How do you watch TV?

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 With digital, it either comes in 100%, or nothing.

Yes and no. Usually you either get it or not, but if you are on the edge of getting a strong enough signal it can be pixelated. If it's towards "yes", you can mostly watch it and occasionally the picture freezes or breaks up. If it's towards "no" you get just enough to think it might lock on but it usually doesn't. Some receivers will measure the strength of signal for you, which helps you adjust it by positioning the antennae. I have one station that comes in around mid 60%. In bad weather it can be worse, and below 60% I lose it.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum Yes and no. Usually you either get it or not, but if you are on the edge of getting a strong enough signal it can be pixelated. If it's towards "yes", you can mostly watch it and occasionally the picture freezes or breaks up. If it's towards "no" you get just enough to think it might lock on but it usually doesn't. Some receivers will measure the strength of signal for you, which helps you adjust it by positioning the antennae. I have one station that comes in around mid 60%. In bad weather it can be worse, and below 60% I lose it.

Well yes, you can get right on the hairy edge where it pixelates and goes in and out, but that's really a very narrow zone. IME, if you are that on-the-edge, a sneeze or a breeze or a gnat fart will freeze the picture, making it essentially unwatchable. Compared to analog, where there's wide zone of great, very good, good, not so good, poor, really bad, and really really bad but I can make it out a little bit.

I will say, when a storm is passing between us and Chcago, I'd rather have the analog receiver. The pixelation and freezing and audio drop out make watching almost impossible. That's a rare and very temporary condition, but sometimes it happens just as we want to track a storm on TV. Internet time!

-ERD50

[mountaintosea]

Computer only free sites.

[Major Tom]

I don't own a TV, so watch everything on the computer. Used to use Netflix, but dropped that a while ago and currently get all viewing for free by using YouTube and the BBC iPlayer to watch all my favorite shows from Aunty Beeb. My sofa is set up behind my desk (small apartment) so that if I go full-screen, I can sit on the sofa and watch - just like real TV!

Sure, I miss out on a lot by not having a subscription to Netflix, Hulu or the like, but what I don't see, I don't miss. I'm an INTJ ya know

[Malcolm2]

Tivo with cablecard, Roku for AmazonPrime and Netflix. I have found that i cannot watch 'regular tv' under any circumstances as I do not wish to waste my time on commercials. If a few more Roku new channel apps are added soon (HGTV for my spouse, History channel for me) and we will likely ditch the Comcast channel package.

I found out that my neighborhood is now covered by Clear.com (wireless broadband) and if it really works it will be bye-bye Comcast in total. Clear.com is 4G unlimited and 6MPS.

Anyone have streaming experience with Clear.com?

[caninelover]

At home, I have verizon fios cable/internet. Living room I have a Roku box for streaming netflix or amazon (I have prime, but mostly for shipping), and verizon's cable box/dvr combo for cable tv. In my bedroom I just replaced a 15 year old tv with a new 46 inch samsung smart tv - it has 'apps' built into it for streaming netflix, amazon or other things too.

I think the real interesting trend is the one that netflix is catching onto to with releasing 'House of Cards' all at once...binge watching vs. waiting each week for a new episode...

[Fishingmn]

Not retired yet but we have Directv with whole house DVR. The main thing I watch is sports, especially hockey, and that's primarily on Fox Sports North here.

Wife and I do love having DVR as we tape our favorite mainstream shows and watch them on our time without commercials.

[deserat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal A bit OT but we are addicted to Inspector Morse too. We'll try New Tricks, thanks. An old short series with John Thaw is The Sweeney -- it's very 1970's. Another British series is The Last Detective. Also some of the Touch of Frost -- the earliest ones were ancient and not very good video quality.

Oh, yes - love those series - can get them on DVD from the library here - can also watch the newer series on line (Lewis and Wallender were available when they were being aired online)

What I'd like to know is what DVRs do you all have (all readers of this thread who said they have DVRs)? I've been looking around and there aren't many DVRs available like there used to be as the cable companies have their own DVRs - I know you can use your laptop or computer with Windows media and a tuner of sorts, but I'd like to do this more simply without devoting a computer to the task...

[Alan]

I use a roku, as does DW on the TV in her room. For YouTube I have an HDMI cable for my iPad which works great. Most of the places we rent on our long vacations have Internet plus TV with HDMI and the iPad works great for Netflix as well.

[Lakewood90712]

Dropped Dish network about 8 years ago as an economy measure to reach F.E. sooner. Broadcast TV is almost worthless . I did get a digital converter box, via the guberment discount , but very rare to watch.