Uverse vs. Roku

[Dftodd]

We just got rid of dish network today. Bought the roku express for $30 and been happy with it so far. Swapped out the dish for an amped antennae to get the local stations.

Dish started out at around $60 per month, then started creeping up in price. Looked at the most recent bill and it was $100

 

[Woodeye]

I'm doing the same, Directv is over $100.00, we bought a Roku and will put up an antenna.

 

[Dftodd]

I'm doing the same, Directv is over $100.00, we bought a Roku and will put up an antenna.

The fun is when you cancel Then they offer all these discounts. Told them they should have kept the price and fees the same throughout and they wouldn't have had the cancelation. Should be getting a box in the mail to send them back all there crap

 

[kcflhrc]

Well, you have to haggle at the car dealer why not with Direct TV? XM radio is the same way. You call to cancel and you end up getting a sweet deal. Yeah, it's a pain to call and go through the BS, but I really don't mind. It's just like my company has promotional discounts on broadband for a year and then it goes up. The Cell Carriers do the same thing. They just bank on people paying it and not complaining.

 

[dmccarty]

The fun is when you cancel Then they offer all these discounts. Told them they should have kept the price and fees the same throughout and they wouldn't have had the cancelation. ...

Yep. I also told them if they treated me as a loyal customer instead of someone to be milked of their cash, we would still be a Customer. When they asked how they could do to keep me as a Customer, I said I would stay if the monthly bill is $25ish. The service is not worth more than that amount. The ended the conversation pretty quickly.

Later,
Dan

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I will tell them that if they refund all the extra overage money I have paid them since I've been "off contract", and send me all new equipment, I may reconsider. But I'm hearing of problems and issues with their (DirecTV) equipment. Mine has been spontaneously locking up. Older DVR's.

 

[nap61]

Thanks to all that answered. This seems to be a popular topic. I haven't cut the cord yet but I did buy a Roku Streaming Stick and have been "playing" with it when I can. I have found some interesting "channels/apps". One problem I have is that I need an antenna that will bring in local channels. I am 50 +/- miles from the local towers. I will probably need to put up a 20 ft. tower or pole. Keep the dialog going.

Norm

 

[Dftodd]

Here's a helpful link for figuring out if your able to actually get local channels on your property.

TV Fool

Using my address on it, it showed that I got the 4 main channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, AND FOX) comfortably. And playing with the antennae height, it showed we could get up to 25 channels.

We are about 35 miles from the city, not sure how far from the stations broadcasting them. And in reality we got 17 channels. Half of which fade in and out. But I'm thinking I just need a little more height on the antennae. Some of the channels that fade, my father in law gets at his house with out issue, and he's about 20 miles further north.

 

[dmccarty]

We used TV Fool to figure out our station direction and signal strength.

Unfortunately the stations we might watch are at in completely different directions so we are kinda stuck picking which stations to watch. Fortunately, the stations we mostly watch are nearby and in one direction. The problem we have noticed is that stations we used to be able to receive no longer show up. :confused3: I put an antennae in the attic which seem to work just fine but then the stations slowly started to disappear. I then put an antennae on the TV, ie, a fancy rabbit ear, which works a bit better than the attic antennae. But even the new antennae does not pull in the stations we once received. Kinda odd to say the least.

We really should put up an outside antennae and maybe a rotor mount but we don't watch enough TV to justify that mess. Plus I don't like the looks of it and I don't want to add another lightning attractor.

Not really impressed with digital OTA signals. They digitized FM radio in Norway. I sure hope they don't do it here based on what we are seeing, or I should say, not seeing, with OTA TV.

Later,
Dan

 

[aeblank]

We really should put up an outside antennae

THIS! It makes an incredible difference. If you can "mostly" get stations with rabbit ears, a roof antenna and *maybe* an amplifier will put you leaps and bounds ahead. Heck with lightning. Heck with looks. I went through the same thing and just should have put it on the roof to begin with.

Not really impressed with digital OTA signals.

Agreed. Though, the signals are the same (i.e. you don't need a special antenna). Digital is obviously less robust if *all* of the stream isn't there. In the day, it'd be a little snowy, but watchable. Now it's either *there* or *not there*. However, the bigger issue is that everything (not counting the occasional station waiver) went to UHF. Well, UHF is more susceptible to obstacles than VHF.

Good luck.

 

[scdeerslayer]

Though, the signals are the same (i.e. you don't need a special antenna). Digital is obviously less robust if *all* of the stream isn't there. In the day, it'd be a little snowy, but watchable. Now it's either *there* or *not there*.

Not only that, but with the analog signal you could play with the antenna and see immediately what affect it had and pretty quickly find the sweet spot. With digital it's pretty much guess then wait a few seconds to see it that's better.

 

[dmccarty]

THIS! It makes an incredible difference. If you can "mostly" get stations with rabbit ears, a roof antenna and *maybe* an amplifier will put you leaps and bounds ahead. Heck with lightning. Heck with looks. I went through the same thing and just should have put it on the roof to begin with.
..

We are on the top of a hill and the trees in the forest get to a certain size and no larger. I figure it is because lightning kills off the larger trees. :shocked: If I had gone out one day to split wood like I had planned, I don't think I would be posting on TBN anymore lightning hit a tree I would have been working under. :confused2: Best I can tell, we loose a big tree every year or two to lightning.

The first indoor attic antenna I installed had an amplifier that seemed to work. However, the reviews said the amp might stop working and it did. There was not much difference with/without the amp. Figured I would try a "rabbit ear" type of antenna and it mostly works though we dont get some/many stations anymore for some reason. :confused3:

We watch so little OTA TV, it is not worth paying much money for a better antenna. Pay for TV stinks because the cost is so high vs what you get. OTA TV is basically free but there really is not much we find worth watching.

Later,
Dan

 

[Dftodd]

Not only that, but with the analog signal you could play with the antenna and see immediately what affect it had and pretty quickly find the sweet spot. With digital it's pretty much guess then wait a few seconds to see it that's better.

That brings back memories We had an antennae mounted to a 20 ft pole next to the house. Dad was too cheap to by a rotor for the antennae, so he solid mounted it to the pole. The rotor was me or my brother out there rain, shine, blizzard or sub zero temps turning the darn pole with a 2ft long pipe wrench till we heard dad yell from the living room

 

[aeblank]

Guess it depends on your "pain" threshold. Compared to cable/dish, it is all cheap. I farted around quite a while to get something fairly reasonable.
I also have a DVR, which I consider ESSENTIAL to OTA tv. We won't talk about what that cost (computers, tuners, extenders, network equipment, etc.)

Anyway this is what I have:
http://a.co/dpqGU0o
http://a.co/5R4tc4g

 

[Oaktree]

Though, the signals are the same (i.e. you don't need a special antenna). Digital is obviously less robust if *all* of the stream isn't there. In the day, it'd be a little snowy, but watchable. Now it's either *there* or *not there*.

The digital signals also don't travel as far. As you noted, if you were willing to put up with a snowy picture, you could watch stations from quite a ways away, now digital is pretty much limited to what used to be "city grade" signal area.

That brings back memories We had an antennae mounted to a 20 ft pole next to the house. Dad was too cheap to by a rotor for the antennae, so he solid mounted it to the pole. The rotor was me or my brother out there rain, shine, blizzard or sub zero temps turning the darn pole with a 2ft long pipe wrench till we heard dad yell from the living room

Yeah, we did the same thing except it was just mounted on a pipe anchored to the end of the house. Since the bottom of the pipe rested on the ground, the bolts were left loose enough so you could turn the antenna pretty easily (though in the winter when the pipe froze to the ground, not so much). Of course on a windy day it would turn by itself, and of course the direction the wind would turn it wasn't where the stations were. :confused3:

I also have a DVR, which I consider ESSENTIAL to OTA tv.

Why is that? Maybe I've never been enough of a tv addict that missing an occasional show made any difference.