In the process of going from a TV to a projector, I'm giving up a TV tuner. I honestly watch local broadcasts maybe twice a year. For instance, last night I watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with mom. We've watched it together every year for the last 45 years. Every once in a long while I like watching an important foosball game like the hyperball (or whatever it's called), and I like to cuddle up with mah dowg and watch the ball drop on NYE.
Finding those things online is not only difficult in the free realm, it causes frustration every time - searching through Roku and Samsung apps and entering websites using the up and down keys on my remote. I usually (like last night) give up and stuff a piece of picture hanging wire in the coax hole of the TV to get the local broadcast.
After I go to a projector, I'll not have that option as it doesn't have a tuner.
If I have to give them up, so be it. Any of the apps I've found that have local TV are either a paid service (like Hulu) or free services (like Locast.org) only operate in big markets like Chicago and Philly.
Any easy button? I can't just use the ABC/NBC/CBS apps because 1) I don't subscribe to any TV service, and 2) they don't show local, so I might get a football game from Dallas while missing a Steelers game that would have been broadcast on my local station.
Antenna + HDHomeRun should get you there. Depending on how close you are to your local stations, of course. You can check that on Antennaweb. Basically, the HDHomeRun acts as your tuner and "broadcasts" to your streaming devices.
I went through the same search for a solution a while back. In the end I chose to use a network enabled TV tuner here
They have a free app for watching and recording. However, I have not used their app. I use another app, 'Channels', that isn't free. Cannot remember off hand why I chose the app I use now. Either way, an external tuner is required to access the signal for these type of apps.
Most local stations let you watch their news programs from their website, but I don't know if they will (or legally can) show their complete scheduling. Stuff like football games will probably have licensing issues.
stuart in mn said:
Most local stations let you watch their news programs from their website, but I don't know if they will (or legally can) show their complete scheduling. Stuff like football games will probably have licensing issues.
A couple of mine do, but they're more like highlights or curated content, not a simulcast of the broadcast. It's a copyright thing. It's one thing to show their own local news, or a local commercial, but when you're paying for something like General Hospital or Blacklist, the cost for the rights is widely different between the 500,000 broadcast audience vs putting in on the internet for the entire world. It's also a PITA to access websites when you're typing with up/down left/right arrows on the screen.
Not what you're looking for I suspect, but with the CBS online subscription you can select your local station and you can stream the air broadcast.
The easy button would most likely be a stand alone tv tuner. That way you could hook it to an existing antenna at one end and the projector at the other.
drsmooth said:
The easy button would most likely be a stand alone tv tuner. That way you could hook it to an existing antenna at one end and the projector at the other.
Might be what I have to do.
I'm simultaneously amazed at what technology we do have... and by what technology we don't. Mom just bought a drone for my nephew for Christmas. 20 bucks, responds to hand gestures, and takes 1080p video. But I can't watch broadcast TV without buying a $50 box. 
