OT: TV delivery alternatives (was: DirecTivo vs. 'New Direct TV DVR'?)
Ben Scott
dragonhawk at gmail.com
Tue May 22 12:12:05 EDT 2007
On 5/22/07, Travis Roy <travis at scootz.net> wrote:
> Yah, that's really it.. What are your choices? Continue to get only a
> few HD channels for who knows how long then be forced to upgrade
> (probably without the discount) or switch to another provider of TV,
> all that are either more of a pain, cost more, suck worse, or some/
> all of the above.
Alternative #1:
Stop watching TV. Radical idea, I know, not buying a product you
don't like. :)
"Look at her TV! An off switch!" "She'll get years for that!" --
Max Headroom
Alternative #2:
I'm seriously considering dropping my cable TV service and just
using NetFlix or the Internet for everything. I was checking
recently, and most of what I watch on TV now is available via NetFlix.
There are benefits, too: No commercials to skip. No scenes/frames
being deleted to squeeze in more programming. No silly censorship.
The money savings will be quite significant. Even with basic,
analog cable, I pay around $45/month. That's $540 a year! For
commercial-laden TV, most of which is crap I don't want. NetFlix
starts at $5/month. Assume I go with the $15/month plan ($180/year),
it's still about one-third the cost.
Sure, it means I don't get to watch programming the minute it comes
out, but I already time shift *everything* anyway. I haven't watched
live TV in years, and I'm sometimes months behind on some programming.
(I frequently batch episodes together, so I can watch several at
once.). NetFlix will just mean I'm time shifting by a little longer.
It's not like entertainment is time-sensitive. "House" and "Heroes"
will be just as good a year from now.
Alternative #3:
Internet distribution (the legal kind) is becoming more and more
viable all the time. It's not there yet, but I'm watching closely (no
pun intended).
In summary: I'm going to vote with my wallet whenever possible.
That's generally the best-heard kind of complaint.
-- Ben
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