How Do You Watch TV?

"How do you watch TV"? is a question we are often asked. One of the requirements we had when we bought our boat was a TV. We're now on our 5th and 6th TV! Originally we recorded shows to our DirecTV receiver and brought it on board when we cruised. Plus we used a DVD player for movies. That worked until DirecTV put a stop to that and you had to be connected to your home network. So we bought a Vulkano (similar to a Sling Box). That worked OK too but neither allowed us to watch live TV. Well... we could remotely turn on our DirecTV receiver using the Vulkano and stream live TV from our home to anywhere in the world but it just didn't work well. Sharon would always plan our Fall cruises around our football teams' schedule. Almost three years ago, we helped deliver a 50' catamaran from Annapolis to Key West. We were a few miles offshore and watching live TV! The boat had a SeaWatch omni-directional HDTV antenna and a smart TV that had a guide. By the time our boat was launched April 2017, Ka'Why Knot had a 3019 SeaWatch HDTV antenna (19") installed on the mast. 

The project was relatively simple and I had to run coax cable down the mast and into the saloon. I also had to run power to the antenna's power adapter. It can use AC or DC -- I chose DC. The antenna power adapter supports two TV connections. We were so impressed with the reception that I installed a second smart TV in our stateroom. Currently we get about 70 channels from Washington, DC and Baltimore -- many of them HD channels. All free and the HD quality superior to DirecTV and Xfinity because the signal isn't compressed! And now that we have smart TVs, we also have Prime, Netflix and Hulu. And there's always our old DVD collection if we get really desperate. I also installed a bluetooth adapter to connect our Bose SoundLink Mini II speaker. It's about as close to surround sound as you can get at a fraction of the cost and headache. 

For boat wifi and streaming, we use the discount cellular carrier, Visible. Visible offers unlimited talk, text and DATA!) with no data throttling for only $40/month. And Visible uses Verizon's 4G LTE network. They also offer an unlimited data hotspot but it's limited to 5 Mbps (more than enough for streaming) and only one connection per device. Our workaround for that is a TP-Link N300 wireless router. Once you tether your router to your phone, you can connect other devices just like your home wifi.

If your existing phone is compatible, you can use it keeping your same number. If not, they sell one for $19 including a SIM card! We purchased a phone and use it exclusively as a dedicated hot spot. Our other two phones are still with Verizon but that may change soon.

If you use promo code BSpRs, you'll get a 50% ($20) discount on your first month's bill and we'll get a $20 credit. Edit: Visible seems to have changed to "Party Pay" so I'm not sure if the promo code works any longer. If not, try https://www.visible.com/p/RobCrow.