Any cord cutters out there?

[35-acre]

So here goes...

I'm starting slowly and working on LOCAL channels: SUCCESS
I got my equipment today (Tablo 4 tuner and a 2TB USB Hard Drive). I hooked up the HD antenna to it, followed the 3 easy steps to set it up and I was able to find HD channels over the airwaves! This is just a start. Please don't take this as a huge sucess or a full-fledged endorsement yet. I'm only pointing out that I can get channels (now that I have a digital tuner, which happens to be part DVR). I recorded a few things, watched some live TV with some success. My wife walked by and commented on the picture quality being nice. But this si still far from passing "the wife test".

Functionality Review: WORK IN PROGRESS
Overall, this is still a work in progress. I have had some random resets of the DVR, some wonky stuff on my own WiFi (cable provider might have dropped), Tablo App issues and some buffering problems. All of this, I anticipated running into. I am using a Chromecast as the "receiver" on the TV. There are some known "issues" with Chromecast that I am working through.

Remote Access (out of home)
This worked flawlessly! In the Tablo App when I setup the DVR, I clicked the box to enable remote access. Later on, I turned off WiFi on my phone, launched the Tablo app over cellular (4G) and was able to connect and play a recording from my DVR. I could have been anywhere with cell signal and played it. Pretty cool! So then I treied to play a live show by just using the channel guide and IT WORKED TOO! Now that's just crazy! So I could be anywhere with internet access and watch stuff on my phone. That was really easy!

RWD (rewind), FFWD (fast-forward) and PAUSE
For recorded shows, these work. However they are a little different than a typical DVR. FFWD doesn't play things faster. It jumps the program ahead 30 seconds (not bad for commercials). If you wanted to go forward further, the playbar can be touched/clicked further acros the screen. RWD jumps the program back 20 seconds.

For live shows, you can pause. As long as you have enough of the program buffered (say you went to the kitchen to make a sammich), you could likely use the FFWD option but right now I'm getting some sporadic responce/function. As for RWD a live show, it doesn't seem to work the way I expected. Maybe I have to do some digging in the settings but the show isn't being "cached" on the DVR. So I can't RWD.

Important Information for Functionaility
Something that I think is important to anyone considering this is that there isn't a remote control with this setup. You need to use a phone app or a laptop to connect to the DVR or the Channel Guide and then pick the show for playback (in my case, I'm using ChromeCast, so once I pick the program to watch, I then have to click the "cast" button). The same would apply to something like a Sling TV subscription.

Along my journey I will start targetting Premium Channels
Some of the more intelligent "receivers" (other than Chromecast) like Roku and Fire Stick come with a remote and may allow me to install the Tablo app to access my local channels (live and recorded). Having a remote in hand will allow me to get things closer to passing the afforementioned test (for local channels). I am leaning towards Sling TV and for $25 month I get a decent set of channels and then can go al-a-carte for other things.

Right now I would say I am still very optimistic. The path I have gone down, doesn't seem like just "plug and play" for everything. I am expecting to have to purchase some other "receivers" to replace my Chromecasts (although Tablo is working to make them more palletable) and I also think I will need to get used to the way this functions.

More to follow.

So, the next update to this endeavor...

Updating the "receiver": ROKU Premiere +
This is a great addition to my Tablo 4-tuner Whole Home DVR and my Mohu Leaf HD Antenna!
I went and bought one tonight. Now getting much more like I would expect TV to work with a DVR.
This has a tablo app that you can install right from within the search function on the ROKU box but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Setting up the ROKU: SUCCESS
This comes with a power cable, a remote (batteries) and the ROKU box (not a stick). NOTE: It didn't come with an HDMI cable and I needed one to connect to my "play TV" (my youngest son's 'old TV'). As with typical devices like this, you plug in everything and the power is last. Super easy. I didn't plug this into a hard wired (ethernet/network/LAN cable), I opted for the wireless setup and logged it onto my home WiFi. This device itself was super easy.

Connecting to Tablo: SUCCESS
OK, as I menitoned there is an App that can be found and installed right through the ROKU interface on the TV. Once I installed it, I opened it (all using the ROKU remote) and was able to quickly find my Tablo, connect to it and start playing live TV and things that I had recorded overnight and yesterday. Using the remote was very simple and provided the right user experience! I had some live TV running (local channel 4) and handed my wife the remote. I gave her a brief instruction (which button was the back button) and asked her to change the channel. With minimal instruction she was able to change the channel.

PAUSE
LIVE TV - Works as you would expect.
RECORDED CONTENT - Works as you would expect.

RWD SUCCESS
LIVE TV - You get a "meter bar" across the bottom. You do not see content rewind.
RECORDED CONTENT - THIS IS GREAT!!! You get to see mini screen views across the TV that show you what is on the show at about 30 second intervals. You get to scroll across the screen and pick where you want to play from. This includes the fact that you can see commercials and skip them.

FFWD SUCCESS
LIVE TV - (well, you have to have some buffer - like if you paused the show and went to the kitchen to make yourself a whiskey on ice). When you come back, you can fast-forward but it's with the "meter bar", you don't get to watch the show faster.
RECORDED CONTENT - ANOTHER PIECE OF AWESOMENESS! You get the same mini screens. You can see the commercials and skip past them This is really nice (my wife loved that feature - just like the RWD feature. She preferred that over watching the show faster like the 1x, 2x, 3x and 4x from Direct TV).

"What'd he say?" SUCCESS
Not sure what you call that little quick rewind button. It bounces the show back say 10 seconds.
LIVE TV - Works as you would expect.
RECODED CONTENT- Works as you would expect.

The rest of ROKU
This still has a lot more to go. You have Amazon Video, NetFlix, HULU, HBONow, Showtime, Google Play and Sling TV as apps all pre-installed and who ont he home screen. This is all for premium channels. I haven't gotten to those yet.

LOCAL CHANNELS + ROKU are now 100% FUNCTIONAL AND PASS THE WIFE TEST!!!!

Messing around with the entertainment center: FAIL
This is more of a funny story. So my wife was out this morning so I decided to hook up the Tablo DVR in the entertainment center. I have a Gigabit switch in there, a printer and all of our Direct TV stuff. Well, I waded into the cable jungle, fnding huge dust bunnies, a mathbox car, a puzzle piece, more dust and even a spider. I cleaned up all of the power cords, taping the extra in nice loops and took out some un-used equipment. I was quite proud of myself. Then I hooked up the Tablo and ran the antenna out the back of the entertainment center. I stuck the atenna on the wall in various spots and at various heights and angles but I lost a bunch of the channels. I added the amplifier back to the antenna (it came with one) and didn't have any better luck. As you likely understand the antenna placement is key to receiving channels. So after like 2 hours of messing around I neded up with the antenna back in the dining room window (my wife hasn't noticed it) and the Tablo near it (behind a plant). All my channels are back and things worked perfectly as I outlined above with the ROKU.

Some people put antennas in their attic or on the outside of their house. I haven't gotten that far yet. I get great signal with the antenna where I have it. If my wife complains, I may end up moving the setup. But I can always put it in my kids bedroom (upstairs) and see if he or my wife complains. For now, it's working great. I get more channels than I want so I remove some extras from the guide on the Tablo.

NEXT UP - Premium Channels
Stay tuned for more...

 

[35-acre]

I think this is my last update on this topic.
So I hope this helps give everyone some ideas. If you've got questions - fire away and I'll try to answer them.

NOTE: There are some things I haven't played with that might be cool like on Tablo "ripping things" from the device to other media (say to grab some recorded shows and take them with you on a plane or the hunting camp.​

I've found my solution for premium channels!
You should see answers here for football (college and professional, soccer, cooking shows - I can't remember any other questions). I have 1 remaining thing to solve and that's my NHL team but I think I have a way to do that too (mentioned below - briefly).

So, as I had mentioned a couple of times, I wanted to give SlingTV a try. They have a free 7 day trial. A useful point of this is that Sling lets you watch on any device (lablet, laptop, phone, and the ROKU device). I opted for the "blue" channel base offering ($25/mo) because it had channels that my house watches (I needed USA for my wife), plus I picked up a sports channel pack for the kids ($10/mo) and Heartland for me ($5/mo). This is all free right now for the first 7 days but I get a ton of channels. While you could go look them up on Slingtv.com, here's a shot me typing out the listing:

Blue:
FOX, NBC, FOX RSNs, NBC RSNs, NFL Network, AMC, FX, CNN (booo! no FOX), HGTV, Comedy Central, USA, Cartoon Network, History, TNT, Bravo, Food, FS1, FS2, NBC Sports Network, TBS, BBC Amrica, FXX, SYFY, Nick Jr, IFC, EPIX Drive-In, Tribecca Shortlist, A&E, Viceland, TruTV, Lifetime, Travel Channel, AXS TV, BET, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Newsy, Cheddar, Bloomberg, LOCALNow, UNivision, UniMas, Flama, Galavision

Sports Extra:
NFL Red Zone (I get my local games on the HD antenna anyway), NBA TV, NHL Network (see below, plus google how to watch your local team on streaming - much of that gets more complex and rquires a VPN - but it's do-able), Golf, Stadium, Outside TV, Olympic, and 3 other channels that I can't read the logos 'cause I'm getting old.
NOTE: I am seeing a lot of NCAA football, PAC 12, etc. I am also seeing NHL "on the fly". I am seeing soccer (yes - I see a Manchester United game - I'm not a soccer fan but I see a couple of you are - the next game I can watch via slingtv is scheduled for 12:25pm Monday. Plus all of the other stuff, baseball, NHRA, Arenacross and so on.

Heartland:
Sportsman, Outdoor Channel, RFD TV, PIXL, Cowboy and 2 others... need glasses.

Through the guide on Sling TV you have the option to watch something "live" or "star over" and there is a section under each channel that you can watch things "on demand". In the below image I have "The Sportman Channel" selected (across the top) and playing is "Meat Eater" on now, at 11:30 is Winchester Dealiest... and so on. Then below, is the On Demand options, there must be about 50 different shows to choose from. I don't kow if they change.


I'm still playing with all of my final choices here but right now for me. I think I have found a solution and shoudl be cutting the cord within the next couple of weeks.

The money side of things break down like this:

Monthly: $45
Tablo Guide $5
SlingTV $40
NetFlix $? (we already had this so I am not including it)
Internet and Phone $70 - (we already had this so I'm not including it here, this is just to get rid of my direct TV bill). I am currently paying direct tv close to $150/mo.
This reduces my monthly TV cost by $105/month!
And this passes the wife test!

One Time Costs: $480
Tablo $260
Mahu Leaf HD Antenna $50
2TB USB Hard Drive $70
ROKU Premiere + $100
(I will need 1 or 2 more of these, but Slig TV has an offer for the ROKU Ultra for $50 if I pay for 3 months. That will work with my Tablo too so I may go with that.)

Financially, I will break even in 4 months (counting the monthly subscription).

I'm attaching 2 images to this with the guide from Sling TV and the guide from my Tablo so you get a visual for what this would look like on your TV. The thing that's important to understand with this setup is that with the ROKU, you don't need to change the TV input or anything like that. You just go to the "home screen" and select what guide you want to bring up to channel surf or to watch recordings.
NOTE: You cannot record using the Tablo anything from Sling TV.

Tablo Guide:


Sling TV Guide:

 

[Natty Bumppo]

35-acre I want to thank you for taking the time to write all of this up. It's helpful and giving me some food for thought. I have been trying to figure out a way to ditch DirecTV for a long time.

 

[35-acre]

I think this is my last update on this topic.
So I hope this helps give everyone some ideas. If you've got questions - fire away and I'll try to answer them.

NOTE: There are some things I haven't played with that might be cool like on Tablo "ripping things" from the device to other media (say to grab some recorded shows and take them with you on a plane or the hunting camp.​

I've found my solution for premium channels!
You should see answers here for football (college and professional, soccer, cooking shows - I can't remember any other questions). I have 1 remaining thing to solve and that's my NHL team but I think I have a way to do that too (mentioned below - briefly).

So, as I had mentioned a couple of times, I wanted to give SlingTV a try. They have a free 7 day trial. A useful point of this is that Sling lets you watch on any device (lablet, laptop, phone, and the ROKU device). I opted for the "blue" channel base offering ($25/mo) because it had channels that my house watches (I needed USA for my wife), plus I picked up a sports channel pack for the kids ($10/mo) and Heartland for me ($5/mo). This is all free right now for the first 7 days but I get a ton of channels. While you could go look them up on Slingtv.com, here's a shot me typing out the listing:

Blue:
FOX, NBC, FOX RSNs, NBC RSNs, NFL Network, AMC, FX, CNN (booo! no FOX), HGTV, Comedy Central, USA, Cartoon Network, History, TNT, Bravo, Food, FS1, FS2, NBC Sports Network, TBS, BBC Amrica, FXX, SYFY, Nick Jr, IFC, EPIX Drive-In, Tribecca Shortlist, A&E, Viceland, TruTV, Lifetime, Travel Channel, AXS TV, BET, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Newsy, Cheddar, Bloomberg, LOCALNow, UNivision, UniMas, Flama, Galavision

Sports Extra:
NFL Red Zone (I get my local games on the HD antenna anyway), NBA TV, NHL Network (see below, plus google how to watch your local team on streaming - much of that gets more complex and rquires a VPN - but it's do-able), Golf, Stadium, Outside TV, Olympic, and 3 other channels that I can't read the logos 'cause I'm getting old.
NOTE: I am seeing a lot of NCAA football, PAC 12, etc. I am also seeing NHL "on the fly". I am seeing soccer (yes - I see a Manchester United game - I'm not a soccer fan but I see a couple of you are - the next game I can watch via slingtv is scheduled for 12:25pm Monday. Plus all of the other stuff, baseball, NHRA, Arenacross and so on.

Heartland:
Sportsman, Outdoor Channel, RFD TV, PIXL, Cowboy and 2 others... need glasses.

Through the guide on Sling TV you have the option to watch something "live" or "star over" and there is a section under each channel that you can watch things "on demand". In the below image I have "The Sportman Channel" selected (across the top) and playing is "Meat Eater" on now, at 11:30 is Winchester Dealiest... and so on. Then below, is the On Demand options, there must be about 50 different shows to choose from. I don't kow if they change.
View attachment 16109

I'm still playing with all of my final choices here but right now for me. I think I have found a solution and shoudl be cutting the cord within the next couple of weeks.

The money side of things break down like this:

Monthly: $45
Tablo Guide $5
SlingTV $40
NetFlix $? (we already had this so I am not including it)
Internet and Phone $70 - (we already had this so I'm not including it here, this is just to get rid of my direct TV bill). I am currently paying direct tv close to $150/mo.
This reduces my monthly TV cost by $105/month!
And this passes the wife test!

One Time Costs: $480
Tablo $260
Mahu Leaf HD Antenna $50
2TB USB Hard Drive $70
ROKU Premiere + $100
(I will need 1 or 2 more of these, but Slig TV has an offer for the ROKU Ultra for $50 if I pay for 3 months. That will work with my Tablo too so I may go with that.)

Financially, I will break even in 4 months (counting the monthly subscription).

I'm attaching 2 images to this with the guide from Sling TV and the guide from my Tablo so you get a visual for what this would look like on your TV. The thing that's important to understand with this setup is that with the ROKU, you don't need to change the TV input or anything like that. You just go to the "home screen" and select what guide you want to bring up to channel surf or to watch recordings.
NOTE: You cannot record using the Tablo anything from Sling TV.

Tablo Guide:
View attachment 16107

Sling TV Guide:
View attachment 16108

So an update to this... I haven't officially cut the cord. I am going to upgrade my antenna to one in my attic that is multi-directional and has a 11db gain. Everything is really working well and actually my wife is on my case to cancel Direct TV. I'll pick the new antenna up in a few weeks when I have time to install it. A key tip on the antenna is the highest you can get it the better.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[John-W-WI]

So an update to this... I haven't officially cut the cord. I am going to upgrade my antenna to one in my attic that is multi-directional and has a 11db gain. Everything is really working well and actually my wife is on my case to cancel Direct TV. I'll pick the new antenna up in a few weeks when I have time to install it. A key tip on the antenna is the highest you can get it the better.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Awesome write-up 35-acre!

We are still tiny house living, so I haven't been able to do my real final install in the new home but I continue to play with options as time allows.

I have tried (2) different SiliconDust HDHomeRun (EXTEND and CONNECT models) with very limited success trying to make them work as a DVR.

I connected both to a Plex server first running on my NAS and then running on an intel NUC mini computer. In both cases I had a lot of lag, spooling, etc.

Because we are in the tiny house I don't have a good eithernet lan setup (just using the DSL router right now). Once we move I'm going to try again running through gigabit switches and see if I get a better result.

Based on your write-up I should just go buy a Tablo and be done with it. But I have over $300 in the 2 HDHomeRuns so I'd like to try to put them to use.

On the streaming side, we tried Sling but ended up going with "Hulu with live TV" for $40/month. It has all of our local channels and any network shows we are interested in. We've been using it for about 2 months and are very happy with it.

Of course we have Netflix/Amazon Prime as well.

Thanks again for all of the info!

-John