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There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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This is one reason why I record most things I watch these days: I can skip the adverts and leave just the program.
They are way too intrusive - I understand the channel needs them to pay the rent - but when it becomes nearly as much advert as program, I don't watch it "live".
US shows are a case in point: "Cougar Town" runs about 20 minutes without adverts, and 45 with...
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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If I click on a link that takes me to a video that starts with a commercial I close the browser.
Die in a fire.
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This in one reason I use FlashBlock - sadly it doesn't work on HTML5 - but I understand that a little careful Googling will find you a number of "YouTube downloaders" which while probably violating YouTube T&C's and thus nothing I would recommend you look for at all, but which would probably enable the discerning viewer to skip the damn "your video will start in 1 minute" advert completely. And you would get to find out what the product it was advertising was and make sure you never buy it.
But I wouldn't do that, and I'm sure you wouldn't either...
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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That you for that warning.
I'll be sure to avoid those products/services.
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Going OT: Adblock Plus blocks those youtube ads (and pretty much everything else), but it's only for chrome and firefox.
Looked a few times for an IE equivalent, but gave up on that after a few days.
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I have a WDC - World Domination Centre - consisting of a 40" tv plugged into a dual Xeon box as a monitor. It's Linux-based (14.04) and I use a USB dongle to play free-to-air channels over Kaffeine. Nice thing is, I can record TV programmes I like, such as Sherlock and Montalbano, or watch DVD's; obviously the whole thing is ported into 5.1 sound as well, and I have about 80GB of music on the drive also.
I don't watch much tv though. 
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OriginalGriff wrote: This is one reason why I record most things I watch these days: I can skip the adverts and leave just the program.
Yep, same here. I used to watch programs in "replay" 5 years ago, as it was still something brand new nobody knew about (meaning servers were still accessible). Now they have put ads in replay services as well, at the beginning of eahc program. Worse : Replays are streaming videos (no news, I know), e.g. not so stable, especially when everybody replays at the same time, so if you lose connection or it gets interrupted for whatever reason, you have to escape and re-enter, and there goes another 3min ads ( the same you had already watched earlier  ).
So recording is the way to go. Even better : I can start watching a program while it is still being recorded, meaning that if I start watching 15min after the live start hour, I have enough buffer to skip the three or four ad breaks in the evening without interruption.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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Sadly, I would miss tv a bit. I reckon I need some non brain-consuming activities after work/kids/dinner/kids/dishes/kids-bedtime-stories, so tv is perfect for that. And I enjoy watching series.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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Commercials are easy to avoid, just don't watch anything 'live'. I've got home built DVRs on our TVs so anything the wifey is watching was recorded. She almost never watches live TV. I don't watch TV except for the talking heads on Sunday morning (This Week with George Stepanopoulos).
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I quit watching TV 20 years ago.
Because of this my tolerance for commercials has bottomed out.
When commercials come on the radio I change the channel - I will NOT LISTEN TO THE HORSE SH*T!
If a show gets really good reviews over a few years I'll pick it up on DVD.
Save tons of money and I've a nice DVD collection.
Plus, no commercials.
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When I moved to the USA (from England via Germany) I was shocked at how many commercial breaks were in the shows having been used to the BBC (no commercials). We do have commercial TV channels in the UK but the frequency and length of the breaks was much reduced compared to the US (at least it used to be on ITV & Channel 4).
For the last few months, possibly a year or two now, I have been obtaining an increasing number of shows and movies via non-cable TV methods, Netflix, HULU, etc. and my wife, who is disabled and bed-ridden 90% of the time and therefore watches a lot of stuff, has found that the consumption of TV directly has dropped to the point where when we watched a show the other night, the TV had not changed channel, or even been looked at since the same show was on the previous week! We are now considering saving a lot of money by changing the FIOS deal to only have internet access. We don't watch or have interest in sports.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Forogar wrote: I was shocked at how many commercial breaks
If I recall correctly, there used to be a limit on the amount of commercial time that could be interspersed throughout a show - until Ronald Reagan got rid of it. Same guy that got rid of the 5mph no-damage bumpers for cars that had been mandated and a couple of other things that were definitely not good for the consumer.
I have been blessed with the ability to flush the commercials from my mind's buffer almost as they go by. Still, time is worth something, so I record and skip through when feasible.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Quote: I quit watching TV 20 years ago.
finally i have met someone who thinks like me. its not 20 years in my case however, its more than an year. However i dont even listen to radio.
My friends say i live in an extinct world, the world when dinosaurs ruled.
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I cut the cable going on two years ago. I don't miss it at all. The time I realized I wasted was crazy. I still watch some shows on Hulu occasionally. I don't miss the ingestion of media in the least. And I find myself avoiding the TV when I'm with friends or family.
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I've been without cable TV for about 6 years now and I don't miss it a bit. I use my ps3 to watch content either through Netflix or Amazon Prime. Its very easy to get by without the programming and you quickly adjust to life without it. The only caveat I would give is that if you're really into sports this may not be a viable solution for you. Over the past 10 years its seems that the majority of sports have migrated to channels like TNT, ESPN, etc...
Also, with things like Hulu growing in popularity its becoming extremely easy to find legal ways of viewing any TV show online.
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Just cut it, stop worrying about it.
My kids don't miss it. They just play in the dirt outside, chase each other with sticks, learn music, and when they really want to watch something on the TV, they go buy a $0.50 movie at the thrift store (new to us).
You find other things to fill up the time. Consuming commercials and the mindless fluff that is called programming is not required to live nice life. Since I've stopped watching it, I actually prefer not to see/hear it when I go to other folks houses. And the worst is when it is stuck on at a restaurant, mechanic, or elsewhere.
Actually, where I live (in the middle of nowhere) I can still pick up about 10 channels over the digital rabbit ears (converter box). It is more than I want: weather, news, professional and college sports, cooking shows, and mindless prime time fluff. My viewing habits probably average about an hour per week. I cannot even sit through a whole football/basketball/baseball game anymore.
Too much else to do with my life!
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If you have a rabid sports fan in the house, the answer is "You can't." I would cut the cord in an instant, but that would mean that the out of market games won't be available or even in market won't be available if there is a blackout for the game due to sales.
Same for channels like HBO, the SO likes a couple of their series, so I'm stuck with cable.
Whee. 
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It's been almost 10 years since my household has had network or cable TV. Last year, my phone company gave me a deal that included cable TV (basic package) for only $10 more per month. We tried it out for exactly 3 days. Then gave the box back with a thanks but no thanks.
You will find so much more to do without the TV distracting you. Most everything you want to watch you can find on the internet anyways.
Brent
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Dumped cable for everything but internet. No replacement. Got rid of the tv. never looked back.
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Cunuck here so i'm not sure if that makes a difference to you. A few months ago i made the decision to cut the cord, my Phone, Cable & Internet totaled ~$230 a month. With $120 just for the cable. I only really watched a few shows and the rest of the time it was just background noise when cleaning or working. I didnt want to be without any means of watching tv to kill time so i looked at Netflix but it didnt have everything i wanted so i looked at Hulu but being Canadian this wasn't an option unless i paid for a service like unblock-us. So i sat down and did the math and it worked out that i still saved a bunch of money and had access to on-demand tv that i couldn't access before so the decision was simple.
Then (Cable) = ~$130 for everything taxes, rentals fees and whatnot.
Now (Roku) = $100 initial cost for the Roku. $8 for Netflix, $9 for hulu and about $10 for unblock-us.
So after the initial cost of the Roku my bill went from $130 to $20 and i feel like i get more value. Sure there is still the odd show i have to ... ummm .. acquire elsewhere but i'm much happier now.
All in all im happy now so give it a shot, worst case you can go back and get the introductory bundle and still save some cash.
Don't comment your code - it was hard to write, it should be hard to read!
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I'm about to enter that realm, so, reading your experience: it's a plan!
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Excellent timing for this thread:
I have just initiated 'negotiations' with my TV/Telephone/Internet provider based upon the imminent expiration of a package deal.
Now I'm thinking more strongly in the direction of something like Hulu or Netflix; My Patriot media box will already get me relevant components of MSNBC and a number of other (free!) recorded items.
My email ALL goes through forwards - changing my contacts means a simple change of some of the target addresses. Much of the network TV can be picked up free on a digital antenna (empirical observation).
The convenience factor vs. cost is at the absolute edge of what I'm willing to tolerate.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Kids are better off without cable IMHO (or any TV, depending on where you are). Each day they see two homicides, three wars, four felonies and fifty misdemeanors, and that is just the news.
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We dropped cable a couple of years ago. Netflix, Apple TV and plenty of news channels give us everything we want, when we want it. way, WAY cheaper. I can't imagine ever signing up for cable again.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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