Cable cutter
In late 2015 I realised that most of the TV shows I watched were broadcast free (in HD) over the air and those that weren't could be bought from Google Play or Apple iTunes. When I did the math, I figured that the annual cost for this set up would be less than what I was paying for my cable subscription.
So I cancelled my cable subscription and used the money saved to buy a HD HomeRun device and a cheap internal antenna. I was now able to stream over-the-air HD broadcasts over my network.
I already used Plex as a media server and was delighted when they added DVR functionality that worked with my HD HomeRun just as I was looking around to improve my rudimentary DVR solution. I bought myself a lifetime membership to Plex and haven't looked back since.
I now have one Ubuntu Linux VM that does the DVR recording and a physical Windows 10 computer dedicated to running Plex and streaming media to the various devices in our home. All my media is saved on a 2-bay Synology NAS.
Getting a decent Plex client for my LG TV was a bit of a challenge that I overcame by installing the Plex client on a Raspberry Pi and connecting the Pi to my TV.
Recently, I replaced Plex with Kodi on the Raspberry Pi using LibreElec so that I could access Internet radio using the Kodi radio add-on. Because all my media was already shared from the NAS, moving from Plex to Kodi on my main TV was no great challenge. Plex still manages my DVR, I just use Kodi for playback.
I have no regrets about cancelling my cable subscription. In fact, I now spend less time watching TV and have more time (and money!) to spend on tinkering.
So I cancelled my cable subscription and used the money saved to buy a HD HomeRun device and a cheap internal antenna. I was now able to stream over-the-air HD broadcasts over my network.
I already used Plex as a media server and was delighted when they added DVR functionality that worked with my HD HomeRun just as I was looking around to improve my rudimentary DVR solution. I bought myself a lifetime membership to Plex and haven't looked back since.
I now have one Ubuntu Linux VM that does the DVR recording and a physical Windows 10 computer dedicated to running Plex and streaming media to the various devices in our home. All my media is saved on a 2-bay Synology NAS.
Getting a decent Plex client for my LG TV was a bit of a challenge that I overcame by installing the Plex client on a Raspberry Pi and connecting the Pi to my TV.
Recently, I replaced Plex with Kodi on the Raspberry Pi using LibreElec so that I could access Internet radio using the Kodi radio add-on. Because all my media was already shared from the NAS, moving from Plex to Kodi on my main TV was no great challenge. Plex still manages my DVR, I just use Kodi for playback.
I have no regrets about cancelling my cable subscription. In fact, I now spend less time watching TV and have more time (and money!) to spend on tinkering.
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