| reply to Titus Pullo
Re: why watch tv online if I already have cable? said by Titus Pullo:That's an angle you don't hear as often as you should: cable (content) channels supposedly pushing up the rates for cable providers, who pass it along to you, advertising the hell out of you anyway. The ratio of commercials to content on a prime-time network show is ridiculous; I don't, and won't, watch it. Five minutes of show, four minutes of commercials. It's stupefying why anyone would sit through that. Cable started out that way (nearly no commercials), and now they're almost as bad as the networks. Right you are- about both points.
My cable bill went up $5 a month when they added the Disney channel.
Hey- I don't have kids- and I've NEVER watched it. Not one single time. So I've paid hundreds of dollars for a channel I don't watch and would dump in a hot minute if I were able to.
Makes me feel justified when I "acquire" some of their films. They owe me.
Stupefying is a great way to phrase it. The amount of commercials is mind numbing. I tape anything I want to watch that is still broadcast in widescreen, so I don't have to sit through the commercials. I've seen as little as 4 minutes of the show interspersed with 5 minute commercial breaks. It's truly unbearable.
The dumb pipers will meter bandwidth for sagging revenue. I don't believe a word regarding their increasing numbers -- everyone I talk with is either considering dropping cable or already has. If they have kids, they'll hang onto it as long as they can. Single people increasingly get what they need on the net and these guys have no recourse but to gouge your eyes out for access.
Why they bother with their own flavor of online content is beyond me ... it smells like bad PR -- the stink before the flush, so to speak.
--
LOL
That cracked me up. 
But the more they meter, the more they're going to lose with people switching to uncapped alternatives like FIOS and DSL.
Are they too stupid to realize that giving people unlimited access, and charging a bit more for it is much better than losing the customer altogether?
Apparently so... |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | "But the more they meter, the more they're going to lose with people switching to uncapped alternatives like FIOS and DSL."
Yup, there will always be a ISP with a huge cap(1tb like in Japan) or no cap, there will always be a market for that, even if we have to par a but more(like $15-$20) for a business connection. |
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| said by me1212:"But the more they meter, the more they're going to lose with people switching to uncapped alternatives like FIOS and DSL." Yup, there will always be a ISP with a huge cap(1tb like in Japan) or no cap, there will always be a market for that, even if we have to par a but more(like $15-$20) for a business connection. I was investigating a business connection with my cable ISP- only to find out it's more expensive, 1/3 the speed- and has a lower cap that I have now.
Makes no sense... |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | Hmm. Well I just know that the ones around here are no cap for business lines. What cableco? are there any others/any DSLs(with no cap) where u live? I know one way to have no cap legaly, but not that much speed(1m-ish). |
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| said by me1212:Hmm. Well I just know that the ones around here are no cap for business lines. What cableco? are there any others/any DSLs(with no cap) where u live? I know one way to have no cap legaly, but not that much speed(1m-ish). Prolog is the ISP, Blue Ridge Cable is the conduit. They're all part of PenTeleData corp anyway.
The business account is 5 Mbps, I forget the price- with a 75G/75G cap.
I don't need the upload, just the download. My cap is between 80-100 gigs now on the 15 Mbps tier. So their business offerings are worthless to me.
The only other alternative I have is Verizon 3 Mbps DSL. Since that is uncapped I'd go with that if I have to. |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | Well, do you mind increased lag? if not, what is the price for 2 DSLs? you could have them bonded, but it ups the lag. Or you could have one run to more than one com, for no extra lag. If it makes you feel better about less speed I have 512dl 128ul no cap for $55. |
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| said by me1212:Well, do you mind increased lag? if not, what is the price for 2 DSLs? you could have them bonded, but it ups the lag. Or you could have one run to more than one com, for no extra lag. If it makes you feel better about less speed I have 512dl 128ul no cap for $55. Funny you should mention that... I was thinking about doing that if it comes to it.
Right now I'm kind of taking a wait and see attitude. I'm waiting until after the "real" DTV transition to see how bad things get with my cableco.
I will need:
a) a new computer, something that will be able to use a pci-express video card
b) an HDTV
I don't think a computer hooked up to my analog 27" set will look very good...  |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | Well, unless you WANT a new com, you may be able to get away with a IPTV STB, you will need a wireless router and a wireless bridge for it to work best(non-wired) sears sells a 32" 720p tv for under $400, so that would be a decent priced one at least. And I think an HDMI.
The people at »TV over IP may be able to help you find a box that can get hulu, netfilx, youtube, and veoh. I think they go for about $200, but don't be mad at me if the price is not spot on.
IF you do go IPTV most would suggest getting a netflix account. |
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| said by me1212:Well, unless you WANT a new com, you may be able to get away with a IPTV STB, you will need a wireless router and a wireless bridge for it to work best(non-wired) sears sells a 32" 720p tv for under $400, so that would be a decent priced one at least. And I think an HDMI. The people at » TV over IP may be able to help you find a box that can get hulu, netfilx, youtube, and veoh. I think they go for about $200, but don't be mad at me if the price is not spot on. IF you do go IPTV most would suggest getting a netflix account. Actually- I DO want a new desktop computer- but that is for the living room- not my bedroom where I do most of my tv viewing...
In case you're confused- I want a new quad core high end machine for general use, PLUS possibly a dual core smaller system to be used to bedroom TV/surfing. So I want 2 new computers. But I'm assuming that a machine just for video streaming doesn't have to be a screaming machine.
So I'm really kind of weighing my options for the bedroom at this point. Either a regular but smaller PC for the bedroom, or XBOX/PS3, or some kind of set top box like you're suggesting.... I'm not really sure which way to go and I see I'm going to have to research this.
Ok, I already have a wireless router, but what is this wireless "bridge" thing?
And 32" is exactly what I had in mind, but I've been told to go for a high resolution model in case I want to surf the web....
Thank you for the info. |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | Do you know what a wireless gaming adapter is? Basically they both plug into a ethernet port and make it wireless compatible, so you do not have to run cables. »visioncomputers.com/items.asp?Cc···TOPS&Bc= they have PCs starting at $500 with 3yrs free tech support on par with VOIPo, they have everything from a nothing but surfing/vid pc to just about the strongest gamming pc you can get for under 12k.
And 720p should be enough for surfing the web. |
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| said by me1212:Do you know what a wireless gaming adapter is? Basically they both plug into a ethernet port and make it wireless compatible, so you do not have to run cables. » visioncomputers.com/items.asp?Cc···TOPS&Bc= they have PCs starting at $500 with 3yrs free tech support on par with VOIPo, they have everything from a nothing but surfing/vid pc to just about the strongest gamming pc you can get for under 12k. And 720p should be enough for surfing the web. I'm not familiar with this builder, but they have some very nice machines for not too much $$$$. I like what I see so far.
It wouldn't be that much of a problem to run a cat6 cable to my bedroom- but I can do wireless. That's good too.
I have also been considering a build from Cyberpowerpc.com.
My main obstacles to building it myself is not that I can't do it. I've built computers before. But not for quite some time....therefore... I don't have any spare parts lying around like DDR2 ram, or a pci-xpress video card. Or even a spare motherboard or current power supply.
Ergo, I order a whole bunch of parts from newegg, then wind up with a defective one- how in hell do I diagnose a problem with no spare parts to swap?
I read the reviews on newegg all the time- and the amount of people complaining about DOA parts scares me... I think building is more trouble than it's worth nowadays. |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | If it helps, I buy ALL of my pcs from them, got one for the last 2 yrs and will get a laptop for college, so that will make it 3(pcs) for 3(yrs). The tech support if great they helped us with every problem we had they even worked over time for us. They sell HD tvs too, but sears has them for less.
They will put a wifi receiver card in the PC if you want, for using internet, or you can use the 10/100/1000 ethernet port the com has built in.
Well I just hope they get LTE or DSL here with in 2 yrs, wireless is ok, but I would like more speed for less. Which is why I am going to start my own ISP and service rural areas first and have no or a 1tb cap, depending on how much the costumer will pay. |
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| said by me1212:If it helps, I buy ALL of my pcs from them, got one for the last 2 yrs and will get a laptop for college, so that will make it 3(pcs) for 3(yrs). The tech support if great they helped us with every problem we had they even worked over time for us. They sell HD tvs too, but sears has them for less. There are only 3 reviews of Vision on Resellerratings.com, but at least they're all positive...
I've never heard of them, but thanks for the lead. I will definitely price a machine from them.
I have a Sears and Best Buy here. I will buy a TV locally. No shipping, and I can return it if there's a problem.
They will put a wifi receiver card in the PC if you want, for using internet, or you can use the 10/100/1000 ethernet port the com has built in.
I would probably use ethernet, and I can always add a wifi card later. Stuff like that I can do blindfolded...
I wish you luck starting your own ISP... too bad you're not in Pennsylvania... |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO
1 edit | My dad heard of vision on the radio. We got our com for $200 19" lcd monitor(square it was free so I didn't care about the shape, I now have a wide screen hooked up to it no), About 450-500gb hard drive, 2g ram, vista 32b, dvd drive, dvd recorder, 7 in 1 card reader, 512 video mem, and the second best sound card card the offered with that pc.
I recommend them to any1 looking for a good com. and BTW all labor/wor kthat has to be done on the PC, and tech support for the 3yrs after you buy the PC are FREE!
Oh and HD directv and dish may not cost too much for you, they are less than most if not all HD cablecos. |
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| said by me1212:I recommend them to any1 looking for a good com. and BTW all labor/wor kthat has to be done on the PC, and tech support for the 3yrs after you buy the PC are FREE! Oh and HD directv and dish may not cost too much for you, they are less than most if not all HD cablecos. I definitely like what they have at Vision...
I've considered satellite, my problem is too many trees.
I don't have a clear line of sight without cutting down a LOT of trees, which I don't want to do. |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | Could the put the dish on a TALL tree? Or you could pay some1 to build a tower. |
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| said by me1212:Could the put the dish on a TALL tree? Or you could pay some1 to build a tower. No, putting it on a tall tree really wouldn't work. There's an entire forest behind my house, on the southern side which is the side I need for a sat signal.
Putting it on some kind of mast perhaps on the roof *might* work. I would have to look into the logistics of that.
Perhaps when the weather gets better I will call DirecTV and have them come out and take a look. |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | How many tvs(HD/SD/ED?) will be hooked up? Dish may have less ture HDs but theres a certain point where dish costs, IMHO, enought less to justify getting less HDs. IF you don't want it on ur roof, you could get a bigger on and put it on the ground.
I can understand trees messing stuff up. We have a WISP and we almost have too many trees to use it, when we got it installed the dude said there were too many trees, so the owner took a look and there was a dip in the trees and it was just enough to get it working. We put the receiver on a tree, thats why I asked if a tree would work for you. |
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| said by me1212:How many tvs(HD/SD/ED?) will be hooked up? Dish may have less ture HDs but theres a certain point where dish costs, IMHO, enought less to justify getting less HDs. IF you don't want it on ur roof, you could get a bigger on and put it on the ground. I'm willing to just settle for the tv in the bedroom for now being hooked up.
I don't have ANY HDTV's right now. I have 4 tv's but they're all analog.
Now a big dish on the ground I could do. I have a big yard. But what about the angle? Doesn't it still need a clear line of sight to the south at a certain angle???? |
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me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | jazzlady, how many would you like to have and what res is what I need to know in order to know which sat tv provider is best for you, as they each have different types of boxes. SO just tell me how many you want hooked up for the DTV thing, and if you plan to go HD within the year and how many HD sets. if its two(SD or HD, or both SD[I have to look to make sure on the both SD one]) Dish would be better 3-4 SD I think dish, but again I have to look to be 100% sure 2-3SD and one HD directv, as that what we have now, and we will be getting HD in the fall, and it will be the same price for both, but DT have like 2x HD. So let me know and I should be able to tell you, also what package, 100/200/250 ect. |
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