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I still don't really understand the point of Aereo. Are there people who have high-speed internet (i.e. not in remote areas) but who can't just put up an antenna?

The only reason I can imagine is international viewers who want to watch US broadcast TV.

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1 - People who don't have a TV but don't mind watching the occasional show on their computer

2 - People who rent so can't put up antenna and get lousy reception on the indoor types

3 - People who just get crappy antenna reception

I find it fascinating that so many people are confused about Aereo. Many of these people pay their cable provider for the privilege of watching local stations over the wire. It's basically the same service, only you're not tethered to a television to watch.

I have TiVo Product Lifetime Service and built my own antenna but would love Aereo because of #3. I live in an area where it's difficult to get good reception and this would solve a huge problem if I could get the local stations reliably.

I live in an apartment complex in US which doesn't allow setting up my own antenna.

At the moment Aereo locks you into the metropolitan region specified by the billing address on your credit card. So if your card has a Denver address, you can only see Denver channels.

So this would not be a usable solution for international viewers. Perhaps in the future if things loosen up.

I have Aereo because I cannot get a clear broadcast signal.

Even if I wanted to put up an antenna, certain spots are just not going to get reception easily for all of the channels I want to watch.

You have to be physically located in the market whose content you wish to receive. Sending NYC broadcast television to anywhere but NYC is not in Aereo's business model, and they actively attempt to prevent doing so. If they were caught doing it, they'd be shut down without a question.

Just because you're in a market doesn't mean you can actually receive broadcast TV. I need a 100 foot mast to see over a nearby mountain to broadcasters that neighbors 2 miles away can get with rabbit ears. Aereo's NYC region goes out to the tip of Long Island https://aereo.com/coverage/nyc

> Just because you're in a market doesn't mean you can actually receive broadcast TV.

This is the problem Aereo solves, yes.

Wow, that makes it even less valuable than I realized. Thanks to digital broadcasting, I get a perfectly clear picture with a $10 rabbit ear antenna from a thrift store.

How does Aereo charge $8/month for this?

Aereo is not just for watching live broadcasts. In fact, it's somewhat annoying for that because as soon as one program ends, it kicks you back to the Guide and you have to select the next program to watch it. It's really geared towards using it as a DVR in the cloud.

The DVR functionality is nice. Sure, assuming your antenna can pick up the OTA channels you want, you can build your own DVR but if you want it to be better than an old VHS recorder (simply setting channel start & stop days/times), you need a good source of TV schedule data which last I heard you have to pay for (not $8/month, but something). Aereo can be set to record only new episodes and has options to start a recording early and/or stop it late (especially helpful on Sundays when sports seem to regularly delay CBS programming).

I also pay $8/month for Hulu Plus and mostly watch that. I use Aereo (through a Roku3) to watch shows on channels that aren't on Hulu (CGS, PBS) plus Saturday Night Live (because sometimes Hulu's version is edited).

$8/month for Aereo a bit much for how I use it but it's still cheaper than Comcast's DVR set-top box. One could watch a lot more through Aereo, in the Boston area there ~25 channels available, but they're pretty crappy. https://aereo.com/channels

And I don't get a picture at all with a $50 amplified antenna. The local ABC affiliate hasn't put any transmitters in my area, so I'm SOL without cable or a service like Aereo.

(more info: I'm in Greenville, SC, which is part of a TV market that covers a large, mountainous area and has 4 cities in it. The stations actually based in my city (NBC, Fox) come in very clear; the stations based farthest from my city (ABC) don't come in at all.)

You may have better luck with a direction antenna than an amplifier. This one is a good compromise between size and expense and so forth:

http://www.channelmasterstore.com/Digital_HDTV_Outdoor_TV_An...

It does sort of demand a permanent installation. I guess similar designs are good too, I think the Channelmaster is actually better, but it is discontinued.

You can get a tv tuner for your computer, and storage for what you record, to roll your own DVR for about $100, but it may be less of a hassle to pay $8/month.

Don't forget putting a streaming server + firewall on your computer to let you watch when you're out of the house. Plus another inbound server to let you schedule recordings. Plus the upstream bandwidth at your home to stream to that device outside the house.

Are you on the 5th floor of an apartment surrounded by skyscrapers? Or maybe at the bottom of a valley just outside a major city's limits?

Many people are unable to receive digital broadcasts over the air. This is a solution for them. The features on top of that are just gravy.

Are there people who have high-speed internet (i.e. not in remote areas)

How does this equivalence work? Last place I lived wasn't exactly a major city, but there was still cable internet available. Sitting at the bottom of a valley meant no OTA service.

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