[kwlug-disc] Cutting the cord

[unsolicited]

 >  You should be able to get CKCO, Global, and TVO pretty much anywhere
 > in Waterloo with an indoor or wall-mounted antenna.

Perhaps not so true any more. Bought an OTA digital converter box last 
year - living with only getting CKCO, Global, one other if I'm lucky. 
Now - nada. Something has happened along the way blowing wireless out of 
the water. (King & William area.) 2.4G Wi-fi appears taken out too. 
Don't know what happened. (Atria install on street overwhelming 
everything? Speculation. Anyone with insight, comments appreciated.)

No doubt Andrew will chime in on ota / satellite at some point.

$50 gets you an OTA converter box from K-W Surplus. You could try with 
not too much cash outlay. Rabbit ears or coat hanger just to see 
possibilities? At the time I purchased the above I was also getting 
hints that buying a directional internal antenna would help muchly - but 
perhaps involved repointing the antenna with every channel change.

For quite some time it appeared the favourite toy was the Popcorn box. 
Since then viable competition appears to have appeared.

PVR functionality (let alone CC or DV) still appears problematic. Let 
alone trying to split HDTV/HDCP/HDMI signal to capture.

One thing that does appear to have evolved from the last time I looked, 
the boxes are getting better and better and more and more inclusive at 
presenting a single user interface for content / channel selection 
across disparate stream sources. Can't say to what extent / how 
successful, but does seem to be moving that way. Presumably XBMC et al 
already has such you can play with.

- one problem it seemed to me, when last I looked ... if the streams are 
only going to be available 380x240 (?), I don't expect the picture on a 
'real' TV to be ... adequate.

The real biggie AFAICT of all such boxes is K.I.S.S. - single user 
interface / remote control, up/down channel change, like the 'old days'. 
vs rss or web browsing and clicking to start the video. If I sit down to 
relax, I don't want to be playing with web browsers, codecs, whatever - 
just want point and click.

The problem with your network port in your TV is going to be you're 
limited by the software knowledge of the world it has / had at time of 
manufacture. From what I have seen, manufacturers aren't much interested 
in software updates after the fact. Suppose it doesn't hurt to plug the 
network in and just see what you do/n't get.


On 14-02-25 04:27 PM, Jason locklin wrote:
> http://freeknowledge.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/digital-tv-antenna-in-kitchener-waterloo/
>
>  You should be able to get CKCO, Global, and TVO pretty much anywhere
> in Waterloo with an indoor or wall-mounted antenna.
>
> On February 25, 2014 3:26:56 PM EST, CrankyOldBugger
> <crankyoldbugger at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I know there's a mountain of discussion on the web about ditching
>> the cable TV, or in my case satellite TV, but it's not always
>> information that's pertinent to Canadians.  So permit me to ask my
>> questions here..
>>
>> Note that I can download any TV show I want via torrents (using
>> RSS feeds for automation), provided it's not something live such as
>> hockey night in Canada or some other sporting event, so watching
>> "Big Bang Theory" every week isn't a problem.
>>
>> But if I go to internet-connection only, can I more or less dial up
>> any TV channel (CBC, CTV, Global, History Chanel, etc.) on the
>> internet and watch what they're broadcasting at that moment?  Would
>> I be able to watch CTV Kitchener news at 6:00 from my TV?
>>
>> One of my TVs has a network port, so streaming to that one isn't a
>> problem, but for the other TVs in the house, how can I watch any
>> movies that I have on my network shared drives?  Do I need some
>> sort of device to convert ethernet or wi-fi to HDMI?
>>
>> If I got an HD antennae, would I be able to get any decent stations
>> up in North Waterloo without having to build a 50' tower?
>>
>> Most importantly, have any of the fine people in this mailing list
>> cut their cord, and if so, how's it going?  Are you happy, or are
>> you missing your TV provider?