• Comparison of the Fire TV Stick 4K

    A new firetv stick was announced today. The Fire TV Stick 4K. https://amzn.to/2IBwuwD Not to be confused with the more expensive FireTV, the FireTV Stick has been great as a low cost way to access streaming services. The FireTV Stick never before offered 4K. I always recommend 4K models of streaming devices. Even if you do not own a 4K TV, you will still benefit from the faster hardware when navigating the menus and get faster load times. Prior to now, the fastest FireTV available was the FireTV 2 from 2015. The FireTV 3 pendent was marketed as 4K but was actually slower than the FireTV 2 in side by side…

  • How to Find $0.99 Digital Movies

    When streaming, free with subscription is fine, free to own is better. Second best is $0.99 to buy a digital copy. I used to have a deal alert saved on slickdeals for “free google play”. It worked for a while, each week I would receive an email listing all the free movies and songs that were currently for sale on google play. Eventually, I had to kill the deal alert when the notifications were taken over with device offers and free shipping. I have found a replacement with JustWatch.com and their search filters. The following link searches Amazon Video for anything under $1, then sorts it by items that recently…

  • Antenna TV Research 2018

    I created the Platteville HDTV Antenna and Streaming page to be dedicated to both streaming tv and local antenna tv solutions. For Platteville WI area residents, you can replace costly CenturyLink/DirectTV/Dish with a lighter package of live streaming cable channels and Madison broadcast channels. CenturyLink no longer allows Platteville residents to sign up for PrismTV. Pushing new customers to DirectTV. CenturyLink will sell DirectTV to you as a “bundle discount”, but it is actually the same price as unbundled if you were to purchase seperate. The cheapest plan from DirectTV costs $70, on top of what you already pay to CenturyLink for internet. New subscribers to DirectTV are signed up…

  • OTA Antenna FAQs

    Here are some Frequently asked questions I get about TV Antennas in my town: What is the best antenna? Can I go bigger? Can I pick up channels from both Madison and Cedar Rapids? What is the best antenna? The best antenna is the one that fits your budget. Here is my handout I give folks who ask. I have it broken into three budgets. < $50 / $120 / $200 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x113jqeepDhK4VtcKPQecNvcxV7hLQJXG0ZTiL3sqp0 Can I go bigger? Short answer, no. Long answer, it depends but probably is not worth it. You can explore this page which describes running multiple DB8 antennas. Midway down the page you will find “Why this 16-bay…

  • OTA Channel List – Aug 2017

    I did a scan tonight and found FIVE new channels I wasn’t aware of. If you have an antenna, do a channel scan on your tv to find the new channels. ION, 24/7 PBS Kids, TBD TV, American Sports Network, and QVC. Here is an updated list of stations from Madison that we can receive in Platteville~! All primary channels are broadcast in 1080i or 720p HD, with the exception of CW, all subchannels are 480i. 3.1 CBS channel3000.com3.2 MyN mynetworktv.com3.3 ION iontelevision.com15.1 NBC nbc15.com15.2 CW cwtv.com15.3 Antenna TV antennatv.tv15.4 Weather weathernationtv.com21.1 PBS wpt.org21.2 Wisconsin wpt.org/wisconsinchannel21.3 Create createtv.com21.4 PBS Kids pbskids.org27.1 ABC wkow.com27.2 Me-TV metvnetwork.com27.3 Decades decades.com40.1 Christian kfxb.net47.1 FOX fox47.com47.2 Comet comettv.com47.3 Charge watchcharge.com47.4 TBD tbd.com57.1 Independent wi57.tv57.2 Movies! moviestvnetwork.com57.3 H&I handitvnetwork.com57.4 ASN americansportsnet.com57.5 QVC qvc.com

  • Amazon Fire TV or Roku TV?

    I think the Amazon Fire TV will replace my current recommendation for the Roku TV as my favorite “Over The Air” receiver. Just like the Roku TV, the Fire TV will have the ability to pause and rewind live TV. However, Fire TV adds the ability to pull up a TV Guide. A feature I sorely miss from my cable days and I supplement with a TV Guide app on my phone. You can checkout the features here:Fire 55 inch TV: http://amzn.to/2xKWMtwRoku 55 inch TV: http://amzn.to/2xtrrLb

  • Cord Cutters and Data Caps

    As people stream more video you may run into Data Caps. The average Platteville resident with CenturyLink internet has a 250GB Data Cap. Note: There are no Data Caps for the 1Gbs service. Some rough numbers from Netflix and SlingTV put HD streaming at 750MB/hour and SD streaming at about 400MB/hour. If you only watch HD streams, you would hit 80% of your 300GB monthly data cap after 63 hours/week. Not too shabby. What about UHD 4K streams? Netflix estimates those at 4-8GB/hour. If you only watch 4K streams, you would hit 80% of your 300GB monthly data cap after a mere 5-12 hours/week. Yikes ! http://www.centurylink.com/aboutus/legal/internet-service-disclosure.html

  • OTA: Metal Monster

    Source: https://www.antennasdirect.com/store/91XG-Ultra-Long-Range-DTV-Antenna.html Have you seen antennas that look like this around Platteville? You will usually see them on 30 foot towers. This is a long range UHF and VHF combination antenna. Those antennas are expensive to have installed (the tower is the bulk of the cost). The height rule for VHF reception is 8 feet above your neighbor’s home OR 32 feet above ground. Meaning that a tower is normally required to get the needed clearance. But did you know that Platteville receives no VHF channels?? All that height is overkill for the shorter waveform UHF reception. For reception of Madison TV channels in Platteville, you need a good UHF only…