[untog]

Aereo also worked remarkably well during Hurricane Sandy.

Provided you had internet, yes. Which a lot of people didn't. Over the air broadcasts - which Aereo were retransmitting - don't require any internet connection. In an emergency situation like Sandy a bunny-ears antenna is infinitely more useful than a bandwidth-chewing internet streaming service.

Have you ever tried using one? Given that you live less than a mile from where Aereo is receiving its signal, you might be surprised at the crystal clear, HD quality TV you can get without paying a company $7 a month. Aereo's biggest triumph was making free, over the air broadcasts look like their premium product.

[nemanja]

Yeah, that would make some sense back in 2005, maybe. During Sandy in 2012, Aero was infinitely more useful: when power ran out your TV with bunny ears became completely useless. On the other hand, you could still watch Aero on your battery powered HSPA connected smart phone. While I am sure bunny-ears antennas work great in more rural areas, they are completely useless on Manhattan.

[thedufer]

OTA is pretty terrible throughout Brooklyn. Unless you live at the top of a tall building, you're basically out of luck. I have a fairly clear view of the sky from my window, and I "get" 2-3 channels (my TV can identify them as channels, but you can't actually watch anything).

[twelvedigits]

Bought one, it didn't work for me. Couldn't pick up a signal anywhere. Also, if I wanted to record shows I'd have to hook it to a Tivo (or similar device) which has an up-front cost and a monthly fee. Aereo provided the whole package in a low monthly cost.

[untog]

You don't need a Tivo - just a USB tuner stick and MythTV, or some other open source solution. Granted if the antenna doesn't work then it doesn't work - I had some success buying a powered one.

[defen]

You don't need Dropbox, just a Linux box and some rsync scripts. $7 is approximately 5 minutes worth of income for a lot of people on here...so if it takes longer than that per month to set up and maintain your solution then it's not a good deal.