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Thread: Internet only TV

  1. #1
    Master
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    Internet only TV

    Just doing up our new house and one of the jobs is a new TV aerial plus associated wiring/sockets..... anyway I was thinking.... what about internet telly only? I mean 99.9% of the telly we watch is over the internet be it iplayer, itvplayer, netflix. I know there's lot's of talk re. ditching your phone line which, tbh, I tend to think is a bad idea, but what about ditch the TV aerial (and satellite dish - which we don't and have never had)?

    Is there really any need nowadays for anything other than TV over the internet?

  2. #2
    Grand Master JasonM's Avatar
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    I think you’re right, all the major channels have catch up, we hardly ever watch terrestrial these days.
    Cheers..
    Jase

  3. #3
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    Do you ever want to record anything to watch later? Not everything is put up on iPlayer for instance. I usually record anything I want to watch & play it back later so I can skip the adverts. I also find the All4 player abysmal to use so wouldn't want to be at the mercy of using it all the time. Playback quality varies as well - again All4 is very low picture quality compared to the terrestrial feed. What happens if there are two or three programmes you want to watch - F1 on at the same time as the Wimbledon final for example. I record one & watch it later.

  4. #4
    Craftsman Paradiddle's Avatar
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    Out smart tv wasn't connected to the aerial socket for the last 3 years. The only thing we would watch on "live TV" was BBC Breakfast. We do mostly watch Netflix and Youtube 95% of the time.

    We did find that it was a bit of a pain when we did want to watch some things live. iPlayer did a decent job however we had trouble watching live TV on the Channel 4 app. What more is that when my parents visited, it was a bit difficult for them to navigate to things that they want to watch. I also did miss being able to just sit and see what's on.

    I finally buckled and got a freeview cable. Definitely worth the few quid, especially since we pay for TV license anyway.

  5. #5
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Pointy View Post
    Do you ever want to record anything to watch later? Not everything is put up on iPlayer for instance. I usually record anything I want to watch & play it back later so I can skip the adverts. I also find the All4 player abysmal to use so wouldn't want to be at the mercy of using it all the time. Playback quality varies as well - again All4 is very low picture quality compared to the terrestrial feed. What happens if there are two or three programmes you want to watch - F1 on at the same time as the Wimbledon final for example. I record one & watch it later.
    Yes... good points. Checking over what I've recorded in the last 6 months and it seems to be 100% films and, quite often, films aren't as readily available over internet telly - I assume this is a copyright issue. Saying that I've recorded 3 or 4 films over the last couple of months, gambling they might be worth watching, and deleted all of them after watching less than 10 mins... they've been that cr*p. Perhaps I need to monitor more carefully just exactly how much I need terrestrial TV.

  6. #6
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paradiddle View Post
    Out smart tv wasn't connected to the aerial socket for the last 3 years. The only thing we would watch on "live TV" was BBC Breakfast. We do mostly watch Netflix and Youtube 95% of the time.

    We did find that it was a bit of a pain when we did want to watch some things live. iPlayer did a decent job however we had trouble watching live TV on the Channel 4 app. What more is that when my parents visited, it was a bit difficult for them to navigate to things that they want to watch. I also did miss being able to just sit and see what's on.

    I finally buckled and got a freeview cable. Definitely worth the few quid, especially since we pay for TV license anyway.
    It's good to get an opinion from someone that's actually tried this.

  7. #7
    Grand Master
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    Considering the relatively low cost involved I’d fit co- axial sockets and cabling, far better to do it than regret not doing it.

  8. #8
    Master Skier's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Pointy View Post
    Do you ever want to record anything to watch later? Not everything is put up on iPlayer for instance. I usually record anything I want to watch & play it back later so I can skip the adverts. I also find the All4 player abysmal to use so wouldn't want to be at the mercy of using it all the time. Playback quality varies as well - again All4 is very low picture quality compared to the terrestrial feed. What happens if there are two or three programmes you want to watch - F1 on at the same time as the Wimbledon final for example. I record one & watch it later.
    THIS covers eventualities where 3 or 4 programmes need to be recorded/watched at the same time. I have its predecessor in my computer but have not yet ditched live TV entirely. I only have terrestrial, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
    Last edited by Skier; 26th May 2020 at 17:57.

  9. #9
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skier View Post
    THIS covers eventualities where 3 or 4 programmes need to be recorded/watched at the same time. I have its predecessor in my computer but have not yet ditched live TV entirely. I only have terrestrial, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
    One small issue I've just remembered. My telly is single tuner so, when recording, you can't watch any other channel except internet TV! btw this is a limitation I didn't appreciate until AFTER I'd purchased the telly :-(

    What I mean is I've been living without the ability to watch/record 3 or 4 channels at the same time for about 5 years!
    Last edited by solwisesteve; 26th May 2020 at 18:23.

  10. #10
    Master KavKav's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by walkerwek1958 View Post
    Considering the relatively low cost involved I’d fit co- axial sockets and cabling, far better to do it than regret not doing it.
    Exactly so and be assured OP, if you do not then the day will come when you wish you had!

  11. #11
    Haven’t used an aerial in 7 years . Sky or internet services like Netflix .

  12. #12
    I wouldn't. I have some of the best internet available in the UK with fiber all the way into my house.

    It works flawlessly on a good computer but it is the websites and smart TV`s and services that fail and stall etc.

    All this time we thought our internet was at fault but in fact its everything else that's trash

  13. #13
    Master
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    Sounds like best advice is put the coax in and terminate outside to a waterproof box just in case.

    Didn't watch any real time telly last night... the last 15 mins of The Blues Brothers (a classic worth watching every couple of years) and a very average film on Netflix. This was after doing the normal trawl through the DVB channels and giving up. There does seem to be a lot of 'reality' garbage nowadays intermingled with the soaps :-(

    Saying that it took 30 mins on netflix before finally plumping for something to try.... I wonder if either the telly has changed or we've changed (myself and SWMBO) and we're simply not agreeable with each other any more. We do seem to spend more and more time each night trying to find something worth watching... maybe our expectations are higher or, more likely, TV content is just so poor nowadays :-(

  14. #14
    Probably cheaper to fit a satellite dish and get a freesat DVR from humax like we do.

  15. #15
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by jammie*dodger View Post
    Probably cheaper to fit a satellite dish and get a freesat DVR from humax like we do.
    Or even cheaper a new TV aerial and use freeview....

    At the moment the plan is leave the existing coax in place and terminate outside to a waterproof junction box. We have a builder turning up to do some roof work, sometime(!), so I'll get him to take the rusty aerial down and the bracket left over from the satellite dish. So the option is there if we decide not have terrestrial TV is a compromise too many. ;-)

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by jammie*dodger View Post
    Probably cheaper to fit a satellite dish and get a freesat DVR from humax like we do.
    Humax no longer sell Freesat boxes.

  17. #17
    Master Papa Hotel's Avatar
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    Programmes I have watched live this year on terrestrial telly:

    Boris Johnson's broadcast at the start of the apocalypse.

    Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Disney+, iPlayer, ITV Hub, All4, BT Sport, Now TV, whatever Channel 5's app is called, I've got all those and there's no real need for a traditional aerial or dish. To be honest, it's too much choice and times were easier when we had only 4 channels to choose from but really, it's easy to get by without FOMO.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Pointy View Post
    Humax no longer sell Freesat boxes.
    Freesat DVR boxes are also very expensive (compared to FreeView). £5-600+

  19. #19
    Grand Master
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    As ive had no internet since last Wednesday I would say not a brilliant idea.

    At least with an aerial you have a back for TV at least.
    Cheers,

    Ben



    ..... for I have become the Jedi of flippers


    " an extravagance is anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife "

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