Happy New Year! Kicking Cable TV and The Dish: Part Three

First let me thank all of you for the past year, and your readership. I never really planned on having people actually read this blog. It was something I had intended to have fun with, but now that I have regular visitors, there's a certain responsibility.

I hope I continue to be worthy of your continued visits in this New Year.

Happy New Year to all of you out there! I hope, nay I pray, that this year will see a resurgence in freedom. Not just here in the United States, but everywhere, all around the world. It is unfortunate that people all around this globe are often judged by their governments, and not on their own personal merits. Perhaps its time we put the people who reflect the the majority of Americans into office, so that the world's people will see us for who we truly are.

And on we go to getting content of the internet to bypass cable and dish TV.

First, let me say something about over the air broadcasting. Those of us who are old enough (that includes me) remember nearly every single house in the neighborhood having a TV antenna on the rooftop.

Reception was often poor if you were more than thirty miles from the broadcast antenna, or lived in an area with obstructions such as hills, mountains, or tall buildings. Ghosting was one of the most maddening effects of having objects that were large enough to bounce signals around.

Who can forget the strange arrays of tin foil and coat hangers that often needed to be added to indoor "rabbit ear" antennae in order to receive some stations?

Well, those days are gone.

Back on June 12, 2009 broadcasters were required to switch to a digital signal. This meant that people often had to get an adapter to continue to receive over the air broadcasts. Most new TVs already have a digital decoder built in, and the digital converter box is not needed.

Its come to my attention that many people I've talked to were confused by what was going on and bit the bullet and signed up for cable or dish, "just in case".

Over the air broadcasts are still there. They're still free, for now. They've also become better. High Definition (HD) broadcasts are available. The reception is most often as clear as a cable connection, and there are signals available out there from independent stations that you won't get on cable or dish, and maybe not even the internet.

It may be worth your while to pick up a digital antenna from a local retailer, and see what you can receive in your area. You may even opt to bypass connecting your TV to the internet. If you don't like what is available in your area, simply return the antenna to where you bought it and get a refund. It's an inexpensive alternative, and if it doesn't work out for you, all you have lost is a few moments of your time.

DTV Answers

Digital TV Transition

How Digital TV Works

DTV Crash Course

Okay, you have your PC with an HD capable video card connected to the internet, and connected to your TV. Now what?

Head on over to "www.OVGuide.com". A BIG thank you to Wolfe over at SurvivalTimes for making me aware of this site. It is the place to go to find just about anything you'd want to watch on TV. If you look at the topical index over on the left, and go towards the bottom, there is a button labeled "guns". Find that on your local cable companies listing!

Now don't forget to head straight over to the network's websites. You can frequently watch full episodes of their most popular shows right there streamed from their servers. Many times the programs are available in HD. These are found under the button labeled "TV" on OVGuide.

If you have a local affiliate station that you would like to watch for local news and events, check around for their homepage on the internet. Some of them stream local newscasts straight from their sites.

If you decide that this type of viewing works for you, you may want to invest in a wireless mouse and keyboard to use with the computer connected to the TV. It'll make it much easier for you.

TiVo?

Did I hear someone say TiVo? Why would you want TiVo with this? It's all on demand. It's playing 24 hours a day, every day. Just pick a show and watch. Why pay extra for something to record your shows?

Yes, there are ways for you to download the shows and save them to a hard drive or DVD if you want to build a library, and we'll get into the software in the next post.