Thinking of ditching cable tv, thoughts

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:24 pm

But have you checked to see if it's out of your wife's phone throwing range?

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:34 pm

hepcat wrote:But have you checked to see if it's out of your wife's phone throwing range?

As if there's a chance I would tell her where I'm going to watch a game!

If she happens to tag along, then it's a no-brainer, The Beer Market is at the mall, so she can shop while I watch a game.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 5:23 pm

"The Beer Market"......what a great name.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 6:43 pm

stessier wrote:Well, I finally ordered the antennas. Should be here early next week. I still don't know what I'm going to do about ABC - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get it where all my neighbors have failed. I find willful ignorance is very freeing.

Wow, just tracked the shipment - it's shipping from Charlotte, NC and going to Greenville, SC - I can make the trip in 2 hours. It's going to take 7 days. Free shipping, though!

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 4:09 pm

Yay - the package arrived today!

I got a Mohu Sky 60 and a Leaf. The Sky is meant to be mounted outside while the Leaf 50 is internal. For a test drive, I plugged in the Sky and held it close to a window - well, really the middle of an exterior room as that was as close as I could get. Amazingly, I got all the networks! ABC - the difficult one - was sensitive to the position of the antenna, but came in! The Leaf 50 got the same line up except for ABC which would come and go regardless of where I held the antenna.

It's pretty cloudy today, though, and we have some storms moving through the area. I'm going to wait for a clear day and re-run the test to be sure it's not just an artifact of the weather.

Now for the dumb questions - I'm hooking this up to Tivos. The tuners are in the Tivo units, right? One antenna should work for the two units, correct? And is there any reason I can't just run it into the cable jacks that Charter currently sends me my signal through?

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:52 pm

stessier wrote:Yay - the package arrived today!

I got a Mohu Sky 60 and a Leaf.

(old UHF antennas work just as well as flat 'HD' marketing miracles, but you probably already know this)

stessier wrote: Now for the dumb questions - I'm hooking this up to Tivos. The tuners are in the Tivo units, right? One antenna should work for the two units, correct?

yes, and yes, absolutely. (though the cable length is a factor - if the coax run is long, you may* need a signal booster for the further-away unit. try it first.)

stessier wrote: And is there any reason I can't just run it into the cable jacks that Charter currently sends me my signal through?

only if your subscription with Charter is satellite (different signal).

one comment:

I install and service CATV systems for a living and I guarantee you this will not work at any optimal level.

First of all, you lose signal with diplexers (what you're using to combine antenna/internet.

Second, OTA antenna operates on about 50-500MHz and internet generally operates around 700-900MHz so theoretically you can combine them but you need to make sure the signal frequencies are in fact separate in MHz. Some systems run their data/internet as low as 100-150MHz so for these people there is no way they could combine these two signals.

Third, no one should buy splitters/diplexers from Radio Shack, they are garbage. If you want to do it right get Antronix/Extreme Broadband passive devices or at least Ideal (at home depot).

Due to these factors it's really best just to run two separate lines for your antenna and internet. This way you don't have to kill signal on either one.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 7:11 pm

Scuzz wrote:"The Beer Market"......what a great name.

Great place too...their beer menu is 26 pages long.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:18 pm

hitbyambulance wrote:
stessier wrote:Yay - the package arrived today!

I got a Mohu Sky 60 and a Leaf.
(old UHF antennas work just as well as flat 'HD' marketing miracles, but you probably already know this)

stessier wrote: Now for the dumb questions - I'm hooking this up to Tivos. The tuners are in the Tivo units, right? One antenna should work for the two units, correct?
yes, and yes, absolutely. (though the cable length is a factor - if the coax run is long, you may* need a signal booster for the further-away unit. try it first.)

stessier wrote: And is there any reason I can't just run it into the cable jacks that Charter currently sends me my signal through?
only if your subscription with Charter is satellite (different signal).

one comment:

I install and service CATV systems for a living and I guarantee you this will not work at any optimal level.

First of all, you lose signal with diplexers (what you're using to combine antenna/internet.

Second, OTA antenna operates on about 50-500MHz and internet generally operates around 700-900MHz so theoretically you can combine them but you need to make sure the signal frequencies are in fact separate in MHz. Some systems run their data/internet as low as 100-150MHz so for these people there is no way they could combine these two signals.

Third, no one should buy splitters/diplexers from Radio Shack, they are garbage. If you want to do it right get Antronix/Extreme Broadband passive devices or at least Ideal (at home depot).

Due to these factors it's really best just to run two separate lines for your antenna and internet. This way you don't have to kill signal on either one.

Thanks!

For the last point, I looked at the charter box outside and the have one cable coming out of the ground that goes into a splitter and then three cables out of the splitter. I have two rooms for TV and one for the internet, so I'm guessing I just have to figure out which cable goes to which room, then combine the two TV rooms on a new splitter with the antenna as the input. Sound right?

gameoverman · Post by **gameoverman** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:19 pm

Question to those who know more about this than me, so everyone, is there a place where I can enter the channels I can't live without, ie CNN/MSN/SyFy/Lifetime, and find out which streaming device and/or service and/or app I'd need?

For example, what I mean is something that breaks down like this:
Roku- CNN only via web streaming
Chromecast- CNN app
Amazon Firestick- free with prime membership

Some family members are very unhappy with their cable company and asked me to tell them how to cut their ties without losing certain channels. A box/stick plus apps is about the most they'd go for. Once I started talking about building an HTPC and using networked storage for their media their eyes glazed over.

I don't watch channels like that so I'm lost in this particular forest.

edit: So I found pretty much what I was looking for, in case anyone else is interested

the verge

It seems Hulu+ combined with Sling Tv reproduce the major part of the basic cable experience.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:54 pm

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Good lord, TV has gotten complicated!

The vacation place that we rent got rid of their satellite TV because the trees have finally blocked the signal. That's fine; it never worked very well in the first place. In its place the owner got a Roku with Netflix and Hulu. Now, I'd had enough trouble getting the satellite to work and I wanted no part of this new wizardry. I considered it a win if I could trick it into playing a DVD. Then, last night, the netflix dvd that I had cajoled into playing fritzed out on us. It had an unrecoverable scratch.

I really wanted to finish the movie so I gathered together the remotes and, after much fumbling and a smattering of mild oaths, I figured out not only how to stream the movie over the netflix, but how to skip ahead to where the dvd had crapped out! My wife declared me a genius, and I'll admit to a modicum of pride in having puzzled it out between the three remotes. I had only the most general idea what a roku even is.

There's no way I could ever set all that stuff up.

gameoverman · Post by **gameoverman** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:05 pm

For me most of this stuff is straightforward, my problem is helping other people because they always ask for the ONE thing I don't know about.

My pitch was "I'll set up an HTPC for you, rip all your discs to hard drive, put it all on your network, you sign up for Netflix and whatever, and you're done! You'll never have to load a disc again and you'll have more content than you could ever watch."

Them "Can't we just buy one of those USB sticks* and watch ABC/Lifetime/CNN/etc on it? I don't want a new computer."

*Chromecast and the like

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:54 pm

stessier wrote: For the last point, I looked at the charter box outside and the have one cable coming out of the ground that goes into a splitter and then three cables out of the splitter. I have two rooms for TV and one for the internet, so I'm guessing I just have to figure out which cable goes to which room, then combine the two TV rooms on a new splitter with the antenna as the input. Sound right?

correct - it's the easiest part to set up. the antenna positioning and mounting is the hard part (if you had a roof-mounted aerial.)

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:38 pm

Ok, I'm not ashamed to come back to my own thread and ask for help.

I did ditch cable, but I got sucked in again.

However, I'm ready to go cable free, but I've got a couple things holding me back... mainly ESPN and SEC network. We are a football family and honestly can't go without ESPN, and now SEC network.

From my research, seems my options are PlayStation Network and SlingTv. Am I missing something else?

Honestly, this is a deal breaker not having those two stations. I won't mention how much my cable bill is. But come football season, it's a necessity.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:43 pm

From my investigation, you can't get ESPN without a cable subscription. There are services you can watch it on...but only after validating your cable subscription. I would suggest just using cable for the football season and dropping for the offseasons. Or learn to get real friendly with the people at your local sports bar.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:56 pm

stessier wrote:From my investigation, you can't get ESPN without a cable subscription. There are services you can watch it on...but only after validating your cable subscription. I would suggest just using cable for the football season and dropping for the offseasons. Or learn to get real friendly with the people at your local sports bar.

When we lived in Hawaii for a year we did the sports bar thing. It works, but I much prefer my house much better.

How does SlingTV work with ESPN and the SEC Network without a cable subscription?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 10:33 pm

You can get ESPN via Sling without cable. Not sure on SEC though.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 3:57 am

Zaxxon wrote:You can get ESPN via Sling without cable. Not sure on SEC though.

I'm sorry, I swear when I checked into it you did. I'm very wrong.

Sling is $20 and you get ESPN (along with a bunch of others). For $5 more you get the sports package add on including the SEC network.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:37 am

Question about Chromecast - if I go to ABC.com (or whatever website) and stream whatever is freely available, can I then cast that to my TV? I think that is how it works, but I'm not sure.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 5:58 am

stessier wrote:Question about Chromecast - if I go to ABC.com (or whatever website) and stream whatever is freely available, can I then cast that to my TV? I think that is how it works, but I'm not sure.

I have been able to stream everything I've tried on my browser through Chromecast. The only issue I've had is WatchESPN where is does a pop-out, but you just need to copy & paste the link from the pop-out to a regular Chrome tab. I just tried ABC.com and it worked fine.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 7:04 am

Sling has the limitation of one stream per account which I don't see them make clear on their page. If that's not an issue I think it reviews well otherwise. Seems ideal if you live alone. Of course even paying for 2 accounts is less than my cable bill, but it's also missing some channels my wife and I would want. I'm still very intrigued by it and may consider it in the future if they add just a few of the channels it's missing.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:24 am

JCC wrote:Sling has the limitation of one stream per account which I don't see them make clear on their page. If that's not an issue I think it reviews well otherwise. Seems ideal if you live alone. Of course even paying for 2 accounts is less than my cable bill, but it's also missing some channels my wife and I would want. I'm still very intrigued by it and may consider it in the future if they add just a few of the channels it's missing.

One account is fine by me. I might give this a shot this week when I get a chance

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:14 pm

Can someone review to the technology ignorant how these things are wired? I guess what I mean is we have a Roku, so I know what that does and how it works. How does a Slingbox or Chromecast compare and what are their limitations? I see upthread that a Slingbox only works for one TV? Isn't that the same with a Roku?

Would combining a Roku (w/Netflix), Hulu and Slingbox subscriptions pretty get you a little bit of everything?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:22 pm

A Chromecast has a power port and hooks into an HDMI slot. The power can either be drawn from a power outlet or the TV's USB port. It uses wifi to connect to the internet.

If you have an Android device, you can pretty much take any browser video and move it up to the Chromecast.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:24 pm

Scuzz wrote:Can someone review to the technology ignorant how these things are wired? I guess what I mean is we have a Roku, so I know what that does and how it works. How does a Slingbox or Chromecast compare and what are their limitations? I see upthread that a Slingbox only works for one TV? Isn't that the same with a Roku?

Would combining a Roku (w/Netflix), Hulu and Slingbox subscriptions pretty get you a little bit of everything?

Just an FYI, Slingbox and SlingTV are different technologies as well

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 1:07 pm

Xmann wrote:
Scuzz wrote:Can someone review to the technology ignorant how these things are wired? I guess what I mean is we have a Roku, so I know what that does and how it works. How does a Slingbox or Chromecast compare and what are their limitations? I see upthread that a Slingbox only works for one TV? Isn't that the same with a Roku?

Would combining a Roku (w/Netflix), Hulu and Slingbox subscriptions pretty get you a little bit of everything?

Just an FYI, Slingbox and SlingTV are different technologies as well

Same type product though?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 1:13 pm

Scuzz wrote:
Xmann wrote:
Scuzz wrote:Can someone review to the technology ignorant how these things are wired? I guess what I mean is we have a Roku, so I know what that does and how it works. How does a Slingbox or Chromecast compare and what are their limitations? I see upthread that a Slingbox only works for one TV? Isn't that the same with a Roku?

Would combining a Roku (w/Netflix), Hulu and Slingbox subscriptions pretty get you a little bit of everything?

Just an FYI, Slingbox and SlingTV are different technologies as well
Same type product though?

No. SlingTV is an app on your Roku (or elsewhere). Slingbox is a physical device the slings your in-home cable signal elsewhere.

gameoverman · Post by **gameoverman** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:27 pm

Scuzz wrote:Can someone review to the technology ignorant how these things are wired? I guess what I mean is we have a Roku, so I know what that does and how it works. How does a Slingbox or Chromecast compare and what are their limitations? I see upthread that a Slingbox only works for one TV? Isn't that the same with a Roku?

Would combining a Roku (w/Netflix), Hulu and Slingbox subscriptions pretty get you a little bit of everything?

One thing I've learned- if you are trying to recreate the cable tv experience on your Roku/HTPC/Chromecast/etc, well, you can't do that.

There is no box, no app, no service, that will give you all the cable channels. Slingtv in addition to Hulu gives you a lot, but you'll still be short quite a few. If your luck is like mine, the channels you can't get are the exact ones people, maybe you included, want to see. The other problem is that to maximize the amount of channels you get, you'll need to keep piling on apps and services. This means you start spending a fair amount of money for a reduced experience. Yeah you might save a few dollars but if channel surfing is your thing you won't be happy.

The solution, for me anyways, is to change your mindset. It's not about having 150 channels to surf. It's about having access to the content you want to see. It's not about the channels, it's about the tv shows and movies.

A friend of mine said "But I want to be able to flip it to XYZ channel and see if there's something on that I want to watch". So I asked "Have you EVER watched even one hour of programming on that channel before?" "No, but they might have something someday that I want to see".

That kind of viewer is stuck with cable, don't be that kind of viewer.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:31 pm

gameoverman wrote:The solution, for me anyways, is to change your mindset. It's not about having 150 channels to surf. It's about having access to the content you want to see. It's not about the channels, it's about the tv shows and movies.

True for me, as well. Set a system that gives you most of what you want--that should be doable for most these days. Then fill it out with stuff you didn't know you wanted (there's a ton of this on Netflix/Hulu/Prime). If there are holes that you absolutely must fill, relax and do it via Amazon rental/purchases. That last bit incurs charges, but for me it's a small, irregular amount that does not negate the cost savings of nuking the cable bill.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:34 pm

gameoverman wrote:
Scuzz wrote:Can someone review to the technology ignorant how these things are wired? I guess what I mean is we have a Roku, so I know what that does and how it works. How does a Slingbox or Chromecast compare and what are their limitations? I see upthread that a Slingbox only works for one TV? Isn't that the same with a Roku?

Would combining a Roku (w/Netflix), Hulu and Slingbox subscriptions pretty get you a little bit of everything?
One thing I've learned- if you are trying to recreate the cable tv experience on your Roku/HTPC/Chromecast/etc, well, you can't do that.

There is no box, no app, no service, that will give you all the cable channels. Slingtv in addition to Hulu gives you a lot, but you'll still be short quite a few. If your luck is like mine, the channels you can't get are the exact ones people, maybe you included, want to see. The other problem is that to maximize the amount of channels you get, you'll need to keep piling on apps and services. This means you start spending a fair amount of money for a reduced experience. Yeah you might save a few dollars but if channel surfing is your thing you won't be happy.

The solution, for me anyways, is to change your mindset. It's not about having 150 channels to surf. It's about having access to the content you want to see. It's not about the channels, it's about the tv shows and movies.

A friend of mine said "But I want to be able to flip it to XYZ channel and see if there's something on that I want to watch". So I asked "Have you EVER watched even one hour of programming on that channel before?" "No, but they might have something someday that I want to see".

That kind of viewer is stuck with cable, don't be that kind of viewer.

Are ... are you the anti-Rob Lowe?

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:46 am

Man I feel silly to ask for help on this, but I just can't seem to figure it out on my own

I've got the Mohu Leaf out and have it connected again. I did a channel scan and its giving me lots of over the air channels.

However, I can't change the damn TV stations on the TV!! I have the input set to TV, but when I push the channel up or down, it gives me a message " no input selected ". I honestly for the life of me can't figure this out! I'm trying the remote and buttons on the TV.

I'm sure I'm not doing something right. Any guesses?

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:59 am

What type of TV do you have? We have an old Sony trinity on (circa 1998) and it has a setting in the menu with something like "cable / tv" and when on cable, it doesnt turn TV stations, only cable.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:52 am

Glad to hear the Mohu is working for you!

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:12 am

stessier wrote:What type of TV do you have? We have an old Sony trinity on (circa 1998) and it has a setting in the menu with something like "cable / tv" and when on cable, it doesnt turn TV stations, only cable.

I've got a new Samsung. I've put the input on TV and still won't change stations

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:50 pm

Xmann wrote:Man I feel silly to ask for help on this, but I just can't seem to figure it out on my own

I've got the Mohu Leaf out and have it connected again. I did a channel scan and its giving me lots of over the air channels.

However, I can't change the damn TV stations on the TV!! I have the input set to TV, but when I push the channel up or down, it gives me a message " no input selected ". I honestly for the life of me can't figure this out! I'm trying the remote and buttons on the TV.

I'm sure I'm not doing something right. Any guesses?

did you set Antenna Source to DTV Air instead of Cable?

is the antenna itself directly plugged into the TV's ANT IN coax jack (twist fastener), or is it plugged into another component?

(what you describe might be similar with in the past what would happen when an external tuner is plugged into the ANT IN coax on the TV - the external tuner would only be viewable on channel 3 or 4, and you'd get nothing on the other channels. however, since you say it's a new TV, it wouldn't have an NTSC tuner anymore, so the behavior would not be the same.)

if you are able to receive an image/sound on the set, what happens when you press Channel Up once, then Channel Down once (to return to where you were)?

(and the remote Channel Up/Down buttons aren't actually functioning as Input Up/Down for some reason?)

post the make/model number of your set as well.

Captain Caveman · Post by **Captain Caveman** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:27 am

I finally cut the cord today.

I was aghast to see that my TWC bill was creeping upwards of $160 a month for cable TV and internet, so I started looking into alternatives. Sling TV made all the difference for me finally cutting the cord. I had to have ESPN for MNF and college basketball.

I bought a $50 indoor HDTV antenna from Amazon, which works great. I get all the networks in clear HD, plus about 40 other mostly terrible channels (a lot of preachers and Spanish channels). Sling TV gives me all the cable networks I watch for $20 a month. Combine that with Netflix and Amazon Prime, I have everything I need... except a good DVR solution. I'm looking into that.

My TWC bill is now closer to $40 (though a bit more with taxes and fees, and the modem lease). Add Sling TV and I still come out nearly $100 a month cheaper than before. I'll see how everything goes over the next week or so, but as of right now, I'm sad that I didn't do this sooner.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:31 am

Tivo has a DVR for OTA...and it kind of defines the DVR market, so it's not like it's terrible or anything.

Captain Caveman · Post by **Captain Caveman** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:34 am

stessier wrote:Tivo has a DVR for OTA...and it kind of defines the DVR market, so it's not like it's terrible or anything.

I know. But two thinks hold me back. First, the monthly fee. I don't want to start adding costs. But more importantly, that DVR would only work for OTA stuff, which is just the main networks for me. Most of my DVR use with TWC was on cable networks and sports on ESPN. Sling TV doesn't have a DVR feature, and it's kinda lacking in its on demand abilities.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:46 am

Captain Caveman wrote:
stessier wrote:Tivo has a DVR for OTA...and it kind of defines the DVR market, so it's not like it's terrible or anything.
I know. But two thinks hold me back. First, the monthly fee. I don't want to start adding costs. But more importantly, that DVR would only work for OTA stuff, which is just the main networks for me. Most of my DVR use with TWC was on cable networks and sports on ESPN. Sling TV doesn't have a DVR feature, and it's kinda lacking in its on demand abilities.

Well, you don't have to pay a monthly fee. If you buy the lifetime subscription, you start beating the monthly fee after 30 months. You would hope any solution would last at least that long, so I don't view it as a big risk. And if you ever decide to go back to cable, it would work with that as well as the OTA.

As for SlingTV, I don't know if anything is going to be able to DVR off of that of any streaming solution.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:13 pm

gameoverman wrote:
Scuzz wrote:Can someone review to the technology ignorant how these things are wired? I guess what I mean is we have a Roku, so I know what that does and how it works. How does a Slingbox or Chromecast compare and what are their limitations? I see upthread that a Slingbox only works for one TV? Isn't that the same with a Roku?

Would combining a Roku (w/Netflix), Hulu and Slingbox subscriptions pretty get you a little bit of everything?
One thing I've learned- if you are trying to recreate the cable tv experience on your Roku/HTPC/Chromecast/etc, well, you can't do that.

There is no box, no app, no service, that will give you all the cable channels. Slingtv in addition to Hulu gives you a lot, but you'll still be short quite a few. If your luck is like mine, the channels you can't get are the exact ones people, maybe you included, want to see. The other problem is that to maximize the amount of channels you get, you'll need to keep piling on apps and services. This means you start spending a fair amount of money for a reduced experience. Yeah you might save a few dollars but if channel surfing is your thing you won't be happy.

The solution, for me anyways, is to change your mindset. It's not about having 150 channels to surf. It's about having access to the content you want to see. It's not about the channels, it's about the tv shows and movies.

A friend of mine said "But I want to be able to flip it to XYZ channel and see if there's something on that I want to watch". So I asked "Have you EVER watched even one hour of programming on that channel before?" "No, but they might have something someday that I want to see".

That kind of viewer is stuck with cable, don't be that kind of viewer.

We lived on free Roku apps for a couple weeks and I was pretty happy. I did have ESPN on Roku at the time because technically we were still signed up for it. But that would be something I would need if I were to abandon cable. I also think since then the Food Channel has been added to either Hulu or Roku, and that my daughter would require. We do have Netflix.

So a Roku, an antenna and a SlingTV app may do it for me. Also, I would probably need a TIVO or other DVR.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:17 pm

stessier wrote:Well, you don't have to pay a monthly fee. If you buy the lifetime subscription, you start beating the monthly fee after 30 months. You would hope any solution would last at least that long, so I don't view it as a big risk. And if you ever decide to go back to cable, it would work with that as well as the OTA.

1) They don't sell lifetime service anymore.
2) There is a TiVo model that only works OTA (about $150 cheaper than the cable/OTA model).