I am selective about what technologies I use, because I recognize that everything has a cost. Everything. Some things are worth the cost to me, some things aren’t.
One of those things that aren’t worth the cost is cable tv. Part of it is that I am involved in enough things that I don’t have the time to watch much tv, but it boggles my mind why anyone would pay $60/month (a.k.a. $720/year) for the purpose of watching tv shows that are still full of commercials. With all the chatter about free Wifi spots has everyone forgot about a mature technology that allows for free tv reception? It’s called an “antenna”. Hook up an antenna to your tv and you can receive sometimes a dozen channels at no monthly cost, ever, with no contract, for an unlimited number of tv sets in your household. It doesn’t always need to be on a 30-foot-high pole in your yard, a regular pair of rabbit ears in your living room may suffice. Yeah, I don’t get the Discovery channel or HGTV, but if I did it would probably introduce sufficient strife in my household anyway. Outside of that, generally it seems that even with 100 channels, there still isn’t anything worth watching.
Here are some sites that a friend gave me that you may find helpful:
- Consumer Electronics Association AntennaWeb: shows the distance and orientation between the broadcasters and your residence (this is cool)
- Plain Money: answers some basic questions about antennas
- HDTV Info Port: more answers to basic questions
That said, one of the things that is worth the cost is my Tivo. For the few things I do watch on tv, I never watch live so everything is time shifted. Not having to deal with a stack of tapes is wonderful. I’m on the $12/month plan with Tivo. (I’m not a fan of subscription services, but I understand that is how the hardware cost is amortized since I paid only $100 for the device.)
So while talking with a friend recently about my Tivo, they were aghast to learn that my Tivo was hooked up to an antenna instead of cable or satellite tv. “Is that even possible?” they asked. “Sure it is,” I replied. “Works great.” I have full functionality with my Tivo hooked up to an antenna and a broadband connection. The Tivo box has a coax connector on the back that actually is labelled “Antenna”, and it has a tuner inside. You don’t need satellite or cable tv for Tivo. Just connect it and go.
David Singer responded on 18 Feb 2007 at 11:19 pm #
Just curious — what are your plans when NTSC goes away in just under 2 years? You’ll still be able to watch OTA, but you’ll need a digital converter box — the open question is how well will your TiVo be able to control the converter?
(I’m currently on DirecTV with a HDTiVo, and my headache will come when they get rid of the MPEG2 feeds in favor of MPEG4.)
– David
marcelk responded on 19 Feb 2007 at 7:52 am #
Yup, how the Tivo will control the digital converter box is an open issue. I’m deferring the digital upgrade for as long as I can. I still have an analog tv, and waiting for the price to drop even further. I think I know what I’ll be doing with my tax refund in 2008.
Nick responded on 06 Mar 2008 at 11:27 pm #
I finally joined the HD club and thought that I would miss my Tivo…and I guess I still do, but I’ve found myself just staring at the HD commercials because they look so good
. I’m shocked that the news looks so good. My tax return has gone to good use this year. I’m still perplexed about what to do for a way to timeshift HD content. I have a series 1 tivo, and use it with no subscription as a digital VCR, and I can’t bring myself to pay for an HD Tivo with a subscription. I thought I would try an HD tuner card for my computer, so I bought the Hauppage HD tuner and the quality wasn’t worth it so I ended up returning it. We’ll see what happens in the future. I’d really like to see someone like Tivo make a device that will record HD content, that I don’t have to pay a monthly subscription for…but I guess then it all boils down to the market.
marcelk responded on 27 May 2008 at 7:11 am #
Basically with Tivo you are amortizing the cost of the hardware with a subscription, which eventually turns into profit. If you want to go the no-subscription non-amortized self-build route, you could try MythTV. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV
marcelk responded on 27 May 2008 at 7:17 am #
Oh, and if you want to superset that, take a look at LinuxMCE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinuxMCE. If only I had money and time to burn…
David Bruton responded on 25 May 2011 at 3:13 pm #
I use a TIVO HD with an antenna in the Raleigh NC area and get good results. The HD TIVO has built in digital OTA receivers and can record two HD shows at the same time (while I am watching a pre-recorded HD show)… amazing. I don’t like subscription services either but with TIVO I bear it. I almost never watch live TV.