DirecTV

[neoplacebo]

I called my directv folks the other day and suggested they add a fireplace channel, an aquarium channel, a burning house channel, and perhaps a car crash channel. They acted like I was crazy. I went on to admonish them about how half of the hundred or so channels they send me are worse than having to sit in traffic; the worst kind of bullshit known to man or beast. Still they refused. I couldn't believe it.

[JTA]

I called my directv folks the other day and suggested they add a fireplace channel, an aquarium channel, a burning house channel, and perhaps a car crash channel. They acted like I was crazy. I went on to admonish them about how half of the hundred or so channels they send me are worse than having to sit in traffic; the worst kind of bullshit known to man or beast. Still they refused. I couldn't believe it.

Cancel!

I canceled my cable two months ago, bought two Rapberry Pi's and now solely watch TV through the internet.

[O Really]

What do you get from the Raspberry's that you couldn't get from any other computer? How does the Raspberry access the TV programs?

[bannination]

I called my directv folks the other day and suggested they add a fireplace channel, an aquarium channel, a burning house channel, and perhaps a car crash channel. They acted like I was crazy. I went on to admonish them about how half of the hundred or so channels they send me are worse than having to sit in traffic; the worst kind of bullshit known to man or beast. Still they refused. I couldn't believe it.

We went to local channels and Netflix, both digital and disc. No regrets.

EDIT: Netflix is getting the fireplace channel too! :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Vuwop3MGA

[JTA]

What do you get from the Raspberry's that you couldn't get from any other computer? How does the Raspberry access the TV programs?

You can use any computer really. Just install XBMC with the Navi-X plugin. Using a Rapberry pi is just convenient since they're compact. Purchase a USB TV remote, install OpenElec which comes with XBMX, install the Navi-X plugin on top of that and you're good to go. Now, some of the stuff on there is pirated. You can stream movies and what not, I only watch the legal stuff though youtube and Hulu since I wouldn't download a car if I could. Unfortunately however you can't get netflix on them yet. There are ways around this but it's a bit of a pain.

Here's a pic of mine:




My last straw with charter was when they decided to force you to purchase extra boxes to watch TV (to enhance my viewing experience as they told me). Well, actually you couldn't purchase a box, you had to rent them. So suppose I wanted two TVs, I'd have to pay an extra 8 bucks a month for a box. Not much, sure, but I'd be less pissed if I could just outright purchase the box and not have to rent the damn thing for as long as I have cable. I use Comcast as a measuring stick for terrible cable service. With their decision to limit you to one free box, Charter surpassed Comcast in their shittiness according to my metric, therefore I couldn't in good conscience keep their cable service (Comcast limits you to three free boxes). Besides, cable with all the (what used to be) good channels was like 80 bucks a month. Then there's an extra 50 or so for internet. Given the choice between being gang raped by two chimpanzees versus only one, I opted for the latter and cancelled my cable. TV never was the greatest medium anyway, but it seems like recently there's been a proliferation of redneck reality TV shows. Some are ok, and most rednecks are fun people to hang out with. I just don't like watching them on TV.

Now is there drawbacks to using Navi-X? Of course. Sometimes you can't watch whatever you want (don't be trying to download cars), and sometimes the Navi-X servers go down. But whatever. I'm saving 60 bucks a month and sticking it to Charter the only way I can.

Links:
XBMC: http://xbmc.org/download/
Navi-X: http://code.google.com/p/navi-x/

[neoplacebo]

I called my directv folks the other day and suggested they add a fireplace channel, an aquarium channel, a burning house channel, and perhaps a car crash channel. They acted like I was crazy. I went on to admonish them about how half of the hundred or so channels they send me are worse than having to sit in traffic; the worst kind of bullshit known to man or beast. Still they refused. I couldn't believe it.

We went to local channels and Netflix, both digital and disc. No regrets.

EDIT: Netflix is getting the fireplace channel too! :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Vuwop3MGA

Excellent; those people that made that must have been the ones fired at DirecTV. I will call them again this weekend.

[O Really]

I've got a blu-ray that gets hulu, vudu, netflix and a bunch of other stuff, but none of that is really tv. It may be tv from last week or whenever, but it's not the same. When you use these services, how do you see live sports, network programming, or, for what it's worth, local news?

[Crock Hunter]

Using a Rapberry pi is just convenient since they're compact. /

Cool.. I've used the Raspberry for Automation and Control projects for friends and family .. even here in an industrial setting..
I like it .... Use to use an Arduino.. and even a Basic Stamp back in the day for such things.. ..

[JTA]

I've got a blu-ray that gets hulu, vudu, netflix and a bunch of other stuff, but none of that is really tv. It may be tv from last week or whenever, but it's not the same. When you use these services, how do you see live sports, network programming, or, for what it's worth, local news?

You can watch live TV on Navi-X. The quality sucks because it's streaming from someones PC or something, and sometimes you have Vietnamese or whatever language subtitles. But it's "free". But I don't support this since it's the equivalent of downloading a car, which none of us would do.

[bannination]

I've got a blu-ray that gets hulu, vudu, netflix and a bunch of other stuff, but none of that is really tv. It may be tv from last week or whenever, but it's not the same. When you use these services, how do you see live sports, network programming, or, for what it's worth, local news?

You can watch live TV on Navi-X. The quality sucks because it's streaming from someones PC or something, and sometimes you have Vietnamese or whatever language subtitles. But it's "free". But I don't support this since it's the equivalent of downloading a car, which none of us would do.

You haven't seen my 3D printer.....

[Mr.B]

"I've got a blu-ray that gets hulu, vudu, netflix and a bunch of other stuff, but none of that is really tv. It may be tv from last week or whenever, but it's not the same. When you use these services, how do you see live sports, network programming, or, for what it's worth, local news?"

I've got two smart blu-rays as well as a smart TV as well, and the answer to your question is, you can't.

When my DirecTv contract expires, I'm going back to using an outside HDTV antenna so as to receive local network TV and use my smarties to download Netflix, etc. The smarties are limited in the number of apps you can download; some are free, some are subscription. There is a device called a Roku3 that supposedly has 1000+ channels/apps (some free, some pay) you can access including HBO so you can stream movies that are first run on satellite TV. It sells for around $100.00 or less. It's the highest rated streaming device rated by Consumer Reports. Right now, I'm unaware of anything that you can get to watch free, unencumbered, live TV beyond local channels....on your TV that is.

There are streaming TV channels available for streaming to a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Samsung even has a TV that can be Bluetooth linked to your Samsung tablet or smartphone so you can watch this streaming on your TV. That's over my head.

[bannination]

I called my directv folks the other day and suggested they add a fireplace channel, an aquarium channel, a burning house channel, and perhaps a car crash channel. They acted like I was crazy. I went on to admonish them about how half of the hundred or so channels they send me are worse than having to sit in traffic; the worst kind of bullshit known to man or beast. Still they refused. I couldn't believe it.

We went to local channels and Netflix, both digital and disc. No regrets.

EDIT: Netflix is getting the fireplace channel too! :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Vuwop3MGA

Excellent; those people that made that must have been the ones fired at DirecTV. I will call them again this weekend.

Yeah, you're missing out, I think I just seen them add season two of the fireplace channel.

[O Really]

Wiziwig.
http://www.wiziwig.tv/

I tried it out in hopes of getting the Panthers and Seahawks games Sunday. Works great. Got a live bowl game as well as a live cricket game out of Australia.

[Mr.B]

Wiziwig.
http://www.wiziwig.tv/

"I tried it out in hopes of getting the Panthers and Seahawks games Sunday. Works great. Got a live bowl game as well as a live cricket game out of Australia."

Did you have to watch them on your computer....or your TV?

"you can also watch Live TV channels and Live Radio stations on your pc"

[O Really]

Wiziwig.
http://www.wiziwig.tv/

"I tried it out in hopes of getting the Panthers and Seahawks games Sunday. Works great. Got a live bowl game as well as a live cricket game out of Australia."

Did you have to watch them on your computer....or your TV?

"you can also watch Live TV channels and Live Radio stations on your pc"

The computer receives it...the tv shows it. It's not a very smart tv.

[O Really]

The Panthers will be broadcast.

Sure, there. But up until yesterday sometime they were listing some other game at the 1:00 slot. Now they've got the Panthers listed. 'Fins and Bucs are both playing at 4:30.

[O Really]

Not to mention the long suffering Dolphins fans.

[O Really]

Speaking of suffering...'Skins are living down to expectations again.