Stream Local Networks on the Channels App with TV Everywhere & Analyzing my Cable TV Bill !

Links:

VIDEO INDEX:
00:00 - Intro
01:09 - Setting up Local Networks on TV Everywhere
03:02 - No DRM on Local TV Everywhere Recordings
03:27 - Image Quality vs. Digital Cable
04:03 - Comcast Now Converting Locals to H.264 720p
06:00 - Comparing Cable vs. TV Everywhere Recording for Cable Network
06:35 - Cord shaving Comcast will cost me more

Subscribe to my email lists!

Join the Facebook group to connect with me and other viewers!

Want to help the channel? Start a Member subscription or give a one time tip!

or contribute via Venmo!

Follow me on Facebook!

Follow me on Twitter!

Catch my longer interviews and wrap-ups in audio form on my podcast!

[PaulieORF]

Hey Lon. I've been playing with the Connecticut ATSC 3.0 channels since launch. When they first launched, things weren't great. There were audio issues, graphical glitching, etc. However those all have seemingly been fixed. What cool is WTNH and WTIC both provide 1080p broadcasts now. Not only that, but WTIC actually produces some content in 1080p, including all their news broadcasts, so they look noticeably clearer than their ATSC 1.0 720p counterpart. I'm in Southern Hartford county, so signal with my antenna even on the ATSC 1.0 channels (even WTNH and WCTX) was always 100%, but I've heard that the ATSC 3.0 signal reaches further, so I'm crossing my fingers you'll have some luck!

[TVJAY]

As a professional TV engineer who works for 2 stations, I can tell you that the main HD stream is probably getting bit-squeezed because of subchannel growth. It used to be stations only broadcast 2 or 3 channels but now stations are moving to 7 or 8 channels and those bits have to come from somewhere and they almost always come from the main HD channel.

[CF]

I ditched the cable TV portion two or three years ago. This initially saved me money but over the years, the costs have doubled or tripled for TV service from streamers. I am now on YouTube TV which has had a few large price increases recently but I do still have more flexibility over getting service from the local provider.

[richardremmele]

I had two HD HomeRun devices but over the years they both failed but my haupauge WinTV stick that I bought for $15 when Circuit city was going out of business still works fine and the plus is that it works with a free titan TV OTA TV schedule that directly lets me choose the shows to record

[simplydan]

I just want to add that the TV Everywhere feature on channels is still in beta I believe. At times some channels have issues although it doesn't seem to be as much of a problem lately. Some issues could be reauthorization as its done in the background every few weeks and sometimes you will manually have to go in the settings and rescan the individual channel.

[KCtheAmateur-]

You should also get all the side channels from your local broadcasters using NTSC 3.0 and the HD Home Run tuner.

[Streams_R_us]

Looks like some new tvs have built in antenna. Figured they would, but this is firet hearing about this. I guess still depends on what kind of guide or platform you want you still may have to purchase a HD homerun, happauge and use live channels app with tvirl for a guide. Looks like they have next-gen tv astc 3.0 here in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

[MarkRowsey]

Keeping my fingers crossed on you doing a video on your antenna and ATSC 3.0 set up.

[Palosrob]

Get sling tv. You can get a modem very cheap where you can integrate your local channels in with sling tv. I have more cable channels than I can deal with and my local channels from Chicago for $35 a month. Can't beat it. But you're limited to 720P currently. But I hear sling TV will increase the resolution before way too long.

[thomasbryan]

As usual, another great video, many thanks. Now cord cutting, do you know with any of the options, that one can turn on Audio Description or captions? Comcast and i think Dish, and I know Sky in the UK, with their boxes also gives you a search for programmes by voice option and the ability to search for say programmes that have audio description. So I am keen to know as a blind person, if any cordcutting options offer any of these accessibility features? Many thanks.

[martonem]

Cable providers are adjusting their plans in such a way to make TV part of the plan cheap to discourage cord-cutting. Just like it costs more to remove your VoIP number than to keep it since it is part of a plan package. I have seen this with other SPs as well.

[johntierney]

The ATSC terrestrial transmission standard defines the bit-stream content and transport and its digital transmission in the specified 6MHz RF channel. The nominal transmission bit rate depends on the chosen digital RF modulation scheme. The ATSC chosen scheme, 8VSB, limits the transmission bit rate to 19.38Mb/s(video and audio). This constraint offers no other alternative but bit-rate reduction and compression to accommodate all the ATSC formats.

So, all of the sub channels, .-1 thru however many sub channels the station wants to have, has to fit in that 19.38Mb/s. One of my locals(FOX), has 8 sub channels. And as we know, the Mpeg-2 codec is a very old and is not very good at compressing a video stream. Over the years, that amount of bandwidth given to the .1 channel has decreased to allow for more sub channels. This has resulted in worse picture quality on the .1 sub channel. Garbage in, garbage out.

What about ATSC 3.0? It is still constrained by the 19.38Mb/s but is using a much more efficient codec - H.265 HEVC. Note: ATSC is not married to H.265. They can switch to another codec in the future.

A local broadcast engineer posted the following capabilities of ATSC 3.0 when my locals started a single ASTC 3.0 transmission last summer. "ATSC 3.0 can do: 1 4K, 5 HD, 20 SD, or any combination of the above." The single ATSC 3.0 transmission went with the 5 HD combination.

[twin]

Have you tried upgrading your channels server to the latest pre release then running another channel scan or another scan on fox after the upgrade? That could solve your channels issue.

[richardsmith]

The Fox feed might be the national feed that isn't always on. Ota degraded also, it's about have the bitrate since the repak. Also you should get PBS if your area has a live stream. No cable subscription needed

[alextirrellRI]

I only just heard that some stations are starting to switch their ATSC 1.0 broadcasts from MPEG2 to MPEG4 (AVC) so it could actually be happening on the source? It does still sound like it's being mucked with though.

[dpt]

Do it Lon! I had HDHomeRun Prime with Comcast w/HBO and switched to an antenna & HBO Max and haven't missed cable AT ALL. I am using the Silicondust ATSC 3.0 tuner but I don't think Boston stations have switched to that yet ... but I should check again ...

[craigarnold]

While you might want to go with the double model of that antenna. I don't think you mentioned if you have any VHS stations just that it has a Hi-VHF element. If the channel in question is not VHF try removing the VHF element from the mix. That should boost Signal Quality 3.5dB or 5% on the meter. It seems odd to me that Signal Strength is not larger than the SQ but I have seen it before.

For best overall antenna within 50 miles with Hi-VHF needs I start with the Televes Ellipse. They have optimized it for the repack along with the long range Dat Boss model which I now use on my home. Tyler just put out a review on it and did the Ellipse last January when it rolled out. Both of those come with a power injector and built in preamp which now sports one for VHF and one for UHF and it also has LTE and 5G filter. Which could be the issue here? Anyway all this combined with an auto gain amp makes it about the most issue proof antenna on the market today. If you got the bigger Antennas Direct model and see similar effects still but better SQ you may need a filter. Generally speaking the problem with amps is they just amplify a bad signal and I have found in separate VHF and UHF antenna set ups that some sort of feed back can be induced that effects the VHF streams. If the VHF stream is filtered very tightly then combined with the UHF that issue disappears.

You might also try moving the antenna position in any direction of the current one or test areas where you think you would like it. A friend of mine just tried the new app for iOS that uses the HDHR gui [Tyler just reviewed it, $2.99]. My friend tried it while tuning 3 channels and is micro adjusting his antennas position to find the best balance. He has it strapped to a galvanized fence and guide wires to secure a 30' pole he found at a yard sale.

[RBzee]

I believe ABC stations were broadcasting in 720p instead of 1080i all along. But yeah, CATV adds another layer of compression which doesn't look great.

[DouglasBarnum]

Lon the OTA signal might have changed to 720p. At least in my area where nbc and cbs historically have been 1080i they are being broadcast at 720p so the local broadcasters can fit more sub channels. I don’t have cable or an over the top service anymore. YouTube and my Plex server are my main sources now. Edit: since you say that ATSC 3 has lit up in your area, then even more likely the broadcasters are doing 720p.

[russadams]

At least as of several months ago Plex couldn't record 3.0 audio. I'd be interested if that has been fixed.