Any Cord Cutters Here?

Robert G. said:
SOMETIMES the broadcaster will broadcast their main channel at 720 to squeeze another 480 sub channel, fortunately that is not often as I can't stand watching the sub channels and do not want to see a main channel degraded to 720.
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I believe the reasoning of 720p vs 1080i on OTA stations is that 720p was better for sports action at that time. Interlace (1080i) updates the odd lines, then even lines, while progressive paints all lines at the same time. My ABC and Fox stations broadcast their main station as 720p, while CBS is 1080i. Local ABC only has one sub-channel.

For now, most ATSC 3.0 broadcasts are in 1080p because many of the local stations have agreed to have one tower as the "lighthouse" for ATSC 3.0 main channel broadcasts; and that one tower/station that has multiple sub-channels have them moved to the other stations as sub-channels, though you don't notice this because the sub-channel is identifying as the sub-channel of the main original channel. The one lighthouse ATSC 3.0 transmitter has a bandwidth limit and it may be sending out 5 to 6 1080p broadcasts. Eventually when the other stations get their own ATSC 3.0 equipment and move their main channel back to their tower/transmitter, it will open up the ability to send higher-res information....or they may keep it as is and rent the extra bandwidth for private use or have subscription service OTA. They are still experimenting with ATSC 3.0 and don't see it becoming main stream at time soon.

I dropped DISH back in mid 2000's and started using FTA satellite, mostly the Ku band. Also had a HD TV card and used MythTv to watch and record OTA, couldn't believe the picture quality and sound...felt like I was in the bleachers at the ball game (beer, beer here). As they added sub-channels, it seems that the sound quality went down and didn't get that feeling I was at the game.

But when the local internet company upped the speed from 10M to 50M, I started streaming stuff, like MLB. Then joined Netflix for a month or two, binged watched, dropped them, joined Prime for a few months and binged watched and drop them. Still do this every now and again.

Note that there is a lot of free stuff for streaming, like PlutoTv, Redbox, Tubi, etc. I'm using Plex and HDhomeRun for OTA recording. Also had Emby, but have yet to try JellyFin.
 
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concord said:
I believe the reasoning of 720p vs 1080i on OTA stations is that 720p was better for sports action at that time. Interlace (1080i) updates the odd lines, then even lines, while progressive paints all lines at the same time. My ABC and Fox stations broadcast their main station as 720p, while CBS is 1080i. Local ABC only has one sub-channel.

For now, most ATSC 3.0 broadcasts are in 1080p because many of the local stations have agreed to have one tower as the "lighthouse" for ATSC 3.0 main channel broadcasts; and that one tower/station that has multiple sub-channels have them moved to the other stations as sub-channels, though you don't notice this because the sub-channel is identifying as the sub-channel of the main original channel. The one lighthouse ATSC 3.0 transmitter has a bandwidth limit and it may be sending out 5 to 6 1080p broadcasts. Eventually when the other stations get their own ATSC 3.0 equipment and move their main channel back to their tower/transmitter, it will open up the ability to send higher-res information....or they may keep it as is and rent the extra bandwidth for private use or have subscription service OTA. They are still experimenting with ATSC 3.0 and don't see it becoming main stream at time soon.

I dropped DISH back in mid 2000's and started using FTA satellite, mostly the Ku band. Also had a HD TV card and used MythTv to watch and record OTA, couldn't believe the picture quality and sound...felt like I was in the bleachers at the ball game (beer, beer here). As they added sub-channels, it seems that the sound quality went down and didn't get that feeling I was at the game.

But when the local internet company upped the speed from 10M to 50M, I started streaming stuff, like MLB. Then joined Netflix for a month or two, binged watched, dropped them, joined Prime for a few months and binged watched and drop them. Still do this every now and again.

Note that there is a lot of free stuff for streaming, like PlutoTv, Redbox, Tubi, etc. I'm using Plex and HDhomeRun for OTA recording. Also had Emby, but have yet to try JellyFin.
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I really like Tubi, but there are just too many commercials for me. They'd be ok if, like YouTube, the commercials could be skipped after watching one. I also have UseNet and other ways to get shows that I want.
 
ambizop said:
have an antenna in Phoenix and can pickup the ATSC 3.0 broadcasts - BUT they are not broadcasting in 4K.
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Looks like you have two "lighthouse" ATSC 3.0 towers now. Phoenix was one of the first testbeds for ATSC 3.0, so it's not surprising that they added a second one in 2020. It will take time (and money) for all stations to add ATSC 3.0 equipment, then it will be up to them to decide to broadcast in 4k. They may decide to lease part of their bandwidth to private companies or set part up for pay for view, etc.

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Lawnboy1 said:
I really like Tubi, but there are just too many commercials for me. They'd be ok if, like YouTube, the commercials could be skipped after watching one. I also have UseNet and other ways to get shows that I want.
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Roku Channel, Redbox has free movies/tv shows too, with commercials, same with Freevee...have issues with Freevee on my Roku (when they try to insert the ad), but works ok with Firestick, so I power that up temporarily to watch Bouch Legacy.
 
We cut the cord a couple years ago now, had cable then directv before cutting.

Now we have netflix, hbo, prime, hulu and disney and still saving money.

I live in the hills so OTA won't work for me. Had to buy nfl game pass last year to watch the games. This year is NFL+ and price is less. The app kind of sucks but didn't have other options that were not a lot more expensive.

Did anyone else use Locast? I really miss that service. I watch news on Pluto but with locast you had the normal broadcast of the local stations if OTA wasn't an option.

Randy
 
I just got locast when it finally came to the area, then it got shut down. I tried it out for free to see what it was like and image quality was not great, donation version may have had better Q. I get most of the local channels via OTA, depending on the weather/season.

As for local, national and international news, check out Haystack News, which may have local news for your location, along with other news, like Pluto but also includes EuroNews, DW, AJ,, ABC, CBS. It's on both the Roku and Firestick. Another Roku option for local news is Local Now app. If you have a Firestick, you can use the default "News" app and select what news channels to include.

@Swampledge, yes that's true, some words get appropriated and evolves into a different meaning. Sometimes watch the Youtube channel Cord Cutter News and they cover free, paid apps along with new/updated streaming devices.
 
We cut the TELCO phone cord about 12 years ago and went with a free Google Voice number with a OBi200 adapter that gives dial tone throughout the house. Then cut the DirectTV cord about 9 years ago. We have always subscribed to Amazon Prime so we installed the Fire Cube on the TV and a Fire Recast is hooked to a antenna on a 60' tower near the house. This gives us 50+ off the air channels of crap to watch and local news. The Recast actually works really well the way in integrates into the Fire TV system. We have a PLEX server in the basement that handles our home movies, pictures music and videos. It also works great with the Fire Cube as does Kodi. Through a browser on the Fire Cube we go to Channels List - USTV247. Lots of free channels there. Nord VPN running on the pieces that touch the internet keeps prying eyes out. So our expenses are internet access, Amazon Prime and Nord VPN.
 
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Swampledge said:
Somehow it seems to me that dropping cable TV for streaming isn’t “cord-cutting.” It’s more like cord-swapping. But, the rest of our language is so f’d up anyway, I guess it doesn’t really matter.:idk:
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Agreed but, internet is considered a basic utility these days. TV is not considered a basic service so much.

As I probably stated before, I never cut the cord because I never had the money to have it in the first place, then when I did, the technology had already made it obsolete.
 
For anyone looking for a great DVR solution, I suggest looking at SageTV. It use to be a paid program that was bought by Google and integrated into their FiberTV service, but has since been opened sourced. This means the software is free (although you will need a TV guide subscription from Schedules Direct at about $25/yr).

SageTV is a multi-platform (Windows or Linux) computer based DVR system, but playback can occur over smart TVs, streaming or mobile device, etc using the SageTV apps that are available in all the major app stores. Using a computer based system has many benefits. First, it means you can have virtually unlimited storage. It also has features like being able to set up "favorites" to record, commercial skip, automatic recording extension (for sporting events that go past their regularly scheduled TV guide time due to delays or overtime), apps to watch/schedule recordings, etc, etc, etc. It works with lots of different tuners including most OTA tuners as wells as HDMI encoders, cable card tuners, etc. This means you can record shows from a variety of sources and access it all from one app/interface. Personally I have a 4 channels OTA tuner and a 6 channel cable card tuner which means I theoretically could record up to 10 shows at once. Of course I never have needed that many at the same time.

SageTV recording logic is tremendous as well. You can view the guide and manually record any show by simply pressing the record button. You can also set up "favorites" which will record a show any time or channel (although you can limit those parameters if desired) and you can set it to only "new" shows and/or reruns. The system is smart enough to review the guide, see what shows are coming up, and plan the recordings to ensure as many shows are recorded as possible using the available tuners and favorite priorities. What this means is that even if I only have a single tuner, but there are two "favorite" shows I want to record coming on at the same time, SageTV is smart enough to look through the future guide and if show #2 is only playing once, but show #1 is playing again tomorrow, the system will record show #2 today and show #1 tomorrow - even if show #1 has a higher priority in the favorites settings. Of course if there were two tuners available, then SageTV would record both shows at the same time on the first day. SageTV will also notify you when there are scheduling conflicts that it cannot resolve so that you can review them and see which shows you want to record and which shows you won't record. Of course the more tuners you have available, the less chance this will ever happen.
 
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Unfortunately Sage TV is now part of Google which disqualifies it for me.
 
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sebastiantombs said:
Unfortunately Sage TV is now part of Google which disqualifies it for me.
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Google bought it, used the technology for a couple years, then dropped it when they cancelled their Fiber TV service (like so many other Google initiatives/apps). The original developer (who had gone to work with Google as part of the buyout) was able to convince Google to open source it which is pretty rare for any depreciated Google project. Regardless, it's not really "part of Google" anymore. You can find it all on Github, although the SageTV forum I linked to earlier is the best place for information and support.
 
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