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.
I have a similar set up, but with Chromecasts. They have a similar power draw to the fire sticks.
(Side Note: I really like that view. Is that part of the Unifi app or is that through a dashboard?)
agreed
I recently canceled My Cable TV and only have Basic with Internet ... So I still get my locals via OTA and Cable Card. I am looking for a LiveTV streaming Service but they seem to be as expensive as Cable. I went from $300 dollars with Cable to 130 with just Internet and Basic.
I supplement my Channels Via Tubi and Friendly and Pluto... for Sports I only watch Basketball and Football. So I will just sign up during the season to their league pass.
If we still have our cable cards and our Primes, will Comcast reactivate them or are we just sol? The last time I deactivated my cable, they said not to bother sending the cable cards back.
I would call and ask, and be kindly persistent.
My prior experiences have been that it depends on your market, and even right down to what technology is available in your neighborhood. A year or two ago I was having trouble with my cablecard missing channels. Spectrum initially wanted to send a tech out, then refused claiming they weren't supporting that technology any longer. In the end, the branch manager checked and it turns out that all new services weren't yet ready for my neighborhood, so they sent a 50 year old tech out who still knew cablecard like the back of his hand. He solved a number of wiring problems (outdoors) and I was grateful he was available, capable and willing.
It took me 5-10 calls last week but eventually I was able to get to tier 3 technical support and someone there was able to find the right person in the company to get one of my cable cards reactivated that had been accidentally deactivated. I don't know if they would do it for you if you had cancelled your service, but the organization is able to activate them with enough effort.
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I canceled my Cable TV subscription and went to basic saved $160 .. Cable cards Still work for Broadcast Channels and my TVE is still working on all my Channels prior to canceling.
I was going to subscribe to YouTubeTV but put it off since TVE is still working on XFINITY.... been a month.