Cut the cord on DirecTV and DIsh

[jvenard]

Hello my name is Jim and I am a TV addict.............

So for the past 6 years that we have RV'd full-time, part time during the summer when it is 150 degrees here in Phoenix. So I have hauled around my Wingard portable Sat Dish and a receiver or 2.

We sold our home and I canceled my DirecTV. So now what? What is a TV addict to do. After much research I came up with a nice solution. So many of you will PooPoo this solution, but I can make it work.

1. I really like the old TV channels, i.e., MeTV, AntennaTV and Cozi TV. Many of these channels can be picked up OTA and require nothing more than power and pointing the TV.

2. I discovered AirTV. AirTV is a device that connects to your local OTA TV antenna at your home and connects to the internet via RJ45 or WiFi. This system allows you to download an app to your FireTV or AppleTV or Android TV to watch all of your OTA programming globally. Also, if you hook a small USB drive to the AirTV it doubles as a DVR and allows you to catchup on Jimmy Rockford or the local news.

3. Watch TV, this is a very little discussed TV service that is a subset of DirecTV. for $15 for 35 channels. For the sports fan, there is no ESPN, but for HGTV, Discovery, History, Bravo etc. it is a great value. There is no DVR function, however, you can go to "Discover" and search by Network and you will find many seasons of shows that you can watch. Also, there is a long list of movies that you can watch on demand free as well. If you are an ATT carrier customer like me the data does not go against your data plan. Also you can only watch this on one phone or device at a time.

4. Youtube TV, this is a solution for the sports folks. It has many more channels and an unlimited DVR as well as 6 subscriptions are included with the $50 per month plan.

5. Data, well this is the touchy part. We are lucky that we stay at an RV resort that actually has great internet and each spot has it's own router and modem. I also have purchased a discontinued ATT plan from eBay that is truly unlimited data, no throttling and no 22GB limit. It is $29 per month and works where ever you get ATT service, not an ATT partner.

6. Popcorn Hour or Nvidia Shield. I have ripped all of my DVD's/BluRay's onto a USB 4tb hard drive and we can watch movies, TV shows etc. that we had on DVD.

So I am ready to veg out on TV. I have a youtube channel that I will posting a video soon and I will let you know when it is online.

[Keebler]

6. Popcorn Hour or Nvidia Shield. I have ripped all of my DVD's/BluRay's onto a USB 4tb hard drive and we can watch movies, TV shows etc. that we had on DVD.

How did you copy your content? How long does this take per movie? Is it a matter of playing the entire movie or can the file just be "dragged and dropped"? I am curious to see if there is an efficient way to do this.

[TucsonJim]

Hello my name is Jim and I am a TV addict.............

So for the past 6 years that we have RV'd full-time, part time during the summer when it is 150 degrees here in Phoenix. So I have hauled around my Wingard portable Sat Dish and a receiver or 2.

We sold our home and I canceled my DirecTV. So now what? What is a TV addict to do. After much research I came up with a nice solution. So many of you will PooPoo this solution, but I can make it work.

1. I really like the old TV channels, i.e., MeTV, AntennaTV and Cozi TV. Many of these channels can be picked up OTA and require nothing more than power and pointing the TV.

2. I discovered AirTV. AirTV is a device that connects to your local OTA TV antenna at your home and connects to the internet via RJ45 or WiFi. This system allows you to download an app to your FireTV or AppleTV or Android TV to watch all of your OTA programming globally. Also, if you hook a small USB drive to the AirTV it doubles as a DVR and allows you to catchup on Jimmy Rockford or the local news.

3. Watch TV, this is a very little discussed TV service that is a subset of DirecTV. for $15 for 35 channels. For the sports fan, there is no ESPN, but for HGTV, Discovery, History, Bravo etc. it is a great value. There is no DVR function, however, you can go to "Discover" and search by Network and you will find many seasons of shows that you can watch. Also, there is a long list of movies that you can watch on demand free as well. If you are an ATT carrier customer like me the data does not go against your data plan. Also you can only watch this on one phone or device at a time.

4. Youtube TV, this is a solution for the sports folks. It has many more channels and an unlimited DVR as well as 6 subscriptions are included with the $50 per month plan.

5. Data, well this is the touchy part. We are lucky that we stay at an RV resort that actually has great internet and each spot has it's own router and modem. I also have purchased a discontinued ATT plan from eBay that is truly unlimited data, no throttling and no 22GB limit. It is $29 per month and works where ever you get ATT service, not an ATT partner.

6. Popcorn Hour or Nvidia Shield. I have ripped all of my DVD's/BluRay's onto a USB 4tb hard drive and we can watch movies, TV shows etc. that we had on DVD.

So I am ready to veg out on TV. I have a youtube channel that I will posting a video soon and I will let you know when it is online.

Excellent info. I'll be very interested in watching your YouTube vid.

Jim

[jvenard]

How did you copy your content? How long does this take per movie? Is it a matter of playing the entire movie or can the file just be "dragged and dropped"? I am curious to see if there is an efficient way to do this.

Well this is one of those "disclosure" topics.

There is a law put in place back in the Clinton era called Digital Millennial Copyright Act that states if you are using tools to break the encryption you are breaking the law. With that said, if you own the discs I don't see any issues with using the digital bits that you own and moving them to another format.

There are many different software tools that you can learn about on YouTube and other sites. MKV ripping tools are free and easy to use. However, I am using a software from Slysoft that is no longer available. I rip my discs to .ISO and play them back using a Popcorn Hour. It is so nice to be gone and yet still have all of my Movies and CD's with me.

Unrelated, I use a Sonos Soundbar and Subwoofer in our 337. Sounds great for both music and surround sound.

Hope that gives you some ideas to look into the process.