The last straw came a few weeks ago when I saw the following on my provider's home page:
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| WTF? |
What? $200? We don't even have a single premium channel. No HBO. No Showtime. I'll make a long story short. I call the cable company, they make me an offer that isn't good enough. I say "no thanks" and they turn off the service right then and there. I expected that they might make another, better offer, through their customer retention department but that didn't happen. So be it. Unfortunately the same cable company is the only true high speed Internet provider in the area. I negotiate a better rate for that. I now have Internet only for about $45 a month.
Free TV!
I started looking into antennas. Perhaps you remember them from your younger days. The big metal structure on the roof or maybe the indoor "rabbit ears". Well, some things changed since the old days. Mainly the change from analog to digital TV and also that many of the old channels have moved to the UHF frequencies (explanation below).
Back in the day analog television was much more forgiving and so were we. If the signal was weak the picture would be "snowy" or a bit wobbly but in many cases you could watch the channel. Receiving digital TV is practically all or nothing. It either works with excellent picture quality or not at all. If the signal is weak, you might see snippets that degrade as pixels disappear, audio dropping out. With digital TV channels are not really watchable unless you receive a strong signal.
You may remember the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) channels in the pre-cable TV days as the ones above channel 13, sometimes on a separate tuner. Channels 14 - 83, that were usually really difficult to get a clear picture on. Your standard channels, 2 -13, were VHF (Very High Frequency) and usually much clearer and stonger.
Without getting into a dissertation about RF (radio frequency) propagation, let me just say that the UHF frequencies are not as strong and the antenna is different from that of VHF. I found out that in the NY Metro area, new HDTV channels are on both VHF and UHF frequencies so I would need an antenna that received both.
Indoor antenna
I did a little research and found a highly rated indoor antenna that received both VHF and UHF by Antennas Direct, the ClearStream Eclipse. I bought it at BJ's for around $60 and I thought this might be an easy solution, if it would work.
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| Antennas Direct ClearStream Eclipse |
Well, I can tell you that in our area of North Jersey, the indoor antenna is completely worthless. I couldn't get a single channel to appear on the TV, never mind being watchable. I returned it the next day. Perhaps if you live near the transmitter it could work for you but not at 25 miles away.
Outdoor antenna
I thought about putting a roof antenna up years ago so that when Cable service went out we could watch regular channels over the air. General rule is that you want your antenna as high as possible, with as few obstacles as possible between the transmitter and your antenna.
Mounting the antenna in your attic is one option but the building materials (roofing, siding) are obstacles that shield and thus weaken the reception of the TV signals. However you may live in an HOA that does not allow rooftop antennas so this might be your only option.
Mounting the antenna in your attic is one option but the building materials (roofing, siding) are obstacles that shield and thus weaken the reception of the TV signals. However you may live in an HOA that does not allow rooftop antennas so this might be your only option.
After some research, reading online articles and reviews, the antenna I settled on is the Mohu Sky 60. The "60" represents its advertised range of 60 miles. I suspect that range would have to be in the most ideal circumstances. The Mohu comes with everything you need to mount and connect it, as long as you don't need more than a 30' antenna lead. It includes a small signal amplifier to connect to the TV.
The Mohu Sky 60 is multi-directional and can receive signals from all directions and you should not have to rotate it to receive different signals. That being said, I felt I had to tweak the direction a bit.
The Mohu Sky 60 is multi-directional and can receive signals from all directions and you should not have to rotate it to receive different signals. That being said, I felt I had to tweak the direction a bit.
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| Mohu Sky 60 |
I tested the antenna on the roof first to make sure it worked and then mounted it to the peak of our roof. The important channels we watch come in crystal clear, bar one - Channel 2, WCBS. This is one of those channels that is on the fringe. It might be watchable for several minutes and then it just suddenly degrades till the TV displays "No Signal".
The Mohu 60 is a small, unobtrusive antenna. It is encased in a plastic shell so it resembles a satellite antenna. Some may prefer its appearance and may be acceptable by some HOA's.
If I were to do this over again, I think I might go for the Channel Master CM-4228HD. Channel Master is probably the brand of the metal monstrosity your dad strapped to the chimney. There's something about bare metal in the sky that makes me think it will get more signal. You will have to purchase a mast and the hardware to mount it to your home, RG-6 coaxial antenna cable and signal amplifier if you decide to go with this antenna. It comes with hardware to mount it to the mast.
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| ChannelMaster CM-4228HD |
Cable TV Replacements
Using a device like a Chromecast, Roku or Amazon Fire TV you can use apps to access live TV from various providers over high-speed Internet. Some TV's and Blu-Ray players also support these providers and apps. Most providers offer a free trial period, between 5 and 10 days. We're gonna take advantage of these free trials and hopefully find a service that suits us. For now we're using an Amazon Fire Stick and a Chromecast.
Youtube TV (youtube.tv)
Youtube.tv has some really great features, like unlimited "DVR" storage and saving recorded programs for up to 9 months. It's not really a DVR because nothing is locally stored, you have to be connected to the Internet to view them. However you can record programs like a DVR. You can also start watching a program from the beginning, even if you start watching in the middle of it.
Unfortunately for us, it lacks some of our favorite channels like Comedy Central, HGTV and CNN. HBO and other premiums cost extra of course. HBO is $15 per month.
One of the very cool things about the Youtube service is that you can have six "family members". A coworker made me one of his family members so right now I'm hitching this ride for free! I should think this feature is great for families. Oh and the service starts at a very reasonable $35 per month.
Sling TV
This service has been around a bit longer and more mature, so it has more features than the Youtube offering. Sling bills the service as Ala Carte TV and I guess it sort of is. They have two different levels, Orange and Blue. The Orange channel lineup is $20 month and the Blue is $25, so combined you're looking at $45. You can add HBO or other premiums for $15 month and then they offer additional packages for children, news, etc. They run $5 per month.
You can tailor the service for your needs but again, for us, it didn't offer some of our favorite channels and would cost about $60 per month after adding HBO. It does offer a limited recording feature and you can rewind and fast forward through some content but not through commercials, at least on some channels you cannot.
DirectTV NOW
The online, streaming offering from AT&T and the service I am presently testing with a free 7 day trial program. This is not the satellite TV service.
What I like most about this service is the channel lineup. It has all of our favorite channels included in the basic package, which is only $35 per month! You can add HBO for a mere $5 more per month, so for $40 a month we get our favorite channels and HBO! Amazing! Right?
Well what is has in channels and price, it lacks in features. There's no ability to record programs and no ability to rewind or fast forward within programs. If you do a lot of time shifting, this is not the service for you. I like that it has a traditional channel grid to peruse when choosing a program.
There's a fair amount of on-demand content and a feature called 72 hour rewind that allows you to watch certain shows up to 72 hours later. There's also a feature called program restart. In the channel guide you will notice some shows display a back arrow, that indicates you can watch the show from the beginning. We have experienced some problems with audio going out of sync while using this feature. It may be related to our old, first generation Fire Stick.
Hulu TV
So maybe you're familiar with Hulu for on-demand content. Well they now offer live streaming TV as well. However it seems secondary to the on-demand content. It is difficult to locate and access the live content from the application interface, at least on Amazon Fire. It also lacks a channel grid that most of us are familiar with from Cable TV, satellite and other providers.
That being said, once you access the live TV it works well. The rewind feature is smooth and works as expected. There's original programming like Emmy Award winning "The Handmaid's Tale" and a lot of on-demand content.
The service is $39.99, HBO is $15 extra. The basic package doesn't include DVR functions so the best deal is Live TV with No commercials (for on-demand content) for $43.99 which includes 50 hours of "cloud DVR". Add HBO for $15 and your up to $58.99.
That being said, once you access the live TV it works well. The rewind feature is smooth and works as expected. There's original programming like Emmy Award winning "The Handmaid's Tale" and a lot of on-demand content.
The service is $39.99, HBO is $15 extra. The basic package doesn't include DVR functions so the best deal is Live TV with No commercials (for on-demand content) for $43.99 which includes 50 hours of "cloud DVR". Add HBO for $15 and your up to $58.99.
More services to come...
What I have been doing is signing up for the free trial period and cancelling prior to it ending so I can try the next service. I have yet to check out Playstation Vue, which is the Sony offering and earned Best Overall service by tomsguide.com
There are downsides to these services. TV is not as spontaneous, you have to fire up an app. I no longer have a "last channel" feature, allowing me to bop back and forth between two channels. No picture in a picture either. Sometimes the show pauses, likely due to Internet traffic. I have to say, so far I think it's worth it. There are a few minor inconveniences that we can live with and I think these services will get better in time.
