Fuck you, Steve Jobs
Look.
All I'm saying is, there's nothing wrong or illegal or troubling about me wanting to watch season 3 of Battlestar Galactica from the comfort of my couch, on my actual TV, rather than hunched in front of my computer.
And yet iTunes, in its wisdom, has decided to make it impossible for people who spend hundreds of dollars a year on Apple products to actually enjoy those products in any manner that doesn't involve, um, purchasing more Apple products. Or something.
It's really fucked up that you won't let me watch something I purchased from you unless I do it your way. Twenty-something years ago people like you tried to ban VCRs, and you all got a resounding bitch-slap from the Supreme Court (back in the days when it worked right).
I'm not going to buy a damn video iPod for the sole purpose of hooking it up to my TV so I can watch a show I've already bought. And when you, Google, and China take over the world, I'll still hate you.
Thank God for my laptop. I don't get the TV part, but at least I can have the couch. Asshole.
Labels: Angry Rants, H-wood, Puters and such
posted by Law Fairy @ 9:30 AM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Relax, Lawfairy, relax.
There are ways around all this. First of all, you can hook your computer up to your TV directly. Older macs had S-video outputs, so all you'd need there is an S-video cord. Othersise there are DVI to component, VGA and s-video adapters that will allow you to output video to your TV.
Second, there aer wireless prodcuts out there other then Apple TV thatwill allow you to output video wirelessly to your TV.
Thirdly, you can ca[pture video without buying it all DRM protected on itues. A product like Elgato's "Eye TV" (I think it is called) will let you use your computer as a DVR and record both analog cable programs and over the air HDTV, all without crappy DRM that limits playback to itunes.
And for audio output, all you need is a headphone-> stereo RCA cord that you can get at Radioshcak for $5.
So what kind of computer do you have and what kind of video outputs does it have?
I've been thinking about trying to figure out how to do that with my laptop (my old Dell Inspiron from law school), since my computer is all the way across the room from the TV and I don't want to buy a 30-foot cord that I'm not even sure I can get to work. Desktop is an HP. I have no idea what kind of video output either has, but I'll try checking it out when I'm home tonight.
And what kind of TV do you have? A fancy widescreen HDTV model? or an old school 4:3 analog tv?
well, what you'll need is a VGA-> s-video or composite video adapter, depending on you TV.
If your computer is new enough, it might have a DVI output, and if your TV is new enough, it might have a DVI input (meaning no adapter necessary) or even a VGA input. Both your laptop and desktop have VGA outputs, that is for sure. Your laptop might even have an s-video output, and your TV unless it is really old will have an s-video output.
As for audio, all you need is the one cabe, and perhaps an extension cord, and you can hook that up to your stereo, rather than your TV and output your computer audio through your stereo.
Radio shack is teh place to get these cords, or online. Not at bestbuy, unless you want to pay 20x what you should.
If you are really bad at all this stuff, take a poloroid of your computer outputs and your TV/stereo inputs, go to radio shack and say you want to output your coumpter's audio and video to your TV and/or stereo.
Cool! Thanks!
TV is pretty new (got it November 05), rear projection HD -- so probably has all the requisite hookups to make my life easier. I know I have a ton of random cables and such lying around, I might see if any of them are the right ones before heading to Radio Shack, where it's almost impossible to find parking :P
Ah, then what you'll want for either computer is a VGA -> component adapter (the three pronged red green and blue one) or if your computers have a DVI out either a DVI cord (if your TV has one) or a DVI -> HDMI cord (If your TV is new enough to have only HDMI and not DVI).
For audio all you'll need is a $5 headphone to stereo adapter, and maybe an extension cord.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2290596&cp=&sr=1&origkw=vga+component&kw=vga+component&parentPage=search
This has been a very informative set of comments! A hearty Thank You to both lak and LF as I have been dealing with the same pent up anger with iTunes. LF - please keep us posted on any arrangement you come up with!
Well, that's just plain stupid. It's not as if he needs the money.
"Well, that's just plain stupid. It's not as if he needs the money. "
Oh well, regardless of what his intentions are; it will still create almost the same outcome. If we need all these extra links and they are built in or included with what we buy then the price of the goods will be more expensive. If he wants to cheat then either way he is going to do that.
Thanks for the help lak -- I ended up just watching at my computer. I wanted to run the shows from my laptop and hook into the TV (that would just be a lot easier than trying to hook up my PC to the TV, because they're all the way across the room from each other, meaning longer/more expensive cable AND if I wanted to pause I have to walk ALL THE WAY over to the other side of the room, and I'm fucking lazy) and after about an hour of booting the old computer back up, installing the most recent version of iTunes, and authenticating the shows with the iTunes mafia so I could actually watch them, I realized that my stupid laptop can't play movies properly... I need to optimize it or something, it felt like the thing was running Windows 95, it was so slow.
Anyway, it wasn't too bad sitting at the computer to watch -- I spend all day every day at the computer anyway, so this seemed the same, only way more fun.
As I've said before, this show is freaking addictive. I finished the whole third season this weekend ("this weekend" meaning Saturday. Believe it or not, I also did my taxes and fed and walked a friend's dog), which means I'm officially caught all the way up. Also the trippiest season finale I've seen, quite possibly ever. Damn, but it's a long time until the movie/next season.
heart, it's even stupider than that. There's essentially no amount of money I could pay to get these on a watchable DVD. I could try using hacks and breaking the law (and probably screwing it up anyway). But short of that, what I REALLY want -- to be able to play the shows from my *DVD player* -- just isn't available for purchase at the moment. It's really not a money issue. Like a good addict, I will pay whatever is necessary to get my fix.
knights, I would pay more for the shows if there were a way to write them to DVD. Currently they're two bucks each; I'd pay even twice that (which doesn't sound like much, but when you figure that it's 38 bucks for a 19-episode season, it sounds little bit pricier... if I were to buy the third season on a DVD set put out by the producers, it would probably cost around 60 bucks). My gripe is that there's no OPTION. Which is stupid and counterproductive.
Well, being the luddite that I am, I didn't quite grasp the enormity of the problem.
It really does suck, then, in ways I can only imagine.
Would you like me to write Jobs a hate letter for you? I write really good hate letters. (Although your post is a first-rate one itself.)
heart, ooooo, hate mail. How fun! You have my full endorsement if you do so :)
Funny enough, a friend of mine pointed out that I could, in fact, invest in an Apple device that would have the same effect as burning my iTunes TV shows to DVD: Apple TV.
Taking over the frakkin' world...
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