Entertainment & Music Best option for TV setup

For a long time we have had 2 Foxtel boxes and used that for all TV watching.

After renovating we now have another 2 or 3 areas where we would consider putting a TV. We are also considering whether to switch from Foxtel which we mainly have for the business and sport channels.

Currently we do not have an aerial or any outlets.

Any suggestion on the best setup to go with when starting from scratch ? Should I go by aerial or wifi now?

 

You have no wifi

We couldn't live without it

I think first we would need to know how/what your viewing taste/habits is like, then how many & type of tv's etc you have/want.

I am retired & home all day - have a few 18-23 yo's as well - so heavy internet usage here
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We have many TV's and a HD projector so we do a bit of viewing

We rarely watch FTA TV any more - mainly news and some sports shows.

Never could justify Foxtel cost, but I like their shows - a lot of it can be had by various means such as Netflix, Stan or various "streaming sites" - I watch it when I'm ready - not a tv schedule. It's just a matter of how easy you want it all to work.

We use (smart) Samsung Blu-ray players to do most of this and a portable HDD connected to same - to play any downloaded files from the net.

Even with the AFL footy, I've used wifi to watch the occasional game via miracast to the Blu-ray player using mobile phone.

 

My setup is somewhat complicated:

• 2 x HD Homerun Tuners under the stairs (wired into the network) with direct connections to the TV antenna ( actually an RF modulator since TV signal comes down my Telstra Velocity Fibre )
• MythBuntu Virtual Machine running on my Mac ( manages / streams TV channels and recordings )
• Netgear ReadyNAS ( recordings are saved here )
• Kodi app running on Google Nexus Players in my Living Room and Home Theatre ( lightweight / low-power front ends for MythTV )
• MythTV Guide and programming of recording via my ipad

In the future will sideload Kodi onto Apple TVs as these have wired network interfaces and Google have obsoleted the Nexus Players ( yes there are cheaper android-based boxes but they have a crappy user interface and software updates are a pain ).

Edit - over-engineered like my landscaping

 

@bbmick Thanks for the reply.
Currently we have the Foxtel Sports package but considering getting rid of it and giving Freeview a good trial as they seems to be a lot of channels now. Was wondering if it is best to get an aerial installed and maybe 4 or 5 outlets for it - this would cost around $600. Just not sure if aerials are old technology now and whether increasing the wifi plan (yes, we do have that) and watching it all through some type of box or Smart TV. Seems a lot of options now and I'm not really across how this works now.

 

@wombat777 Thanks for the reply but I don't understand any of it.

Is your "network" around the house wireless or have you got cables and outlets around the place ?

Is it worth putting cables around the place ? At the moment we have three broadband / Foxtel outlets - one for internet and two for Foxtel. Wondering if we need further cabling or if everything is now done by wifi.

We have an extender to get the wifi back to the man cave.

 

Wifi, smart tvs, ftn, and subscribe to Freeview or Google tv. I agree with @wombat777 - an MATV system won't go astray.

 

Sounds like you have a family (by the number of outlets etc), so a full internet / wifi system probably not the go unless you already have the NBN - multiple persons streaming at same time can lead to "buffering" - not a good thing for watching your fav show.

I struggle to have 2 or 3 different people streaming same time at my place - hence I do a lot of downloading during the day so I can watch offline at night with the missus whilst the youngsters can do whatever they want with the net.

 

@Tonibell, I had network ports installed on wall plates for most rooms when I had the house built. Reasoning for that was to avoid saturating the wifi network with video.

Unfortunately there are no easy to use/setup network-based systems available the suit the general consumer ( that I am aware of ), where the requirement is for an entire family.

 

@Scott No Mates What is an "ftn" - but I'm now leaning towards an aerial and a TV or two with freeview plus. Also considering whether to keep Foxtel or to try Fetch.

@bbmick I think that is what I was looking at - wifi is not yet the answer and an aerial will be useful going forward.

@wombat777 Thanks - that clarifies it for me.

 

I ditched Foxtel about 3 years ago.. I hated paying for content that was basically just repeats of the same old rubbish, and nearly as many ads as FTA! I'm lucky enough to have decent internet speeds so I stream most of my tv, and my setup is similar to @wombat777.

Fetch TV won't be much use if your internet speed is slow. If it's good then I'd look at livestreamsports and other regular streaming options.

 

FTTN = fibre to the node