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TV is broken

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Re: TV is broken

#31

Post by seanp2k2 »

jerf wrote: post #20

I would observe that in some sense this isn't just a "kid growing up with different tech gets it better than the adults" story. My wife and I both feel the exact same way about TV, in our mid-30s. We just have the historical perspective such that we don't have to ask "why". Also it's less cute when we ask why. But otherwise the same.

Yup. I've been cable-free for about 2 years now, and I'd never go back. Since Comcast "discounts" cable internet (which, by the way, is my /only/ high-speed option besides 768kbit/sec DSL -- I have the 20mbit package or whatever they're selling it as these days) if you bundle it with basic cable, it only ends up being about $1.50 cheaper to NOT have basic cable. That said, basic cable is seriously not worth $1.50/month to me; it is worth literally less than nothing IMO. In fact, they should be paying me to watch their tripe. I'll take my payments in discounts to my cable internet, TYVM.

Re: TV is broken

#32

Post by michaelbuckbee »

ssharp wrote: post #13

Very interesting anecdotes, but I don't see how it shows that TV is "broken", other than OP's daughter thinking it was broken when first exposed to commercials. Additionally, Hulu / Hulu+ and streaming shows directly from a network's exposes you to as many commercial breaks (albeit shorter) as watching a show on cable.

In these contexts "broken" is referring to the general collapse of assumptions and desires underpinning a business model as new forms of communication become prevalent.

Think of newspapers and how their business model broke when Craigslist wiped out their classified ads market.

Re: TV is broken

#33

Post by mbreese »

VikingCoder wrote: post #22
ssharp wrote: post #13

Very interesting anecdotes, but I don't see how it shows that TV is "broken", other than OP's daughter thinking it was broken when first exposed to commercials. Additionally, Hulu / Hulu+ and streaming shows directly from a network's exposes you to as many commercial breaks (albeit shorter) as watching a show on cable.

Tomorrow, Hacker News will be discussing a story about a 14 year old boy who discovered that some rats prefer raspberries. If you'd like to discuss something else, try using a different web site, that will also be discussing one and only one story. TV is "broken," because it doesn't give you the choice to watch what you want to, doesn't let you pause, doesn't let you rewind, doesn't let you watch something you missed…

> TV is "broken," because it doesn't give you the choice to watch what you want to, doesn't let you pause, doesn't let you rewind, doesn't let you watch something you missed.

And that is why we have a DVR. It lets you pause, rewind, watch something you missed, and the networked one in my bedroom has every episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ever broadcast for my son to choose which one he wants.

The only "live" TV that we ever watch are sports.

The problem isn't that TV is broken. There are still good shows being made that audiences want to see.

The problem is that some people still think of TV as something that has to be watched in the moment. With DVRs the subscription is less about delivering live TV and more like a fire-hose of media. The DVR captures what you want, and you can ignore the rest. Hell, I have satellite service, and because I can get east-coast feeds, I often am able to record and watch shows much earlier than people with cable.

Re: TV is broken

#34

Post by seanp2k2 »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #27

Cable TV started out with the premise that it won't have ads and slowly it started adding them. Hulu already has ads. I wouldn't be surprised if Netflix started ads soon, since they seem to getting slowly crushed with the high cost of licensing content.

...and as ads increase, so does piracy.

People will pay for no ads, but they won't pay for ads for very long, especially my generation.

Re: TV is broken

#35

Post by seanp2k2 »

calloc wrote: post #17
geophile wrote: post #7

It's not really TV, it's TV networks that are broken. Hulu (and other online archives) may be even more irritating than broadcast TV. It's difficult to find what you want; you are hit by download limits in the middle of a program; there are still commercials, and it's the same ones over and over and over, and the repetition can drive you nuts; browser crash means starting over sometimes, or if you can go to where you…

Hold on ... Hulu has download limits in the middle of watching a program? I've watched Hulu from 5 AM till 5 PM almost uninterrupted, the only interruption is between shows they will say "You've been watching for 3 hours, are you sure you don't want to take a break?". That repeats every two hours or so. Yes, the commercials can be grating, and are still annoying but I think that is a small price to pay for streaming…

See also: why Netflix is popular while Hulu sucks and is only used as a last resort after you can't find [x] on torrents.

Re: TV is broken

#36

Post by VikingCoder »

mbreese wrote: post #33
VikingCoder wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tomorrow, Hacker News will be discussing a story about a 14 year old boy who discovered that some rats prefer raspberries. If you'd like to discuss something else, try using a different web site, that will also be discussing one and only one story. TV is "broken," because it doesn't give you the choice to watch what you want to, doesn't let you pause, doesn't let you rewind, doesn't let you watch something you missed…

> TV is "broken," because it doesn't give you the choice to watch what you want to, doesn't let you pause, doesn't let you rewind, doesn't let you watch something you missed. And that is why we have a DVR. It lets you pause, rewind, watch something you missed, and the networked one in my bedroom has every episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ever broadcast for my son to choose which one he wants. The only "live" TV that…

With a DVR, you can not watch something you missed.

You can watch something that you remember ahead of time to tell your DVR to record for you, or that miraculously it thinks you might be interested in.

TV has fundamental flaws, compared to other technologies that exist... It's broken.

Re: TV is broken

#37

Post by mbreese »

TheFuture wrote: post #23

Almost all my big screen watching is through Roku of mainly Netflix streaming. I cut cable over a year ago and very rarely watch network TV (NFL football games are main thing I watch over the air). I feel like the young girl every time I'm at a friends house and trying to navigate whatever cable/sat guide they have. Seriously, it's 2012 and I'm paging through this endless list of "channels" labeled by NUMBER and a CA…

The best app I've seen for this is HBO Go. It has a huge back catalog of HBO content and a revolving set of movies. It pairs great with an iPad. But, in order to get it, you still need a cable or satellite subscription (and HBO).

Re: TV is broken

#38

Post by killnine »

It would make me a proud parent to know that my kid doesn't know what a cable commercial is.

Slightly off topic, but the messages, subliminal messages, and methods of targeting these commercials do are sickening. I think some of them and their authors should be tried for criminals.

How is it okay that, for example, jewellery commercials basically attempt to trick female minds into defining love and levels of love by the metals and rocks their loved one purchases for them? How is a 5 year old supposed to know better?

Re: TV is broken

#39

Post by VikingCoder »

mikeryan wrote: post #30
VikingCoder wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tomorrow, Hacker News will be discussing a story about a 14 year old boy who discovered that some rats prefer raspberries. If you'd like to discuss something else, try using a different web site, that will also be discussing one and only one story. TV is "broken," because it doesn't give you the choice to watch what you want to, doesn't let you pause, doesn't let you rewind, doesn't let you watch something you missed…

TV is "broken," because it doesn't give you the choice to watch what you want to, doesn't let you pause, doesn't let you rewind, doesn't let you watch something you missed. Not sure your market or cable company. But in Berkeley (and SF) with Comcast under on-demand I have a section called "TV Shows", the "All Shows" section lists about 300 TV shows.Each with about 8-20 episodes. All On-Demand all with rewind, pause e…

I have money, and I want to watch Season 2, Episode 2 of the West Wing, which my friend just told me is worth watching.

I cannot give them my money, to watch it. I could wait a couple days for Netflix to mail me the DVD, but by then the impulse might pass.

TV is broken.

Re: TV is broken

#40

Post by ryana »

ssharp wrote: post #13

Very interesting anecdotes, but I don't see how it shows that TV is "broken", other than OP's daughter thinking it was broken when first exposed to commercials. Additionally, Hulu / Hulu+ and streaming shows directly from a network's exposes you to as many commercial breaks (albeit shorter) as watching a show on cable.

Agreed. In a world where the average American watches over 4 hours of TV a day I find it hard to infer a broken system from an article by someone who doesn't even have basic over-the-air stations hooked up.

Now that's not to say that the cable industry has it all figured out, or that there isn't room for improvement. But they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves if you assume their job is "get people to watch more tv."

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