mindplunge

The magic of RSS and how it replaced my satellite TV provider

We’ve all been there, zapping through hundreds of channels and nothing interesting to watch. It only get worst if you forgot to record a show or something similar to your DVR. You still want to watch the damn tube but at the end of the night ended up with unnecessary purchases of some retarded infomercial channel.

But there is a ‘new’ way of watching TV and the best thing of it all, it is free!

Well, not completely free but for one thing you can cancel your subscription with your TV provider saving roughly 40 bucks a month. That’s almost $500 per year! In extreme cases (DirecTV premier package $82/mo) you will save $984.00

How to save money and still watch TV?

You need a few things but I bet most of it you already have. Let’s go over the list:

• TV (HDTV recommended but any TV could do the trick)
• High Speed Internet
• Apple TV
• Boxee account
• Flash Drive

Since you are curious on how to save money on your monthly TV bill I’m guessing you already have a TV. You wouldn’t be able to read this post so you can check of internet access as well. A flash drive is a pretty common household item these days especially if you’re a geek. Flash drives are pretty cheap these days. Just do a Google search. Cheapest flash drive I found was 5 bucks.

That leaves you with the Apple TV and the boxee account. The low end Apple Tv (ATV) is $229 and is sufficient for the job. The next thing you’ll need is a Boxee account. If you don’t have one leave a comment with a valid email address and I’ll send you an invite. Boxee accounts are free!

The set up

Very simple. Connect your AppleTV to your TV. You just enhanced your TV viewing pleasure! Movies and/or music videos rented or bought through iTunes can now be viewed on your TV. Playlists can be streamed or created on the ATV.

But it doesn’t end here. There is more you can do with your ATV. Way more…

How to hack your AppleTV

To get the fullest of your Boxee account you need to hack your ATV. It sounds scary but it’s not. All it takes is five minutes. If your not tech savvy I recommend buying your AplleTV with Boxee pre-installed. If you think hacking is your thing head over to atvusb-creator and follow the steps.

Basically what you’re doing is download a program on your usb stick (flash drive) and stick it in the back of the ATV. The usb port on your ATV is only used for diagnostics when you bring it in for repairs but with the atvusb-creator you just have opened up this port!

Congratulations! You have just hacked you ATV! Wasn’t too bad huh?

You’re all set up! Boxee is a media station and offers a wide variety of channels: CNN, Hulu, CBS, Comedy Central, YouTube and as of today: Netflix. Netflix isn’t ready for the ATV yet but I’m sure it will in the future.

So what’s the big deal?

Well, since I’m only interested in a few shows I was able to cancel my account with Dish networks. The shows are now being streamed by hulu on my boxee. And it gets even better. The title of this post mentioned RSS feeds. I was able to successfully add video RSS feeds to my boxee account (Since I’m Dutch I added some Dutch TV programs) and I’m now able to play those feeds through boxee on my ATV.

There are tons of other video feeds out there and you can add the ones you like. It’s like creating your own TV station. No more zapping around to find good content. You decide what to watch and when to watch it!

What about the news or Sport events?

That’s a personal choice. Live broadcasting can’t be viewed on the ATV. I decided to give up those perks simply because I was becoming a couch potato. I read the news in the morning. No need to see it live. All it showed was another murder in town and it became depressing. I miss out on sports though. But hey! Go to a friends place and watch the game together! Have a social life!

Need a Boxee account invite?

So if anyone is interested in a boxee account lemme know. Leave a comment and I’ll send you an invite asap!

Boxee: the greatest thing since sliced bread

Last week everything fell into place. Somehow I discovered hulu.com. I thought: wow, great concept. Finally a way to watch all my favorite shows. A few weeks ago we decided to ditch Dish network (our satelite TV provider) simply because there was nothing on TV (600 channels, go figure). Most shows can be viewed online these days so why pay Dish $70/month if I can access the content for free? Right?

Then I came across this link at popurls: The end of TV. YES! Simply brilliant. It’s called Boxee.

On a laptop or connected to an HDTV, Boxee gives you a true entertainment experience to enjoy your movies, TV shows, music and photos, as well as streaming content from websites like Hulu, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, and flickr.

This weekend I got the 40G Apple TVatv. Hacked it with atvusb-creator and uploaded Boxee on the atv. It took me a little while to get it all working but the great community at the boxee forum helped me out. Altering my profile xml file and I was good to go! All my shows back on TV.

Now I can watch the things I want, when I want. Another great thing is adding your own RSS feeds (video or audio, even torrents!). So today I added the Dutch news (NOS journaal) as a feed and I’m able to watch ‘het 8 uur journaal’. Simply amazing.

Obama was right: A Change has come to America, it’s a new Dawn.

No soup for you!

Mircosoft is pulling the Seinfeld ads off the air. MS only aired two episodes and they were horrible! Valleywag:

Microsoft flacks are desperately dialing reporters to spin them about “phase two” of the ad campaign — a phase, due to be announced tomorrow, which will drop the aging comic altogether. Microsoft’s version of the story: Redmond had always planned to drop Seinfeld. The awkward reality: The ads only reminded us how out of touch with consumers Microsoft is — and that Bill Gates’s company has millions of dollars to waste on hiring a has-been funnyman to keep him company.

Update: In a phone call, Waggener Edstrom flack Frank Shaw confirms that Microsoft is not going on with Seinfeld, and echoes his underlings’ spin that the move was planned. There is the “potential to do other things” with Seinfeld, which Shaw says is still “possible.” He adds: “People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads, but this was not unexpected.”

There ya go Microsoft, No soup for you!