Has anybody got rid of cable or satelite?

What are you paying for tv and internet?
If you have cable internet they would not have to hook anything else up.
Mine is $60, with that cable package. The installer told me there was no way for them to separate the two. (my bill shows only cable internet, but if I pluged in a tv I would have those channels)

 

Are you able to get OTA reception? Seems like the OTA channels are the same ones they offer in the $27.99 package. You can get a nice outdoor antenna for $50 and get crystal clear reception. These are not the big old antennas we used to have on our roofs - much smaller and flatter.

 

You will need to plug your laptop into your stereo with a basic RCA splitter like this:

$7 Eeejumpe 6"es Stereo Splitter-3.5mm Jack to 2-RCA Jacks Audio Adapter

http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-inc...1381809267&sr=8-1&keywords=headphone+jack+rca

Eventually, you'll probably get a computer with HDMI outputs and a receiver which takes HDMI. At that point you can reduce down to one connection. VGA is good but not quite as good as HDMI.

 

Not going to get surround from that.... and that looks like a female headphone jack split to the two RCA.
Getting sound from the computer to the receiver would need a male plug... but it still isn't going to be surround.

 

Correct on the first part - it will only give you a stereo signal which is not full spectrum. I believe with his setup it is the best he can do without getting a USB sound card or something of the sort.

Thanks for the correction on the plug - I wasn't paying enough attention when I posted the link

He won't get digital surround but I'm guessing his receiver can probably still throw a form of ProLogic as a poor man's alternative.

 

I do have a yamaha rx-v367 I think thats the right model number since I'm not looking at it. I thought I could get a VGA cord with audio at walmart for like $35. But I was thinking can you get a vga to hdmi converter and the picture be better or we won't be able to tell that much difference?

Also, just watching tv now the sound doesn't come from the surround just the tv speakers. Someone tell me if this is correct. I need to buy a optical cable to hook tv to receiver (av4) to have sound through surround speakers?

 

VGA won't support audio. So you would have to audio out from your laptop.

Easiest way to get audio and surround from all your devices is to use an Optical cable.
So you optical out from the tv into the receiver and you would never have to change the receiver to a different input. And it reduces cables.

All set ups are different tho. Best way is having a receiver that does hdmi switching.

 

From what I read, you have the vga cable going from the computer to tv then the other cable that comes with it goes in the headphone jack on the computer and the other end to the tv. Just what I think, haven't done it.

Also, about the optical cable, right now I have each source(blu ray, xbox 360) hooked to the reciever via hdmi. When I play either one I would still have to change the input on the reciever to whatever I was playing, correct?

 

The way I see it is, they've got you for probably minimum $32/mo after taxes and fees for something you can get for free with a one time purchase of an antenna.

 

I think she said my monthly bill would be about $60-$61 assuming this is before taxes and fees. Compared to $115-$120.

 

Here is my TV fool report. Most of the CBS, ABC, and NBC are almost 50 miles away. I was just worried I wouldn't be able to pick those channels up without an outdoor antenna but didn't really want an outside one. I thought about an attic antenna but I don't know how to run the cable through the walls to the tvs.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...46ae100a441069

 

So from research is sounds like I should do this kind of setup?

Over the air antenna for local channels
Roku player
Possibly netflix but could get a hulu plus member ship too?
Ensure I have fast internet

 

Most of my stations are ~42-45 miles away. I've got a large, unamplified antenna in my attic, and I get I think most all the stations just fine. I bet an amplifier would get you to your 50 miles easy. You should just be able to tap it into the existing cabling that is there for the 'cable'...

Of course it's whatever you're comfortable with I guess.

 

Fired the cable company and built a HTPC almost two years ago. Family loves it and we won't go back. The TV tuner card we placed in it and the large hard drives allow for watching TV and for DVR function on top of having all of our movies and music accessible with it now too.

 

if you're concerned about local channels/news, ...and you can get a good OTA signal, then OTA is the way to go, ...you'll get much better image quality via OTA than through cable...

 

This may be a dumb question but how do you know the direction where the signals are pointing that directs to the antenna? Trying to figure out where an antenna needs to be placed on my house. If the left side of my house then I may be able to put it in the attic

 

http://antennaweb.org/

 

I posted on high def forums as well and they said looking at my tv fool report its iffy if I'm going to be able to get the channels listed since its a 1 edge signal. ( think thats right) Anyway, the cable guy came out yesterday b/c Tuesday when I got home I didn't have any internet. He asked if I had any trouble with the tv b/c it was getting weak signal too. He looked and he said he put the filter on backwards at the street and put on a new one. He got my internet going and he left. I did a channel scan on the tv and now I get 2-30 channels plus 100-112 or something like that in HD. I also get a few others but can't remember what they are. Nothing we normally watch. So now I'm wondering if the $27.99 is worth it over trying to get an antenna mounted and worrying about getting signal. My wife and I with out little girl went to Target and we saw a Roku 3 on clearance b/c it was repackaged for $70. My wife asked if that would be better than having cable.

I told her I was going to do a little research. But if we have a xbox 360, do we even need the Roku3? We wouldn't be able to get local news on the Roku I don't think either.

 

We cut the cord years ago when I lost my job as a way to stretch the budget....and, well, never went back.

Netflix streaming direct to the TV from the Wii, or to the PC. I use over the air HD for local football games and watch NFL games online.

The occasional TV series worth watching I generally wait till its done and download the whole thing via torrent. The wife & yout just email me when they want a show and I grab it and stick it on a thumb drive. Doink, into the BluRay player with a front port and bang, onto the HD screen with full surround.

Don't miss cable a whit.

 

So did we.

Twelve years ago and we'll never go back to TV. Between $39 a month for internet and $17 for Netflix, we have all the entertainment we'll ever want.

Greg