You're one of those folks who always has "motion smoothing" turned on because it "looks better," aren't ya?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
WSJ: Millennials Unearth Amazing Hack to Get Free TV, the Antenna (Not The Onion)
- Thread starter mreddie
- Start date
You're one of those folks who always has "motion smoothing" turned on because it "looks better," aren't ya?
30yearsofhurt
Member
I believe this is true because I read it on the internet.
No...
But I do have cable and I do have an antenna, and literally the only difference was the OTA signal was about a second ahead of the cable one.
It should, because getting the signal directly over the air means it doesn't suffer from the compression that the signal has to have to go through the cable lines.
The compression is minimal and OTA and cable both have either 720p(ABC and Fox) or 1080i(CBS and NBC) resolutions. I keep wanting to see the difference because I feel like I am missing something, but it simply isn't a noticeable difference.
I mean I don't have cable right now to compare, but every time I've compared them in the past I could tell a difference. The colors in the OTA broadcasts were always more pronounced and brighter, and the contrast was sharper. The cable broadcasts were washed out and slightly blurry.
Thats called Piracy though
OTA is also compressed. The quality will vary between free-to-air OTA or by cable depending on:
- The bandwidth (and therefore the bitrate) allocated to a particular channel on OTA and cable.
- The compression method used for broadcast (typically either MPEG2 or MPEG4)
- Whether the free-to-air channel's feed to the cable provider is a higher bitrate than the OTA broadcast or the same feed as what's going OTA and
- If not, whether the cable provider will then recompress the feed to the fit the bandwidth they've allocated to that channel (compressing something multiple times using lossy codecs will degrade image quality, particularly if the software or hardware doing it isn't the most efficient and the bitrate isn't very high, as is typical when it needs to be real time and there are bandwidth limitations)
Illegal Add ons/repository are. Not Kodi
KojiKnight
Member
Not legal for them to do that. I'd contact the FCC and file a complaint. Cable companies are required to have local channels through the cable lines whether you're a subscriber or not. You sure your TV isn't set to antenna? It still needs to be and you still have to do a full channel scan.
I don't know a single person who uses Kodi and isn't a pirate, and getting free TV from Kodi sounds like piracy.
What? That's completely wrong. OTA digital broadcasts still require compression. There's only limited bandwidth in the EM spectrum that's available to broadcasters.
Like all digital media, the quality of OTA digital broadcasts comes from the codec used e.g. MPEG2 and the bit-rate. You can have HD broadcasts with low bit rate, and you'll get compression artifacts, as you would if you watch a low bit rate BD rip.
hydrophilic attack
Member
you have to keep track of the schedule
everything made by swedish public service television is put on their website for sometime after broadcasting for streaming at your leisure
and i'd rather watch what i want ad-free using services like hbo and netflix than keep track of the tv schedule
Just tried to hook a cable straight from the wall outlet to my small TV, get nothing but blue screens on both cable mode and antenna mode, even after a scan. Well that's not completely true for some reason channel 16 on cable is the color bars.
I remember last year or the year before Cox around here kept putting out that they were going to cease offering the analog signal of their services, including the broadcasts(here those are channel 2, 10, 13, 43, etc). When they started this process one by one channels disappeared from the analog signal, instead giving way to a splash screen saying the channel was only available vie digital, which required a box. Think it was May of last year the last of the analog channels were finally removed, and now you have to have a box of some type between the wall outlet and the TV to get anything at all. If I try and view channel 10-1(NBC) or whatever via the wall outlet only, my TV displays a "scrambled" message.
Also refer to this: http://www.courant.com/consumer/bottom-line/hc-bottom-line-cox-all-digital-20141215-column.html
So while there are options to help ease the burden for certain people, cable companies are no longer legally required to offer CBS/NBC/ABC/etc for free straight through the wall outlet.
What I mean is the signals go through more compression on a cable system than they do OTA, because those cable lines host far more channels than the OTA spectrum in any given city.
spyroflame0487
Member
The way they made it sound back when they had the transition to HD, I actually though they *were* stopping broadcast of local stations. In fact I was pretty sure they mentioned on many of our local stations we wouldn't be able to watch any more.
Now I guess I just never figured they were still there but I suppose that makes sense.
Now I guess I just never figured they were still there but I suppose that makes sense.
You guys don't have mandatory OTA broadcasts in the US? What are these local free-to-air channels and what area are they supposed to be serving if you can't receive them without cable?
Not necessarily, see my previous post.
It sounds to me like the FCC completely fucked up the DTV transition if people are misinformed at what's going on. In Australia we got a ton of ads and info to make sure even 100 year old retirees understood what needed to be done to continue watching free-to-air.
Um, there are free OTA channels though not everyone lives in range of them. His point was regarding getting those channels for free via cable.
family_guy
Member
I do a mix of OTA and split the cost of Netflix and Hulu with friends.
Absolutely untrue. I live outside of Boston and get perfect HD with my $12 antenna inside my bedroom.
Yeah, that's what I'm asking because I'd have expected these channels to be receivable by aerial unless you live in the remotest of places, but I guess it's different in the US.
EDIT: I just re-read the FCC ruling and it's not that the FCC ruled that cable companies providing FTA on their service can encrypt those channels, but that they don't have to carry those FTA channels if they don't want to. That's ridiculous when large swathes of the population aren't covered by the OTA footprint and it's no wonder a lot of people don't know OTA is available - because there are areas where it just isn't.
Now why Dishwalla's local cable provider is providing FTA channels but are encrypting them and putting them behind their subscription service is a whole other question.
Emulated Hype
Member
You'd be amazed at the signal quality you can get by tethering a spool of copper to your tv and setting it on a high shelf.
One Eyed Willy
Member
100% Free uncompressed audio and HD video is somehow worse than pay to watch compressed signals coming from cable companies?
edit. For anyone curious to try, there is a $35 Winegard outside antenna that will pick up just about any signal. Indoor is hit and miss depending on your location and just isn't that great. My Winegard picks up over 70 HD channels.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Winegard-Freevision-Outdoor-HDTV-Antenna-FVHD30H/203972856
I mounted this on the outside of my house, pointed it to where I knew the signal was coming from (websites can help if you put in your zip code), ran the coax to my TV in about 15 minutes. I then ran optical from my TV to my receiver and I get full 5.1 audio in addition to my free HD. I mostly use this for free NFL games in the fall.
Because the FCC ruled that Cox doesn't have to provide them for free, so naturally they are gonna lock it behind a slight paywall. Gotta make that money somehow.
I even still have Cox internet, just not the TV service. This house is wired for it and has an active signal going through it, but I can't get TV through those lines unless I pay for a box. Which I don't want to do.
fluffydelusions
Member
Yeah... I've yet to meet anyone who uses kodi for those free channels lol.
I live like 75 miles from the city where the ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox stations are. Too far to get the OTA broadcasts. It isn't a remote place though.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
It's compressed but it's 19Mbps.
The bolded is true. Most of the US gets the standard broadcast networks OTA for free. Just toss up an antenna and you're good.
If there is anything remotely resembling a city, you're good.
You can also record multiple channels at once with a dvr if it has multiple tuners and build a giant backlog of content to watch in just a few weeks.
With a basic digital converter box you can even connect it to a vcr to record and still use your analog tv. Even the HD channels if the box downscales the output. Considering most televisions got dumped years ago the scenario will be unlikely that many would do it though.
With a basic digital converter box you can even connect it to a vcr to record and still use your analog tv. Even the HD channels if the box downscales the output. Considering most televisions got dumped years ago the scenario will be unlikely that many would do it though.
pretty done
Member
I think he was talking about the content, not the quality.
He's right. Ain't shit on those 20-30 free channels I was getting. Unless you like paternity tests.
Alternatively, there's plenty of DIY projects for OTA antennas: http://www.instructables.com/id/Quick-Makeshift-HDTV-Antenna/
I bought a decent powered Antenna, but due to where my Apartment is (2nd floor of 4 floor building, windows faces out to a courtyard) I don't get many channels, which kind of sucks. I can't even use my Clock Radio to listen to the station I want due to how much the signal gets blocked, and I have to step out to the balcony to talk on my cellphone.
The antenna I use right now has an inline amplifier in it that plugs into a power outlet, but the antenna works better when I don't have it plugged into the power outlet. Never figured that out.
I get every TV station I'm supposed to receive as said by rabbitears.info, except WSKY-TV for some reason. Have tried many times to pull that station in, and I simply can't.
I get every TV station I'm supposed to receive as said by rabbitears.info, except WSKY-TV for some reason. Have tried many times to pull that station in, and I simply can't.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
TBF it's free and cable is mostly trash too.
Streaming plus a nice digital antenna is a great way to live. Sometimes it's nice being able to watch something as it happens without a lotta bullshit.
If my cable company would give me a sweetheart deal on the 3 channels I give a fuck about I would be in. Getting NBC and PBS for free is aight.
SubjectNineteen
Neo Member
So, will we see those unsightly TV antennas sprouting up from rooftops like skeletal metal trees again? We had one of those for decades. And then we got a satellite dish. But of course this was in the '90s, so the dish was the size of a merry-go-round. We have Direct TV now, though I never use it. The rest of my family does, though.
Have modern TV antennas evolved to be relatively small now? I honestly have never seen one. I can only conceptualize the big gangly antennas of old. If one was of a manageable size, I'd actually consider getting one, as I'd like to watch the local news now and again.
Have modern TV antennas evolved to be relatively small now? I honestly have never seen one. I can only conceptualize the big gangly antennas of old. If one was of a manageable size, I'd actually consider getting one, as I'd like to watch the local news now and again.
Fox Mulder
Member
It still depends on distance to the broadcast tower or terrain. I worked with Dish Network and they gave them free when they had local channels takedown disputes. Theyd send me out to hook up the shit and people would sometimes still not pick up channels and get pissed.
DizzyCaffeine
Member
Agent_Carnage
Member
Have you tried it?
I have an good high quality TV Antenna and I get good amount of channels in HD for free. All I need is the Local channels.
Similar threads
- Locked