TV Entertainment

[QuantumJo]

Last month I picked up an Apple TV for the house. http://www.apple.com/appletv/

I slashed my bill with Time Warner by $1.440 a year. That freed up enough cash ($120/mo) to buy the shows and movies I want to view. As with most things Apple this will likely only improve over time. http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune....plug-cable-tv/ 8)

[Gordon Maney]

I have to admit I don't understand Apple TV. I say that as a Mac user, by the way. Is it hardware that is more refined than typical video equipment, or is it offering a function one would not otherwise have?

[QuantumJo]

It is a hard drive that holds video, music & pictures. It has a wireless link to the internet and a home computer. It also is an interface with a TV set. The shows that I watch on TV are few, the same for my wife. So we only pay for the shows we watch.

[74w300uteline]

great idea

cable providers have been resisting a la carte programming for years. the crappy channels are subsidized by the popular channels and bundled into packages. A recent study showed that consumers pay 15 cents per channel, and 650 of the 700 channels are unwanted. Some FCC regulation mandates that I must have the Polish news and Spanish opera as part of my cable package. History, Discovery, Animal planet, Fox news, Speed and a hand full of others are all I want. I'm going to look into this Apple TV

[74w300uteline]

I'm out

it seems that apple tv requires a flat panel high def tv. The good news is that this a la carte programming is available and may put pressure on the cable providers to offer it, after it hits them in the wallet. Nothing motivates corporate execs like losing market share and$$

[NNICKB]

I have to admit I don't understand Apple TV. I say that as a Mac user, by the way. Is it hardware that is more refined than typical video equipment, or is it offering a function one would not otherwise have?

My wife uses Netflix which mails DVDs of movies she selects to the house. She mails them back in a prepaid mailer, and then they send the next ones. They charge a flat monthly fee.

Netflix is now advertising that they will send the movie over the internet, right to your TV. This is an important new function. It basically means you will be able to turn on your TV whenever you want, select a movie, old TV show, or any other pre-recorded program, and then watch it. Video stores and most cable channels that became so "cutting edge" in the '80s, will now be things of the past.

[Desoto61]

There are lots of other options coming out for IPTV (Internet TV), like Boxee that will now allow you to watch TV shows from most of the major cable networks (hulu, and others) as well as youtube, netflix streaming, etc.

They're not perfect yet, and not all the content is available that way but if you watch limited content it can be a good option. But the internet is going to modify the way you watch TV if your internet provider lets them.

[712edf]

I threw my TV in the trash in Jan 2008. Haven't missed it since. I listen to college football on the radio. I can get results/footage of anything else online.

I don't fret over how hot or cold the weather is because I don't have a weatherman drilling it into my head every 7 minutes. 95% of the crap we worry about & let consume our thoughts are junk that the media pumps into our heads. Everyday something new is gonna kill us. Big deal! I'm gonna die living my life, not sitting in the corner hunkered down glued to the set trying to keep atop the latest.

TV, along with air conditioning/refrigeration has done so much to cause the fragmentation of society. 50 yrs ago you knew your neighbor because ya'll sat out on the porch chatting with them. Same for the people at the marketplace. Now it's just like the words from an old bluegrass song, "They knew not my name & I knew not their faces. I found they were all rank strangers to me!"

Bucky