My Free High Definition TV 2009

Original Post 3/28/2009

I have more gorgeous high definition TV than I can handle and it is all FREE!

I joined the digital TV revolution a couple years ago. I have an antenna in the attic to get broadcast HDTV. I connected a laptop with dedicated graphics to my HDTV and use Vista as a TIVO. I have a second PC on a "G" network.

It all works better than you would think from reading on the internet. Why? Everything I have is under powered compared to conventional wisdom

• Wireless G? Video transfer should be over hard wire or at least "N"
• 1.6 GHz Core Duo Laptop? I see new Quad Cores listed at "great for media center" Recording HDTV hardly touches the CPU. Playback is a minor load as long as you have dedicated video.
• Second PC has 2 year old integrated graphics.
• My primary storage is USB2.0 Hard Drive not 1394 or eSata.

What can I do with this setup?

1. I can record two broadcast shows at once while watching a third.
   
2. I select shows TIVO-like with the Vista Home Premium Media Center guide.
   
3. I can rent online movies from anyone. iTunes, Amazon etc.
4. I can watch a lot of cable TV on demand from Hulu.com
   
5. Roughly half of digital TV is SD for standard definition. I can watch this on the second PC with lame graphics and "G" network.

Since I am so underpowered, here are the limitations.

1. On my TV, when skip around in a HD video it can take a few seconds to catch up with full synced video and sound.
2. On my second PC AND over the "G" network. Recorded HD content is unusable. SD content works pretty good unless there is interference such as the microwave.
3. On my TV, over the "G" network. Hulu will half to re-fill buffer maybe every 30 minutes or so. Hulu HD content runs out and has to re-fill buffer maybe every 10 minutes. Too often! None if this is an issue on the lower powered but hardwired PC.

All in all, it has been a pleasant suprise. The limitations would be maddening to enthusiasts, but are not a big deal for me. I could have spent twice as much and not see a significant difference. Free online TV rocks if you do not have pay TV.

This post is sort of a rock. If anyone comments with questions I will expand this with Hardware details, setup frustrations and future plans. I just want to make sure someone is interested before I spend more time on it.

A Prisoner's Dilemma

Confession. I love business news. When I had cable, I watched a lot of CNBC. I would also watch CNBC when I am at the gym on a treadmill. I would sometimes work until 6:30PM so that I could listen to NPR's MarketPlace on the drive home. My iPod is about half filled with financial podcasts that I listen to as I commute. So, I like business news. However, I am reaching saturation. Since I have fewer coworkers I often find myself eating my lunch by myself in the cafeteria watching CNN. Well, the Financial Crisis has totally replaced the war in Iraq as the thing to talk about. Often my lunch is 100% business news. Please, make it stop.

When the topic comes to personal finance a version of the Prisoner's Dilemma pops up. If you recall this from game theory... Two prisoners are faced with a dilemma. If neither talks, they both get off easy. If one rats out the other the 'rat' goes free but the other guy goes to jail for a long time. For your average criminal they can't rat on their 'friend' fast enough.

The version being circulated by the financial media is:
The economy would do fine if everyone stayed the course and went out to eat, bought cars and generally kept up their standard of living. However on a personal level I keep hearing advice to 'act as if you were laid off now' and cut the cable service or sell the car now, others say that since the market has dropped you must increase your savings from 10% to 20% of income.

I gaurantee if everyone decided to suddenly cut expenses to the bone and save 20% of income that the recession would become much worse. That is if everyone perfectly executed the plan that is best for them, we would all sink together rather quickly. Fortunately, in this dilemma we can count on the general laziness of the public to NOT cut expenses to the bone so this worst case scenario will probably not happen.