How to Part 3 – Putting it all Together

In my last two “How To” posts, I described the Internet and TV Worlds with illustrations. This post shows you how to connect the two and “cut the cord”

The illustration to the right shows the Internet and TV worlds alongside of one another with a “wall” between them (which is often the case in many homes).

The next illustration shows the addition of a Digital Video Player and the path from your router through your Digital Video Player to your TV set. Your Digital Video Player can be connected to your router via wireless connection, an Ethernet cable, or a Powerline Ethernet connection.

Whichever broadband transmission method you select, your broadband connection transfers streaming video to your Digital Video Player. Software on your Digital Video Player enables you to interact with the streaming video in such a way that you can select and choose your programming in a manner similar to how you currently use your digital TV. Once you select a program, your Digital Video Player plays the program live on your TV.

Some example of Digital Video Players brands and models are:

Roku
Costs $99.00 ($10 more than the average monthly cable bill) and offers easy connections with Netflix and Amazon. Roku offers a 30 day money back guarantee.

TiVo
Offers a combination DVR with Digital Video Player and offers connections with NetFlix, Amazon, Disney, and a number of music services. Unlike Roku, TiVo may also charge a monthly fee for its TiVo service.

AppleTV
Connects your TV directly to broadband featuring easy integration with iTunes.

Xbox 360 acts as Digital Video Players when connected to a broadband connection featuring integration, for instance, with NetFlix and its own video marketplace.

I will discuss Digital Video Players in-depth in a later post including televisions and Blue-ray players that double as Digital Video Players.

Over time, TV sets will incorporate what is now Digital Video Players within their internal electronics so that these separate devices will no longer be needed. You will simply plug an Ethernet cable into the back of your TV like you plug a coax cable or just provide you TV your broadband wireless information and connect. This is precisely the path that cable took in its early days. Remember separate cable boxes with buttons to press for various channels? Eventually, TVs become “cable ready” incorporating the separate box electronics. The same will occur with broadband TV.

Finally, I would like to briefly sample broadband TV programming which I will cover in-depth through a number of later posts.

New programming is coming online every day as previous posts have illustrated. Some of the most popular broadband programming destination sites are:

Advertising Supported Sites

YouTube – known primarily for User Generated Content, YouTube just announced its intent to provide professionally produced advertiser supported content. See previous post Google Makes it Easier to Cut Cord.

Hulu – is a joint venture of Fox, NBC, and just announced Disney. Hulu is to professional video content what YouTube is to user generated content.

FanCast – is owned by Comcast – the country’s largest cable operator. Talk about hedging your bets! Cable ownership aside, it offers some very strong programming through partnerships with Hulu and through its own content.

Subscription / Rental Sites

Netflix – offers on-demand, streamed TV shows and Movies at no charge with their DVD subscription programs.

Amazon – Amazon offers a set of titles that can be viewed online. See recent post announcing HD programming.

iTunes – rent or buy titles and play through AppleTV or other Digital Playbackdevice. TV Shows and Movies are available for rent or purchase.


Whew. That was a lot of information. Don’t worry, since I’ll devote separate posts to Digital Video Players and Broadband Video Sites and “channels”.

To get started “cutting the cord”, I suggest trying broadband TV on a television that you do not currently have connected to cable and turn it into your broadband TV laboratory. Once you find you like the experience, continue adding Digital Video Players to additional TV’s expanding your broadband connected TVs. With enough TV’s connected through broadband, cut the cord completely as shown in the figure to the right.