Author Topic: If you don not have cable at home...  (Read 2514 times)

Wetstuff

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If you don not have cable at home...
« on: April 09, 2020, 07:04:26 AM »
I am within ~100mi of Wash DC but the monopoly cable provider, Comcast, is not obligated to service the entire county in which they have the monopoly.  I do have Comcast at my business in town. Like any normal citizen of the 'Greatest country on Earth', I would like decent cell service to allow us to talk on the phone without driving out to the road for a signal, and cable to view Netflix, YouTube, etc. in the evening.   But, the monopolies' profits come first.

The work-around is a german program called Audials.  https://audials.com/de

I have used it for about three years.  I had to buy a PC specifically for this, but it was worth it.  I carry a USB stick home.  In this case, I was able to see DW's Youtube presentation on a 43" screen.   

Jim

Sat. yes. We even had a 10' C-band dish in the early, fun days.
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burchas

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2020, 10:26:04 AM »
Are you familiar with torrents? Haven't had cable since 2004 but I have weeks worth of content just to keep the wife happy when away for longer periods.
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supmmmm

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2020, 07:48:17 PM »
So you can’t even get programming with a digital antenna?

https://nocable.org/tv-guide

Wetstuff

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2020, 10:16:29 AM »
Negative, Supmmm...  We are deep in woods that absorb/degrade signal - any line-of-sight. I'd need a pretty tall tower.  ' Had DISH, now Direct sat. TV and Hughes sat. for "internet" ..which is like dialup.  My wife drives out to the road if a cell call is important.

_______

'torrents' ...a new word to me, Burchas. (maybe Audias is packaged torrents?) I'll look it up.  I am not at all unhappy with 'downloading' - it's a bit of a distraction if you don't get spec and captions correct.  We had Brazilin movie that I knew needed captions but selected 'speaking' captions. Jezus! - they describe everything in the scene.  Maybe it's how some poor blind person has to 'watch' movies.

I still have my Mac Classic II, so I used to not being computer literate.  I have a bitch of a time programming secutiry cameras.  Thanks.

Jim
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burchas

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2020, 03:20:24 PM »
Negative, Supmmm...  We are deep in woods that absorb/degrade signal - any line-of-sight. I'd need a pretty tall tower.  ' Had DISH, now Direct sat. TV and Hughes sat. for "internet" ..which is like dialup.  My wife drives out to the road if a cell call is important.

_______

'torrents' ...a new word to me, Burchas. (maybe Audias is packaged torrents?) I'll look it up.  I am not at all unhappy with 'downloading' - it's a bit of a distraction if you don't get spec and captions correct.  We had Brazilin movie that I knew needed captions but selected 'speaking' captions. Jezus! - they describe everything in the scene.  Maybe it's how some poor blind person has to 'watch' movies.

I still have my Mac Classic II, so I used to not being computer literate.  I have a bitch of a time programming secutiry cameras.  Thanks.


Jim


It's really good to get familiar with torrents. Lively community. you can get many shows right after Air Time, sometime within an hour or two, captions and all. In the case of a Netflix show you can get the entire season upon release. Same goes for movies. in the rare occasions where subs are messed up I can usually get a stand alone subtitle file from one of the few online subtitles resources. Then stream locally from your computer to the TV using Plex. This stuff has been perfected over the past decade save me about $180 each and every month on a BS cable plan and over-inflated internet plan.

Haven't had the pleasure of programming a security camera since the new crop of smart connected cameras.  As for my Classic II, I sold it long before it became a trend to convert it to a aquarium :D
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Wetstuff

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2020, 06:39:14 AM »
Thanks, Burchas...  'I'll look into it.'  ...I did, reluctantly, send my first text about 8mos ago. I have one of those iP6 battery issues, so it is not always charged.  Cheers.

Jim
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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2020, 11:08:58 AM »
I live within 50 miles of D.C. and have an antenna that gets about 30 channels including the national networks in HDTV. Plus when the skys are right can switch between DC stations and Baltimore stations which can allow me to choose between Redskins or Ravens games in the fall.  When Radio Shack went bankrupt a few years back I upgraded to their top of the line Antenna and paid 70% off list price. One of my best purchases ever.   When I lived in rural NC and could not access any OTA TV signals by antenna, I discovered a Government program where Satellite and Cable providers by law had to provide basic TV, e.g. National Networks ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS for 4.99/month plus installation or equipment.   Since the local cable provider wanted several hundred dollars to run a line to my house I decided to take a 140 mile round trip ride to the nearest RadioShack (boy do I miss that store) and buy a Dishnetwork receiver and LMB.   Installed myself, called Dish and it took a while to get a manager to acknowledge the 4.99/ month program existed and was in business.   Best part was when they asked me which region satellite feed did I want, Raleigh or Virginia Beach?   Having moved from NJ the thought of having my local football be either the Panthers or the Redskins, I asked if I could choose any US feed.  The answer was yes, so I picked up NYC and got my Giants games every Sunday.
I don't know if this program is still in effect, once I got the manager on the phone all he needed to verify was that my zip code was in a qualified Rural non OTA area which really just meant that the bill was sent to a qualifying zip code as there was no way for them to determine where my dish was located.     
I've never been happy with the way the networks have been able to buy Congress and have laws enacted that give them a monopoly over  airwaves that belong to all of the people, but no responsibility to reinvest profits from cable TV contracts into expanding OTA coverage for the people.   
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Wetstuff

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2020, 06:23:07 AM »
That's a good story WWH,  'Even 50mi of DC' you do not have broadband as Zukerberg, et al would think of it.'  I see pictures of people in E. B-F, Africa and rural India on their phones ..and even with a fancy 'signal catcher' about 40' off the deck, I cannot get a decent cell signal.  I expect the Inuit would sooner have a better signal.  We need something like swarms of mini sats - out of reach of local politicians. (but, then the likes of Congress/FCC will likely muck it up..)

I was entirely unsuited but had the opportunity to work with an 'outdoor advertising' firm in Chicago in the early '70s.  The basic outline was to make sure we knew which politicians needed assistance with their considerations of location approvals.  They did not have the same 'muscle' of meat or liquor purveyors, but they pretty much got what they wanted. 

Burchas... I was thinking about Torrents.  Was that not like where Pirate Bay was located?  ..the Isle of Shite, or somewhere?  I was using a famous photo editing program v2-5 for years until they finally snagged me.  There used to be no-phone-home pwds for many programs. I like Affinity perfecly well, tho' I only go ~10% deep into it.  I find no good/free replacement for Bridge - but 'can only be used as a viewer.    Press on!

Jim


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burchas

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2020, 07:45:43 AM »
Burchas... I was thinking about Torrents.  Was that not like where Pirate Bay was located?  ..the Isle of Shite, or somewhere?  I was using a famous photo editing program v2-5 for years until they finally snagged me.  There used to be no-phone-home pwds for many programs. I like Affinity perfecly well, tho' I only go ~10% deep into it.  I find no good/free replacement for Bridge - but 'can only be used as a viewer.    Press on!

Jim

There are private torrents servers that are not bogged by malware and ads, for the most part you can download for free. I actually do use their donate option every now and again to support the operation and extend my download limit. You can also use Applications like Folx (the pro version) to look and download torrents without going into any websites at all.

I'd stay away from software, use to do it for years because who wants to pay those hefty fees for a bloatware like Adobe Creative Suite, especially now that I don't use it professionally, only here and there. Lots of malware, spyware, ransomware out there, packaged in these files. Affordable software like Affinity or Pixelmator Pro works for me for the most part, I do miss the extensibility and streamlined workflow of Photoshop from time to time but not enough to bring me back to Adobe. As for Bridge, there are many full-on digital asset management software that will blow Bridge out of the water.
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Wetstuff

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2020, 09:57:34 AM »
Thanks again, Burch..  I will (when there's time...) dig into torrents.  Bridge for me is: "Where is that picture?"  It has no other value.

I found another really cool little tool. iTubeDownloader.  I absolutely love those short films 'Omeleto' on YouTube.  There are all sorts of really interesting mind-benders ...without feeling you ate a whole quart of ice cream to discover the twist in the plot.   The other surprise - the clarity of YouTube on TV.  You'd think you would have to watch the whole thing before you took it home as an mp4. Nope, it speed dnlds in the background.  Too cool.  My trial is about up - so I need to 'pay the piper'.   I am a Mac'ist. I only have a PC for downloading with AUDIALS.

Jim
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PonoBill

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #10 on: April 28, 2020, 10:13:51 PM »
I recommend for your alternative free software endeavors TJ Free, a remarkable youtube channel that not only introduces a lot of excellent free software but also provides high-quality tutorials. I've been using his videos to learn Inkscape. Really good stuff.
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Wetstuff

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Re: If you don not have cable at home...
« Reply #11 on: April 29, 2020, 06:54:26 AM »
Bill,  Ya, he's got a ton of stuff.  I wish there was more time in the day!  Cheers.

Jim
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