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TechTV.com RIP
SlashdotOgre writes "It has finally happened, www.techtv.com is no more. This was
somewhat expected after Comcast decided to give the
ax. This is a bit of a shame; as many users know, the
site was an excellent resource for both product reviews and
software. Most noteably, the Call for Help section has
disappeared and The Screen Savers only has recent episodes in the Episode
History section. If Comcast does own the rights to older
material, I do hope they decide to post some of it (but I doubt that
will be enough to ge me to watch their "new" network)."
I'm trying to shed a tear but.........I can't. I thought their reviews to be lack luster, and the "reporting" to be subpar. They were, at their best, like Slashdot on a very bad day.
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
I saw this coming. I real shame too. I really liked TechTV. Now that I've moved, I can't get TechTV OR G4. The cable company didn't carry either network.
I am MuchTall
Yes ZDTV/TechTV will be missed. It was nice having a geek network. So Who wants to start a new network?
SimonTek
Does anyone know if TechTV will still be letting users watch old episodes online or by request (e.g., copy of the episode). I am particular looking for video segment on The Ant Farm case mod (invalid link now) online or on tape/whatever media. I did e-mail TechTV staff a few months ago after this mod story was posted on /., but never received a response. I doubt I will get one after sending another request today. Anyone got this segment in their TechTV collection? ;)
:(
I managed to savage the Web pages and thumbnails from Google Caches. Archive.org didn't have this Web story when I tried the original URL.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
...that used to co-host some computer survey show back when it was ZDTV? SHe then went to the X Show I think> All I remember is she had some nice legs and lips.
And Danielle Knox! Man that was one hot Negro babe.
"Invent This" has nothing to do with the G4 merge (though I agree it sucks). If you want to discuss TechTV shows being overrun with crappy G4 shows, let's talk "Players". A bunch of celebrities who might (I think?) know how to press a button in a favorite video game that stars (surprise!) them. Ugh.
Bring back Tech Live please (or move it back to its old time slot, if it's still there.)
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
I really hate that G4 merged with TechTV. I tivo ScreenSavers, TechLive(g4 canceled) and Martin unscrewed. Xlive is fun to watch if its a game I want to buy. Great channel for geek news.
The website tv ep history is gone, its an ugly POS. Shame.
Wonder what g4techtv will become, because if it goes mainstream its going to suck.
Think about it for a second...it's just begging for a change in meaning.
/. users would watch this.
Programming would almost certainly be sparse for a while:
SlashDot
- On the Hour and Twice a Day,
- News for the nerdy crowd
ThinkGeek
- Half an Hour of the Coolest Shopping,
- And whatever else they scrape up.
Forge & Savannah
- What released this very day??
- What might be the coolest thing today?
Open Magazine
- Let's bring it back with full force.
- Or combine with the half-dozen LinMags
Open Testing
- True Benchmarks
- Performed Live!
Security Watch
- The most important show
- Most likely to expand into a spinoff
Gamer's Dungeon
- And for the less geeky...
- Or is the extremely geeky?
FX Designs of...
- Most
- Most people would watch this!
UberGeek Interview
- If you stretch the meaning...
- You could get 100 different people!
DevTraffick
- What's new in Gnome? Kde?
- How about non-nix projects?
Hardware Hackers
- Now, finally, a COOL show
- Yup...finally....
DistroWatch
- So many distros
- Too much time....
TrendWare
- What colour blackberry is hot?
- How out of date is your new system?
And finally...Dilbert, Futurama, Lexx, Farscape, Stargate, Star Trek, and whatever else geeks would watch....
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
They fired the entire S.F. studio - and gave only a select few the option of moving to the G4TV studios in L.A. Also the firestorm of hatemail, online petitions, and angery forum posts for Leo Laporte and Call for Help's demise I think really got G4 thinking "WTF do we do now?" So they negotiated a few 90 second clips with Leo to be aired durring The Screen Savers. His face is on their homepage, twice. And they're looking at selling his show to another network. Damn you Comcast and G4... now I have to answer even MORE noobish questions.
I've been watching TechTV for years on Dish network now, and I don't think that the G4 merger is that bad for several reasons:
- The Screensavers was not the same without Leo hosting it, and I also enjoyed with Megan, Morgan, and Jessica were all on TSS. For me, the show hasn't been the same since then.
- Call for help hasn't been the same post-chris perillo.
- TechTV was still on a relatively short programming loop. I recall watching a rerun episode of TSS and seeing it again that same day before the new one aired! It would always work the same way: TSS, TechLive, Freshgear X-Play, rinse, repeat. That and did anyone else notice the ultra-long blocks of Robot Wars? Frequently would I turn to Channel 191 (dish) only to go "oh look.. robot wars again... oh, look, already saw this one..."
- Not all of the G4 shows are crap, I for one like ICONS and ARENA, did anyone else dig the ICONS show on Final Fantasy? They actually talked about FF3 (FF6 US)! I also really like all of their E3 Coverage.
That's not to say that everything that G4 has brought to the table is pure gold. I for one don't like the people on the show: G4TV.com and believe that it's the show that inspired this.For all it's worth, I think that the merger has expanded the tediously short programming schedule. I for one enjoy watching less repeat episodes of Robot Wars.
Just my 2.18997 Japanese Yen
My favorite tech tv memory was that guy who fumbled and broke that priceless phonograph recording thing. That was great. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/techtvblooper.html
Click for offensive t-sh
Leo was probably one of the most tech savy folks on TechTV. He also seems to be the only regular that really embraced Linux...
For those that don't know, there's been a lot of discussion about the cancelation of CFH on Leo Laporte's forums. Here's the link to Leo's Comments.
Basically, Leo is still doing his 90 second segments on TSS, but he is working on some new projects...one of these will be Leoville.TV...he says that he is going to be getting some of the old TechTV folks to work with him. He also says that there are offers coming in from other channels, but he probably won't be back on TV on a regular basis until some time in the Fall.
Until then, there's always his radio show on KFI...
The problem with an all games network is that there's just not enough that happens in a given day to fill up 6 or 7 full time shows.
What you get are about 5 "review" shows with pretty much the same content...a couple "lets watch people play games" shows and some "filler" (Anime Unleashed and Thunderbirds...while I don't mind either, neither has a place on a tech oriented channel..I know these came from TechTV, but noone's perfect)...
X-Play was ok, but it seems that ComCast is just sucking the soul out of what was TechTV...
Most of the shows on the new channel just feel like a badly done public access show. These people obviously don't know anything about the technology and I've caught more than a few of them with the "deer in headlights" look...Don't get me wrong, TechTV had its share of "Pretty Boys", but there seemed to be an attempt at putting someone who was "dumb" with someone that knew their stuff (Leo and Cat on CFH for instance)...
Of course I think Comcast would be best to look at why Leo Laporte was such a good host...he had radio experience and knew when guests were getting "boring" and would change the direction toward a more interesting subject...
Archive.org also has episodes of another computer show, Computer Chronicles. It's much older (mainly eighties episodes), but they don't do things by halves: for the online database episode they interview people from Q-Link (later renamed AOL) and Compuserve, and in their music episode they interview John Chowning, who invented FM synthesis.
The Screensavers was not the same without Leo hosting it, and I also enjoyed with Megan, Morgan, and Jessica were all on TSS. For me, the show hasn't been the same since then.
You're right. TSS isn't the same without Leo. It's better. I don't understand why people like him.
Not all of the G4 shows are crap, I for one like ICONS and ARENA, did anyone else dig the ICONS show on Final Fantasy? They actually talked about FF3 (FF6 US)! I also really like all of their E3 Coverage.
Arena? Even Leo talking about his book is more interesting than a bunch of geeks at a LAN party.
I saw TechTV about 10 times in the past N years.
Not once did I see something that made me want to watch it for more than maybe 30 minutes, and nothing made me want to see it again the next day or week.
And it's not gone anyway, just monopoly-restructured into its competitor.
I wonder why the current format wasn't setting the world on fire...hmmmmmm..lets look at it.
Screen-Savers 8 hours a day.
The LAME Robot Wars 2 hours a day.
Other non-original progamming that had very little to do with real "tech".
These guys coasted for a year on nothing interesting. I switched on the channel twice in the last 6 months. Once, they were building a mod case out of an Army ammo can (uh...couldn't afford a REAL case?) The other time, they were reviewing music players (for the 13th time).
Hopefully, Comcast will actually keep it as "Tech"TV and then actually develop a few good series out of that instead of just rehashing the same 8 topics and the same 4 programs for the next 2 years. I liked the CONCEPT of TechTV, but I hated the REALITY of TechTV. Buh0Bye. Perhaps something good will come out of this (like a series where geek contestants test their knowledge of C++ for fabulous prizes, or they do a real, cooperative Gillagan's Island. They strand 7 geeks, and tell them there are hidden resources on the island they can use together to make things (radios, solar cells, etc) Anything would be better than watching those two middle-aged dorks cruise t the set in their mustang anymore. I was embarasesed for them.
"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
I'm glad they kept X-Play though, great solid reviews, whacky hijinx, and a great looking girl to seal the package. Keep on truckin' Adam!
No more Leo...That's too bad. It was a good show - had something for everyone if you waited long enough. They didn't leave out the Mac or Linux crowd (even think I remember them talking *BSD a few times) and weren't just a bunch of Windows Power Users filling a time slot. All good things come to and end I guess.
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
I have been watching G4TechTV over the weekend, (while working on exams) and thus far I have seen just about every show on G4TechTV, (or part of it) One word...Crap..Crap (all right two) the sets all seem to be from the seventies and are all brightely colored...(Filter I'm thinking of you) They need to have a disclamer before the show.."Sets best viewed stoned" (not that I support that kind of thing) also every single G4 show seems to have stayed (not sure if they cut any) I mean atleast cut the crap..like Pulse (hour long weekely game show where they jump from topic to topic sometimes in under 15 seconds) The only good thing I've seen was that behind the scenes of the new Riddick game, which has me looking into it and I might buy it (once I get an X-Play review :D)
All the reporters on G4 are all in there 20s and have almost no experience..they talk WAY too fast, I can talk fast, but I have a hard time understanding them sometimes...
Notice how it is G4TechTV...and not TechTVG4...they merged TechTV into G4 and what they should have done..was merged G4 into TechTV..(drop Thunderbirds, robot wars...) except I do not see any content that G4 has that should even have anything to deal with TechTV.
The two dweebs G4 has reviewing games are horrible. X-Play wasn't great by any means, but at least it was fun to watch. Let alone the fact that TechTV didn't have every show sponsored by Pringles or something else. The only good show that G4 has is the ICONS show. Their awards show was painful to watch, let alone the 2 hour roundtable they showed 6 times a day for the two months leading up to it. TechTV had some bad programming as well, but to think for a second that G4 brought more to the table is a complete joke. Its clearly the egos of the comcast management at work here.
I once watched Leo Laporte explain Quake internet/multiplayer play as if it were Doom multiplayer. He said, "the entire server can only run as fast as the player with the slowest connection." And went on in an elaborate description of all online, internet games as if they were built on Doom multiplayer. I changed the channel.
/. crew hate each other....
For the most part though, I did enjoy the reviews and tech tips, and picked up lots of info on technology from TSS.
More than anything, I enjoyed watching the blaring interpersonal battles that the hosts shamelessly let slip on to camera day after day. Sometimes, the hosts obviously battled with producers as they were being reprimanded via their ear pieces, and Leo one time even bucked that (cuz I guess he was high and mighty). Watching Dvorack and Laporte go at it was fun too until Dvorack got axed.
It's too bad we can't watch the
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
Do a live internet streaming as a test run .
.
If it get a large following online via streaming video then
that will prove it will have a viable future on non-net TV
Good Luck !!!
Ex-MislTech
google "32 trillion offshore needs IRS attention"