Poll: Do you watch internet-based TV?
By Darren Murph 
posted Mar 7th 2009 12:00PM
posted Mar 7th 2009 12:00PM
posted Mar 7th 2009 12:00PM
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Funny you should ask... I found myself catching up on the week's Daily Show episodes on my Divx Connected box even though I have cable and access to Comedy Central. Convenience is king.
Unfortunately as a Canadian I can only legally watch what the CRTC tells me to watch, which is mostly garbage and does not include web based TV.
Amen.....it f**king sucks
I tried Boxee on Ubuntu before Hulu was disabled. I have to say that for me it's a waste of time. I watched a "HD" version of the TV show "Lie to Me" and the quality was terrible.
I'd rather watch content the old fashioned way!
That’s because the FOX stream isn't actually in HD, its just in a 16:9 aspect ratio, every show that I've watched on their site which is marked HD is hardly 480p, it looks fine on a computer monitor at normal resolution, which averages about 20" btw, but stretched it becomes extremely grainy, if that’s what it does on a monitor it would look twice as bad on a TV twice the size with much higher settings in some areas.
PC monitors are sharper and show more detail than even the best 1080p TV so therefore it will look better on a TV not worse.
Hook your TV up to the computer. You'll see the difference immediately.
I don't even know what the internet is - who could have ticked that option on an internet poll?
I only use Internet when I have a Media Center meltdown. And then I usually "acquire" it in HD.
C
A lot of us get our TV especially from overseas from the Internet ... but I doubt that it's in the method that Darren had in mind. Unfortunately, because of bullsh*t "international copyright" laws and the artificial borders that have been placed on the Internet, getting international TV can usually only be done through less-than-legal means.
What you can't even watch *trailers* or *commercials* for foreign TV shows legitimately on the web because of international copyright (I'm looking at you, BBC!!!), something is very, VERY wrong.
I don't pay for any TV service, so on weekends when nothing is on broadcast TV, the internet comes in handy.
I don't know if you are a sports fan, but there are a ton of HD sports on broadcast tv during the weekend.
I wish I could get rid of my overpriced cable service and just use HDTV service.
BURN NOTICE FTW!!!
RSS is my best friend.
Fox.com has pretty good quality. It's not the same as OTA, but I live in a valley, so sometimes I can't get OTA and I use Fox.com to catch what I missed (mostly Family Guy, Terminator, Dollhouse)
I only watch an episode on my PC, if its absolutely the only way I can see it, escpiecally if my DVR messes up on recording my favorite show (thanks Directv), thats the only time i watch it on the computer.
I dumped my Comcast digital cable box and dropped down to limited basic (on a trial basis). My bill went from $70 to $10 a month. I use Vista Media Center to record local HD broadcasts over QAM. To fill in the gap, I watch Netflix on my Xbox, and use PlayOn to watch Hulu (among others) on my PS3. So far, so good.
I've been watching Jimmy Fallon on hulu after work every day this past week. It's nice not having to stay up to watch.
I had yet another DirectTV DVR fail on me, currently on my third in a year, in order to catch up on missed shows I introduced my gf to HULU. She declared it the greatest thing ever. Then when I asked if it meant we could cancel DirectTV she game me a funny look and said, "No." Which really made me sad, that's like $60 bucks a month we could be saving.
Canceled Cable TV (how can people watch that) and we've got Directv suspended until football season so our only choice is internet TV. Love it.
I only watch it when there's a conflict with two shows and I don't feel like watching one live. I really should get a second HD OTA tuner for my PC so I can record more than one show at a time.
How can you find that much to watch on TV?!
You could buy an HD Homerun.
Does sceneHD and tvtorrents count as internet-based TV?
I don't. If i want to watch a Show, I'll watch my DVDs, no commercials, excellent PQ and no buffering.
The problem with free internet TV is that most of the content is available for free over the air in HD. I still need to pay my insane cable bill to watch 10 channels and discard the other 300 that I never watch.
We need single channel pricing plans. You want 300 channels of garbage then pay the $70. You want 10 channels you want, pay $15 and be done with it.
I've been cable bill free for over two years. Internet TV FTW!
Yeah.. found a cool site helped me setup internet tv with hulu and xbox 360.. thefuzznetwork or something like that.. I love it now.. Freeeeeeeee
I haven't had a tv in years. Internet TV is awesome. I can catch up on a show in days, not have to wait weeks. I just caught up watching Fringe...when the episode is done, if I want more, I just cue up the next episode, and voila! I don't have to wait a week to find out what happens next. I can watch it whenever I want. Ever since the internet boom 10 years ago, I knew this would be the future, and it is. 5 years or less, it'll all be on demand programming through internet lines, all live feeds, when the technology catches up to broadcast speed, which it is. The advertising dollars are saying yes, this IS the future. I'm betting the battle will be for the convenience of the remote/screen interface. Soon, the TV and computer screen will be the same item, having both will be a waste of time and space, as it is for me, and has been for years. I'll never own a TV again. What for?