Cable TV alternatives and HDTV antennas

[ddaydetroit]

I am looking to ditch Cable TV its really not worth the money I am paying for the few stations I watch has anyone found a good alternative in metro Detroit ?
I have heard that a lot of people are really happy with the new HDTV antennas along with another service like ruko or Amazon tv

[Scottathew]

I cut the cable in January with ZERO regrets.

I live in Rochester Hills and use the Mohu Leaf 50 to pickup every major Detroit station.

We use a Roku stick and a Roku TV and have a Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime subscription.

We use 15 mbps internet from WOW at a cost of $20 even a month. That speed can support 1-2 HD streams.

Our bill before cutting the cable was still low, it was $120. We've had Amazon Prime for the shipping, so I don't include that as a cost to cutting cable. Netflix costs $9 a month, and Hulu is $8 a month. Our monthly costs have gone down to about $40 a month. That's an $80 a month savings. I know many people who pay much more for cable, so for them the savings would be even better.

My main goal is to provide for my family, live a good life, and retire early. A cable subscription doesn't help with these goals.

I highly encourage you to try cutting cable. I'm much more well off four+ months later.

If you have a land-line number you want to keep, port it to a cheap pre-pay cell phone, then port it to Google voice [[you can't go directly from land-line to Google Voice). Then use Google voice to forward to your cell phone, or just to dump into voicemail.

If you're looking to save on your cell phone, use Republic Wireless. Our cell phone bill is $25 per month.

That means that our cell phones + cable internet + entertainment is only about $65 a month. We're saving ass-loads of money.

[softailrider]

I'll give up my cable when they pry it away from my cold dead fingers.

[JBMcB]

Cut the cable years ago. Business class X-Finity for internet [[no caps) TV is from a chimney-mounted antenna from AntennasDirect.com. I had the guys at Radio Shack scrambling when I asked for a TV antenna mast. "You do carry those?" "Well, yes....." We get around 20 channels. We also get Netflix and the amazon services that comes with Prime. If you want more current TV shows I'd look at Hulu.

You can figure out what antenna you need from here:
http://www.antennaweb.org/

Here's a list of reviews of the best indoor antennas from an *awesome* review site:

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/bes...-hdtv-antenna/

[ndavies]

Don't pay extra for a "Digital antenna" there is no such thing as a digital antenna. The word digital is just marketing bullshit to get you to pay more. All Antennas capture analog carrier waves. The Digital stuff is encoded onto an Analog carrier frequency.

[Wheels]

Don't pay extra for a "Digital antenna" there is no such thing as a digital antenna. The word digital is just marketing bullshit to get you to pay more. All Antennas capture analog carrier waves. The Digital stuff is encoded onto an Analog carrier frequency.

You can't get the HD signal without a digital antenna.

[ndavies]

You can't get the HD signal without a digital antenna.

Not true. Complete and Total Bullshit. You bought into the marketing. A TV antenna is a TV antenna.

I'm using a 1970s VHF UHF TV top antenna on my HDTVs. Works perfectly. All you need is a TV with an HDTV tuner in it to get HDTV. That old non HDTV antenna will work fine.

[yupislyr]

You can't get the HD signal without a digital antenna.

This is absolutely not true. It makes absolutely no difference as to what antenna you use whether you can get an digital HD signal or not. All you need is to be able to receive the signal somehow [[some kind of antenna) and a tv or a digital converter to connect to said tv that is capable of receiving digital and HD signals.

Do you have an old antenna on your roof from the 70s or 80s? Use it, it will work. Do you have a coat hanger? It may very well work. Years back when I was exploring dumping cable, I wanted to try out my new converter box but did not have an antenna. I simply stuck one end of a coax cable into a POP CAN and I received the majority of the local channels in perfect crystal clear HD [[That are broadcasting in HD anyway. Not all channels are). I live in central Windsor so I get a ton of TV signals with ease. Obviously your mileage may vary.

The only differences really now are:

- the digital signal is less tolerant of degradation. If you have a bad signal, you can't just watch a snowy picture like you can with an old analog signal. You probably won't get anything on your screen, or it will drop out very frequently.
- digital signals are frequently transmitted at lower power than analog used to be. You may need a bigger antenna or raise the antenna higher up to receive the same stations.
- despite the virtual channels that the stations use, most of the digital broadcasting is over UHF. So if you do elect to re-use/build/buy an antenna, you most likely want one that specializes in getting UHF channels. Some local expections still broadcasting on VHF would be FOX2 and CBC.

[ndavies]

Even the FCC agrees with me.

https://www.fcc.gov/guides/antennas-...tal-television

[Dbest]

If you want to watch most any of your favorite tv series or any new movie, try popcorn time. It's a pirate streaming site. Much better than Hulu or Netflix. Plus its free. No membership, no nothing. The software is pretty sweet, much better than Netflix. Most all content is present in 720p or 1080p. It's fantastic and I have dumped Netflix for the time being.

Here's an article about Popcorn Time in relation to Netflix:

https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-see...etitor-150121/



If you want to give it a shot, here's their official page to download the software. TV series episodes usually show up within 24 hours of their air-date. Most newer movies are on their as well. You wont be disappointed..This bit torrent streaming if anyone is wondering..

https://popcorntime.io/

[artds]

We cut the cord in February and replaced it with a couple Roku 3s and HD antennas. My monthly bill went from $130/mo to $60, and the Roku viewing experience is much better than cable in my opinion. We have subscriptions to sling TV, HBO, Netflix, and Amazon prime. The biggest drawback is watching sports. You get some content via the ESPN and SLing TV channels, and also via the big networks over HD antenna, but there's not as much sports content as cable. You also can't rewind live TV, which is a bummer for watching sports. I will probably re-subscribe to cable for 4 months during football season until there are better sports viewing options available.

[Zacha341]

I cut the cord nearly ten years ago running just DVDs, and regular TV thru an RCA converter box. Limited but no additional costs. The last four years has been a Roku box with the converter. The Roku running Netflix and the channels on the Roku list is ok.

I only pay for my existing mid-range WIFI which I'd run even if I didn't have the Roku so no additional cost beyond the Netflix script. May add Hulu later for more variety. Still very cheap compared to cable!

[mtburb]

Bumping this.

The way I'm doing this is a bit different. Finally decided to get an RCA one from Walgreens and I've managed to get all the locals except channels 2 and 50. If I move it a bit and do a rescan, I loose 56 and 62 as well.

I'm still using Uverse on the same TV and on the other ones we have in this house.

I am at least glad that I'll finally be able to start watching Dragnet again on 20.2-Uverse doesn't show it on their version of the Cozi TV feed, instead showing religious infomercials.

[Ben40]

You cannot get Tigers and Red Wings games without cable.

[Scottathew]

You cannot get Tigers and Red Wings games without cable.

You can get Red Wings! I use HockeyStreams.com

[mtburb]

You cannot get Tigers and Red Wings games without cable.

False.

You can get them when they're playing in a nationally-televised game that's shown on 2 and 4 respectively.

[Ben40]

You cannot get Tigers and Red Wings games without cable.

[Ben40]

Ok...4 or 5 games out of 162. Whooppee You know exactly what I mean.

Look, I'm no cable fan, in fact I cut the cord for about 2 years. Just decided this year to go back so I could watch some live local sports. As soon as the Tigers and Red Wings cut the cord from cable I will be gone. Don't see that happening soon, so I'm stuck.

[Scottathew]

You cannot get Tigers and Red Wings games without cable.

Still partially false, HockeyStreams.com has every televised hockey game in the world, most with multiple feeds [[home\away, sometimes a third feed).

They have a Roku App, so you can watch them in full HD glory on your television.

[emu steve]

You cannot get Tigers and Red Wings games without cable.

One thing which makes DirecTV so popular for folks [[like me ) is the availability of sports be it the ESPN family of networks, the Fox Sports family of networks, packages such as all NFL games, all MLB games, etc. etc.

If I were msu steve I could add the Big Ten Network...

I see all Tiger and Lions games even though I'm 500 miles away from Detroit...

One thing which drives many women crazy, is that some guys can watch 16 Lion games, 162 Tiger games, 30+ MSU/UofM [[or whatever) basketball games, college FB, NHL, NBA, etc.

[Ben40]

You're still paying for it.

Besides, Hockey Streams is illegal. The NHL just hasn't caught up to them yet.

[Scottathew]

You're still paying for it.

HockeyStreams.com for a year is the cost of half a month of cable.

Bottom line, you don't need cable or satellite to get hockey.

Baseball, I have no idea, but I don't really enjoy watching baseball on TV.

[Enduro]

Here's the path I took with no regrets.

Tivo Roamio OTA - 100 bucks, plus 14 a month. The box does MLB, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus and a few others. I'm in Oak Park and I get a everything with a cheapie antenna but CBC. I'm going to try a new one since I'd really like to get their programming. However, I've found PBS has a ton of great stuff. You can get a Tivo Mini for other rooms so you don't need to set up antennas everywhere there is a TV. At $14 a month it is a lot for "free TV" but I'm a Tivo fan and I like how it lets you search across apps to find the show or movie you want.

SlingTV - 20 bucks a month for ESPN, FoodTV, AMC, TNT, History... Total of 20 channels. Probably going to step away from this though, I don't use it enough to justify it.

FireTV - I've tried them all, AppleTV, Chromecast, Roku and this is the snappiest and has a ton of apps including KODI which is the best media server if you torrent stuff.

Hulu Plus - Great deal. A sparse, reasonable amount of advertising.

Amazon Prime - Another great deal. Remember they also have a music service and photo storage included in Prime.

Netflix - The exclusives keep me. If those aren't important to you Amazon is a much better value.

Quelo - Netflix for Concerts. Off and on subscriber.

MLB.TV [[$20) + unblock.us [[$5 a month) - I get all the Tigers games this way. It's a hack but the blackout rules are a joke and I have no problem getting around them. It's also cool to tune into the visitor's feed especially if they're playing at LA or Milwakuee so you can hear Vin Scully or Bob Euchre. If you don't use unblock.us you can watch the games once they're finished. They also have game summaries which is basically 3-5 minutes highlighting all the relevant plays. Very cool if you're a busy fan.

[Enduro]

Not true. Complete and Total Bullshit. You bought into the marketing. A TV antenna is a TV antenna.

I'm using a 1970s VHF UHF TV top antenna on my HDTVs. Works perfectly. All you need is a TV with an HDTV tuner in it to get HDTV. That old non HDTV antenna will work fine.

Yep. I actually bought a retro Mad Man looking antenna on eBay because it looked cooler than any modern ones.

[mtburb]

Well, I decided to work with my new antenna a bit more and try to pick up more stations-it looks like with placing it right on top of my TV, I managed to pick up whatever affiliate TV Ontario is on in Windsor, as it turned up on channel 32 with no signal.