Cutting the cord

74.134.89.134

Posted on December 19, 2016 at 08:00:22

volunteer
Audiophile

Posts: 5666
Location: Louisville, KY
Joined: January 7, 2012

I've been buying Directv for 17 years and cable for the same numbers of years prior. I would like to cut the cord. My wife loves DVR capability. Here's what I think I want to do.

I have an attic mounted antenna that works great for OTA. I would need to have it extended to the other five TVs in the house. I would buy a Tivo Roamio and 5 Tivo Minis for DVR capability and streaming for those channels I care about that aren't available OTA. I estimate that my upfront costs for hardware, cabling and labor would be around $2000.00

Does this makes sense? Is there a better way?

All input appreciated.
-Wendell

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RE: Cutting the cord

mrdavis842

16:04:30 12/20/16

RE: Cutting the cord

Coner

08:23:28 12/20/16

RE: Cutting the cord

fantja

06:09:11 12/20/16

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RE: Cutting the cord

mrdavis842

16:04:30 12/20/16

RE: Cutting the cord

Coner

08:23:28 12/20/16

RE: Cutting the cord

fantja

06:09:11 12/20/16

RE: Cutting the cord, posted on December 20, 2016 at 06:09:11
fantja Audiophile Posts: 15518 Location: Alabama Joined: September 11, 2010	If you feel like you do not require "live" televison? Many people are doing this in case you were pondering.

RE: Cutting the cord, posted on December 20, 2016 at 08:23:28

Coner
Audiophile

Posts: 3703
Location: S.W. Washington state, USA
Joined: November 17, 2001

You can use existing RG6 cabling for the antenna feeds. The attic
antenna will need to be large to handle 5 TV's. You may need to
get it outdoors, higher up, and maybe a rotator if the signal is
coming from different directions (if antenna is a directional yagi)

Antenna/cabling shouldn't be a big expense anyway.

RE: Cutting the cord, posted on December 20, 2016 at 16:04:30

mrdavis842
Audiophile

Posts: 274
Joined: February 22, 2013

As mentioned one antenna might not be able to drive 6 TVs, it will depend on the antennas' gain and the signal strength of each channel you will be receiving OTA. If not you can try an amplifier (PCT, Channel Master and Electroline are all good) at the antenna or even a second antenna in the attic with 3 TVs on each (and amp if needed).

I don't know a whole lot about Tivo DVRs, I guess you can't take the OTA signal from the DVR and send it over the network to your minis? I don't know how accurate this article is but it looks like one of Tivo's competitors, Tablo, can do it but with a quick browse over the article I may have misunderstood it. Might be worth some Googling if you think it might work for you.

https://www.tablotv.com/blog/tablo-vs-tivo-roamio-ota-cost-feature-comparison/

EDIT: Tivo Minis can stream live TV over the network but for every Mini streaming live TV you lose one of your tuners so that would be one less program that you can record at the same time. Both Tivo and Tablo eliminate any concern of the antenna not performing well.

You might be able to find a pretty good deal on slickdeals and save some money on the DVR equipment. You can add Deal Alerts if that interest you.

https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?forumchoice%5B%5D=4&forumchoice%5B%5D=9&forumchoice%5B%5D=10&forumchoice%5B%5D=13&forumchoice%5B%5D=25&forumchoice%5B%5D=30&forumchoice%5B%5D=38&forumchoice%5B%5D=39&forumchoice%5B%5D=41&forumchoice%5B%5D=44&forumchoice%5B%5D=53&forumchoice%5B%5D=54&forumchoice%5B%5D=71&q=tivo&firstonly=1

OTA DVRs

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Cutting the cord

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