You can stream most of the old shows without any actual "cable" service. You still need to buy bandwidth tho. If I was king I would make the companies unbundle content from bandwidth anyway. Our broadband is some of the most expensive in the world because they bury content in bandwidth. You can easily see the advantage of unbundling if you just look at phone service. For those of us who are old enough to remember Ma Bell, you remember how expensive phone service was and how limited it was. We wouldn't have universally available internet if we were still living with the pre 1978 Ma Bell.
Because we are comparing it to the previous analog TV system which would degrade much more gracefully under poor signal conditions. It wasn't an all-or-nothing proposition.
I use the TV as "company" late at night (when I do most of my work). Typically, put on a DVD of something I've already seen. So, I can follow along with the plot purely from memory (the TV isn't visible from my workstations). If I get tired and need a break -- or, know that a particularly exciting or funny part of the show is coming up -- I'll get up and sit in front of the tube for a short while. Then, return to my work.
I've transcribed (transcoded?) my tape and LVD libraries to DVD-R's. Tired of having to maintain a VCR with all of its mechanism when I can just as easily use a "disposable" DVD drive from a computer for the same purpose.
It also makes them a lot easier to store -- and, archive to the media library.
Even with snowy video (and tinfoil draped rabbit ears) you could often make out general details in the imagery. It wasn't an all-or-nothing proposition.
Audio is particularly hard for most folks to adapt to "stroboscopicly"; with video, even with dropouts, your eye and mind can integrate the motion to provide some continuity to the scene (as long as the dropouts are fairly brief). With audio, you don't have the same sort of "auditory persistence" to call upon.
My car insurance includes (and I pay for) towing. And they provide a phone number to call them and they arrange towing. For new cars there is often towing included during the warranty period and a phone number provided. Both my fords included it... no need to pay Lexus prices. My Dodge dealer does oil changes for between $15 to $30 dollars depending on whether I catch a special. They also run a Shuttle for free if I don't want to wait. No wait needed for oil changes but other service might take longer.
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