To Be Titled

Striving to be a good dad, a good husband, a good son/brother, a good political scientist, a good photographer, a good cook and a good homo universalis.

Life without TV Service, Day 9

It’s been nine days since we eliminated our DirecTV service, and it’s been really nice. Over the weekend, we streamed a lot from Food Network, which has a pretty good set of shows available online, although they are not compatible with Boxee RSS feeding configuration. Last night, I watched The Family Guy and The Simpsons on Hulu through Boxee.

Whenever we watch shows online, I connect my MacBook to the TV (using a Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adaptor and a VGA-to-composite converter) and my iPod touch as the remote control. Rowmote seems to be the best app among the ones I’ve tried so far.

Two issues so far:

  • Local content—e.g. Denver metro news—is hard to come by online, other than in short clips.
  • PBS Kids shows are not yet widely available online. Xander has not been watching Sid the Science Kid. But Xander’s favorite song sequence is available on YouTube.