Your mom was right. Watching TV is killing you, albeit indirectly. A new study found an association between people watching loads of TV and living shorter lives. So, it’s one of those correlation/causation dealios. Even still, the results were disturbing. By tracking death rates and lifestyle survey responses, the study found that for people over 25, for every hour of TV watched, their lifespan shortened by 22 minutes. [More]
television
Make Your Own Indoor HDTV Antenna From Cardboard And Aluminum Foil
By 8.8.11
You could drop $40-$70 on an indoor HDTV antennae, or you could make your own for a few bucks out of cardboard and aluminum foil. Since most TVs have built-in HD tuners, you can get local TV without paying for cable just by applying your DIY know-how. Reader Dave shares his instructions. [More]
This Is How TV Ads Are So Loud
By 5.27.11
Here’s something that might be hard to believe at first. There is no difference in volume between the loudest part of a TV show and a loud commercial. [More]
'Extreme Couponing' Is Back On TLC, And We Can't Look Away
By 4.6.11
Consumerist readers are divided on the subject of hardcore couponing: some are dedicated practitioners, and everyone else seems to think that couponers disrupt commerce and are poisoning their families with transfats, high fructose corn syrup, and greed. Last year, TLC made a one-off documentary, Extreme Couponing, that was such a hit that it is now becoming a reality series in its own right. Should you watch? [More]
Strings Attached: Charities Comcast Donated To Send FCC Pro-Merger Letters
By 9.3.10
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Comcast has donated over $1.8 billion to local charities and now that its merger with NBC is on the table, it’s time to call in the chits. Charities that received contributions from Comcast are pouring out their epistolary support for the merger, and they appear to be less than spontaneous. [More]
I Can't Afford Cable Anymore. How Can I Revive My Analog TV?
By 8.5.10
We hear the same exhortation everywhere: cut the cable! Save money! Ditch your cable company and live free! But if you had cable TV during the great DTV switch back in 2009, you probably didn’t think to send away for any government-subsidized converter boxes. If you’ve recently dropped your cable subscription out of rage or frugality, what are your options? Karen wants to know, and hopes that Consumerist readers have some ideas. [More]
Hulu Plus Reviewed: Is It Worth Your Money?
By 7.12.10
Staci D. Kramer at mocoNews tested Hulu Plus, the forthcoming “pay us $10 a month to watch commercials” subscription offering from Hulu, and reports that it’s okay-to-disappointing depending on your needs: “Given that I’m a subscription addict, I was fairly sure I’d wind up keeping it after my free review month. One week in, not so much.” [More]
"This Is Why I Canceled Cable," As Told In Collage Form
By 7.2.10
Redditor Lambboy got an email from his cable company asking him why, oh god why, had he canceled cable? Doesn’t he know that without it life is but a cheap oat paste? Lambboy struggled with the best way to communicate his innermost thoughts. The radio buttons on the survey, and, yes, even the optional comment boxes, were insufficient tools with which to express himself. So, he sent them this collage. [More]
ABC Doubling The Commercials On iPad App, Online Streams
By 6.16.10
If you watch ABC’s shows online or with an iPad, your limited commercial interruptions are about to get a little less limited. So far, most of ABC’s streaming shows contain 5 to 6 ads of 30 seconds each, but mocoNews says one of ABC’s executives just confirmed that the network is going to double that ad load, perhaps leading the way for other networks to do the same. [More]
Should I Assume All HDTVs Self-Destruct And Just Buy Something Crappy?
By 5.26.10
Brendan has a question for the Consumerist hive mind. He wants to buy a large-ish HDTV, but isn’t sure that his usual method of buying technology–buy the cheapest thing he can get his hands on, and count on it not to break for a year or two–will work at these price points. [More]
HBO To Start Gouging PS3 Owners As Well As Pay TV Customers
By 5.25.10
HBO is putting its shows up for download on the PlayStation 3, NASDAQ reports, but its $3-per-hourlong episode pricing is even nastier than its monthly charge for cable and satellite subscribers — about $20 on Comcast in my neck of the woods. [More]
FCC To Control What You Can/Can't Record From TV
By 5.12.10
At the MPAA’s behest, the FCC granted Selectable Output Control, which means you won’t be able to record certain “high value” stuff off your TV, ZeroPaid reports: [More]
Become A TiVo Premiere Early Adopter At Your Own Peril
By 4.22.10
Victor wants to warn Consumerist readers: no matter how much you love your TiVo, do not jump in and let yourself be an early adopter of the company’s new product, the Premiere (or series 4) box. He and other Premiere users have shared their tales of heartbreak and bugs with the Internet. [More]
Consumer Reports Tests 3D Televisions, Goofy Glasses
By 3.12.10
We might have all of the cat pictures here at Consumerist, but our sibling publication, Consumer Reports, gets to play with very cool toys. Right now, the folks in the TV-testing lab have some of the exciting new 3D televisions from Panasonic and Samsung, and they made a preliminary video to show them off and weigh the pros and cons of being an early 3D TV adopter. Sorry, the video is only in 2D. [More]
Cablevision Produces New Bitchy Video Loop Aimed At ABC
By 3.4.10
New York City area cable provider and ISP Cablevision is in a contract renewal fight with yet another content provider. This time, it’s ABC’s flagship broadcast station WABC that wants more money, and Cablevision has raised the stakes in the passive-aggressive public service announcement wars. They’ve redirected customers’ cable boxes to a special channel where a looped announcement plays, and have started a YouTube channel to get the word out to any non-customers who might happen to care. [More]
No More Daily Show Or Colbert Report On Hulu
By 3.2.10
The New York Times is reporting that Viacom plans to pull its Comedy Central programming from Hulu next week because it can’t reach an agreement with the video site on compensation. In a post today on its blog, a Hulu executive notes that Hulu was “unable to secure the rights to extend these shows,” and that they’ll be gone as of 11:59 pm PST next Tuesday, March 9th. After that, you can continue watching them on TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com. [More]
Did NBC's Coverage Of The Winter Olympics Suck?
By 3.1.10
As a product, NBC’s broadcast of the 2010 Winter Olympics seemed pretty disappointing to a lot of online users. TechCrunch points out that a recent analysis of comments on Twitter, blogs, and forums, shows a wide range of dissatisfaction with NBC’s coverage, with the biggest percentage focused on content: 19% of the complaints were about the tape delay of events (what a former NBC sports exec once called “plausibly live”), and 20% were about there not being enough actual sporting events shown. [More]
Quick, Someone Develop Adblock For Online TV Commercials
By 2.8.10
The ratings company Nielsen–the company you can blame for bad stunt-casting and stupid plot devices during sweeps week–is going to start rolling in data from online viewings of commercials this fall, which means networks will start using online viewing stats to help sell ads this time next year. What this means: if a network uses the new Nielsen rating system, “shows seen online will have to have the same group of commercials that run on TV,” reports AdAge. [More]
