3 posts tagged “technology”
A month ago, I wrote about the pros and cons of switching to an a la carte method of television watching. Comcast's rates are ridiculous for us, considering the way we watch TV (i.e. not much, just a few shows a week). The Tivo is gathering dust and even with the baseball season half-way over, I've only watched a few games over cable. But despite the cost, the drawbacks outweighed the benefits.
Cyndi and I are wavering between whether or not to keep our cable plan when our contract is up in July. Honestly, if NBC and its affiliated networks (Sci-Fi, Bravo, etc.) were on iTunes, the decision would be pretty easy. We hardly watch any television shows regularly, neither of us watch sports very often (the occasional baseball game, and football in the fall), and we don't have any premium channels. So really, we're paying a pretty high price to watch Lost, Battlestar, Top Chef/Project Runway, and, well, re-runs of House Hunters?
- First up, there's iTunes/AppleTV. The selection of shows is great, and from what I've read, the quality's not bad, although there's no HD option available yet (for TV). Shows are $1.99, less if you buy a season, stream from your computer, and have decent sound (not true 5.1, but better than straight stereo). As far as selection, the good news is that HBO is now offered ($2.99 each). The bad, of course, is no NBC -- in addition to the lack of HD, as I already said.
- Next, Tivo with Amazon Unbox. The price is comparable to iTunes ($1.99 per episode, less for a season) and the offerings are broader, including NBC, SciFi, and Bravo. It doesn't require a computer to stream from, either, not that this is a problem for us, and you can queue up your shows from any computer (including work) and have them ready for you when you get home. Cons: poor sound quality and no HD (even with an HD Tivo). It also takes a while to start watching an episode, from what I've read. Oh, and it requires having a Tivo and paying the monthly fee.
- The final option I looked into (and have played around with) was Xbox Live. Requires an Xbox 360, but you can actually download shows in HD. From the five or so episodes of Lost that we've watched, the quality is on par with Comcast HD. SD shows go for $1.99, HD for $2.99 (or the equivalent in Microsoft points or whatever). You can start watching after only a few minutes (much like Apple). No season pass option, no NBC or premium channels. And, of course, having to watch television over the jet-engine roar of the Xbox. Not sure if it's available for Silver Accounts (the free one), but even a Gold is only ~$4 a month ($49.99 for the year).
Davextreme recently posted a couple articles (one real, one fake) that more than anything highlighted some of the trouble that Blockbuster seems to be having, seemingly at the hands of Netflix (don't click on the news links if you hate spoilers, but go to the posted article instead). It strikes me as odd that Blockbuster, who seems to be in every nook and cranny I look these days, is having trouble due to something that provides the same service, only with a shipping time delay. Yeah, that conclusion is faulty, but Netflix's popularity can't be denied.
Have we grown accustomed to some amount of delay? The internet has always been abuzz with the idea of "instant gratification." It's like the real world, only faster! I no longer need to go to the store to pick up a CD. I no longer need to even go to the front door to read the news! My friends are at my finger tips (if they're online). And my (e-)mail comes at me instant and direct, updated minute-to-minute.
Yet while Steve Jobs and Morgan Freeman (yeah, I think it's weird, too) negotiate through the mine field of studio rights and Walmart objections in their attempts to provide us with direct download movies, we're happily updating our movie queues and online shopping carts. It seems like more and more people are turning to the internet for online shopping. Even my parents! (Well, not my parents, but other people's parents.) No one has a problem with Tivo, whose most convenient benefit comes with a necessary postponement in your fun (that 30 minute buffer).
Maybe we've gotten used to this delayed gratification -- at least when it comes to certain things. Maybe we've gotten better at planning ahead. Maybe with so much instant access to all the other aspects of out lives, we can stand to wait a day or two for that order from Amazon. Maybe "science" needs to get its butt in gear and finally provide us teleportation. Or maybe we're just lazy. A culture of delay? Guess we'll just have to wait and see what history has to say.
