How do you primarily watch TV?

[mores]

Why did I take part in this poll?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

There are so many commercial breaks on our non-BBC channels that watching programmes as they're broadcast is unpleasant.

I agree. The few things I do watch I record on my hard disk DVD recorder, and watch later. That way I can skip over the adverts.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

I've got cable, but I download most of the TV programmes I watch to my PC.

There are so many commercial breaks on our non-BBC channels that watching programmes as they're broadcast is unpleasant.

I couldn't agree more! It's not only your non-BBC channels, also all our Dutch commercial channels... (we have a similar system as you have, with a few national channels and the rest commercial).

If we watch a movie, we always try to record it before watching, so we can skip all those commercials.
But we mostly got premium cable because of all those other channels (Discovery in various forms, Animal Planet and National Geographic Channel are the channels we watch most)

[AprilHare]

Originally Posted by mores

Why did I take part in this poll?

For the fun of it, of course.

[Lirael]

I used to have basic cable, then I moved, and with only three of us in the household, cable is prohibitively expensive. We could get a digital converter box and watch basic TV that way (no more analogue signals here, and our TV set isn't new enough to pick up digital by itself) but neither I nor the roomies are interested enough in TV to make that worthwhile - none of us follow any shows.

I don't know anything about watching TV over the internet, but I kind of want to figure that out...

[rhadin]

I chose "I watch TV less than 1 hour a month" but that isn't really right: I watch exactly 0 (zero) minutes of TV every month. OTOH, my wife insists that we have TV so she can watch a little before retiring for the night. So we access the crapware called entertainment via FiOS.

Although I have nothing good to say about TV except that it proves that there is plenty of waste in the wasteland, I will say that I am very pleased with FiOS, which we have for TV, Internet, and telephone. In the 2 years we have had it, it has never been down.

[Laine]

I haven't watched any tv for about 10 years. We get rotten reception and no cable available. My husband is a channel hopper and it drove me mad. Now he has the tv downstairs and I have the upstairs with no tv and much better lighting where I can read, and do embroidery or knitting while listening to audiobooks.
A lot of tv is rubbish, and the stuff that isn't is usually available on dvd.

[mores]

Rhadin, if you watch 0,00 minutes of TV per day, how can you say that TV is all crap?

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by rhadin

I chose "I watch TV less than 1 hour a month" but that isn't really right: I watch exactly 0 (zero) minutes of TV every month. OTOH, my wife insists that we have TV so she can watch a little before retiring for the night. So we access the crapware called entertainment via FiOS.

Although I have nothing good to say about TV except that it proves that there is plenty of waste in the wasteland, I will say that I am very pleased with FiOS, which we have for TV, Internet, and telephone. In the 2 years we have had it, it has never been down.

I agree about FIOS. Quality service...

I just upgraded my Over The Air (OTA = broadcast) antenna. The operation was a success! I can now get all the major networks here via antenna. (Complete with tinfoil on the antenna. Just like when I was a kid.) My brother still want cable TV, but I suspect we'll drop it in a couple of years.

Truthfully, we only watch the local sporting franchises and the stockmarket channel anyway.

For entertainment, we watch my extensive video library....

Here's an interesting back-of-the-envelop calculation. Take the amount you spend on premium TV per month, and calculate how many TV episodes you can buy for that money. Here in North Dallas, it runs around $50 (USD) I can buy a season block for many shows for around the same money. That's 15 to 22 hours of entertainment (sic) per month. You won't be on the cutting edge, (which is very important to some people), but over a number of years, you'll have entertainment coming out of your ears...

(Classic conversation with my brother. "What you you want me to put on?" "I don't know, you've got too many choices." "Pick a category, movie, TV show, concert." "Gee, don't know..." "Pick!!!" .....)

[LS650]

I picked Internet: I don't actually watch much live TV other than the local news, but I occasionally will download a TV series or rent a season on DVD.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

I agree about FIOS. Quality service...

I just upgraded my Over The Air (OTA = broadcast) antenna. The operation was a success! I can now get all the major networks here via antenna. (Complete with tinfoil on the antenna. Just like when I was a kid.) My brother still want cable TV, but I suspect we'll drop it in a couple of years.

Truthfully, we only watch the local sporting franchises and the stockmarket channel anyway.

For entertainment, we watch my extensive video library....

Here's an interesting back-of-the-envelop calculation. Take the amount you spend on premium TV per month, and calculate how many TV episodes you can buy for that money. Here in North Dallas, it runs around $50 (USD) I can buy a season block for many shows for around the same money. That's 15 to 22 hours of entertainment (sic) per month. You won't be on the cutting edge, (which is very important to some people), but over a number of years, you'll have entertainment coming out of your ears...

(Classic conversation with my brother. "What you you want me to put on?" "I don't know, you've got too many choices." "Pick a category, movie, TV show, concert." "Gee, don't know..." "Pick!!!" .....)

If all you watch is some series and movies, yes. But we hardly watch series. I wouldn't need premium cable for that anyway (which is only a fraction more expensive than over-the-air broadcast and you'd need a setup box for every tv, while with cable, you just plug it in the tv). But, we generally watch those channels that come with the premium. Three or four Discovery channels, Animal Planet, Travel Planet, two more BBC's, an extra National Geographic channel...

[Fledchen]

My TV isn't hooked up to anything that can receive a signal, it's just there for watching DVDs. I have a weird attention span. I can sit and read a book for hours, but I have a hard time paying attention to movies/TV. I do better when I can pause things when I need a break, so I watch pausable streams (Hulu, Netflix) or wait until it comes out on DVD and get it from Netflix. I know people usually claim that television ruins people's attention span for reading, but I guess I'm the other way around.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by markbot

I hear a growing number of people watch TV over antenna.

I should clarify that the "I watch TV less than 1 hour per month" option is essentially that you don't pay for cable, satellite...don't owner a TV, don't watch TV shows over the net...etc. But you might watch TV sometimes over a friend's house.

I'm sorry, I cannot vote as I primarily watch TV sitting down and that's not a possible answer.

[vivaldirules]

I was addicted to television in my youth and so now really hate it. Occasionally, though, I will watch a bit of The Donut Channel.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by mores

Rhadin, if you watch 0,00 minutes of TV per day, how can you say that TV is all crap?

Sadly, my wife tells me about the shows she has watched at breakfast. Plus I've always considered religious programming and sports channels crap programs designed solely to separate me and my money, and every 3 months when FiOS sends me the new channel guide or tells me how my TV package premium is going up because they've added yet another sports channel -- I get reminded.