Personal Tech, NYT page B5 describes a couple who showed ingenuity in using one device to watch movies, news, etc, without using normal cable service. Read this article
to see how they accomplished watching internet with TV.
and at nytimes.com/gadgetwise
watch the slideshow
This article indicates where I personally want to go insofar as replacing the TV with the computer, or should I say combining the TV with the computer. This couple had it right by their "quest for cable freedom." ..A computer can really replace the TV..a computer can perform all of those tasks expected from TV viewing using "software, a wireless keyboard and a mouse."
Now if this couple can do it, what not us!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The end of the Beginning
Our choices for using our TV to view movies, documentaries, etc over the internet are showing signs of being limited from what we have been able to examine in the following articles:
In one view we look at subscription onlySome Online Shows Could Go Subscription-Only
In Milwaukee, HBO is experimenting with letting its paid subscribers watch shows online. But many in the industry are now questioning whether free is a sustainable model. And some are trying to make sure people have a reason to keep paying hefty cable bills."
" In the last couple of years, the television industry has made a big push onto the Web, giving viewers hope that they might one day reach nirvana: every show ever made, available online for immediate free viewing.<<<>>>>
Another view:
Don’t Count Out Cable OnlineFebruary 20, 2009, 7:40 pm
"What’s going on is that the cable companies are looking to rethink their business. Instead of simply offering a bundle of programming you can only watch over their wires in your family room, they’d sell a bundle of programming you can watch anywhere, at home on the TV, at the office on your computer, or while traveling the road on yourcellphone.
By Saul HansellComcast plans to call this service OnDemand Online. The exact business model is still being determined. It might be free with your cable subscription or it could be an extra-fee add on."...
<<<>>>>CABLE TELEVISION
Cable industry confronts the Internet: friend or foe?
By Dawn C. Chmielewski and Meg James
LOS ANGELES TIMESSunday, April 05, 2009
"It wasn't too long ago that the idea of people turning to their computers to catch episodes of such series as "The Office" or "Wizards of Waverly Place" wasn't considered a serious threat to the broadcast and cable networks.
Allowing free viewing of marquee prime-time shows on the Internet is causing anxiety among some in the media industry, who say that the practice mirrors the error that newspapers made by not charging for online editions, thereby losing profitable print subscribers with little to show for in return."<<<>>>>
The end of the beginning;
"Time Warner Cable will begin charging Austin-area broadband customers by the amount of bandwidth they consume, a decision that has angered some users but one that the company says is necessary to keep the network from slowing down."
INTERNET
Time Warner: Dominate the bandwidth? It'll cost more
Company plans to bill users based on amount consumed.
By Tim Eaton , Dan Zehr
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, April 02, 2009This article continues with comments on AT&T intention to charge $1 for each GB beyond 150-gb cap. Grenade Communications does not engage in bandwidth metering having fewer bandwidth constraints then other providers. Cox Com Inc. is not undergoing pricing trials but does not
offer service in central Texas<<<>>>
The writing is on the wall and may be the beginning of the end for viewing free movies on line. This is not happy news for those who use hulu or other fancast.com or download Netflex videos. So for now this blog is in limbo until we overcome our depression on a subject which prompted us to consider the internet as a better option for viewing other than TV channels.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
TV Manufacturers hesitant to march to the net
Gordon Campbell, Personal Web Systems is on track and producing a TV adapter device that would embed internet access in TV’sWe proceeded to search for Personal Web systems and found:“He also thinks that TV manufactures are not being genuine when they say consumers do not want full internet access”. “That’s Hogwash, he says!..His current company, Personal Web Systems is poised this quarter to ship its first product, a $150 adapter that will attach to televisions to make them internet-enabled.”
The article illustrates a monitor screen with a visual ring of choices much like Picasa Album previews albums of images to select.Where is the menu?
Sony and Sharp Electronics believe that its customers are not ready. We are taken back by the statement: “Many consumers associate their television with one-way communications they ingest while leaning back on the couch. Browsing the Internet, the thinking goes, is a more immersive, active pursuit..”
Are We really "Couch Potatos?"
Come on, give us a break! Are average viewers such couch potatoes?Read this article and examine what TV makers think of their customer base!When we get our new flat screen TV, we want to be internet-enabled.
Ah!, but that is in TheF U T U R E ?
BTW, Personal Web Systems is so new it does not have a web site. We attempted a Google search without any hits except for the NYT article. So, we responded to the author of the article stating that a search did not reveal the web site of Personal Web Systems.Personal Web systems?
How Much Web Do You Want on Your TV
When reading CNN Money article related to the NYT article, check
out the first paragraph!... "We don't have full web browsing access on our TV;s yet.." This article closes with "How much of the Internet do you want on your television? Is the full web on the TV the way of the future?" Yes, we believe it is the future!
Are you ready to connect TV to your home network?
With a Digital Stereo, Cisco Systems is Starting a Push into Home Electronics.We were especially interested in: "Cisco will continue to make set top boxes that bring in programs from cable and the internet, but it assumes that eventually all televisions will simply connect directly to home networks”
“Mr. Hooper, a Cisco senior VP stated “...televisions soon will also be connected to home networks and the internet."We continue to make set top boxes that bring in programs from cable and the internet, but it assumes that eventually all televisions will simply connect directly to home networks”TelevisionsBy Stephen Williams
January 9, 2009, 1:27 pmYahoo’s “Widget Engine” will power the process, running alongside normal TV broadcasts, with widgets, or icons, displayed on screen in a dock, or panel, at the touch of a button on the remote. From there, it’s another click to access content like news and sports and social networking sites like MySpace. When will these sci-fi sets emerge? Yahoo says this spring.
The True Price of a TV
By Eric A. Taub.
December 5, 2008, 1:31 pmGadgetwise article on how to determine the true price of a TV. This article is worth reading when planning on buying a TV.
Watch live Internet TV channels from all over the world. Search the Internet for video content you want. Play Internet Video on Your TV! “With the NETGEAR Internet TV Player Internet video has never been so fun, because now you can enjoy it on your television. Just plug it into your TV and connect it to the Internet, and the world of Internet video is at your fingertips. And since you watch it on your TV, not your PC, you can share the fun with your family and friends.”Why is everything
C O M I N G S O O N?
Why do we have to wait?
Where there is a will,
there is a way,
right?
Where?
Right down the road!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Use your TV monitor for Web browsing
Why should we be concerned about TV broadcasting at all? We have had this response when questioning the combining of TV/Internet into one box. At this moment we are contemplating the TV HDTV set that has connector for laptop. Then, will it be possible/practical for wireless connection from router to laptop and to TV screen in a smoothe transition, or will need to record the program first then play back using connection to the TV.
Why not drop cable subscription altoghtether and move to watching most television on line free as well as Utube, Facebook, or whatever? Why do we need TV anyway. If interested in the news, most TV channels have web sites that you can choose what interests you without waiting for the story to be broadcast on the hour every hour. If interested in Movies, hulu offers reruns just like TBN.
In reading New York Times article this morning
"A Broken Business Model? Now Come $200 laptops, streaming TV and Free (Cloud) Software.
This article caught our eyes with interest when reading the second paragraph.
"..he dropped his cable subscription and moved to watching most of his television online, free." This was going through our mind when we started writing this journal.
Why not drop cable subscription altoghtether and move to watching most television on line free as well as Utube, Facebook, or whatever? Why do we need TV anyway. If interested in the news, most TV channels have web sites that you can choose what interests you without waiting for the story to be broadcast on the hour every hour. If interested in Movies, hulu offers reruns just like TBN.
In reading New York Times article this morning
"A Broken Business Model? Now Come $200 laptops, streaming TV and Free (Cloud) Software.
This article caught our eyes with interest when reading the second paragraph.
"..he dropped his cable subscription and moved to watching most of his television online, free." This was going through our mind when we started writing this journal.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Way to View Web on TV ...
"Boxee" created some attention at the recent Consumer Electronics Show. Boxee gives users a single interface to access all the photos, video and music on their hard drives, along with a wide range of television shows, movies and songs from sites like:
Hulu, Netflix, YouTube CNN.com [truly good source for videos] and CBS.com.The founder of Boxee is aware of how the Internet would upset the "television business by giving people on-demand access to the array of Web content." Where we believe the founder has it right is "Boxee is betting that consumers accustomed to the freedom of the Internet will not be interested in a dribble of online services on their televisions but will want more comprehensive access to Web video" We recommend that you read this article of the subject intrigues you. "Boxee" that enables view web on TV. Within the article is the answer why electronics and media companies are moving slow.to protect their existing business model.Within this article is description of a "Boxee" enthusiast who has connected his Mac to his television. The bottom line is that folks likehim would prefer to pay for favorite channels, or allow users a choice, hopefully the future of television. Boxee is free software at www.boxee.tv currently working on the Mac and Linux computers, but a version is being tested forWindows PCs. We encourage you to examine this article to see how "Boxee" works. This article caught our eyes on the first page of Business Day. we often browse NYT for articles on new technological developments, especially watching web on TV.We remain impressed with NYT Technology articles, that overshadow some on-line tech magazines. While browsing links on "Home Video", we found, " YouTube and Hulu Visit the Living Room" This device connects to a TV via HDMI cable streaming web video to any HD display. "The software also streams your own video, audio and photos from other computers over the TV and plays them back at 1080p resolution with 6-channel audio. It includes an optical audio output and 802.11g Wi-Fi as well as a remote keyboard for easy content browsing." O.K., that is one way to browse the internet using video display, essentially switching from computer display to TV video display, and this does include a remote keyboard.
Monday, January 12, 2009
A blurring image: TV and Internet. Or PC and TV.
Why move from one to the other for content? Why not have a home network where we can view, or record our favorite TV programs or record or view our favorite web sites? When will we not know the difference?
Having acquired interest in connecting TV to internet, we have decided to start this blog on the subject. Our purpose is to point to newspaper/magazine articles or urls that discuss this innovation in viewing TV and browsing the internet for alternatives to TV.. One of the sites that we have experimented with is HULU, viewed from laptop, as we prefer to avoid clutter on our PC.When we browse the internet, we are looking for information or shopping for aomething specific. : ) We like to compare prices with what is available from Amazon, E-bay, or Craigslist before we visit the stores that carry the product.
Another motive for browsing the internet is to search for news of the day and find sources that are not apparent when watching CNN, Fox, or MSNBC. One hour is enough as such cable channels repeat the same stories all day. Enough is enough?As we find a news articles on this subject, we will provide links or references here.
We encourage readers to examine nytimes.com/personaltech. A lot of interesting tech stuff can be found on this site. Presented inthe NYT on Monday, January 12, 2009, is an article in Page B6 Technology, “To Connect to the Internet, and Just Turn on Your TV.” What we glean from this NYT article is that we will see more TV products with capability to connect to the internet. Would it not be great the cable channels get boring? As the article mentions, what we would like to see is a TV with the same functionality as a PC and even screens that hang on the wall. We recently attended a wireless sig meeting and were introduced to the image on a screen that simulates a view from window is able to change the display day by day, so we see a different view each day (At least that is our interpretation of the window screen that is demonstrated on line.) A table with a “table cloth screen” is far out/cool.
Let us see what we can find today for free TV viewing on the internet:
Search term:“blog:tv/pc”
First hit was worldtvpc.com . You follow links for Free RV on PC you find such sites as freetvinpc.com, and you find there is no free lunch.So let us examine again Search term:
“blog:tv/pc”We find livechannels.net Onleft side are several ads by google. In the middle of the page are links. Let us see what we find. On extreme left are links to live TV channels listing many foreign countries. So, we select Ireland and find liveireland.com :An interesting screen, so let us see what we can find that does not present an initial surcharge:
At the top, Join the LiveIreland Network. So we bit the bullet and found a wealth of Irish Radio Music. O.K. what other features do we see on the page? The is a button on Liveireland.tv. Let us try it! Then we see video of street people on live TV. Hmm, was following links here worth the effort?
Let us go back to livechannels.net and we find Recorded news broadcast. Examine if your interest is in news.
As you will learn if you follow these steps, 99% of what you view are short clips rather than programs. You essentially have views ala YouTube style. For example, rte.ie news a video is news item on closing of Dell plants.So much for livehannels.net
Spreetv-watchtv shows online. We sign up for Spreety.com and the process was simple, just name and e-mail address to register and same to sign in after verification of e-mail address. At the bottom of the screen is an introduction to Spreety acknowledging that “The Internet today offers an amazing amount of free online TV. The challenge in enjoying TV on internet is simply knowing where to look.”
Examine one of the links from livehannels.net,
“Lot of Stress” video 1:48 all about
Philadelphia. It is almost funny! and PARKING WARS:
“LOT OF LAUGHS” is humorous.
What internet sites need is a batch file with favorite links that would cycle through your viewing or enable remote control to pass through a series of videos that are pre-selected.
Let us go back to spreety.com We see a favorites tab in spreety.com, so now we have an option to add favorites, kewl. Ok, now we are forced to sign in We are asked for name/email. Sign in confirmed by authenticating e-mail address. Here we find a a link to fancast.com , another option to view full TV shows movies on line.
If you actually go to the movies be sure and view Fandango.com
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