Tuesday, August 30, 2011
How To Get Free HDTV
I am a cord cutter. The only TV channels I watch are delivered to my home for free over the air. I made this video because I talk to people every week that are unaware of this money saving alternative to cable & satellite. To make this work all you need is an antenna, ATSC Digital Tuner and an HDTV.
In this video the ATSC digital tuner happens to be built into a DVD player. However, today many new HDTV's have ATSC tuners built into them. For example this 90" HDTV by Sharp comes with a tuner so all you need to do is connect an antenna directly to the TV.
Depending on where you live in the United States your channel selection will vary. Over the air channels are broadcast digitally in high definition from your local TV stations. If you're thinking about trying this in your home, I would recommend looking up the available channels in your area first. AntennaWeb.org is a helpful resource that allows you to see what channels you can get based on location.
What's A Cord Cutter?
Technically I still have a "cord" coming into my home delivering a high speed internet connection. But when you hear the term "cord cutter" it is usually referring to canceling cable TV service in order to save money. Now-a-days there is an abundance of free media available for streaming online. Do you really need to pay for cable?
How To Slow Cook Ribs
You're missing out if you have not experienced the satisfaction of slow cooking ribs. Any man can stand behind a grill and flip burgers. If your ready to take things to the next level you might consider grilling up a couple racks of pork ribs. "But where do I begin?", you say. I'm glad you asked. This video covers the basics of slow cooking with charcoal. I have listed out some important grilling tips below for first timers. There are also many benefits of cooking Bacon on a grill, but that's another story.
With slow cooking indirect heat is the key factor. This can be accomplished by placing a tray of water under the grill and next to the charcoal. The ribs need to be placed on the grill so that they are directly over the water and not over the pile of charcoal. This allows the ribs to be cooked with indirect heat. The vent on top of the grill should be directly over the ribs to get a good heat and smoke flow. Make sure the air intake vent is clear and not clogged with ash.
Below you will find some of the key points I learned while observing the art of slow cooking for the first time. Choosing a rub and a BBQ sauce is another important part of the process. Many people make there own homemade rubs since store bought rubs tend to be very salty. Choice of BBQ sauce is also a very personal decision. Most people would agree you can't go wrong starting out with Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce.
Charcoal Grilling Tips:
- Avoid the use of lighter fluid because it adds unwanted flavor to the meat.
- Start the fire with paper crumpled in the bottom of a charcoal chimney.
- Soak some hickory wood chips in water and add them periodically for good smokey flavor.
- If you're looking, you ain't cooking! Don't open the lid too much and make the rookie mistake of letting all the heat out every 10 minutes.
- Clean the grilling surface with a brush or cleaning stone. I've even heard of people using potatoes. (We forgot to clean the grill in this video, oops)
- Clean out the air intake vent underneath the grill. It tends to get clogged with ash over time.
How To Make An Ant Trap
This is an easy way to make an ant trap with household ingredients. I've used it a couple times now and it always seems to make the ants disappear after a few days. All you need is peanut butter and Borax.
Flip Ultra HD Power Button Not Working
Well it turns out my dad is an electronic troubleshooting genius, more on that later. Fixing my Flip and creating a video about it motivated me to start a how-to channel. I had been thinking about starting up some kind of YouTube channel for a while but I hadn't figured out exactly what to do.
At the time (April 2011) this was my only functioning video camera so when the power button broke I got desperate and posted this low quality video describing the malfunction. I was hoping someone out there would see what happened and offer a solution with a comment or video response.
In the mean time my dad offered to take a look at the broken camera. Taking the Flip apart to diagnose the problem was a bit of a delicate procedure, but I had nothing to lose. After about 30 seconds of examining the circuit board inside my dad realized the problem was a loose electronic component that had broken off. After a little soldering the camera was functioning properly again.
Here is the solution video I made: Flip Ultra HD Power Button Fix. After going through the process of creating my first tutorial I decided to dedicate my channel to how-to videos.
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