I've already discussed getting free HD with an antenna and watching some of your favorite shows online. Now it's time to get extra geeky and combine some of this together.
The goal is to have one device connected to your TV that combines the all of these sources into a user friendly viewing experience. While this idea is starting to gain traction, no one has completely mastered it. Apple has its Apple TV and Netflix has the Roku box. A company called ZeeVee also has some products out there. Game consoles are also another way to have video content delivered to your tv. The xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 can also be portals to online video, which might keep you from having another device hooked up to your tv.
Right now the most flexible (and geekiest) option for getting your favorite content to your living room is by buying/building a media center computer. If you have a laptop, it may be as simple as installing something like Boxee or XMBC and hooking it up to your big screen. The downside is that you have to keep hooking/unhooking your computer. One of the cool things about Boxee is that it can be used on an Apple TV with a little hacking. This is a pretty cool solution and is fairly cheap since an Apple TV is about half of the cost of a small computer. Another alternative would be to purchase a small computer (Mac Mini, Dell Studio Hybrid) and put similar software on it. One advantage here is the option of using the built in dvd player as well.
Let's get ultra geeky now. If you built/custom ordered a computer just for the living room it could have all sorts of cool stuff. By using the right software (as mentioned above) you could have access to internet video, any videos/dvds ripped to your hard drive and possible even access to a Blu-Ray drive. This could also be a sweet gaming machine. I'm not just talking about hard core games, either. It would be pretty easy to install a few emulators and play your favorite NES games in all their 8 bit glory on the big screen. Here are a couple things you might want to consider before going this route. First off, how much is this going to cost? I don't know about you, but I am not made of money (perhaps you could justify it because of all the money you will be saving?). Secondly, a big beastly computer may suck up quite a bit of electricity, especially if left on all day. Thirdly, do you want another large living room appliance taking up space, not to mention its accessories (wireless keyboard/mouse)? Lastly, if this is going to be a noisy machine, it may just be annoying and not worth the trade off.
I personally have thought about this a lot and have only used my laptop to occasionally watch online video using boxee or hulu. If I was going to sink some money into this I would probably look at something like a hacked Apple TV. That is just my opinion. Would you like something like this? Or have you built a lean mean living room machine? Let me know your thoughts.
In part one of this series I talked about taking advantage of free digital tv by using an antenna. In this post I am going to start talking about other ways to get some of your favorite cable programing without the monthly bill.
One way to get more control over what programming you pay for is to use that dvd player sitting under your tv. For the same price (or less) as a month of cable you could buy at least one season of your favorite show. If you are going to be renting a lot of movies/tv shows, Netflix may be a better alternative for renting. For an even cheaper method of dvd acquisition check out your local library. Many have a surprising catalog of new and old movies. Go check it out and see what's available.
If you don't mind watching video on your computer or if you have your computer hooked up to the tv, (I will cover this in a later post) you can find a lot of great programming online. If you have a favorite show that would get cut off when you lose the cable check the network website to see if they have online episodes. All of the major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) have almost all of their prime time shows available (usually with fewer commercials, by the way) on their web sites. More and more "cable" channels (Discovery, History, A&E) are starting to put some of their shows online as well. A great place to start is hulu. Hulu is a collaboration between several networks and movie studios to put video online. One of the nice things about having an online video source (even if you could watch your show on tv) is that it can be used like a dvr . You don't have to worry if you have something come up at 8:00 on Thursdays when your favorite show starts because you can watch it online the next day. Check out http://www.findinternettv.com/FullEpisodes.aspx for a pretty comprehensive list of what's available online, legally, for free.
If there is something that you can't find online or if you don't want any commercials, you can also purchase/rent video online to view on your computer. If you use iTunes you can buy & download tv shows and movies. You will be able to watch these on your computer or iPods. Amazon also has a similar service for streaming or downloading video.
Check back later to see how to use these services and your tv together for even more geek-tastic solution.
Have you filled out your bracket yet? Maybe you've filled out 17. Everyone has their own bracket service online. ESPN , Yahoo , and Facebook all have ways to track your predictions. Last year some people that I worked with created a crazy excel workbook to track scores, standings, etc. If you use Google Docs at all, someone has created a spreadsheet template that will do the same thing. You can use it to share brackets with your friends and set up your own scoring system. Give it a look if you haven't filled anything out yet.
Thursday is when all of the games start. As in years past, CBS is streaming them all online. That means you can watch any game without jumping back and forth to the break room to your desk (your boss may not condone this). It also allows you to watch your team, even if they are punishing that #16 seed. Follow this link to check it out. NCAA® March Madness® on Demand
A couple of notes: Streaming video continues to improve, but it may suffer if your internet connection isn't fast enough. Also, you may be prompted to download Microsoft's Silverlight program if it is not all ready installed.
Here are my picks (you might call them guesses)
If you want to fill out your bracket and compete against me leave a comment and I will add you as a collaborator so you can edit the sheet. Then read the "help" sheet and fill out one of the "Bracket #" sheets (I'm Bracket 1).
Whether you are trying to save money, realizing that even though there are 700 channels there is nothing on tv, or just want to be a geek, we all could benefit from dumping the cable and the high price tag that goes with it. I am going to split this up into several different posts (not sure how many yet) covering different aspects of changing how we watch tv.
The first part is simple. Limited geekiness required. Buy/use an antenna. Before you cancel the cable you should check a couple of things. First, go to antennaweb.org and put in your address. This will show you the distance and direction to the towers that send tv signals. This will give you an idea of what kind of antenna you will need. If every station is 50+ miles away, you will probably have to keep your cable or look into exterior/roof antennas. This will be a little pricey at first, so make sure you evaluate the cost situation. Next go to tvguide.com/listings, edit your location and select Broadcast stations. This will allow you to see what channels you will actually get. With the transition to digital tv, which I'm sure you are probably tire of hearing about (I sure am), stations are able to broadcast more than 1 channel. For example, here in Northwest Arkansas channel 29 is ABC. They broadcast ABC on digital channel 29-1 and the CW on digital channel 29-2.
Let's talk about indoor antennas for a minute. This is the cheapest option for free over the air tv if you live in an area with several stations. I currently use my antenna to pick up channels up to 45 miles away using an amplified indoor antenna. The Terk/Audiovox HDTVa is the antenna I am currently using for my tv. Since I am on the outskirts of town I needed an amplified antenna to keep from having to constantly adjust it depending on the station. Also, most of the towers I get signals from are in the same general direction, which helps maximize the number of stations I receive. Before the Terk I had an amplified phillips antenna that I had to adjust to pick up the same stations I get now. If you go shopping for antennas many will say HD antenna. This is usually just marketing. While an antenna may be optimized for digital signals (I'm not really sure how this works) the truth is that digital tv signals are the same UHF and VHF signals that you could pick up on rabbit ears (most stations are UHF). So if you have an antenna lying around, hook it up and see what you get.
This brings us to the next thing to consider when switching to an antenna. The TV. If you have a new flat panel LCD or Plasma tv you may benefit the most from an antenna. First of all, it all ready has a digital tuner (ATSC) built in. Second, it is most likely an HDTV. A major benefit of the digital tv switch is the transmission of HDTV signals. What you may not realize is that over the air HD signals are higher quality (less compression) than HD signals you may or may not get through cable. Also, since part of the HD standard is the 16:9 widescreen resolution, you can watch almost all of your favorite prime time network tv without everything being stretched horizontally. It may be for this very reason that you choose to get an antenna to complement your cable set up. Digital tv signals also broadcast scheduling information so that you can have an onscreen tv guide.
Now lets address the people that don't have flat screens in every room. If your tv is only a couple of years old it may have a digital tuner, even if it isn't a fancy HDTV. Odds are that it doesn't. These are the tvs that need the dreaded converter box. If you know how to hook up a VCR, then you can hook up a converter box (I may cover this in a different post). Once it is hooked up, connect your antenna to it and scan for all of your new channels. The channels you receive will come in clear, but will not be HD. One thing to note about digital broadcasts, it is all or nothing. You either get a crystal clear picture or you get an unwatchable annoyance. This is a good reason to test your antenna before you shut off the cable.
Quick Summary:
- Save $$ by ditching cable
- check antennaweb.org and tvguide.com/listings for stations in your area
- buy the right antenna and converter box if necessary
- hook it up and enjoy HD broadcasts on your big screen or a clear picture on your SDTV