The HTPC project (a.k.a. get rid of cable) has been going on for almost a year now, so I thought I’d post an update. \u00c2\u00a0The original intent was to see if cable TV service could be replaced with internet and broadcast TV. \u00c2\u00a0My requirements for a solution were:<\/p>\n
So can it be done? \u00c2\u00a0Not exactly. \u00c2\u00a0At least I couldn’t make it work. \u00c2\u00a0Here’s what I found out:<\/p>\n
Could I have done more to make this work? \u00c2\u00a0Yeah. \u00c2\u00a0I didn’t install a TV tuner in the HTPC. This would have let us fast-forward and rewind through live TV. \u00c2\u00a0Once you’ve gotten used to this, it’s jarring to watch TV without it. \u00c2\u00a0 (Heck, sometimes I try to rewind the radio in my car.) \u00c2\u00a0 I didn’t try any subscriptions to replace cable content. But those subscriptions still require use of a web site, which, as I mentioned, scores low on ease of use. \u00c2\u00a0I could have canceled cable to force myself to dig deeper for a replacement. \u00c2\u00a0And, lastly, I did this project in the basement, which isn’t as comfortable as the family room. \u00c2\u00a0If the kids were watching their shows in the family room (even ones I would never watch myself), I found I’d rather watch that in the family room than go down to the basement to watch something I enjoyed. \u00c2\u00a0Insane, yes. \u00c2\u00a0Lazy, yes. \u00c2\u00a0But that’s what happened.<\/p>\n
The experiment wasn’t a total loss. \u00c2\u00a0The HTPC gets content automatically loaded on the NAS by Sickbeard. \u00c2\u00a0I watch those shows while on the treadmill or bike trainer, which means I exercise more. \u00c2\u00a0The kids use the HTPC to watch YouTube on the big screen. \u00c2\u00a0I use the big screen to preview video I take with my DSLR. \u00c2\u00a0The NAS has made back-ups a breeze. \u00c2\u00a0There’s an extra computer in the house as a back-up. \u00c2\u00a0And I was inspired to get a TiVo!<\/p>\n
Although we’re not giving up cable, one thing that was a constant irritation about cable was the usability of the FiOS DVR. \u00c2\u00a0In addition to being buggy (switching tuners unpauses a show, fast forwarding to the end of a show is tricky, recordings sometimes don’t work right), the user interface is unresponsive. \u00c2\u00a0Frequently the DVR doesn’t respond to a button press. \u00c2\u00a0What’s worse is there’s no user feedback when the DVR is busy. \u00c2\u00a0So you can’t tell if it got your command or not. \u00c2\u00a0Do I push the button again? \u00c2\u00a0Wait a while? \u00c2\u00a0Ugh. \u00c2\u00a0After living with this for three years, I replaced it with a TiVo. \u00c2\u00a0I had considered getting the TiVo Premiere because it records broadcast TV. \u00c2\u00a0What the HTPC experiment taught me is that I can’t replace cable just yet. \u00c2\u00a0So if I’m going to use cable, I don’t need broadcast. \u00c2\u00a0The Premiere Elite has four cable tuners, but no broadcast tuner. \u00c2\u00a0It’s only been in the house for a day–I’ll post more on that later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The HTPC project (a.k.a. get rid of cable) has been going on for almost a year now, so I thought I’d post an update. \u00c2\u00a0The original intent was to see if cable TV service could be replaced with internet and broadcast TV. \u00c2\u00a0My requirements for a solution were: Usable by the whole family Content obtained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918,"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familytidings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}