{"id":1166,"date":"2019-08-05T00:05:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T00:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/?p=1166"},"modified":"2019-08-06T00:05:14","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T00:05:14","slug":"alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"TV :: 2018 Q3 :: Alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"post_title \">TV Viewing Alternatives<\/h1>\n<div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"pf-content\">\n<p>At one point in time, there was VHF\/UHF and cable.\u00a0 Cable was a no brainer if you wanted crisp clear images.<\/p>\n<p>These days though, this is not the case.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a list of options with cost estimates, benefits and drawbacks.\u00a0 It is not comprehensive, but WTH I am not a corporation, I am a viewer like you.<\/p>\n<p>Digital Antenna<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I have this.<\/li>\n<li>I run my digital antenna into my TiVo (lifetime subscription) box.\u00a0 Otherwise TiVo costs about $20 per month\u2026 I think.\u00a0 The boxes these days are around $600.<\/li>\n<li>The cost is a one-time outlay of about $100 for a decent antenna.\u00a0 Don\u2019t skimp, get the best you can afford.<\/li>\n<li>The benefit is that it remains absolutely free after the initial purchase<\/li>\n<li>The drawback is that it requires a (nearly) line of sight to the towers, and has a range of (realistically) no more than 65 miles.<\/li>\n<li>You can get anywhere from a few to nearly a hundred channels<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cable (usually COX)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I have basic<\/li>\n<li>They nearly had a monopoly, and the cost shows it.\u00a0 The cost is about $40 for basic, and it goes up to about $300 per month based on what premium channels you want.<\/li>\n<li>The benefit is that it\u2019s easy to understand and navigate<\/li>\n<li>The drawback is the hellacious cost<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Netflix<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I have this.\u00a0 I have a two-DVD per month plan and a one-device streaming plan<\/li>\n<li>This cost is reasonable, but not as great as it used to be.\u00a0 The cost is about $10 for each plan \u2013 and that is per month<\/li>\n<li>The benefit is that it is very flexible, and there are no commercials.<\/li>\n<li>The drawback is that it requires an internet data plan of at least 5 mBps \u2013 better if you have 20.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>YouTube \/ Vimeo<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Benefit:\u00a0 If you have a Smart TV you can do this.\u00a0 It is currently mostly free.<\/li>\n<li>Drawback:\u00a0 I find it kind of cumbersome to find programming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Great Courses<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I do this.\u00a0 It is about $20 per month, but has everything from Dog Training to Quantum Physics<\/li>\n<li>If you are into education, this is a good thing to have.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ted Talks<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Free, and great if you like educational stuff<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Amazon Prime<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I have this<\/li>\n<li>The benefit is that you have a decent selection of programming at no cost<\/li>\n<li>The drawback is that \u2013 there is nothing free in life \u2013 and Amazon makes their money with commercial advertising.\u00a0 Not too bad, but commercials?\u00a0 Yech.<\/li>\n<li>Amazon Prime used to be $79 per year, then went up to $99.\u00a0 For 2019 the price is now $119.\u00a0 There are all kind of web coverage about if this is worth it, or not.\u00a0 For me, it is.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MP4 files on a Thumb Drive<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Before I got rid of all (1000+) of my DVDs, I burnt them to a 5 TB drive.\u00a0 As I want something, I burn it to a thumb drive, stick it in the TV USB port and go from there.<\/li>\n<li>The benefit is that it is totally free<\/li>\n<li>The drawback is that it was a PITA getting all of the files to MP4 format, with about 2% failure rate \u2013 but remains free.\u00a0 It is also a bit of a pain retrieving a movie when I want it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hulu and Hulu Plus<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I have basic Hulu.\u00a0 The benefit is it is only $10 per month.<\/li>\n<li>The drawback is that you have commercials.\u00a0 The same one, usually, over and over.\u00a0 SIGH<\/li>\n<li>Hulu Plus has additional programming and no commercials, but is about $20 per month\u2026 I think.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Philo \u2013 $16-20 \u2013 I don\u2019t know too much about this<\/p>\n<p>Acorn TV \u2013 $5 \u2013 This was recommended, but I am not familiar with it.<\/p>\n<p>Sling \u2013 $25-40 \u2013 This used to be free.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know too much about the new paid version<\/p>\n<p>Cloud DVR \u2013 I know absolutely nothing about this<\/p>\n<p>RedBox \u2013 $5 per DVD rental \u2013 This remains a popular standard.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done it a few times, but not too often.\u00a0 I think the loan period is only two days, with a stiff penalty after that.<\/p>\n<p>TV Channels Online \u2013 I know absolutely nothing about this<\/p>\n<p>Public Library \u2013 This is free \u2013 I did it once years ago, so can\u2019t comment on current technology<\/p>\n<p>HBO \/ Showtime \/ Starz \u2013 Each is about $10 and they have recent movies, but not a whole lot of selection options.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s about all that I have time for.\u00a0 If you want to explore some more,<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?num=30&amp;ei=hXk7XOj4KInB0PEP3cCwuAQ&amp;q=alternatives+to+cable&amp;oq=alternatives+to+cable&amp;gs_l=psy-ab.12..0i71l8.0.0..6461...0.0..0.0.0.......0......gws-wiz.y4SDcfoXMwo\">CLICK HERE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TV Viewing Alternatives At one point in time, there was VHF\/UHF and cable.\u00a0 Cable was a no brainer if you wanted crisp clear images. These days though, this is not the case. Here is a list of options with cost estimates, benefits and drawbacks.\u00a0 It is not comprehensive, but WTH I am not a corporation, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/alternatives\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;TV :: 2018 Q3 :: Alternatives&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1166"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1326,"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions\/1326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tutavo.com\/Kachina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}