago this June. (There are hardly any outdoor TV antennas to be seen in my area, a small northern Ohio town of 3100 population, 35 miles from Cleveland, where good TV reception is hard to get, at least it was in the analog NTSC era before digital.) Services such as Roku and Apple TV are used by folks who want to cut the cable, which is one reason I am switching, at least partially, to TV via the Roku streaming video service. (I will keep the cable for now, if only to retain access to channels I will not get with the Roku box.)

Many people are disgusted with cable TV's constant rate increases, which is yet another reason many switch to alternative video services. Roku and Apple TV will not even come close to putting the nation's cable providers out of business, but these streaming services are becoming very popular with folks who don't want to deal with cable's rate increases. Those increases are here to stay, unfortunately (our cable bills will continue to go up and up and up and . . .), but the two video streaming services I mentioned carry many free TV channels, something cable operators don't like but again, that's how it is. The only fee most Roku users pay is the initial cost of the streaming video box itself; if they do not use the premium channels, they will not have to pay any more than that for the programs the service offers. There are enough free channels on Roku to satisfy most viewers for years; Roku also offers, at least in this area, the Time Warner Cable application, which will allow access through the Roku box to many of the cable provider's channels--but there is a catch. The catch is that you must have, as a minimum, TWC's standard cable service; otherwise the application will not work. I found this out when I had broadcast basic cable and the TWC TV app. I called the cable company and asked specifically if the app would work with broadcast basic; the answer was no, at least standard cable is required for the application to work properly or, in most cases, at all.

[Eric H]

The Roku is a great device, one of the few computer related things to just work like it should and you don't even need an instruction manual to run it.
Even my first generation model works smoother and faster than the streaming interface built into the TV or BD player.

Netflix streaming is a bargain at less than $10 a month, lots of movies, documentaries and shows there, The TV shows are usually from the prior seasons but if you've never seen them before it's a great way to catch up.

Amazon offers new shows, usually the day after they aired on the Networks, $1.99 for SD and $2.99 for HD, I find SD is plenty good in most cases. If you subscribe to their Prime Service you get a lot of extra stuff for the yearly subscription.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by earlyfilm

This has happened where I live. Before the digital conversion the ABC and CBS network stations were the strongest signals that I had. On the day of the conversion both were gone. They are two of the rare TV stations that made the choice to keep their analog channels, 7 and 9, and now using the most powerful mid-band TV antenna that will fit in my attic, and I have a two story house, they cannot be received.

The choice to return to (or stay on) the VHF high band allocation for digital transmission of the signal after the analog shutdown was *not* so rare. A large number of stations that were previously allocated high band (7-13) for transmission made that unfortunate choice, most likely because the power calculated for "equivalent" coverage was considerably less.
Unfortunately the calculation of VHF digital channel coverage apparently was flawed by a few wrong assumptions. Four high band channels in my area made such a choice and are now more difficult to receive. Some have filed for power increases, some have added translator transmitters to "fill in" poor coverage areas, and some are apparently "satisfied" with the present state of affairs, with cable/satellite coverage providing an adequate viewer base.

This is the largest VHF high band antenna that I know of. It is 10 feet long... do you have something with more gain?

http://www.amazon.com/AntennaCraft-1...and+tv+antenna

not affiliated,
jr

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Please reread my post. I said "most" of Roku's channels are free; I never said "all". (Please go to www.roku.com to verify this.) I do not watch any of the premium or pay-per-view channels on my cable. The only fee I pay to Time Warner is the monthly rate for the service.

Re-read my post in which I quoted you. I never mentioned any premium or pay-per-view channels on cable. The channels you do receive with the level of cable service you pay for contains many channels that are not going to be free over Roku. Therefore you are very unlikely to be able to watch all your favorite programs for free via Roku. That's why there motto is "Watch what you love. Pay only for what you want."

.

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

This is the largest VHF high band antenna that I know of. It is 10 feet long... do you have something with more gain?

It won't matter what size his antenna is if he's still trying to bring in the stations in analog on an NTSC tuner. The stations are digital and he needs to find them via an ATSC tuner. That's where he went wrong.

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[KentTeffeteller]

There are places in my county and adjacent county where dial up modems, 3G and 4G cellular data, and Satellite like HughesNet, Exede, and WildBlue are the only options. Especially far enough outside town. Data caps on Cellular and Satellite are very low, service is very expensive. Within 80 miles of Washington, DC I can believe this. I am fortunate, Comcast Cable is super speed even on lower tiers and a lot more generous data allowance by many, many times over. And also bear in mind, that 35-50 mile away UHF DTV over the air in the rural East Tennessee boonies is considered DX reception often.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Eric H

The Roku is a great device, one of the few computer related things to just work like it should and you don't even need an instruction manual to run it.
Even my first generation model works smoother and faster than the streaming interface built into the TV or BD player.

Netflix streaming is a bargain at less than $10 a month, lots of movies, documentaries and shows there, The TV shows are usually from the prior seasons but if you've never seen them before it's a great way to catch up.

Amazon offers new shows, usually the day after they aired on the Networks, $1.99 for SD and $2.99 for HD, I find SD is plenty good in most cases. If you subscribe to their Prime Service you get a lot of extra stuff for the yearly subscription.

While it is true that you do not need the instruction manual to use Roku on a very basic level (the player will work as soon as it is connected to your TV, provided you have a broadband Internet connection), you must set up an account with Roku if you want to use features such as the channel store and, of course, to view movies (you have to enter your credit card number to establish the account for this feature).

Some channels such as Crackle, which shows classic TV programs, are indeed free, but most of the movie channels are pay channels. I have an account with Netflix, which allows unlimited video streaming; however, I haven't done much with that feature yet, even to test it. One of these days.

I also have Amazon Prime, but I haven't used the video features of that service yet (I have it mostly for the 2-day shipping speed). However, since I now have my Roku player, I may be trying out some of the other features of the subscription, such as video streaming, in the near future.

One thing I don't especially care for with Roku is the fact that they show most TV programs the day after they air on the networks. I find this particularly annoying when I try to watch the news from NBC, if I should miss the live telecast for any reason.

Roku's "NBC News" channel does have links to NBC Nightly News and to NBC's Meet the Press, but by the time these programs are available to watch they are already a day old. With MTP the time delay doesn't matter much, but NBC Nightly News is worthless if one watches the broadcast the day after it airs, since that day's newspapers will already have most of the news stories covered on the NBC news the night before.

I can get both NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press, however, on my tablet the same day they are broadcast, although there is a delay of about six hours or more before the broadcasts are available online. Until recently, I was able to receive MTP as a podcast, but msnbc.com has discontinued that service; the broadcast is now available exclusively on streaming video from that site.

[Celt]

Our locally owned city cable provider recently announced that they would soon no longer provide analog channels. If anyone had a modern HDTV, they needn't to do anything, but those with older sets would have to get converter boxes.
They didn't say when the change would happen...just some time in 2015.

[tr7heaven]

I have found over the years someone always finds a way around things and they will do the same here, we have lots of smart people out there that just love to beat the system and they do. When they converted to digital signals the government gave us boxes that convert the signal back to analog, I have two, I also have a homemade antenna that picks up all local stations and I watch dvd's so all it cost me is the power I use to power up my TV. :-)

[tr7heaven]

The internet and U-Tube are very useful tools, they tell you everything including how to make a homemade antenna.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by Celt

Our locally owned city cable provider recently announced that they would soon no longer provide analog channels. If anyone had a modern HDTV, they needn't to do anything, but those with older sets would have to get converter boxes.
They didn't say when the change would happen...just some time in 2015.

Yup just to free up some bandwidth for MORE GARBAGE!!!!! (And to get more $$$$$$$ for that trash)

[MIPS]

I'm sure in the more rural areas you might be able to get away with running your own transmitter for the neighborhood.

More urban areas, well you know how some people are.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by MIPS

I'm sure in the more rural areas you might be able to get away with running your own transmitter for the neighborhood.

Don't try that unless you want to get into a lot of trouble. Even if you are in a very remote area of this country, the rules governing unlicensed operation of radio or television transmitters still apply. The FCC can and will cite you for illegal operation of a TV transmitter, even if you are in a rural area, the same as in urban areas. The only difference is that your illegal signal is much more likely to be detected and reported in urban areas. I live in a small town (population just under 3100), not considered suburban Cleveland, in which I could not hope to get away with any kind of illegal TV/radio transmitter operation, not that I actually would do so (I am an amateur radio operator, and could lose my license if I ever tried such a stunt; many amateurs have, at worst, lost their licenses or, at best [!] been warned and/or fined, for just such illegal operations).

[David Roper]

After I learned that my two so-called "free boxes" were no longer free, I replaced both with a single HD box and added a splitter. I now have two HD boxes which serve my one HD set plus many multiple analog sets. The digital HD boxes Comcast provides are really a godsend because they not only convert to analog for the RCA and (usually provided) modulated coaxial outputs, they can also be set so to eliminate letterboxing on 4:3 sets when tuned to HD channels.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Don't try that unless you want to get into a lot of trouble. Even if you are in a very remote area of this country, the rules governing unlicensed operation of radio or television transmitters still apply. The FCC can and will cite you for illegal operation of a TV transmitter, even if you are in a rural area, the same as in urban areas. The only difference is that your illegal signal is much more likely to be detected and reported in urban areas. I live in a small town (population just under 3100), not considered suburban Cleveland, in which I could not hope to get away with any kind of illegal TV/radio transmitter operation, not that I actually would do so (I am an amateur radio operator, and could lose my license if I ever tried such a stunt; many amateurs have, at worst, lost their licenses or, at best [!] been warned and/or fined, for just such illegal operations).

One of the best quirks I had when in Vancouver was "Metrotown 5". Someone was taking an internet stream and broadcasting it over the Collingwood/Central Park/Metrotown region on VHF. There is probably a transmitter hidden in the woods. It was still running last I checked in 2012.