Comments on: The Future of TV http://www.dchomesystems.com/blog/the-future-of-tv/ Staying Connected with Technology and You Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:56:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: KLotto http://www.dchomesystems.com/blog/the-future-of-tv/comment-page-1/#comment-16 KLotto Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:26:38 +0000 http://www.dchomesystems.com/blog/?p=121#comment-16 More and more services are being created by clever companies that allow exactly what you are looking for. Netflix, as you referenced, has been doing it for quite awhile. They'll give you suggestions based on what you have watched before. However, the catalog of movies they have available to watch over the internet is not the best available. Not surprising since it is a free part of their service. It is also not the best resolution available. Sites that allows you to purchase or rent movies over the internet offer the most selection, best resolution, and best interface (you get what you pay for). Examples of this are sites like Amazon's Video on Demand (http://www.amazon.com/Video-On-Demand/b/ref=topnav_storetab_atv?ie=UTF8&node=16261631). You can rent or purchase movies and watch them on your PC or on a device that offers the service, such as a Blu-Ray player. VUDU (www.vudu.com) is another service that offers higher resolution and better selection. This service does not work on your PC however. You must purchase their device and hook it to your TV, or purchase a Blu-Ray player that has the service built in. The question remains: Which one is the best? Well, it depends on personal preference. I haven't experienced them all myself.... yet. If anyone has experience with any of these services, or has another service I didn't mention, please leave a comment so everyone can get a sense of what the pros & cons are of each. At DC Home Systems, we also typically have at least one of these devices in our shop being assembled for a client. Give us a call (800-649-3228) or send me an email (klotto@dchomesystems.com) to set up a demo. More and more services are being created by clever companies that allow exactly what you are looking for. Netflix, as you referenced, has been doing it for quite awhile. They’ll give you suggestions based on what you have watched before. However, the catalog of movies they have available to watch over the internet is not the best available. Not surprising since it is a free part of their service. It is also not the best resolution available.
Sites that allows you to purchase or rent movies over the internet offer the most selection, best resolution, and best interface (you get what you pay for). Examples of this are sites like Amazon’s Video on Demand (http://www.amazon.com/Video-On-Demand/b/ref=topnav_storetab_atv?ie=UTF8&node=16261631). You can rent or purchase movies and watch them on your PC or on a device that offers the service, such as a Blu-Ray player.
VUDU (www.vudu.com) is another service that offers higher resolution and better selection. This service does not work on your PC however. You must purchase their device and hook it to your TV, or purchase a Blu-Ray player that has the service built in.
The question remains: Which one is the best? Well, it depends on personal preference. I haven’t experienced them all myself…. yet. If anyone has experience with any of these services, or has another service I didn’t mention, please leave a comment so everyone can get a sense of what the pros & cons are of each.
At DC Home Systems, we also typically have at least one of these devices in our shop being assembled for a client. Give us a call (800-649-3228) or send me an email (klotto@dchomesystems.com) to set up a demo.

]]> By: tinagleisner http://www.dchomesystems.com/blog/the-future-of-tv/comment-page-1/#comment-15 tinagleisner Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:26:10 +0000 http://www.dchomesystems.com/blog/?p=121#comment-15 You are so right that I remain baffled by all the boxes, remote controls, etc around our living room TV. I rarely sit just to watch television and more often, I'll pick up a good book given the dismal programming choices today. A friend showed us their Blu-Ray with Netflix setup and I get it. Not sure I'm ready to invest in Blu-Ray until there is an easier way to monitor movies, build a list of those I'd like to watch ... and then when I want to relax, I can simply scan the list, select a movie and download for immediate viewing. Like Amazon telling us, people who bought book A also bought B, C and D. We need this type of interest profiling to make TV worth watching again. Wait, that's really movies as there isn't one TV program that I wait to watch, except for the Olympics and figure skating. You are so right that I remain baffled by all the boxes, remote controls, etc around our living room TV. I rarely sit just to watch television and more often, I’ll pick up a good book given the dismal programming choices today. A friend showed us their Blu-Ray with Netflix setup and I get it.

Not sure I’m ready to invest in Blu-Ray until there is an easier way to monitor movies, build a list of those I’d like to watch … and then when I want to relax, I can simply scan the list, select a movie and download for immediate viewing. Like Amazon telling us, people who bought book A also bought B, C and D. We need this type of interest profiling to make TV worth watching again. Wait, that’s really movies as there isn’t one TV program that I wait to watch, except for the Olympics and figure skating.

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