off grid alternatives to cable and satellite?

softdown · December 2016

This was discussed a couple years ago I think. Many things can change in that time. What seems to provide the best tv streaming value these days.....for people with normal viewing tastes?

I was happy with Netflix. Their service went to absolute hell when I changed to a much smaller tv with Roku. They say they are having a lot of problems with Roku...a huge problem. Calling their customer service gets Netflix working for about 5 minutes. That is a joke. Tried that a couple times...

Living in a very cold area, it can hit -30f, tv helps with dark winter days.

littleharbor2 · December 2016

I cant speak for the masses but our Roku/Netflix combo works flawlessly. Add to that the myriad of other programming available thru Roku we are very pleased. Could your problem be your ISP itself?

Marc Kurth · December 2016

Roku/Netflix works flawlessly here. I don't tend to watch TV, but I can assure you that I would hear about any buffering problems from my wife! But then we have pretty fast service here..........

softdown · December 2016

littleharbor2 said:

I cant speak for the masses but our Roku/Netflix combo works flawlessly. Add to that the myriad of other programming available thru Roku we are very pleased. Could your problem be your ISP itself?

Netflix said they are having Roku problems. Other channels work OK. I had used a midget Roku that plugged into the tv HDMI that worked. I like to have a console Roku that is easy to unplug. Pretty big on unplugging stuff. Netflix can make it work..they have three times.

Truth is I generally don't care for newer technology. I am actually stepping backwards.

westbranch · December 2016

I would suspect system latency, it killed my connection to the Midnite Solar ''My Midnite" data base and causes a lot of other troubles..... To a '' TRACERT (name of site or IP add.)" in the command box to the site you want to get ot , if there are any entries > 500 mseconds you are pie for problems

softdown · December 2016

westbranch said:

I would suspect system latency, it killed my connection to the Midnite Solar ''My Midnite" data base and causes a lot of other troubles..... To a '' TRACERT (name of site or IP add.)" in the command box to the site you want to get ot , if there are any entries > 500 mseconds you are pie for problems

You may be unto something. The HDMI Roku was maybe 15' from the internet receiver. The console Roku is closer to 25'. Which allows me to unplug it easily. Why do the other channels work though? Why was Netflix able to fix it Everytime I called? Why does it keep crashing a few minutes later?

cupcake · December 2016

dunno how anyone can live off-grid and own a TV... I'm going on 17 years of not owning a TV... there's a whole world out there.. ENJOY THAT!

2 centz

softdown · December 2016

The internet would seem to provide about four major classes of "viewers":
1) The 75"+ class. They yell from their roof tops whenever they get a chance. If they lose their homes, they can move into the television shipping box.

2) The "no TV at all" class. We have little choice but to surmise that they spend their time building their consequent empire of health and wealth.

3) The $200+/mt cable bill class. They have seen about every movie ever made....three times. By the way, what do you think of Leonard DiCaprios performance in "Don'tUseGasCauseINeedit"?

4) The "I don't give a red cent to the evil cable company" class. The self proclaimed Kings of documentaries, books, youtube, discussion boards, and torrents (possibly).

Then you have a small, hardy group of off gridders. May be found digging through rubbish piles, finding discarded flat screens and fixing them.

*This was presented tongue in cheek*

Photowhit · December 2016

I live with out network TV, there I'm on the fringe of 2 networks and PBS, but I'd need to have a directional antenna and move it around. I can watch most of the network TV shows off the DSL from their websites, even manage to stream some football games. It's enough for me. I have movies via on line sources, Amazon but I have to download to watch anything in high resolution.

I find as I age, I like to be doing other things with my time and it takes a long exhausting day for me to sit through a movie. I now prefer to collect information for all the assorted projects I have going on via the internet. Now to go collect some information on creating a bird viewing room...

softdown · December 2016

Couldn't resist a Black Friday 10" tablet for $100. Not sorry about that buy. Much more energy efficient than a laptop. Allows the user to "beam" various services to their Roku.

Downside....I don't like being asked for my age. I said I was 88 years old. The beaming service makes so much money showing me medicine ads that they will not let me buy the "pro package" with no ads.....$2.99. Or....so it seems. The quality of the footage is also pretty abysmal. Mostly 240p-360p to date.....which is one day of usage. Decent time passer overall.

morpho · December 2016

Well, how about your local Library? Mine has a modest selection of films, docs and tv on DVD and they are networked with many other libraries that will send them from that branches selection.

I have netflix as well. The key to successful netflix playback and keeping the data usage low is to change the default settings to the lowest resolution available. (or to whatever your personal tolerance it) The default is HD and that sucks a tonne of data from your plan and bogs down your connection.

If you are having a hard time with your Roku, try plugging your laptop or desktop into your tv. Works great on ours.

Or as Cupcake suggested (paraphrasing here) "screw the TV and go experience life...it's always HD"
Now with that said, I just got my first ever TV last year and I'm closing in on 50 years old......tonight is a new episode of The Walking Dead! Nuff said.

Good luck

mcgivor · December 2016

Another option is build a HDTV antenna out of a few coat hang wires and a balun matching transformer, and for less than $5 you could enjoy free over the air HDTV and cut the umbilical cord of mental mastibation, Google HDTV antenna diy, there are plenty of plans. Have made one in the past and the resolution is better than cable as the signal is not compressed.

softdown · December 2016

mcgivor said:

Another option is build a HDTV antenna out of a few coat hang wires and a balun matching transformer, and for less than $5 you could enjoy free over the air HDTV and cut the umbilical cord of mental mastibation, Google HDTV antenna diy, there are plenty of plans. Have made one in the past and the resolution is better than cable as the signal is not compressed.

We have previously discussed tv antennae at some length. The conclusion was that an antennae would likely not do much at this location. In reality, two different high tech antennae failed to deliver a single channel.

Mental *************? Umbilical cords? How is the second bottle of wine doing?

mcgivor · December 2016

Just metaphors........The commercial antennas don't work well, mounted mine about 30 feet up on a pole outside in Vancouver Canada and got signals from Seattle Tacoma over 150 miles away, had a shield behind which made it directional but greatly enhanced the quality.

mcgivor said:

Another option is build a HDTV antenna out of a few coat hang wires and a balun matching transformer, and for less than $5 you could enjoy free over the air HDTV and cut the umbilical cord of mental mastibation, Google HDTV antenna diy, there are plenty of plans. Have made one in the past and the resolution is better than cable as the signal is not compressed.

We have previously discussed tv antennae at some length. The conclusion was that an antennae would likely not do much at this location. In reality, two different high tech antennae failed to deliver a single channel.

Mental *************? Umbilical cords? How is the second bottle of wine doing?

westbranch · December 2016

well out here at the end of 200 miles of road and down an isolated valley, we don't have much choice... so it is one of 2 sat. connection companies... There is a new option coming soon (To a ______ near you) that promises to be faster and a bit cheaper..

Anyway, look for Waking the Dead, a British series about a Cold Case Squad.. good series!

Look for " KNOWlledge - Programs" https://www.knowledge.ca/schedule

softdown · December 2016

mcgivor said:

Just metaphors........The commercial antennas don't work well, mounted mine about 30 feet up on a pole outside in Vancouver Canada and got signals from Seattle Tacoma over 150 miles away, had a shield behind which made it directional but greatly enhanced the quality.

mcgivor said:

Another option is build a HDTV antenna out of a few coat hang wires and a balun matching transformer, and for less than $5 you could enjoy free over the air HDTV and cut the umbilical cord of mental mastibation, Google HDTV antenna diy, there are plenty of plans. Have made one in the past and the resolution is better than cable as the signal is not compressed.

We have previously discussed tv antennae at some length. The conclusion was that an antennae would likely not do much at this location. In reality, two different high tech antennae failed to deliver a single channel.

Mental *************? Umbilical cords? How is the second bottle of wine doing?

Mountain valley here. Stupid VHF/UHF waves don't climb around mountains well. A friend mounted a giant antennae and got some Spanish channels. I don't speak Spanish very well.

mike95490 · December 2016

Remote town, no OTA signal. No cable. No sat dish. We get netflix DVD's mailed in and out. Internet via a cell phone as a hot$pot with 12Gb limit.
I'll go into town and get wi-fi and stock up on some video to watch later.

cupcake · December 2016

Want TV...? Go back ON grid with the rest of the peasantry... experience life not flickering hololgrams

cisco_ken · December 2016

Netflix now offers you the ability to download a show to your tablet or phone and watch it later on your TV. Even with a slow ISP this should solve your problem.

softdown · December 2016

cisco_ken said:

Netflix now offers you the ability to download a show to your tablet or phone and watch it later on your TV. Even with a slow ISP this should solve your problem.

Thanks...did not know that. But....would that consume about twice as much energy as a direct stream? Been told that downloading uses significant energy.

Seems that the 16GB of onboard memory translates to 9GB of consumer accessible memory. That would fill up pretty fast.

It has a micro SD slot but did not come with a micro SD card. They are plentiful enough. The huge capacity SD cards may costs as much as this tablet.

I thought $100 was a Black Friday "steal". It is a great price but tablet prices have been tumbling. The tech world is frowning on the "Orwellian spying" built into Windows 10. Looks like tablets have a great future. Though a real keyboard is 10 times better than a tablet touch screen.

softdown · December 2016

Holy Smoke....I just built a giant DVD collection at irresistible prices. Os so I thought. I could buy a batch of SD cards and carry around the equivalent of a Blockbuster store in my right hand. The quality is not near DVD quality but a 10" tablet does not need more than 480p. It takes 1080p to compete with DVD quality.

morpho · December 2016

Westbranch: Thanks for the link!

cisco_ken · December 2016

softdown said:

Holy Smoke....I just built a giant DVD collection at irresistible prices. Os so I thought. I could buy a batch of SD cards and carry around the equivalent of a Blockbuster store in my right hand. The quality is not near DVD quality but a 10" tablet does not need more than 480p. It takes 1080p to compete with DVD quality.

How does ~"dime/quarter downloads" bode for the future of Hollywood film making?

You have to remember that the downloaded movies are only good for about 2-7 days.

softdown · December 2016

Downloading Nightcrawler is a .5gb download. I can beam it to a 50" TV that I got for $220. The quality is not great...but acceptable on 50". With my new noise cancelling headphones, I may never step outside again....j/k.

Update: Only a percentage are available for download.

softdown · December 2016

cisco_ken said:

softdown said:

Holy Smoke....I just built a giant DVD collection at irresistible prices. Os so I thought. I could buy a batch of SD cards and carry around the equivalent of a Blockbuster store in my right hand. The quality is not near DVD quality but a 10" tablet does not need more than 480p. It takes 1080p to compete with DVD quality.

How does ~"dime/quarter downloads" bode for the future of Hollywood film making?

You have to remember that the downloaded movies are only good for about 2-7 days.

Easy to believe that. Yet something tells me that it may not be terribly difficult to record the beam sent to the Roku. Techs feel challenged by making work arounds.

And knowing a bit about our legal system...they probably think that the download is illegal after 8 days.

Perhaps they encode something that makes it self destruct after a few days. Hmmm.

Self destructing is pretty useful in that it free's up the hard drive for the next download. I would think.

westbranch · December 2016

Our town library uses that type of 1 week or ? of reading pleasure and then it is gone from your E-reader..

softdown · December 2016

This is a great Netflix feature for those who don't have internet service. Neflix standard is only $8/mt. They can load up some movies while visiting a location with internet service.

While we are discussing radio waves and such....does anybody know if it is possible to make their tablet double as their smartphone? With a bluetooth headset, it becomes viable in many ways.

Marc Kurth · December 2016

With a reasonably quick internet connection and wifi, there are low cost VOIP services available - think Skype type apps for Android.

softdown · December 2016

Need a phone line for customers. Thinking that is different than Skype type chats. Without a SIM card, I have doubts that a tablet could double as a phone. Then again....my internet "router" also uses a SIM card. So?

mcgivor · December 2016

Some tablets, for example Samsung and Macintosh Ipad can have a phone SIM, you pay extra for that feature, but most cheap ones will not. The Sim in the router is for the router, unless you use a phone as a hotspot as I do with an IPhone then you can still use the phone, as a phone.

westbranch · December 2016

For example, if you have an Android device (Tablet) go to google store and search for "PHONE' Apps there are, hundreds, I use one and it is great and a lot cheaper than the old Quallcom Satellite phone...

off grid alternatives to cable and satellite?

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