aNewDomain.net – I got a Nexus 10 for Christmas, and using the SwiftKey tablet app I typed out this whole article on it. But this isn’t about tablets, it’s about cutting that annoying cord and being smarter about how you consume.
People ask me, as a veteran cord cutter, how I consume movies, and more importantly, how do you watch television shows from the Internet? Since the advent of tablets like the my Nexus 10, getting this content onto a beautiful screen to sit back and watch comfortably is easier than ever. It all depends on how patient you are, what you actually expect to watch and when.
The news happens first on social networks, and for the most part, you can get everything you would ever want to watch. This is all well and good, but it comes with a few caveats. The people who are most successful at cord cutting are those who tend to not really care about sports. Watching live sports is one of the downfalls of cord cutting, even more so if you want to watch anything collegiate. I mean, I’m sure there is always a Justin.tv or stickam live stream you can watch, but the quality is never anything you would put up on the big screen.
I use a one terabyte hard drive, a video card with DVI out, and a sound card that supports a decent surround sound speaker setup. The video goes out to an Acer widescreen monitor and the audio goes out to a Logitech 5.1 surround system. Of course you can substitute an Android tablet with HDMI out to play the media but you will sacrifice support for certain file types. Although this is getting better with each update for apps like Moboplayer and MX player.
Netflix is a fairly decent substitute TV and movies in the living room, but it doesn’t have the best selection of content, especially when looking to watch shows that are currently airing on television. Until content deals are cheaper and more readily available, I suppliment Netflix with torrents, apps, iTunes, and Google Play. Hopefully the major media companies will see that we the people want an easy, fairly priced way to consume content across all our devices, and we’ll live in a much less fragmented, more enlightened living room. But until then, what are our options?
We have Amazon, Google, Netflix, Roku, Slingbox, and many clones, but what do they really do? Most of them provide a way to get Netflix or other media content from your computer, onto your TV. Most of this is redundant, and if you’re trying to save a few bucks, the way I describe is going to be your best bet.
Based in Kalispell, Montana, Mat Lee is a Senior Editor and Podcaster at aNewDomain.net. Email Mat at Mat@aNewDomain.net and follow him on Google+, where he is +Mat Lee
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Thanks Judy. I looked at your blog and I like your work. I’m in a group with athnoe fiber artist Laurie Wright and there is a nice fiber show up at Defoors Center too. I am seeing alot of fiber now, and i saw it integrated into mixed media in NY, so it is coming along. I’ll leave a comment on your post too