OT: TV delivery alternatives (was: DirecTivo vs. 'New Direct TV DVR'?)

Steven W. Orr steveo at syslang.net
Tue May 22 13:45:54 EDT 2007


On Tuesday, May 22nd 2007 at 12:12 -0400, quoth Ben Scott:

=>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.  :)

Either I'm a really boring person or TV is getting much better. Sure, 
there's a ton of crap out there. But overall, there are a lot of really 
good programs. It's all subjective of course, but I'm *really* enjoying 
what I watch. I'm not talking about.

=>
=>  "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.

We don't watch *anything* unless it's recorded. We zap the commercials, 
but the alternative is worse.

=>
=>  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.

I pay close to $60 to include all the pay stuff. HBO, Showtime, etc..

=>
=>  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.

The only real solution I see is MythTV. I haven't done it yet, but it's on 
the list. Currently we will max out with up to 4 simultaneous dvd/vcr 
channels recording at one time. One MythTV box with up to 100 channels 
will solve that problem.

=>
=>  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.



-- 
Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have  .0.
happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ ..0
Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- 000
individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question?
steveo at syslang.net


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