Alternative to buying Blu-Ray/DVDs and Cable/Sat TV Service

Alternative to buying DVDs, Blu-rays, & even Cable TV w/ HTPC and online streaming video

definition: HTPC - Home Theater PC, computer media center

I figured it was time to break this need to consume physical digital media and invest in a good HTPC, which set me back about $500. But how does that replace my DVD collection? Here's what it can do:

• Netflix. Instead of paying $25 for the one new Blu-Ray, rent it instead for $8.99/mo for 1-Blu-ray at a time on Netflix. Sure you can't keep it to display your artistic tastes, but it is available to rent almost anytime. In addition to that, with my HTPC, Netflix also allows you to stream movies directly to your computer. Advertising more than 40,000 movies to watch instantly, it has most of the movies in my DVD collection, and makes my collection pale in comparison.
• Hulu. This is my alternative to TV DVD collections and DVRs. Fox, NBC, & USA have teamed up to provide web surfers the ultimate in streaming video in 480p HD! Think of it as a HD YouTube for TV and Movies. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, one of my favorite shows, has the entire 1st and 2nd season available online, for free! If I bought the DVD box set, I would have spent $30+. Not only that, they have all the recent NBC and Fox shows to watch instantly, making DVRs a thing of the past.
• ABC.com, CBS.com. Hulu-like network independent players. They have all their recent episodes available to watch instantly in HD, making a DVR not necessary.
• Movie6.net. It may be questionably illegal, but you can watch all the newest in theater flix here!

Just like mp3s replaced cds, the future of video will be electronic digital media stored online. Sony, Cox, DirecTV, are all crapping their pants hoping that consumers won't realize this. Sure, Blu-ray looks great, and I do have a Blu-ray player on my HTPC, but it's primarily used for Netflix Blu-rays. Blu-ray is a "transition media", and will only be good up until HD streaming content is optimized online.

Cost of Cable/Satellite HD DVR:

• DVR Box Rental- $5.99/mo
• HD Service - ~$49.99/mo+
• Yearly Total- $671.76/yr+
• 3-Year Total - $2015.28+ for cable/sat hd service & DVR rental

Cost of Cable/Satellite + Tivo:

• HD Service - ~$49.99/mo
• Tivo- $149.99- $599.99
• Tivo Service - $12.95/mo or $399 lifetime
• Yearly Total- $905.27 - $1355.27 on monthly Tivo plan
• 3-Year Total- $2348.63 - $2798.63 on lifetime Tivo plan

Cost of buying Blu-Ray every month:

• Blu-Ray Player - $200.00
• Blu-Ray- ~$25.00
• Yearly Total- $300.00/yr
• 3-Year Total- $1100.00 for 36 movies & Blu-ray player

Cost of watching online HD content with an HTPC

• HTPC (One Time Cost)- $300 - ~$1,000
• Internet Service - Most of you already pay for this anyway
• Netflix- $8.99/mo
• Yearly Total - $107.88 for Netflix 1-DVD at a time plan
• 3-Year Total - $623.64 - ~$1,323.64 More than 50,000 TV shows & Movies on demand.

If you have cable/sat service and buy a blu-ray every month for 3 years, you're looking to spend about $3,100!!! If you have Tivo service and get a blu-ray every month for 3 years, expect to pay even more!

About Cable Satellite programming. One thing I have yet to mention is that, a lot of the satellite/cable programming is not available online just yet. A few have followed the major networks road to streaming media, like MTV, but who knows when the masses like HGTV, Food, VH1, etc... will follow. For those of you who think that this is a major con in your decision to switch to an HTPC, here is my argument, "TV rots your brains!" I think network TV is enough for anyone! And the amount of stored tv shows, movies, and videos on the sites I provided above is more than enough to keep you occupied for months of watching!

Not ready to buy/build an HTPC? Don't worry, any fairly new computer w/ high speed internet is still capable of viewing the sites above. What that means is, if you have a computer in your room, you have TV! Just visit those sites above.

Gone are the days where you walk into the store to buy a dvd, go into Blockbuster to rent a Blu-ray, wait until 8pm to watch your favorite show, or forget to set a recording on your Tivo. Everything online is on-demand, watch it when you want to watch it. I know it is hard to break our consumeristic habit and stop our urge to physically have the newest movie or control the recording of our tv shows to our DVR. But if you can break it, you'll end up saving money and more prepared for the future of digital video in the end.

Coming soon: Basic Guide to Buying or Building an HTPC

DVDs & Blu-Rays: who needs em?

DVDs & Blu-Rays: who needs em? No one. TV, movies, & media promote our consumeristic nature, conveying the idea that flashing the newest, greatest, & trendiest as the American way. That's why we all spend, spend, spend to fill the void our lives with materialistic things. Some may say that people drive luxury cars and wear name brand clothes to define themselves. If that's the case, then we grow our dvd collection and display them as a trophy, as a conversational piece, to establish our artistic perspective and maybe even, our personalities?

Or at least that's what society seems to force upon us.

The HD-DVD and Blu-ray war was a way to trick us, to keep us in anticipation. Even though, they didn't know who was going to win, they knew the winner would be the one to lure us into believing that a physical digital media is still needed. Blu-ray is by far superior in video and sound quality than anything in terms of physical discs, but at $25+ a pop, it is by no means a cost-effective way to enjoy movies.

Piracy. With the high cost of building a good Blu-Ray/DVD collection, it may seem better to download movies illegally. Finding these movies online or on the black market is easy, if you know where to look online, or if you visit a 3rd world Asian country. I admit I used to download all my movies (illegally) in the past, but file storage became a problem. I would burn most of them to CDs, DVDs, or store them in an external hard drive. So when I wanted to watch a movie, I had to either 1) skim through my 200-disc cd holder, put it in the dvd, watch it, then put it back or 2) search and retrieve the movie from one of my multiple external hard drives or even 3) download the movie, and wait for it to download(usually a couple hours), taking up time and bandwidth from my internet connection. Storage space, time, and bandwidth is valuable! Downloading or buying pirated movies is just too inconvenient to download, store, organize, and watch.

Cost. A collection of 10 blu-rays will set you back $250. DVDs still cost about $15, so a collection of 20 is worth, on average, $300. I took a look at my dvd/bluray collection and found 6 blu-rays and over 50 DVDs, worth about $900+!!!

Future. Eventually, broadband internet & streaming technologies will evolve to the point where physical discs will no longer be needed and everything will be available online. So, DON'T BUY BLU-RAYS OR DVDS!
Join me for my next segment: Alternatives to Buying Blu-ray/DVDs & Cable/Sat TV service

Mechanics of buying for the future (and now)

Being the "go to" person when anyone I know wants to buy a new gadget, I am always asked, "When is a good time to buy a laptop?" or camera, or cell phone. Or, "What kind of features do I need?" The answer is simple:

"You buy electronics when you really need electronics, and you get the features (or services) you will actually use now or in the near future."

I know the concept is so simple, but many of you still don't seem to grasp it. You are easily swayed by the newest cell phone, with an abundance of features (most of which you'll never use). The newest sound system at Circuit City, that doesn't decode the digital sound coming from your blu-ray player. And so on. Truth is, we are all gimmicked to buy things that we don't need, or will never use to it's fullest, because of our consumer-istic nature and our never-ending quest to satiate the need for material things to fulfill our life.

Today, I will talk about how you can make better decisions in your next tech purchases.

Buy if and ONLY IF you need it. You buy a computer, and you are convinced that, since it is tons faster, it's worth the $2,000+ because it will motivate you to edit those home movies you've never got a chance to edit on your slow computer. Years go by, and you never edit one movie. That $2,000+ you spent went to surfing online, and checking email. Yay for you.

• Don't let new sales sway your decision into buying a new gadget you were going to buy 6 months from now. Technology advances crazy fast nowadays, you buy a new tv today, most likely a bigger, brighter, and better tv will come out next month for the same price. So if you bought a new tv on sale earlier this year for 2009's Superbowl party, most likely, you will have lost your money and missed out on the new 120hz, bigger screens, and brighter pictures that are the same price now as those smaller, dimmer, 60hz scan tvs earlier this year.
• Don't buy an HD video camera if you don't plan on editing it. These files take up space. If you don't edit them right away, be prepared to buy extra external hard drives or dozens of dvds, to fill with useless movies you probably will never watch. Instead, remember that digital cameras now record movies, and they are a lot smaller too! If you already have a digital camera and plan on buying a video recorder to capture short clips of say, your family memories, then invest in newer batteries and a bigger storage card instead.

Determine the features you want. Any good Best Buy salesman, who are all evil, will feed you a load of crap to buy something you don't need, so do your research first and know what you want.

• Basic guide for buying computers.

1. Generally, for simple web browsing and email, Atom Processors on laptops are all you really need, or any budget pc with 2gb of ram will suffice.
2. For video editing, you'll need a bigger hard drive(320gb+) and more ram(2-4gb).
3. For gaming, a discrete (separate) video card, 128-bit or more and 256mb or more.

• Make use of what you already have. Be aware of the features and upgradeabillity of your current electronics. Most of you have a cell phone, a camera, and an mp3 player and carry it around with you everywhere. You must have ultra big pockets or huge purses! If you listen to music, make phone calls, and take pictures sparingly, then why don't you invest in a good cell phone that can do all three! Or expand your cell phone's memory (usually max 8gb) to take more pictures or listen to more music?

to be continued: DVDs & Blu-Rays: who needs em?
sorry, i skipped gmail basics, but will cover it real soon!

Back to the basics: Effective Googling

While watching most friends and family search the net, I've noticed that they don't utilize Google to it's fullest. Most of you may already know this, but if you don't, here are some helpful tips to get more relevant results.

Googling 101 - Original Site
(note: italicized words are words that should be entered into the google search page.)

• Use quotes for phrases. Instead of searching for: canon digital camera powershot a590, try searching for: canon "digital camera" "powershot a590", results are usually more accurate this way.
• Use (-) sign for words you don't want google to find. If you were looking for "guitar hero 3" cheats for the ps2, and don't want to find cheats for other consoles. Instead of "guitar hero 3" cheats ps2, type in "guitar hero 3" cheats ps2 -wii -xbox -ps3. Using the (-) sign will omit results with the words preceding the (-) sign.
• Use the I'm feeling lucky button. This button will take you to the first website of the google results.
• These techniques also work for Froogle/Google Products as well!

Useful Google Functions

• Dictionary. Search: define . Example: define soliloquy
• Flight Info. Search: . Example: aa 1387
• Sports Scores. Search: . Example: San Diego Chargers
• Movies. Search: movies . Examples: movies 92114
• More Functions. For a more comprehensive list functions please visit this site.

Now that you are more familiar with the Google search engine, I will be covering more of the useful services, programs, and features that Google offers. Stay tuned!

Next topic: Gmail Basics.

Bargain Online Christmas (actually anytime) Shopping

As you all may know, I'm very up to date with computer & technology gadget prices. Online bargain hunting has become somewhat of a hobby to me, in which I spend hours a day, keeping up with current market trends in prices and technology. Today, I will go over some of the tools and techniques I use to get these awesome deals so you can find them yourselves!

1. Slickdeals.net - This is one of my favorite tools to keep track of all sorts of online bargains day by day, from pampers to laptops.

Here are the major sections I use on this page:

• Front page deals - these are the deals that are shown on the front page. Usually these are the best prices you can find for an item online or in-store(aka B&M - Brick & Mortar)
• Search - Located on the upper right hand side of the front page. Slickdeals front page is based on user reported deals. The best deals get posted on the front page. But you can also search for specific products not shown on the front page with this tool. These deals are categorized in popularity, by a "thumbs up" rating on a scale from 0 - 5. I usually look for deals with a "thumbs up" rating of more than 2 when using the search function.
• Hot Topics section - Don't know what you're looking for, or just want to browse the popular deals not posted on the front page. Just browse the hot topics section on the right handside of the page. If you click on hot topics, there are a plethora of deals you can now waste hours browsing.

2. Techbargains.com - Another bargain site I go to. More technology-based deal listings.

• Front page deals - these are the deals that are shown on the front page similar to slickdeals' frontpage.
• Search - Located on the left hand side of the front page. Use this to search for a specific product. If no results are found, it means that the item you specified has not had a deal recently.

3. Froogle.com - aka Google Products. Search for any specific product, and it will return a comprehensive list of all the online stores carrying them, along with price, and shipping.

Tips for using froogle

• Be wary of shady sellers. When searching, scroll down to the very bottom and look for "Refine product results". Then look for "seller rating" and choose "3 stars and up". This will narrow down the results to sellers with reputable rating. When choosing to buy online, also keep in mind the number of ratings a seller has. The higher the rating, and the higher the raters, the better the seller. (note: I choose 3 stars and up because even stores like BestBuy or Walmart are sometimes rated with 3).
• Refine your results. At the very bottom of a result page you can set the price, choose the brand, etc. This will help find the specific product you are looking for.

4. Pricegrabber.com - Search for any specific product, and it will return a list of major online stores carrying them, along with price, and shipping. This takes most of the guessing out of whether a seller is reputable or not. Usually lists the popular sellers online. Although, they do have "Storefronts" which I always avoid! These are 3rd party sellers.

Bargain Techniques
In this section I will be discussing various techniques to obtain ridiculous deals.

1. Pricing Errors - Every now and then, the tired data entry specialist will enter the incorrect price into the system that is available to buy online. A $500 camera will sometimes be listed at $5.00. These deals usually get posted on slickdeals hot deals, but they usually go quick. If you happen to stumble upon a live pricing error:

• DO NOT CALL to order. The customer service representative will almost always catch the price error and adjust the price online.
• ADD TO CART, & CHECKOUT w/ expedited shipping. Adding a pricing error item to your cart and using expedited(or the fastest) shipping will usually allow you to get the price mistake item. Sure shipping will be $50+, but when an error is between $500 and $5, the $50 is well worth it.

2. Coupons - You're all aware of the coupon. Sunday clippings, email offers, they are all over. But sometimes online, you can combine these coupons to get extraordinary deals. So keep those coupons you get from Best Buy, Staples, etc. in the mail. Most likely, someone on slickdeals will find a way to compound that with existing coupons online!

3. Price Matching - A famous concept made famous by Circuit City. Most of you remember that commercial with the kid who bought a walkman in the 80's. "I bought this last week, and then I saw this, this week" handing the store clerk a Circuit City ad, who in turns gives him the difference. "That's it?" "That's it."
This concept is now honored by several stores who advertise and include it into their store policy, as well as other stores whose managers may negotiate with you.

Tips for price matching

• Print out an online ad from another store with the lower price. The store usually needs to be a B&M (definition at top) when bringing it in to another store for a price match. You can also chance it, by printing out the lowest price from an online retailer.
• Remember coupons. Once you have a successful pricematch, keep your coupon handy. Most likely the manager will have to initiate the price match, and when he leaves, show the store clerk the coupon for i.e. 20% off! Last year, I got a $400 printer & camera package, for only $115 by doing this! And if the manager doesn't leave, try it anyway.
• Pricematch online. Staples is one of the best places to pricematch online, by either phone or live chat. Try it! Make sure you have the link handy for the item you found online, or at least the store you found it at.

So these are basically the tools & techniques I use to find my crazy deals. Sure there are dozens of sites out there that have bargains like: edealinfo or bensbargains. But most of these are just repeats from the two I've posted. FatWallet, is worth a try once you get the hang of bargain shopping. Good luck to you all!

Next topic - Back to the basics: Effective Googling

How to make Christmas Wishlists

What better way to harbor Christmas spirit than to make a list of all the things you want. -Me

In a family as big as mine (40+ paternal, 20+ maternal, 2 sisters, 3 stepbrothers, 1 stepsister) a wish list is a necessity because trying to make a list in your head, for family my size, would probably cause your head to explode. Sure, Secret Santas help lessen the impact on your wallet (and your head), but there's still mom/dad/brother/sister that have to get you a gift and have no clue what you want. Some family they are. J/k.

Definition: j/k - just kidding

Here I will show you how to use Amazon to set up your Christmas wishlist.
1. Login or Setup an Amazon account. Goto Amazon.com, or click here to login to your account. If you don't have an account, and would like to create one (for shopping on amazon, or making your x-mas wishlist) click here, and fill-in your email address, select "No, I'm a new customer" and then follow the onscreen directions to create your account.)

2. Easy way: use Amazon.com. Now that you have logged in to your Amazon.com account, you are ready to start wishlisting. They have almost anything you need, from maxi pads to chainsaws. But I hope you don't get those as gifts, that would be a horrible idea. There are two ways to wishlist with Amazon, here's one way:

• Just use the Amazon search engine to find what you want.
  
• Once you're at an item you like, click on the "Add to Wish List" button.
• Continue with as many items as you like.
  

3. Universal (All websites) way: use Amazon's Universal Wishlist. Amazon just released this new universal wishlist, just in time for x-mas, that allows you to mark any item, from any website on your wishlist.

• Click here and follow the directions to install it.
  
• Once installed, there should be a button/link on your web browser's toolbar: "Add to Wish List".
• Now browse to your favorite website (i.e. ae.com, oldnavy.com, toysrus.com, newegg.com)
• Once you've opened up an item that you like, click on the "Add to Wish List" button.
• Continue with as many items as you like.

4. View & Share your wishlist. Once you have added at least one item to your wishlist, log back on to Amazon.com.

• Click on the "Your Lists" button on the upper right corner. See picture.
  
• Click on the "Wish List" button on the Left handsid
• To share your wishlist, click on "Make this list public".

5. How to find other's wishlists. If a wishlist is public (or shared) you can find it here using a person's name or email address. To post your wishlist, click on "Tell people about this list" and copy and paste your "unique Wish List address" to email, myspace, forums, etc... Check out my wishlist!





And that's it. May your Christmas shopping be filled with ease, and your Christmas with the joy of getting what you want... ah hem, I mean giving what other people want... um with joy and laughter and good times with friends and family.

Stay tuned for my next segment, bargain christmas shopping.

the fist blog post: bookmark me!

This is a blog to address common PC, electronic, & deal questions I have been asked by friends and family. Here I will attempt to answer the questions in a simple, easy-to-follow, step by step manner. It's basically a "for dummies" blog. And for those of you who don't know what a blog is, it means "web log", like on online diary/journal/personal newspaper/etc... I will try to post a new topic every week, maybe even a few more, as soon as I get the hang of this whole blog thingy.

First off, please click here to add this blog to your favorites. Now, check your bookmarks weekly for updates, and read the articles! I swear they will help.

Anyway, feel free to email me any questions you would like me to address, and hopefully I can get to it on my next posting!

Thank you everyone for reading! -C

Lesson 1:

How to bookmark
1.) On Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), click on the star with the green plus sign on the top left.

If you are using Firefox, click on Bookmarks, and then Bookmark this page.

Showing bookmarks
2.) On IE7, click on the star on the top left (without the plus sign), to view your bookmarks.
If you are using Firefox, click on Bookmarks to show your bookmarks.

3.) Congratulate yourself, you've just created and viewed a bookmark. Bookmarks are useful for keeping pages you would like to go back to handy in an easy to reach area, instead of having to search/navigate to that page again. But, watch out! The more you bookmark, the harder things will be to find!