I am going to miss imus
The Omnibox: all things television
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I don't like not having DVR. With my schedule I need to be able to record my shows.
Ask Mr. Religion
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I tried Sling with my Roku for two days of the seven day free trial, but did not like not being able to record the content.
Over the air HD TV on my TiVo DVR works for me now for the past three years. Comes with built in Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netfix apps (and more) to access those services if a person subscribes to them for on-demand streaming. Also have a Roku 3 with much more app content than does my TiVo. The Roku seems to be more responsive with streaming video than my TiVo. Then again, I do not have one of the newer TiVo over-the-air models.
AMR
Over the air HD TV on my TiVo DVR works for me now for the past three years. Comes with built in Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netfix apps (and more) to access those services if a person subscribes to them for on-demand streaming. Also have a Roku 3 with much more app content than does my TiVo. The Roku seems to be more responsive with streaming video than my TiVo. Then again, I do not have one of the newer TiVo over-the-air models.
AMR
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The over the air TiVo model with no cable TV card option runs for about $50 with an integrated WiFi transceiver and a monthly $15 fee for the TiVo TV lineup menus and other software features. Not bad for a DVR and over the air services, that also include the usual streaming services one may subscribe to.
The same model with cableTV card options is four times that amount with an additional option to bypass the monthly fee with a one time $500 payment good for the lifetime of the TiVo unit. So, after around 34 months you are breaking even and getting things for free....assuming the TiVo unit does not fail or fail after only a few months.
AMR
The same model with cableTV card options is four times that amount with an additional option to bypass the monthly fee with a one time $500 payment good for the lifetime of the TiVo unit. So, after around 34 months you are breaking even and getting things for free....assuming the TiVo unit does not fail or fail after only a few months.
AMR
We're looking at the Roku 2. My thinking is that it would mostly be for streaming services, like Netflix and Hulu Plus, meaning the DVR option wouldn't really matter for us. And the regular, network television we'll catch on a HD indoor antenna and/or bring up at network sites. For instance, weather killed the season finale for New Girl so I went to the show site on Fox and we watched the episode (with nominal commercial length, comparatively) online using my Samsung monitor.
We have the most popular Dish dvr package. It's under what you'd pay with Directv or comparable cable. We can get an indoor HD antenna for local programming, buy a Roku unit and subscribe to Netflix and Hulu Plus and absorb the cost and be into savings by month two. Thereafter it would be around 70 a month under, meaning that if the Roku broke every year it would still be several hundred dollars less expensive than Dish and the other pirates, I mean providers.
Ask Mr. Religion
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I think you will be quite happy with the Roku.
For over the air performance see here for your local area.
My indoor antenna:
http://www.amazon.com/Mohu-Leaf-Amplified-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B00APPDX86
AMR
For over the air performance see here for your local area.
My indoor antenna:
http://www.amazon.com/Mohu-Leaf-Amplified-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B00APPDX86
AMR
Saw those and they had good reviews. Went with an amplified Flatwave HD antenna by Winegard. It came today, hooked it up and turned on the channel search. Ended with 25 channels. Eliminated several non HD and a couple of Spanish channels, plus a couple of fleece the sheep religious channels and one QVC wanna be.
If anything the locals and PBS are even sharper...and free.
I'm calling Dish to tell them to terminate service at the end of this billing. Then I'm ordering the Roku 2 and when it comes in adding Netflix and Hulu P.By the 6th of next month I'll be watching HD tv for a grand total of sixteen dollars a month. :first:
Is anyone else watching the Alamo revisit Texas Rising series on the History channel? It's been interesting television, despite interjecting whole cloth speculation as a part of the revisit, along with some distortions...like Santa Anna being almost indifferent and undecided about whether or not to spare the women and children of the Alamo. The fact is he actually offered to see to the education of one of those children and there's no reason to suspect he was the sociopathic near sadist the program makes him out to be. He was brutal and violated the proper treatment of prisoners, justifying it by declaring them terrorists, in essence, but he wasn't by any indication a man who killed for the sake of killing.
At nearly every possible moment the scripting makes simplistic villains of the Mexican army and that's unfortunate.
Take Mexican Lt. Col. José Nicolás de la Portilla's actions at Goliad, where prisoners were executed by firing squad. Portilla was deeply troubled by the act and there's even evidence that he released some of the men before he was given the direct order to shoot those he had. So no, he didn't rob the Texan commander and shoot him in the face from horseback while sneering. There are flashes of that across the series, along with goofery, even compelling goofery, like the mad survivor of the Alamo played by Ray Liota or an expansion of the whisper thin legend of the Yellow Rose.
There's also a lot of good acting and interesting characters to go around. While I had to get accustomed to Paxton as Houston, after seeing Dennis Quaid's more firely and vital portrayal in the failed movie Alamo, he does a serviceable job in the main role, while being upstaged by Jeffery Morgan's Deaf Smith, role model for the Texas Rangers and by the entertaining, villainous turn by Olivier Martinez as Santa Anna. A lot of terrific casting in this. Even Brandon Fraser manages an interesting add in as a mixed blood Indian-Ranger. Great, surprising cast.
If you can overlook the simplistic and inventive treatment the rest will pull you along with a Lonesome Dove reminiscent narrative feel, though one that reduces the lush green of farm lands where most of it occurred to the more familiar (to tv watchers and folks who don't know the topography) stark, near desert landscape of the traditional old west lore.
At nearly every possible moment the scripting makes simplistic villains of the Mexican army and that's unfortunate.
Take Mexican Lt. Col. José Nicolás de la Portilla's actions at Goliad, where prisoners were executed by firing squad. Portilla was deeply troubled by the act and there's even evidence that he released some of the men before he was given the direct order to shoot those he had. So no, he didn't rob the Texan commander and shoot him in the face from horseback while sneering. There are flashes of that across the series, along with goofery, even compelling goofery, like the mad survivor of the Alamo played by Ray Liota or an expansion of the whisper thin legend of the Yellow Rose.
There's also a lot of good acting and interesting characters to go around. While I had to get accustomed to Paxton as Houston, after seeing Dennis Quaid's more firely and vital portrayal in the failed movie Alamo, he does a serviceable job in the main role, while being upstaged by Jeffery Morgan's Deaf Smith, role model for the Texas Rangers and by the entertaining, villainous turn by Olivier Martinez as Santa Anna. A lot of terrific casting in this. Even Brandon Fraser manages an interesting add in as a mixed blood Indian-Ranger. Great, surprising cast.
If you can overlook the simplistic and inventive treatment the rest will pull you along with a Lonesome Dove reminiscent narrative feel, though one that reduces the lush green of farm lands where most of it occurred to the more familiar (to tv watchers and folks who don't know the topography) stark, near desert landscape of the traditional old west lore.
I've enjoyed it. The original Bible miniseries was far better, though
Haven't seen that one, though I believe it's on Netflix and if so I'll rectify that before long. Did you see the Exodus movie?
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Wonderful!Saw those and they had good reviews. Went with an amplified Flatwave HD antenna by Winegard. It came today, hooked it up and turned on the channel search. Ended with 25 channels. Eliminated several non HD and a couple of Spanish channels, plus a couple of fleece the sheep religious channels and one QVC wanna be.
If anything the locals and PBS are even sharper...and free.
By the 6th of next month I'll be watching HD tv for a grand total of sixteen dollars a month. :first:
I recently had to move my antenna a mere seven inches to the left from its position near the ceiling to get best reception of CBS which kept pixelating during prime time. Could have saved myself some Amazon Prime Video fees for some CBS episodes had I not been so lazy.
I also noted that the direct HD channels are clearer than the ones bundled up on a cable or satellite delivery system. The channelization used by these systems forces some sacrifice of full bandwidths of the broadcast signal to get "50 gallons of water in a 40 gallon bucket".
AMR
I have not yet, no
Ah, so I'm not crazy...well, not for that reason at any rate. I'd told the wife it seemed to me that the local channels were actually sharper than with the sat...makes sense. Have to make the call today for the cut off tomorrow. It will be a little irksome for a few days because we're holding the Roku order until the next billing cycle, but I'm really excited about cutting the cord with middle men. It's a shame they didn't do an a la carte. I'd have paid them twenty or twenty five for what I actually watch. Locals, espn and TCM, my wife with CNN in the morning. But I've watched most of the classics I meant to and can wait out the inevitable shift. If they don't take care of that it's only a matter of time before they and Directv and other providers are the next Blockbuster store on the corner.Wonderful!
I recently had to move my antenna a mere seven inches to the left from its position near the ceiling to get best reception of CBS which kept pixelating during prime time. Could have saved myself some Amazon Prime Video fees for some CBS episodes had I not been so lazy.
I also noted that the direct HD channels are clearer than the ones bundled up on a cable or satellite delivery system. The channelization used by these systems forces some sacrifice of full bandwidths of the broadcast signal to get "50 gallons of water in a 40 gallon bucket".
AMR
Have to admit I'm enjoying Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee series. I ran across it online, so it's not exactly a tv bit (though it may be on tv, I don't know).
I have a great twenty something Samsung monitor that gives me an HD picture and I watched a few of the episodes (usually between eleven and twenty minutes in length) and enjoyed the heck out of it, which surprised me since I don't care for Seinfeld as a comedian, never liked the show and find his attitude about people disappointing (he mostly doesn't care for what they have to say) but both he and the presentation in this are very entertaining.
His bit with Alec Baldwin, whom I normally wouldn't be interested in hearing from outside of a role, made me like both of them a bit more and the episode with Letterman, driving a Volvo with a racing engine gifted by Paul Newman, felt like being the quiet friend listening in on a good conversation. That's really the vantage and charm in most of what I've seen so far and I recommend it.
I have a great twenty something Samsung monitor that gives me an HD picture and I watched a few of the episodes (usually between eleven and twenty minutes in length) and enjoyed the heck out of it, which surprised me since I don't care for Seinfeld as a comedian, never liked the show and find his attitude about people disappointing (he mostly doesn't care for what they have to say) but both he and the presentation in this are very entertaining.
His bit with Alec Baldwin, whom I normally wouldn't be interested in hearing from outside of a role, made me like both of them a bit more and the episode with Letterman, driving a Volvo with a racing engine gifted by Paul Newman, felt like being the quiet friend listening in on a good conversation. That's really the vantage and charm in most of what I've seen so far and I recommend it.
The Roku is up and Netlix is streaming. Locals are looking great in free HD and I'm wishing I'd dropped my sat company a year ago.
Do you mean DVD, I like Blu-ray. I never heard of any of those movies?
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The Roku is up and Netlix is streaming. Locals are looking great in free HD and I'm wishing I'd dropped my sat company a year ago.
Nice!
I had the same regrets.
No, all shows recorded by my old dvr in HD. I've left that behind now for better, less expensive venues. I have my Winegard HD antenna pulling in crystal clear local channels and I have my Roku streaming Netflix and Youtube and the Smithsonian and Hulu Plus and a lot more into my living room for less than twenty dollars a month (Net and Hulu cost nine and eight dollars, respectively, with Netflix being higher because I wanted the larger HD content).
Amazing. I took advantage of the free first month of Netlfix and Hulu Plus and even with the cost of the antenna and Roku 2 I'm only about eleven dollars more in the hole this month and seventy two to the good each month thereafter while having a lot more content that interests me.
Really amazing. Just finished watching Odd Thomas. Have a number of movies and series I want to look through. Couldn't be happier with the choice or the savings. I think it's only a matter of time before Direct and Dish and the cable boys end up like the Blockbuster store that was, unless they learn fast and start offering a la carte, which they don't appear to have the vision to do.
Lon
Well-known member
It took me awhile to convince my family that we could be happy with Netflix, Hulu, and an aerial antennae.
So, I made them a deal: Try it for one month, and if you don't like it, I'll change it back. We set up originally with Netflix, then Hulu on a trial basis. We were watching enough regular television and Netflix, that we let the Hulu subscription slide. That was a year and a half ago.
Shows I/we like:
Blue Bloods - life of a strong Catholic/cop family. The time given to God and prayer is very appealing to me.
Psych - Quirky cop show with good use of humor and friendship
Everybody Loves Raymond - At times it crosses the line for me, but I appreciate the family values. It reminds me of Home Improvement which I also watched a lot of. I tend to like well done family sitcoms.
Twilight Zone - This is perhaps the series I'd want if I could only have one because it was different every episode. It usually upheld and taught about morality and a lot of Christian values. It was creative, human-interest, and had an as sundry of memorable actors and characters.
I like family shows quite a bit as well, including reruns:
Dick Van Dyke Show
Andy Griffith Etc.
The Christian programming is good too:
Ken Davis series
Thou Shalt Laugh series
The Apostles of Comedy
And a dramatic war series called Saints and Soldiers
The cost per month leaving cable and satellite is about $50 a month that includes internet and phone (we were over $120 a month with Dish and higher with cable). It is really a lot better than paying for that overpriced premium package. I don't get some of the shows the rest of you get, but haven't really missed them. It is cheaper to buy a series than to pay that extra $70-110 more a month or use that thousand or so, someplace else. It has been a great switch for us.
Ask Mr. Religion
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On the Roku get this (one time $4 fee) to make searching and adding content to your Netflix to be watched profile much easier:
http://www.rokuguide.com/channels/instant-watch-browser
Also, Netflix has run Geek programming fests to improve its algorithms that suggest content based upon viewing habits. The algorithms used weight heavily your own rankings of movies, so spend time tweaking your ratings of movies ( http://www.netflix.com/RateMovies ) to improve what Netflix serves up as suggestions for future viewings. I have rated around 3,000 movies so I usually like what Netflix suggests. So when you are bored out of your mind, just go to the ratings link above and click away and soon you will see better recommendations.
AMR
http://www.rokuguide.com/channels/instant-watch-browser
Also, Netflix has run Geek programming fests to improve its algorithms that suggest content based upon viewing habits. The algorithms used weight heavily your own rankings of movies, so spend time tweaking your ratings of movies ( http://www.netflix.com/RateMovies ) to improve what Netflix serves up as suggestions for future viewings. I have rated around 3,000 movies so I usually like what Netflix suggests. So when you are bored out of your mind, just go to the ratings link above and click away and soon you will see better recommendations.
AMR
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