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TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 1:14 pm
by blackeagle603
Ok, so I've become a bit of a TV tech laggard. Cut the cable and pretty much stuck at Roku or embedded TV apps like Samsung SmartTV with connect to my Wi-Fi.

So hoping some of you can school me on this new generation of internet TV devices and how to minimize some costs.

This is the fault of an older gentleman who I respect greatly and who thinks of me as some sort of techbrain comes to me with a question last night that I've got no idea. So, that's what I told him,
"I've got no idea." /heh/ "But hey, great to hear from you at this crazy hour of night you wonderful old insomniac news watching junkie."
No sense trying to cover up my cluelessness. But now he's got me looking at KlowdTV and thinking about finding what is the same (lowest cost) solution.

So here's the question he put to me:
"I need some help. I have a hair brain idea. I want to get a tv tuner box or stick I can hook to internet and stream a number of channels to my tv. I own KlowdTV and want to cover sending without paying Apple or others. p.s. Can find of Amazon but don't know if it will work.
This is the classic well off elderly guy who got there thru thrift, hard work and risking his capital to reinvest in his business while having his family actually live inside the factory and cook in the lab when they were starting out. He works as hard spending a dime as he does earning a dollar. I think this is another case of that sort of thrift habit. Like I said, I respect him greatly and that's just one of the reasons -- not to mention how he treats his people.

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 2:42 pm
by Weetabix
A friend just mentioned that his son had put together something on Raspberry Pi that could stream basically anything from anywhere. Maybe that's an avenue to pursue?

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 4:44 pm
by randy
I've had Chromecast on both TV's for a couple of years or so. CINCHOUSE and Darlin' Daughter use it all the time to stream Net Flix and YouTube to them over our WiFi from their phones or laptop and no complaints.

I think this will do what he is asking , but am not familiar with KlowdTV.

At $35 to purchase the dongle and no user fees, (except for paying whatever you need to access the source material, if anything) it's not much of a risk to try it.

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:14 pm
by blackeagle603
I think now he may be looking for a way to take that stream from his internet/pc connection and broadcast it inside his house as a TV signal.

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:15 pm
by blackeagle603
https://www.klowdtv.com/packages.ktv


Owned now by OANN. Free news stream from OANN for military serving abroad.

The $7.95 package which includes GolTV and some news channels could be a killer app.

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:28 pm
by BDK
blackeagle603 wrote:I think now he may be looking for a way to take that stream from his internet/pc connection and broadcast it inside his house as a TV signal.
Why broadcast it rather than send it through a wire or wifi?

Broadcast spectrum is leased from the FCC. My guess is there might be "some" issues

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:50 pm
by blackeagle603
That was my question but I think it came back to thriftiness.

Save buying a stick, dongle or Roku for every TV in a large house that doesn't have embedded Wi-Fi?

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:04 pm
by randy
legal issues aside, my knowledge of low power TV transmission is that there would be no cost savings over buying a Chromecast or equivalent for each TV.

You could do it with amateur gear, but would need an Amateur radio license and the equipment would be well over $1K, with several hundred dollars of equipment at each receiver. It would be analog, not digital. And then there's the legal issues of broadcasting commercial (as in you paid for it regardless of the content) over amateur frequencies. As in No Fricking Way.

Commercial gear would be even more expensive, and we're back to the licensing thing again.

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:00 pm
by Greg
He could put his signal on a wire instead of broadcasting. Coax. CCTV.

There are filters and such that would let you take input and put it out on some given channel.

I looked into that stuff once some time ago.

Re: TV "sticks" and tricks

Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:05 am
by HTRN
No mention of Kodi? I'm surprised. :ugeek: