Allen WeinerThanks to some reliable technology, I am finally prepared to embark on my TV 2.0 project. After five years of faithful service, our Pioneer HDTV landed us a rebate of $350 from the original warranty we purchased with the set. The store gave us until the end of February to use the credit against any purchase in the store. Several trips later and after countless annoying questions to a number of heavily commissioned sales folks, we purchase a Sharp 32-inch LCD TV that cost a grand total of $185 after rebate. It is my hope to never connect the set to either cable, telco IPTV or satellite. No, it is not my goal to turn this LCD screen into a large paperweight, it is an experiment to imagine a world in which a consumer can select among programming services that don’t require a cable or telco service provider. My experiment will take place in our living room which currently is devoid of any sort of TV.
I already have a host of boxes and gadgets to attach to the TV including an Apple TV, an old Xbox (which is on the install bubble as it’s a little too first generation), a Neulion OTT box (powered by wireless internet), a DVD player, an OTA HD antenna; our XM radio (note to self: make it easy to unplug); an old VCR recorder and one of my PCs (the TV has an easy to locate “monitor-in” port). I do have a ZeeVee box, but have not been able to install it as of yet. As I find new gadgets and boxes, I will report on whether they take me one step closer to calling my cable provider to proclaim, “take this box and…”
Stay tuned.
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Category: Television Video broadcasting regulatory Tags: cable, HDTV, IPTV, LCD, Neulion, satellite TV, Sharp, XM, ZeeVee
