On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 07:53:51AM -0800, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > > On Nov 26, 2008, at 7:45 PM, John Francis wrote: > >> Rather an exaggeration. There are ways to watch TV that don't involve >> watching a show at the time of broadcast. They're not free, of course >> (except for shows streamed over the web from the major networks, but >> those are even worse - the ads come more frequently, and you can't >> skip >> over them). I haven't relied on live TV for decades - nowadays I have >> a couple of TiVos, but before that I used to timewshift using VCRs. >> And with the TiVos it's loss free - the recorded signal is bit-for-bit >> identical to the original signal when recording from a digital source >> (digital cable, over-the-air digital TV, or digital satellite >> service). >> >> Netflix offer streaming video, although not for much current stuff. >> But >> if you like to watch old TV shows it's a great adjunct to DVD rental; >> you don't need to decide what you want to watch a day or two in >> advance. >> And if you don't like watching on your computer there are ways to >> stream >> it to your TV - the stand-alone Roku unit, and now the Xbox. Both the >> PS3 and newer TiVo boxes will be getting the capability this month. >> And >> there are other providers besides Netflix, although I'm not sure how >> many of those will work to devices other than a computer. > > This presumes that you a) want to watch television, b) feel there's > enough value there to pay for the equipment, and c) are willing to > invest the time to use it. > > It starts falling apart for me at "a)". There's only a very few shows > that I have any interest in (and *none* of them are sitcoms or so-called > reality shows).
Well, obviously. And if your idea of the TV universe is limited to the realm of sitcoms or reality shows then it probably isn't worth it to you. (Not that *all* sitcoms are bad - I do watch "How I Met Your Mother"). Other people have already mentioned a couple of the good drama shows (the original CSI, Boston Legal). There's a whole bunch more, too. I don't watch much sports - none, really, except for motorsports and cycling (and the Americas Cup when it comes around). But that's still only just scratching the surface. And if you want independent, up-to- the minute news coverage that isn't filtered through blinkers there's not really a lot of choice other than TV (and not the big networks). As for equipment costs - I've paid a lot less for my TiVos, etc., than I have just on digital camera bodies, and I certainly use them more. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
