|
I apologize if this has been asked a lot before, but does anyone have recommendation for a longer range HD antenna? I live about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh and with the Leaf Antenna, I only get NBC and two channels that come with it (ME and Grit). I was looking for, probably an outdoor, antenna with maybe 100 mile range? The mountains between here and Pittsburgh probably don't help the cause. But I'd appreciate any help!
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 17:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 10:07 |
|
|
I've been sans cable for a month and change now and it's working out pretty well, but I'm still trying to break my habit of just having "tv on in the background" to provide white noise; That's about the only thing I miss. Thinking of going with something like Spotify so I can have music on in the background instead. Wonder if it'll fill the void to the same degree.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 17:59
|
|
|
Gar posted:I apologize if this has been asked a lot before, but does anyone have recommendation for a longer range HD antenna? Solidsignal.com has a form you can fill out and they will recommend one based on your needs and location.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 18:06
|
|
|
Gar posted:I apologize if this has been asked a lot before, but does anyone have recommendation for a longer range HD antenna? I set my parents up with a Wineguard 8200 which is freaking huge. It picks up a plethora of channels 55 miles from the nearest towers. In hindsight a smaller one probably would have been fine.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 18:08
|
|
|
Seems odd that you would get WPXI, which is on the north shore near Allegheny General Hospital but not WTAE which has its tower all they way out in Buena Vista, halfway to Greensburg. Maybe it's an elevation difference. My old apartment was so close to KDKA's transmission tower that back in the analog days I could pick up KDKA without attaching any antenna at all to the TV.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 18:17
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:I've been sans cable for a month and change now and it's working out pretty well, but I'm still trying to break my habit of just having "tv on in the background" to provide white noise; That's about the only thing I miss. Thinking of going with something like Spotify so I can have music on in the background instead. Wonder if it'll fill the void to the same degree. I used to come home and put on Food Network as background noise. I miss Chopped but there's plenty of white noise TV. The Office, Futurama and Good Eats are some of my usuals. US Netflix also has a bunch of ESPN 30 for 30 docs and No Reservations which are usually pretty good. Or a movie I've seen a dozen times is works too. There's also streams like Twitch if you have a Chromecast.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 19:04
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:I've been sans cable for a month and change now and it's working out pretty well, but I'm still trying to break my habit of just having "tv on in the background" to provide white noise; That's about the only thing I miss. Thinking of going with something like Spotify so I can have music on in the background instead. Wonder if it'll fill the void to the same degree. I got an Amazon Echo and it's worked amazingly well for just playing random music around my (albeit small) house. Voice activated, play random music, it's nice.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 19:20
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:I've been sans cable for a month and change now and it's working out pretty well, but I'm still trying to break my habit of just having "tv on in the background" to provide white noise; That's about the only thing I miss. Thinking of going with something like Spotify so I can have music on in the background instead. Wonder if it'll fill the void to the same degree. Same thing here. I've just been building a habit of turning my stereo on. To help with the indecision of what to "listen" to I put on a local radio station that's one of those no dj "we will play anything" stations. They play a wide enough variety I don't get bored with the same 5 top 40 songs.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 20:39
|
|
|
Don Lapre posted:Solidsignal.com has a form you can fill out and they will recommend one based on your needs and location. Oh that's awesome. Thanks! bull3964 posted:Seems odd that you would get WPXI, which is on the north shore near Allegheny General Hospital but not WTAE which has its tower all they way out in Buena Vista, halfway to Greensburg. Maybe it's an elevation difference. I actually get WJAC out of Johnstown. I don't get anything out of Pittsburgh. I think I would with a better antenna. Or maybe something from Altoona. This is for a cabin in Somerset County my dad stays at in the summer. The Leaf works great for me in my apartment in the South Hills!
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 21:09
|
|
|
So I'm experimenting with receiving OTA. Here's my TVFool chart: I have a fuckoff huge outdoor yagi antenna in my attic, looks to have been there since the early '80s. It barely fits up there, and it's wired down to my cable breakout so I've been able to gently caress around with it. I have been able to pick up CBRT and CFCN rather easily with it, but we watch CICT and it's proving elusive. I got it intermittently by taking all the splitters out so it's direct to one TV and pointing the antenna closer to that golden 275-277 degrees but the closest I can get is about 230 (started at 216) before the long set of poles start hitting rafters- and that move caused the two stations I was getting great before to cut out. I want to avoid indoor antennas since the lower part of this building is like a goddamn faraday cage- and the wall behind my TV is the worst radio dead spot in the whole drat place. So would it be worth continuing to gently caress with what I've got (maybe an amp would help? or relocating it so I can point it in exactly the right direction?) or should I be looking at being less of a cheap gently caress and switching to an attic-mount bowtie?
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 20:48
|
|
|
Put it on the roof IMO.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 21:05
|
|
|
A preamp might help if the antenna is picking up enough signal to use. A Yagi is very directional so it may not be, given how off-axis you are. Could you fit a slightly smaller directional antenna? You shouldn't need anything huge since you have line of sight and practically live next to the tower.PuTTY riot posted:Put it on the roof IMO. ....and ground that poo poo but good if you do. Don't get too familiar with electricity.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 21:05
|
|
|
PuTTY riot posted:Put it on the roof IMO. Condo board would poo poo so many bricks I could build a house and not have to deal with lovely condo boards. Panty Saluter posted:A preamp might help if the antenna is picking up enough signal to use. A Yagi is very directional so it may not be, given how off-axis you are. Could you fit a slightly smaller directional antenna? You shouldn't need anything huge since you have line of sight and practically live next to the tower. I got it pointed in the right direction now and it's back to where it started (CBC and CTV but no Global). I'll spend a couple hours tomorrow fiddling with it. Otherwise, my local Princess Auto (Canadian Harbor Freight) has a bunch of these in the surplus section for like $20, are they worth a drat?
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 23:52
|
|
|
Tommychu posted:Princess Auto (Canadian Harbor Freight) has a bunch of these in the surplus section for like $20, are they worth a drat? Just following up with 'gently caress trying to use an ancient Yagi as a divining rod'. Spent another day poking it into different positions, no dice. Bought that Phillips, pointed it vaguely west on top of the existing pole and it's gold. All six channels, no cutting or artifacts. I'm going to run another coax line up to the Yagi and use it with my stereo though, it makes a loving badass FM antenna.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 06:03
|
|
|
Now that you mention that I wonder if that Yagi isn't designed for VHF and just happens to pick up the two lower band UHF stations OK but not the higher frequency CICT. Maybe the beam width was too narrow too, which would make sense given how close you are to the transmitter. Either way glad you found a better solution 
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 10:23
|
|
|
Panty Saluter posted:Now that you mention that I wonder if that Yagi isn't designed for VHF and just happens to pick up the two lower band UHF stations OK but not the higher frequency CICT. Maybe the beam width was too narrow too, which would make sense given how close you are to the transmitter. Either way glad you found a better solution The former is kinda what I'm thinking. Before the DTV switch all our stations were firmly in the VHF band, but switched to UHF with the new format (likely because the hill where all our towers sit is getting pretty crowded with FM stations, so UHF would be much cleaner). Thanks for pointing me in the right direction . My attic is full of cheap loose-fill fiberglass (thanks again, lovely condo board) so I think another couple trips up there getting covered in little fluffies and I'd have completely lost my poo poo.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2015 01:43
|
|
|
Medullah posted:I got an Amazon Echo and it's worked amazingly well for just playing random music around my (albeit small) house. Voice activated, play random music, it's nice. savesthedayrocks posted:Same thing here. I've just been building a habit of turning my stereo on. To help with the indecision of what to "listen" to I put on a local radio station that's one of those no dj "we will play anything" stations. They play a wide enough variety I don't get bored with the same 5 top 40 songs. I got two Sonos Play:3 speakers and I haven't looked back. Easily among the best $400 I've ever spent in my life. Only problem is that now it puts my TV to shame for when I *do* pop Netflix on, so I'm going to get the Playbar too. So basically $1200 or so to "cut cable" and get a really swanky home streaming setup which I think is a pretty good tradeoff if you don't actually do the calculations  But for anyone else who misses "background noise" TV, just getting some kind of music playing in your house is likely going to fix what you're missing. I think for me it was just having SOMETHING. Doobie Keebler posted:I used to come home and put on Food Network as background noise. I miss Chopped but there's plenty of white noise TV. The Office, Futurama and Good Eats are some of my usuals. US Netflix also has a bunch of ESPN 30 for 30 docs and No Reservations which are usually pretty good. Or a movie I've seen a dozen times is works too. There's also streams like Twitch if you have a Chromecast. Eh, Netflix is one of those things that I don't really like to just hit random things to watch, and if I'm in Netflix I feel compelled to watch what I put on for some psychological reason.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2015 03:13
|
|
|
I got the OTA tuner for the Xbox One. It's nice having one box that turns the TV on and off and adjusts the volume, gives live TV a guide, does Hulu, does Netflix, and has a really good Plex app (other than Channels). Basically I finally have The One True Box.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 03:03
|
|
|
TheScott2K posted:I got the OTA tuner for the Xbox One. It's nice having one box that turns the TV on and off and adjusts the volume, gives live TV a guide, does Hulu, does Netflix, and has a really good Plex app (other than Channels). Basically I finally have The One True Box. Except no DVR
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 03:14
|
|
|
Don Lapre posted:Except no DVR which is important since it is 2008 and we all care about DVRs 
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 03:54
|
|
|
If it wasn't for my DVR i would have no idea if hes the father or not
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 05:22
|
|
|
I never saw the need for DVR, personally.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 05:33
|
|
|
I think it filled the gap before On Demand/streaming took off in earnest. Now that you can stream so many things I think DVR has lost some steam. Also one too many DVRs has eaten poo poo and taken all the shows you recorded with it and I would imagine a lot of people just got sick of it
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 05:40
|
|
|
DVR is really only for broadcast sports, basically. I could go full streaming if I didn't care about watching NFL games.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 21:35
|
|
|
Glass of Milk posted:DVR is really only for broadcast sports, basically. I could go full streaming if I didn't care about watching NFL games. That's basically how I feel. Hopefully they'll add DVR by the time football starts.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 22:28
|
|
|
There are ways to get Gamepass with a DNS redirect and I did that last year, worked great. Found some other shady rear end services this year but goddamn NFL just let me give you my money. The NHL makes it so easy, not sure why the NFL can't. What year was it where they gave the free Gamepass sub out with Madden? Because that was hella value.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 23:03
|
|
|
I find the Plex interface on Xbox One to be lacking compared to PHT running on my Mac Mini, but drat if it isn't convenient to have that and OTA antenna TV in one convenient box.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 22:54
|
|
|
TheScott2K posted:That's basically how I feel. Hopefully they'll add DVR by the time football starts. I feel like the revenue system for the NFL won't support streaming. I'm no longer interested in sitting through two-plus-hours of commercials and 60 minutes of game time, half of which is people standing around or sideline shots, but someone is paying for that. I'd pay $10 a month during football season for ad-free or limited ad game streaming though.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 23:00
|
|
|
So it looks like that HDHomeRun DVR software thing was able to make its Kickstarter stretch goal, enabling the development of a Plex app. Though, from what I'm reading, it sounds like the Plex integration only allows the playback of recorded content and not view live TV like on Kodi. Am I misunderstanding that? It'd be nice if I could watch live TV with a Plex HTPC + HDHomeRun Prime platform. Here's what the Kickstarter said about the Plex stretch goal: quote:Silicondust will work with the Plex team to integrate HDHomeRun DVR recordings into Plex. You will be able to schedule recordings through the HDHomeRun Channel on Plex and playback recordings on your favorite Plex clients. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1275320038/hdhomerun-dvr-the-dvr-re-imagined/description
|
|
#
?
May 28, 2015 00:19
|
|
|
Glass of Milk posted:I feel like the revenue system for the NFL won't support streaming. I'm no longer interested in sitting through two-plus-hours of commercials and 60 minutes of game time, half of which is people standing around or sideline shots, but someone is paying for that. According to Forbes, the networks pay a total of 3 billion a year to the NFL to maintain their artificial scarcity business model. It'll have to be a legislative or legal decision to break that poo poo up.
|
|
#
?
May 28, 2015 03:24
|
|
|
Google just said HBO Now is available (soon?) across Android.
|
|
#
?
May 28, 2015 17:50
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:Google just said HBO Now is available (soon?) across Android.
|
|
#
?
May 28, 2015 18:11
|
|
|
Hulu "Plus" is going away or dropping the Plus part. No idea what that means for everything.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2015 00:05
|
|
|
TLG James posted:Hulu "Plus" is going away or dropping the Plus part. No idea what that means for everything. It looks like nothing. Variety posted:Hulu has about 9 million subscribers for the $7.99-per-month service. The company has been aggressively acquiring exclusive content, including all nine seasons of “Seinfeld,” and developing a bold slate of originals to lure in more subs. The company has marketed the subscription VOD service as Hulu Plus, but the company will be dropping the “Plus” from the name.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2015 02:15
|
|
|
One of the main questions I would always get was "what is the difference between plus and not plus?" Hulu now has all of your free content (8 day airings, etc). You can also pay to get access to all of those exclusive content. Seems simpler to explain. All one service, just different tiers.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2015 02:55
|
|
|
I wonder if that means you will be able to access the free content on more than a desktop environment.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2015 18:32
|
|
|
Probably not. I know i'd cut my subscription if that was the case
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2015 19:16
|
|
|
Hulu actually did open up mobile app access to a very limited amount of content last summer without Plus.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2015 17:01
|
|
|
If I get Hulu Plus or whatever the paid version is called, can I access EVERYTHING or do some things require a provider login?
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2015 17:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 10:07 |
|
|
Free Hulu is pretty close to worthless. Very limited in what you can watch, and you can't even cast to chromecast. My recommendation is always to sign up for Bing rewards, do 30 random searches a day and you earn enough points in 20-25 days for a free month of Hulu+, just keep repeating. It's not as easy as it used to be, they reset your points for the day if you search too fast so you can't just click a bunch of "related searches" but it's still just a couple minutes a day for free Hulu+
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2015 17:28
|
|