Cutting the Cable Guide

[Pumbaa]

FWIW file size are always reported in Bytes, and Network speeds should always be repoted in bits. When you represent Gigabyte or Gigabit, it should be B for byte and b for bit, e.g. GB and Gb.

So I keep telling people…

Sometimes it is safer to be explicit regarding the unit, though, writing for example Gbit/s rather than Gbps or Gb/s. We should really adopt the French octet, it would be so much easier differentiating then.

Regarding network speeds, don’t forget that they should always be reported per second.

 

[rdrr]

So I keep telling people…

Sometimes it is safer to be explicit regarding the unit, though, writing for example Gbit/s rather than Gbps or Gb/s. We should really adopt the French octet, it would be so much easier differentiating then.

Regarding network speeds, don’t forget that they should always be reported per second.

Yes and don't get me started on how a 100 GB is not actually a 100 Gigabytes in storage.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

After several months of going completely cable-free and me hooking them up with the best streaming options I can think of for them, my parents are seriously considering bringing cable back with the most minimal package. Part of it is they miss their dosage of daily local news (couldn't find an option that made sense, worked, or would be cheaper than just having cable), but I also think my mom has an affinity for channel surfing and doesn't want to have to make a proactive decisive choice every time she turns on the TV. She gets some enjoyment out of participating in proving there's nothing good to watch on live TV. Plus I think she's kind of old-school hipster and likes knowing the shows she likes are going to be on at a certain time and day...nevermind that she DVRs most of them which essentially replicates on-demand streaming services, but I also know it removes a level of complexity when you just have to pick a channel to enjoy your morning coffee with...not find the streaming app, find the show, and then find the episode.

But I commend their experiment effort in going cable-free. Many people their age (70+) couldn't imagine living in a cable-free world, much less attempt it.

 

[Huntn]

For home use, usually not unless you have a lot of IoT (Internet of things) on your network, smart plugs, lights, alexa, door locks, washer/dryer, roomba, etc. I usually put those on the 2.4 Ghz range, and my computers, gaming, smartTV, and phones/tablets on the 5 Ghz range.

WiFi is a lot like the old walkie talkies, where only one person can talk at a time. A lot of the more modern wifi access points have multiple antennas in them to handle more connections, and you typically only see congestion in large venues.

I‘ve put the low demand stuff on 2.4, iPhones, iPads, Ring Doorbell. 5Ghz for streaming although our main TV is hard wired to Apple TV and Roku.

 

[SuperMatt]

After several months of going completely cable-free and me hooking them up with the best streaming options I can think of for them, my parents are seriously considering bringing cable back with the most minimal package. Part of it is they miss their dosage of daily local news (couldn't find an option that made sense, worked, or would be cheaper than just having cable), but I also think my mom has an affinity for channel surfing and doesn't want to have to make a proactive decisive choice every time she turns on the TV. She gets some enjoyment out of participating in proving there's nothing good to watch on live TV. Plus I think she's kind of old-school hipster and likes knowing the shows she likes are going to be on at a certain time and day...nevermind that she DVRs most of them which essentially replicates on-demand streaming services, but I also know it removes a level of complexity when you just have to pick a channel to enjoy your morning coffee with...not find the streaming app, find the show, and then find the episode.

But I commend their experiment effort in going cable-free. Many people their age (70+) couldn't imagine living in a cable-free world, much less attempt it.

Just wondering - why would an antenna not work for local channels? Bad reception?

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Just wondering - why would an antenna not work for local channels? Bad reception?

I tried one. Running the antenna outside under the open sky worked ok, but when I brought it back in, not so much. None of us were interested in drilling a hole in the house to run it outside. Their house is flat on the ground on concrete slabs, no crawl space. So that kills the usual option of running a wire through the floor and to the outside via the crawl space. Running up the other way through the attic was kind of a nonstarter too.

 

[DT]

For home use, usually not unless you have a lot of IoT (Internet of things) on your network, smart plugs, lights, alexa, door locks, washer/dryer, roomba, etc. I usually put those on the 2.4 Ghz range, and my computers, gaming, smartTV, and phones/tablets on the 5 Ghz range.

WiFi is a lot like the old walkie talkies, where only one person can talk at a time. A lot of the more modern wifi access points have multiple antennas in them to handle more connections, and you typically only see congestion in large venues.

Yeah, I've got 22 or so devices/computers around here, I put everything on 5GHz that will support it (by way of range and WiFi spec). Though as I mentioned above a goodly amount of equipment connected via ethernet.

 

[DT]

For our antenna, I went with a larger one, designed for an interior mount in an attic. It even has a controller to rotate it. There's a couple of major networks that we could never get, I used all sorts of signal mapping resources, adjusted it, I mean, it's in an attic in a two story house so it's pretty high, and the site lines seem pretty clear (it's pretty flat here).

At some point, there was a cable mishap, and instead of spelunking back into the attic (ours is partially finished, so it's "outside" the enclosed area, i.e., a PITA), I just tossed an old leaf-style onto the HDHomeRun, stuck it on the north wall of the 2nd floor gear closet, and hell, it works as good (and as bad) as the other setup.

Our network TV use is so light, it's more than fine.

But yeah, I believe we could probably get all the stations with a large exterior antenna, just no interest in cabling, having it sticking off the side of the house, etc.

 

[Eric]

For our antenna, I went with a larger one, designed for an interior mount in an attic. It even has a controller to rotate it. There's a couple of major networks that we could never get, I used all sorts of signal mapping resources, adjusted it, I mean, it's in an attic in a two story house so it's pretty high, and the site lines seem pretty clear (it's pretty flat here).

At some point, there was a cable mishap, and instead of spelunking back into the attic (ours is partially finished, so it's "outside" the enclosed area, i.e., a PITA), I just tossed an old leaf-style onto the HDHomeRun, stuck it on the north wall of the 2nd floor gear closet, and hell, it works as good (and as bad) as the other setup.

Our network TV use is so light, it's more than fine.

But yeah, I believe we could probably get all the stations with a large exterior antenna, just no interest in cabling, having it sticking off the side of the house, etc.

Wondering what (if any) others are using for OTA DVR, I have been using the Amazon Recast for the last couple of years and love that thing, I have it up in the attic and access it wirelessly from any of my Amazon Fire devices.

 

[SuperMatt]

Wondering what (if any) others are using for OTA DVR, I have been using the Amazon Recast for the last couple of years and love that thing, I have it up in the attic and access it wirelessly from any of my Amazon Fire devices.

HD HomeRun for the tuner, and Plex as the DVR. HD HomeRun has their own DVR system, but I like Plex.

 

[Huntn]

HBO is running a special 30% off their subscription for 12 month, but you are not obligated to keep it for the year. Although I am subscribed for the wife, I have to think about it, If anything is on the horizon that would make it worth keeping?

• Age of the Dragon does not show up for 2+ months.
• West World, I became disenchanted with it last season.
• Watched one episode of Station Eleven and that is a go to continue even though it only lasted for one season.
• Succession watched 3.5 episodes of this before deciding it was not for me (sorry @DT), virtually zero characters that I liked. How is that possible?
• What else? Throw me some possibilities!

 

[Huntn]

Wondering what (if any) others are using for OTA DVR, I have been using the Amazon Recast for the last couple of years and love that thing, I have it up in the attic and access it wirelessly from any of my Amazon Fire devices.

What does OTA DVR work for? How is it hooked into your setup?

 

[DT]

Netflix is bumping up their sub price $1-2, depending on your current plan.

I may drop back to HD from 4K since the latter is limited and you're also paying for more concurrent streams, which we don't need. The net result will be them losing $1.50/month from me.

 

[DT]

HBO is running a special 30% off their subscription for 12 month, but you are not obligated to keep it for the year. Although I am subscribed for the wife, I have to think about it, If anything is on the horizon that would make it worth keeping?

• Age of the Dragon does not show up for 2+ months.
• West World, I became disenchanted with it last season.
• Watched one episode of Station Eleven and that is a go to continue even though it only lasted for one season.
• Succession watched 3.5 episodes of this before deciding it was not for me (sorry @DT), virtually zero characters that I liked. How is that possible?
• What else? Throw me some possibilities!

I could just about do HBOMax as our only service, there's so much good content, especially now they're a hub for TMC, WB, the HBO originals, their incredible library of back content (both film and series). Dang, we recently did a year, got a good discount via an AMEX promo, but 30% is fantastic.

As far as series, have you watched:

Barry
The Sopranos
Deadwood (and the movie)
The Wire
Veep
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Hacks
The Flight Attendant
True Detective (1st Season only)
Raised by Wolves
I May Destroy You
Mare of Easttown
Doom Patrol
Eastbound and Down
Luther
Silicon Valley

Some of these are old and done, some are new and still in production for another season (or more), some are single season "mini-series", etc.

BTW, if you didn't like the characters on Succession - good, they did their job You might feel sorry for at best case, and despise them at the worst.

 

[Huntn]

Netflix is bumping up their sub price $1-2, depending on your current plan.

I may drop back to HD from 4K since the latter is limited and you're also paying for more concurrent streams, which we don't need. The net result will be them losing $1.50/month from me.

Is that the difference in subscription price? Last time I looked it seemed like there was a larger $ difference between HD and 4k

 

[Huntn]

I could just about do HBOMax as our only service, there's so much good content, especially now they're a hub for TMC, WB, the HBO originals, their incredible library of back content (both film and series). Dang, we recently did a year, got a good discount via an AMEX promo, but 30% is fantastic.

As far as series, have you watched:

Barry
The Sopranos
Deadwood (and the movie)
The Wire
Veep
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Hacks
The Flight Attendant
True Detective (1st Season only)
Raised by Wolves
I May Destroy You
Mare of Easttown
Doom Patrol
Eastbound and Down
Luther
Silicon Valley

Some of these are old and done, some are new and still in production for another season (or more), some are single season "mini-series", etc.

BTW, if you didn't like the characters on Succession - good, they did their job You might feel sorry for at best case, and despise them at the worst.

Too good of a job…
Of the first ten on your list, I’ve seen 2, and HBO has had some excellent series, but now I’d say not enough to subscribe full time. Basically back in the day it was HBO and Showtime. Now there are many paths to entertainment.

Did you start Station Eleven? I’m up through episode 4. Wife has already bailed. This series has a great post-apocalyptic vibe, but to follow what appears to be the main plot, the prophet, you have to relieve lots of extraneous story telling. Honestly, it’s not the type of story telling I would gravitate too or even tolerate, but I’m hanging in there, because I like the flow, and the vibe, and at the end of episode 4 a significant event occurs, so high hopes for episode 5.

Post-apocalyptic is a wide open genre from the best of mankind to the worst, usually some mutants are thrown in to make it more challenging. Ok, forget the best, it’s usually the worst with the questionable potential for a happy ending. There have been some good to outstanding post-apocalyptic stories out there.

• Omega-man- good, better when I was younger and more impressionable.
• The Post Man- good
• Book of Eli- wonderful
• Fallout 4 (video game)- an incredible story.
• Water World- ok
• Matrix- wonderful
• Planet of the Apes- wonderful
• Mad Max Fury Road- wonderful
• 28 Days Later- excellent

 

[DT]

re: Post-apocalypse Films

Good list, below are some others, though some of them as this genre may be up for debate. There's a bit of overlap into the zombie genre and I suppose even disaster movies to a degree, though I guess the latter is kind of the event as it happens vs. post-apocalypse which is a movie that sort of picks up after the event.

Mad Max
The Road Warrior (aka, Mad Max 2)
The Road
Snowpiercer
Twelve Monkeys
Children of Men
A Boy and His Dog
Soylent Green

All these are terrific, A Boy and His Dog is super low budget, Twelve Monkeys is both pre and post, Snowpiercer is a fantastic, sometimes absurd commentary on class (by Bong Joon-ho), if you want a serious, dark, nasty one, check out The Road.

 

[Huntn]

re: Post-apocalypse Films

Good list, below are some others, though some of them as this genre may be up for debate. There's a bit of overlap into the zombie genre and I suppose even disaster movies to a degree, though I guess the latter is kind of the event as it happens vs. post-apocalypse which is a movie that sort of picks up after the event.

Mad Max
The Road Warrior (aka, Mad Max 2)
The Road
Snowpiercer
Twelve Monkeys
Children of Men
A Boy and His Dog
Soylent Green

All these are terrific, A Boy and His Dog is super low budget, Twelve Monkeys is both pre and post, Snowpiercer is a fantastic, sometimes absurd commentary on class (by Bong Joon-ho), if you want a serious, dark, nasty one, check out The Road.

Twelve Monkeys was an intriguing time travel story too!

 

[Huntn]

Fiber Optics Internet Install talk Dec2021- We just got Fiber Optics for internet (North Houston Suburbs).To install it in the neighborhood, the entire neighborhood, they had a fancy drill machine that could tunnel the wire across the yard while remaining on the edge of the yard, across the utilities, the sprinkler system, and the driveway, even across and under the street. For every house there are two access boxes in the ground on each side of the yard that sits on the property line.

To run it to the house it was my option, my preference was the side with less obstacles, so they went up the driveway side with just special 6” shovels. The line is 6” under the surface. Good to make note of where it is. The outside internet line has a bright green conduit covering that maybe could withstand a couple of hits with a shovel, not sure if you stood on the shovel.

Back adjacent to the garage, they came out of the ground to a junction box. The portion under the box has 1/2” pvc pipe for protection. Above the box, it’s just a little black fiber optic cable (1/4 the size of coaxial cable) that runs up the side of the brick to the overhang and then into the attic. We have a single story house. The cable is not very noticeable.

The neighbors ran it to the same place but went straight into the wall horizontally to a room and placed the modem there, using an extender, wireless nodes that expand the network around to all portions of the house. They have a 2 story house. Ours is single story.

In our house the wire went though the attic, down through the top of the wall in our family room, where our current modem and router sat. This is a good central location. The installer had to use a 4’ drill bit to drill a hole through the fire stop in the wall (while in the attic).

The company is Tachus. They provide a modum but not a router, so previously I was using a combo, Surfbord modem/router so I did not have to pay rent to Suddenlink for that. Fir this service I bought a new Linksys Wifi 6 Dualband router (about $150). One month later so far so good!

I learned that fiber optic cables are not spliceable. They come manufactured in set lengths like 30’ or 100’. They used a 100’ length to get from the outside ix to our family room.

We’ve had it for a month and so far service has been dependable. I’m paying $65/month for 100Mbps service. For 2 people, it’s fine for streaming. The thing I notice is that for large downloads that I do not do every day, it takes longer, but my upload speed is twice as fast (old service 400Mbps down, 50MBPS up).

 

[Huntn]

NFL Football- Is there anyone who exclusively streams NFL Football (no cable service)? I’d like to hear about it, what streaming hub and channels?