Digital TV

[abunaitoo]

spectrum cable has invaded us.
The worse, most hated cable company in the country.
They are forcing us to change to digital cable TV. Need to use their box.
I have a question??????
My Mom tapes programs on VCR.
Can she still do it?????

[Dryball]

She should be able to as long as she has either the main unit or one of the digital readers running into it

[metricmonkeywrench]

Check to see if the cable service offers a DVR or recording service. Our previous service recorded into the box itself, our new service records "online" so we can watch it from home or on a phone or computer over the Internet.

[Char-Gar]

Spectrum has done the same in my area and the digital converters do not have recording capabilities. I believe you can buy your own digital recorder.

Spectrum has picked up the name Rectum around here as there have been nothing but problems with them.

[Tatume]

Entertainment providers understandably seek to discourage the sharing of content. Remember when rented movies started with an FBI warning about showing the movie to more than a few people? Nowadays with many services we basically pay for a password, which can be shared. Somehow the provider has to limit the sharing, or they lose money. My Roku agreement, for example, limits simultaneous logins to two. I can share my password with my friend, but if he shares it and three of us log in at the same time, Roku cuts me off.

[2wheelDuke]

You'll have the digital box inline, but you can still record from it one way or another. Most of them have an S-video or RCA output, or even a coax (channel 3) to feed older TVs. That's an analog signal, and the box has no way to know if it's going to a VCR on the way to the TV or not.

I haven't used a VCR in a long time. At one point I had a media computer that did the same function as a Tivo for me. But digital cable killed that.

I get shafted an extra $15 a month or so for DVR. It is very convenient to have the box do the work for you in recording your shows, it can even add a "cushion" on the beginning and end in case the show started early or ran late.

The downside is that they basically have all the control there, it's not on your own physical media.

My cable box also has "on demand" as part of what I pay for. There's a whole ton of shows and movies that I can start, pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. without commercials when ever I feel like it.

Honestly I'd cut the cord and cancel cable if I were a single man.

[abunaitoo]

Spectrum has done the same in my area and the digital converters do not have recording capabilities. I believe you can buy your own digital recorder.

Spectrum has picked up the name Rectum around here as there have been nothing but problems with them.

"Rectum" sounds about right.

[Petrol & Powder]

I can't speak for Hawaii but in my neck of the woods, over the air TV is making a bit of a comeback.
It took about 25 years but satellite and cable providers found the tipping point where customers said, "NO" and went back to broadcast TV.


In many areas you can still receive broadcast TV with an antenna and it's still free !
OK, it's not a hundred channels but in a lot of areas you can get 3-5 major networks over the air.
For some locations and some people, over the air TV is a decent option.

I've run into people from younger generations that had no idea that television was once and still is broadcast over the air for free. They grew up on cable TV and have never known anything else.

[Handloader109]

You'll have the digital box inline, but you can still record from it one way or another. Most of them have an S-video or RCA output, or even a coax (channel 3) to feed older TVs. That's an analog signal, and the box has no way to know if it's going to a VCR on the way to the TV or not.

I haven't used a VCR in a long time. At one point I had a media computer that did the same function as a Tivo for me. But digital cable killed that.

I get shafted an extra $15 a month or so for DVR. It is very convenient to have the box do the work for you in recording your shows, it can even add a "cushion" on the beginning and end in case the show started early or ran late.

The downside is that they basically have all the control there, it's not on your own physical media.

My cable box also has "on demand" as part of what I pay for. There's a whole ton of shows and movies that I can start, pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. without commercials when ever I feel like it.

Honestly I'd cut the cord and cancel cable if I were a single man.

And with Dish and I assume Directv, the DVR can use an extra hard drive to store content. The only issue is that it isn't in a format that you can view if you disconnect from Dish. Yep, their content.

[Char-Gar]

I can't speak for Hawaii but in my neck of the woods, over the air TV is making a bit of a comeback.
It took about 25 years but satellite and cable providers found the tipping point where customers said, "NO" and went back to broadcast TV.


In many areas you can still receive broadcast TV with an antenna and it's still free !
OK, it's not a hundred channels but in a lot of areas you can get 3-5 major networks over the air.
For some locations and some people, over the air TV is a decent option.

I've run into people from younger generations that had no idea that television was once and still is broadcast over the air for free. They grew up on cable TV and have never known anything else.

When my daughter moved to San Antonio, she dropped cable TV. Now she has a digital antenna and Netflix to watch movies and TV shows.

[RED BEAR]

petrol and powder is right i get 23 chanels over the air some show mostly old sitcoms some more modern shows some westerns and some mostly movies. and they keep adding more all the time.

[shortlegs]

WE had charter/spectrum for years and switched to att. Very BIG mistake! Since july 2016 I have been on the phone with att on an almost weekly basis to get the direct tv or the internet or the cellphones working. we lost 2 cell towers in our area and the one we get signal from is in a location that is blocked by a hill. Several of my neighbors switched to verison to get dependable cell service. Direct tv equipment in my home has been replaced 7or8 times and I have to reset / reboot the boxes almost weekly. Internet is very slow and varies speed. We pay for 15 megs and att is happy when we get 10 megs. They say that is within their specs. the account is in wifes name because i didnt want to go to att. She has me call them when there is a problem because I understand how the systems work. Well i fix the problems....... I have no 'tact' when handling the same problems over and over and let them know how i felt about all their services and was not in the same ballpark with 'nice'. Wife got email today stating that att is terminating our services early but we dont have to pay early termination fees. I am happy....... Wife is ... well....hope the dog likes company! Be glad u have 'rectum' tv and internet, at least it works like it is suppose to.

[shooterg]

When I was young we had 3 over the air channels and life was good - as long as we had Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese calling the saturday baseball games ! I could go back to that, but the wife would leave !

[shortlegs]

9:12 pm and direct tv just went out. yes I am cussing! We have an outdoor antenna so we can watch local tv weather because direct tv goes out when it rains.Clouds block satelite signal.

[bangerjim]

9:12 pm and direct tv just went out. yes I am cussing! We have an outdoor antenna so we can watch local tv weather because direct tv goes out when it rains.Clouds block satelite signal.

You may need to call DirecTV and have a technician re-adjust your dish alingment. Simple clouds will not block the signal. Dense one will not block. The ONLY time I ever loose signal is during a major thunder boomer that has 20,000 foot thunder heads. THAT will block the signal.

Dish alingment is key and can shift over time with weather and temp. With my contract, tech calls to the home are free.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

recording digital tv shows...
You are gonna find that you will have to pay spectrum cable for that service.
There were a few work-a-rounds, but some of them have been eliminated, and others need you to be tech savvy.

[WILCO]

Haven't had cable in years. WIFI and Netflix are wonderful. Plenty of shows on Youtube.

[bangerjim]

Haven't had cable in years. WIFI and Netflix are wonderful. Plenty of shows on Youtube.

That is fine if you do not want local and state news. Without cable or satellite, you are very limited to access to current live events. Netflix is great and we waste waaaaay too many hours watching junk on it....mainly older reruns of lots of stuff from other channels (BBC/PBS/Smithsonian/etc). They do have some fairly decent programming they have done.

Many on here brag about living out in the boonies and digital over-the-air signals do not go very far, not like the old analog signals. So, many cannot receive local channels live....not just recorded clips from a website over WIFI. And how are you doing WIFI without cable or satellite?

I have satellite for NEWS first and then ENTERTAINMENT second. Then WIFI for Netflix and our iPads & iPhones.

bangerjim

[Petrol & Powder]

I can get news on the internet. I can read news WAY faster than some liberal talking head can spoon feed it to me between commercials.
I can also get the news I want, When I Want It! I'm not into sports and I don't care about what some actor or musician thinks.

I still prefer to purchase a newspaper when traveling, it weighs less than a laptop or a tablet, doesn't require power or a WiFi signal and I've yet to have a piece of paper "crash".

Streaming video over the internet generally precludes current shows but who cares?
If I want to watch a movie, I can.

I had Direct TV for years and the cost continued to climb while the quality of the content became increasingly lower. I reached a breaking point several years ago and told them no thanks. Don't miss it a bit.

[bangerjim]

Sat TV can get expensive if your don’t watch you bill. We started out years ago with deep discounts on all the movie channels, even some were free in the package. As time goes by (not a que for a song!) they start dropping the discounts more and more until you are paying full bore for the channels! I just cancelled HBO, Skin-a-Max, ShoTime, and some others including some sports tiers I never watched (as part of a package deal) and cut almost $85.00 off my bill! All we need is Starz. And of couse FOX NEWS!

Just watch your bill. If you threaten to drop them, they will poney up with more discounts!

But my needs go far beyond just Netflix. I would go (even more) insane if that was all I could watch.

[HATCH]

My Mom tapes programs on VCR.
Can she still do it?????

Technically yes, but in reality NO.

You need to get your mom a DVR cable box.

Yes you can record shows using a VCR but you need a cable box that is turned to the channel that she is trying to record.
Spectrum has a DTA (digital tv adapter) which is a box that is about the same size as a VHS tape but not as wide.

What sucks is that every TV in the house requires a box.
This means you have to spend $5 per TV per month.
I have 6 TVs.
The main TV has a DVR and my mother in law's TV has a DTA so she can watch SEC network.
The TVs in the shop, my bedroom (rarely watched) and the 2 kids play rooms don't have boxes.
I have a android box on the shop TV so I am going to download the Spectrum app for it.

A lot of my friends are dropping home phone and TV. Keeping internet.
They are using Youtube TV, Netflix, and other methods for their TV service.
Much cheaper to stream multiple services vs paying Spectrum for theirs

[razorfish]

I cut the cord a while back.

Most of my programming comes in over an attic mounted TV antenna for free. I have a TiVo OTA DVR box that records all programming coming in over the antenna (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, The CW and about 30 additional channels I rarely watch). No monthly fees and all in High Definition.

I use the cable company for Internet only.

For other cable channels I have Roku devices with a small cable bundle by SlingTV ($30/month with DVR function and no contracts).

I also have NetFlix and Amazon Prime. I have more programming choices than I ever have time to watch. I’m never going back to cable tv.

[Petrol & Powder]

I cut the cord a while back.

Most of my programming comes in over an attic mounted TV antenna for free. I have a TiVo OTA DVR box that records all programming coming in over the antenna (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, The CW and about 30 additional channels I rarely watch). No monthly fees and all in High Definition.

I use the cable company for Internet only.

For other cable channels I have Roku devices with a small cable bundle by SlingTV ($30/month with DVR function and no contracts).

I also have NetFlix and Amazon Prime. I have more programming choices than I ever have time to watch. I’m never going back to cable tv.

/\:drinks:

That's the way to do it !