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The TV We Have Been Watching Without "TV"
Since Kymberly and I don't have cable TV and I sort of think that sitting down and watching TV is semi-evil I've tried getting TV shows via alternative internet distribution such as Netflix, Bit Torrent, Podcasts and iTunes.
I bought the first season of Mythbusters off iTunes since Netflix has not carried them in stock yet. I also got most of the latest season off Bit Torrent and have been deeply enjoying it. I would have absolutely no problem buying this show from iTunes.
The daily Rocketboom Podcast. Even without Amanda it is pretty good and I never miss it.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 off Netflix. It is a shame that they only fit one episode per disk so the whole mail in Netflix experience is almost as par of watching a few shows per week over a normal broadcast. After all TV shows were meant to be episodic.
I think the Democracy Player is a very cool project and I need to spend more time with it.
I bought the entire second season of The Venture Brothers via Xbox Live Video Marketplace and then sort of felt like a sap when I bought the DVD set at the store and deleted it from my puny 20 gig Xbox 360 Hard drive but i needed to make space for the Halo 3 Beta.
Kymberly has discovered the joy of watching TV shows from my iPod and she has appropriated by iPod and convinced me to buy her a plethora of shows over iTunes for her. She has been enjoying the Bravo TV competitive reality-game-shows Project Runway Season 2, Top Chef Season 2 and I got her a subscription pass for Sheer Genius. With the iTunes Season Pass she gets to watch it the day after it goes on the air. Now since we don't have cable that is awesome that she dosen't have to wait for a DVD set and also not all TV shows make it to DVD. My 60-Gig iPod with an AC adapter and a video cable can store more digital content than and Apple TV.
I don't mind paying for digital distribution of TV shows over the net as long as there is a good selection, no commercials and I get to watch then when I want. I think that choice is more the future of TV than more pixels and a sharper picture.
Jake at May 4, 2007 
Nerd
Comments
Be careful if you download shows off of bit torrent.
I recently downloaded a Heroes episode that I missed and received an abuse letter from Charter. Apparently NBC has hired a outside company to track down people downloading their tv shows, why they wouldn't want people to do that is beyond me as I downloaded the first few episodes to see what it was about and I liked it so much that I started watching it on tv as they premiered.
Posted by: Zach M at May 4, 2007 11:12 AM
Never heard of the Democracy Player until now. I'll have to check that out.
Have you tried Joost?
I haven't used it too much, since my Mac Mini is my main computer the majority of the time, and there is no support for PPC yet.
Posted by: Jessica at May 4, 2007 6:00 PM
I haven't tried Joost since they don't have PPC Mac support. That just plain sucks my ass. I mean WTF! That is like if a Windows developer shipped a program that would only run on AMD chips but not Intel.
Posted by: Jacob Metcalf ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.8bitjoystick.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 4, 2007 8:54 PM
I fail to see how watching downloaded TV shows and DVD's is any different from sitting down and watching tv.
Please explain.
Because you might as well just record TV shows with a VHS tape and apparently this is less evil than sitting down when it's on and watching it.
Posted by: xxhennersxx at May 6, 2007 12:00 AM
Sure.
TV shows on DVD and downloaded TV
1. Has no commercials
2. You can watch it anytime so it is less likely to set your personal schedule.
3. You are less likely to leave the TV on and sit for an entire evening. There is no channel surfing.
4. You can pause it and pet your cats or go to the bathroom
Posted by: Jacob Metcalf at May 6, 2007 1:10 AM
How's that make it evil though? Because don't have the leisure of watching whatever you want whenever you want? that makes it evil? Because you can't stop it when you want?
Well I guess all sports are evil because to watch a game you have to be at the event at the right time. So is work. Work's evil because you have to be there when it's scheduled.
And I guess shopping is evil because you can't go into any store whenever you want either.
Posted by: xxhennersxx at May 6, 2007 1:30 PM
