I have a prime I picked up for $40 about 15 months ago with a cablecard from verizon which I think is $5 a month? Anyways, it works great. Only DRMed channels are HBO, FS1, FNC/FBN, FX and the USA4K channel that's broadcasting now.
My 2 Xfinity CableCARDs are still working great, but I'm terrified to make any changes to my account for fear of inactivating something and not being able to get the cards working again. I would like to adjust my subscription package, but it just isn't worth the risk!
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Holy cow I had no idea it was that easy. Ok. thank you for the info. I just called my cable company (optimum) and they DO still offer cablecars and I will be picking it up tomorrow. the Prime I already ordered last week from eBay and will be here this week hopefully. If this works out and I need more tuners I will absolutely be interested in getting more Primes. This is great news and I hope this solution lasts!
I hadn't even considered DRM channels! I hope what you listed here is all that there is so far for the basic cable lineup.
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Unfortunately, if you have Spectrum, they encrypt most of the Cable Card channels, so they won’t work in Channels.
Yeah I didn't realize this is becoming a thing. Luckily my cable provider doesn't require contracts -- so I signed up ordered a cableCARD and a PRIME is on the way. If not at least I can cancel the cable service. Thanks for the input!
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Comcast plans to stop sending out new cards according to latest bill notes.
"Equipment Update: Starting on October 24, 2024, Xfinity will no longer provide new CableCARDs to new or existing customers. If you require new TV equipment, please call 1-800-xfinity to speak with an agent who can assist."
Order now before it's too late.
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Thanks all for the replies -- they were very helpful. I wound up signing up for Cable and getting a cable card. Took at least 6 people to finally get someone who knew what I was talking about. Then I had to wait two weeks just for a cable guy to come to my house and give me the card. After all was said and done, half the channels weren't loading, or weren't supported by the card anymore. Some worked, but most did not. This was a really annoying and long way to find out that it didn't work.
Funny how I was ready to pay WAY more than YouTube TV prices, just to get cable working in Channels. Shows how much a good UI really means to me I guess. Oh well! On to the next thing! Thanks again to all -- this is a great community.
What channels are you trying to get?
NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, CW, ION, MyTV, and many more related subchannels can be obtained without any subscription and with much less work than you have already put in to your cablecard endeavor.
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If you are within OTA range, sure. I'm in the Daytona area and can't get crap. That's not a supportable blanket statement in other words.
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All you need to hunt a report from rabbitears.info to figure out what antenna you need. Some antennas are junk out there and you won't get much with them so that's also a factor
Yeah but installing a large 20 ft. outdoor antenna (what I and many others would need) is not easy or all that cheap and looks like crap in a nice subdivision. So it's way more work than cablecard, not that it matters now since CC's are going away.
Thank God for HDMI Encoders and what's left of TVE then!!
I disconnected my Prime tuners (temporarily) to see if I can function without them ... so far between XFINITY TVE, Tubi and Friendly TV it appears to meet my needs. I also have 4 Firesticks using XFINITY Stream with ADBTUNER.
I happen to be lucky to have great OTA reception with just an indoor antenna.
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Just also wanted to add that days after I closed my account, I got an email from Optimum that they were discontinuing cablecards. So looks like I made the right choice for sure. ABD tuners look like a good option, but also look really complicated. I never worked with docker before or coding. So it's a stretch.
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I know what you mean. My first thought on ADBTuner/AH4CH was wow...that was really inventive.
My next thought was that Rube Goldberg/Heath Robinson would be proud. All that to watch TV.
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Exactly dude... not worth it to me unfortunately. And in the demo, the load time for the channel is nearly 10 seconds. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it really is. I've just resorted to using YTTV app for their channels, and Channels app for others and antenna. Is what it is.
I use adbtuner with YTTV and Onn devices and my load time per channel is 5 seconds. I could see channel surfing possibly being an issue but i havent done that since the 90's. Ive had zero issues with my setup....
With all the devices you connect to make this work, what is your electric cost?
I take it you're asking about the cost to run an HDMI encoder and streaming sticks as an alternative to an HDHomeRun Prime with a CableCard. Since I run mine all off of PoE, the data is right at hand -- so I can answer one part of the question:
So about 13 watts for the sticks + encoder, or about the same as 2 RaspberryPis. At our rural co-op rates, which run about 16 cents per kWh on-peak, and 8 cents per kWh off-peak this time of year, monthly cost would be around 45 cents.
Stick draw goes up by about a watt max when actively streaming. Encoder draw can increase by a watt or two if multiple ports are active.