Tag Archives: tv

To Blu-Ray or not to Blu-Ray

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Connie wants to get a Blu-Ray player. I don’t. She fears a future where newly released movies won’t be available on DVD, but only on these new discs. I look forward to a future without discs of any kind.

What do you think? Is buying a Blu-Ray player worth it? My TV is only 720p, I don’t have cable and I rely entirely on internet-delivered television programs and movies (with the occasional DVD from the library).

On the one hand, if DVDs do become scarce, I’ll be able to play the new discs. Also I’m an Amazon Prime member. And since some Blu-Ray players feature access to Amazon’s streaming service, I’ll be able to augment my existing movie streams beyond what I already get on my Apple TV.

On the other hand, if I could will the entertainment industry into adopting streamed solutions quicker, I’d do so. Buying into the next-gen disc player seems like placing a bet on the team you hope loses. And of course once you have the player, you’ll acquire discs–and of course once you have a library of discs you’ll need to maintain a player for as long as you own them, even if streamed solutions really do take off like I hope they do.

I don’t want any more plastic spinning discs. They break, they scratch, you lose them. They aren’t available to all my playback devices. I’m willing to keep a DVD player for the purpose of accessing our existing library of those discs. But I don’t want to be saying the same about my Blu-Ray collection in ten years.

More on Apple TV

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I’ve written about Apple TV before, but I think it’s a subject that bears revisiting. There’s a lot of people who could get a huge bang for their buck with this unit, just like I’m doing.

Do you have an HD television?

Do you have a home WiFi network?

Do you have a Netflix subscription?

Do you have one or more iOS devices such as an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad?

Do you have a computer with iTunes on it?

If you’re answering yes to these questions, go immediately to your local Apple retail store and get Apple TV. Here’s a few scenarios describing how I use mine.

Netflix Instant Watch. If you’re still fishing red DVD envelopes out of your mailbox every few days, wake up! With your DVD-in-the-mail subscription you also get unlimited streaming. There’s thousands of movies and television shows for you to choose from. And while the selection isn’t everything you could possibly want, it’s plenty large enough to be worthwhile. In fact, I find it so worthwhile that I opted for a streaming-only subscription to Netflix. No more DVDs for me. What do I do when I want a just-released blockbuster that isn’t available to stream on Netflix? Read on.

Have you seen the latest viral Youtube video? Of course you have. But wouldn’t it be nice to watch it on TV so you could enjoy it with your friends and family? Definitely. Apple TV does Youtube. (Incidentally, the Honey Badger is my animal spirit guide.)

Supposing I’m going to hang in the kitchen, cooking or doing dishes, and I want some music? I can reach into my pocket, pull out my iPhone, fire up my favorite music and AirPlay it right to my TV and out it comes through my surround sound speakers. If a clunker comes up on random? I can use the phone to skip it. Or pause it or whatever. And if my phone rings? The music fades out for me to hear it, then comes back up once I’m done talking. Remote music through the entertainment center speakers is a thing that also works with my iPad and with my computer. I think the phone is just handier.

Netflix streaming and YouTube are fine and dandy, but what do you do on a Friday night when you really want to see that hot movie just released for home video? In a bygone era, you’d have to drive to Blockbuster (hope you get there early and remember to return it on time). More recently, you could (if you had the foresight to do so) put it on your Netflix DVD queue and hope it arrives on time. I suppose some people just go to a Redbox machine or something. Me, I rent from iTunes. Yeah, it’s like $3-$4. But it works beautifully, I don’t have to leave my couch, there’s nothing to return and no late fees.

Remember when home WiFi was a new thing? And laptops didn’t all come with WiFi radios inside them? I remember having to convince people that the addition of WiFi into their homes would make their laptop so much more useful. I feel the same way now about Apple TV. It makes things like your Netflix subscription and your iOS devices much cooler than before. And for only a Benjamin!

Some will want to point out that Apple’s not the only game in town. Roku and Google TV and others are in this market as well. I don’t think any of them have gotten it just right, though. Apple’s is the solution I recommend.

The sports team from my area

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So I turned on my TV earlier this evening, having heard that there was going to be a show about a superb owl, but the only thing I saw was football stuff.

It was a good game, though. And the only one I watched this entire season. (Which isn’t unusual, as what I know about football can be truthfully summed up in this here youtube vid.)

But at least it means everyone I meet tomorrow will be extra happy, and that’s something. Plus they’re bringing back the ashes of a man named Vince Lombardi, who is famous for doing something nobody’s ever done before in the entire history of doing things, plus he looks like everyone’s grandfather. No, really. Doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, hispanic, Asian–he looks a lot like your dear old granddad. (Although why his family ensconced his remains in that crazy urn, I’ll never know.)

All kidding aside, I’ve never been too interested in team sports. Maybe it’s that I like the drama of sinking or swimming on one’s own individual merit. Maybe it’s just that I’m too much of an introvert to cheer with my neighbors. Whatever the case, I find the whole football-crazy world a little strange. But don’t mistake my outsider status as hostility. Just because I poke fun doesn’t mean i’m not pleased at the tonight’s victory. I’m no killjoy. The sports team from my area, and so on.

You know what I kept thinking about, though? How these announcers engaged in some pretty slipshod sports psychology. You’d think at least one of these guys would be a real expert who could give us some Martin Seligman-style analysis of the coaches and players previous remarks. But in such a world, rabid football fans would also be experts on probability and statistics instead of memorizers of numbers and trivia.

Maybe I’ll never truly get it, but that’s ok. A hearty congratulations to the Green Bay Packers nonetheless. All of Wisconsin loves you today, even me.

TV Rentals

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The chief problem with internet-based television programming is that the content owners are dragging their feet.

Case in point: My new Apple TV.

Among other features, it allows me to watch free streaming content through my Netflix account. So on the advice of a friend I started watching a program called Dexter, a Showtime channel drama about a Miami serial killer who only snuffs those who deserve it.

Good show. I watched two seasons of it this way, streaming it off Netflix directly to my TV. But where are seasons 3 and 4? Not available for Netflix streaming.

I figured maybe they would be available on iTunes. And they are. But not for rent, only for purchase. That means instead of paying 99ยข each for the 24 episodes in season 3, I would have to pay $1.99 for each episode. Furthermore, I can’t just get it directly through the Apple TV, as it only displays rentals. Instead I have to purchase and download it on my computer, then point the Apple TV to it in order to watch on my television.

To be fair, it works beautifully. I tried it last night. But why should I have to do this? Why should I have to pay double and go through the hassle of using my computer as a middleman?

The answer seems simple. Showtime isn’t allowing iTunes rentals of their shows. Only purchases.

Foot-dragging. Or price gouging. Or something.

Now that I have all the hardware and services lined up to get a la carte internet-based entertainment to my television set, I really hope the content providers open their doors and let it happen.

The Walking Dead

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This is relevant to my interests: The Walking Dead, a zom-polcalypse comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard. When I unexpectedly got my hands on the entire series the other day, I dug in. And boy is it good. I’m halfway through it now and I keep thinking “this would make great TV.”

Which is a good thing, because AMC is developing a television series out of it, set to premier on October 31 of this year. Will it be good? You tell me.

I can’t wait.