Living without the cable…

Removal of DirecTV Dish and Cables

Belle

Once Ron was done trolling Leslie I had to put up the Clearstream Antenna which was remarkably easy. The biggest issue was keeping our five ‘helpers’ (aka the various dogs and cats we’ve accumulated) out of the way as I removed all the DirecTV hardware and the cables. It’s here that things got interesting as we realized we literally had cables in our house that were connected to nothing. Apparently every time we got an upgrade over the last 8 years, DirecTV never removed all the old cabling. And the cables are everywhere: the garage, the boiler  room, through to the third floor of our house. It’s ridiculous and frustrating, especially as DirecTV isn’t coming to get their dish or cables so I have to take those down as well.

Looks like I’ll be buying spray foam insulation and a brickwork repair kit over the next week or so.

Streaming

Ron 

Last week we got our local CBS affiliate through Vue. Most major cities have their local stations over the air channels, but the CBS thing is big since there is no CBS on demand option like there is for ABC/NBC/Fox on Vue. And now that we know Vue works with the Amazon Fire Stick it makes the downstairs TV that much easier to plan for.

The biggest issue I have had with Vue is the response to the guide. We got a remote control from Sony so we can control everything without having to use the PS3 controllers because they are not intuitive to use to watch TV, especially if you are not a gamer (which I am not). Even with the remote, however, the guide is still a little glitchy. It will randomly jump from one end of the guide all the way to the other end when you are only trying to move either one channel or one screen over. It can get frustrating, especially when you are looking through your saved channels and all of a sudden you are way off in “I don’t watch this” land. Overall it is a minor annoyance but it is one to keep in mind and hopefully something that will be corrected in time by Sony.

Since we cut the cord, I have been waffling about whether or not to sign up for the mlb.com streaming service so that I can watch the Orioles games. After some hand-wringing I decided against it. I work in bars 4 nights a week so I can usually catch most if not all of the game while I’m there, and what I miss I can listen to on the radio on the way home. Plus, I cannot get the local affiliate unless I use a proxy server to “change my location”, and if I change my location I cannot cast the game onto the TV. For the few nights I am home and there is a game on I can easily listen to a game (and getting to listen to Joe Angel is always a treat), or I can follow along on the web with a game cast. Of course, there are other options if you don’t mind skirting broadcast laws but I would never condone or explain how one could do that because that would be illegal. So whatever you do, don’t ask me in a private message if you know me because I just wouldn’t do it.

Now, if you will excuse me, I feel a sudden need to repent…