HELP!
*pokes tiny flist*
Anyone out there ever downloaded episodes of a tv show or movie from iTunes or another source? My only way to watch this week's BSG may be via the internet. I don't even know how soon after the original air date any episodes are available. Or how much they cost to download. Or how long it takes to download. Or how good the picture quality is. Hmmph.
eta a ton more junk about tv because I can't shut up:
I live just far away enough from the big city to have lousy reception with an antenna. I finally gave in two and a half years ago and ordered dish service. The first year to year and a half of the dish was great. I had a dvr/receiver through the company, I discovered the joys of commercial-free TV, "Lost" began a month or two after I first got the dish... and then that receiver finally died. Bad dish.
I called the company, they promised to send me a replacement receiver but wanted to charge me the shipping fee. Since I wasn't the cause of its death, I took umbrage to that idea and, well, bullied them into paying for shipping. The first replacement receiver, however, was immediately non-functional. Bad dish 2.
I couldn't bully them into paying for the shipping for the third receiver (btw, the receiver is not actually the dish, it's the part inside the home, so I'm not really being accurate in my "bad dish" terminology), but shipping is only $14 or so. That receiver was working fine for a while... I think the problems may have started back in late November, but since work was getting crazy then and I had just gotten hi-speed internet at home, I didn't notice. Anyway, the final death rattle was Tuesday. Bad dish 3.
I received a replacement dvr/receiver and set up the basics (including phoning in for activation) Friday after work. Left for the movies, when I came back home the dish still wasn't receiving a signal. Thinking to myself, "I *must* record 'What Not To Wear' on Saturday morning," I called the company again before going to bed. I was on the phone with the tech support guy for close to an hour. Final determination--the problem may be with the wiring and not the receiver. To check on this I'm supposed to pay $99 for a service visit. If that sounds like too much, I can instead add $6 to my monthly fee to put me under some special warranty, and the visit will only cost $25. Neither option sounds that great right now. I was sooooo annoyed that I hardly slept last night (but I still had to get up before 7 am--argh!). Whether I decide to continue getting dish service or not, clearly I'm not recording BSG this Sunday evening. And yeah, I can afford the $99 but...
why spend the money?
I've been thinking, what do I watch that justifies the money I spend every month on this service, anyway? I hardly ever watch the news, because I'm one of those weird people who still gets a newspaper. I did, in fact, live without any channels but a fuzzy ABC and a few UHF stations for... well, from the end of "The Pretender" to the beginning of "Lost" (hee, how's that for measuring time?).
Here's my list of must-watch shows:
Battlestar Galactica. Apparently available through iTunes.
Lost. Available through ABC website.
Veronica Mars. Don't know yet, but since I still haven't seen season one, I probably won't die if I see season three at a later date.
What Not To Wear. No idea. Hmm, it's not quite as much the "must-watch" show as it used to be--my wardrobe is now markedly better, so I'm not in the dire straits I once was. But it's lots of fun.
Sometimes-watch shows:
Medium
Numbers
The Colbert Report
reruns of CSI: Miami (the perfect show for grading papers at home! and mocking David Caruso!)
Ugly Betty
My Name Is Earl
reruns of Law & Order (any variety, but I do *love* Vincent d'Onofrio, he's so strange; another show for grading papers)
Heroes--maybe. I started watching at the beginning of the season, but didn't keep up.
*sigh.* What to do? I could download several episodes and buy lots of dvd sets for the price I pay over a year for the dish service. (I think... guess I'll try downloading an episode before I say that with certainty.)
Anyone out there ever downloaded episodes of a tv show or movie from iTunes or another source? My only way to watch this week's BSG may be via the internet. I don't even know how soon after the original air date any episodes are available. Or how much they cost to download. Or how long it takes to download. Or how good the picture quality is. Hmmph.
eta a ton more junk about tv because I can't shut up:
I live just far away enough from the big city to have lousy reception with an antenna. I finally gave in two and a half years ago and ordered dish service. The first year to year and a half of the dish was great. I had a dvr/receiver through the company, I discovered the joys of commercial-free TV, "Lost" began a month or two after I first got the dish... and then that receiver finally died. Bad dish.
I called the company, they promised to send me a replacement receiver but wanted to charge me the shipping fee. Since I wasn't the cause of its death, I took umbrage to that idea and, well, bullied them into paying for shipping. The first replacement receiver, however, was immediately non-functional. Bad dish 2.
I couldn't bully them into paying for the shipping for the third receiver (btw, the receiver is not actually the dish, it's the part inside the home, so I'm not really being accurate in my "bad dish" terminology), but shipping is only $14 or so. That receiver was working fine for a while... I think the problems may have started back in late November, but since work was getting crazy then and I had just gotten hi-speed internet at home, I didn't notice. Anyway, the final death rattle was Tuesday. Bad dish 3.
I received a replacement dvr/receiver and set up the basics (including phoning in for activation) Friday after work. Left for the movies, when I came back home the dish still wasn't receiving a signal. Thinking to myself, "I *must* record 'What Not To Wear' on Saturday morning," I called the company again before going to bed. I was on the phone with the tech support guy for close to an hour. Final determination--the problem may be with the wiring and not the receiver. To check on this I'm supposed to pay $99 for a service visit. If that sounds like too much, I can instead add $6 to my monthly fee to put me under some special warranty, and the visit will only cost $25. Neither option sounds that great right now. I was sooooo annoyed that I hardly slept last night (but I still had to get up before 7 am--argh!). Whether I decide to continue getting dish service or not, clearly I'm not recording BSG this Sunday evening. And yeah, I can afford the $99 but...
why spend the money?
I've been thinking, what do I watch that justifies the money I spend every month on this service, anyway? I hardly ever watch the news, because I'm one of those weird people who still gets a newspaper. I did, in fact, live without any channels but a fuzzy ABC and a few UHF stations for... well, from the end of "The Pretender" to the beginning of "Lost" (hee, how's that for measuring time?).
Here's my list of must-watch shows:
Battlestar Galactica. Apparently available through iTunes.
Lost. Available through ABC website.
Veronica Mars. Don't know yet, but since I still haven't seen season one, I probably won't die if I see season three at a later date.
What Not To Wear. No idea. Hmm, it's not quite as much the "must-watch" show as it used to be--my wardrobe is now markedly better, so I'm not in the dire straits I once was. But it's lots of fun.
Sometimes-watch shows:
Medium
Numbers
The Colbert Report
reruns of CSI: Miami (the perfect show for grading papers at home! and mocking David Caruso!)
Ugly Betty
My Name Is Earl
reruns of Law & Order (any variety, but I do *love* Vincent d'Onofrio, he's so strange; another show for grading papers)
Heroes--maybe. I started watching at the beginning of the season, but didn't keep up.
*sigh.* What to do? I could download several episodes and buy lots of dvd sets for the price I pay over a year for the dish service. (I think... guess I'll try downloading an episode before I say that with certainty.)