Comments on: Why I Can’t Break Up With Cable/Sat TV (yet) but it’s still doomed

By: MrBlog

MrBlog — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:35:16 +0000

I probably should have noted in the original post that I do use “Internet TV” today, using an Apple Mac Mini – I use Hulu, Boxee, Netflix, iTunes, and independent web sites directly in cases where that’s the only (legit) place to get the content.

That brings up a separate but somewhat related topic. As with Music, the harder the studios make it to get to the “legit” versions of content, it makes the “illegitimate” versions easier by contrast, driving even people that would be willing to pay for the content to the “illegitimate” content. You’d think they would have learned that lesson with CDs but it’s not clear they have.

By: MrBlog

MrBlog — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:41:54 +0000

@Jonathan I should have mentioned that, unfortunately, I can’t get over-the-air signals here, or at least not very well. Otherwise, your suggestion of an antenna would be perfect. I wish I could do that.

And yes, I use Netflix “instant” and I agree that it’s pretty good. I wish it had more content. It seems like only about 30% of things I want are available “instantly” – and there’s no HD yet, I don’t think.

By: Ted Thonus

Ted Thonus — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:22:56 +0000

I’m with you – Something big needs to happen before I get rid of my Comcast HD service. I’ve tried HULU and some of the other online providers of service, but it’s just not the same as sitting in front of my 42″ HD set with all of the “live” options in front of me. During sporting events I’ll often log on to see what additional information is available to me, but online is never primary.

I agree with you though that we are nearing that point where many of us will make this jump just as many of us have made the jump from a land line to just wireless phone service for our homes. Will it take another company to fuse this gap, or will one of the big guys step up to the plate?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:04:44 +0000

Interesting post – thank you.

I see you mentioned Netflix not being an option for some of these TV needs. I think I agree with you based on the premise of the post.

However, I am curious if you or any of your readers have tried the “Instant” viewers for Netflix? I bought the one from Roku for about $100 2-3 months ago. I have been amazed at how much my wife and I use the thing and how well it actually works. (Being in the computer field, a $100 box that actually does what it is supposed to do AND is easy to setup seems odd to me. Roku seems to have figued this out…)

The latest upgrade has opened up some other possibilities too. However, many of those possibilities are not that great in my experience so far.. We have not tried Amazon’s service yet on the box but will soon. I have been surprised by how much variety is available from Netflix. Semi-current to old TV and movies (1-5 years old, let’s say), really old stuff that we both enjoy (10-20+ years old), foreign films, documentaries, etc. If someone has an open mind, I think the Netflix service with the instant option (for free by the way) is great and will fill a lot of hours of viewing time.

I better end this really long post.
Jonathan

PS- Have you considered hooking up the non-DirecTV TV’s in your house to an antenna? Just wondering if you ruled that out for some reason.