Some interesting news for TV cordcutters

imaref

Active Member
So if I have roku or sling and get locast can I watch channel 4 news whenever I want?

You can only watch it "live", so if you want to watch the news on that channel, you need to watch it when it's on (no recording or on demand).
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
You can only watch it "live", so if you want to watch the news on that channel, you need to watch it when it's on (no recording or on demand).
Are there any reasonable means to do BOTH Sling/Roku/Locast/streaming AND DVR-like recording?

I really HATE paying the fees for DirecTV, but we get SO much value out of the DVR features - no time wasted watching commercials, and watching exactly what we want whenever we want it. Really hard to conceive of giving up those features, but the money... ???
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member

BernieP

Resident PIA
BP, it is a balancing act.
I have DSL here that is advertised at 6Mb on my router, but it is only $33/month. Is that fast enough for a household full of constant streamers? Definitely not, but the wife and I are the only ones left, and I don't think the cats can pick up the remote or use a smart phone;). Comcast would be $75+. Add in all the subscriptions you talk about and it indeed may not be any cheaper than my current slow internet and DirecTV.
I appreciate all the discussion here, there are many options.
Well the fact you have Comcast says you are not in St. Mary's. LOL
I'm not sure what DSL is advertised as, but I don't think it's more than 2Mb.
I think I've measured it at 1.2Mb download and less than half that for upload. More concerned with download. 1.2Mb doesn't work, times out over WiFi. DTV pretty much switched all their on demand stuff over to internet (image that, AT&T creating a demand for broadband).
Can't order a movie or watch anything on demand. Use the old cell phone to access Netflix and then cast to tv.
Smart TV had the same problem as the DTV station.
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
We have an HD antenna on our camper.. and in Dameron we get about 20 channels with just the antenna.
interesting.

I understand there is a hump or ridgeline that bi-sects the county. It apparently is an issue for RF reception.
 

1stGenSMIB

Active Member
Well the fact you have Comcast says you are not in St. Mary's. LOL
I'm not sure what DSL is advertised as, but I don't think it's more than 2Mb.
I think I've measured it at 1.2Mb download and less than half that for upload. More concerned with download. 1.2Mb doesn't work, times out over WiFi. DTV pretty much switched all their on demand stuff over to internet (image that, AT&T creating a demand for broadband).
Can't order a movie or watch anything on demand. Use the old cell phone to access Netflix and then cast to tv.
Smart TV had the same problem as the DTV station.
No..I am no longer in St. Mary's County...moved to lower Calvert County from the Myrtle Point area in October 2019. I am getting 5.8 Mb advertised on my DSL router in my current location..I guess I need to stream a Netflix movie and see if it buffers at all..in S.M. Co., we were about 2.5Mb on the DSL and while tolerable, we usually had 1 or 2 buffering events during a Netflix movie, and had to make sure to not have any other devices downloading/streaming crap during a movie.
 

1stGenSMIB

Active Member
interesting.

I understand there is a hump or ridgeline that bi-sects the county. It apparently is an issue for RF reception.
tvfool.com has some terrain tools that may show that. I thought I was going to get great OTA reception in M.P. being ~150 above sea level and a 40+' tower but it was spotty at best. All I know is when my wife wants to watch Doug Kammerererererererererer, it better not say "No signal".
 
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BernieP

Resident PIA
tvfool.com has some tools terrain that may show that. I thought I was going to get great OTA reception in M.P. being 160 above sea level and a 40+' tower but it was spotty at best. All I know is when my wife wants to watch Doug Kammerererererererererer, it better not say "No signal".
Runway 2W6 @St Mary's County Regional Airport is ‎141.8 ft ASL. Not sure it's the highest point, but it's the only way I could get an elevation.
 

1stGenSMIB

Active Member
That seems about right. I think I guesstimated mine off a NOAA chart of Pax River (hence approx 150-160). I used to be a couple houses behind the Pres. Church there on Rt 4. It might be a little lower than 150.
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
Here's an example map of signal strength for a Washington DC TV station.
It's extremely location-dependent. Bottom line, anyone in the southern half of the county, and not on the northern side of any small ridges, is going to get really lousy signal, even with a large rooftop antenna.

But it's kind of irrelevant these days, since most of what we watch isn't on the broadcast networks anyway.

135741
 

Chris0nllyn

Well-Known Member
Are there any reasonable means to do BOTH Sling/Roku/Locast/streaming AND DVR-like recording?

I really HATE paying the fees for DirecTV, but we get SO much value out of the DVR features - no time wasted watching commercials, and watching exactly what we want whenever we want it. Really hard to conceive of giving up those features, but the money... ???

YouTube TV has a free DVR with their streaming service. Sling has a DVR service for an additional $5/month.

Roku is just the device housing all your streaming services.

No..I am no longer in St. Mary's County...moved to lower Calvert County from the Myrtle Point area in October 2019. I am getting 5.8 Mb advertised on my DSL router in my current location..I guess I need to stream a Netflix movie and see if it buffers at all..in S.M. Co., we were about 2.5Mb on the DSL and while tolerable, we usually had 1 or 2 buffering events during a Netflix movie, and had to make sure to not have any other devices downloading/streaming crap during a movie.

Netflix says they need 5Mbps for HD (not 4K) video. With DSL it may buffer or automatically lower the stream quality every once and awhile if the speed drops.
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
That seems about right. I think I guesstimated mine off a NOAA chart of Pax River (hence approx 150-160). I used to be a couple houses behind the Pres. Church there on Rt 4. It might be a little lower than 150.
I thought the runway was 36ft ASL at PAX. Might need to check that, could have been 36Meters (ASL), but that seems high. Pax is flat, that's the reason contact was lost with the UAV flying up the Potomac side.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
What else can you watch do these roku sling things have all the channels that directv has I could care less about the local news channels.
Roku is the hardware and sling is a service you can get on the hardware. There are many different streaming services you can use on the Roku that accompolish the same thing, there is slingtv, youtube tv, playstation vue, hulu live, direct tv now, and I am sure I am missing something. These are pay services, but all much cheaper than cable, to check their channel offerings go to their websites. There are also free services available on the Roku, for example the ABC one is totally free if you don't mind waiting a week to watch a show that just aired. The CW app is completely free too.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
Well the fact you have Comcast says you are not in St. Mary's. LOL
I'm not sure what DSL is advertised as, but I don't think it's more than 2Mb.
I think I've measured it at 1.2Mb download and less than half that for upload. More concerned with download. 1.2Mb doesn't work, times out over WiFi. DTV pretty much switched all their on demand stuff over to internet (image that, AT&T creating a demand for broadband).
Can't order a movie or watch anything on demand. Use the old cell phone to access Netflix and then cast to tv.
Smart TV had the same problem as the DTV station.
My verizon DSL was 10Mb, too bad it was so flaky.
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
I thought the runway was 36ft ASL at PAX. Might need to check that, could have been 36Meters (ASL), but that seems high. Pax is flat, that's the reason contact was lost with the UAV flying up the Potomac side.
The runway isn't quite flat - it's dipped a bit in the middle - but the survey elevation (probably of the primary intersection) says 39 feet. That used to be painted in huge letters on the side of the old control tower towards the runway.
dfcd96be-860f-4ea4-a996-c1cd91241437_l.jpg
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
My verizon DSL was 10Mb, too bad it was so flaky.
you sure that wasn't 1.0? I don't think I've seen anything approaching that bandwidth.
Though apparently distance to the CO is crucial, if you are withing something like 3000 ft you can get decent speeds.
I would guess I'm probably at least a mile from the CO, buried in what use to be the backend of Wildewood.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
you sure that wasn't 1.0? I don't think I've seen anything approaching that bandwidth.
Though apparently distance to the CO is crucial, if you are withing something like 3000 ft you can get decent speeds.
I would guess I'm probably at least a mile from the CO, buried in what use to be the backend of Wildewood.
I am sure, when I first got it in 2003 it was 3.0Mb and it was bumped up intermittently until I cancelled it in 2018. I routinely checked it using speedtest and fast.com.

My moms from Frontier Communication is 3.0 (and only $15/month) and we can stream a 720P movie from it just fine.
 
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