So I “Cut the cord” back in 2013 after having ATT Uverse for a couple years. ATT had just informed me that my TV and internet rates would both be going up by a combined $30 a month, but that my internet speed had doubled (6Mbps up to a blazing 12Mbps)! Yay! So the service was cancelled.<\/p>\n
An antenna was purchased from Crutchfield (Channel Master 4221HD<\/a>) Netflix and Amazon Prime apps on the TV. An AppleTV for connectivity to the mobile phones. Chromecast. XBMC (now Kodi) running on a raspberry pi is a major provider of entertainment as well.<\/p>\n The only complaint, after about a year of antenna TV, was the lack of a DVR function. I priced it out running MythTV\/XBMC combo, but the cost of the computer in addition to the 30-35 watts of power used (about $3.50 a month in electricity) wasn’t ideal.<\/p>\n Then I read about the Channel Master DVR+<\/a> and was amazed! This is going to sound like a CM ad, but this is my experience so far. So I “Cut the cord” back in 2013 after having ATT Uverse for a couple years. ATT had just informed me that my TV and internet rates would both be going up by a combined $30 a month, but that my internet speed had doubled (6Mbps up to a blazing 12Mbps)! Yay! So the service … Continue reading Cord Cutting<\/span>
\nWhile this antenna says “Mid-Range outdoor rooftop” I ended up just setting it up in the attic of the house and I get great signal strength (Channels 2 through 67+ all come in crystal clear)
\nI live roughly 30 miles away – line of sight – from the closest major city with broadcast towers
\nIf I had a need (or more money) I probably would have settled on the Channel Master 4228HD for extended ranges
\nThe antenna requires no power and I ended up re-using the existing coax run from the basement to the attic<\/p>\n
\nI received the DVR+ and set it up with HDMI, power, and a wireless USB. I ran through the initial setup wizard and then updated the firmware. I could now pause live TV! But something was missing; it wasn’t automatically recording what I was watching so I couldn’t rewind. I grabbed an old laptop and a USB to SATA enclosure, did a little work, and then had a 250GB SATA drive external to the DVR+. After formatting all functionality was as it should be! $250 for this isn’t bad, although I had a USB wireless and external HD laying around already.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"