Slow death of ChannelsDVR for cable subscribers has begun

#81

Not likely since Aereo and Locast were sued into submission. Hopefully your situation, like mine, will change when ATSC 3.0 actually becomes useful. For now, I have huge performance issues from the Cincinnati ATSC 3.0 stations, whereas I can get the Dayton ATSC 1.0 stations mostly fine, but, not really my market or interest.

In case you're wondering:
23 miles north of Cincy -- terrain issues, get zero ATSC 1.0 stations
45 miles south of Dayton -- flat all the way, works well unless the weather gets funky for ATSC 1.0 stations.

The Cincinnati ATSC 3.0 stations moved their signals to the northern part of the city on a HUGE hill, so I get the ATSC 3.0 station with perfect signal quality, it's simply the HEVC/AC-4 and station issues that seem to be causing my troubles. Looks like I'll eventually be upgrading the CPU in my HTPC to better handle the modern codecs.

#82

locast was shut down because they were using their donations to expand. the judge made no ruling about the legality of their actual business model (meaning it's still available to anyone who would want to try, they'd just have to go one individual market at a time and not mix funds from the different markets together).

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#83

Wouldn’t bet my money on it. Better bet is that the system is rigged in this case and there truly is no way to solve this legal puzzle.

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#84

Over 80% of the US population lives in cities. Most of these people could get good OTA if they set it up right.

And even Locast was only for people who already lived in the OTA coverage area. If you are in Locast area (OTA coverage area), you could probably find a way to make OTA work. Unfortunately, for people who don't live in an urban area and have no OTA broadcasts, the only real solution is to pay for someone to send the signals to your home (aka: cable service). Although there are now quite a few users with Primes who use Channels DVR and even some users who subscribe to cable + channels just to use TVE. But I don't think the Channels application was originally intended for people who already have the same services from the cable co (guide and dvr). At least I always saw it as a way to get great guide and DVR from OTA (which otherwise has none). And with the added bonus of being able to add internet-based streaming services like Pluto. So, really, if cable cards go away, the software can become more focused on its most important purpose (users with no cable service).

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#85

this idea that anyone can get OTA if they're just willing to try is getting really old. it's not even remotely close to being the case.

i would gladly put up an antenna tomorrow if it would work for me, but it won't. i'm 65 miles from the towers and directly behind a large hill. there are probably in the neighborhood of 100k other residents in my area in nearly the exact same situation.

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#86

65 miles is too far. You would need cable service or internet-based service like cable. But, since you are stuck with a package like that, which probably already comes with guide and DVR options, maybe paying also for Channels is not worth it.

... unless you can save a lot money from the cable-co by not paying their equipment fees.... in which case just use TVE with Channels.

#87

Distance has less to do with it than you think. You're basing your assumption on "availability" on distance, though.

I live in the #1 DMA in the country, with pretty darned good OTA coverage. I hit the topography lottery by living on top of a hill. 5 houses away, down the hill, they can't get a sniff of signal without a 60+' tower.

Locast served a common need - those who can't get OTA despite even a reasonable investment, yet are locked into the "area" of a local that can't/won't serve them.

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#88

You are very smug for someone who can obviously get OTA when others can not. I am 47 miles from the transmitters and live a few feet above sea level on MA which is not a flat state.

I'm on my third (ever bigger and bigger) TV antenna in my attic. Each upgrade gets me a tiny bit better signal, but never good enough. I used to be able to get PBS, but then they sold off their prime frequencies to make money and now they are unreachable.

My current antenna is listed as having a 70 mile range. I also have a separate VHF antenna.

The only possible upgrade left to me is to put both antennas on the roof. My wife is against this and the labor cost of having them installed and running new coax would be quite high.

Is this what you mean by "you could probably find a way to make OTA work."?

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#89

TVE has been good as far as OTA since they made the https change ... the only thing I am missing is CW .

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#90

The option to order cable cards still exists. You just have to be smart about it.

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#91

I don't know your total situation and what you use for non OTA TV. Just a thought in that FUBO includes most local channels for about $70 a month. I use it as my cable provide Comcrap is always raising their price and ridiculous equipment charges. Almost everything on FUBO is FTE. Streaming with CHANNELS DVR is great and no extra equipment for the most part. I do use an HDHR OTA tuner though for FTA in order to get all the sub-channels.

#92

I meant that people living in a city with broadcast towers could find a good outdoor antenna properly aimed from the best location (probably the roof, but definitely somewhere outdoors). People living far away (anything 35+ miles away) from the broadcasting city are going to have trouble.

I have lived in 3 different locations since I started using channels. And have generally found a way to get OTA in each one. Although the main broadcast towers are all within 4 miles away (Baltimore), I can receive anything up to about 35 miles.... which is an entirely different city (Washington DC). Beyond that distance is not going to ever be 100% reliable.

I am saying that people in a city can probably find a way to get their own city's OTA. People out in the country 70 miles away, or even 45 miles away, are going to have trouble. For this minority, they will have to find either a cable package or a cable-like package from the internet.

#93

The option to order cable cards is still there but Prime units are getting rare.

They say in development is this page old or new.

HDHomeRun PRIME - SiliconDust

#94

That's old. They stopped making the Primes, but started selling old leftover units I think about 6 months ago. Looks like they're out of those units, but there are some available as refurbished.

#95

I had the exact same thing with Xfinity recently. I was told they don't do cable cards from multiple at Xfinity and they were all wrong. I had to call the main line and it took about 30 minutes but finally got a hold of someone who knew what I wanted and it was not a problem from there. They shipped it to me and have been up and running ever since. It's been great minus the people who were wrong. Don't take no for an answer.

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#96

After giving up on the Prime 6, which was in development, they found components for a new batch of the old "Prime 3". Based on the company's own website it does indeed look like they are about to run out of those, but at the moment they're still in stock on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-PRIME-Cable-3-Tuner/dp/B004HKIB6E/

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#97

You exaggerating. No other country in the world uses CableCard.
CI is your answer and Sat > IP

#98

Call us when the Sat > IP or IPTV, as it's seen elsewhere, comes anywhere to the US.

#99

I have Fubo, but you can't get the local channels from Fubo into Channels. No ABC, No CW, No PBS, Limited Fox.

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#100

As said before, it is not just distance. I live 31 miles from the Providence RI towers and can't get most of them either. There are lots of people who for various reasons can't get OTA. For example, moat people who live in apartment buildings are not allowed to have any kind of external antenna.

So, only people living in big cities should be granted the privilege of having free TV.

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