Local Tv w/o Cable

eternalflame1

Estimable
Sep 5, 2015
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4,510
Bought SlingTV with the assurance I could get local TV, KCET and KDOC with an antenna. Bought adaptor and a 70 mi antenna just to find this B.S.! After MULTIPLE calls with no help I was told there is absolutely no tower reception at all in Dana Point 92629. SlingTV said no refund was in order. Short of flooding the area with door tags and leaflets, can I do anything or do I eat the $200 spent and go back to cable?
 
Solution
Well I dunno what's up with SlingTV then. The ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox channels I get with DirecTV Now are indeed the local (Los Angeles) stations, including local news. I wasn't happy that I had to use a PBS app to watch PBS shows either, but I ended up liking it. I'm no longer beholden to KCET's or KDOC's broadcast schedule - I can watch the PBS shows I like whenever I want or have time.

If your laptop has HDMI out, you can simply plug that into your (non-smart) TV. One of the hotkeys on your laptop will be to mirror the laptop screen to the external display (your TV), and you can watch streamed laptop shows that way. A lot of streaming devices like the Roku and Chromecast also allow you to cast your computer screen to your TV over...
Not familiar with the geography of southern California, but I am curious as to why antennaweb.org only seems to show San Diego channels (I didn't check them all) and no LA channels. The two channels you mentioned do not show up on the available list even though you are physically closer to those stations than the ones in San Diego.

Is there some kind of barrier (mountains, tall treed forests) between you and L.A.?

-Wolf sends
 

I'm in Dana Point. The northern part of town sits upon a big hill. Unless you live on the northern edge of town (on top of this hill), you won't have line of sight to the TV broadcast antennas (most are located on Mount Wilson, north of Los Angeles). Even if you're in Monarch Beach, I believe the hills in Aliso Viejo block Mount Wilson.

Prior to trying to pick up local channels with an antenna, one should visit one of the sites set up to help with antenna placement and direction.
http://www.antennaweb.org/
https://www.antennasdirect.com/transmitter-locator.html

I'm a little surprised SlingTV doesn't offer local channels. I thought they did. We're in the Los Angeles local area, so you should be getting ABC, NBC, and Fox as part of your package. (CBS is obstinate and insists that the streaming service pay for their local channels. I get it with DirecTV Now, but it didn't start off with CBS.)
http://help.sling.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/How-do-local-channels-work-on-Sling-TV

You might be able to pick up the San Diego stations. I'm down by the freeway and got an intermittent OTA signal from a couple San Diego stations. But the low altitude of the house (I'm by the beach) really hampered reception. I could get a better signal mounting the antenna in the attic, and I suspect it would be a usable signal if I mounted it on top of my chimney. But I figured that was too much effort since I rarely watch local broadcasts anyway.

PBS is available via the PBS website and the PBS app on a variety of different streaming boxes. Recent broadcasts are available, but be forewarned that they put most of their older library behind a donation paywall. You have to donate to your PBS station to get access to it.

And how the heck did you end up pre-paying $200 for SlingTV? One of their big claims to fame is a la carte pay-as-you-go pricing (no need for a multi-month or multi-year subscription). There should be no need to pre-pay for it. If the $200 was for a streaming device, then you can still use it with DirecTV Now or Hulu or Playstation Vue (which doesn't actually require a Playstation). So you haven't wasted the money.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/youtube-tv-vs-cable-tv-replacements,news-24578.html
https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/philo-vs-sling-tv-vs-directv-now-vs-playstation-vue-vs-fubo-tv-vs-hulu-vs-youtube-tv-updated-february-2018/
 

eternalflame1

Estimable
Sep 5, 2015
7
0
4,510


 

eternalflame1

Estimable
Sep 5, 2015
7
0
4,510
$40 x2 months for free antenna adaptor + $60 for antenna(so more like $180.00). I am also still paying for cable. DOH!
I am indeed in Monarch Beach and, I forgot which website I used, but it tells me I get squat for signal. Also, PBS does not mean KCET and the NBC, ABC, etc. are the national broadcasts not the locals… I have watched live streaming of what I think are local channels on my laptop. Is there a way to hook my computer to my “not so smart” TV and stream it all?
 
Well I dunno what's up with SlingTV then. The ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox channels I get with DirecTV Now are indeed the local (Los Angeles) stations, including local news. I wasn't happy that I had to use a PBS app to watch PBS shows either, but I ended up liking it. I'm no longer beholden to KCET's or KDOC's broadcast schedule - I can watch the PBS shows I like whenever I want or have time.

If your laptop has HDMI out, you can simply plug that into your (non-smart) TV. One of the hotkeys on your laptop will be to mirror the laptop screen to the external display (your TV), and you can watch streamed laptop shows that way. A lot of streaming devices like the Roku and Chromecast also allow you to cast your computer screen to your TV over the network, though the picture quality will be lower than with direct HDMI output.

I dunno what to say about your antenna purchase. Maybe dispute it with your credit card on the premise that you only bought it from Sling based on their assurance that it would work in your location, then found out later that they were wrong/lied to you and it doesn't work.
 
Solution

eternalflame1

Estimable
Sep 5, 2015
7
0
4,510
You were only one of 2 people who answered but gave me concise info that I have wasted hours to confirm. For that I thank you. I will keep my Sling, kill COX except for internet and use my computer for other feeds.
Maybe I should move to South Central, have a crack dealer next door and watch every program under the sun all night, every night!Or, go off the grid completely and surf my life away. I like the latter.
Thanks
 
Sorry for the late reply. I was doing too much research into SlingTV.

If your laptop has an HDMI output and your HDTV has an HDMI input, you should be able to duplicate what's showing on the laptop display to the HDTV (VGA to VGA should also work).

So after doing some research into SlingTV, I found this FAQ page about local channels. Entering your Zip Code did not show any PBS stations as available and the ABC channel was part of the Broadcast Extra package and not included with either Sling Orange or Sling Blue.

-Wolf sends