Thinking about ditching cable TV. Need advice

[atgcpaul]

Sorry but I need to rant a little. My request for advice is at the bottom.

I have a standard TV with expanded cable. I thought I'd be OK not upgrading
to a HDTV because everything I saw assured me that cable customers
should not be affected by the transition.

Flashback 3 weeks ago when my cable provider (RCN) says all cable
customers must switch to their new digital service or lose TV. They will
provide one free digital tuner (not to be confused w/a HD tuner) that will
unscramble their signal. Sure, I don't have to upgrade my TV, but now I can
only watch TV on one of my TVs unless I want to pay an extra $3/month for
extra descramblers. On top of that, I lose the ability to use my own DVR
(not TiVo) to do timer recording because my DVR doesn't have an IR blaster
to control the descrambler.

So now my sweet setup ain't so sweet. I can understand that the cable
company needs to protect their asset but to get me back to where I was
before, I need to buy a new DVR with an IR blaster or move to their digital
cable service with DVR rental.

I watch a lot of broadcast TV anyway. I can still use my DVR with those
shows. A lot of other shows can be streamed online. I'm seriously thinking
about ditching cable completely and installing an antenna--partly out of
spite. I don't want one that sits on my roof. Can I put an antenna in my
attic and use the existing coax in my house to connect it to my current
cable jack in my living room?

Thanks,
Paul

[Thalermade]

Yours is an "it depends" question. Your location relative to the TV station broadcast sites will determine how effective an antenna will be. Check out this link: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx


I am located about midway between Dayton and Cincinnati, Oio. I have an antenna in my attic (I live in a two story house). Due to the "tightness" of the digital signal I receive 3 networks from Cincinnati and the 4th from Dayton. There is no room for error with the digital signal - you either get it or you don't. No ghosts or snowy images that I could find to indicate I was close to aiming the antenna correctly. I am still contemplating adding a pole and a rotor to my set up.

I ran my antenna co-ax cable down to the basement and used a splitter, though I haven't purchased a second HD TV, yet. The picture is great on our 4 year old Mitsubishi rear projector TV.

Hope this helps
Russ

[Alex Franke]

Cool -- I'm seriously considering it, too... probably cut off the cable TV after the elections this year, pick up my converter box coupon, and stick to the networks. PBS alone here has like a half dozen channels, so I won't have to miss my woodworking hour on Saturdays.

Still use cable, though, for internet and phone...

So sorry I can't answer your question, but I'm certainly following this thread now.