CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

Ok, I am about to start fresh in a new place and needed to figure out what I am going to supply the projector with. There has never been a time with so many choices and options to choose from.

A brief history to see if I have a handle on this and if I am missing anything. First, there was OTA. Then along came cable/big dish and VHS/Beta. By the end of the 80s, there was VHS, Laserdisc and cable/big dish. In the 90s, little dish and DVD arrived. The 00s brought us Bluray and HDDVD. Now, we can add streaming to the list. I should add game machines as well, but I don't have a huge interest in gaming.

Lets see if I have this correctly, my choices for sources are OTA, cable, satellite, BR and streaming.

I need to preface this by saying I will be getting Comcast internet. I will probably be getting the 20Mb speed for $60 a month. Depending on how much I stream, I could go a lot higher to say 100Mb for $200. Smile

1) OTA, BR and streaming
A) I could do all three with a HTPC. That is the upside along with the ability to record. Also, I have a Win 7 desktop collecting dust. So, the start up cost would be relatively small along with small on-going costs. The downside is I have always had issues with OTA reception. Actually the reception is fine, it is the program that crashes. If I could have something that was reliable then I would seriously consider this. My guess is start-up costs would be around $100 or so for a new OTA card and antenna. The on-going cost would be $8(?) a month for Netflix, Amazon or other.

B) Another option for OTA is Tivo or Channelmaster box. I could pair that with a PS3 or a BR player with streaming. Great thing is everything would probably work much smoother than a HTPC. Start-up cost is going to be around $300 to $500 for OTA box and BR player. The on-going cost is the same as above.

2) Cable, BR and streaming
The start-up costs are relatively small, but the on-going costs are much higher. I get a lot of channels, but I don't get the NFL ticket. I don't have to worry about rain fade. One cable to route into the place for both internet and TV. One bill, I guess. One other possible advantage I can think of is I could use a HTPC with cablecard instead of a separate box. The disadvantage is obviously the on-going costs. The start-up cost would be installation, which I think is $50 plus $100 to $150 for BR player. The on-going costs are $70 a month for cable and then the streaming costs, which may not be necessary.

3) Sat, BR and streaming
The start-up costs are relatively small, but again the on-going costs are much higher. Again I get a lot of channels and I get the NFL ticket. There is the possibility of rain fade, but I have only seen that problem two or three times a year. Like cable, the big disadvantage is the on-going costs. I believe Directv has free installation, so start up would be a BR player. The on-going costs are the same as cable.

I guess what this boils down to is the OTA/BR/streaming option giving me enough content compared to the Directv/BR/streaming option and is Directv worth the extra cost. I know more and more people that are going with the first and finding that to be more than enough content. Also, most of the content that is on cable/sat is available through OTA/streaming. Has anyone here dumped cable/sat for OTA/streaming? If so, do you find that you are satisfied with what you are receiving in return? Any other thoughts? What is everyone here using?

ecrabb · Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:24 pm Post subject:

Unless Comcast is capping your bandwidth monthly, 20mbps will be more than fine for any streaming you want to do.

If I were single like you, I'd go OTA/streaming. Screw burning $1000/year to pay for hundreds of channels of crap you won't watch. The exception is if you like a lot of live sports. No streaming is going to replace that. So, it's up to you to decide whether you want to drop a cool grand a year to watch the football you can't watch OTA. I have DirecTV, but really only because my wife won't let me get rid of it. If it weren't for her, it would be gone.

I think you kind of have to have a DVR, whether you go HTPC or STB - especially with OTA.

So, my vote would be OTA, BD, and streaming. You can always add cable or sat if you find the OTA and streaming isn't satisfying your needs; it's a pretty hard do it the other way around.

SC

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:50 pm Post subject:

HTPC with cable card, a happauge OTA tuner and a Bluray drive/burner

freidich · Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:20 am Post subject:

I second the HTPC described by AnalogRocks. Nothing better/easier than a device that can play any and all content AND can output VGA at any resolution/refresh rate.

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

Yeah, I am kind of leaning towards the OTA/BR/streaming option. To my knowledge, Comcast doesn't cap. The only sports I watch are NFL and racing. A lot of Nascar is OTA, but F1 is on NBCsports. For NFL, I could just head over to the Hard Rock casino or I could watch tape delay. The NFL has an online rewind site that allows you to watch all of the games the next day. The cost is around $50.

I have no idea why someone would have OTA and a cablecard. That seems kind of redundant. I am not sure about a HTPC. Start up time sucks along with crashes. I may just run it for the short term and see how it goes.

Honestly, I was really hoping to grab a DTV box from my friend and split the cost. Interestingly, his wife said NO. I had to shake my head and laugh about all of the questionable things they do and this is where his wife made a line in the sand. Rolling Eyes

Phoenixed · Joined: 13 Oct 2011 Posts: 514 Location: The mitten

I thought they instituted a 250gb limit per month?

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

I think it is 300, but I would have to check. Honestly, I can't see myself exceeding the limit.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 4:29 am Post subject:

Phoenixed · Joined: 13 Oct 2011 Posts: 514 Location: The mitten

Youd be surprised at how much you go through specially after cutting the cable.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 12:16 am Post subject:

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central