I recently (just today) have had it with my local cable company. Basically, I unplugged their equipment, dropped it off and asked them to put it where the sun don't shine. In searching for another option, I came across several options for internet TV. Some are obvious and I'm already familiar with them, but they don't truly qualify as TV (like Youtube). Others I've never heard of. Here's a site that gives 35 options to pay-for TV: 35 Ways To Watch Television Without Cable Or Satellite. | My Two Dollars Some of those sites offer free TV after a one-time sign-up fee. It kind of smells like a scam. So, I'm wondering if anyone here has tried any of these options, re: internet TV and if so, what has your success been? I don't expect it to replace good old Comcash (cough-cough), but it would be nice to be able to see some of the educational programming I did have previously. What say you?
I use rss feeds with bittorrent to get my TV fix. I watch it on my TV with a Popcorn Hour set top box. Sometimes I will watch Hulu when bittorrent does not come through or I want to watch it sooner. Down side is that the Popcorn Hour does not stream Hulu. My plan is to get my video server computer running Boxee and run it to my TV with HDMI. All the shows I care to watch are popular on bittorrent so I really dont care to get it any other way. It would be nice if the Popcorn Hour supported Hulu. But the videos on Hulu are crappy compared to what you can get with bittorrent. If I could watch what I want when I want and what device I want to watch it on I would not mind the Hulu approach with a few small 30 second ads. Hell I would not even mind paying a few dollars a month for that kind of service. Its sad that the music and video industry just does not get it yet. Their business model is failing and DRM does not work. If you have cable modem service you may also have access to clear QAM channels. You need a TV that can receive clear QAM. Most new TV's do these days. I can get all my local channels plus a few more. There are even some analog channels I can get but they are a bit snowy. I can also get about a 100 music channels. This may be another option if all you like to watch is the local major networks. Thats if your cable company broadcasts the clear QAM channels near the cable modem frequencies. They can block out most of the frequencies but not all that are next to the cable modem ones.
Not internet TV ,but I recently dumped Comcast for DirecTV. Better programing ,better HD picture quality,much cheaper and really cheap with intro offers. I can program my DVR from my smart phone. Im a Netflix member and I noticed Netflix offers free streaming of their rather limited online catalog @720P with a PS3.
I did the same thing 24 years ago. #1 is just fine for me. It brings in more than enough mind-numbing, time-wasting poison without paying for even more. TV sucks money out of the wallet 3 ways: (1) the upfront cost of the equipment and service; (2) lost productivity from all the time wasted watching it; (3) the extra spending induced by the advertising intended to make you dissatisfied with what your currently have. I won't pretend to claim that the Internet is any better ...
This does not really answer your question, but it's another alternative: Get a Kindle or a library card (the first is more convenient, the second is a lot cheaper) and read books instead of watching TV. If you are fortunate enough to have a companion, you can read to each other.
Nice thing about the bittorrent way is that the commercials are cut out and the show is only about 40-45 minutes long. Get a HD antennae for local channels and bittorrent for the documentaries you just got to have.
Well, I see I made a typo in the title... maybe the mods can fix it. Thanks for the replies. In truth, I watch very little TV but I do enjoy National Geographic and Discovery Health. I was one of those folks who, back when digital was first introduced, signed up for basic programming and the high end digital which provided the educational channels. Those two packages cost alltogether about $25 a month and gave me all the TV I wanted or needed, without the political/news crap that's forced along with 'standard' cable. I was able to hang onto that arrangement for many years but comcast finally said No More and forced me to either sign up for the middle crap or give up the educational channels. Wish I could say this was surprising, but it kind of seems par for the course when a mega-corporation is involved these days. Anyway, thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I may just take the advice of starting to use my library card more frequently. Truth is that a lot of the educational programming is available online On Demand (as it were, ), and yes, the extra money in the pocket every month won't hurt either. I am curious, however, TheForce... can you expound a little on some of the things in your post? I am apparently a little behind in my techno-lingo - what is a rss feed? - what is Boxee? - what is DRM? - and what are QAM channels? Thanks again!
Best choice of all. Libraries are wonderful places. And the best thing about them is you can always find a good book to read. (I mostly just read my Kindle now because it's so much easier on my tired old eyes. But I love libraries.)
RSS feeds are kind of like TV programming. You can set your bittorrent client to read the RSS feed of a bittorrent site and you can set the reader to only download the shows you want. Kind of makes it like a Tivo or DVR. Boxee is a program that turns your computer into a media box. You can watch TV shows, movies, Pictures, Music all on your TV and navigate with a remote if you have the right equipment. DRM is Digital Rights Management. It is the devil of the digital world. Its what "prevents" you from making copies of DVD's, and games etc... It does not work to prevent pirating and is an annoyance to the honest user. Digital TV's cannot receive digital cable. At least most cant. In order to get digital cable on a TV the TV must support the failed CableCard. Anyway the cable company is required to broadcast all your local channels in an unencrypted digital format. This format is called QAM. Its called clear QAM because its broadcasted "in the clear" or unencrypted.
Haven't dumped D***net yet, but we recently acquired an HD version of VuNow. Even in HD, some of the programming pixels and is grainy especially with a 51" TV, but overall, it's pretty good. Keeping the TV below about 32" would be desirable, but some feeds are truly in HD quality. Free programming so far after the initial cost. We like it so far. Since MTV, MTV2, VH1, and VH2 seems to forget where they came from (hardly any music videos anymore), there are about 20 channels of such things in Europe to watch...24/7, and probably over a 1000 overall. Seems to run fine on 1.5 Broadband quite well, but you could use a faster connection if you have it. If you have a desire for alternative language broadcasts, it's for you. There is a LOT of english broadcasts all over the world though. I'm sure you can do what the VuNow does without it, but it's quite easy to have it integrated into one set top box. It has a LOT of other things it does, and I assume that in the future, that's how we all will get our media.
