chewearn's blog

Occasionally, a friend asked how I am able to stop watching TV entirely. I don’t subscribe to cable TV. The local free-to-air channels tend to broadcast shallow contents. To make matter worse, both are full of advertisements.

If you have been wondering how to get free and legal videos on the internet, this post described my preferred method. I am not talking about tiny low resolution YouTube, though that could be fun too. Instead, I am talking about full (and usually high quality) downloadable video files, completely legal.

Prerequisite

You need a reasonably fast broadband connection. I know friends who are still on 56k dial-up to save on internet subcription cost, and yet they spent considerable amount on cable TV subscriptions. I would laugh at them, but of course, their taste of TV programs could differ significantly from mine.

And talking about that, this tip is more for the geeks than the average person. The programs I watched regularly are technological or web-based in nature.

Miro

I am talking about a program called Miro. It’s a video aggregator program, which is based on video podcasts or RSS feeds. The Miro download page gives excellent instruction on how to download and install the program, so I will not repeat it here.

Video channels

Once installed, there is a list of video channels available by default. You could use the Miro interface to search and discover new shows that you might like. Below is a partial list of channels that I watched regularly.

1. Cranky Geeks
   Hosted by John C. Dvorak, it’a a weekly show where four cranky geeks talk about the latest in technology and web news.

2. DL.TV
   Another technology related show, it has seen some ups and downs.

3. Diggnation
   An oddly compelling, fun and occasionally wacky show. From the website: “Diggnation is a weekly tech/web culture show based on the top digg.com social bookmarking news stories.”

4. Systm
   A show for the DIY geeks. Each week, it showcase a DIY project you can learn and build in your own home.

5. TED Talks
   “Inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers.” Highly recommended. The talks will expand your horizon immensely.

6. Discovery Channel Video Podcasts
   Use the Miro interface to search available Discovery Channel feeds. These are short, few minutes video clips, which are suppliment the regular full length videos of the Discovery Channel.

As mentioned, this is a partial list. I have other channels (e.g. from NASA) about what’s going on in the astronomy field, some Linux related video casts, and a few more from Revision3.

It is perfectly possible to cut down or stop watching the dumb box entirely, in this age of high speed internet. You just need to know where to look. It also wouldn’t hurt to find a more useful hobby .

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