Which way do you prefer or "Have it your way."

[Iggy]

"We just watch DVDs on our XBOX360"?
Then you are kind of watching TV.
Its splitting hairs.
And I still value news access.
Primarily because no matter how biased broadcast journalism is, the internet is uniformly worse.

I don't watch TV, but I have a monitor.
Sorry, that just sounds dumb.

[Mrs Beanbag]

The downside to television is that its quantity of programming pales in comparison to the Internet, even if you have 1,000 channels that a drop in the buck compared to video programming on the Internet.  It also makes it easier for people to provide video content.

These are both upsides of television.

[Mrs Beanbag]

"We just watch DVDs on our XBOX360"?
Then you are kind of watching TV.
Its splitting hairs.
And I still value news access.
Primarily because no matter how biased broadcast journalism is, the internet is uniformly worse.

I don't watch TV, but I have a monitor.
Sorry, that just sounds dumb.

Yeah I watch TV shows I guess (but not broadcast live so I don't need a TV license). I never said I didn't watch TV, I said we don't have a TV. Although lately we've been mostly watching Tom and Jerry, which is what the BBC customarily puts on when the schedule is cancelled at short notice.

[commodorejohn]

The downside to television is that its quantity of programming pales in comparison to the Internet, even if you have 1,000 channels that a drop in the buck compared to video programming on the Internet.  It also makes it easier for people to provide video content.

Quantity, sure - but good luck finding any broadcast-quality content outside subscription services.

Except this guy. I would watch this guy on TV religiously.

[ChaosLord]

Now I've gone and bought a Cherry G80 mechanical keyboard though. CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK!

Install padding or O-rings and it will get much quieter.  You can get thick 40A O-rings from WASDkeyboards.com

And if you want it to be really really quiet you can lube the switches too; that will quiet the upstroke quite a bit.

[Psy]

These are both upsides of television.

How so, everything on TV has to be green lighted by a programming executive then on top of that it has to pass government regulations (i.e the FCC), while there is zero regulations limiting content on the Internet and producers have no one to convince to get their show on the Internet.  

Also the audience on the Internet is vastly larger, for example the recent My Little Pony phenomenon was only possible due to episodes being streamed on the Internet where Internet stream of My Little Pony draws many times the viewers then the Hub (the TV network that airs My Little Pony).   This is also not a fluke the same is true for HBO's Game of Thrones where most fans of the show don't even have HBO.

[psxphill]

How so, everything on TV has to be green lighted by a programming executive then on top of that it has to pass government regulations (i.e the FCC), while there is zero regulations limiting content on the Internet and producers have no one to convince to get their show on the Internet.

I think in the majority of cases TV wins that point. Most people don't have the time or motivation to sift through the dregs of the internet to track down programmes, while TV has less better quality programmes that are easier to find. The internet makes it much harder to have water cooler moments.
 

Also the audience on the Internet is vastly larger, for example the recent My Little Pony phenomenon was only possible due to episodes being streamed on the Internet where Internet stream of My Little Pony draws many times the viewers then the Hub (the TV network that airs My Little Pony). This is also not a fluke the same is true for HBO's Game of Thrones where most fans of the show don't even have HBO.

Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV show, that is another win for TV. Just that you're using the internet for an illegal method of receiving it.
 
TV programmes that are legitimately streamed by the TV channel don't count as internet programmes as most wouldn't likely exist without TV money in the first place.
 
There are a few instances of webisodes that have been good, if they are promotional material for TV programmes that used TV money to produce then again they wouldn't exist without the TV studio system.
 
I can also see that a cancelled TV show may be able to have a further life as an internet only show, but again without the audience base of the original TV show it wouldn't happen.
 
And yes this does all mean that sometimes there will be great programmes that never make it to air or programmes you enjoy that get cancelled. But overall TV is the best compromise for the majority of people. The surge of people watching TV online has been due to young people who are comfortable with technology and have a lot of time, however it will be interesting to see how that develops as they become older.

[Mrs Beanbag]

I think in the majority of cases TV wins that point. Most people don't have the time or motivation to sift through the dregs of the internet to track down programmes, while TV has less better quality programmes that are easier to find.

Exactly. I don't want to watch any old junk by Joe Nobody. I'd rather watch well-produced stuff with professional acting. Mostly I only watch films, and the occasional classic TV series. Currently going through a Buck Rogers box set in between the Tom and Jerry.

The internet makes it much harder to have water cooler moments.

Yeah but then you have to watch crap like Big Brother, soaps and talent shows, and all that celebrity rubbish. Well, depending where you work anyway.

The absolute worst thing about TV in my opinion is the advertisements. This is really putting me off YouTube lately as well.

[Psy]

I think in the majority of cases TV wins that point. Most people don't have the time or motivation to sift through the dregs of the internet to track down programmes, while TV has less better quality programmes that are easier to find. The internet makes it much harder to have water cooler moments.
 
Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV show, that is another win for TV. Just that you're using the internet for an illegal method of receiving it.
 
TV programmes that are legitimately streamed by the TV channel don't count as internet programmes as most wouldn't likely exist without TV money in the first place.
 
There are a few instances of webisodes that have been good, if they are promotional material for TV programmes that used TV money to produce then again they wouldn't exist without the TV studio system.
 
I can also see that a cancelled TV show may be able to have a further life as an internet only show, but again without the audience base of the original TV show it wouldn't happen.
 
And yes this does all mean that sometimes there will be great programmes that never make it to air or programmes you enjoy that get cancelled. But overall TV is the best compromise for the majority of people. The surge of people watching TV online has been due to young people who are comfortable with technology and have a lot of time, however it will be interesting to see how that develops as they become older.

Take the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic popularity, its success has nothing to do with it being on the Hub, its popularity exploded because it became a Internet meme and was available on the Internet thus it was easier for Internet users to give the show a try as they were more likely to get curious and it was easier to view on the Internet then going through the trouble of watching it on the Hub on their TV.

This also show a huge stumbling block to TV, you have to pay extra for most TV stations, while services like Netflix is much cost effective as you pay less money for more content even ignoring the ability to watch it for free.

[Mrs Beanbag]

You know what I don't actually care how popular My Little Pony is, but if it's only popular because of hives of self-reference and in-jokes such as 4Chan and Reddit it would be no loss to humanity if no-one had heard of it.

I'd rather only pay for the content I actually wanted to watch. The problem with a subscription is you'd be tempted to try to "get your money's worth" and spend hours every day glued to the box, or have the TV on the whole time even when you're not watching it like some people do and you get so used to it that you can't do without. Which is also a disadvantage of streaming media. You can get addicted to it. I don't see the appeal of "more, more, more entertainment!" I treat myself to a 2nd-hand DVD once a week and I watch that and that's it. Even the inconvenience of having to go to a shop and pay for it with money makes life a fuller, more satisfying experience.

[commodorejohn]

The absolute worst thing about TV in my opinion is the advertisements. This is really putting me off YouTube lately as well.

No kidding. The more ads show up on YouTube, the less I bother even going there.

You know what I don't actually care how  popular My Little Pony is, but if it's only popular because of hives of  self-reference and in-jokes such as 4Chan and Reddit it would be no loss  to humanity if no-one had heard of it.

Heh By many accounts it actually is pretty good for a kids' show, but there's no denying that the Internet hype machine has far overblown its actual merits...

I'd rather only pay for the content I actually wanted to watch. The  problem with a subscription is you'd be tempted to try to "get your  money's worth" and spend hours every day glued to the box, or have the  TV on the whole time even when you're not watching it like some people  do and you get so used to it that you can't do without. Which is also a  disadvantage of streaming media. You can get addicted to it. I don't see  the appeal of "more, more, more entertainment!" I treat myself to a  2nd-hand DVD once a week and I watch that and that's it. Even the  inconvenience of having to go to a shop and pay for it with money makes  life a fuller, more satisfying experience.

Right on. I've found it pretty liberating to not think that I have to be watching something in my free time.

(And huzzah for second-hand buys! I've got a stack of great stuff from different thrift stores that cost me a fraction of what I would've paid to get them new...)