4 ms·

I'm not sure I would agree that iOS is MUCH easier than cable. I have a 50" TV connected to a cable box accessible with a remote... that is pretty easy AND a pr

I'm not sure I would agree that iOS is MUCH easier than cable. I have a 50" TV connected to a cable box accessible with a remote... that is pretty easy AND a pretty good viewing experience (even with some of the crappy UI in the cable box). I'm not sure what set up I would need to have in order have a comparable viewing experience using our iPad but I have a hard time believing that it would be MUCH easier (or even easier at all). To me that sounds harder and less likely to be as enjoyable. But I suppose it would probably be cheaper. So I guess different strokes for different folks.

rictic 14y ago
I'll give you an example. A friend was over a few days ago and wanted to watch a particular episode of Community. One quick google search and we found the name of the episode. One quick search on iTunes, a couple clicks and it's downloading. A moment later and iTunes suggests that we can start watching immediately while it finishes downloading. No worrying about when it shows, or if I'd remembered to set something to record it or even managing local storage. Also, once you've bought a tv show it looks like iTunes now lets you redownload it whenever you want. There's still some work to be done to bridge that experience onto the TV smoothly, but the experience is already much better than any cable experience for me.
- hackinthebochs 14y ago
  When you factor in "on demand" services that most cable providers offer these days, does it still seem easier?
- jack-r-abbit 14y ago
  > There's still some work to be done to bridge that experience onto the TV smoothly Could you expand on that? The iPad is my wife's not mine so I personally have not used iTunes for at least 5 years. Can you get the experience on the TV, just not smoothly? or are you watching it on your iPad?
gte910h 14y ago
You're looking at this: http://www.apple.com/appletv/ http://www.apple.com/appletv/ You click your ipad, click the video, click the little arrow going into a box, and blam, on screen Or you use the apple TV remote to select any movie or tv show in your library that you've purchased, and it will play it streaming. $99 and a HDMI cable.
- jack-r-abbit 14y ago
  Interesting. So would that be one AppleTV for each of my 4 TVs? How does that work when you have people in different rooms wanting to watch stuff? Does AppleTV have my local news available in real time?
  - gte910h 14y ago
    > So would that be one AppleTV for each of my 4 TVs? Yes, 1/tv. > How does that work when you have people in different rooms wanting to watch stuff? Works fine. > Does AppleTV have my local news available in real time? Not that I see (I read my news due to TV news being overly edited and selective), but your digital TV jack does, and it will look better than the compressed version does that goes through your cable box. Antenna costs $11. Roku, a similar product (does everything the Apple one does except Airplay and iTunes Store), http://www.roku.com/ http://www.roku.com/ DOES have local news. Another way to get video news: you could take any iOS device and download one of the apps that has local news channels/radio and use the airplay functionality to stream it to the TV from the device. Here is mine, for instance: http://www.11alive.com/news/mobile/default.aspx http://www.11alive.com/news/mobile/default.aspx If I had it installed that was.
    - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
      Thanks for the info. So the "$99 + HDMI Cable" just became ("$99 + HDMI Cable")x4. And then I'll need an antenna (maybe 4 ? Is this roof mounted or behind the TV?) to get my news. So now it's not so easy. Also, we have a GoogleTV box so I understand the usefulness of a streaming appliance. But it doesn't replace cable. And it doesn't do iTunes but neither do I so I'm cool with that.

rictic 14y ago

I'll give you an example. A friend was over a few days ago and wanted to watch a particular episode of Community. One quick google search and we found the name of the episode. One quick search on iTunes, a couple clicks and it's downloading. A moment later and iTunes suggests that we can start watching immediately while it finishes downloading. No worrying about when it shows, or if I'd remembered to set something to record it or even managing local storage. Also, once you've bought a tv show it looks like iTunes now lets you redownload it whenever you want. There's still some work to be done to bridge that experience onto the TV smoothly, but the experience is already much better than any cable experience for me.

hackinthebochs 14y ago
When you factor in "on demand" services that most cable providers offer these days, does it still seem easier?
jack-r-abbit 14y ago
> There's still some work to be done to bridge that experience onto the TV smoothly Could you expand on that? The iPad is my wife's not mine so I personally have not used iTunes for at least 5 years. Can you get the experience on the TV, just not smoothly? or are you watching it on your iPad?

gte910h 14y ago

You're looking at this: http://www.apple.com/appletv/ http://www.apple.com/appletv/ You click your ipad, click the video, click the little arrow going into a box, and blam, on screen Or you use the apple TV remote to select any movie or tv show in your library that you've purchased, and it will play it streaming. $99 and a HDMI cable.

jack-r-abbit 14y ago
Interesting. So would that be one AppleTV for each of my 4 TVs? How does that work when you have people in different rooms wanting to watch stuff? Does AppleTV have my local news available in real time?
- gte910h 14y ago
  > So would that be one AppleTV for each of my 4 TVs? Yes, 1/tv. > How does that work when you have people in different rooms wanting to watch stuff? Works fine. > Does AppleTV have my local news available in real time? Not that I see (I read my news due to TV news being overly edited and selective), but your digital TV jack does, and it will look better than the compressed version does that goes through your cable box. Antenna costs $11. Roku, a similar product (does everything the Apple one does except Airplay and iTunes Store), http://www.roku.com/ http://www.roku.com/ DOES have local news. Another way to get video news: you could take any iOS device and download one of the apps that has local news channels/radio and use the airplay functionality to stream it to the TV from the device. Here is mine, for instance: http://www.11alive.com/news/mobile/default.aspx http://www.11alive.com/news/mobile/default.aspx If I had it installed that was.
  - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
    Thanks for the info. So the "$99 + HDMI Cable" just became ("$99 + HDMI Cable")x4. And then I'll need an antenna (maybe 4 ? Is this roof mounted or behind the TV?) to get my news. So now it's not so easy. Also, we have a GoogleTV box so I understand the usefulness of a streaming appliance. But it doesn't replace cable. And it doesn't do iTunes but neither do I so I'm cool with that.