(With apologies to TVOTR, of course.)
Em and I don’t have a cable or satellite TV feed. We get a few fuzzy channels using an old-school set of rabbit ears, and we get films and TV shows on DVD via Netflix. Since we don’t spend much time in front of the tube, that combination has always provided more than enough video content. But lately, we’ve been watching more and more video over the internet - whether downloaded or streamed in real time. Google says it can’t scale, and Mark Cuban agrees, and it’s pretty obvious that the current infrastructure couldn’t handle hi-def streaming video to large numbers of users. But for now, coming from the extremely low-def world of someone who watches very little broadcast TV on our ancient and puny (by today’s 42-inches-and-up, plasma/LCD/DLP, thin/flat, hi-def, surround-sound standards), I’m pretty impressed by how much great video content is already out there for the watching.
First of all, there’s Joost. It really is the closest thing I’ve experienced watching TV over the internet. You obviously don’t have the access to most of the *channels* that a cable or satellite subscriber would have access to, but the overall user experience is much closer to traditional TV than you might expect. I’ve been a beta user since they were The Venice Project, and in its latest incarnation it’s really quite impressive. You have to apply to be in the beta program, and wait for a chance to get in, but I think it’s worth the wait. If you really want in (and are running Windows or an Intel-powered Mac), and can’t get into the beta program (or just can’t wait), then hit me up via e-mail. I’ve got a couple of invites I can pass along - first come, first served.
Then, for the non-streaming set, there’s Democracy. It can be used as a player for almost any video files you’ve got on your system, but its real strength lies in its ability to subscribe to video feeds, download them in the background, and let you watch them later. It’s got a huge channel guide built right in, but can be used to subscribe to just about any feed out there. It’s available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, so that means pretty much everyone. And while there are a number of programs out there that do some (all?) of what Democracy does, Democracy is developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization with noble goals. Add to that the fact that it’s free, open-source, and based on open standards, and it really stands out from the pack as the video feed-catcher/player to beat right now.
I’m composing this post in seat 9D, on a flight from San Diego, CA (was down there for a conference) to Portland, OR (heading up there for a 3-day training class. The conference was pretty good, as conferences go. As an added bonus, I got to spend Monday night at SeaWorld San Diego, playing with Atlantic and Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, and watching the new Shamu show called “Believe”. A colleague was nice enough to take my picture, so now I’ve got a (somewhat overexposed) photo of me touching a dolphin’s melon.