I have been amazed over the last 6 months how quickly the Networks have embraced the internet for delivering content. I give them a thumbs up for this. I have always said the best way to protect against people stealing the content is to brand it and make it easily accessible. I believe the more you make quality material available, the less apt people will be to spend time on virus ridden sites downloading bit torrents of music and videos. Coming from a guy who consistently ran out of disk space, there are only so many 2 terabyte drives you can put on your desk before people start asking questions and you can’t control the heat in your house.
You can stream full episodes of shows, some in High Definition, right from the networks website. Also sites like Hulu , Sling Media , Veoh , are a portal to all of the network sites for all types of content. From old shows like the A-Team, the Fall Guy, and Family Ties, to the latest episode of 24. If you missed it, then stream it. They even have full length movies available for legal streaming for free. Not too mention all the content on YouTube, Viddler, and so on …
Another very cool product is streaming from Netflix. Most people who currently have a Netflix account can stream unlimited movies from Netflix to their computer or even to their TV. Companies like LG Electronics and Samsung even make BluRay players that stream directly from your Netflix account.
Technology innovations and adaptations since I was a child have truly amazed me. The way technology has influenced society without it’s knowledge or permission never ceases to surprise me. My mom used to say ‘what in the world is TiVo‘. Now TiVo is a verb, soon to be in the Webster’s dictionary.
In college, we were taught Moore’s law , which states the number of transistors on a chip will double about every two years. Simply stated computer power will double every two years. Most did not believe that was sustainable. But most were proven wrong.
I can’t wait to see how my children look at technology when they are my age.
Let me know your thoughts? How many of you are using Streaming websites? Which sites are you using?
Photo by jackace
I do not subscribe to cable or satellite TV. Heck my DTV antenna stopped working months ago and I haven’t bought a replacement yet (although I should, the HD quality here in the city is great). I agree that streaming is the future of television.
We need more set-top boxes that integrate with all the popular streaming services. The roku one is a great example as it combines amazon & netflix into an easy to use box that’s plug and play. I personally use Vista media center to record tv (when my DTV antenna works), watch downloaded video, stream netflix, play music, etc. It also makes a sweet living room pc on my 52″ Samsung 1080p.
Internet streams and downloads make entertainment empowering–it’s about what you want to watch, not just what happens to be on at the time you turn on the tv. I can’t imagine having it any other way. I love technology.