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Time To Ditch Cable For Internet TV?

Posted by Soulskill on from the slowly-but-surely dept.

itwbennett writes "A flurry of announcements from YouTube, Boxee, Dell and Clicker on Thursday brought good news for anyone considering canceling their cable service in favor of internet TV. First, YouTube announced that within the next few days it will start offering full 1080P HD streams; better than your cable company can offer. Next, Boxee announced a 'Boxee Box' that promises to make it easier to get the content off your computer and onto your TV. Or you could hook up Dell's Inspiron Zino HD instead. 'This is an 8" x 8" PC running Windows 7 (with an option for Ubuntu) that you certainly could use as a desktop machine, but the form factor just screams 'Hook me up to your TV!' via its HDMI port,' says Peter Smith. And, last but not least in this roundup of announcements is the launch of Clicker, a programming guide for internet TV that aims to help you find what you want, when you want it."

5 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. Is it live, or is it Memorex by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But can I keep what I download?

    1. Re:Is it live, or is it Memorex by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Two reasons:

      One, I can transcode it to eliminate the commercials.

      Two, I never have to worry about my service provider (at the behest of the Content Cabal) revoking my ability to watch something I've saved.

    2. Re:Is it live, or is it Memorex by GameMaster · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Because this can, very easily, turn into one, giant, bait-and-switch. Once the big content companies companies get the entire market to abandon physical media and adopt online, on-demand, delivery it won't take long for them to end the "all you can eat" pricing system and adopt a "pay per view" system. Once that's done, they'll just keep jacking up the rates arbitrarily. We've already seen this kind of behavior from the broadband ISPs and cell phone companies in the US.

      --

      Rules of Conduct:
      #1 - The DM is always right.
      #2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1
    3. Re:Is it live, or is it Memorex by PitaBred · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Honestly? The commercials on Hulu are less of an effort to watch than they are to try to circumvent. They're few, they're far between, and they aren't horribly annoying and at a different volume from the show. I'll take those any day in return for free content.

      --
      My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
  2. I still pass by buss_error · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm not feeding the copyright cartel until they quit treating me like a criminal and going to insane lengths to monetize every last drop of creative talent. (And that's giving them credit and assuming that they have any.)

    --
    Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.