[mythtv-users] Comcast bricked my HDHR above 33 - Los Gatos - 95032

Kevin Kuphal kkuphal at gmail.com
Thu Apr 22 00:20:20 UTC 2010


On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 7:09 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 4:55 PM, Kevin Kuphal <kkuphal at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Thanks Bob, and hi to Simi. I grew up in Camarillo.
>>>
>>> I think I could just drop back to using two DTAs with the serial
>>> control and then record through my two old PVR-150s for SD recordings.
>>> We don't care much about HD here. It's nice, but we don't ever seem to
>>> record that way. I guess we're missing out but it's just TV.
>>>
>>> But that still leaves me paying $140/month to a company that I've
>>> truly come to hate. I'd rather find some high-end Internet TV service
>>> and pay them money. 75% of what I watch on cable is OTA, 25% higher
>>> channels. I think I can get The Daily Show and Colbert on the Comedy
>>> Central site, some of the other shows on Hulu.
>>>
>>> I end up asking myself why pay this company anything? We all dislike
>>> them, or worse, and yet we continue to take it. I think this is the
>>> time for me to look for alternatives. I'm sure it will hurt a bit, but
>>> sometimes with pain comes gain....
>>
>> I'm not sure if the shows you watch are available in these formats,
>> but $140/mo buys *alot* of television on Amazon.com or iTunes that you
>> can watch using a device like a Roku or AppleTV.  If you can get 75%
>> via OTA (and probably in HD) and the rest via purchase, you're
>> probably still coming out very much ahead in terms of dollars spent
>> and you own the content (to a point) rather than just watching it once
>> when it is broadcast.  Of course, part of that $140/mo is probably
>> your Internet and/or phone service but if it isn't, that's alot of
>> cash.
>>
>> Kevin
>
> You are correct Kevin, and looking at my bill it's actually $127 +
> taxes for both TV plus Internet. It's split about $79 for TV which
> includes no HD other than OTA channels, and then $48 for Internet.
> However if I drop TV service then they raise the cost of Internet by
> $10.
>
> For my work at home I found their Internet to be so unreliable that I
> had to purchase a Verizon DSL line into my office which I pay about
> $40/month for. If I make the family live with DSL then I can actually
> save the complete $127 albeit at reduced Internet speeds with no
> backup if DSL goes down. However it's only been down once in the 3
> years I've had it whereas Comcast Internet goes down once a month.
>
> Anyway, we do have a Roku and I hadn't considered purchasing channels
> through it, but that's a possiblity. OTA antennas may or may not work
> here as I'm sort of nestled into an area with no line-of-sight to
> anywhere, but I could try it out.

Like Tim, I pay Comcast a meager $16/mo in order to get the
"broadcast" stations delivered via cable.  They may not advertise it
but the plan is available.  I also get all those stations via ClearQAM
which I record via tuners in MythTV.  I find this perfectly reliable
even though I also could go the OTA route.  I enjoy the flexibility
Myth gives me with that content.  In your case, then you also have a
significant savings which you can use for purchased programming or
just money in your pocket.  You may find you can just live without the
Daily show or even buy yourself an iPad and watch it in your lap :)

Kevin


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