Can a laptop and the Web replace cable TV?
3:43 AM Thu, Dec 11, 2008 | Permalink
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Projo Subterranean Homepage NewsBottom-up journalism from the pros: News, tech and culture by Sheila Lennon |
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Tracking the daily selloffs, teases and short sales involves posting a lot of photos of black plastic gewgaws (TVs, USBs, phones, cameras, GPSes), in a scroll that gets numbing even when interspersed with expensive clothing, video and games, mp3 downloads, toys and even French fries. What better folks to think about how to get off the buy-me-go-round and into the world of virtually free? Louis Ramirez is dealnews' Features editor: Back in June, I tried saving money by ditching my cable service for 30 days. At the end of the month, I realized replacing cable TV with free (and legal) Internet TV was fairly easy. Even so, I remained a cable subscriber because I want full control over the programming I watch. Despite a lot of content, I didn't want to limit myself to what Hulu was offering. He evaluates video alternatives at Hulu, Vimeo, ABC and finds a lot out there, but concludes, "Despite all the advancements, there's still no go-to site that can give cable TV the knockout punch." But his TV taste may not be yours. In the New York Times Dec. 3, Laura M. Holson crows, Who Needs a TV? I'm Watching on a Laptop. Her taste runs to Desperate Housewives, and more offerings from very mainstream network TV Web sites "where shows are posted usually within 24 hours of being shown on television," and not, for instance, to live sporting events. As Louis Ramirez writes, "if your cable bill is getting out of hand, the Internet delivers many free alternatives with promises of more to come. (Even HD fans can find free content online.) When combined, these sites offer more than enough online programming to keep you entertained. The exchange is a little less control over what you watch." 4 CommentsLeave a comment |
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Seems more an act of desperation than a technological breakthrough to watch TV on a laptop. There's not the faintest comparison between that and watching a big-screen TV with a surround-sound. Sure you can do it but what's the point?
This sounds somewhat akin to the people who were spending thousands on computers to get free porno online when the same content was online at the corner gas station in a nickel ninety-five magazine. (I got quoted in the New York Times, lo these many years ago, for that observation along with the conclusion that such people were a few pepperonis shy of a full pizza.)
Louis has a strong future in politics if he seriously believes you can save on a cable bill by buying a high-speed Internet connection and a computer. Of course, he could also have potential as a New York banker but then he'd have to give himself a ten-million dollar bonus just for thinking of it.
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Silas, he already has the laptop and the broadband connection; the experiment he describes involves dropping the cable box and its $90 monthly subscription. He writes that he used an HDMI cable to watch the shows on his TV, not on the laptop screen. This is all about what there is to watch, not about a tiny picture.
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This is interesting, as I started my own experiment over 2 years ago. Fed up with a high cable bill, more important expenses, and a never-ending slew of low-level programming for my (then) 9 year-old son, I (gasp) canceled monopolized cable, opting instead to splurge on high-bandwidth internet for an extra $5 per month, Netflix, and the occasional RedBox $1 rental... I have been cable-free for the last 2 years and have now saved (gasp, again) over $2,000 on TV alone.
I have found that news is available in abundance on the web, and the floodgates have begun to open with movies, documentaries, network TV, and even our new President willing to broadcast on my schedule and at my fingertips.
Somehow CNN does not lose its appeal without surround sound.
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Download video in any form will never compete with streaming video
Download set top boxes and download portable players ( ie Tivo, Blockbuster, Sling box, XBOX 360, Apple TV, VUDU, Hulu, PS3, Boxee, Silverlight, Joost ) are a thing of the past, only to be replaced by the technology used by service providers such as MyTVPAL ( www.mytvpal.com ) and Netflix ( www.netflix.com ).
Service providers like MyTVPAL offer 1080p instant blu-ray streaming video on demand and live tv over PC Player, set top box, and I think they will have a portable device out soon.
Keep in mind also that P2P is on the way out because it uses to much bandwidth, both up and down, and is unstable. I'm refering to service providers such as VUDU ( a one trick pony ) and Joost, who latest foray into portable video on demand on the itouch / iphone is frezing, buffering, and providing a horrible user experience even on my 6mbps connection.
Streaming video is a great addition for live tv and video on demand, but at the end of the day only those technology companies like Matrixstream ( www.matrixstream.com ) will be able to support the best quality over the best effort public internet when doing a triple play ( set top box, PC Player, and portable device ) because currently where Netflix requires 8mbps for 720p streaming, MyTVPAL can support 720p streaming a 3mbps and 1080p blu-ray streaming at 6mbps.
Keep the above in mind when considering the average person today in the United States and Canada has between 1.5 - 3.0Mbps. So While MyTVPAL can service the majority of broadband users today in the United States and Canada in both 720p and 1080p today it will be years before Netflix can service a fraction of the broadband population in high definition instant video streaming.
At the end of the day, service providers such as Netflix and Blockbuster will have evolve to provide a service like MyTVPAL or suffer the consequences of not providing low bandwidth, instant playing, 1080p blu-ray high definition platform that we?ve come to expect from MyTVPAL ( www.mytvpal.com ) on PC Player, set top box, and soon I would imagine, portable player.
Comment Guy
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