Comment by Avalaxy
12 days ago
Does anyone here still have television? Ever since I moved out of my parents house (15 years ago), I never had a TV subscription. I did own a TV screen, but only to run apps like Netflix and Youtube. I'd rather have a simple monitor without the TV options to do so, but strangely that never existed or was too expensive.
Edit: to make it clear, I absolutely did not miss having TV for even a second in all of those years.
I am not really sure what you mean by "have television" - I, as I assume many here, have a TV "screen" as you put it, but it's used for Apple TV apps, home media server viewing, Netflix, and video games. I actually do have a digital antenna with it but never use it. I think the only time I have in the last 10 years or so was to watch one olympic event last summer.
Over here in some European countries TV license fee is mandatory even if you don't own a set. The licence funds watchable content, so it makes sense to have one. (I kind-of pity the US and other countries without a strong public TV system). Actually I have access to three TV markets via satellite (which includes UK with the BBC) and the amount of good content free to receive and record it much better than what Netflix offers. (Of course, nothing can match youtube)
BTW, I also still have a CRT in constant use - but the sources are now digital (It's my kitchen background TV - I feed it from a Raspberry PI with Kodi). On great thing about CRTs is that there's no computer inside monitoring what you watch.
> The licence funds watchable content
If everyone agreed with that you wouldn't have to force them to pay the license and could sell subscriptions instead.
> I kind-of pity the US and other countries without a strong public TV system
I don't. At least they don't have to pay for their propaganda.
> Actually I have access to three TV markets via satellite (which includes UK with the BBC) and the amount of good content free to receive and record it much better than what Netflix offers.
That's like saying dumpster diving gets you better food than the sewers.
> On great thing about CRTs is that there's no computer inside monitoring what you watch.
Weird tangent when there are plenty of computer monitors based on non-CRT technologies. If CRTs were still being made today they wouldn't have any less anti-features.
Colloquially called “the idiot box” in Australia.
I remember asking as a teenager if that because there are idiots on the box, or because you turn into one when you watch it.
The answer is “yes”
Have not had or watched one in well over 20 years.
I have some sort of old flat screen TV, which I bought before there were "smart" TVs. But I don't have cable or over-the-air reception. Instead I have a Roku soundbar with Netflix, Apple TV+, and Youtube apps (plus some other apps that I don't use, like Tubi and Pluto). I haven't had cable or over-the-air reception for ~18 years.
I can't watch anything live unless Youtube is showing some live event (which it sometimes does). I could probably watch some live news using Pluto, but I never do.
My mom still pays for cable, so since I live with her I suppose I have it by proxy. When I move out I'll still be buying one of those digital OTA antennas because I don't watch enough tv to justify a streaming service or cable, and sometimes it's nice to just watch something that's on without much of a choice
Kept a few mini portable CRTs. I don't have any CRT monitors though.. sold my beloved diamondtron to a movie editor, sadly transporter probably shook it too hard and the device wasn't operating on arrival (at to refund the guy and lose the screen, double whammy)
I have a device marketed as a TV which I use to watch movies as well as serial entertainment that was originally released on television. I don't use any kind of broadcast, cable or streaming service though.
I still have an antenna to watch football and the Olympics live. Everything else is streamed.
The device? Absolutely. Cable service? Absolutely not.
The device is fantastic. Games, movies, shows, etc. There's a lot of utility in having a big, high-resolution screen as compared to a computer screen or, worse, a tiny phone screen. I love getting to relax on a couch and watch a favorite movie.
Cable and streaming are crap. Every year the prices go up, the content gets more fractured, the experience and service get worse, and it's just a bad time. I'm sick of promising new shows getting cancelled after 2 seasons. I'm sick of ENDLESS budget being spent on the most absurd CGI and effects instead of making something simpler and focused more on the story.
I have a TV because it's a nicer group experience than everyone viewing something via their personal device - whether that is cuddling up with a partner on the couch to watch a movie, or crowding around the TV with friends to play 8-way Super Smash Bros.
I got rid of mine. Predictable mind numbing content. I do stream occasionally but I have not paid a TV licence in over twenty years.