How to get TV episodes
So, I've got Netflix and I used to watch 'House', 'Lie to me', and 'Parenthood' on Hulu. But, there seems to be a new technology fight about how to watch these shows. I haven't seen any of these shows on Hulu since Thanksgiving. I think they are getting pressure from the big cable companies.
The cable companies, which still deliver about half the internet broadband for the $99/mo, but,no phone line, are getting some competition from the telephone companies that deliver the other half of the broadband at seemingly more reasonable rates - I'm paying $50/mo for 2.5Mb DSL that includes a phone line.
I'm sure everyone has different rates and deals with their providers. That's not what this thread is about.
I'm wondering how this pie of about $85 Billion per year is gonna get sliced up. It's starting to look like Beta vs VHS. The companies that make the shows charge the distribution systems per season. The advertisers are charged for inserting their stuff along with the shows by each distribution system. It's always about money. Everyone involved wants more for me.
Apple and Amazon will sell you each TV show for about $2. So, they believe that the iTunes approach will bring them the customers. I've never bought anything from Apple.
I did like Amazon. They were pretty good at matching Newegg prices. But, I didn't like them when they went political and stopped exchanging money with WikiLeaks. I'm concerned about Amazon becoming a political organization instead of a store.
Anyway, there are the Xbox and Wii apps that will connect you to TV shows. There are the Roku boxes along with Samsung integrated TVs with a computer in the TV. All you need is a HDMI cable and some software to run - like Google TV or Clicker TV. It's getting complicated. I'm not gonna buy anything until this greed-driven pie slicing gets cleared up. We can't watch TV using an antenna any more. The times they are a-changing.
The cable companies, which still deliver about half the internet broadband for the $99/mo, but,no phone line, are getting some competition from the telephone companies that deliver the other half of the broadband at seemingly more reasonable rates - I'm paying $50/mo for 2.5Mb DSL that includes a phone line.
I'm sure everyone has different rates and deals with their providers. That's not what this thread is about.
I'm wondering how this pie of about $85 Billion per year is gonna get sliced up. It's starting to look like Beta vs VHS. The companies that make the shows charge the distribution systems per season. The advertisers are charged for inserting their stuff along with the shows by each distribution system. It's always about money. Everyone involved wants more for me.
Apple and Amazon will sell you each TV show for about $2. So, they believe that the iTunes approach will bring them the customers. I've never bought anything from Apple.
I did like Amazon. They were pretty good at matching Newegg prices. But, I didn't like them when they went political and stopped exchanging money with WikiLeaks. I'm concerned about Amazon becoming a political organization instead of a store.
Anyway, there are the Xbox and Wii apps that will connect you to TV shows. There are the Roku boxes along with Samsung integrated TVs with a computer in the TV. All you need is a HDMI cable and some software to run - like Google TV or Clicker TV. It's getting complicated. I'm not gonna buy anything until this greed-driven pie slicing gets cleared up. We can't watch TV using an antenna any more. The times they are a-changing.
Comments
At this point, streaming video is still getting it's feet wet, and by the time it all shakes out, it goes without saying that we'll have to pay for it. Will it be worth the expense? I guess it all depends on the level of content. If you could get everything that's on TV, network and cable, via one provider, that be fine, but I wouldn't pay more than $10 a month for it, if it also has ads.
The problem they are working out is providing streaming video to all sorts of devices... smart phones, hand helds, netbooks, Ipads, gaming consoles, whatever. I have no use for all that and would just prefer to view my content on my monitor or LCD TV.
There's nothing wrong with my antenna. I just am so far out in the fringe, that I get a very poor picture from Sacramento. It's about 150 miles away and lots of tall pine trees.
I've always liked reading books. I hate the brainwashing commercials - that some of us seem to like. I lived a very nice life for about 15 years without becoming the couch potato in front of the tube/screen. I also feel like it's time to get away from the $500 gadgets that distract me from driving. I don't commute anywhere and I just don't need Kindo reading me the book while I'm in traffic.
I'll keep Netflix and watch the TV shows without commercials by renting the DVD.
They let you pay for an account which lets you get many movies - or there's the free access approach which will limit your downloads to some time like 1/2 hour
at a time. You might have to access a few times to get the whole movie. I don't know if this is like bit torrent for video. There're probably some viruses to deal with.
So, anyone know about this method of obtaining TV shows & movies? I wonder if they include commercials?
Saw Royal Pains new episode on Hulu yesterday, the first episode was up for viewing the day after the air date, but Hulu indicated that future episodes will not be available until 30 days air date. That pisses me off. I wonder if House is staying at 8 days later, or going to the 30 day format as well.