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Question and Answer

SpiceWare

Entry posted by SpiceWare ·

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I received some questions about my DVR Project via PM from timdu. I asked him if he'd mind if I post the PM here with the reply in case others had the same questions - he replied "please do!"

Hello

 

I read your blog and I am interested in saving money like you. I have Charter cable TV and I am considering cancelling the TV service alltogether.

 

I do have internet service through them however.

 

I have a Sony Bravia smart TV and it has some apps on it. I tried the demo of HULU and I was very impressed. Have not signed up yet though.

 

I was also thinking of looking at Amazon prime for their streaming video and also Netflix

 

Do you have any of these services?

 

Also I guess I should look into an antenna so I can pull in local HDTV channels. Do you have one? I see my local

best buy has a small indoor one. was just curious if your antenna is outside or inside your house.

 

Again, I am just getting started, hope you do not mind me asking these questions

 

thanks

 

 

Tim

 

 

 

Thanks for the questions!

 

 

I have Amazon Prime, but not Netflix or Hulu. I watch it on my HDTV using my PS3. I also watch it on my iPad. I went with Amazon Prime because I order enough from them that the free shipping more than made up for the annual membership fee. For that reason I consider the Prime content (shows that are free with membership) to be $0 when calculating my monthly content costs. I do count non-Prime series, though I plan for future purchases to be made via iTunes. I will reevaluate that in the future if Amazon ports their Unbox Video Player to the Mac. The Unbox Video Player lets you download content to your local drive so you don't have to deal with the decrease in video quality that occurs with streaming video when there's network congestion and/or ISP throttling.

 

Prime (free) content I'm currently watching is Better off Ted and Grimm. I have a number of other series in my watchlist such as The X Files, Primeval, Mythbusters, Farscape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Cheers (which is remastered in HD and looks awesome). I've watched a few episodes of each but have been so overwhelmed with content that I decided to just watch a couple series at a time on Amazon. I also have a number of movies in my watchlist, but one thing I've noticed is that the Prime movies change over time - so if you spot a movie you want to watch, make sure to watch it. As an example, I'd added 80's classic Heathers to my movie watchlist but it's no longer Prime so I can't watch it unless I buy it. if I wait long enough it might become Prime again - I've seen that happen with movies like Marvel's The Avengers. It was Prime, then it wasn't, and now it is once again.

 

I plan to add Netflix as I like the series Arrested Development and would like to see the new season that Netflix produced. I haven't signed up yet as I've been very busy of late wrapping up projects for PRGE, plus I've been a little overwhelmed with the OTA and Amazon content I already get. I don't plan to get Hulu, I don't like the idea of paying for a service that also has ads.

 

You might like to check out Crackle, an free streaming service (it does have ads) with a number of movies and TV shows. If you're into anime check out Crunchyroll - I plan to sign up but am holding off for the same reasons as Netflix.

 

I suspect my purchased content will dwindle as the various cable series I currently watch come to an end (like Dexter) and I replace those series with OTA or Amazon Prime content. As an example I've started watching the cable series Burn Notice in reruns on a local channel. I'd never watched the show before, so it's new to me. There's also a number of series in my Amazon Prime watchlist that I've never watched, such as Sons of Anarchy and Rescue Me.

 

I initially used an indoor antenna that I mounted in my attic. All channels came in perfectly, except Fox. I ended up putting up an outdoor antenna, which fixed the reception issues with Fox. I'm only 4 miles or so from the cluster of broadcast towers for Houston, so I should have had a good signal for Fox. I suspect I was getting multi-path interference (about halfway down that page).

 

 

You can use this tool at TVfool.com to see where the broadcast towers are in relation to you.

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timdu

Thank you! Lots of useful information. One show that I do enjoy is watching is the Travel Channel's TOY HUNTER.

I will miss that once I cancel cable TV. I looked on Amazon Instant Video and I see it is there, but I have to pay for the content.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Rise-From-Ashland-HD/dp/B00C1BUW86/ref=sr_1_2?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1379191038&sr=1-2&keywords=toy+hunter

 

If I sign up and join Amazon Prime, will I have to still pay for the content? I see it is like $2.99 per episode or $20.99 for the entire season. Are these the prices for the general public?

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SpiceWare

If a show is part of the free Prime content, like Better off Ted, you'll see Prime Instant Video above the Episode and Season prices.

 

You can still purchase the free Prime content - my dad purchased Season 2 of Grimm so he could download it to his iPad to watch in Nigeria (he's on a 6-week on/6-week off rotation for work). You cannot download the free prime content, you can only watch it streaming.

 

For newer shows its possible that not all seasons will be Prime. For instance there's 6 seasons of Sons of Anarchy available, but only the first 4 are free with Prime. That changes over time, if I recall correctly it used to be 5 seasons with 3 part of Prime.

 

Something else to do is check the channel's website. I watch a number of shows on SyFy for free. Some others I watch on websites are on TV Land as well as Comedy Central.

 

Travel Channel has some shows on their website, but not Toy Hunter. They also require you to logon with a cable/satellite provider account. Before my DVR project I used to watch a show on TBS. I was able to watch the first episode of season 2 on their site, but they rolled out Unlock The Laughter before posting the second episode.

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