just an asterisk

In my last post, I described how one could ditch cable and rely on a mixture of online programming and an Apple TV for entertainment.  Fun stuff!  However, a helpful commenter mentioned using an HD Antenna to capture the live and free television channels that may be floating around your metro area. I thought it might be nice to explain how this can be done (so that you can watch the Oscars, the super bowl, or any other live event on your standard channels).

Buy an antenna and connect it.

To pick up the free TV signals in your area, you’ll need an antenna.  Often today’s TVs forget their antenna bearing forefathers and mine was no exception.  You should validate that your TV has a connector like the one below.

This is the same connection that I used for my cable television (it’s called Coaxial Cable, if you’re interested).  Once you’ve located this point on the TV, you need an antenna. For those living near a RadioShack, I found this model on sale for $20.

Notice that it says “HDTV” – this means I’ll be able to pickup any free HD (High Definition) channels, as well as the standard definition ones. In most big cities, NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX have free HD channels.

The setup is very easy – just plug it in to the connector in the first picture.

Scan for channels

Your television, if it was purchased in the last 10 years, has a scanning function. Try your settings menu – heck, try any menu. You are looking for “Auto-Program” or “Channel Search” or anything to do with an antenna.  For me, in my settings menu, there was a button that said “Auto-Program”.  With the antenna connected, I let this feature rip and found 52 channels available to the greater NYC area. 52!!!

Bask in your independence!

You’ve done it! You followed 2 insanely easy steps and now you have free LIVE television. Well done you! Enjoy the Olympics!

~ab

Cable TV and I have had a pretty rocky relationship. I live in NYC, where “outages reported in your area” is seemly the permanent recording on the cable company phone line. What kills me about these events is that it’s always my responsibility to call out the cable company for time lost. I never see a credit on my bill for the time when service was out, unless I call and complain.  Moreover, my wife and I just don’t watch that much TV.  It’s hard to justify the $150 price for HBO twice a week and the real housewives series a few times a week. Oh and did I mention the service stinks?

My counter attack!

So what did I do to stick it to the man? I cancelled cable. This may sound brash but it’s not as crazy as you might think. Here is a breakdown of my thought process:

• Hulu and Netflix came with my TV – I have a Samsung TV that has “apps” and an internet connection.  It wasn’t that much more expensive and I have access to my Hulu and Netflix content (which is 99% of what I watch).  Both Hulu and Netflix require a paid account, but each is less than $10 per month.
• Apple TV streams all my media from my home computer – The Apple TV was a one time $100.  I can use it to rent movies and TV shows, like pay-per-view on steroids.
• I don’t watch sports – I think this is worth mentioning, as my solution would be hard on a sports fanatic.  Sports are a bit harder to find via the web, but not impossible.  I’d be curious to hear solutions for this in the comments…

Thoughts so far…

It has been 2 days and everything is great! I feel like I pick what I want to watch and I only see a commercial or two on Hulu.  All in all, the conversion went without a hitch.  When I want to watch a TV show, I use Hulu on my TV or the Apple TV to rent/buy the episode.  For older movies, I use Netflix and for more recent titles, I can use Apple TV as a pay-per-view outlet. Finally, I stream pictures, music and movies from my home computer over my wireless network to the Apple TV.  A – MAZING.

Here are some pointers if you plan on doing this yourself:

1. Use wires when possible: When you can, keep everything wired together.  Wireless is great, but the speed is much faster via cables.  If you can’t use wires, try to minimize the distance between your TV and your WIFI router.
2. Invest a few extra bucks in faster internet: You can pay a little more (an extra $10 in my case) and get 50% faster internet.  That burst of speed could be the difference between HD quality streaming and blurry junk, so investigate your options.
3. Learn how to use iTunes Home Sharing: Maybe this will be the topic of a future post, but you can share your iTunes libraries between computers and to your Apple TV. It’s fairly simple to set up, but can get a bit finicky. Try out this link to get you started.

I’ll try to put another post together in the future describing my whole setup, but hopefully this gives you a glimpse of what is possible.  The kicker here is that it’s all pretty easy!  I didn’t code or fiddle with complicated hardware. For the most part, it was as simple as plugging things in.

Good luck!

~ab

PS: I’m aware that the large cable company isn’t going to care much about my rebellion… but just wait comrades – the revolution is coming…

This isn’t news, but I’ve been having fun with it (and I’m a bit strapped for time these days).  My new TV came with streaming Netflix built in (as I mentioned in my last post).  But what does this really mean???  Well I’ll tell you – I can watch Netflix from my television, streaming it over the web on my home network.  The network setup was a pain in the butt, but once I got it working, I couldn’t believe that I’d lived without for so long.  To think of all the times I ordered pay-per-view when I could have just watched something for free!

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Recently, my wife and I purchased a new television.  It was fun to browse and explore all the new acronyms, but in truth my knowledge of televisions is a bit sub-par.  The thing was, I was pretty happy with my CRT (cathode ray tube – the technology behind the pervious generation of TVs and those big clunky monitors).  The problem, as is always the case with technology, was that I wanted more than my old box could deliver – HDTV (High Definition Television) was calling… I am not qualified (even after my shopping research) to give you the full scoop on HDTV.  All I can tell you is that HD TVs use a connector called HDMI and that each of these cables runs about $40 – which is just stupid as you need one for each device you want to attach… (editorial, yes, but does that mean it’s untrue?)

I know that YouTube video you received from your buddy at work was hilarious.  In fact, you’ve probably received so many at this point, that YouTube is synonymous with humor and/or embarrassment.  However, do you want to hear a little known secret about YouTube?  It’s not just for videos of cats riding on Roombas.  There are quite a few educational videos that could help you ace your next test, impress your friends, checkout faster at the supermarket or simply catch up on things you might have missed in school.

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