goodbye cable TV
Fri Jul 4 21:57:13 EDT 2014
I've just come down from the roof. I was up there for the fireworks. When they were high enough to clear the trees, there was a show to the east and another to the south. And the sounds of more from the west, but the view that direction is blocked. (We're on a corner, so the streets on the east and south put some distance between us and any large trees in neighbors' yards.) Hurricane Arthur was far north by mid-day, so it wasn't even a factor here.
I just found a letter from Comcast (dated June 19, but no postmark) saying their basic cable TV will be encrypted starting July 9 (next Wednesday). I wonder why they didn't make this announcement via email too? (That wouldn't have cost them printing or postage.) That explains the piece of hardware they sent us last week. Of course, this new tuner will not work with our open-source DVR, so Comcast will be useless for TV. I suppose we can switch to Verizon (FIOS) if they're not encrypted. Or we can just put up antennas, lose a lot of some channels (most of which we won't miss), and save a lot of money every month. If over-the-air leaves us with less to watch, that won't entirely be a bad thing. Internet will be more expensive without TV bundled in, so Verizon's an option again there. I doubt that Comcast's or Verizon's DVRs will (a) skip commercials or (b) let me copy recorded programs to other devices (e.g. to my tablet, to watch on the subway). So paying for their DVR as well, so we can keep paying for their TV service, is not at all attractive.
One of the reasons against switching to FIOS when Verizon installed fiber here is that they want to switch your land-line phone from copper to fiber. That will make the phone service susceptible to the same problems that take out the Internet service. It also requires an interface device that needs power; it has a battery backup for a few hours, but if it runs down you have no phone. We've had power outages that lasted multiple days, and the wired phone often kept working, or was restored before the power.
Friday 22:14
I'm still hearing fireworks.
Saturday 10:28
I've been doing some research into over-the-air reception. The FCC's DTV Reception Maps gives some projections based on transmitter location/strength and terrain maps:
CallsignNetworkVirtual ChannelBand
Strong SignalWFDCUNIVISION14-1UHF
Strong SignalWRCNBC4-1UHF
Strong SignalWPXWION66-1UHF
Strong SignalWTTGFOX5-1UHF
Strong SignalWJLAABC7-1Hi-V
Strong SignalWDCAMYTV20-1UHF
Strong SignalWUSACBS9-1Hi-V
Strong SignalWDCWCW50-1UHF
Strong SignalWNVCETV56-1UHF
Strong SignalWHUTPBS32-1UHF
Strong SignalWETAPBS26-1UHF
Moderate SignalWNVTETV53-1UHF
Moderate SignalWFPTPBS62-1UHF
Moderate SignalWMPTPBS22-1UHF
Moderate SignalWNUVCW54-1UHF
Moderate SignalWMARABC2-1UHF
Moderate SignalWBFFFOX45-1UHF
Weak SignalWBALNBC11-1Hi-V
Weak SignalWJZCBS13-1Hi-V
Weak SignalWUTBMYTV24-1UHF
Weak SignalWMPBPBS67-1UHF
No SignalWWPXION60-1Hi-V
No SignalWWPBPBS31-1UHF
No SignalWHAGNBC25-1UHF
No SignalWJALUNIVISION68-1UHF
None of the weak- or no-signal stations was in our cable plan. I think WNVT is the international stations (MHZ Network) that I record a lot, and I think that may need a directional antenna - pointed the opposite direction from most of the other stations. WMPT (Maryland Public TV) is also far off, but much of its content is duplicated on WETA and WHUT. Our dual HD tuner has 2 antenna inputs, so it could be set up with antennas pointed opposite directions. Then I think I'd need to assign stations to individual tuners (for the preferred antenna), and that would restrict the scheduling flexibility we have now (where either tuner can record anything). Maybe it's time to add a 3rd tuner?
I don't see how any of this can happen by July 9. (How the heck does anniemal decide which mail to show me and which to leave in a pile?) We won't even have antennas unless I buy locally. Mounting (attic? chimney?), cabling, channel scanning, updating the listings service, updating the DVR channels - not going to happen overnight.
Saturday 11:21
I got more detail from TV Fool, but the output was a png file, not a text table. results Sept 30, 2017
Saturday 12:12
Just cleared up some more confusion. The MHz (International) programming originates from 2 different physical stations, each with 5 digital channels. (I thought 10 subchannels was crazy.) The one I watch is quite close, although still the opposite direction from everything else. (But that works out well fine for bi-directional antennas - those that respond front and back but ignore the sides. That would let me use the same antenna for both tuners.)
Callsign:WNVC Channel 56WNVT Channel 30
Programming:MHz WorldviewInternational
ID:"MHz Neteworks" [sic]"MHz Networks"
City:Fairfax, VAGoldvein, VA
Owner:Commonwealth Public Broadcasting CorporationCommonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation
Web Site:http://www.mhznetworks.org/http://www.mhznetworks.org/
Station Info:Digital Educational Full-Power - 160 kWDigital Educational Full-Power - 160 kW
Distance:5.1mi (8.2km)25.3mi (40.7km)
Digital Subchannels:30.1 MHz Worldview30.6 EuroNews (Spanish)
30.2 NHK World [Japan]30.7 France 24
30.3 Metro Chinese Network30.8 Ethiopian Television
30.4 Russia Today30.9 VTV4 [Viet Nam]
30.5 Al Jazeera English30.10 EuroNews (English)
Saturday 15:35
It looks like most of the TV stations I want to watch/record are within 5 miles (8km), so we could be fine with an omnidirectional indoor antenna. Good-old rabbit ears (bi-directional) with a UHF loop should work too. Putting the antenna in the attic would probably help; the DVR and TV are in the basement, and there's a hill between us and most of the stations. The DVR and TV are also next to the stairwell, so there's a straight shot up to the attic for a cable run.
I'm wondering how many of the HD channels also have std-def OTA signals. They all seem to have SD channels on Comcast, usually (but not always) with the same programming as the HD channel, and I usually record SD instead of HD to save space in the DVR. It's about 1/6 the data. The DVR is also underpowered for (possibly multiple) recording and playback at the same time in HD. The moments I feel I'm missing something off the edge of the screen or can't read something clearly enough are rare. (Far too rare to use 6 times as much space for recordings.)
Sunday 16:20
Have I mentioned that I don't like shopping?
I found the favorably-reviewed indoor RCA antenna at Best Buy. (And it was on sale. $1 off is not much, but it was $10 to begin with.) I browsed the rest of the store a little, but I was in and out fairly quickly.
Performance Bikes was in the same shopping center, so I picked up some new tubes (buy 3, 4th free), gloves (on sale; mine were very worn out), brake pads, and self-stick patches. (Apparently I didn't make a journal entry about my flat tire a couple of weeks ago. Torn up pavement in DC. Snakebite puncture; used 2 of my last 3 patches. The puncture happened on the way to work, but the air leaked out while I was parked at work; I had to patch it before I could go home.) They didn't have enough people on the register, especially with one clerk spending a lot of time on someone buying a bike. (Not that she didn't deserve the store's attention, but there were a lot of other people waiting.) Then another clerk came up with the intention of getting people through the line and out the door, and he got me rung up quickly. Thought I looked familiar. Asked all the questions they're supposed to, but didn't try to talk me into anything.
I had planned to go to a pet store (for dog food and cat food) and a grocery store in another shopping center on the way back, but there was a closer grocery store and I went there instead. Red grapes, greek yogurt, and hard cider.
After that I really didn't want to deal with the pet store's shopping center. Back home.
The antenna's in 4 pieces (base, 2 poles, and loop), and requires some trivial assembly, leaving the package was surprisingly small, slightly exceeding the length of the poles, (width) the height of the loop, and the thickness of the base.
Rough measurements indicate that a hole through the ceiling in the corner of the stairwell for the antenna cable will not emerge under the attic flooring. Making that hole though, with a ladder in a stairwell, will be a bit of a challenge.... (I may need to use the outdoor ladder that I use to get onto the roof for fireworks. There is an indoor ladder; anniemal is using it as shelving, so it is not available for use as a ladder. (Crappy shelving, since the steps are not level when the ladder is near vertical against the wall.))
Monday 11:44
I just called Comcast to discontinue our TV service. Basic TV was $24.95/month, and dropping it cuts our billl only $12. (Looks like we could save another $8/mo by getting our own cable modem. But they've replaced theirs so many times that it's almost worth paying the rental; it does stop them from blaming our modem when there's a service problem. I think it was $3/mo when we started, and I didn't realize it had gone up to $8, and modem prices have come down; time to re-evaluate.) I have to get their set-top box (the one that arrived a couple of weeks ago, without explanation) back to them. I can drop it off, a bit off my alternate commute route; pay $3 for a return mailer, or pay $20 for them to come pick it up. This all seems unfair, since I didn't ask them to send the box and I didn't know it was coming.
They are kicking our Internet speed up to the next level. I don't know why; I didn't say anything about stopping our Internet service.
I got a coaxial cable through the ceiling yesterday, and the antenna is in the attic. I connected it to the TV and did a scan. There's 29 channels. Most look great, but the MHz channel I want kept getting pixilated. But the antenna and cable are connected with a splitter, not a proper coupling, and there's probably some signal loss in it. I know I've got the right kind of connector here someplace, but I guess I'll have to go buy another one. I'm hoping that will solve the signal problem, and a splitter at the tuner (which has 2 antenna inputs) will not bring the problem back.
I still have to update the listings service (Schedules Direct), and somehow update the DVR to find the channels. (I figured it out before; I'll figure it out again.) And the standard-def channels are gone, so the recordings are going to take up a lot more space. I may have to transcode them down to a smaller size. (MythTV will do that if requested, as part of the recording parameters for each show.)
Monday 14:30
I went to the local Comcast office on my way to work (on the bike) and returned the set-top box. The clerk didn't even check whether it was complete. Maybe I did such a tidy job of opening it that she didn't notice it had been opened.
Monday 21:00
Washington, DC has a lot of Radio Shack stores. There's one I could pass by shifting my commute to a parallel street, but it closes at 19:00, the earliest I generally leave work. But there's another, open later, only a block out of my way. I got a coaxial cable coupler to replace the splitter I was using (temporarily) to connect the new antenna to the cable down to the basement for the DVR/TV. The signal is much better.
The international stations that were iffy yesterday come in well now. A new channel scan found 35 stations. I hadn't noticed that all the PBS stations were missing from the scan yesterday. WETA (Arlington, VA) and WHUT (Howard Univ, DC) are there now (each with a Std-Def channel), but WMPT (Annapolis, MD) is missing.
Wednesday 00:27
The TV scan found 115 channels, and they're not all encrypted. Yet.
Wednesday 02:34
WETA-UK was just scrambled as I was watching it. I guess it's taking them a while to do this change, but it is happening.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/677330.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
I've just come down from the roof. I was up there for the fireworks. When they were high enough to clear the trees, there was a show to the east and another to the south. And the sounds of more from the west, but the view that direction is blocked. (We're on a corner, so the streets on the east and south put some distance between us and any large trees in neighbors' yards.) Hurricane Arthur was far north by mid-day, so it wasn't even a factor here.
I just found a letter from Comcast (dated June 19, but no postmark) saying their basic cable TV will be encrypted starting July 9 (next Wednesday). I wonder why they didn't make this announcement via email too? (That wouldn't have cost them printing or postage.) That explains the piece of hardware they sent us last week. Of course, this new tuner will not work with our open-source DVR, so Comcast will be useless for TV. I suppose we can switch to Verizon (FIOS) if they're not encrypted. Or we can just put up antennas, lose a lot of some channels (most of which we won't miss), and save a lot of money every month. If over-the-air leaves us with less to watch, that won't entirely be a bad thing. Internet will be more expensive without TV bundled in, so Verizon's an option again there. I doubt that Comcast's or Verizon's DVRs will (a) skip commercials or (b) let me copy recorded programs to other devices (e.g. to my tablet, to watch on the subway). So paying for their DVR as well, so we can keep paying for their TV service, is not at all attractive.
One of the reasons against switching to FIOS when Verizon installed fiber here is that they want to switch your land-line phone from copper to fiber. That will make the phone service susceptible to the same problems that take out the Internet service. It also requires an interface device that needs power; it has a battery backup for a few hours, but if it runs down you have no phone. We've had power outages that lasted multiple days, and the wired phone often kept working, or was restored before the power.
Friday 22:14
I'm still hearing fireworks.
Saturday 10:28
I've been doing some research into over-the-air reception. The FCC's DTV Reception Maps gives some projections based on transmitter location/strength and terrain maps:
CallsignNetworkVirtual ChannelBand
Strong SignalWFDCUNIVISION14-1UHF
Strong SignalWRCNBC4-1UHF
Strong SignalWPXWION66-1UHF
Strong SignalWTTGFOX5-1UHF
Strong SignalWJLAABC7-1Hi-V
Strong SignalWDCAMYTV20-1UHF
Strong SignalWUSACBS9-1Hi-V
Strong SignalWDCWCW50-1UHF
Strong SignalWNVCETV56-1UHF
Strong SignalWHUTPBS32-1UHF
Strong SignalWETAPBS26-1UHF
Moderate SignalWNVTETV53-1UHF
Moderate SignalWFPTPBS62-1UHF
Moderate SignalWMPTPBS22-1UHF
Moderate SignalWNUVCW54-1UHF
Moderate SignalWMARABC2-1UHF
Moderate SignalWBFFFOX45-1UHF
Weak SignalWBALNBC11-1Hi-V
Weak SignalWJZCBS13-1Hi-V
Weak SignalWUTBMYTV24-1UHF
Weak SignalWMPBPBS67-1UHF
No SignalWWPXION60-1Hi-V
No SignalWWPBPBS31-1UHF
No SignalWHAGNBC25-1UHF
No SignalWJALUNIVISION68-1UHF
None of the weak- or no-signal stations was in our cable plan. I think WNVT is the international stations (MHZ Network) that I record a lot, and I think that may need a directional antenna - pointed the opposite direction from most of the other stations. WMPT (Maryland Public TV) is also far off, but much of its content is duplicated on WETA and WHUT. Our dual HD tuner has 2 antenna inputs, so it could be set up with antennas pointed opposite directions. Then I think I'd need to assign stations to individual tuners (for the preferred antenna), and that would restrict the scheduling flexibility we have now (where either tuner can record anything). Maybe it's time to add a 3rd tuner?
I don't see how any of this can happen by July 9. (How the heck does anniemal decide which mail to show me and which to leave in a pile?) We won't even have antennas unless I buy locally. Mounting (attic? chimney?), cabling, channel scanning, updating the listings service, updating the DVR channels - not going to happen overnight.
Saturday 11:21
I got more detail from TV Fool, but the output was a png file, not a text table. results Sept 30, 2017
Saturday 12:12
Just cleared up some more confusion. The MHz (International) programming originates from 2 different physical stations, each with 5 digital channels. (I thought 10 subchannels was crazy.) The one I watch is quite close, although still the opposite direction from everything else. (But that works out well fine for bi-directional antennas - those that respond front and back but ignore the sides. That would let me use the same antenna for both tuners.)
Callsign:WNVC Channel 56WNVT Channel 30
Programming:MHz WorldviewInternational
ID:"MHz Neteworks" [sic]"MHz Networks"
City:Fairfax, VAGoldvein, VA
Owner:Commonwealth Public Broadcasting CorporationCommonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation
Web Site:http://www.mhznetworks.org/http://www.mhznetworks.org/
Station Info:Digital Educational Full-Power - 160 kWDigital Educational Full-Power - 160 kW
Distance:5.1mi (8.2km)25.3mi (40.7km)
Digital Subchannels:30.1 MHz Worldview30.6 EuroNews (Spanish)
30.2 NHK World [Japan]30.7 France 24
30.3 Metro Chinese Network30.8 Ethiopian Television
30.4 Russia Today30.9 VTV4 [Viet Nam]
30.5 Al Jazeera English30.10 EuroNews (English)
Saturday 15:35
It looks like most of the TV stations I want to watch/record are within 5 miles (8km), so we could be fine with an omnidirectional indoor antenna. Good-old rabbit ears (bi-directional) with a UHF loop should work too. Putting the antenna in the attic would probably help; the DVR and TV are in the basement, and there's a hill between us and most of the stations. The DVR and TV are also next to the stairwell, so there's a straight shot up to the attic for a cable run.
I'm wondering how many of the HD channels also have std-def OTA signals. They all seem to have SD channels on Comcast, usually (but not always) with the same programming as the HD channel, and I usually record SD instead of HD to save space in the DVR. It's about 1/6 the data. The DVR is also underpowered for (possibly multiple) recording and playback at the same time in HD. The moments I feel I'm missing something off the edge of the screen or can't read something clearly enough are rare. (Far too rare to use 6 times as much space for recordings.)
Sunday 16:20
Have I mentioned that I don't like shopping?
I found the favorably-reviewed indoor RCA antenna at Best Buy. (And it was on sale. $1 off is not much, but it was $10 to begin with.) I browsed the rest of the store a little, but I was in and out fairly quickly.
Performance Bikes was in the same shopping center, so I picked up some new tubes (buy 3, 4th free), gloves (on sale; mine were very worn out), brake pads, and self-stick patches. (Apparently I didn't make a journal entry about my flat tire a couple of weeks ago. Torn up pavement in DC. Snakebite puncture; used 2 of my last 3 patches. The puncture happened on the way to work, but the air leaked out while I was parked at work; I had to patch it before I could go home.) They didn't have enough people on the register, especially with one clerk spending a lot of time on someone buying a bike. (Not that she didn't deserve the store's attention, but there were a lot of other people waiting.) Then another clerk came up with the intention of getting people through the line and out the door, and he got me rung up quickly. Thought I looked familiar. Asked all the questions they're supposed to, but didn't try to talk me into anything.
I had planned to go to a pet store (for dog food and cat food) and a grocery store in another shopping center on the way back, but there was a closer grocery store and I went there instead. Red grapes, greek yogurt, and hard cider.
After that I really didn't want to deal with the pet store's shopping center. Back home.
The antenna's in 4 pieces (base, 2 poles, and loop), and requires some trivial assembly, leaving the package was surprisingly small, slightly exceeding the length of the poles, (width) the height of the loop, and the thickness of the base.
Rough measurements indicate that a hole through the ceiling in the corner of the stairwell for the antenna cable will not emerge under the attic flooring. Making that hole though, with a ladder in a stairwell, will be a bit of a challenge.... (I may need to use the outdoor ladder that I use to get onto the roof for fireworks. There is an indoor ladder; anniemal is using it as shelving, so it is not available for use as a ladder. (Crappy shelving, since the steps are not level when the ladder is near vertical against the wall.))
Monday 11:44
I just called Comcast to discontinue our TV service. Basic TV was $24.95/month, and dropping it cuts our billl only $12. (Looks like we could save another $8/mo by getting our own cable modem. But they've replaced theirs so many times that it's almost worth paying the rental; it does stop them from blaming our modem when there's a service problem. I think it was $3/mo when we started, and I didn't realize it had gone up to $8, and modem prices have come down; time to re-evaluate.) I have to get their set-top box (the one that arrived a couple of weeks ago, without explanation) back to them. I can drop it off, a bit off my alternate commute route; pay $3 for a return mailer, or pay $20 for them to come pick it up. This all seems unfair, since I didn't ask them to send the box and I didn't know it was coming.
They are kicking our Internet speed up to the next level. I don't know why; I didn't say anything about stopping our Internet service.
I got a coaxial cable through the ceiling yesterday, and the antenna is in the attic. I connected it to the TV and did a scan. There's 29 channels. Most look great, but the MHz channel I want kept getting pixilated. But the antenna and cable are connected with a splitter, not a proper coupling, and there's probably some signal loss in it. I know I've got the right kind of connector here someplace, but I guess I'll have to go buy another one. I'm hoping that will solve the signal problem, and a splitter at the tuner (which has 2 antenna inputs) will not bring the problem back.
I still have to update the listings service (Schedules Direct), and somehow update the DVR to find the channels. (I figured it out before; I'll figure it out again.) And the standard-def channels are gone, so the recordings are going to take up a lot more space. I may have to transcode them down to a smaller size. (MythTV will do that if requested, as part of the recording parameters for each show.)
Monday 14:30
I went to the local Comcast office on my way to work (on the bike) and returned the set-top box. The clerk didn't even check whether it was complete. Maybe I did such a tidy job of opening it that she didn't notice it had been opened.
Monday 21:00
Washington, DC has a lot of Radio Shack stores. There's one I could pass by shifting my commute to a parallel street, but it closes at 19:00, the earliest I generally leave work. But there's another, open later, only a block out of my way. I got a coaxial cable coupler to replace the splitter I was using (temporarily) to connect the new antenna to the cable down to the basement for the DVR/TV. The signal is much better.
The international stations that were iffy yesterday come in well now. A new channel scan found 35 stations. I hadn't noticed that all the PBS stations were missing from the scan yesterday. WETA (Arlington, VA) and WHUT (Howard Univ, DC) are there now (each with a Std-Def channel), but WMPT (Annapolis, MD) is missing.
Wednesday 00:27
The TV scan found 115 channels, and they're not all encrypted. Yet.
Wednesday 02:34
WETA-UK was just scrambled as I was watching it. I guess it's taking them a while to do this change, but it is happening.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/677330.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]