Episode: 1071
Title: HPR1071: How I Cut The Cable Cord: My Settup
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr1071/hpr1071.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-17 18:26:48

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Hello Hacker Public Radio, Brockton Bob here.
Today's podcast is the audio from a video I made about my setup for how I cut the cable
cord.
This video was uploaded to YouTube and I'll put the link to it in the show notes.
This video shows my over-the-air antenna, its hook-up, and the set-top box as I use.
I also explained the play-on software and how to use it.
So please take a look at the video, I think it will help with your setup.
Hello Hacker Public Radio, YouTube, my friends Ron, Donald, Bill and Steve.
This is my video on how I cut the cable cord.
I'm going to show you from start to end on how I did it.
This saved me over $100 a month and right now, having this over 3 months, I paid for everything
I bought.
So let's start with the beginning.
Beginning is my bow tie antenna.
If you see my bow tie antenna, I have it on a bracket so I can move it around and get
a better signal.
And there we have our CA signal amplifier and this is hooked to my TV.
Now on the hook to the TV, I have the NetCare EVA 2000 and, let's see if you can see it
over here, the Roku box.
With these two boxes, I can watch just about anything.
Now with the NetCare box, it's hooked to a computer running Windows XP.
That's the only Windows computer I have in this house.
The reason I have that is because I'm running play on software.
Play on software is created by a medium-all software company.
So let's see how this runs.
I have it set on TV right now, I get my remote and as you can see, this is antenna.
Just a clear.
I can switch channels, let's see.
This is high-death crystal clear over the air.
Okay now I'm going to switch to my boxes.
I'm going to go to my play on box, okay, this is my play on box, here I have my remote.
And now I'm on my play on software box.
This is server software running on the Windows XP machine.
I'm going to hit my collection, go to my network, and there you see play on on my compact
computer.
Now a play on tons of plugins, plugins galore, Hulu Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon, VOD,
NBC, Comedy Centro, TV.com, let's go to TV.com, it takes a little while for this to load,
but you can wait a few seconds, it doesn't hurt anything, okay, we'll see all shows.
Let's see, look at all the TV shows you have.
Let's go back up, let's see, we'll pick something, I like CSI, New York.
Like I say, it takes a few seconds to load because it's running on the network, picking
an episode.
So these boxes are both wired to my router, and this is running off my Windows XP machine.
We're in the commercial right now.
Okay, so let me get out of this, and what I want to do is, this is my NetGaer EVA2
3000, okay, running play on software, off my Windows XP machine, let's see, only Windows
machine I have, I usually use Linux, like I say, all the plugins you can get, tons of
stuff, tons of stuff, movies, this is Crackle, last drag, and I need to crackle it,
crackle it as commercials, but oh no, it's pretty good, like I say, it takes a few seconds
to load because it is running on a server, another commercial, but you see the quality,
I have the sound turned on on the TV so you can hear me instead of the TV, okay, it's
getting ready to load, there you go, the movie starting, this is on the NetGaer box, hard
wired to my router, this is on my Windows XP, Windows XP machine, running play on software
from MediaMole software, MediaMole software, I paid $39 for the lifetime subscription
and key, the EVA2000, I got for $49, and the Roku box, I got for $69, and the three months
I've had, this hookup, I've paid for everything, the cost of cable would have been over $300
for three months, so at least there you see the movie, I'm going to get out of this, my
assistance is walking around here, okay, so now I'm going to go to back to, now I'm going
to go to my Roku box, okay, there you go, grab my remote, I have Roku plugged into the network
and there you go, see if I can get a better shot of him, we're going to go to Hulu Plus, I
have Net, I have Hulu Plus and Netflix for a total of $15, $98 a month, that's what my
cost is, $15.98 a month, I have already paid for everything, it's loading an episode of
the game, I'm going to turn up the volume just a little, look at the picture quality,
I mean you have to put up with commercials, but this commercial is on cable, you know, so,
you see the picture quality, I'm recording this in 720p,
the sound is beautiful, the picture is beautiful, I mean it went episode of Roku,
so I can switch back forth, I'll use my remote, if I don't want this, I can go back to home on my Roku box,
I can go to Netflix, pick something there, Netflix is loading, this is one of my
wife's favorite television programs, it's a British show called Cash in the Attic, she
loves this program, always playing an episode of this, this is hooked to my network route,
the Roku box comes with wireless, it'll do up to wireless end, but I like hard wire,
one of my wife's favorite programs,
and with the Roku box you get the channel store, you can pick all kinds of programs,
Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Pandora, and this is how you pick, you go to the channel store and you pick,
most of them, there's a lot of paid and there's a ton of free, so there's even a
adult channel right here, free, and then with this you can connect to your play on
software also, there's a plug-in for that, finding the network, look at this, what's new,
you can play Hulu, Netflix, HBO, Amazon, all this through the Roku box too, but I
like to go back, and I want to show you one thing about the
Neckier EVA2000, and that is, I'm going to switch back to that,
go back into that, okay so we're back into the EVA2000, when I hit my collections,
I have a USB hard drive attached, and on this USB hard drive I have over 300
gigs of movies, television shows, musicals, everything, so I'm going to do that
and show you, I picked up the hard drive for $55 at Best Buy on Clarence, I put everything
in the folders, I'm going to go to television, you see my shows, dirty jobs, castle,
I movies, doom, from Paris with love, and then I like to create folders for the
months, so I'm going to try to find a folder here with something that I just put
on, let's see, so like I say, everything is hard wired to the router, I have one
Windows machine that's connected to the network, running, play on software from
a medium all, this is great, now I click on my April folder, and this some stuff
I put in the end, CSI, New York, movie called Hair Wire, that's a great movie,
a girl with a dragon tattoo, a mentalist, we'll try something,
hit it,
and there you go, get a better shot away from that,
oh my god, this is my copy of the mentalist,
you know, the guy in the car, I'm not going to see him at first,
is he still alive? I don't think so, no, I mean, how could he be?
the captions, beautiful, beautiful copy, beautiful copy, so we're going to go back,
get out of this, go back to my TV, so that's how I did it,
I save myself over $100 a month, I figure right now $125 a month in savings,
my total cost for Netflix and Hulu Plus is $15.98 a month,
I regular internet service that I've always had, is only $19.99 a month,
so I've saved over $100 a month, my hardware that I bought for this hookup
is already paid for in three months, so I hope this was helpful.
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