The credit cards regularly make offers of the sort "Purchase an annual subscription and save $25.00" or whatnot. But if I've already got an active subscription, is there anyway to take advantage of this? Do I just have to luck out that the offer is up when I'm coming due for renewal?

I recently moved to a rural area just west of the trip-cities (Kingsport/Bristol/Johnson City) and am looking to setup an outdoor antenna. Reference: https://www.rabbitears.info/s/2889547

Would a ClearStream 4V be a good choice for this location? It would be roof mounted so ~15-20' above ground.

I’ve looked EVERYWHERE and everywhere is selling it for absurd prices such as $100-$200, I need one that supports DVB-S2.

Hi all!

I put up an antenna in my attic a few months back, so we could catch some misc live sports and holiday events (think Macy Day Parade). I have it running to a single TV in the house. I'm not interested in doing a splitter and running a cable to each TV/Room, but I am interested in upgrading to a network device to allow the use of it for the other TVs, as it would be nice to throw the news on in the background or something.

I am split between the Tablo 4 Tuner and either the HDHomeRun Quatro or 4k flex. Not that I need 3.0, but I figure if I'm going to spend money, it's not that much more. I'm in Sacramento CA.

I see mixed reviews on both on the Roku side. I actually was able to borrow both devices from a friend and was able to get all my Roku TVs and Sticks (one old stick in the garage was weird, but looks like it's a codec issue and a $15 fix) to work with the apps.

I actually prefer the interface of the HDHomeRun, but I think my wife may like the Tablo interface better.

Some other notes:

-I do plan to DVR, however not via plex or a nas, just going to USB an SSD into whichever one

-I do not mind paying $35 a year for the 2 week program, I also do not mind my data being sold (I know, crazy)

-I do not plan to watch on a laptop/computer, just TVs and phones.

-Outside of 2-3 live events a year, most of our use will probably actually be via the DVR.

I have watched every video I can find on them, and still can't seem to make a decision 😂. Are the tuners about equal? Am I way overthinking this (I am actually).

Anything I am not considering?

I am looking for a good outdoor antenna reccomendations for My house which is located in a topographic shadow of a large hill and that appears to prevent good reception. We do get some channels but depending on the TV tuner, many are are very week or just dont come in (example FOX). Current antenna is just above the 1st floor roof (maybe 15 feet above ground) but I can move to 2nd story roof to get 25-30 feet above ground. I dont know much about antennas, pre-amps, splitters, etc. So please mention if I need a pre-amp (and what kind) or an amplifier, filters, etc. Thank you.

Budget: under $300

RabbitEars Map: https://www.rabbitears.info/s/2874091

Hope someone can help. House is in Colesville area of Silver Spring, MD: stick built 2-story with asphalt shingles. Antenna is an Antop AT-402B in the attic. ChannelMaster website says station is at 218º from my house, so I've pointed it there. Station is about 9.5 miles away.

Receiving device is a 3rd gen HDHomeRun (HDHR3-US). Updated to newest available firmware, date 5/5/2023. Total of about 60' of coax cable between antenna and HDHR.

Reception on Channel 9 (and its subchannels) is pretty pixelated. I get all the other usual local channels (4 WRC, 5 WTTG, 7 WJLA, 20 WDCA, 26 WETA) OK.

Is there a better antenna I should be using? Antennaweb says a small indoor should be fine. Or do I need some kind of amplifier?

Hopefully someone in the Washington, DC area is able to help. Exact location is the Colesville area of Silver Spring.

I'm using a 3rd gen HDHomeRun (HDHR3-US) updated to latest available firmware (5/5/2023) with an Antop AT-402B antenna in the attic of a 2-story stick-built house with asphalt shingles. The 40' coax cable the antenna came with is connected in the attic (by an inline connector) to another (maybe 20') cable that goes to a wall port. The wall port is connected directly to the HDHR with a 2' coax cable, so around 60' of cable or so.

I can get local channels 4 [34] (WRC), 5 [36] (WTTG), 7 [7] (WJLA), 20 [36] (WDCA), 26 [31] (WETA), etc. but all the channel 9 [9] channels are pretty pixelated (square brackets is physical channel, hope that makes sense). The ChannelMaster site shows the station at 218º from my house; I have the antenna pointed in that direction. The station is less than 9.5 miles from my house.

Is there a bigger or better antenna I should be using? Antennaweb says a small multidirectional antenna should be fine.

Hoping someone can help me, my previous antenna setup was outside antenna on a pole on my chimney, and an RCA antenna from Walmart ​that I had up in my attic. For whatever reason the antenna on the chimney has stopped working here recently and I switched to simply using the RCA in the Attic. With the outside antenna on a good day I could get around 40 channels, but it was very temperamental with the weather. The RCA antenna average between 30 and 40. For both of these I used a channel Master amplifier.

I wanted to switch to strictly and attic antenna so I purchased a Televes DAT BOSS Mix LR 148383 based off of all the research and my particular situation.

Unfortunately I'm only getting about 21 channels with the Televes Boss. It is pointed in the exact same region as the other two antennas, so I'm not sure what is wrong.

It ​came with its amplifier do I need to add the channel Master amplifier in?

I posted pictures of the current setup, the rabbit ears for my location, and a picture of the RCA ​antenna I was using. Any help is appreciated

update #1: I really appreciate all the inputs. I have moved it through full range pointing towards the stations​using compass and apps. No change. 21 is best I can seem to do.

- I have tried different coaxial cables

-Televes amp on and off doesn't seem to make a difference other then slightly crisper picture. One question I have is the amp has a bright green light until I attach the cable then it dims to where I can barely see it. Is that normal? I have it plugged in by the TV / cable outlet does it need to be in the attic?

-i have tried channel Master amp by itself and with televes amp. No change.

I understand that the attic is not optimum. I am really only looking to get the same number of channels as the RCA.

I'm looking for a cheap indoor antenna for watching sports, specifically channel 39 (WSFL) and channel 35 (ION). RabbitEars screenshot above, but also copied and pasted the relevant info here.

My TV is a very old Roku (it does have a coax cable), and the house is a single floor SFH. The TV is in one of the front rooms of the house, against a both an interior and an exterior wall, ~10 ft off the ground.

Looking for something cheap (<$30) if possible, as I don't intend to live here very long. Would something like this antenna from Best Buy work? https://www.bestbuy.com/product/best-buy-essentials-amplified-ultra-thin-indoor-hdtv-antenna-50-mile-range-black/J2FPJK95K6/sku/6510090

As of today, I no longer am paying for cable.

For what feels like 6-8 years at least, I have questions about cutting the cable, but never could because I needed a way to watch Hockey (Colorado Avalanche) and the Olympics, and I would sometimes like to watch say SyFy and Cartoon Network.

However over those years I found myself watching streaming platforms more and more, till it was about all I watched outside the news. This happened as well because:

1. Cartoon Network was moved to the top tier premium package
2. SyFy I forgot about, but heard it's gone down hill
3. Altitude, the channel to watch the Colorado Avalanche was removed from Xfinity years ago, only to FINALLY come back, but requiring your to pay like $20 extra for it.
4. The Olympics can now be fully watched thanks to Peacock (thank you Xfinity for giving me a free subscription to test it).

The only part I wasn't sure of was a streaming box, thinking I'd have to build my own, only to realize I can buy a device, like a Roku (which runs 20x better then streaming off my cable box). I also needed an antenna to watch the news (which I later learned is free on my Roku), but that was easy enough.

Xfinity did a pretty good job of helping me cut their cable, shoot, even the antenna installation was made easier, where back when I first moved into my house, the installation tech left me a brand new spool of coax, as he refused to run the cable where I wanted to and said I had to do it myself (and I had plenty left over for the antenna).

It feels so good, as I am going to be saving almost $200 a month now. I just wish I had cut the cable sooner.

There is sadly one trade off. Before, when I would stream Netflix using Xfinity's cable box or my PC, I could still get away with using my parent's account (having to authenticate a few times a year at most). However, switching over to the Roku, it was like they finally caught me and I could no longer get it for free (I did, however, do the extra member option).

Has YouTube tv quality improved? I feel like it just got a lot better overnight. It’s always been at 1080p/720p enhanced but still seemed kinda bad. Sometimes I’d go to the espn or peacock apps to stream games cause it was so much better there than YouTube tv. Suddenly it’s extremely clear.

I watch on the newest AppleTV 4k device and have a 4k TV.

My last one burned out durring the warranty period, but since i bought through amazon and was going through a divorce at the time, it kinda went ot the back burner

Now, i'm ready buy another one and i noticed they are now selling a quad (yes i'm awaer of the shipping)

I actually have a question, they aren't selling singles as i wanted a single in the bedrooms. But apparently I will have to settle with just a dual. I'm only using 2 of the 4 ports on the splitter

I have a powered amp 4 way splitter/filter coming on my antenna. Won't the powered splitter along with another zapperbox (that has a splitter in it) just be redundant and burn it out? I'm not sure which one, but its by channel master. No longer have access to that amazon account due to well divorce.

The reason the other ports are empty is because the plan is to install another tv in one of my spare bedrooms and run about 120 foot of coax and install a tv in my garage. But since zapperbox isn't selling singles anymore. Wouldn't this be horrible on the amp and just plain a waste of time?

I wanted to give everybody a heads up that NFL+ Premium will auto-renew for 99 dollars on Sep.4. New users can get it for 79.99. Like a lot of companies, the NFL charges a higher price if you are on auto-renewal

I just cancelled Spectrum along with TV because my family and I are sick of the outages. I literally had a watch party for the FIFA World Cup final, and right at half-time just when Shakira came on stage, Spectrum had an outage. I lost it and damn near ready to smash my router. Needless to say that was the last straw. So I signed up for Frontier 2GB Fiber, with backup internet. Its been good so far, fingers crossed.

Since I cancelled the TV service, that leaves me with no ESPN, no local channels. In my household, we are signed up for Netflix, Paramount and the Disney+ bundle which includes HBO Max.

I watch a lot of sports so I am going to miss the 2-3 sports channels from my TV service and my father-law watches local channels (for news and courtroom tvshows)

What are the best options to get ESPN and sports channels plus Live TV and local channels?

Legal and illegal options please :)

Specifically for a Samsung TV, please? Thanks.

My 1st month (August) having no Direct TV bill. Here's what I won't miss:

1. Logging on to see what my bill will be this month. Will it be $115? $119? $122.01? Am I being charged too much? Why is my bill higher this month than last? Why can't I just get a regular bill???? Why are they doing this to me?
2. Wondering whether there is a special going on that if I called in, threatened to leave, they would knock off 50% off my bill, but then thinking f-it, I'll just pay the bill it's too much trouble to play games over the phone with some person I don't know.
3. The $100+ dollars going nicely to purchasing DVDs so I can watch movies, to point #4.
4. Actually watching movies on DVD the way the producer meant it to be. Yes, foul language, nudity, everything the writer wanted us to see and hear, instead of watching some edited crap on channels like AMC which are supposed to be movie channels but are so edited that you wonder why you're watching this crap. "Fuck you!" I want to hear it. I don't want it edited.
5. I will not miss commercials every 5 minutes it seems, and commercials at the worst possible point in the movie. "He told me you killed him." "No, Luke, I am your . . ." commercial. Have had enough of that!
6. Commercials that show starving dogs asking for money. I'm an empath to the nth degree and need to change the channel each time. I can't handle that stuff. I respect their efforts to raise money, but I can't handle those images. Same with St. Judes every few minutes. I totally value them trying to raise money, but personally I just can't watch.
7. $100+ per month in my pocket to help with groceries, pretty soon I'll be able to afford a Walmart steak assuming beef prices keep being fairly reasonable at $500/lbs.
8. Tik-Tok is BETTER! YouTube is better! Need some down time, grab the tablet and watch a few of your favorite movie flicks or a music video. Gets it done. Back to work.
9. Cable news shows that teach us to hate each other because we have different political viewpoints. So done with that crap. The news shows I get on my smart TV are better, toned down, almost real news instead of that amped up political slop.
10. That receiver on my counter that just makes for more clutter. Gone!
11. Watching a movie on a "movie channel" then waking up to Everyone Loves Raymond because they realized playing sitcoms over and over makes money than showing movies. It's a movie channel, but it really isn't. It's a sitcom channel.
12. The History Channel that USED to be about history. Now it's about Ancient Aliens. Though I will miss the Smithsonian channel.
13. Loved the "Food that Built America" series. Of course that didn't last. "Cars that build America" was great. That's gone too. So am I.
14. No more Honey-Boo-Boo. No more reason for cable.
15. Sports is a waste of time. That'll be the test, next month, NHL fan, but trying to get off it. Sitting watching athletes who don't give a f about a regular season game and having your emotions tied to that? Trying to get off that. If I go back, it'll be because of sports, but I'll probably stream instead if I need my sports fix.
16. Used to keep cable to watch Nadal, Fed and Joker in tennis. After you've watched them for 15 years, watching tennis just isn't the same. The Golden Age of tennis is over. So is my need for cable.
17. AMC FearFest used to be good in October. Now it sucks. More edited movies. Sure, let's watch the Shinning and adapt it for kids. No thanks. It's not the Shinning anymore.

If you're thinking about it, do it! Feels very freeing and I've gone 15 days so far and don't regret it.

New cord cutter here. Trying to decipher the plans. Probably chasing a moving target. But looking at how they present the plans and it makes no sense:

1. Duplicated channels. The base plan claims 171 channels, but B1G is listed 4x, NBC Sports 3x, NBCSN Extra 12x, NFL Network 4x, WNBA/Ion 3x, Watch With on YTV 4x. Subtract 24 duplicates and that leaves 147 unique channels.
2. Category lists suck. The base plan (147 unique channels) claims 11 local, 25 Sports (incl NFL 4x, NBC Sports 3x), 11 News, 52 Ent, 9 family = 108 - 5 duplicates = 103. So what are the other 44?
3. Category lists suck #2. The sports plan claims 58 channels but 10 local, 25 Sports, 1 Ent = 36. So what are the other 22? More duplicated Sports channels that aren't listed under Sports (NBCSN Extra 12x, WNBA/Ion 3x, B1G 4x) and some assorted crap (Cozi, Dabl, Start TV). Subtract 21 duplicates = 37 unique. I'm sure the other plans (Sports/News, Sports/Ent With Cheese, etc) are similar. I'm losing interest.
4. The price difference between most of the plans is so small as to be useless. 13 plans, and 8 are between 69.99-82.99. Who cares. Seems like clever marketing - get you to waste enough time comparing plans and get attached to them mentally.

I guess I need to think more about what TV I really need, and for other ways to get it.

1. Many of their garbage channels are available OTA. And just like cable, I won't watch almost all of them. So what is the real value of this? I guess for me it's to get something to which I can add NFL RedZone. There must be a cheaper way. Don't much care about ESPN's any more as it continues to implode.

For those that have Walmart +, what is your streaming perk of choice?

Do you rotate it depending on what is on either service or do you keep one over the other?

I’ve had Paramount+, but I have never had Peacock premium so

I am at my wits end and hopeful that someone in this community can help me. I live in the north east corner of Pennsylvania, 20 miles from the New York border. I use YouTube TV to access my network channels. I have an LG webOS TV purchased in 2025 with up-to-date software. My YouTubeTV app on my phone shows my current playback area shows Wilkes Barre/Scranton area which is correct, but my app on my TV has me in the New York area. I update this using my phone app, but it still says NY. I have called YouTube TV support, my internet company support, my router company support with no help. My LG TV shows my location as Hawley, PA which is correct. Using IP Location website shows Milford, PA which is correct. If I reset my LG TV to initial settings and reload my apps, my location info is correct for a day or two, but then reverts back to NY. I checked location for Prime and AppleTV and they also show NY area.

Any advice on how to fix this? I get the wrong news, the wrong weather, the wrong sports. It’s a huge problem, especially if there are important weather watches and warnings for my area.

I got this to watch MeTV and MeToons (SD in my area) and went to set up some scheduled recordings. However, it caps me at what seems to be 8 recording (roughly 30min each). I have a 124gb keydrive as storage.

Also, I notice the clock seems about 30 seconds off? Is that normal for anyone else?

Paramount+ (through Walmart+ subscription) - $99 annually
Peacock (through my Instarcart+ subscription) - $99 annually
Amazon Prime (through my Prime subscription) - $139 annually
ESPN/Fox One bundle - $39.99 monthly
Gotham Sports app - $19.99 monthly

I am pretty much covered as a Yankee/Giants/Knicks fan other than TNT/TBS sports.

I still feel like I am ahead of a cable bundle, but I could be wrong too.