{"id":399,"date":"2012-03-18T16:11:10","date_gmt":"2012-03-18T20:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/?p=399"},"modified":"2012-03-18T16:11:10","modified_gmt":"2012-03-18T20:11:10","slug":"how-to-live-without-cable-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/how-to-live-without-cable-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"How to live without cable TV"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 101px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/company\/boxee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-img-inserted\" title=\"Image representing Boxee as depicted in CrunchBase\" src=\"http:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/assets\/images\/resized\/0002\/1033\/21033v1-max-450x450.jpg\" alt=\"Image representing Boxee as depicted in CrunchBase\" width=\"101\" height=\"114\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image via CrunchBase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After years without\u00a0<a title=\"A TV\" href=\"http:\/\/atvindia.com\/\" rel=\"homepage noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a TV<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0<a title=\"Vienna\" href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?ll=48.2088888889,16.3725&amp;spn=0.1,0.1&amp;q=48.2088888889,16.3725%20(Vienna)&amp;t=h\" rel=\"geolocation noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vienna<\/a>, we ended up receiving one as a gift after moving to\u00a0<a title=\"Toronto\" href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?ll=43.7165888889,-79.3406861111&amp;spn=0.1,0.1&amp;q=43.7165888889,-79.3406861111%20(Toronto)&amp;t=h\" rel=\"geolocation noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto<\/a>. Since we did not really miss a TV, it stayed in its box for a while. What made us not miss a TV at all?\u00a0<strong>Our entertainment \/ information consumption habits had completely changed!<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It started at University in\u00a0<a title=\"England\" href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?ll=51.5,-0.116666666667&amp;spn=10.0,10.0&amp;q=51.5,-0.116666666667%20(England)&amp;t=h\" rel=\"geolocation noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England<\/a>: Besides high\u00a0<a title=\"Television licence\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Television_licence\" rel=\"wikipedia noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TV licence<\/a>\u00a0fees, we did not even think about getting a shared TV for our flat, as there was just so much else to do on campus for entertainment. The news we collected online anyway already. For\u00a0<a title=\"Film\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Film\" rel=\"wikipedia noopener\" target=\"_blank\">movies<\/a>\u00a0and shows there was already the\u00a0<a title=\"ITunes Store\" href=\"http:\/\/itunes.com\/\" rel=\"homepage noopener\" target=\"_blank\">itunes store<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Back in\u00a0<a title=\"Austria\" href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?ll=48.2,16.35&amp;spn=10.0,10.0&amp;q=48.2,16.35%20(Austria)&amp;t=h\" rel=\"geolocation noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Austria<\/a>, moving in with Jane, I brought my old TV to our apartment (just because I considered it part of my furniture) and removed it again after a week.<\/li>\n<li>We still watched\u00a0<a title=\"Television program\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Television_program\" rel=\"wikipedia noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TV shows<\/a>\u00a0and movies on itunes every now and then. But owning a physical TV device with a cable \/ satellite connection did no add any value for us, as the &#8220;live&#8221; factor did not matter to us (we dont watch sports).<\/li>\n<li>It made us go outside and meet people, read books, etc, as there wasn&#8217;t the convenience of just pressing a button and sit on the couch any longer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure style=\"width: 240px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/83542829@N00\/5243819834\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured\" title=\"Boxee Box and Remote\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5124\/5243819834_31b267fb91_m.jpg\" alt=\"Boxee Box and Remote\" width=\"240\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boxee Box and Remote (Photo credit: William Hook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So here we are, having a huge TV, we got as a gift. We needed to work something out. Looking into streaming solutions, as we hate the TV cable companies here, brought us to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.boxee.tv\/\">boxee.tv<\/a>\u00a0about a year ago. And we are happy with it, we hardly see any ads, watch tv shows and movies whenever we want and got access to lots of alternative \/ independent libraries. First we were scared that his convenience will get us to watch more TV again, but we were wrong. We still can&#8217;t just go to a channel and let it flow. And I think that is what makes us watch less TV.\u00a0<strong>What are your thoughts?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you are planning to get a boxee.tv, make sure you have a real unlimited internet plan. Also they have a stick now that will give you\u00a0<a title=\"Live television\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Live_television\" rel=\"wikipedia noopener\" target=\"_blank\">live TV<\/a>\u00a0in case you want it (just a few channels). I like about the boxee that they are improving it constantly, the user interface improved very much in the last year and I am sure that buying a boxee was a good investment. Let me know if you have questions about available content in Toronto.<\/p>\n<h6>Related articles<\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/stevengradidge.com\/2011\/12\/20\/the-value-of-a-tv-licence-is-obsolete\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Value Of a TV Licence Is Obsolete<\/a>\u00a0(stevengradidge.com)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eoghann.com\/2012\/02\/the-argument-for-cord-cutting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Argument For Cord Cutting<\/a>\u00a0(eoghann.com)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/5886860\/is-watching-tv-over-the-airwaves-making-a-comeback\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Is Watching TV Over the Airwaves Making a Comeback? [Television]<\/a>\u00a0(gizmodo.com)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thenextweb.com\/gadgets\/2012\/01\/25\/how-i-spent-last-night-playing-with-my-boxee-live-tv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How I spent last night playing with my Boxee Live TV<\/a>\u00a0(thenextweb.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" title=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zemanta.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" style=\"border: none; float: right;\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/zemified_e.png?x-id=f1d8c8ea-d95e-484d-bee9-470e1b3868ef\" alt=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After years without\u00a0a TV\u00a0in\u00a0Vienna, we ended up receiving one as a gift after moving to\u00a0Toronto. Since we did not really miss a TV, it stayed in its box for a while. What made us not miss a TV at all?\u00a0Our entertainment \/ information consumption habits had completely changed! It started at University in\u00a0England: Besides high\u00a0TV [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[22,24,33,70,71,74,75,84],"class_list":["post-399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada-2","category-rehabit-me","tag-austria","tag-boxee","tag-england","tag-television","tag-television-program","tag-toronto","tag-tv","tag-vienna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}