Thanksgiving Day TV for cordcutters
October 22, 2017 9:08 AM Subscribe
Help me keep everyone happy and entertained and mostly screen-sedated on Thanksgiving Day, without cable TV.
For reasons, I think it would be best if my household of Thanksgiving guests will be able to watch adult-friendly TV during the day, before we eat. (I don't mean adult like porn: I mean adult, like, will keep the adults distracted but NOT entrance the kids. I don't want the kids glued to the screen: I want to keep the adults non-awkwardly entertained and having something to talk about and out of my kitchen, while the kids play.)
If we had cable, I'd have the Macy's Parade on, and football (not that I know anything about football but I understand this is traditional.) But I don't have cable. What I have is:
* Netflix
* Amazon Prime
* HBO
* a MacBook Air that will push anything from my laptop screen to the TV set for viewing (which btw someone here tipped me off about a while ago, thanks AskMeFi!)
I understand last year Verizon streamed the parade for free somehow, but I haven't seen anything announcing that this year.
Any ideas for (1) getting me EITHER non-cable streaming parade + football access (I don't mind paying a one time fee) OR (2) a neutral-but-still-interesting marathon of on-demand stuff available on via the services listed above, for a roomful of adults of highly disparate tastes? Like if you came to someone's house and there was a marathon of Great British Bake Off on the TV because she didn't have cable, would you be like "ugh" or "hm ok that works" ?
For reasons, I think it would be best if my household of Thanksgiving guests will be able to watch adult-friendly TV during the day, before we eat. (I don't mean adult like porn: I mean adult, like, will keep the adults distracted but NOT entrance the kids. I don't want the kids glued to the screen: I want to keep the adults non-awkwardly entertained and having something to talk about and out of my kitchen, while the kids play.)
If we had cable, I'd have the Macy's Parade on, and football (not that I know anything about football but I understand this is traditional.) But I don't have cable. What I have is:
* Netflix
* Amazon Prime
* HBO
* a MacBook Air that will push anything from my laptop screen to the TV set for viewing (which btw someone here tipped me off about a while ago, thanks AskMeFi!)
I understand last year Verizon streamed the parade for free somehow, but I haven't seen anything announcing that this year.
Any ideas for (1) getting me EITHER non-cable streaming parade + football access (I don't mind paying a one time fee) OR (2) a neutral-but-still-interesting marathon of on-demand stuff available on via the services listed above, for a roomful of adults of highly disparate tastes? Like if you came to someone's house and there was a marathon of Great British Bake Off on the TV because she didn't have cable, would you be like "ugh" or "hm ok that works" ?
We don't have cable, but we do have a cheap set of rabbit ears that picks up network tv perfectly and in HD.
posted by cakelite at 9:16 AM on October 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by cakelite at 9:16 AM on October 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best answer: As Ernie mentioned above, this should solve most of the issue:
hdtv antenna
Past that, try to figure out which games you want to have on, establish who the provider is and work forward from there. Though, I am sure most guests will have their phone in their hand the entire time.
posted by bkeene12 at 9:23 AM on October 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
hdtv antenna
Past that, try to figure out which games you want to have on, establish who the provider is and work forward from there. Though, I am sure most guests will have their phone in their hand the entire time.
posted by bkeene12 at 9:23 AM on October 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: huh! So... wait. So you have the rabbit ears somewhere and there's a long enough cord and a port you can stick the cord into, somewhere on the TV? (Can you tell this is not my area and my husband does the electronics setup stuff around here?) How do you watch it? Like on my TV I have to tell it which device it's getting input from... like HDMI1 or 2 ... and one of those is the MacTV, and then there are apps on that for Netflix or whatever.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:25 AM on October 22, 2017
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:25 AM on October 22, 2017
I have a set of rabbit ears (they were $6 when I bought them - now they're up to $8!) directly behind my TV and plugged in to whatever port it's plugged into. When you turn on the TV, you just select "TV" as the device via your TV's remote.
posted by rtha at 9:32 AM on October 22, 2017
posted by rtha at 9:32 AM on October 22, 2017
Best answer: The TV - unless it's ancient - will have a digital TV receiver built in. Plug in the antenna and tell the TV to search for channels and it will pick them up. Here is a tutorial I pulled off of the Googles. I'm sure there are more detailed tutorials available elsewhere. Perhaps even a step-by-step video with your exact TV on YouTube. Alternatively, you can get a TV tuner for your computer, and then you'll have DVR capabilities as well.
posted by sacrifix at 9:33 AM on October 22, 2017
posted by sacrifix at 9:33 AM on October 22, 2017
And with the antennae you'll actually get a lot of channels to choose from; OTA receives the subchannels, (eg 4, 4.2, 4.3) and there's all sorts of cool stuff buried in there. You can also make your own antenna! There are lots of easy instructions online.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:39 AM on October 22, 2017
posted by Room 641-A at 9:39 AM on October 22, 2017
Best answer: Yes, the antenna (they come in different types and shapes) will have a little jack you plug into an input called "ANT IN" or something, and you switch device to the antenna the same way you do switching between HDMI1 and HDMI 2. (I just picked up the cheapest antenna they had at Big Lots, BTW.)
Maybe search for your TV model and "antenna input" to get instructions specific to your TV, but trust me it's much, much easier than you're imagining. A lot of people are incredulous about it, to the point that I regularly have to demonstrate it before people believe me.
Also, I have this app on my tablet that shows me the listings for my local channels.
Plus to update: I noticed after I posted that the link I provided you gives me really, really conservative guesses for the channels I receive. I get more than they're saying I should, although YMMV.
posted by ernielundquist at 9:44 AM on October 22, 2017
Maybe search for your TV model and "antenna input" to get instructions specific to your TV, but trust me it's much, much easier than you're imagining. A lot of people are incredulous about it, to the point that I regularly have to demonstrate it before people believe me.
Also, I have this app on my tablet that shows me the listings for my local channels.
Plus to update: I noticed after I posted that the link I provided you gives me really, really conservative guesses for the channels I receive. I get more than they're saying I should, although YMMV.
posted by ernielundquist at 9:44 AM on October 22, 2017
Best answer: Yes, one of your inputs should be Antenna or Cable, and you'll have a coaxial port on your TV that you plug the antenna into, and if you have a fairly modern flatscreen it will scan your antenna and try to identify all the channels it can see. It's not so much rabbit ears anymore, you can start with one of these and test this week to see if it's good enough or if you need something stronger. It's best if you can get it into a window, but ours works pretty much in the center of the house if I stick it up high on the wall.
If you have Amazon Prime, it's absolutely worth the $40 for a Fire TV Stick rather than trying to play through a laptop. We have I think all the main devices: Apple TV, Roku, Fire Stick, a bluray player with apps, Chromecast, Xbox, and the Fire Stick is our primary device (when we replaced the older version with the newer one, the older stick went to live in the bag with our portable projector for outdoor movies). The remote is better than the others, the app system is mostly less clicky-around than the others, and except for a few things we can only get on iTunes it carries everything we routinely watch which includes HBO and Starz via Amazon. We have a youtube account we primarily use for queuing up stuff in the Watch Later list, which is easy to watch via the YouTube app on the Stick, so you can also put on some good background noise like Norwegian SlowTV or Video Fireplace or Darth Vader Yule Log (which, we learned by accident one holiday, is especially charming if you mute it and play one of the Harry Potter movie soundtracks.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:46 AM on October 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
If you have Amazon Prime, it's absolutely worth the $40 for a Fire TV Stick rather than trying to play through a laptop. We have I think all the main devices: Apple TV, Roku, Fire Stick, a bluray player with apps, Chromecast, Xbox, and the Fire Stick is our primary device (when we replaced the older version with the newer one, the older stick went to live in the bag with our portable projector for outdoor movies). The remote is better than the others, the app system is mostly less clicky-around than the others, and except for a few things we can only get on iTunes it carries everything we routinely watch which includes HBO and Starz via Amazon. We have a youtube account we primarily use for queuing up stuff in the Watch Later list, which is easy to watch via the YouTube app on the Stick, so you can also put on some good background noise like Norwegian SlowTV or Video Fireplace or Darth Vader Yule Log (which, we learned by accident one holiday, is especially charming if you mute it and play one of the Harry Potter movie soundtracks.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:46 AM on October 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Yes, the hardest part is just finding the wall with the best reception.
If you find you love this option, for a couple hundred bucks (last I checked) you can buy a DVR from TiVo that will record off the antenna just as if it were a cable DVR.
posted by praemunire at 9:57 AM on October 22, 2017
If you find you love this option, for a couple hundred bucks (last I checked) you can buy a DVR from TiVo that will record off the antenna just as if it were a cable DVR.
posted by praemunire at 9:57 AM on October 22, 2017
I subscribe to the PBS Passport streaming ($5 a month) and last Christmas set Great British Bake Off & Masterclass to go at a low volume. It's nice, agreeable holiday time background tv.
posted by phunniemee at 10:35 AM on October 22, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 10:35 AM on October 22, 2017 [5 favorites]
Best answer: Embrace the Turkey Day tradition and show MST3K from Netflix.
posted by stevis23 at 10:59 AM on October 22, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by stevis23 at 10:59 AM on October 22, 2017 [5 favorites]
I just wanted to point out that you can build your own HDTV antenna for very, very cheap with a piece of scrap wood, a couple screws and washers, a few metal coat hangers (or scrap wire), and a $5 balun. You will also need a piece of coax to connect it to the TV.
Here is one of very very many instructions for how to do this.
I built one myself to watch the Olympics and it's insanely good quality.
posted by kdar at 5:07 PM on October 22, 2017
Here is one of very very many instructions for how to do this.
I built one myself to watch the Olympics and it's insanely good quality.
posted by kdar at 5:07 PM on October 22, 2017
Best answer: We also have pretty good success with digital rabbit ears for over the air. Depending on where you live, you'll get 3-4 of the 4 big networks, plus a few more. You can plug in your address to find out what channels you'll get. (I live in San Francisco and can't get NBC due to a giant hill in-between me and the transmitter.)
posted by radioamy at 5:58 PM on October 22, 2017
posted by radioamy at 5:58 PM on October 22, 2017
Best answer: It's so sad that the subscription TV providers have so thoroughly managed to bury the concept of free over-the-air TV.
Get a $10 TV antenna and hook it into the "antenna" port on your flat screen TV. Get the TV manual and spend just 5 minutes with it, finding the section on "scanning for channels". You will be stunned.
posted by intermod at 7:56 PM on October 22, 2017
Get a $10 TV antenna and hook it into the "antenna" port on your flat screen TV. Get the TV manual and spend just 5 minutes with it, finding the section on "scanning for channels". You will be stunned.
posted by intermod at 7:56 PM on October 22, 2017
Yes! When we cut the cord over five years ago, the beau bought me a digital antenna so I could watch my beloved PBS and network TV when the Olympics were airing. The signal gets a little weird when it's raining, and we can't record anything, since we didn't buy a Tivo as well. But I can watch my network shows and leave it on PBS or one of the three PBS offshoots we also get signal for (I'm especially fond of Create TV), when I just want some inoffensive background noise while I'm making dinner or whatever.
posted by PearlRose at 7:14 AM on October 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by PearlRose at 7:14 AM on October 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Cheap antenna is ordered. The TV I want to put it on happens to be near a window so I have high hopes for all this. Thanks to all who chimed in!
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:24 PM on October 23, 2017
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:24 PM on October 23, 2017
Response by poster: Update: antenna is installed. I can't even believe the picture quality. Last time I used rabbit ears for broadcast TV was around 2001, and the picture was kind of barely watchable... with this antenna the HD channels are so clear and bright they're almost too much! Thanks all. (If anyone wants to tell me about a cheap and simple way to throw a DVR into the mix, I'll leave this open!)
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:19 PM on October 27, 2017
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:19 PM on October 27, 2017
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Antennas are cheap and easy to install. I just have a $10 indoor antenna stuck to a window near the TV, and I get dozens of channels, most really high quality signal.
posted by ernielundquist at 9:14 AM on October 22, 2017 [2 favorites]