| Thread Number: 41216
satilite tv |
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Post# 609365 7/10/2012 at 09:01 (318 days old) by washerboy  (Arkansas) |
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  It occured to me about 3 months ago that I pay for satilite every month and 99% of the time I only watch the local channels. I'm considering discontinuning the service..seems like a waste of money every month. My contract with Dish network expired in February so I can do whatever. Has any one gone cable-less/dishless? What sort of equipment/antenia did you buy and how's the reception?/thanks
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| Post# 609367 , Reply# 1 7/10/2012 at 09:16 (318 days old) by wayupnorth (Maine - Vacationland ) | ||
 I have DirecTV but get my locals from a roof top antenna for a $10/month savings. The old analog worked perfect with rabbit ears but the new digital is way too sensitive picking up the signals. The only thing I watch locally is the News as I cant stand all the network crime, drama, reality shows. I'd rather watch a good cooking show, home improvement or old comedies on TV land.
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Post# 609385 , Reply# 3 7/10/2012 at 11:05 (317 days old) by cuffs054 (GA) |
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Washerboy, I'm giving it some thought also. I would be interested in hearing about anything you come up with. | ||
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Post# 609408 , Reply# 4 7/10/2012 at 13:52 (317 days old) by washerboy (Arkansas) |
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I'll let you know.I have a friend that pays almost 200 a month for internet and tv...I only have the basic package and it runs about 75.00 a month..that's 900.00 a year. In the begining I enjoyed it..but after a few years of HGTV and the Food Network I lost intrest. Now it's the local news in the mornings and evenings...I think my dogs get more enjoyment out of it than I..they enjoy the cartoon network during the day while I'm at work and of course when I get home in the afternoons it's my responsibility to entertain them. I just keep thinking there a lot of other things I rather spend 75 dollars on than tv that I dont use.
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| Post# 609416 , Reply# 6 7/10/2012 at 14:25 (317 days old) by LordKenmore (WA) | ||
 You should also talk to the people where you live, if you aren't already. Things vary wildly area to area--reception quality, cable TV company options, etc.
For example, I have heard stories of people who get digital TV with no real trouble. It seems like they can fling a pair of rabbit ears whereever, and they get every channel. Then there are people in difficult reception areas that can spend months working to get just one channel to come in. My area is a difficult reception area. It was bad with analog, it has become very hard (and possibly impossible in some parts) with digital. I know three people out here who had analog. One moved to some sort of dish system. Two got over air to work with some difficulty, but one house later moved to cable. (I don't reception was necessarily the reason for the move to cable--I think more chanels, or the fact that person gets Internet from the cable company influenced the decision.) I currently don't get any TV. I'd need a really good antenna to have any hope of getting anything over the air. I'm not interesed in the expense, or hassle. I'm not sure I'll be here long enough to make it worth it...although I was probably saying that same thing 2 years ago! I don't get pay TV, because at the best of times, I'm cheap. In the current economy, this is one thing I can happily skip to make my budget go further. All I watch is DVDs from the library (which has a good collection, including vintage TV), or VHS tapes from thrift shops. | ||
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Post# 609426 , Reply# 8 7/10/2012 at 15:10 (317 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas) |
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 When you use antenna only you'll find that most local stations have more than just one feed. Here in Houston there is a digital broadcast only station that broadcasts old television shows for free.
We use DirecTV. About two years ago we called them and asked for a rate reduction. They reduced our rate from $72.98 per month down to $42.95 per month for a year. All we did was to tell them that we were getting various offers from other providers and what is the best rate that they could give. That move saved us about $330.00 for that year. | ||
| Post# 609502 , Reply# 11 7/10/2012 at 21:32 (317 days old) by wayupnorth (Maine - Vacationland ) | ||
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Turned on TV Land tonight on my DirecTV and now Viacom is fighting with them to pay them billions to broadcast their commercial after commercial or shut them down tonight. Seems that something is wrong with this picture. Networks get their revenue for their obnoxious constant commercials and they want cable and satellite providers to pay them? With this mandated digital conversion, unless you are in a perfect reception area, you cant get signal. The networks should be paying them to broadcast their programs, sounds like double dipping. Pay TV was invented to be commercial free.
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| Post# 609503 , Reply# 12 7/10/2012 at 21:48 (317 days old) by LordKenmore (WA) | ||
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I have to agree: if one is paying for TV, one should expect A) channels that are ad-free, or B) ads, but the cable TV rates go down.
But the way things are, it will be C): pay a zillion dollars a month, and see five gazillion ads in the process. At least DVDs from my library don't have ads. Oh, wait. I forgot. They do--those irritating "previews" which, sometimes, are impossible to skip. (In cases like that, I just turn the volume down, and let the DVD play while I go and do something else for 15 minutes, half an hour, two hours, whatever until the previews are done.) | ||
| Post# 609504 , Reply# 13 7/10/2012 at 21:51 (317 days old) by LordKenmore (WA) | ||
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Post# 609510 , Reply# 14 7/10/2012 at 22:59 (317 days old) by rp2813 (SF Bay Area) |
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 Most transmissions in our area come from 40 to 50 miles away. We use a Zenith converter box with a 19" analog TV, and the antenna is a simple "bow tie" type that snaps onto a rabbit ear, which came free with a TV sometime in the past. We pull in almost all available channels with just that. Sometimes if the fog is thick up in the SF area, we'll get annoying break-ups in the signal on certain channels. I intend to rig up a rooftop antenna to improve reception, but even on an old school CRT set, certain programming is rendered in a much sharper picture and better color tone than it ever was with analog broadcast or even cable. Interestingly, one of the antennaweb channels that comes up purple for me comes in more reliably than most others, including many of the yellow ones.
Several stations offer more than one channel's worth of broadcasting. Some have as many as six additional ones, but not all of them offer much of interest. No one should make the mistake of thinking over-the-air digital for free offers an alternative to cable or satellite. If you like certain cable channels like HGTV or Food or DIY, you'll not be pulling in anything of that genre over the air. | ||
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Post# 609772 , Reply# 16 7/11/2012 at 22:15 (316 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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 In my area the digital conversion actually improved things, as long as one had a good antenna. Most of our channels are broadcast from 50 to 80 miles away, making this a fringe area. Up until a few months ago I had an ancient 20 foot tall analog antenna, that was actually a flat wire screen type antenna for uhf mounted above a standard antenna with all the arms sticking out for vhf, (I may have that backwards). Along with that I had an antenna rotor, and a signal booster. Using this set up I was getting about 5 channels before the digital conversion. Afterwards, with all the feeds each station offered, I had a total of 20-26 channels depending on the weather. I would still be using my antenna, but after a horrific storm in the spring blew the tower down and smashed the antenna, I had cable hooked up until I decide whether to spend the money for a new antenna and tower.
The main things to remember are that if there are hills, trees, or neighbor's houses between you and the station you wish to receive, your antenna will have to be higher than those obstructions if you are any sort of distance from the station. I have friends who live within 20 to 30 miles of broadcast stations, and are able to get all the channels they want with a simple set of rabbit ears. When I tried that after my antenna was destroyed in the storm, I was only able to get 5 channels, 4 of which were PBS. So the further you are from the station, the bigger, better, and taller your antenna must be. Also a signal booster is a must if you arent close to the stations. Without my signal booster plugged in I was only able to get those same 5 channels that I got with the rabbit ears, even with my 20 foot antenna. | ||
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Post# 609788 , Reply# 17 7/12/2012 at 00:37 (316 days old) by MattL (Flushing, MI) |
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Just a note.. There are no Digital or Analog TV antennas, there are just antennas. | ||
| Post# 610273 , Reply# 19 7/14/2012 at 20:58 (313 days old) by wayupnorth (Maine - Vacationland ) | ||
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I guess you could say where I live is outside the last big outpost before you venture over the border into Canada or into the North Atlantic. We do have our NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, FX, CW over the air for free with a rooftop antenna but far as I am concerned, their primetimes stink and Time Warner does not have cable service out here. I am not a movie watcher, so Netflix wont work. I have had DirecTV since the 1990's and I call them once a year and go to a supervisor and threaten to switch unless they continue my discount, reminding them of how long I have been a customer and they always come through and continue lowering my bill.
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Post# 610339 , Reply# 20 7/15/2012 at 08:07 (313 days old) by Frigilux (the open prairie of Minnesota) |
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 I also quit paying $100 a month for DirecTV about eight years ago when I realized I was watching local channels and Turner Classic Movies 90% of the time.
Remember when every roof had an antenna on it back in the 1960's-early '70's? I see photos taken outdoors from that period and nature looks very cluttered with all the rooftop antennae and above-ground electric/phone wires and their poles. | ||
| Post# 610483 , Reply# 21 7/16/2012 at 06:15 (312 days old) by jmurray01 (Scotland) | ||
 I have considered just going digital with a FreeView box but I watch a lot of documentaries which my Sky subscription covers well (Discovery, National Geographic etc...) so I've kept it going.
I did used to have Sky "multi room" for my bedroom as well but I ended that well over a year ago as I wasn't watching it at all really. Now I just have a FreeView box hooked up to my 28" Toshiba CRT television which barely gets turned on once a month. That way I'm not paying for something I'm not using and when I do use it I'm still not paying for it! The FreeView box is hooked up to the standard analogue aerial, not the satellite dish. Sky is good for the living room TV though because it is High Definition so the box makes use of that on the HD channels. | ||
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