I’m ready to cut my cable. I have Hulu+, netflix, connectors to plug in my laptop and I have a PS3, so internet watching isn’t an issue. What I’m worried about is not being able to get to local channels.
I have a plasma but I doubt it has a digital receiver. So what’s the best way to go about it? A digital converter and antenna? A tv tuner for a laptop?
I’ve searched online but it’s a headache trying to wade through all the information.
Why do you doubt it has a digital receiver? I thought all high resolution TVs had them.
If your TV doesn’t have a digital tuner, then an aerial and a box will be your best bet.
How much does cutting cable save you? I called both Comcast and WOW(my provider) and discovered that it would save me a whopping $2 a month to cut cable. I just kept it.
I think most of the newer ones are. My (older) plasma is simply a “plasma display panel” aka a monitor.
When I moved into my apartment, I got free internet but not tv. So I bought a $15 digital antenna from Menards and hooked it up. Had the TV do the scan for channels and found some cool stuff actually.
Yeup. I bought some rabbit ears for seriously under $5 at one of those crappy Mexican discount stores on the corner, plus this converter box for an astonishing $40, and I’m set. Regular TV + internet = golden. I don’t know how much TV you watch, but if you’re anything like me, not very much, and the little you do watch is not on cable. I was pretty much paying $60/month to watch The Daily Show and trashy VH1 reality shows which I am far better off without.
How old is your plasma? If it’s from newer than, say, 2005, it should have an ATSC tuner. An aerial will work best, but a lot will depend on where you are and if you get multipathing problems from where you live. I suggest using http://www.antennaweb.org to get an idea of what kind of antenna you should be looking for and where the towers are. For instance, I’m literally only a few miles from the towers, so a multidirectional indoor should work well. In my experience, however, I have a hard time getting a good signal inside my home and would be better off if I put an aerial up out on the balcony so I don’t have to worry about all the townhomes interfering with my signal.
Another possibility, if your TV has a QAM tuner, is to go to the cheapest cable available. Probably what they used to call basic, as opposed to extended basic. All the local channels can be picked up by the QAM tuner without using a cable box and will be digital and in HD when the source is.
Since you’re looking for advice about hardware, effectively, I’m going to move this to IMHO.
What? Cutting cable saves us about $115 a month.
Possibly Mahaloth meant cutting television service out of a cable package but retaining Internet. In Toronto, at least, Rogers had the bundle pricing arranged so that basic cable television plus cable Internet was only about $5 more than cable Internet alone.
We kept our internet and saved $115! Really, it was completely absurd. In our neighborhood, there is a monopoly cable provider (and they suck). The low “bundle price” only lasts 1 year, then they charge you individually. As recommended by friends who don’t live in a monopoly zone, we called and asked if we could have a lower price or the bundle deal, they told us to shove it. So we cancelled cable (but not internet) and we couldn’t be happier!
But obviously, not everyone is in this situation – where there is some form of competition, even from Dish, the situation is usually more favorable to consumers (in addition to being a cable monopoly zone, 99% of buildings in my neighborhood do not allow you to mount a dish, or have no spot to mount one). Ultimately, whether you will save scads of money by cancelling cable, or almost nothing at all, depends on the individual pricing structure you are controlled by.
if it is a recent tv set then it has a digital tuner. get an antenna.
if it does not then get an antenna and a tuner. if you get a digital converter box (about ($40 to $70USA) then you will see a good image (providing you can get a signal from your antenna) though it will be low resolution. if you want a high resolution image then you want a digital receiver that outputs high definition digital.
a converter is a tuner/receiver that only outputs low resolution (which is OK if you want that, i use those into my still working analog tv sets).
a tuner that outputs high definition can be had maybe $150 to $200USA. i haven’t priced recently those were prices last time i looked.
there are also tv tuner USB devices which could be had.
There seems to be some question here (in this thread, not necessarily in the OP’s brain) about what you only refer to as a “plasma” in the OP. Is it a television? Or just a monitor? I believe it’s possible that a really old plasma TV might have an analog tuner. If that’s the case for you then yes, you will need a digital converter box to watch Over-The-Air on your TV.
If it is a TV but not so old, then it has a digital tuner. No problem.
However, I’m more interested in your computer. I’m not quite sure from your post-- can you adequately display video files from your laptop on your plasma?
If so, I think you should consider buying a TV tuner for your laptop and a simple antenna (depending on where you live, rabbit ears from Goodwill might be fine). Then you can just output the TV signal to your plasma display.
And, if your laptop and the TV tuner you purchase are up to the task, you can use the laptop as a DVR. For me the DVR would be key because I see no reason anymore to watch TV on the telecaster’s schedule instead on mine.
Very soon all programs will be available whenever you want them, might as well make sure you have that ability now.
What I use for my main tv now is really just a big monitor. It’s a Sabre and I connect my cable by component wires.
I’ve watched movies and things through my laptop from the pc input and I’ve never complained about the quality. I’m sure I can make it better, but it’s perfectly adequate as of now. I have no qualms against using the laptop, I just have no idea how to do any of that.
Cheap internet is slow internet. Sucks. I’ve looked at this from every angle and every service provider. Cutting the cable always results in slow internet. Imho, the way to look at it now is to think of paying for TV as a fee for having fast internet.
I still intend to get cable internet, just dropping the cable tv that I pay for.
I might not be understanding this correctly-- are you saying that internet provided by your cable company is faster (therefore better quality) when you also pay for TV from them, but decreases in quality (and speed) if you drop the TV service and only pay them for internet?
If that’s what you are suggesting, do you think there is a technological reason for this? Or do you think the cable company deliberately throttles down your internet capability because you’re not buying cable TV from them anymore?
Very interesting, if the latter is true.
You might, and I repeat might, be able to split the cable before it hits your cable modem and divert it into an external tuner that includes QAM capability. Your cable company may still be transmitting some digital cable in the clear even if you’re only subscribing to cable internet. Otherwise, with an antenna you should be able use the linked tuner to get the signal over the air.
VGA is a perfectly fine way to transmit the video, but if your laptop is new enough to have mini-DVI, you might want to go mini-DVI to DVI instead assuming your monitor has a DVI input.
I have a digital converter box, i actually have to with antenna’s but where i live , i can’t get them to work on my Flat screen Tv. Grrrrrr i hate it, our local cable is way to high, had to let them go, direct tv wanted a whopping deposit, so am going crazy with no tv.