Botch's Comcast-to-OTA Conversion
- Thread starter Botch
- Start date
had to bring this up again, because it peaked (who was it that called me out on spelling... is it peaked or piqued?)
anyways, i tried to search it, but i just woke up...
saw it last night... but cant find it.
haywood, mind if i can ask for a linky?
botch, still have your stuff you mentioned in my previous thread?
im going to buy another OTA antenna, and see where it goes. i only tried one location in the house, thinking it would run well alongside the stairs, but not even tried the window locations.
im worried that tablo or er.... i forgot the other one, would use up data. i know tablo streams to devices, but smart tv does too? im confused now.
anyways, good morning, happy hearts day. i wrapped up her gift in a big red bow... she will love that broom for a long time.
anyways, i tried to search it, but i just woke up...
saw it last night... but cant find it.
haywood, mind if i can ask for a linky?
botch, still have your stuff you mentioned in my previous thread?
im going to buy another OTA antenna, and see where it goes. i only tried one location in the house, thinking it would run well alongside the stairs, but not even tried the window locations.
im worried that tablo or er.... i forgot the other one, would use up data. i know tablo streams to devices, but smart tv does too? im confused now.
anyways, good morning, happy hearts day. i wrapped up her gift in a big red bow... she will love that broom for a long time.
After using the Tablo DVR for over a year, I've got a few gripes you should be aware of before considering it. The Tablo was designed for maximum compatibility with as many devices as possible. There are clients for Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, iOS, Android, HTML 5 and a couple of others. It works both inside and outside the home, so you can access your live and recorded TV from anywhere. The downside to this approach is that it transcodes everything to H284 at whatever quality level you specify. Even at the highest quality, it is still not quite as good as the direct MPEG-2 broadcast feed. It looks more like a Netflix stream. Given the versatility and convenience, I can live with that, but there are a couple of other gotchas.
My single biggest complaint is lack of 5.1 support. Everything is mixed down to two channel. They've been promising full AC3 for a couple years now, but have yet to deliver. This really, really annoys me. The other gotcha is that there is currently no support for storage on a NAS (performance is the reason most often cited) and no easy way to transfer recorded programming to a NAS (you have to unplug the external hard drive, plug it into your NAS or a PC and transfer stuff manually). These two limitations make it ill suited for folks who want to build up a long-term library.
Pretty much everything else about the thing is fine and I love the fact that a lifetime subscription is good for the life of the account, not the device. I can add multiple devices or upgrade devices without ever having to pay for program guide service every again. This was one of the reasons I chose it over TiVo. If you are more tolerant of monthly fees, however, the Tivo does offer a substantially better overall experience.
www.tablotv.com
My single biggest complaint is lack of 5.1 support. Everything is mixed down to two channel. They've been promising full AC3 for a couple years now, but have yet to deliver. This really, really annoys me. The other gotcha is that there is currently no support for storage on a NAS (performance is the reason most often cited) and no easy way to transfer recorded programming to a NAS (you have to unplug the external hard drive, plug it into your NAS or a PC and transfer stuff manually). These two limitations make it ill suited for folks who want to build up a long-term library.
Pretty much everything else about the thing is fine and I love the fact that a lifetime subscription is good for the life of the account, not the device. I can add multiple devices or upgrade devices without ever having to pay for program guide service every again. This was one of the reasons I chose it over TiVo. If you are more tolerant of monthly fees, however, the Tivo does offer a substantially better overall experience.
www.tablotv.com
thanks haywood for posting this,
i just purchased an OTA antenna again from Amazon, just to see what i can do. my initial mistake was using the antenna right next to the chimney close to the primary tv, and well, shoot up. problem is, its also the middle of the house sammiched between two neighbors. maybe i didnt want to cut the cord back then. gorram game of thrones.
anyways, i also appreciate your afterthoughts, that shows taking time to create an informative posting.
i think the encoding isnt going to be much of a problem for me, since all i care for is pretty much BBT and i dunno, some other channels or shows.
the main thing i WANT or NEED? news.
in regards to the 2.0 vs 5.1 support, it would be nice, but i think even witih my current setup, i dont use it as much. to be honest, and im going to be bushwacked on this one, is i only care about 5.1 mostly for movies, but the telly doesnt do that for me as much.
its great that the tablo would be able to stream to other devices, utilizing ONE antenna connected to it and would help with location of the device - in this case i can have it in the main bedroom or the second bedroom, which gets a lot more light and possibly better signal. then stream it to the living room and/or additional rooms.
i think i have to repost in my previous thread, hoping botch doesnt mind me sidetracking this thread.
heck i was going to go for this thing,
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I ... o_pC_S_ttl
but wouldnt be able to utilize this in the main living room area, assuming i cant get a signal downstairs.
at around 170 a month, this is an investment that will pay off in two months.
i saw botchs previous experience, where it ate up his data bandwidth, i dont remember where it was, but it was 250 gigs i think. was it really from his OTA box?
i just purchased an OTA antenna again from Amazon, just to see what i can do. my initial mistake was using the antenna right next to the chimney close to the primary tv, and well, shoot up. problem is, its also the middle of the house sammiched between two neighbors. maybe i didnt want to cut the cord back then. gorram game of thrones.
anyways, i also appreciate your afterthoughts, that shows taking time to create an informative posting.
i think the encoding isnt going to be much of a problem for me, since all i care for is pretty much BBT and i dunno, some other channels or shows.
the main thing i WANT or NEED? news.
in regards to the 2.0 vs 5.1 support, it would be nice, but i think even witih my current setup, i dont use it as much. to be honest, and im going to be bushwacked on this one, is i only care about 5.1 mostly for movies, but the telly doesnt do that for me as much.
its great that the tablo would be able to stream to other devices, utilizing ONE antenna connected to it and would help with location of the device - in this case i can have it in the main bedroom or the second bedroom, which gets a lot more light and possibly better signal. then stream it to the living room and/or additional rooms.
i think i have to repost in my previous thread, hoping botch doesnt mind me sidetracking this thread.
heck i was going to go for this thing,
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I ... o_pC_S_ttl
but wouldnt be able to utilize this in the main living room area, assuming i cant get a signal downstairs.
at around 170 a month, this is an investment that will pay off in two months.
i saw botchs previous experience, where it ate up his data bandwidth, i dont remember where it was, but it was 250 gigs i think. was it really from his OTA box?
jomari said:
I finally found what was eating all my data that one month: a Roku channel called, iirc, "Barbeque Pit Boys", three rednecks who did outdoor cooking and stirred things with a bowie knife (it doesn't appear on my menu anymore). Turned out that, if you didn't turn that channel Off, it just played video after video, even if I switched from the Roku to another input. That was it.
I'm still using an independent company for internet, and paying Dish Network for my TV (mostly OTA, gah). The Hopper is great, though. :handgestures-thumbup:
Botch said:
so it was the roku channel that was digging into your bandwidth? thats strange isnt it?
what do you mean by ...
if i remember, you dont use OTA due to your predicament right? still got that offer for the smart tv thingy?
anyways, still studying it. essentially it all boils down to signal strength on my end. if my OTA antenna is worth it, then thats step one.
A TiVo Roamio with some minis scattered around the house is a great option, if you don't mind the $15/mo program fee. It has the best interface and picture quality, the most mature functionality and a really slick integration with the major streaming services. I would consider TiVo if I used OTA content more, but my antenna situation is a bit iffy and I have found other ways to cover that niche. A lot of what I watch shows up on Hulu the next day anyway.
Haywood said:
thanks for the clarification botch,
haywood, where is this streaming service located, on roku or streaming devices? interesting. this might be my ticket if thats the case. im not sure streaming for news is the best thing to hear, but if it works righit?
You have to be careful when choosing a streaming device, because not all platforms support all services. Roku has the most open ecosystem and supports the most stuff. If you do not need to stream in 4k, Roku is a no brainer and there is very little 4k content to stream right now anyway. I use Roku instead of Fire TV, partly because Fire TV does not support Vudu. The Android TV client in my new Sony covers all of the services we use the most (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vudu, YouTube and Plex), but Amazon is only available on the Android TV platform if you have a Sony set. Apple TV supports the fewest services. The various competing Smart TV platforms from Samsung, LG and Vizio all seem to support all of the majors and some of those guys are baking these systems into their Blu-Ray players.
i think i still have our original roku box my sister in law gave me,
just realized i still have about two months or so on my contract with uverse, i will try to see what i can do in the meantime.
im still fiddling with the antenna first, but im trying to really consider the other two channels i want.
give me a week or so and will work with it.
thanks botch for letting me ride this thread. a lot of information and of course, experiences people have are learning moments for me.
just realized i still have about two months or so on my contract with uverse, i will try to see what i can do in the meantime.
im still fiddling with the antenna first, but im trying to really consider the other two channels i want.
give me a week or so and will work with it.
thanks botch for letting me ride this thread. a lot of information and of course, experiences people have are learning moments for me.
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