Back in January I posted in here how I downsized from expanded basic
cable to just basic cable, basically just the local network affiliates
and the digital channels (MeTV, Cozi, Bounce) they offer. After a few
months of that I thought why the hell am I even paying for basic cable,
so a few days ago I turned in my cable boxes (one for the living room
and one for the bedroom) to the local ISP provider.
I've had Roku since 2023 and since I had an empty place to plug
something else in after turning in the living room cable box, I
considered Amazon Firestick and Google TV. I decided to go with Google
TV and went to Walmart to buy an Onn 4K streaming device for about 25
bucks.
They must have been paying all those people on the Walmart website who
said it was "a breeze" to install because it seems like Google made me
jump through about 10 more hoops than Roku did when I signed up with
them. One of the most frustrating things was trying to enter in a long password with a lot of weird characters on two or three different
keyboard screens.
I'm still getting used to Google TV, I guess the best thing about it is
you can plug directly into YouTube and your YouTube subscriptions. They
do have a "Freeplay" app which is comparable to Roku's Live TV channel,
but not nearly as many channels as Roku offers.
Another strange thing is Google TV seems to completely take over your
remote if you use a "teachable" one like I do so you can combine remotes
for several different components (TV, receiver, CD player, etc.). Also I
was unable to teach the signals from the Google TV remote to my
teachable remote (a Sony RM-VLZ620). My remote accepted all the signals
from the Roku remote without any problems.
Anyway my bill has gone from $225 last year for expanded basic/phone/ internet to just $79 when the next bill comes. I do have a fiber
connection with my ISP so it always has an excellent connection. I don't have any 4K TVs but the clarity with Google TV is excellent.
On 2026-04-30 7:56 p.m., super70s wrote:
Back in January I posted in here how I downsized from expanded basicI've never tried Claude.AI with issues like you describe but I've found
cable to just basic cable, basically just the local network affiliates
and the digital channels (MeTV, Cozi, Bounce) they offer. After a few
months of that I thought why the hell am I even paying for basic cable,
so a few days ago I turned in my cable boxes (one for the living room
and one for the bedroom) to the local ISP provider.
I've had Roku since 2023 and since I had an empty place to plug
something else in after turning in the living room cable box, I
considered Amazon Firestick and Google TV. I decided to go with Google
TV and went to Walmart to buy an Onn 4K streaming device for about 25
bucks.
They must have been paying all those people on the Walmart website who
said it was "a breeze" to install because it seems like Google made me
jump through about 10 more hoops than Roku did when I signed up with
them. One of the most frustrating things was trying to enter in a long
password with a lot of weird characters on two or three different
keyboard screens.
I'm still getting used to Google TV, I guess the best thing about it is
you can plug directly into YouTube and your YouTube subscriptions. They
do have a "Freeplay" app which is comparable to Roku's Live TV channel,
but not nearly as many channels as Roku offers.
Another strange thing is Google TV seems to completely take over your
remote if you use a "teachable" one like I do so you can combine
remotes for several different components (TV, receiver, CD player,
etc.). Also I was unable to teach the signals from the Google TV remote
to my teachable remote (a Sony RM-VLZ620). My remote accepted all the
signals from the Roku remote without any problems.
Anyway my bill has gone from $225 last year for expanded basic/phone/
internet to just $79 when the next bill comes. I do have a fiber
connection with my ISP so it always has an excellent connection. I
don't have any 4K TVs but the clarity with Google TV is excellent.
it amazingly well-informed about a lot of things so you might try
asking it for help. It's free and only takes a minute to try. Just a thought.
On 2026-05-01 00:57:00 +0000, Rhino said:
On 2026-04-30 7:56 p.m., super70s wrote:
Back in January I posted in here how I downsized from expanded basicI've never tried Claude.AI with issues like you describe but I've found
cable to just basic cable, basically just the local network affiliates
and the digital channels (MeTV, Cozi, Bounce) they offer. After a few
months of that I thought why the hell am I even paying for basic cable, >> so a few days ago I turned in my cable boxes (one for the living room
and one for the bedroom) to the local ISP provider.
I've had Roku since 2023 and since I had an empty place to plug
something else in after turning in the living room cable box, I
considered Amazon Firestick and Google TV. I decided to go with Google
TV and went to Walmart to buy an Onn 4K streaming device for about 25
bucks.
They must have been paying all those people on the Walmart website who
said it was "a breeze" to install because it seems like Google made me
jump through about 10 more hoops than Roku did when I signed up with
them. One of the most frustrating things was trying to enter in a long
password with a lot of weird characters on two or three different
keyboard screens.
I'm still getting used to Google TV, I guess the best thing about it is >> you can plug directly into YouTube and your YouTube subscriptions. They >> do have a "Freeplay" app which is comparable to Roku's Live TV channel, >> but not nearly as many channels as Roku offers.
Another strange thing is Google TV seems to completely take over your
remote if you use a "teachable" one like I do so you can combine
remotes for several different components (TV, receiver, CD player,
etc.). Also I was unable to teach the signals from the Google TV remote >> to my teachable remote (a Sony RM-VLZ620). My remote accepted all the
signals from the Roku remote without any problems.
Anyway my bill has gone from $225 last year for expanded basic/phone/
internet to just $79 when the next bill comes. I do have a fiber
connection with my ISP so it always has an excellent connection. I
don't have any 4K TVs but the clarity with Google TV is excellent.
it amazingly well-informed about a lot of things so you might try
asking it for help. It's free and only takes a minute to try. Just a thought.
The Google TV platform has this "Gemini" AI deal built in, but I
haven't tried it for anything yet.
I did a quick google search of Claude and it returned this thread on Reddit:
"ChatGPT has the users, Gemini has the money, deepseek has the
inventions. What does Claude have? Like, that makes it feel so much
stronger and more natural sounding when talking to, compared to said 3 competitors?"
super70s <super70s@super70s.invalid> posted:
On 2026-05-01 00:57:00 +0000, Rhino said:
On 2026-04-30 7:56 p.m., super70s wrote:
Back in January I posted in here how I downsized from expanded basicI've never tried Claude.AI with issues like you describe but I've found
cable to just basic cable, basically just the local network affiliates >>>> and the digital channels (MeTV, Cozi, Bounce) they offer. After a few
months of that I thought why the hell am I even paying for basic cable, >>>> so a few days ago I turned in my cable boxes (one for the living room
and one for the bedroom) to the local ISP provider.
I've had Roku since 2023 and since I had an empty place to plug
something else in after turning in the living room cable box, I
considered Amazon Firestick and Google TV. I decided to go with Google >>>> TV and went to Walmart to buy an Onn 4K streaming device for about 25
bucks.
They must have been paying all those people on the Walmart website who >>>> said it was "a breeze" to install because it seems like Google made me >>>> jump through about 10 more hoops than Roku did when I signed up with
them. One of the most frustrating things was trying to enter in a long >>>> password with a lot of weird characters on two or three different
keyboard screens.
I'm still getting used to Google TV, I guess the best thing about it is >>>> you can plug directly into YouTube and your YouTube subscriptions. They >>>> do have a "Freeplay" app which is comparable to Roku's Live TV channel, >>>> but not nearly as many channels as Roku offers.
Another strange thing is Google TV seems to completely take over your
remote if you use a "teachable" one like I do so you can combine
remotes for several different components (TV, receiver, CD player,
etc.). Also I was unable to teach the signals from the Google TV remote >>>> to my teachable remote (a Sony RM-VLZ620). My remote accepted all the
signals from the Roku remote without any problems.
Anyway my bill has gone from $225 last year for expanded basic/phone/
internet to just $79 when the next bill comes. I do have a fiber
connection with my ISP so it always has an excellent connection. I
don't have any 4K TVs but the clarity with Google TV is excellent.
it amazingly well-informed about a lot of things so you might try
asking it for help. It's free and only takes a minute to try. Just a
thought.
The Google TV platform has this "Gemini" AI deal built in, but I
haven't tried it for anything yet.
I did a quick google search of Claude and it returned this thread on Reddit: >>
"ChatGPT has the users, Gemini has the money, deepseek has the
inventions. What does Claude have? Like, that makes it feel so much
stronger and more natural sounding when talking to, compared to said 3
competitors?"
Gemini is free even if you don't have Google's TV platform, as is
ChatGPT. Claude.AI is also free but there are usage limits in the free
tier so if you use it extensively, you will find that after a few
hours, it stops responding and tells you when you can next get free
help, which is usually a few hours later. That can be really annoying
if you're in the middle of something that you urgently want to finish
but there are workarounds to minimize the problem. (Or you can use one
of the paid plans and get more time with it immediately.) While ChatGPT
and Gemini don't cut you off in the middle of a session, ChatGPT will downgrade the model it is using fairly early in a session that goes on
for more than a few exchanges, although that lesser model is usually adequate in my experience. Gemini does not visibly downgrade the model
and never stops a session because it's gone on too long so, for a few months, it was my preferred AI. But then it started damaging my code -
it literally ripped out important parts of my code in an effort to
"harden" it - and it wasted hours of my time trying to do things that couldn't be done. (I was having it advise me on how to install
something but we kept running into roadblocks and every workaround it
tried failed too. Finally, it admitted that the program I was trying to install had known issues working on Windows 11 and that it had known
this from the beginning. That was the final straw for me and I stay
away from Gemini now. I use Claude whenever I can and ChatGPT is my
backup if I'm desperate to know something while I'm waiting for my next session. Sorry, that is probably way more information than you want but
it *might* help you.
Back to your problem. I've just pasted your issue in to Claude and
asked it for suggestions. Here's what it came back with:
============================================================================ This is a pretty common experience for people cutting the cord! Here's
some practical advice you could pass along:
On the remote control problem ? this is probably the most fixable
issue. Google TV uses HDMI-CEC (it calls it "Google Home" control),
which actively tries to take over compatible remotes. He should dig
into the Google TV settings and look for "HDMI-CEC" or "Device Control"
and disable it. That may free up his universal remote to work more
normally. As for teaching the Sony RM-VLZ620 the Google TV signals ?
Google TV remotes use Bluetooth rather than IR for the streaming device itself, which is why it won't learn. He'd need to find the IR codes specifically for his TV's input switching and volume, which the Sony
remote may already have built in via its TV brand database.
On the password hassle ? for future setup headaches like that, the
Google Home app on a smartphone can make login much smoother. You can
type passwords on your phone keyboard instead of hunting through an on-screen keyboard with a remote.
On Freeplay vs. Roku Live TV ? he's right that Roku's free live channel lineup is larger, but he might want to check out Pluto TV, Tubi, and
Peacock (free tier) as standalone apps on Google TV. Between those and YouTube, he can fill most of the gaps. Pluto TV in particular has a big
live channel lineup similar to what Roku offers natively.
On the broader situation ? going from $225 down to $79/month is a
fantastic result, so despite the setup friction, he's landed in a good place. The Google TV learning curve tends to flatten out after a few
weeks once you know where everything lives.
The remote situation is genuinely the trickiest part and worth spending
some time on, since a universal remote that doesn't fully work is a
daily annoyance. ============================================================================
On 2026-05-01 14:28:31 +0000, rhino said:
super70s <super70s@super70s.invalid> posted:
On 2026-05-01 00:57:00 +0000, Rhino said:
On 2026-04-30 7:56 p.m., super70s wrote:
Back in January I posted in here how I downsized from expanded basic >>>>> cable to just basic cable, basically just the local network affiliates >>>>> and the digital channels (MeTV, Cozi, Bounce) they offer. After a few >>>>> months of that I thought why the hell am I even paying for basicI've never tried Claude.AI with issues like you describe but I've found >>>> it amazingly well-informed about a lot of things so you might try
cable,
so a few days ago I turned in my cable boxes (one for the living room >>>>> and one for the bedroom) to the local ISP provider.
I've had Roku since 2023 and since I had an empty place to plug
something else in after turning in the living room cable box, I
considered Amazon Firestick and Google TV. I decided to go with Google >>>>> TV and went to Walmart to buy an Onn 4K streaming device for about 25 >>>>> bucks.
They must have been paying all those people on the Walmart website who >>>>> said it was "a breeze" to install because it seems like Google made me >>>>> jump through about 10 more hoops than Roku did when I signed up with >>>>> them. One of the most frustrating things was trying to enter in a long >>>>> password with a lot of weird characters on two or three different
keyboard screens.
I'm still getting used to Google TV, I guess the best thing about
it is
you can plug directly into YouTube and your YouTube subscriptions.
They
do have a "Freeplay" app which is comparable to Roku's Live TV
channel,
but not nearly as many channels as Roku offers.
Another strange thing is Google TV seems to completely take over your >>>>> remote if you use a "teachable" one like I do so you can combine
remotes for several different components (TV, receiver, CD player,
etc.). Also I was unable to teach the signals from the Google TV
remote
to my teachable remote (a Sony RM-VLZ620). My remote accepted all the >>>>> signals from the Roku remote without any problems.
Anyway my bill has gone from $225 last year for expanded basic/phone/ >>>>> internet to just $79 when the next bill comes. I do have a fiber
connection with my ISP so it always has an excellent connection. I
don't have any 4K TVs but the clarity with Google TV is excellent.
asking it for help. It's free and only takes a minute to try. Just a
thought.
The Google TV platform has this "Gemini" AI deal built in, but I
haven't tried it for anything yet.
I did a quick google search of Claude and it returned this thread on
Reddit:
"ChatGPT has the users, Gemini has the money, deepseek has the
inventions. What does Claude have? Like, that makes it feel so much
stronger and more natural sounding when talking to, compared to said 3
competitors?"
Gemini is free even if you don't have Google's TV platform, as is
ChatGPT. Claude.AI is also free but there are usage limits in the free
tier so if you use it extensively, you will find that after a few
hours, it stops responding and tells you when you can next get free
help, which is usually a few hours later. That can be really annoying
if you're in the middle of something that you urgently want to finish
but there are workarounds to minimize the problem. (Or you can use one
of the paid plans and get more time with it immediately.) While
ChatGPT and Gemini don't cut you off in the middle of a session,
ChatGPT will downgrade the model it is using fairly early in a session
that goes on for more than a few exchanges, although that lesser model
is usually adequate in my experience. Gemini does not visibly
downgrade the model and never stops a session because it's gone on too
long so, for a few months, it was my preferred AI. But then it started
damaging my code - it literally ripped out important parts of my code
in an effort to "harden" it - and it wasted hours of my time trying to
do things that couldn't be done. (I was having it advise me on how to
install something but we kept running into roadblocks and every
workaround it tried failed too. Finally, it admitted that the program
I was trying to install had known issues working on Windows 11 and
that it had known this from the beginning. That was the final straw
for me and I stay away from Gemini now. I use Claude whenever I can
and ChatGPT is my backup if I'm desperate to know something while I'm
waiting for my next session. Sorry, that is probably way more
information than you want but it *might* help you.
Back to your problem. I've just pasted your issue in to Claude and
asked it for suggestions. Here's what it came back with:
============================================================================ >> This is a pretty common experience for people cutting the cord! Here's
some practical advice you could pass along:
On the remote control problem ? this is probably the most fixable
issue. Google TV uses HDMI-CEC (it calls it "Google Home" control),
which actively tries to take over compatible remotes. He should dig
into the Google TV settings and look for "HDMI-CEC" or "Device
Control" and disable it. That may free up his universal remote to work
more normally. As for teaching the Sony RM-VLZ620 the Google TV
signals ? Google TV remotes use Bluetooth rather than IR for the
streaming device itself, which is why it won't learn. He'd need to
find the IR codes specifically for his TV's input switching and
volume, which the Sony remote may already have built in via its TV
brand database.
On the password hassle ? for future setup headaches like that, the
Google Home app on a smartphone can make login much smoother. You can
type passwords on your phone keyboard instead of hunting through an
on-screen keyboard with a remote.
Amazing, I can implement some of this advice. I remember seeing a "HDMI- CEC" setting but didn't look into it. Also I have an explanation why the Sony remote won't accept the Google TV remote's signals. I knew a
smartphone could help in the setup with a QR code but unfortunately I'm
not in a situation to use that and was forced to go the password route.
On Freeplay vs. Roku Live TV ? he's right that Roku's free live
channel lineup is larger, but he might want to check out Pluto TV,
Tubi, and Peacock (free tier) as standalone apps on Google TV. Between
those and YouTube, he can fill most of the gaps. Pluto TV in
particular has a big live channel lineup similar to what Roku offers
natively.
On the broader situation ? going from $225 down to $79/month is a
fantastic result, so despite the setup friction, he's landed in a good
place. The Google TV learning curve tends to flatten out after a few
weeks once you know where everything lives.
Using my Roku home screen as a model I was able to search and d/l just
about every same app on my Google TV screen, including Pluto, Tubi (Tubi
was pre-installed as I remember) and some others I think are also worth having like Filmrise and Fawesome. I didn't even realize Peacock had a
"free tier" other than the usual "try it free for ____ days!" come on. Google TV had several premium apps like YouTubeTV, Netflix, Disney and Paramount+ pre-installed but I just deleted those because I don't
foresee ever using them.
Even though Google TV seems to have a higher learning curve than Roku I think I've got everything figured out after a few days -- or maybe it's
just because I've had three years to get used to Roku.
Thanks friend for posting this Claude.AI info for me, I don't fool
around with AI too much and this gave me a lot of insight.
The remote situation is genuinely the trickiest part and worth
spending some time on, since a universal remote that doesn't fully
work is a daily annoyance.
============================================================================
On 2026-05-01 3:02 p.m., super70s wrote:
On 2026-05-01 14:28:31 +0000, rhino said:You're welcome. I had no idea what Claude would say but I thought this
super70s <super70s@super70s.invalid> posted:
On 2026-05-01 00:57:00 +0000, Rhino said:
On 2026-04-30 7:56 p.m., super70s wrote:
Back in January I posted in here how I downsized from expanded basic >>>>>> cable to just basic cable, basically just the local network affiliates >>>>>> and the digital channels (MeTV, Cozi, Bounce) they offer. After a few >>>>>> months of that I thought why the hell am I even paying for basic cable, >>>>>> so a few days ago I turned in my cable boxes (one for the living room >>>>>> and one for the bedroom) to the local ISP provider.I've never tried Claude.AI with issues like you describe but I've found >>>>> it amazingly well-informed about a lot of things so you might try
I've had Roku since 2023 and since I had an empty place to plug
something else in after turning in the living room cable box, I
considered Amazon Firestick and Google TV. I decided to go with Google >>>>>> TV and went to Walmart to buy an Onn 4K streaming device for about 25 >>>>>> bucks.
They must have been paying all those people on the Walmart website who >>>>>> said it was "a breeze" to install because it seems like Google made me >>>>>> jump through about 10 more hoops than Roku did when I signed up with >>>>>> them. One of the most frustrating things was trying to enter in a long >>>>>> password with a lot of weird characters on two or three different
keyboard screens.
I'm still getting used to Google TV, I guess the best thing about it is >>>>>> you can plug directly into YouTube and your YouTube subscriptions. They >>>>>> do have a "Freeplay" app which is comparable to Roku's Live TV channel, >>>>>> but not nearly as many channels as Roku offers.
Another strange thing is Google TV seems to completely take over your >>>>>> remote if you use a "teachable" one like I do so you can combine
remotes for several different components (TV, receiver, CD player, >>>>>> etc.). Also I was unable to teach the signals from the Google TV remote >>>>>> to my teachable remote (a Sony RM-VLZ620). My remote accepted all the >>>>>> signals from the Roku remote without any problems.
Anyway my bill has gone from $225 last year for expanded basic/phone/ >>>>>> internet to just $79 when the next bill comes. I do have a fiber
connection with my ISP so it always has an excellent connection. I >>>>>> don't have any 4K TVs but the clarity with Google TV is excellent. >>>>>>
asking it for help. It's free and only takes a minute to try. Just a >>>>> thought.
The Google TV platform has this "Gemini" AI deal built in, but I
haven't tried it for anything yet.
I did a quick google search of Claude and it returned this thread on Reddit:
"ChatGPT has the users, Gemini has the money, deepseek has the
inventions. What does Claude have? Like, that makes it feel so much
stronger and more natural sounding when talking to, compared to said 3 >>>> competitors?"
Gemini is free even if you don't have Google's TV platform, as is
ChatGPT. Claude.AI is also free but there are usage limits in the free
tier so if you use it extensively, you will find that after a few
hours, it stops responding and tells you when you can next get free
help, which is usually a few hours later. That can be really annoying
if you're in the middle of something that you urgently want to finish
but there are workarounds to minimize the problem. (Or you can use one
of the paid plans and get more time with it immediately.) While ChatGPT >>> and Gemini don't cut you off in the middle of a session, ChatGPT will
downgrade the model it is using fairly early in a session that goes on
for more than a few exchanges, although that lesser model is usually
adequate in my experience. Gemini does not visibly downgrade the model
and never stops a session because it's gone on too long so, for a few
months, it was my preferred AI. But then it started damaging my code -
it literally ripped out important parts of my code in an effort to
"harden" it - and it wasted hours of my time trying to do things that
couldn't be done. (I was having it advise me on how to install
something but we kept running into roadblocks and every workaround it
tried failed too. Finally, it admitted that the program I was trying to >>> install had known issues working on Windows 11 and that it had known
this from the beginning. That was the final straw for me and I stay
away from Gemini now. I use Claude whenever I can and ChatGPT is my
backup if I'm desperate to know something while I'm waiting for my next >>> session. Sorry, that is probably way more information than you want but >>> it *might* help you.
Back to your problem. I've just pasted your issue in to Claude and
asked it for suggestions. Here's what it came back with:
============================================================================
This is a pretty common experience for people cutting the cord! Here's
some practical advice you could pass along:
On the remote control problem ? this is probably the most fixable
issue. Google TV uses HDMI-CEC (it calls it "Google Home" control),
which actively tries to take over compatible remotes. He should dig
into the Google TV settings and look for "HDMI-CEC" or "Device Control" >>> and disable it. That may free up his universal remote to work more
normally. As for teaching the Sony RM-VLZ620 the Google TV signals ?
Google TV remotes use Bluetooth rather than IR for the streaming device >>> itself, which is why it won't learn. He'd need to find the IR codes
specifically for his TV's input switching and volume, which the Sony
remote may already have built in via its TV brand database.
On the password hassle ? for future setup headaches like that, the
Google Home app on a smartphone can make login much smoother. You can
type passwords on your phone keyboard instead of hunting through an
on-screen keyboard with a remote.
Amazing, I can implement some of this advice. I remember seeing a
"HDMI- CEC" setting but didn't look into it. Also I have an explanation
why the Sony remote won't accept the Google TV remote's signals. I knew
a smartphone could help in the setup with a QR code but unfortunately
I'm not in a situation to use that and was forced to go the password
route.
On Freeplay vs. Roku Live TV ? he's right that Roku's free live channel >>> lineup is larger, but he might want to check out Pluto TV, Tubi, and
Peacock (free tier) as standalone apps on Google TV. Between those and
YouTube, he can fill most of the gaps. Pluto TV in particular has a big >>> live channel lineup similar to what Roku offers natively.
On the broader situation ? going from $225 down to $79/month is a
fantastic result, so despite the setup friction, he's landed in a good
place. The Google TV learning curve tends to flatten out after a few
weeks once you know where everything lives.
Using my Roku home screen as a model I was able to search and d/l just
about every same app on my Google TV screen, including Pluto, Tubi
(Tubi was pre-installed as I remember) and some others I think are also
worth having like Filmrise and Fawesome. I didn't even realize Peacock
had a "free tier" other than the usual "try it free for ____ days!"
come on. Google TV had several premium apps like YouTubeTV, Netflix,
Disney and Paramount+ pre-installed but I just deleted those because I
don't foresee ever using them.
Even though Google TV seems to have a higher learning curve than Roku I
think I've got everything figured out after a few days -- or maybe it's
just because I've had three years to get used to Roku.
Thanks friend for posting this Claude.AI info for me, I don't fool
around with AI too much and this gave me a lot of insight.
was a perfect chance to find out if it could be helpful with TV issues.
It's clear that Claude's response had got you to a better place.
(You might find it interesting to post the exact same question to other
AIs and see if they offer even better advice. Overall, my advice to
anyone interested in AI is to try several until you find one that feels comfortable to you - and then hop back to one you rejected if you hear
buzz that it is much better now and see for yourself. They get upgraded regularly.)
The remote situation is genuinely the trickiest part and worth spending >>> some time on, since a universal remote that doesn't fully work is a
daily annoyance.
============================================================================
On 2026-05-01 20:30:37 +0000, Rhino said:
On 2026-05-01 3:02 p.m., super70s wrote:
On 2026-05-01 14:28:31 +0000, rhino said:You're welcome. I had no idea what Claude would say but I thought this
super70s <super70s@super70s.invalid> posted:
On 2026-05-01 00:57:00 +0000, Rhino said:
On 2026-04-30 7:56 p.m., super70s wrote:
Back in January I posted in here how I downsized from expanded basic >>>>>>> cable to just basic cable, basically just the local networkI've never tried Claude.AI with issues like you describe but I've >>>>>> found
affiliates
and the digital channels (MeTV, Cozi, Bounce) they offer. After a >>>>>>> few
months of that I thought why the hell am I even paying for basic >>>>>>> cable,
so a few days ago I turned in my cable boxes (one for the living >>>>>>> room
and one for the bedroom) to the local ISP provider.
I've had Roku since 2023 and since I had an empty place to plug
something else in after turning in the living room cable box, I
considered Amazon Firestick and Google TV. I decided to go with >>>>>>> Google
TV and went to Walmart to buy an Onn 4K streaming device for
about 25
bucks.
They must have been paying all those people on the Walmart
website who
said it was "a breeze" to install because it seems like Google
made me
jump through about 10 more hoops than Roku did when I signed up with >>>>>>> them. One of the most frustrating things was trying to enter in a >>>>>>> long
password with a lot of weird characters on two or three different >>>>>>> keyboard screens.
I'm still getting used to Google TV, I guess the best thing about >>>>>>> it is
you can plug directly into YouTube and your YouTube
subscriptions. They
do have a "Freeplay" app which is comparable to Roku's Live TV
channel,
but not nearly as many channels as Roku offers.
Another strange thing is Google TV seems to completely take over >>>>>>> your
remote if you use a "teachable" one like I do so you can combine >>>>>>> remotes for several different components (TV, receiver, CD player, >>>>>>> etc.). Also I was unable to teach the signals from the Google TV >>>>>>> remote
to my teachable remote (a Sony RM-VLZ620). My remote accepted all >>>>>>> the
signals from the Roku remote without any problems.
Anyway my bill has gone from $225 last year for expanded basic/ >>>>>>> phone/
internet to just $79 when the next bill comes. I do have a fiber >>>>>>> connection with my ISP so it always has an excellent connection. I >>>>>>> don't have any 4K TVs but the clarity with Google TV is excellent. >>>>>>>
it amazingly well-informed about a lot of things so you might try
asking it for help. It's free and only takes a minute to try. Just a >>>>>> thought.
The Google TV platform has this "Gemini" AI deal built in, but I
haven't tried it for anything yet.
I did a quick google search of Claude and it returned this thread
on Reddit:
"ChatGPT has the users, Gemini has the money, deepseek has the
inventions. What does Claude have? Like, that makes it feel so much
stronger and more natural sounding when talking to, compared to said 3 >>>>> competitors?"
Gemini is free even if you don't have Google's TV platform, as is
ChatGPT. Claude.AI is also free but there are usage limits in the
free tier so if you use it extensively, you will find that after a
few hours, it stops responding and tells you when you can next get
free help, which is usually a few hours later. That can be really
annoying if you're in the middle of something that you urgently want
to finish but there are workarounds to minimize the problem. (Or you
can use one of the paid plans and get more time with it
immediately.) While ChatGPT and Gemini don't cut you off in the
middle of a session, ChatGPT will downgrade the model it is using
fairly early in a session that goes on for more than a few
exchanges, although that lesser model is usually adequate in my
experience. Gemini does not visibly downgrade the model and never
stops a session because it's gone on too long so, for a few months,
it was my preferred AI. But then it started damaging my code - it
literally ripped out important parts of my code in an effort to
"harden" it - and it wasted hours of my time trying to do things
that couldn't be done. (I was having it advise me on how to install
something but we kept running into roadblocks and every workaround
it tried failed too. Finally, it admitted that the program I was
trying to install had known issues working on Windows 11 and that it
had known this from the beginning. That was the final straw for me
and I stay away from Gemini now. I use Claude whenever I can and
ChatGPT is my backup if I'm desperate to know something while I'm
waiting for my next session. Sorry, that is probably way more
information than you want but it *might* help you.
Back to your problem. I've just pasted your issue in to Claude and
asked it for suggestions. Here's what it came back with:
============================================================================
This is a pretty common experience for people cutting the cord!
Here's some practical advice you could pass along:
On the remote control problem ? this is probably the most fixable
issue. Google TV uses HDMI-CEC (it calls it "Google Home" control),
which actively tries to take over compatible remotes. He should dig
into the Google TV settings and look for "HDMI-CEC" or "Device
Control" and disable it. That may free up his universal remote to
work more normally. As for teaching the Sony RM-VLZ620 the Google TV
signals ? Google TV remotes use Bluetooth rather than IR for the
streaming device itself, which is why it won't learn. He'd need to
find the IR codes specifically for his TV's input switching and
volume, which the Sony remote may already have built in via its TV
brand database.
On the password hassle ? for future setup headaches like that, the
Google Home app on a smartphone can make login much smoother. You
can type passwords on your phone keyboard instead of hunting through
an on-screen keyboard with a remote.
Amazing, I can implement some of this advice. I remember seeing a
"HDMI- CEC" setting but didn't look into it. Also I have an
explanation why the Sony remote won't accept the Google TV remote's
signals. I knew a smartphone could help in the setup with a QR code
but unfortunately I'm not in a situation to use that and was forced
to go the password route.
On Freeplay vs. Roku Live TV ? he's right that Roku's free live
channel lineup is larger, but he might want to check out Pluto TV,
Tubi, and Peacock (free tier) as standalone apps on Google TV.
Between those and YouTube, he can fill most of the gaps. Pluto TV in
particular has a big live channel lineup similar to what Roku offers
natively.
On the broader situation ? going from $225 down to $79/month is a
fantastic result, so despite the setup friction, he's landed in a
good place. The Google TV learning curve tends to flatten out after
a few weeks once you know where everything lives.
Using my Roku home screen as a model I was able to search and d/l
just about every same app on my Google TV screen, including Pluto,
Tubi (Tubi was pre-installed as I remember) and some others I think
are also worth having like Filmrise and Fawesome. I didn't even
realize Peacock had a "free tier" other than the usual "try it free
for ____ days!" come on. Google TV had several premium apps like
YouTubeTV, Netflix, Disney and Paramount+ pre-installed but I just
deleted those because I don't foresee ever using them.
Even though Google TV seems to have a higher learning curve than Roku
I think I've got everything figured out after a few days -- or maybe
it's just because I've had three years to get used to Roku.
Thanks friend for posting this Claude.AI info for me, I don't fool
around with AI too much and this gave me a lot of insight.
was a perfect chance to find out if it could be helpful with TV
issues. It's clear that Claude's response had got you to a better place.
(You might find it interesting to post the exact same question to
other AIs and see if they offer even better advice. Overall, my advice
to anyone interested in AI is to try several until you find one that
feels comfortable to you - and then hop back to one you rejected if
you hear buzz that it is much better now and see for yourself. They
get upgraded regularly.)
The remote situation is genuinely the trickiest part and worth
spending some time on, since a universal remote that doesn't fully
work is a daily annoyance.
============================================================================
I have an update on the HDMI-CEC thing, when I tried to program the
Google TV remote to the Sony remote and after disabling the HDMI-CEC function, it kept going back to the HDMI-CEC and enabling it again --
even when I had the TV in Roku mode! Crazy.
Actually I'm able to navigate around Google TV pretty good using the
Sony remote and the enter, up, down, left, right and back functions. The back function is in a different place than Roku's back so I'll just have
to get used to that. I don't really need any of the other functions on
the Google TV remote but I have it handy on the coffee table in case I
ever need it.
| Sysop: | Tetrazocine |
|---|---|
| Location: | Melbourne, VIC, Australia |
| Users: | 15 |
| Nodes: | 8 (0 / 8) |
| Uptime: | 162:10:18 |
| Calls: | 216 |
| Calls today: | 1 |
| Files: | 21,502 |
| Messages: | 82,576 |