Cable TV Replacement Recommendations?

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Have you considered a TV antenna?
Yes, I have been looking at it. There is actually one in the attic from before we bought this house. However, the results from antenna.org do not look promising, even with an antenna mounted 30 ft above grade:

Screenshot 2024-02-15 at 8.51.24 AM.jpg


Another issue is that my house is "over the hill" by about 65 ft in elevation with the neighbor's house and trees in the line of sight of the Empire State Building from where most of the NYC area stations broadcast.
 
Not much choice where I live, basically comcrap/xfinity or dish for tv and only xfinity for high speed internet but you can get the mobile tiein for $34 a month for two lines and 3gb (piggybacks on Verizon network so reliable.) Contract up in august so will be considering my options for TV.
 
Not much choice where I live, basically comcrap/xfinity or dish for tv and only xfinity for high speed internet but you can get the mobile tiein for $34 a month for two lines and 3gb (piggybacks on Verizon network so reliable.) Contract up in august so will be considering my options for TV.
I was just looking online, there are 3 tv stations with transmitters in the same general location, but they are about 70 miles straightline distance.
Would need a good antenna with a preamp. Sort of costly if you go Channel Master (about all I would buy as they make good ones).

I think I'm going to stick with internet tv. When the 2gig up/down fiber gets hooked the tv service will go smoother. I can get CBS on Paramount+ but no ABC or NBC, no ESPN. We just have Prime, Paramount and Discovery but outside of sports coverage it's about all we need.
I'm not much of a tv watcher nor am I movie buyer. Luddite! lol.
 
I have an antennae hooked into my computer which has hdmi out. I bought an hdtv tuner card with two tuners in it so I can record HDTV (two stations at a time). The cost is $45/mo for internet service. This allows me to go through commercials which is imperative for watching via antennae. There is a ton of free TV out there and it reminds me of what was on pay tv back in the 70's.
 
Yes, I have been looking at it. There is actually one in the attic from before we bought this house. However, the results from antenna.org do not look promising, even with an antenna mounted 30 ft above grade:

View attachment 101538

Another issue is that my house is "over the hill" by about 65 ft in elevation with the neighbor's house and trees in the line of sight of the Empire State Building from where most of the NYC area stations broadcast.
Since you have an antenna in the attic, I would suggest getting some decent coax, no less than RG6, and hook it up to one your TV's.
You should be able to decide if it will be satisfactory for your viewing habits.
Don't be afraid to adjust the direction of the antenna either.
I found that antenna.org is a good starting point, but I still had to make adjustments afterwards.
Good luck and keep us posted!
 
First, there's no such thing as a "digital" antenna. Any good TV antenna will do the job quite well. If you're thinking about going with an antenna, make sure it's a VHF/UHF capable model. Most stations are operating in the UHF band, which has proven better for digital TV. Your local stations may be identifying by their old analog channels, the ones you're familiar with. Stations use what's called a "perceptual" channel. This keeps them in the same position they'd be on an old, analog set. You also have their digital subchannels, which add a "-2" and above, to that number. If your TV is a newer model that also includes "NextGen TV", which offers an even better picture, better sound, and a host of new features that will be offered in the near future, you'll be able to take advantage of the improvements it offers. In my area, all of the major stations are available using the NextGen advanced system (also known as ATSC3.0). This will deliver, currently, a 1080p picture, rather than either 720p or 1080i., and with better color, better contrast and brightness, and sound which can include Dolby Atmos. Eventually, they'll be offering 4K programming, too. I recommend using antennaweb.com, a website that can help you determine what type of antenna you'll need in your area, but also where to point it, and how strong the signals will be. Most important is the RF channels your local stations are broadcasting on. Happy hunting! Oh, and stoopid, you may find the channels that went missing if you re-scan your TV.

TV antenna, 60 Miles Range HDTV Antenna, 1080P Digital HDTV Best Amplified Indoor, Super Thin, 16.5ft Coax Cable With Detachable Amplifier Signal Booster, Omni Directional VHF UHF TV Antenna [no longer sold under this product/product link. the 'booster' part definitely works, while in New York stations we didn't see anything at all were completely fine with this antenna in the same spot as the old antenna]

I'm not a TV tech. The thing that makes the picture from far away go on.
 
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Since you have an antenna in the attic, I would suggest getting some decent coax, no less than RG6, and hook it up to one your TV's.
You should be able to decide if it will be satisfactory for your viewing habits.
Don't be afraid to adjust the direction of the antenna either.
I found that antenna.org is a good starting point, but I still had to make adjustments afterwards.
Good luck and keep us posted!
This is sound advice to try since the antenna is already up there and quality of cabling can certainly matter. Doesn't cost much to find out, but sounds like it might cost to "cut the cable" via streaming (or stay stuck with Cable TV). Per my last post, might be worth looking into signal boosters, they work but can't say for sure if they'll be enough to get you over the hump. Something like this maybe? [unless someone who knows can offer better advice] https://www.amazon.com/GE-Amplifier-Pixelated-Low-Strength-42178/dp/B07NF6JYJV
 
Oh, and stoopid, you may find the channels that went missing if you re-scan your TV.
It did! [kinda]

Initially I disconnected and reconnected the booster's power, which didn't help, then moved the antenna around and found a couple spots where the missing channels at least appeared but were sketchy. I did a channel scan where it was sketchy, no improvement. Having given up, I moved the antenna back to its original location and magically everything was fine. I'm thinking there's a cabling issue between the antenna and booster, or booster and TV, but it's stable where it is and I'll tackle if the issue returns (it had been in that spot for 4+ years before the problem arose).
 
I cancelled cable in mid-2019, I also use an antenna for (D)TV. I get about 64 "channels" using just a UHF loop antenna (designed for inside use) outside.

I recently bought an ATSC 3.0 STB (KC has 2 ATSC 3.0 signals OTA):
https://adth.com

At first, I missed the cable news channels, but several years ago, I made myself a page of links on my ad-supported "free" home page:
http://avdtv.tripod.com/LINKS.htm
which I can call up on my PC/tablet/phone for the latest local, national and world news.

I also have max free w/AT&T fiber and $0.99/mo ad-supported Hulu - I have an HDMI to composite video+analog stereo converter which allows me to time shift/videotape content from these streaming services [and preserve the surround sound via VHS Hi-Fi!].


Kirk Bayne
 
Plenty of excellent advice already. OTA is always free, although there may be some aggregators who rebroadcast for a fee. We have one in Boise, but I’ve never tried them.

If you’re going to stream the premium channels like ESPN or Peacock, you’ll have to have an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and those are usually cable TV operators, too, so you’ll probably be stuck with the same company you used before.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Link) is often provided by a local telephone company. I haven’t had DSL for over 20 years, but I doubt their bandwidth can handle 4k.
 
Since you have an antenna in the attic, I would suggest getting some decent coax, no less than RG6, and hook it up to one your TV's.
You should be able to decide if it will be satisfactory for your viewing habits.
Don't be afraid to adjust the direction of the antenna either.
I found that antenna.org is a good starting point, but I still had to make adjustments afterwards.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Thank you. A couple of other things:

- The channels here are all encrypted, so I would also need one of those OTA boxes. Correct?

- The antenna in the attic has that old double conductor antenna wire coming out of it. How would I convert that to Coax?
 
Go retro? Get a rooftop digital antenna and rely on broadcast digital TV. I live in a rural coastal area where signals are sometimes complicated by hilly topography and I can still pull in almost a dozen channels. And quite a few of our regular shows (including some cable-only shows, and we don't have cable) are also available on the web for anywhere from a day to several weeks after broadcast. Throw in a rotating assortment of streaming services and we're good to go.
I'm with you. I'm in Toronto and since going with an antenna (15 years ago) I'm not subjected to annoying simulcasting, horrendously compressed video and audio. Plus I mostly only watch retro channels as well as a great local pirate TV station that shows some really great (and often unheard of) movies as well as other weird stuff.
For anyone interested: Star-Ray TV in East York)
 
If you live in an area or neighborhood where you can both mount an antenna and receive a respectable amount of OTA signals, OTA can be a satisfactory replacement for cable TV, if you don't care about losing the national/regional channels you can get only on cable/satellite/streaming. As others has commented, you can even set up a DVR.

In my old neighborhood, I was able to mount a large antennna with a rotator and even integrate it into my Dish receiver/PVR at a time when they didn't include local channels. I wouldn't be able to do so in my new neighborhood because of HOA rules, but even if I could, I'd have to connect the antenna to two TVs that we use in different parts of the house. Streaming with apps does away with that factor.
 
I barely watch TV at all. I literally just watch a few sports events, some local news.....oh and......non stop reruns of Jacques Pepin cooking shows on youtube.
Same, maybe local news and the rare sporting event on national TV (abc, cbs, nbc). 99+% streaming otherwise now, and a big Youtube watcher. Youtube premium at $14 /month and 6 months of the year we have ESPN+ at $13 /month for hockey. We'll do a month of whatever service makes sense for hockey playoff games, if our team is in.
 
Thank you. A couple of other things:

- The channels here are all encrypted, so I would also need one of those OTA boxes. Correct?

- The antenna in the attic has that old double conductor antenna wire coming out of it. How would I convert that to Coax?
Not sure about the 'encrypted' thing. I know 'digital' OTA (HDTV, whatever the f^&^ it's called... I'm feeling your eyes on this post Jaybird!) needs the proper tuner. If you don't have a newer TV (than say 2014+) then it's possible it doesn't have the native capability to get the HDTV signals. You'd have to look up the model to know. If not, then yes an OTA (ATSC 3.0 to futurerpoof things) box is necessary. The good news is that some boxes I saw on Amazon appeared to boost the antenna signal a bit so maybe no need for additional hardware if you can get your antenna connected.

We used the move to HDTV OTA as an opportunity to upgrade our aging TV at the time, before it died and needlessly buying the OTA tuner to not need it later since all newer TVs have that capability natively. TVs are decent quality and cheaper than they've ever been at the moment. Hint hint.

Assuming this would work for the older UHF antenna to connect via coax(?) https://www.amazon.com/Fancasee-Matching-Transformer-Converter-Connector/dp/B07BW9YS4Q (Jaybird, you're up!)
 
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I'm also using a Tablo. I had some issues with it when I first bought it, but it seems better now. About 2 months after I got it, they came out with a new version. 🫤

I live in an area where the TV broadcast towers come from all different directions, so a good antenna was going to be hard to find. Plus, I'm in a townhouse and I couldn't mount it in the roof, so it had to go in the attic. (Yes, I know the federal regulations about TV antennas and HOAs. 1) I wasn't going to be THAT guy in the complex and 2) the rule here is "no drilling through the roof or siding, so no way to mount it or bring in the wire.)

BTW, I follow and used his service to get the best setup I could. Look on line for Tyler the Antenna Man. He's out of Pennsylvania and was really wonderful in helping get my setup.

As far as ATSC 3.0/Next Gen, I'm going to wait until it all settles out with codes and encryptions before I get a DVR for that. But Zapperbox looks good now that they've added DVR services to their tuner.
 
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