Satellite TV

Grey beard

Grey beard

100 W
Joined
Jul 27, 2012
Messages
123
Location
Sequim, Wa
I'm retired on an income that buys less every day, so I'm kinda squeaky when spending. I've had direct tv for about three years, and when looking at my bank statement with auto pay, I find them taking over $90 per month out of my account. My programming was $30 +taxes. They unilaterally added premium packaging to my package that I don't watch, and up my fees because I didn't tell them to remove them.
So now I'm whizzed off and wondering about how to minimize my cost. I only watch some news and occasional sporting event, about 5-6hrs week on average. There is no over air available here.
Do I just quit with the tv and just use my iPad and net? Can one really watch tv off the web? I've tried a few apps and they didn't work, or weren't user friendly.

Thanks
Mike
 
http://www.hischannel.com/
HisChannel has some decent Bible studies without the Christian TV hype. 8)
TV station websites often have a "watch live broadcast" button for the news. And broadcast movie stations have archives of classic movies and TV shows. Sports channels might also offer live programming over the internet. Search for sites of stations from large market viewing areas such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. :D
 
Grey beard, if I remember correctly you live in two places. Does one place have OTA TV that you might be able to stream to the other using something like a Slingbox or Simple.TV. I have no experience with these, just reading their ads claim. But point is to somehow use OTA TV as source.
 
I have been in this house over a year and still not plugged in the telly. In the last house visitors wired it up(I'm that interesting).

Say you want to watch house. You go to your search engine (perhaps google) and type 'watch house' and your met with results showing many sites offering episodes. People like tvlinks although much of what they have is actually stolen.
You can also visit sites belonging to the big tv giants and watch a lot of content perfectly legally on demand.

I must watch 5-6 hours a day, easily.

If you like news, there are many 24 hour news feeds from all over the world.
 
I am also do not pay for tv. Havent in a couple of years.

www.primewire.ag

The only site you need to watch moves/tv. I bought a little $200 net book with a wireless mouse keyboard plugged it into my tv.
 
If you have high-speed internet, you have many options. If it wasn't for my wife liking the satellite dish, I'd get rid of it...$60/mo for basic. I have a Roku with netflix/Hulu, but I am about to get a Google Chromecast dongle, to install on the spare TV. If it works the way I'm told, I may stop using the Roku...one less remote to remember how it works.
 
Try web TV if you have high enough speed. Go to Netflix, and you should be able to get from a week to a month free, then after that it' about ten bucks a month. Try it on your computer, and then if you do like it, then get a device to stream it direct to your tv. I really like the roku, and have the roku three to stream to the flat tv. If you only have tv without an hdmi input plug, then get the roku 2, which also has an output that can go to older TV's.

I recently cut the cable, and like Netflix, and Hulu. Hulu is a bit different from Netflix, more oriented to having yesterdays episode of broadcast tv shows up the next day. It also has a different list of movie titles. I've been watching a lot of old French films on hulu. I do get a few network channels on an antenna, but once set up my total bill is twenty bucks. I find the Netflix and hulu good enough to pay the fee on. I'd be willing to subscribe to other things too, if they were out there a la carte. I think they will be soon. I want ESPN, and Turner classic movies. The rest of cable can jump in a lake.

The roku also keeps updating many free channels. The best of the free channels is of course pbs. So I still get to see Nova and shows like that. Many of the free channels suck, but can be nice if you really like crusty old movies, spagettii westerns, bad noir movies, serials like buck rogers, rank sci fi. Stuff so reeking it's free. What can I say, once in a while I do enjoy an old monster movie.

News can be had on the internet of course, and weather. Go to the website of the TV station you used to watch, and you will get the local news on the net.
 
Yeah but with netfilx, only SOME shows are released. Most run a season behind.
Hulu used to be ok, but now the ads have gotten crazy.

Primewire.ag is free guys.

Want to watch the entire season of Breaking Bad? Or how about all season of House MD?
 
I don't think crackle was metioned? When the ex wife moved out she took the satellite tv system with her and the $90 a month that went with it..LOL I haven't had cable or satellite in over 2 and half years and don't miss a bit. Granted I can watch my locals with the aerial...
 
I got a $20 antenna on the TV. Bigger antenna on the roof would work better.

Go here to see haw many channels you would get with different antennas.
http://www.antennaweb.org/

If your TV is old you need a converter box or a new TV.
http://www.fcc.gov/digital-television
Digital Television (DTV) is an advanced broadcasting technology that has transformed the television viewing experience. DTV enables broadcasters to offer television with better picture and sound quality, and multiple channels of programming. Since June 13, 2009, full-power television stations nationwide have been required to broadcast exclusively in a digital format.
 
True, Hulu, and also the free sites like crackle have commercials. Crackle is one of the better free movie sites.

But on hulu the ads are only on the TV content. If you will be watching old French movies from the 40's or other movies on hulu, then there are no ads. Netflix will only have last years tv shows or older, but no commercials.

FWIW Netflix just added the final season of breaking bad, so you can watch that one non stop from start to finish on Netflix with not one commercial.

I took a peek at primewire, and it looks like it could be pretty good. There are lots of free tv sites out there that just aim to sucker you into clicking so you will permit them to install adware on your computer. So don't just try random sites.
 
I agree. Have to be careful. Ive been using primewire for 3 years now. I did however find that it really sucks if you dont have a good adblocker. I use adblock with firefox.
 
i watch crackle and viewster, both free, adblock works great. What is an ad? i don't see any.
have a $20 antenna in my attic last 25 years for OTA free. never tried dish or cable, why pay for free tv?
i listen to free pandora, adblock blocks ads, imo good music beats many tv shows. Thru my stereo w/12" speakers.
 
I appreciate all the input. Been writing it all down and googling trying to learn all I can.
I can't do OTA as I'm behind a mountain 70 miles from Seattle, and no repeaters. My other home is in a valley 60 miles from Boise. Can't even get cell service there, and my internet provider is dial-up @ 12k usually.lol At least here I have fair internet speed.
My thoughts have been: there are people who sell equipment to unlock the satellite boxes. I know nothing about who they are, nor the possible lawful infringement in doing it, although it's passive and I don't know how the possie could know.
Internet. I'm thinking this a good bet, at least here.

Thanks and keep it coming.
Mike
 
my neighbor was paying $90, and he called up to cancel, and they offered to cut back to basic at $10/mo.
i'm sure u can find plenty to watch for 10-30$. just ask.
 
A better rate on basic is not a bad idea if you can get them to go for it. Basic used to be 15 bucks here, years ago. Now it's about 30. Even at 30 bucks, you'd get the local channels, then 10 more gets you Netflix, or just watch the free sites you get with a roku. That still cuts the bill in half, with lots of content to watch, especially if you prefer foreign movies anyway. I've been loving working my way through cinema history, binge watching French and Japanese movies.

The roku works great for me, it finds the free channels for you, no hunting. As new ones come on line, roku fetches them for you. And no adware to deal with clogging up your main computer.
 
Well see how much longer that lasts. With Time warner and comcast merger that dont leave much in the way of choices. Its almost similar to Bell with the phones. Sudden link bought out our little local cable place and the price went through the roof.
 
I know very little about the subject so could be in error but think that website is a scam with out-of-date info. It writes about unlocking rom 102 and yellow cards and maybe that was possible before. But since mid-2009 when the encryption method changed, Dish Network customers need a purple smartcard to watch TV. When I google phrases from the website not many results come up and those that do read like they come from the same source.

Background on unlocking satellite boxes. One way used to be buying an FTA satellite receiver and updating it with hacked firmware freely downloadable from Internet forums. Then one could watch Dish Network. But that ended mid-2009 when the encryption method changed. Until then running hacked firmware was passive and couldn't be detected. Since then the pirating method is the receiver actively going out and getting the data needed to decrypt the program being watched from an Internet Key Sharing (IKS) server--a smartcard's output data is being captured on the server side and then sent out on demand. So it's not passive any more and less people are willing to take the risk.
 
mark5 said:
I know very little about the subject so could be in error but think that website is a scam with out-of-date info. It writes about unlocking rom 102 and yellow cards and maybe that was possible before. But since mid-2009 when the encryption method changed, Dish Network customers need a purple smartcard to watch TV. When I google phrases from the website not many results come up and those that do read like they come from the same source.

Background on unlocking satellite boxes. One way used to be buying an FTA satellite receiver and updating it with hacked firmware freely downloadable from Internet forums. Then one could watch Dish Network. But that ended mid-2009 when the encryption method changed. Until then running hacked firmware was passive and couldn't be detected. Since then the pirating method is the receiver actively going out and getting the data needed to decrypt the program being watched from an Internet Key Sharing (IKS) server--a smartcard's output data is being captured on the server side and then sent out on demand. So it's not passive any more and less people are willing to take the risk.
Click to expand...

Thanks for looking at that. I've no idea how to go about finding out if people are legitimate on the web. Been lucky I haven't been ripped off yet.
 
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