This week's "I, Cringely" talks about TiVo and how it's changing television. His conclusion: More reality TV shows because they're cheap to make.
AAAARRGGHHH!!! I think if that happens I'll rip my satellite dish out of the wall and stick to DVDs.
Went out to dinner with Cringely on Friday night (picture the scene - Cringely, Heather and myself at a small french restaurant in Cheltenham - you can imagine the grilling he got from Heather about the name-change thing ;-). The night was mostly uneventful. The most interesting comment of the whole Cringely visit was that Palladium and TCPA or whatever it's called today is all about entrenchment - the computer manufacturers want to become irreplacible, and TCPA gives them irreplacibility. The other side of that is that TCPA doesn't benefit the consumer one tiny little bit. Scary thought.
Why wait?I think if that happens I'll rip my satellite dish out of the wall and stick to DVDs.
Broadcast TV (and cable for that matter) is primarily a vehicle for transmitting news (stock up on bread and milk -- there's a snow storm coming; a senior Al Qaeda planner has been arrested), watching sports (GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!), and previewing original productions that you want to view on DVD.
(The Simsons on DVD is simply fantastic -- the color and clarity is stunningly gorgeous.)
Re:The Vast Wasteland
Matts on 2003-03-31T16:43:09
Why wait?
No more "Top Gear". No more instant-on pr0n;-) Re:The Vast Wasteland
jdavidb on 2003-03-31T18:36:31
I am all for the TV-on-DVD revolution, but as far as I know, my shows aren't there yet. My list includes Smallville, the District, and Gilmore Girls. For the time being I am actually attempting to completely tape two of those series. I was doing the same for Sailor Moon before I found it on DVD and was awakened to the possibilities.
It's so nice to be able to pop in a show to watch in the evenings when there is nothing on anymore (all my favorite syndicated shows are gone and the 6 to 9 timeframe is a wasteland), plus skip the commercials.
As for news, I get that on the Internet, and as for sports, I never care unless it's the Olympics. Keeping news.google.com and the Drudge report up in Phoenix tabs probably makes me one of the most informed people in this city.
