| Austin Computer Arts Newsletter, January, 2011 This Month's Tip: Internet TV By Larry Rone |
Traditionally, we have 3 choices when considering TV reception: cable, satellite, or the old-fashioned over-the-air antenna. But a fourth option is now available. It’s called Internet TV. Internet TV is exactly what it sounds like: television content delivered over the Web. Internet TV can be technically daunting for most of us, but there is a free & simple way to get started with Internet TV: Boxee. Boxee (http://www.boxee.tv) is an application for both Macintosh and Windows which brings together all current Internet TV streams available in one application on your computer. I won’t go into details of how to use it; the Boxee site features excellent help getting started and the application itself is quite self-explanatory. It’s actually fun to learn and mess with. Boxee also gives you an excellent interface to view all of your local content (movies and TV shows downloaded from the internet, movies ripped from DVDs, etc.) So there you go, if you want to get started with Internet TV, read no further, just download and install Boxee. If you want to learn more, and are a glutton for technical abuse, read further... More Details… Specifically, Internet TV refers to the variety of Internet-delivered video-on-demand and subscription services that offer movies, TV shows, and sports. Notable examples include Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and Hulu. Though most of these have been around for years, what's relatively new is that applications like Boxee bring all these together in one application. Now you're saying: "I already have cable TV and am happy with it.” While cable and satellite TV have grown significantly over the past few years, the programming choices they offer are still relatively limited. The primary advantage of Internet TV is that it expands your on-demand choices from hundreds of TV shows and movies to thousands (if not tens of thousands). Also, Boxee is not the only application in the Internet TV market. Two notable alternatives are XBMC (http://xbmc.org) and Plex, (http://www.plexapp.com) but I found them needlessly complicated and unstable. Also, Hulu (http://www.hulu.com) offers a free stand-alone application. And, please note that Boxee is in "beta" (still in the development stage). It has a few quirks, but it works flawlessly most of the time. Boxee also offers a $200 stand-alone “box” which connects to the internet and streams Internet TV to your TV (http://www.boxee.tv/buy). This device does basically what a computer would do if the computer only ran Boxee. What’s on Internet TV? It’s easier to say what isn’t on Internet TV. For obvious financial reasons, cable-only TV content is rare. Networks like HBO, Discovery Channel, History Channel, etc. are not typically available via web streaming. The simple reason is that these companies know that if they offer web streaming, their entire business model is rendered inoperable. Who's going to pay Time Warner for HBO when one can subscribe directly via the web. Also, live sporting events are rare on internet TV. With the notable exception of Major League Baseball (MLB), you won’t find many. MLB is a subscription service through which you can view any and all major league baseball games. MLB could be a model for future sporting events to be streamed live over the internet. Rumor has it that the NFL is considering such an option. There are a number of quasi-legal sites which stream NFL games, but Time Warner and AT&T typically will block them if they can find you using them. See this web page for a breakdown of what kinds of programming are currently available via web streaming: http://reviews.cnet.com/2719-7608_7-777-4.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody The Future of TV: Cable or Internet? This brings us to the future of TV in general. How will you be receiving your TV signal ten years from now: via the internet or via your cable TV company? Guess what? 98% of Americans already get their internet AND cable TV from the same company (Time Warner, AT&T, Comcast, etc.). It makes sense that eventually Internet (TCP/IP) and cable TV technologies will merge and the signal one receives from their “provider” will offer the user both services via one technology. This essentially means your computer will be your TV interface (or your TV will also be a computer). AT&T’s U-verse is, for all intents and purposes, "an attempt" at this new technology. Though I DO NOT recommend U-verse as it SUCKS! The future is not here yet. The battle between Internet TV and Cable/Satellite TV is currently below the radar, but within a few years, it will be all the rage. The issue will be one close to all cable TV subscriber’s hearts: What you get for what you pay. All cable TV subscribers pay for a “package” of programs, and the majority of the channels you pay for, you will never watch. Channels like “Jewel TV” or “The Underwater Basket-Weaving Channel” go unwatched in most households. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just pay for the channels we watch and ignore the others? It would be great for us consumers, but not so great for the cable TV companies. They make more money when they sell you more channels. Internet TV, hopefully, will change all that. You will be able to subscribe to HBO directly, via their website, as opposed to paying your cable company for the honor, after which they take a big chunk of your subscription fee. Then, if you REALLY want The Hamster Breeder's Channel you'd go to their website to signup directly. If you’re still in doubt about the future of TV, ask yourself: “How much time do my kids spend watching Cable TV as opposed to surfing the internet?” Or, if you are under 30, which service could you live without in your new apartment: Internet or Cable TV? Here’s a good article on the future of TV: Mark Cuban (HDnet) and Avner Rosen (Boxee) square off at SXSW 2010: As promising as it is, you may not want to dump cable TV just yet: Download TV Shows and Movies Directly to Your Computer Because of the technical and legal nature, this is not a subject I’m going to delve deeply into. However, the reality is that pretty much every TV show, movie, sporting event or news program can be downloaded from the internet within a day of its release. Technologies like BitTorrent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent) and Usenet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet) make the entire Internet vs. Cable TV argument moot if you have the technical know-how to use them. An added benefit to these quasi-legal technologies is the ability to download non-US content (BBC, French TV, non-English movies with English subtitles, Thai soap operas, Japanese game shows, etc.) Net Neutrality Much of the Cable/Internet TV argument will be centered around the “Net Neutrality” debate. I recommend you take a few moments to read up on this, as it is shaping up to be the heart of the issue: • http://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-101
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