The mistake I made in buying this place was that it is in a valley and I
don't get any OTA TV. A couple years back I took my laptop and Hauppage
USB stick tuner up to the Starbucks at the top of the hill and the stick
found ALL the Sacramento stations and the Spanish station on nearby Mt.
Diablo. That was something I hadn't thought about when buying. The San
Francisco stations are closer but blocked by a ridge from propagating
into the area. Dish made CBS HD available as a third HD but I had to get
a waiver from the Sacramento CBS station. Their map showed their signal
reached me so they wouldn't grant. Only problem was I would have needed
a 200' tower to get their station and that wasn't going to happen.
Comcast didn't have an HD DVR either when I changed to them but I did
exchange the STB two months after I the installation because Congress
mandated they needed to provide ones with 1394 (Firewire) and I had a
JVC HD D-VHS deck. I recorded lots of shows and movies in HD with that
deck.
I listen to most all local radio via their streaming because the
computer room generates too much interference for AM radio. I used to
listen to Leo on weekends and I've seen some of his video podcasts.
On 06/09/2015 03:36 PM, ultrarishi wrote:
When I moved to Oregon 20 odd years ago I got the first generation of
Direct TV and really enjoyed the convenience and picture quality for
Standard Definition at that time. WhenI I got an HDTV in 2003 I
decided to get the most economical system for HD content which was at
that time Comcrap. Also, they were my ISP at the time as well. Hated
their service and the equipment was just janky.
About 2006 or so I upgraded to Dish with their HD DVR and generally
like their equipment and the channels they had until they dumped HD
Net. Almost all t he eye candy I was watching plus Dan Rather Reports
was on the HD Net channels. Dish's dropping of HD Net coincided with
the US Economy going into the shitter and scaring forlks like us, so
we became cord cutters. Quite frankly, it was the best thing that
ever happen to us. We are more discriminating of what we watch (at
least that's what I tell myself, lol). Also, having an good FiOS
connection helps with the streaming and living where we do we get
about 20 OTA stations with great reception.
Like many other industries that spout so called free markets and
capitalism, but really just want to suck the consumer dry in any
unfair they can, the entertainment industry has rigged the whole cable
industry into becoming practically a utility like phone, gas, water,
sewer and electricity Over the years they have ratcheted up the
prices to the most ridiculous level of entitlement that they can get
away with. As many channels of information and entertainment they
offer, they epically fail at providing a quality product and service.
One must spend a lot of time panning the rock creek shoreline to find
a gold nugget worth the time to watch. In no small part, the good
folks here at FFL make that choice a lttle easier since I've gotten
from the contributors many great suggestions.
One other thing that has happened in the past 10 years has been how
Podcasting has repla! ced much of the radio and television I use to
watch. Narrowcasting (as opposed to broadcasting) is the trend that
has changed my life immensely. I get to watch or listen to something
designed for a SMALL demographic and I walk away more sated. Leo
LaPorts TWIT Network has many shows that cover topics I'm interested
in, like computer security, home theatre, android phones, tech news,
legal matters and technology, windows, google, etc. I enjoy Hak5 and
TekThing and many other offerings out there in the big world. F***
CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS and the rest of them.
