Cut the Cord, Ditch the Dish, and Take Back Control of Your TV
Last updated on 2017-10-16
About the Book
This guidebook is full of ideas, knowledge and projects that can open up more choices in the way you watch TV. It leverages changes in technology; new products and trends. New technologies like streaming, smart TVs, broadcast to air TV advances, personal and portable devices, higher display resolutions and home networks, all offer new and more customizable options for TV viewing. For news and more information about the book see our site http://controltv.ironviolin.com/ which also has some tips and suggestions for easy ways to load the book into your e-reader or device.
Based on feedback from our readers, we will no longer be updating Cut the Cord, Ditch the Dish and Take Back Control of Your TV and instead have written a new book, designed to be more useful and less of an encyclopedia. The new book (The Budgeteers' Guide to 21st Century TV) is hopefully easier to read, a little more more fun, a little less technical -- and yet it still has lots of new TV technology and projects to try.
About the Author
Reader Testimonials
Dennis Sellers, AppleWorld.Today
This ebook is a valuable guide to help you cut the cable/satellite TV cord.
"Prospective cord-cutters like myself can easily get frustrated with trying to make the move as there are a plethora of options and new technologies out there. There’s lots of info available, but it can take hours to dig through it all. Cut the Cord, Ditch the Dish and Take Back Control of Your TV is the best single source of info info I’ve found on the topic." Full review at https://www.appleworld.today/blog/2017/4/7/this-ebook-is-a-valuable-guide-to-help-you-cut-the-cablesatellite-tv-cord
The Gadgeteer
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2017/04/05/cut-the-cord-ditch-the-dish-and-take-back-control-of-your-tv-new-from-leanpub/
Linux Journal
June 2017 print edition
For the full review please see our web site at http://controltv.ironviolin.com/linux-journals-review/
Table of Contents
Overview
Value and Content
Introduction
What does this book do?
Who are the authors?
Where can I buy this book?
Navigating the journey ahead
Before proceeding...
What skills do you need?
Choosing how to proceed
Chapter 1: Introductions
1.1 Calculating Costs
1.2 Specs and stuff
Resolution, size and aspect ratio
High Dynamic Range (HDR) and color gamut
Frames per second (fps)
1.3 Digitally Broadcast Antenna TV
Introduction to digital antenna TV
What is an antenna?
Introduction to TV tuners
Networked TV tuners
Multiple TVs and devices
1.4 Smart TVs
Introduction to Smart TVs.
1.5 Digital Video Recorders
Introduction to DVRs
Networked DVRs
1.6 Streaming Gadgets
Introduction to streaming gadgets
Introduction to Roku
Introduction to AppleTV, Amazon Fire
Other streaming gadgets
Mixing things up - using multiple gadgets
1.7 Chromecast and AndroidTV
Introduction to Chromecast and Android TV
Chromecast dongles
AndroidTV
Android consoles and boxes
1.8 Personal Computers and TV
Why attach a computer to our TV?
Introduction to the Intel NUC
Introduction to the Mac Mini
Stick computers
Remote input - keyboards, trackpads, etc
Introduction to media players
1.9 Media Centers
Introduction to Media Centers
Chapter 2: Getting content
2.1 Antennas
Installing a TV antenna
Networked Tuners
Multiple antenna
What is Trans-coding?
2.2 Streaming
Internet streaming
Some streaming sources
2.3 Optical Disks
Optical disk formats
When to use an optical disk?
2.4 4K
So what is 4K?
Getting 4K and above content
Chapter 3: Moving Content
3.1 Networks
Our Home's network
Streaming on our home network
Our Router
Network Connections - Wires and Radios
Network Connections - DLNA
Our Internet Service Provider
Finding and fixing network problems
Dedicated WiFi Bands
Keep it all working
3.2 Wires
Coax
Multimedia cables
HDMI-CEC and one remote control
HDCP & DRM
Chapter 4: Watching content
4.1 The TV and big screens
How big? Resolution, screen size and pixel density
Smart TVs
Watching live broadcast TV
4.2 Networked Tuners
Installing a HDHomeRun Connect Tuner
How to watch TV using the HDHomeRun
Access a HDHomeRun with DLNA from a TV
Maintaining and troubleshooting our HDHomeRun Tuner
4.3 Streaming Gadgets
Streaming - Overview
TV consoles, boxes and sticks
Google Casting
How does casting work?
Casting with a Chromecast Dongle
Casting - Setup a receiver
Casting - Setup a sender
Casting from iOS
Casting problems
DIY streaming - Sling Box
DIY streaming - WiFi display connection
Roku
Personal devices - small screens
4.4 Optical Disks
Watching optical disks
4.5 Personal Computers
Sticks, NUCs and Macs
Streaming to a PC's web browser
Media Player - VLC
Streaming to a media player
Casting to the TV from a PC
Watching Broadcast TV
4.6 DVRs
Networked DVRs
Networked DVR - TabloTV
Setup a TabloTV
Using a TabloTV
PC based DVRs - MythTV, NextPVR
4.7 Media Centers
Plex - Media Center
Watching TV with Plex and a NextPVR DVR
Kodi - Media Center
Watching Live TV with Kodi and a HDHomeRun tuner
4.8 4K
How can we watch 4K video?
Cables and connectors for 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray disks
Experimenting with high frame rates
4.9 Privacy
Privacy: who is watching the watcher?
Chapter 5: Putting it together
Overview of the Projects
5.1 SmartTV and an antenna
Setting up for antenna TV
TV Guide service
5.2 Internet Only
Is this the right way for us?
How to make it work in our home
Often the "answer" is a blend of solutions
5.3 Roku and a networked DVR
The DVR as a Roku channel
5.4 Devices and live TV - No big screen
The HDHomeRun View app
5.5 Chromecast and a networked DVR
Casting a TabloTV DVR to the big screen
5.6 AndroidTV
NVIDIA Shield AndroidTV console
Installing apps on AndroidTV
Accessing a networked DVR or tuner from apps
Casting to AndroidTV
HDMI-CEC and AndroidTV
Trouble shooting AndroidTV
5.7 An orchard of Apples
A Mac Mini computer with Tablo TV
A Mac Mini computer with a HDHomeRun tuner
AppleTV and a TabloTV
5.8 PC and a networked DVR
Keyboards, mouse and network
Connect to the TabloTV device
5.9 PC as a DVR on Windows - NextPVR
Installing NextPVR
Schedules Direct EPG Guide
Watching TV
Trouble-shooting NextPVR
5.10 PC as a DVR on Linux - Mythbuntu
Installing Mythbuntu
Connections, updates and tuners
Configuration - MythTV backend
Configuration - MythTV frontend
Using MythTV and Mythbuntu
Streaming on Mythbuntu
Fixes, maintenance and troubleshooting
5.11 PC as a MediaCenter - Kodi
Installing Kodi and the MythTV PVR addon
Configure and enable the MythTV add-on in Kodi
Enable TV in Kodi
5.12 PC as 4K player
Streaming 4K in the Chrome Browser
4K streaming with a "helper" - partial hardware acceleration.
Watching high resolution "home movies"
Fullly hardware accelerated video on Mythbuntu in VLC
5.13 Money Savers
Using less internet
Little or no internet
Chapter 6: Creating a computer for the living room
6.1 Building a PC for the living room
Parts needed to assemble a NUC computer
Building a NUC
6.2 Buying a computer
Chapter 7: Other projects
Accessing a TabloTV away from home
Connecting a SiliconDust tuner with WiFi
DLNA streaming with VLC
Live TV on Linux PC
DVI cables
Thank you..
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