>So here is one that has been tossing and turning around in my brain. With the likes of joost.com, hulu.com, youtube.com, Netflix Watch it Now, and espn360, is there really a need for a cable tv subscription?
I’ve been using Netflix’s Watch it Now feature with my Roku player, and it works great. I’ve discovered Hulu.com, through finding out about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (very funny):
http://www.hulu.com/embed/Z4kt7M5Uta51JuIDJV6HeQ
For those that can’t view the Hulu video, might want to check YouTube.
So, I’m really trying to consider if I need cable tv. The only things I would miss are Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, and a few other shows but the vast majority I watch are available online. Even some of the ones I mentioned have some full episodes on their respective sites.
So what does this have to do with my normal postings. Absolutely nothing. 
>I’m with you. I don’t think Cable subscriptions are needed anymore. I commented on this recently in a blog that mentioned switching cable providers, among other things.If my daughter didn’t enjoy some of the kids shows, I would get rid of the service completely.
>During a recent outage at work we used Netflix play now and Hulu to avoid going nuts at 4am in the morning while waiting for tasks to finish. It was wonderful. Eventually our employer will probably notice the bandwidth and wave a finger.Cable will still be around for a while. I can watch hockey in crystal clear unfailing high definition but the video feeds (if there are any) are usually not the greatest quality and lag occasionally. Live sports… I haven’t had a problem with Netflix services but if I’m downloading an Ubuntu ISO image via bittorrent (for example) then I get occasional hiccups.I would also miss shows not available online like Man vs. Food, Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs and the missus has hours of DVR material every day.I also think that money will affect things and ventually screw a lot of free or sit-through-an-ad-first services. I still pay for Netflix. All Simpsons and Family Guy clips were yanked from YouTube. It’s not like Time Warner or anyone else is going to just let their cash cow go away. In a perfect world they would make their services more affordable so us nerds wouldn’t need to justify looking elsewhere. Roughly $50 for basic plus full digital? Too much…
>Doug and Grouchy: Yeah, I feel the pain. I just re-discovered Babylon 5 on joost.com. The NetFlix watch it now is great, especially with the Roku player streaming to my set. We typically have both my wife downloading and playing movies as well as me doing some streaming to the TV and haven’t seen much issue. I typicall get 4 dots with NetFlix. I haven’t done much live sports watching, but I wouldn’t mind paying half of what I’m paying now for streaming quality.A side note, looks like the Roku player will be getting Amazon.com Videos On Demand feature soon.