What are my options today for alternatives to cable and satellite TV content?

[deckeda]

I'm looking for specifics. My ultimate goal is the one everyone has, to be able to turn on the TV and (presumably) another box and browse whatever's on.

I do realize that without a constant supply of content such as from cable or sat, some planning or after-the-fact content procurement is required.

However, I'm willing to give up the luxury of traditional "live" programing if enough recent content has been downloaded/is available streamed etc.

BTW this is for non-local, ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS content. I'd prefer to snag that OTA.

[Article Accelerator]

I have OTA and Apple TV. I live in an area blessed with excellent OTA DTV coverage (25 channels!). Apple TV is doing a great job of filling in the gaps and I'm confident it will do even better in the future.

Apple TV provides direct access to an amazing amount of worthwhile free programming via podcasts (including HD) and Youtube's searchability is a boon to finding material difficult to obtain by other means. Add TV and movie purchases and rentals from the iTS and my TV needs are more than satisfied.

Some podcasts I like:

TED Talks
Cool Hunting Video
The Hour with George Strombolopoulos
Hidden Universe HD
DiveFilm HD
Rome HD
washingtonpost HD
Terra
Sotheby's Private View
TGRtv (HD)

[deckeda]

Thanks, I'll looks a closer at the iTS as well.

[Kramerica]

I always have alot of stuff to watch on the Apple TV as well, especially with the ability to browse video podcasts. There are even "podcasts" that are more like channels- they show old black and white movies, cartoons, etc, but I mostly end up watching tech stuff. Some nice HD nature podcasts too. I download the free tv shows from iTunes every week so I have gigs of (usually new) shows to try out.

The new NetFlix streaming box is another option, but requires you have at least a $9/mo. subscription and gives you unlimited on-demand access to a bunch of movies and tv series. There is a list available online of everything that can be watched with the service. When I looked at the list, I thought it was the tv shows that were the most attractive thing on it. Haven't seen this in action yet.

[deckeda]

I'm downloading the 9 free Sesame Street episodes Chupa mentioned http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/501...msg-502059 right now. Think my 1.5Mbps DSL could use an upgrade ("remaining time: hours and hours)

I get the feeling that some of you have supplanted your "regular" viewing with the various podcasts/YouTube offerings an Internet-based supply offers.

That's fine, and perhaps more enjoyable that "normal" TV shows, but I think what I'm gonna need to convince the wife to drop cable is a ready supply of Bravo, Food Network and HGTV -type of offerings. Maybe that'll clarify a bit what I'm up against?

I see some of that at iTS. But it seems a more practical way --- instead of going cold turkey --- might be to acquire an AppleTV or set back up again the computer for Front Row and slowly start to merge some of that until such time as availability and habits can be changed ...

[Article Accelerator]

[quote deckeda]Think my 1.5Mbps DSL could use an upgrade ("remaining time: hours and hours)
Yes, that's one thing about this new setup--a fast Internet connection is a big help. I have a 10 Mbps connection here.

I think what I'm gonna need to convince the wife to drop cable is a ready supply of Bravo, Food Network and HGTV -type of offerings. Maybe that'll clarify a bit what I'm up against?

Gotcha. There are a fair number of those available in the Podcast section. I hope you can find what you want. BTW, Apple TV lets you maintain a collection of favorites.

But it seems a more practical way --- instead of going cold turkey --- might be to acquire an AppleTV or set back up again the computer for Front Row and slowly start to merge some of that until such time as availability and habits can be changed ...

Sounds like a good plan.

[bazookaman]

I just download the torrents of the shows we used to watch than load them onto my "movies" hard drive and watch through my eyehome.

[deckeda]

From exactly where? How much time do you spend hunting them down? These are the specifics I was referring to, because without some reliable convenience it's not a viable alternative.

[bhaveshp]

If you download the Mac Application TVShows, you can simply 'subscribe' to your TV shows with a single checkmark on its list of shows. A background daemon automatically downloads each TV show using your default bitorrent client the day after it airs.

This automates downloading TV shows so completely that it is really simple, convenient and reliable.

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/04/16/tv-shows-...nt-finder/

[vicrock]

Miro does the same thing - and you can find RSS feeds for most shows at http://www.tvrss.net/shows/

A few weeks ago someone posted about a gadget called Popcorn Hour that looked very interesting.
www.popcornhour.com/