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Ask Slashdot: Best Way To Watch TV In 2012?

Posted by Soulskill on from the does-not-involve-3d-glasses dept.

zaba writes "Once again, I can hear the tell-tale signs of a hard drive dying. This time, it's in the DVR for one of our TVs. In the U.S., are we at a point where, with a little technical savvy, 'cutting the cord' makes sense? If so, what are the best options? Does a refurb Roku (anywhere from 60-80 USD) make the most sense? Does building a mythbox or some such device make sense? For my family of four (ages 36, 30, 13 and 4), we are paying ~100 USD/month for two receivers (one with a DVR). What, in your opinion, is the best option to have TV service in two rooms of the house? Kid's shows could be in one room and adult shows in another. Or, all of it could be on one server (I have computers lying around) that could go to multiple rooms. We like the DVR for the instant access, but saving a hundred bucks a month would be nice as well. I can drop CAT-5 as needed, but Wi-Fi would be preferred. For programming, we currently have 'standard' cable and mostly watch the major networks. I would love to have ESPN, but can get my sports fix (mostly college football) through other means, I'm sure. How do you all watch TV? What have you found to be the best way to get what you want?"

10 of 479 comments (clear)

  1. Best way to watch TV by Niris · · Score: 5, Funny

    By looking at it.

    1. Re:Best way to watch TV by Idbar · · Score: 4, Funny

      Bonus points if you're actually looking at the screen. Looking at the back of the device is kind of boring.

    2. Re:Best way to watch TV by ThePeices · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wait, Fox has a news channel?

    3. Re:Best way to watch TV by hammarlund · · Score: 3, Funny

      At our house we call Fox News "The Comedy Channel".

  2. What's on? by Threni · · Score: 4, Funny

    Have you found anything worth watching yet? Whenever I hear about something good I check it out, but it just seems like shit to me. Game of thrones? Lord of the rings with tits. Caprica 1? Zzzzz. Walking Dead? Nothing ever happens - there's a strict 5 zombies per episode limit (apart from the last episode - perhaps it's the same 5 zombies over and over, though).

    Loads of talk of 3D, google/apple/whatever tv, but if it's just the same old shit then it seems like a waste of a lot of money. Just stick the good stuff on the net so we can watch it whenever.

  3. Good question! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What have you found to be the best way to get what you want?

    I just flash my titties..

  4. Wait, what? by LateArthurDent · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whenever I hear about something good I check it out, but it just seems like shit to me. Game of thrones? Lord of the rings with tits.

    I've had absolutely no desire whatsoever to watch Game of Thrones. Then you had to come here and describe it as the single most awesome concept ever. Can you really think of anything better than Lord of the Rings with tits??

    Now I have to check it out.

    1. Re:Wait, what? by ThePeices · · Score: 5, Funny

      Can you really think of anything better than Lord of the Rings with tits??

      Lord of the Rings with Tits and Bacon?

    2. Re:Wait, what? by Artifakt · · Score: 4, Funny

      The one thing about Game of Thrones that most people who are just becoming fans don't get - EVERYBODY DIES! If it follows the books, absolutely every character you find youself liking, every one that becomes a favorite with millions of viewers, will die, generally by extreme violence. Imagine if you were really getting into original Trek, and somewhere about in the middle of season 2, Kirk gets his head exploded by a sniper disruptor, and McCoy has a heart attack trying to save him. Three weeks latrer, Checkov is dead, then by the end of the season Spock has been graphically fed feet first into a Vulcan rice picker. Maybe you thought 'City on the Edge of Forever' was couragious by showing sometimes nice people die, but now, someone you like is snuffing it every single episode. They bring back the Romulan commander you found yourself sneakily admiring, just to kill him off two minutes later. Klingons start naming their warriors with other sounds than K because that seems to be bad luck the way they are ALL being poisoned before they can get to command positions. The enterprise returns to the world of 'Shore Leave' just so people can permanent-die there this time. By the end of season 3, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, Rand, and the Enterprise itself are all violently dead, and so is everyone on most of the planets they visited. Oh, and every transporter malfunction ever was shown with bright red blood spraying neck high over all the walls of the room, and it turns out photon torpedos destroy spaceships and equipment, but leave their crews naked and alive, floating in vacuum until they pop like in Total Recall.
                That's where Game of Thrones is headed. Personally, I'm thinking they will kill off one of the really popular characters and then be terribly surprised when that one becomes the straw that broke three million viewers backs and their audience share suddenly drops 50% in a week, and then the week after is worse, and all of the sudden they are needing to cancel it because they are down to less than 400,000 viewers per episode and getting a million pieces of hate mail a week. I honestly expect the series to self distruct if it trys to remain true to the novels.

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
    3. Re:Wait, what? by bmo · · Score: 3, Funny

      >graphic details about extremely violent deaths of Star Trek characters, especially about Spock.

      I believe you've spent way too much thinking about this for far too long.

      Tell me about your mother.

      --
      BMO