What is your home TV set up?

[Jennaonthebeach]

So? Using urban forces you to buy/borrow and Internet connected device.

No, you arse, not the same. I have a computer connected to the internet. Some services are available that way but others force you to buy a tv, when i have a perfectly functional computer screen. (Love that you think urban 75 is in any way equivelent to all of the television channels. Hilarious). But then you knew that, and wanted to start an argument, but fuck you, I'm not in the mood. Go away.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

I have Sky. I didn't want to get it originally because it was owned by Murdoch.

Not since 2018.

 

[Elpenor]

Have a BT box that I use for recording stuff, soon to be replaced by an EE box that does the same except is wireless

The box arrived today but apparently they need to do some work to set up my fibre to properly

Rarely watch live TV - sport would be the exception and before that it would have been the election

Oh yes forgot that I tend to watch a lot of stuff via Plex, as have been given access to a mates Plex server which has a lot of stuff in. Some stuff I torrent too.

 

[isvicthere?]

Because we live in Spain, and my wife wants UK TV, we have an account with some company (don´t know exactly; she organises it) whereby we get it via the internet. We get loads of channels with catch-up facility, plus quite a wide selection of films and TV series. It only costs 240 euros a year. When we were in London we paid 55 quid a month for Virgin, and the selection of stuff was not as good.

 

[Leafster]

A Smart TV connected to the internet via wifi and a traditional aerial.

I rarely watch Freeview via the aerial and usually stream stuff from BBC iPlayer, Channel 4 YouTube etc. I also use Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV depending on what subscriptions I've decided to pay for or have come free bundled with some other offer. Recently had Disney + free for a while via my phone contract but the free period has come to an end so I'll probably cancel that soon.

The TV is connected to a soundbar but it stopped working sometime last year and I can't be arsed to buy a new one.

Theoretically, I can watch stuff stored on a hard drive connected to the TV or stuff stored on my local network but I don't.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Poll is a bit fucked TBH, no option for satellite dish (Sky/Freesat/other box), not multiple choice, and two options for 'Watching it directly on my laptop/tablet/phone', FFS Hollis, sort yourself out!

For me it's mainly Freesat, I tend to set it up on a Saturday to record everything I want to watch in the following week, which means you can skip any ads on replay.

If I want to access anything on the iPlayer both the Freesat box & TV have the apps for those. However, if I want anything from ITV,C-4, C-5, UKTV or YouTube on catch-up I'll stream from them my laptop, because my adblocker strips out all the ads.

I sometimes watch stored stuff from a hard drive connected to the TV, I have a Firestick too, but never use it.

 

[existentialist]

I just never got the TV habit. Even when I used to see things and go "ooh, that looks interesting", it'd either turn out to be boring, or I'd just lose interest at about episode 3.

Every now and again I'll get interested - Taskmaster was a recent one - and burn my way through a few episodes, which I've been watching on YouTube (despite the terrible advertisements advertising drop-shipped shit that I'd never buy). I also recall binge-watching "Life on Mars", but that was over 5 years ago.

 

[pesh]

We just moved to a house without a TV aerial and decided to ditch the TV licence instead of installing one and see if we miss it. We don't.
Netflix and Plex apps installed on the TVs, Next Episode app to remind us what favourited shows are currently on and when to torrent them.

 

[spitfire]

We just moved to a house without a TV aerial and decided to ditch the TV licence instead of installing one and see if we miss it. We don't.
Netflix and Plex apps installed on the TVs, Next Episode app to remind us what favourited shows are currently on and when to torrent them.

That app looks handy.

 

[existentialist]

We just moved to a house without a TV aerial and decided to ditch the TV licence instead of installing one and see if we miss it. We don't.
Netflix and Plex apps installed on the TVs, Next Episode app to remind us what favourited shows are currently on and when to torrent them.

You can now look forward to the monthly threatening letter from the TV licensing people. I put mine up on the fridge, and laugh at their transparent attempts to intimidate.

 

[pesh]

That app looks handy.

its great

 

[starfish]

Non smart tv with Virgin Media cable. We either stream Netflix, Disney etc via mobiles to chromecast or watch through PS4.

 

[Monte]

no cable. i bought an expensive-ish aerial and it works well enough. i do miss the hockey tho'.

VPN set to UK plus NHL66 | NHL Streams
I never miss a Leafs game if I can help it.

 

[skyscraper101]

For me it's mainly Freesat, I tend to set it up on a Saturday to record everything I want to watch in the following week, which means you can skip any ads on replay.

That's incredibly organised. I think I used to do similar back when I had Sky Plus before there were catchup apps. These days I just rely on those.

Although, one thing that does irritate me is it takes ages for the news to show up on catchup, so if I want to watch News at 10 say at 10:45 or 11pm, it's usually not there. Recording it would solve that issue but I'd rather they just sort it out.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

No, you arse, not the same. I have a computer connected to the internet. Some services are available that way but others force you to buy a tv, when i have a perfectly functional computer screen. (Love that you think urban 75 is in any way equivelent to all of the television channels. Hilarious). But then you knew that, and wanted to start an argument, but fuck you, I'm not in the mood. Go away.

I can tell your in a bad mood because its a disccusion forum, so I was curious about your reasoning.

I've been civil, in fact I always am, but if you want to vent your anger at strangers, fill your boots. Although I hear Facebook is better for that.

 

[mx wcfc]

Freesat, as the previous owner left us with more Sky sockets than normal tv aerial sockets.

The main tv is a smart tv too, so internet telly as well.

 

[skyscraper101]

TBH I do wish Freely would just exist as an app so I could use it on my firestick to flick between BBC 1, 2, ITV, 4, Sky News, BBC News, etc without having to jump in and out of their respective apps.

That's pretty much the only reason I still have an antenna connected to my TV in the bedroom. On the night of the general election I was flicking constantly between 4 channels and having to do that by using all the apps would've been a massive ballache.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Freely is of no interest to me ATM, it currently only carries channels from the BBC, ITV, C-4, and C-5, so I would still need my Freesat box for other channels.

And, currently no Freely-supporting PVRs are on the market, so no way to record anything, which gives the advantage of being able to skip the ads.

Plus to have to buy a new telly, when the ones I have are fine.

I can see that it may develop into something useful in a few years time.

 

[skyscraper101]

Freely is of no interest to me ATM, it currently only carries channels from the BBC, ITV, C-4, and C-5, so I would still need my Freesat box for other channels.

And, currently no Freely-supporting PVRs are on the market, so no way to record anything, which gives the advantage of being able to skip the ads.

Plus to have to buy a new telly, when the ones I have are fine.

I can see that it may develop into something useful in a few years time.

Freely has a few more channels, and more will come. But your point is valid. No recording capability will matter to a few people. It's why Sky Glass/Stream sounds great in theory until you realise those devices do not have the same recording facility as Sky Q, and you have to use apps with ads you can't skip (unless you pay a premium).

 

[Lazy Llama]

Apple TV on main TV for streaming, aerial for Freeview/Freeplay directly on the TV. The Apple TV interface is great, with a single view keeping track of what episode/season you’re up to on each streaming service (Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney, Now etc)

Amazon Firestick on bedroom TV and an indoor aerial but rarely use that TV.

Used to have a BT box for recording etc but found there wasn’t much point recording things with most things streamable. Cancelled all my BT services and moved to Virgin broadband-only, saving about £40/mo and getting 5x the broadband speed.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Freely has a few more channels, and more will come.

ATM it's just channels from the four public service broadcasters, BBC/ITV/C4/C5, plus S4C in Wales, so only around 25 TV channels, compared to 60 on Freeview and 100 on Freesat, yes more will appear, but that's a shit launch offering.

I am amazed they haven't even included the UKTV channels, considering they are wholly owned by BBC, who is a shareholder in Freely.

 

[skyscraper101]

ATM it's just channels from the four public service broadcasters, BBC/ITV/C4/C5, plus S4C in Wales, so only around 25 TV channels, compared to 60 on Freeview and 100 on Freesat, yes more will appear, but that's a shit launch offering.

I am amazed they haven't even included the UKTV channels, considering they are wholly owned by BBC, who is a shareholder in Freely.

Sure, but those 25 channels are what 90% of the population probably watch most. I agree, its not a matured product yet but it's inevitably going to be where everything ends up as the economics of running channels on freeview and satellite vs IP dictate the course of the next 10, 15 years. Recording to hard drives will eventually become a thing of the past.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Sure, but those 25 channels are what 90% of the population probably watch most.

They may be watched the most, but according to Barb's viewing figures there're plenty of people watching channels from other operators at times, Sky/NBCU has a monthly reach of over 35m households/55% of the total, and both Warner Brothers Discovery and UKTV reach over 23m/36% each.

I agree, its not a matured product yet but it's inevitably going to be where everything ends up as the economics of running channels on freeview and satellite vs IP dictate the course of the next 10, 15 years. Recording to hard drives will eventually become a thing of the past.

I agree, hence in my original post I said, 'I can see that it may develop into something useful in a few years time.'

Trouble is by then they will probably develop it more, and in such a way as to make the Freely TVs you can buy now incompatible with the upgrades.

 

[Orang Utan]

Streaming via subscriptions on a Sony Bravia via a PS4. Have no interest in live tv. Mostly watch films and, occasionally, drama tv series. Never watch what is categorised on iPlayer as 'entertainment' tv and never watch reality tv, incuding the news.

 

[Orang Utan]

Out of interest, how do people watch tv on a computer monitor? They don't seem very conducive to watching anything for more than a few minutes. Or do you project onto a tv screen? Can't imagine watching a film on a laptop or sat on a computer chair inches away from a screen. I need to be sat down properly to watch tv.

 

[Chz]

Unfortunately the poll wasn't multiple choice!

Yup, poll fail. We most certainly have an aerial, but most watching is off in-built apps on the telly streaming over the wifi, and there's a Chromecast running Kodi connected to the NAS for anything Netflix/Prime/the terrestrial OD services don't have.

 

[skyscraper101]

Out of interest, how do people watch tv on a computer monitor? They don't seem very conducive to watching anything for more than a few minutes. Or do you project onto a tv screen? Can't imagine watching a film on a laptop or sat on a computer chair inches away from a screen. I need to be sat down properly to watch tv.

Not for movies, but I usually have at least one rolling news network, mostly Sky News, on in the corner of one of my screens when I'm at work.

 

[Epona]

Out of interest, how do people watch tv on a computer monitor? They don't seem very conducive to watching anything for more than a few minutes. Or do you project onto a tv screen? Can't imagine watching a film on a laptop or sat on a computer chair inches away from a screen. I need to be sat down properly to watch tv.

I don't tend to because I've usually got other things going on on my monitor and the TV is bigger (27" monitor and 52" TV) - but I don't use my PC sitting at a desk anyway, I'm very comfy on the sofa and I watch TV on the TV from the same place as I use my PC.

 

[Orang Utan]

I don't tend to because I've usually got other things going on on my monitor and the TV is bigger (27" monitor and 52" TV) - but I don't use my PC sitting at a desk anyway, I'm very comfy on the sofa and I watch TV on the TV from the same place as I use my PC.

do you mean laptop rather than PC?

 

[Looby]

I have Sky. I didn't want to get it originally because it was owned by Murdoch. But the communal aerial on my house stopped working and freeholder wouldn't sort it out.
So I got a service which came through telephone line. I can't remember the name now. They stopped service while upgrading so I switched to Sky. Virgin hadn't cabled my road then so it was the only option.
As I'm retired I do watch a lot of tv in the evening. I'm quite happy with Sky though it costs just over £100 per month, including Sky movies, Netflix, and telephone.
When my tv packs up I will probably get the Skyglass.

We’ve just got sky glass. Our TV was on the way out and the sound was awful.
We got an ok deal which was slightly less than renewing our package without it.

The TV is nice, sound is good. Be warned, if you select anything but standard colour, you also have to pay for the sound bar if you want it to match which is a fucking swizz.