Streaming video to your vacation home

Lakegeezer · 05-29-2010, 05:36 PM

Another option is to get a ROKU box and Netflix subscription. This won't get you broadcast TV, but you can get quite a few movies streamed over the net. Hulu may get you some of the television shows you want. Indeed, it is almost criminal how much the cable tv fees are, especially given the quality of what is on.

Audiofn · 05-29-2010, 06:55 PM

LG I agree about the content and that is why I don't want to pay the money. It would be nice to catch Saturday night live or something like that every now and then. Mostly my son likes some shows that I do not get with the arial so I am doing most of this for him, so quality is just not that important to a 3 year old.

Now that 24 is over there really is not reason to even have a tv.....

welchislandman · 06-01-2010, 09:02 AM

I have been using slingbox for a few years now( non HD) with a 512k DSL connection and a local pc. Works ok and picture can be choppy at times but perfect for the cottage. With hulu and many stations replaying shows streaming on the internet it get us by for 0$

Grady223 · 06-02-2010, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

Another option is to get a ROKU box and Netflix subscription. This won't get you broadcast TV, but you can get quite a few movies streamed over the net. Hulu may get you some of the television shows you want. Indeed, it is almost criminal how much the cable tv fees are, especially given the quality of what is on.

Tell me more about ROKU, not familiar. We are on an island with no cable and too many trees for satellite. Thought about Sling-box, but from this string, doesn't sound like the best solution. We do have a high speed DSL.

townsde · 07-21-2010, 09:40 AM

I would like to find someone who could install a dish satellite receiver at my camp. Then I could take a receiver from my home with me to the camp when we are up there. Does anyone know who could install the dish at my camp?

brk-lnt · 07-21-2010, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by townsde

I would like to find someone who could install a dish satellite receiver at my camp. Then I could take a receiver from my home with me to the camp when we are up there. Does anyone know who could install the dish at my camp?

This can actually be a DIY job, it's not that hard to mount and point a dish. What is the architecture of the camp like in terms of getting a clear view of the sky and running some cables between the dish and the TV location?

AC2717 · 07-21-2010, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by townsde

I would like to find someone who could install a dish satellite receiver at my camp. Then I could take a receiver from my home with me to the camp when we are up there. Does anyone know who could install the dish at my camp?

Your Satellite box is directly related to the dish you have at your house and signal, if you try to use it at another location it will not work unless you notify them, then as such, you will have to pay for that location. You might be able to work a discounted rate with them though do the old "well I will just switch routine"

townsde · 07-21-2010, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AC2717

Your Satellite box is directly related to the dish you have at your house and signal, if you try to use it at another location it will not work unless you notify them, then as such, you will have to pay for that location. You might be able to work a discounted rate with them though do the old "well I will just switch routine"

I did not know that. Sounds like I would have to establish a separate account. Thanks for the info

GsChinadoll · 07-21-2010, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AC2717

Your Satellite box is directly related to the dish you have at your house and signal, if you try to use it at another location it will not work unless you notify them, then as such, you will have to pay for that location. You might be able to work a discounted rate with them though do the old "well I will just switch routine"

Are you sure? I was told by a dish distributor that we could definately take our box with us to our other home and use it as long as we had a dish there. (We have a dish at the lake but pay mucho dinero for Verizon at home so it was an option we looked at but haven't persued yet.)

brk-lnt · 07-21-2010, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AC2717

Your Satellite box is directly related to the dish you have at your house and signal, if you try to use it at another location it will not work unless you notify them, then as such, you will have to pay for that location. You might be able to work a discounted rate with them though do the old "well I will just switch routine"

Since when? I haven't had satellite service for about 5 years, but at that time the dish was just a purely passive device. Based on the wide aftermarket for replacement LNBF's ( http://www.prosatellitesupply.com/SA...s_and_LNBs.htm ) I don't see any mention of the receiver being keyed to the LNBF (since it would be that and not the "dish").

Bear Islander · 07-21-2010, 01:29 PM

Sorry, but AC2717 is wrong. A satellite receiver is not keyed to the dish. You can move your directv box from home to the lake and use it all you want. Just make sure you do not connect the phone line when you use the box away from where it is subscribed. You will be in violation of the "terms of service" with directv so if that will keep you up at night don't do it.

AC2717 · 07-21-2010, 01:32 PM

Bear Islander I stand corrected, I used to have a dish in 2003-2006 and had the ones with the cards in the back, actually tried this at my place and did not work with those boxes, my account is from the older days of the dish

Bear Islander · 07-21-2010, 02:02 PM

As for the original question I recommend Roku and/or Slingbox. Roku has an unbelievable amount of content available. A lot of it is pay per view but it gets you away from the never ending monthly fees that cable companies love.

Go to Amazon dot com and search for Roku.

townsde · 07-21-2010, 02:06 PM

OK. So sounds like we are back to my original question. Does anyone know where I can get the dish and maybe someone to do the install? This is Dish Network not DirectTV.

brk-lnt · 07-21-2010, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AC2717

Bear Islander I stand corrected, I used to have a dish in 2003-2006 and had the ones with the cards in the back, actually tried this at my place and did not work with those boxes, my account is from the older days of the dish

Then you were doing something wrong. As long as you took the receiver and card you could hook it up to any correctly positioned dish and it would work. In fact, if you had a receiver and dish at another location you could take just the *card* and not even move the hardware. You used to be able to buy receivers cash-and-carry at Walmart for like $99 until Directv caught on to what people were doing.

The only limitation was went they went to the spot-beam satellites for local channel coverage, you couldn't go from Boston to Florida (for example) get local channel in FL if your box was supposed to be subscribed to the Boston locals (and you wouldn't get the Boston locals in FL either because of the spot-beams).

AC2717 · 07-21-2010, 03:22 PM

All I know is when I tried, it did not work and when I called them, that is what they told me

pcmc · 11-08-2010, 10:46 PM

Will a mobile dish system that is used on RV's work?

brk-lnt · 07-21-2010, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grady223

Tell me more about ROKU, not familiar. We are on an island with no cable and too many trees for satellite. Thought about Sling-box, but from this string, doesn't sound like the best solution. We do have a high speed DSL.

We have a ROKU box as well. It's basically a little piece of hardware designed for watching streaming video. It's mostly dead-nuts simple to hookup and operate, then you can link it with a Netflix and (I think) Amazon streaming video account. There are also some ROKU-specific "networks" that have some random shows that may or may not be of interest to you.

If you can plug in a couple of cables, you can setup a ROKU.

townsde · 07-21-2010, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brk-lnt

We have a ROKU box as well. It's basically a little piece of hardware designed for watching streaming video. It's mostly dead-nuts simple to hookup and operate, then you can link it with a Netflix and (I think) Amazon streaming video account. There are also some ROKU-specific "networks" that have some random shows that may or may not be of interest to you.

If you can plug in a couple of cables, you can setup a ROKU.

Do you a Wii system? If so, Netflicks provides a disk for the Wii which connects you to their Netflicks system. That way you do not have to purchase the Roku box and the disk for the Wii is free.

brk-lnt · 07-21-2010, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by townsde

Do you a Wii system? If so, Netflicks provides a disk for the Wii which connects you to their Netflicks system. That way you do not have to purchase the Roku box and the disk for the Wii is free.

I do at home, but we also have Mac Mini's on all the TV's at home, so we just do streaming on that.

ACutAbove · 11-24-2010, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by townsde

Do you a Wii system? If so, Netflicks provides a disk for the Wii which connects you to their Netflicks system. That way you do not have to purchase the Roku box and the disk for the Wii is free.

The WII system with Netflix is awesome.
We set this up in my daughters room and she loves it. It is not live tv but there are tons of tv shows and movies you add to your list to watch. And where the WII has wireless internet I am not sure and havent tried this but could you just stream tv shows from the internet on the WII ??

Gatto Nero · 01-21-2011, 01:08 PM

Audiofn, I'm curious what you ended up doing and how it worked out. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I need Internet at the lake to be able to work from there. I don't watch much TV but I would like to be able to catch Fox News now and again. It would be great to tap into my DVR at home but I'd like to see it on my TV up at the lake rather than a laptop.

4 for Boating · 01-22-2011, 12:38 AM

Same boat here too but we are on the mainland.

Just started to look at this stuff, so what are the actual options in terms of providers for just high speed internet in the lakes region?

Comcast? // MetroCast? // Dish? // No FIOS I would guess

And if we do get just the internet service in NH and the Sling Box streaming from home (COX) that is hooked directly to the TV, could we stream HD content? Or non-HD content for that matter? How good are the internet speeds and do they have any limitations?

I’m guessing it will be years before 4G service finds its way to our area.

Thanks!

05-29-2010, 05:36 PM	#1
Lakegeezer Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Moultonboro, NH Posts: 1,679 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 354 Thanked 640 Times in 291 Posts	Another option is to get a ROKU box and Netflix subscription. This won't get you broadcast TV, but you can get quite a few movies streamed over the net. Hulu may get you some of the television shows you want. Indeed, it is almost criminal how much the cable tv fees are, especially given the quality of what is on. __________________ -lg

07-21-2010, 09:40 AM	#5
townsde Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hollis NH and Moultonborough Posts: 68 Thanks: 6 Thanked 8 Times in 6 Posts	Dish Network Installer Needed I would like to find someone who could install a dish satellite receiver at my camp. Then I could take a receiver from my home with me to the camp when we are up there. Does anyone know who could install the dish at my camp?

07-21-2010, 01:32 PM	#12
AC2717 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Maynard, MA & Paugus Bay Posts: 2,582 Thanks: 755 Thanked 355 Times in 267 Posts	Bear Islander I stand corrected, I used to have a dish in 2003-2006 and had the ones with the cards in the back, actually tried this at my place and did not work with those boxes, my account is from the older days of the dish __________________ Capt. of the "No Worries"

07-21-2010, 03:22 PM	#16
AC2717 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Maynard, MA & Paugus Bay Posts: 2,582 Thanks: 755 Thanked 355 Times in 267 Posts	All I know is when I tried, it did not work and when I called them, that is what they told me __________________ Capt. of the "No Worries"

01-21-2011, 01:08 PM	#22
Gatto Nero Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Isola Gatto Nero Posts: 697 Thanks: 162 Thanked 263 Times in 81 Posts	How did it all work out? Audiofn, I'm curious what you ended up doing and how it worked out. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I need Internet at the lake to be able to work from there. I don't watch much TV but I would like to be able to catch Fox News now and again. It would be great to tap into my DVR at home but I'd like to see it on my TV up at the lake rather than a laptop. __________________ La vita è buona su Isola Gatto Nero

05-29-2010, 06:55 PM	#2
Audiofn Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bedford, MA/Naples, ME Posts: 162 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	LG I agree about the content and that is why I don't want to pay the money. It would be nice to catch Saturday night live or something like that every now and then. Mostly my son likes some shows that I do not get with the arial so I am doing most of this for him, so quality is just not that important to a 3 year old. Now that 24 is over there really is not reason to even have a tv.....

06-01-2010, 09:02 AM	#3
welchislandman Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Welch Is, Gilford Posts: 79 Thanks: 91 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts	I have been using slingbox for a few years now( non HD) with a 512k DSL connection and a local pc. Works ok and picture can be choppy at times but perfect for the cottage. With hulu and many stations replaying shows streaming on the internet it get us by for 0$

07-21-2010, 01:29 PM	#11
Bear Islander Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bear Island Posts: 1,764 Thanks: 32 Thanked 441 Times in 207 Posts	Sorry, but AC2717 is wrong. A satellite receiver is not keyed to the dish. You can move your directv box from home to the lake and use it all you want. Just make sure you do not connect the phone line when you use the box away from where it is subscribed. You will be in violation of the "terms of service" with directv so if that will keep you up at night don't do it.

The Following User Says Thank You to Bear Islander For This Useful Post:
GsChinadoll (07-21-2010)

07-21-2010, 02:02 PM	#13
Bear Islander Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bear Island Posts: 1,764 Thanks: 32 Thanked 441 Times in 207 Posts	As for the original question I recommend Roku and/or Slingbox. Roku has an unbelievable amount of content available. A lot of it is pay per view but it gets you away from the never ending monthly fees that cable companies love. Go to Amazon dot com and search for Roku.

07-21-2010, 02:06 PM	#14
townsde Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hollis NH and Moultonborough Posts: 68 Thanks: 6 Thanked 8 Times in 6 Posts	OK. So sounds like we are back to my original question. Does anyone know where I can get the dish and maybe someone to do the install? This is Dish Network not DirectTV.

11-08-2010, 10:46 PM	#17
pcmc Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 412 Thanks: 211 Thanked 106 Times in 73 Posts	Will a mobile dish system that is used on RV's work?

01-22-2011, 12:38 AM	#23
4 for Boating Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 225 Thanks: 1 Thanked 38 Times in 26 Posts	How to Proceed? Same boat here too but we are on the mainland. Just started to look at this stuff, so what are the actual options in terms of providers for just high speed internet in the lakes region? Comcast? // MetroCast? // Dish? // No FIOS I would guess And if we do get just the internet service in NH and the Sling Box streaming from home (COX) that is hooked directly to the TV, could we stream HD content? Or non-HD content for that matter? How good are the internet speeds and do they have any limitations? I’m guessing it will be years before 4G service finds its way to our area. Thanks!

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode