Comments on: Cord Cutters Survival Stories: Bye Bye Cable TV

By: GoodbyePayTV

GoodbyePayTV — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 18:08:04 +0000

Great setup Tim! Did you cut the cord to cable TV bills? Next up, install the Ooma phone system and get rid of your telephone bill too.

By: Henry

Henry — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:24:21 +0000

@Matt: I’m curious why you’re missing PBS. Once we went to an antenna, PBS is almost over-represented in terms of the total available broadcasr content. I was really surprised at how much PBS content there is on so many channels and sub-channels.

By: Henry

Henry — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:21:29 +0000

Nice job Ryan. In addition to the antenna type suggestions above, as an experiment you might try removing your splitter and just send the antenna signal directly to a single TV (try this for both TVs). If you get a usable picture and sound, then a distribution amp/splitter is what you need instead of a passive splitter.

For a DVR solution, take a look at the Silicon Dust HDHomeRun network tuner. I have two of them connected, providing four HDTV tuners that are accessible to any computer on my network. I use Xbox 360s as Media Center Extenders for the front end at the display and a Windows 7 laptop as the Media Center back end where all the DVR recording happens. Media Center takes care of all your Guide needs…it’s far better than the junk interface I had with my old cable DVR!

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:37:32 +0000

Great write up! I tell much the same story with my cable cutting experience. Got rid of DirecTV a month and a half ago. We only miss a couple PBS shows, all the other stuff we watch is out there on the web. Waiting for Hulu though to get a few more contracts, like being able to stream Community to my Roku…
Over all, well worth the effort and research.

By: GoodbyePayTV

GoodbyePayTV — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:19:31 +0000

@Scott – check out our site – goodbyepaytv.com
We install HD antennas and HTPC’s that stream content and function as an incredible DVR that even skips commercials.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 02:30:24 +0000

Any recs for a website that can explain to me how to set up a DVR solution to record over the air HD? I imagine it would be a straight up desktop PC, but where does it get the TV Guide from, and how do I set it up? This is the only thing keeping me from cutting the cord.

By: Elle

Elle — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:45:58 +0000

Very awesome. I more than survive with my Apple TV and Netflix streaming subscription. It’s been over a year since I ended my cable. Pay for content when I hardly watch half of the shows? No thank you. Now I watch what I want, when I want.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:21:40 +0000

The primary reason that your CBS station doesn’t come in is that it is broadcast on VHF channel 12 and the dB4 is a UHF antenna. The quickest fix is to get a highband VHF antenna like an AntennaCraft Y5-7-13, or Antenna’s Direct C5 and connect it to the dB4 with a UHF VHF splitter jointer (UVSJ) from Radio Shack or Solid Signal. Putting the antenna outside may work, but the added VHF antenna will definitely work.

By: Gaven

Gaven — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:07:46 +0000

Great article, we cut the cord two years ago and have NEVER looked back. Even in the beginning when content was not so great, the cost and time savings without 400 commercials an hour made up for it. Just bought a new car with the savings..wife is happy..kids are happy.. all is good!

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:00:12 +0000

Awesome. Cut the cord myself two months ago and have been free since. After a lot of trial and error playing with various os’s, software and hardware, I now have basically the same set-up as Ryan here. I use a re-purposed pc running windows 7 as a backend server which is automated to organize everything and serve as my pvr. For now, I use my 360 as a frontend device. If I didn’t use it to game so much I would probably opt to build a separate frontend but this does the job for now. Everything runs pretty seamlessly with no more hiccups that the p.o.s. box provided by my (former) cable company.