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Cord-Cutting, Or How to Stream your Way to Success
- Thread starter Alkorin
- Start date
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^ correct. I had to do this to use it because I'm not in the US and I need to use unblock-us DNS servers to watch anything decent.
In my case, I ended up routing 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4 into nowhere. If Chromecast can't reach them, it uses your DHCP values.
Izo
Tranny Chaser
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edko
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 4,970
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We are up and running here on Little Torch Key with internet only.
I got the discount blast package for 40/mo, which is 75 down/10 up. No tv.
Side note: The installer was pissy. No comcast modemrouter? No tv? HOW DARE I. He was also unhappy that, since it's a brand new house, he had to run a line from the pole. Poor guy...
Anyway, we are cheating a bit by slingboxing Fios from Baltimore. It is however, buffer free. We stuck a roku in every room and in fact bought the TCL Roku TV for the bedroom. It's not high end nice picture but the built in roku is flawless and it's a perfectly fine bedroom tv.
The only disappointing thing so far was that the Leaf antenna I bought for local channels gets nothing. There are broadcast towers down here that distribute Miami local channels but I can't pick a single one up. Not sure why. I'll live.
I got the discount blast package for 40/mo, which is 75 down/10 up. No tv.
Side note: The installer was pissy. No comcast modemrouter? No tv? HOW DARE I. He was also unhappy that, since it's a brand new house, he had to run a line from the pole. Poor guy...
Anyway, we are cheating a bit by slingboxing Fios from Baltimore. It is however, buffer free. We stuck a roku in every room and in fact bought the TCL Roku TV for the bedroom. It's not high end nice picture but the built in roku is flawless and it's a perfectly fine bedroom tv.
The only disappointing thing so far was that the Leaf antenna I bought for local channels gets nothing. There are broadcast towers down here that distribute Miami local channels but I can't pick a single one up. Not sure why. I'll live.
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Did you tell your tv to scan for local channels? Just plugging in the antenna isn't enough.
edko
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 4,970
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I did. I plugged the leaf into 2 different tvs. One tv I had to change the default from cable to antenna and then run a scan, the other I just ran a scan. It could be the house, the trees... I don't know. I really only cared for local weather in case of hurricanes but I thought I'd get something. I'll play with it more, maybe try it outside and see how that works.
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edko
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 4,970
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Yeah that site is absolutely amazing when trying to figure out what you need for OTA broadcasts.
Anyone ever use Sling TV?
https://www.sling.com/package
Seems like the perfect answer to "I need to keep cable for sports"
https://www.sling.com/package
Seems like the perfect answer to "I need to keep cable for sports"
I think I'm going to activate the trial for Sling next week. Our new apartment doesn't allow DirecTV and I'll be goddamned if I'm payinig 100 bucks a months for cable. I figure with Hulu+, Netflix, SlingTV and HBOGO we should be okay. The only real concern I have is going back to the land of no DVR / FF-Rewind.
Yeah fuck giving up my dvr and watching only live TV. I'm not going back to being a slave to a TV schedule. I'd just go torrents at that point.
As for sling quality. When I checked it out on a great connection sports looked like crap with macro blocking on motion but it was ok for regular viewing.
As for sling quality. When I checked it out on a great connection sports looked like crap with macro blocking on motion but it was ok for regular viewing.
Sling TV Review - Consumer Reports
How does it compare with cable and satellite?
Our TV testers set up Sling TV in a side-by-side comparison with our in-house Optimum cable feed using two identically calibrated TVs. During lab testing, they saw a noticeable downgrade in picture quality of the Sling TV feed relative to Optimum cable. Sling TV seemed more heavily compressed than cable, causing the images on Sling TV to look softer and less detailed. They also noticed more banding (course steps from dark to light parts of the picture where ideally you should see a smooth transition) and jagged edges around text and other rounded objects.
How does it compare with cable and satellite?
Our TV testers set up Sling TV in a side-by-side comparison with our in-house Optimum cable feed using two identically calibrated TVs. During lab testing, they saw a noticeable downgrade in picture quality of the Sling TV feed relative to Optimum cable. Sling TV seemed more heavily compressed than cable, causing the images on Sling TV to look softer and less detailed. They also noticed more banding (course steps from dark to light parts of the picture where ideally you should see a smooth transition) and jagged edges around text and other rounded objects.
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That has not been my experience. /shrug
There are video quality settings in the Sling app. Mine is set to max.
Selix
Lord Nagafen Raider
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I have had Sling TV since it launched.
1. The quality was bad at first because it was more successful then they thought. It has since been upgraded and I have not experienced those issues again. YMMV.
2. You can only watch it on one device at a time. This could be an issue for anyone use to watching cable on more then 1 device or TV.
3. The channel line-up is limited. It is perfect for my needs but it may not be for all others. I need Disney, Sports, and a news channel (CNN) and I am happy.
4. If you need more shows then it offers it is probably cheaper to just get a Hulu subscription (10$/mo) then get cable. Heck it is still cheaper to just outright buy seasons of shows for $25 on Amazon then it is to pay for cable.
Hachima
Molten Core Raider
- 884
- 638
My SlingTV subscription ends in 10 days and I'm not renewing. I went back to getting satellite. I'm keeping Hulu and Netflix subs though.
SlingTV doesn't to add the ability to stream on more than one device at a time, so if you aren't single thats a big drawback. Some shows have playback, otherwise no DVR option and you can't even pause so you better take that bathroom break during a commercial. The quality wasn't that great(compared to Netflix HD streaming). The client is a bit buggy and I get audio desync issues now and then that require me to restart the client. They have the potential to make searching for shows much better on PC/Mac. They are behind in content suggestion searching (compared to something like Genie with DirectTV)
SlingTV doesn't to add the ability to stream on more than one device at a time, so if you aren't single thats a big drawback. Some shows have playback, otherwise no DVR option and you can't even pause so you better take that bathroom break during a commercial. The quality wasn't that great(compared to Netflix HD streaming). The client is a bit buggy and I get audio desync issues now and then that require me to restart the client. They have the potential to make searching for shows much better on PC/Mac. They are behind in content suggestion searching (compared to something like Genie with DirectTV)