Monitor or TV?

[Mike Painter]

I had to get rid of my Dish TV at the beginning of the year because of money problems.
It was great and I miss it, but not a lot.
The LCD vs plasma and Dish Vs Direct threads lead me to start this.

I think my next "TV" will be a large monitor and I'll add a set top box of some sort if I go back to regular TV.
I've been watching Hulu.com and am convinced that the near future will see cable and satellite TV fall by the wayside. Hulu is free and commercials are either 15 or 30 seconds long. If you are interested in the information, clicking on the screen pause the program and takes you to another site where you can get more information. A few shows have offered a two minute commercial at the start with no interruptions or two or three during the show.

If you shut down your system the show you are watching will start where you left off when you turn it back on.
It's very good now and will get better. It will send you an email when a show you want comes on line.
Cable is more expensive that satellite. It costs several hundred million to put a new system in orbit and the "parking space" is 10 million dollars a year. Dish says it is cheaper to own than rent that equipment.

I see "free" TV with normal commercials and a very low cost subscription service with shorter commercials existing side by side.

What think you?

 

[jtr1962]

You're probably right. Thanks to the Internet, you-tube, hulu, etc. it seems broadcasters are becoming less and less relevant. The new medium of the Internet offers a way for producers to hook up directly with advertisers, without the need for a broadcast network to act as an intermediary. As such, we'll probably see more variety of programming, and also more from small producers who might not otherwise attract advertisers. I actually look forward to the day cable TV is no longer needed to get a decent variety of programming. That doesn't mean cable will fall by the wayside. Rather, I see their main purpose in the future to be providing Internet connectivity rather than TV programming. I'm sure satellite-based Internet will take off also, although there still exist problems of service on cloudy days, something which cable-based services are immune to.

 

[Mike Painter]

That doesn't mean cable will fall by the wayside. Rather, I see their main purpose in the future to be providing Internet connectivity rather than TV programming. I'm sure satellite-based Internet will take off also, although there still exist problems of service on cloudy days, something which cable-based services are immune to.

I don't see either lasting a long time. Both cost to much. In the long term mesh wireless and glass to your door will give all you need. One town over the university went fiber optic and they all say they used to think their high speed network was fast.

 

[jtr1962]

Actually by cable I was including fiber-optic based systems. I agree the days of copper coax are numbered. A fiber-optic cable can carry 100 times the info on a thinner cable, and isn't subject to EMI. Here's to 1 Gb/sec download rates!