Cut the Cord, Ditch the Dish, and Take Back Control of Your TV
Cut the Cord, Ditch the Dish, and Take Back Control of Your TV
Fun, Tried-and-Tested, and Absolutely Legit Ways to Customize, Control and Change How You Watch TV
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.
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..
Authors have earned$9,708,674writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub, earning 80% royalties while saving up to 25 million pounds of CO2 and up to 46,000 trees.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
The Leanpub 45-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 45 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers), EPUB (for phones and tablets) and MOBI (for Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Top Books
- #1
Production Haskell
Matt ParsonsAre you excited about Haskell, but don't know where to begin? Are you thrilled by the technical advantages, but worried about the unknown pitfalls? This book has you covered.
- #2
Functional Design and Architecture
Alexander GraninSoftware Design in Functional Programming, Design Patterns and Practices, Methodologies and Application Architectures. How to build real software in Haskell with less efforts and low risks. The first complete source of knowledge.
- #3
Ansible for Kubernetes
Jeff GeerlingAnsible is a powerful infrastructure automation tool. Kubernetes is a powerful application deployment platform. Learn how to use these tools to automate massively-scalable, highly-available infrastructure.
- #4
Ansible for DevOps
Jeff GeerlingAnsible is a simple, but powerful, server and configuration management tool. Learn to use Ansible effectively, whether you manage one server—or thousands.
- #5
Composing Software
Eric ElliottAll software design is composition: the act of breaking complex problems down into smaller problems and composing those solutions. Most developers have a limited understanding of compositional techniques. It's time for that to change.
- #6
Practical FP in Scala: A hands-on approach
Gabriel VolpeA practical book aimed for those familiar with functional programming in Scala who are yet not confident about architecting an application from scratch.
Together, we will develop a purely functional application using the best libraries in the Cats ecosystem, while learning about design patterns and best practices.
- #7
Tame your Work Flow
Steve Tendon and Daniel DoironDo you need a high performance enterprise governance approach improving management, execution and delivery while dealing with multiple projects/products, events, stakeholders and teams? Giving you better bottom line results, faster time to market, less work, better predictability, happier employees, and delighted clients? Then learn about TameFlow!
- #8
Invest In Digital Health - The Medical Futurist's Guide
Dr. Bertalan MeskoArtificial Intelligence and Digital Health are booming. In this book, we explain why now it's a good time to invest in Digital Health and give recommendations on where to invest by looking at the top 24 technological trends we find the most promising.
- #9
The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book
Andriy BurkovEverything you really need to know in Machine Learning in a hundred pages.
- #10
Windows 10 System Programming, Part 1
Pavel Yosifovich
Top Bundles
- #1
Growing Agile: The Complete Coach's Guide
7 Books
Growing Agile: Coach's Guide Series This bundle provides a collection of training and workshop plans for a variety of agile topics. The series is aimed at agile coaches, trainers and ScrumMasters who often find themselves needing to help teams understand agile concepts. Each book in the series provides the plans, slides, handouts and activity... - #2
The Tester's Library
8 Books
The Tester's Library consists of eight five-star books that every software tester should read and re-read. As bound books, this collection would cost over $200. Even as e-books, their price would exceed $80, but in this bundle, their cost is only $49.99. Here are the books, and why they should be in your library: Perfect Software and Other... - #3
agile
11 Books
In this bundle, you will find 10 different agile books. They are about different aspects of being agile. - finding a job - doing coding dojo's - Retrospectives - Personal kanban - a non-typical coaching book and even a book that gives you an insight in the lives of some agile people. - #4
WTFlop 6M + HU - Beta Bundle
6 Books
- #5
Growing Agile: Coach's Guide Series
4 Books
This bundle provides a collection of training and workshop plans for a variety of agile topics. The series is aimed at agile coaches, trainers and ScrumMasters who often find themselves needing to help teams understand agile concepts. Each book in the series provides the plans, slides, handouts and activity instructions to run a number of... - #6
Marionette.js A to Z
3 Books
Marionette.js has become a popular Backbone-based javascript library, because it helps you avoid boiler-plate code and focus on what makes your app special. But how do you get started?Whether you want to finally get started with dynamic client-side programming (like one reader did), or are an experienced front-end dev who has inherited a... - #7
Build A Better Backbone App
3 Books
The best way to learn new development skills is through experience, but that takes time you don't have.Get the best of both worlds with this bundle: you'll learn how to produce modern web applications by learning from experienced developers like Derick Bailey and David Sulc. BackboneJS is one of the favorite tools on the web today, but it... - #8
General Systems Thinker Bundle
5 Books
The General Systems Thinker Bundle is just that: a bundle of five books to advance the reader one giant step toward improved thinking, based on General Systems principles. Four of the books are the complete General Systems Series. The fifth is fictional piece which shows some general systems thinkers in action. It's a mystery in which a group of... - #9
Experiential Learning Bundle
4 Books
This bundle provides all four volumes of the popular Experiential Learning Series at a savings of $20 over the price if purchased separately. - #10
Ansible Bundle
2 Books
After getting up and running with Ansible in Jeff Geerling's Ansible for DevOps, strengthen your skills managing tens to thousands of instances and services in Amazon's AWS cloud with Yan Kurniawan's Ansible for AWS.
