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).