Dump cable TV for a PC? No freakin Way!
p2pnet news view | TV:- As a long-time paying subscriber to PC World, I look forward to my monthly hard copy edition arriving in the mail. I often find the articles and reviews of gadgets and technology interesting and informative.
But once in a while, PC World online comes out with a real gem that needs to be shot down quickly.
Dan Tynan, a writer for PC World, this month endeavors to expound on the virtues of watching TV on a PC, trying (miserably) to convince his readers to cancel their cable or satellite TV subscriptions, throw away their TV sets (especially if they have a new HiDef LCD or Plasma screen) and DVD players, and join him online via Joost, Vuze, Blinkx Broadband TV, Babelgum, and Veoh.
Indeed, the title of his article is, “5 Reasons to Ditch Your Cable Box or Satellite Dish“.
The majority of replies to his article (at this writing) are overwhelmingly negative, basically telling Tynan what I’m also about to say. No doubt there will be more negative replies throughout the day.
Go to hell, Tynan. You seem to be confused. Are you having flashbacks of when you were a little nipper, holding tightly onto your grand-dad’s hand at the brand-spanking new 1939 New York World’s Fair, both of you marveling at all of the new wonders of technology to come?
I won’t get rid of my digital cable TV subscription and digital cable recorder. I have a 52-inch LCD full HD tv with Dolby surround sound and everything else, a stand-alone code-free DVD player which plays divx and xvid, as well as a 250 GB HD code-free DVD player (that also plays divx and xvid files).
And no Blu-Tooth crap, either.
Why do the lamescream media (CNN, the Criminal News Network; PC World, among others) think we want to watch TV on a PC, sitting at a desk in an uncomfortable office chair? Or on a 2-inch portable media player or mobile phone screen? Or even stream the content of a pc to a TV?
The answer is, because the lamescream media is so far behind the consumer and independent film makers and web developers that they’re stuck in 20th Century idea-mode.
Those days are long gone. When the internet was “young” (say from 1995-2002) it was kinda cool to watch short clips and blurry, pixelated music videos on dial-up. But with the advent of high speed cable internet, BitTorrent, and stand-alone dvd players that play xvid and divx video files, who wants to sit at a desk to watch tv? Actually no-one, except old farts like Dan Tynan.
Consumers and videophiles in the know choose to sit in a comfy chair or sofa to watch their cable/satellite tv, with HDD DVD recorders that play xvid and divx files downloaded for free without annoying ads, using a free BitTorrent client (of course), all on a regular TV or new widescreen Plasma or LCD.
Several of the five websites Dan Tynan writes about also offer the ability to IM other viewers, blog, or comment on shows and movies while watching them. This is also something I don’t understand.
Why do the lamescream media and their web developers continue to shove blogging, IM and other so-called “social network” crap down our throats like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread?
I really don’t care what anyone else thinks - about a particular TV program, movie, or anything else for that matter (anyone who’s read my pieces here before is already way ahead of the pack 
), and I certainly don’t want to be disturbed by an IM pop-up while I’m watching one.
But that won’t happen because I haven’t watched a TV show or movie on my PC since 2001, the end of the 20th Century.
And while I’m on it, why does every web site feel compelled to allow people to post their opinions and videos, especially the BBC’s POV (Points of View) message board and the Criminal News Network’s “iReport”.
Hey CNN: You have offices and journalists in every country around the globe. Why do you need us to send you our videos? You keep them (for profit), edit or discard them at will, and don’t pay for anything.
What the hell kind of a deal is that?
What’s so great about so-called social network sites? They’re either used by geeks to upload boring journals or video diaries - and the bullies who bully them, or amateur pornographers. Or the more popular ones get bought up by media conglomerates to hype and sell bad music.
There are just too many blogs by journalists, so-called celebrities, and normal people.
And you know what? I’m not alone in my opinion.
Message to Ariana Huffington and Daily Kos: “Get stuffed.”
Get rid of my cable subscription, LCD tv and HDD divx/xvid dvd players?
No freakin’ way!
Not on your life, Tynan.
Either crawl back into your cave to download Goo-Tube videos on your mobile phone, or get with the program and join the rest of us in the living room to experience the true marvels of the 21st Century home cinema.
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June 27th, 2008 at 8:55 am
i lay in bed and have the screen right there
quite comfy
why pay 80$ for digital when i can with say the SAC llike proposal get it for 5$ a month or so
June 27th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Um, or you could just cut out the middleman:
-Download HD versions of your favorite movies and shows for free via bittorrent
-Stream the files directly to your HDTV and sound system
Wow! So easy! And all without a ridiculous cable TV “subscription,” expensive blu-ray players, or any of that garbage.
You seem to be the one buying into all that corporate nonsense - keep shelling out hundreds of dollars for exactly what the lamescream media wants you to buy.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I have a subscription to Cable TV with HBO, but I rarely watch it now. 99% of the time, it is content I’ve downloaded off of the web. So much better to watch stuff without commercials. My laptop downloads the content and I have that laptop connected to my 36-in flat-screen LCD HDTV via HDMI. µTorrent RSS makes it so easy to download stuff when it comes around. Just need to figure out a way to unRAR files automatically. I like my laptop over media boxes because every audio/video codec is available on Windows and you need a fast computer to play MKV and high-bitrate videos.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I think the dudes at PC World need to invest in a nice video card WITH dvi output and a nice dvi-hdmi cable…
Giant HDTV > lil’ 21″ monitor…
June 27th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Streaming media consumes a lot of bandwidth, and if cable companies were to start throttling video streams, like many do today with bittorrent service, then say goodbye to web-TV.
June 27th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Most HD tv’s have a DVI input anyway, so just plug and go
Why would anyone want to watch regular tv with constant interruptions? download HDTV episodes on bt, then stream to tv, couldn’t be simpler. HDMI DRM is superfluous when we already have the DVI specification which supports the same bandwidth.
June 27th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I torrent my TV (Even at subscription prices, it’d be a better value than broadcast… and on top of that, the only shows I watch regularly are Mythbusters and House M.D.) but I prefer watching on my computer. There’s just something I can’t stand about anything where the pixels are above a certain size. I suspect I’m just too used to the effect of using software scaling on a DVI-connected LCD monitor. Of course, it helps that my bed and my (quite comfy) desk chair are 6 or 7 feet and 3 feet (respectively) from the screen.
June 27th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
and still, no-one has yet explained the appeal - or point - of connecting a pc or laptop to a tv when very cheap stand-alone avi/dvd players are available.
instead of having cables stretching from one room to another (or just across the floor), or investing the money, time, and bother into buying a wireless router (never mind configuring it so your neighbours’ remote controls or wireless routers don’t interfere with it), it’s much simpler to spend less than US$50 on a dvd player, and you can let your pc or laptop do other things, for example, download more free video using BT.
i just don’t get it. why make things complicated when there are easier, less expensive, less time-consuming alternatives? before i had my widescreen LCD, i had a very good full screen flat screen tv that had no problems with pixelation using cheap dvd players. if pixelation is your worry, dvd players have improved greatly in recent years and i doubt you’d go back to the monitor once you’ve tried it on an avi-capable dvd player.
one of my points in the article - more than just a mere inference - is that the lamescream media takes it upon itself to tell us what we should do and what we should want to do. the reality is we, the consumers, will tell THEM what we want to do and how we want to do it. the growing use of Bittorrent in recent years proves that fact. they can’t turn back the clock and they can’t make us do what they want us to do. never again will we kow-tow to the powers that be. that time is also long gone.
power to the people!
June 27th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
A couple of times, I’ve considered ditching traditional cable TV and just using the net. The thing that stops me is the convenience of being able to turn it on and watch something. With the net, you have to search for what you want and then download it. That’s IF you can find it.
As for Divx DVD players; They’re great. I have one that I got for $36 at Circuit City (always tell them to check the web price). Unfortunately, while it plays most of the AVI files I have, it doesn’t play them all. I have a couple that it won’t play the sound for. It also doesn’t support subtitles in IDX/SUB format, which means I can’t watch subtitled movies with subs in that format. It also doesn’t play MKV files. Not that I have that many, since most of them are HD and won’t even play on my system. However, I do have a few.
Also, I apparently got a good one since it plays everything in the correct aspect ratio. My friend’s portable player stretches everything to fill the screen reagardless of the original aspect ratio. The only way to fix this to select Letterbox screen mode, which then shrinks the display area to a 4:3 ratio and letterboxes the image on that, so there’s a border all the way around the image.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I ditched my cable and saved $90 a month. I bought a Popcorn Hour. It hooks into my network. I can browse my files from my TV and watch what ever I have downloaded. It has built-in torrent also. It plays a wide array of video(including hi-def) and music files and can also do pics and doc’s.
June 28th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Maybe this is a good time to mention Sun’s Wonderland Project. A community with local broadband infrastructure (no Internet connection) offers live, interactive tv shows, and radio shows. Walk into the studio from your home entertainment center, whether using PC to HDTV connection or whatever (your choice of display), and participate. Meet a neighbor, head to a quiet place in your community virtual world, and carry on a conversation, do a little business, whatever.
The local broadband infrastructure for a community might cost as little as $50 per house, using open-mesh.com. From there, the community needs can expand it, and best of all, a couple volunteers with no technical expertise can operate and maintain it.
The local hospital would like to gain access to such a network, and probably negotiate a contract to seed some of the Internet it already pays for, to offer telemedicine programs. The city, of course, can reallocate limited budgets by striking a deal to gain access, providing services such as police, rescue, fire alerts. Their local communications costs drop dramatically, if the local broadband infrastructure is in place. And, of course, we’re talking about maximizing P2P throughout the community, right?
When the telcos/cablecos/satellite/wireless companies wish to gain access, they provide the community with reasonable wholesale pricing, in return, right?
All this is bottom line starting point stuff. It’s meant to be just that, a starting point. The results are whatever the community wants to do with it. For sure, it makes certain that every child gets a true 21st century education as they can access their school network from their homes, and do their assignments in the evenings and on weekends, not just during token school computer lab times.
Each community decides what happens. In my community, for example, my mayor, Jim Erbs, and my state governor, Chester Culver, have both decided our kids do not need a true 21st century education, and have provided letters to me indicating they’re concerned I might do something illegal.
June 28th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
No worry; once ISPs start throttling bandwidth, all of those kewl d/l video’s, movies, music, will come down (not to a halt) close to a halt. Why? B/c once ppl start d/ling their movies, bittorrent, music, whatever, and then the ISP BILLS them b/c they went over their “limit”, little johnny’s going to find the plug pulled real quick.
Tack on gas, power company, air, etc.. costs around the country are going through the roof and if an ISP starts to bill me like a cell phone, I will dump them in a heartbeat. I pay for my cost and I will USE it as I see fit.
So go ahead, yank your cable side, start d/ling your movies, stream your video and if your on the one of those ISPs that say all-you-can-eat is not here, then guess what? What are you going to pay for? What IS your limit?
June 29th, 2008 at 6:17 am
>>and still, no-one has yet explained the appeal - or point - of connecting a pc or laptop to a tv when very cheap stand-alone avi/dvd players are available.
I used to think that as well, until I built my first HTPC and abandoned single-use DVD players.
Reason 1: Standalone AVI players play DivX (and Xvid, usually) stuff only. That is, Regular profile, MP3 sound, typically no enhancements. Got an AVI encoded GMC or QPEL? Negative. OGM? Sorry. MKV? Nope. WMV? Forget it. Anything more exotic? Don’t make me laugh.
Reason 2: I Have a Philips DVP-642. It plays DivX 5 material. I want to play DivX 6 material. Sorry. Throw it away. You can’t upgrade it with newer/different codecs. What do you mean you bought it 6 months ago? Who cares….
Reason 3: Games. Lots of emulated console games!
Reason 4: Firmware bugs seem to be rampant in newer consumer devices. My aforementioned DVP-642 used to shut itself off sometimes. Usually when you hit play after sitting through the PUOs.
Reason 5: PUOs. The HTPC can skip all that.
Reason 6: Storage. I can keep a LOT of video on the HTPC. The DVD player has a one-disc capacity.
Reason 7: Can your DVD player connect to IMDB? No…
Reason 8: My previously mentioned DVP-642 has trouble playing some discs. Every standalone player I’ve tried has trouble playing some discs. The HTPC plays them all, and will rip them down to boot.
Reason 9: Compact Flash, SD, Memory Stick (Pro,) can all be easily accessed.
Reason 10: I can capture, process, and spit out a DVD all on the same machine as I can play it on.
Reason 11: NTFS external hard drives are usable. No FAT32 here. If you can even find a DVD player with an external USB port that can run at more than 1.1.
Reason 12: New devices, codecs, ports, cards, storage, etc, etc, etc, can be added as it becomes available. No funky ports, locked-out features, or “Sorry, we don’t support that format” here.
Reason 13: Sweet gloss black Antec HTPC computer cases.
et al.
Admittedly, the HTPC is a little more work, but the benefits of having a single connected device that can retrieve, play, store, and share across a home network far outweighs the minuscule learning curve.
If you’re happy with your single use device, so be it. Don’t go complaining that there isn’t any compelling reasons to change. Not all of us are happy with being locked into a device that you can’t change.
June 29th, 2008 at 6:18 am
And I forgot to add:
14: The HTPC acts like a DVR with no skip or don’t-record restrictions.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Uh. . .so you’re really actually shilling for cable/satellite companies? On p2pnet? WTF? Screw you.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Like someone said early in the comments, why the hell would I pay 80$ a month for “premium subscription” cable when I can get all my shows and movies from Bittortent some in HD and stream them via wireless to my TV, commercial free btw?
June 30th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I hardly watch any TV nowadays, it’s all crap, even on high def., it’s still crap with a higher resolution, mmmm, you can almost smell the crap. It’s either Reality faked crap, or Re-runs, plus it’s like 2 minutes of content for 5 minutes of ads. Thanks, but not thanks. So if you spent $2,000 to get setup to watch all that crap, you’re either rich, or a moron who doesn’t know how to rationally manage money.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
“So if you spent $2,000 to get setup to watch all that crap, you’re either rich, or a moron who doesn’t know how to rationally manage money.”
Typically the former are the latter.
August 16th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I formally go on record as saying that “5 reasons to dump your Cable” was one of the BETTER articles PC World ad to offer. My ONE complaint about the article was that it did not list ALL the good sites for continuous independent video streaming (Old faves like Atom Films and JibJab for example). If you have a good internet connection, a decent PC, and a VGA to TV converter (I picked up a great wireless one for 50 bucks online), you can watch pretty much anything you want to watch on the Internet through your TV And with Netflix trying to put more movies online as well as VONGO, true VOD is just about here. It’s time for Cable and Satellite to take notice: Enough with gouging the consumer with higher and higher rates (after the 3 or 6 month “Introductory” rate lapses…..kind of reminds me of the local neighborhood drug dealer….), or enough people will put together existing technology in such a way that we can say “Enough with Cable”…..and future generations will read about how a once mighty media conglomerate collasped under the weight of its own arrogance.
Ok….enough with venting…..time to tune into the REAL reason my PC can broadcast to my ultra high def widescreen….YOUPorn.com!!! heh heh heh…..