Wednesday, October 21, 2009

How Do You Watch TV?

It has been awhile since I have posted something to Sports Smusings but I think it is about time that I relieve some of the burden from The Hat. So here it goes.

I have never believed that the Internet or mobile devices would replace sitting in front of a television set during prime time. I still don't because the quality is just far superior on TV. May be one day that will change but I will either be dead or some grumpy old man that hates new fangled contraptions because I don't understand them. I admit that, foremost because of the serious difference in quality, I never gave new programming mediums a chance. That is until quite recently.

Due to travel plans and a DVR that is stacked to the brink I have been missing some of my favorite shows. Wanting to see what I missed I turned to the Internet. Well, imagine my surprise when it turned out it wasn't half bad. Despite a few buffering issues and lower resolution I have come to discover that the Internet was quite serviceable. As I said I don't believe that this medium will replace standard television but it is a handy tool if you ever find yourself in the situation I was in. It also helps that you don't have a computer that is a billion years old like mine. Hence the issues. Now that I have opened myself up to viewing TV on the Internet I have found that not everything is available online. I don't understand why that is but I am now in a position where I have to look elsewhere for content.

When I was traveling I actually watched programming on my phone. It turned out to be harder because it is a much, much smaller screen. That reminds me, I should get my eye sight checked. Anyways, overall my phone was actually fairly serviceable as well. Because of the screen size I don't recommend constant viewing but it did a good job for what I was looking for. It is also challenging because episodes are broken up. You can't watch a full episode straight through. Yet I persevered. If you have not viewed programming on your phone before it too is pretty handy sitting at an airport of something.

I am not one to predict the future of new mediums but the back up options that available are nice to have.