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Poll: Has the PC replaced your TV at home?

In the age where computers and internet is very prevalent, the TV still holds the most coveted position in almost all homes anywhere — as the center-piece in the living room.

It’s the position that the PC (plus Internet) is trying to claim. But let’s all face it — the television is still the king of the home.

Unlike PCs, the TV just works — no boot-up time, no blue screen of death, no freezing apps, no network configurations needed, no buffering, no file format compatibility issues, no viruses/malwares/spywares to worry about.

For some people however, they still try to find ways to make the PC the center of entertainment at home. With the clever use of media players, gigabytes of storage, volumes of torrent files, and a plethora of games to choose from, it is possible to fill up the usual TV time with PC time. It’s really up to the individual.

I’m curious — has the PC replaced your TV at home? I’ve had my cable disconnected since December and never missed it (never had time to watch TV anyway).

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

46 Responses

  1. Avatar for Girard Andrew Girard Andrew says:

    TV + XBMC + internet + downloaded videos
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9046oXrm7f8

    Is this what Steve Jobs was talking about 10 years ago?

  2. Avatar for Ivan Ivan says:

    TV is still king! Especially if you have a media player connected to it like WDTV. It is simply more enjoyable to watch your favorite tv shows on a wider screen than a 14 inch monitor or screen, isn’t it? and my job requires me to be in front of the computer for 7 hours. the last thing i want to do when i go home is spend the few more hours i am awake in front of the computer again.

  3. Avatar for mark mark says:

    i spend majority of my time in front of the pc because of work. but if we’re talking about entertainment, and media consumption, i wont trade the experience to that of from the 55incher, especially that the video on demand and HD cable is hooked up to the tv.

  4. Avatar for mr. bogus mr. bogus says:

    nandyan pa rin, kahit na may cp, pc, laptops, and tablets

    sabi nila mawawala ang dyaryo pero nandyan pa
    sabi nila mawawala ang libro pero nandyan pa rin

  5. Avatar for ddwrt ddwrt says:

    I don’t watch TV because the shows suck big time. Major TV channels simply broadcast some “recycled” cartoons/anime just to fill in their broadcast time. Yucky TV stations…Doraemon and Ghost Fighter anyone?

  6. Avatar for Faith@ahead Faith@ahead says:

    yes! i only watch for the news (but rarely, like when Reyes killed himself…)

  7. Avatar for mike mike says:

    hmm, i don’t even bother to turn on the tv anymore, i just get my entertainment fix from the Internet. as a a “TV” junkie, i get my fix from hulu, since most of my favorite shows are available hours after the original US airdate! cable and terrestrial tv can’t even offer this kind of immediacy.

  8. Avatar for paul edward paul edward says:

    TV will still be an instant entertainment :D

  9. Avatar for nameless nameless says:

    TV is useless if you’ve got nothing good to watch. Almost all the shows in Free TV are crap nowadays.

    • Avatar for outdoor advertising outdoor advertising says:

      no matter the tv will be replaced in the future and perhaps lcd in the near future too. I think what matters now is the content to watch on tv. Sana more programs and more educational shows para its worth watching pa din. Saka puro SD signal pa din naman satin, unlike aksyon tv, etc and some have managed to go HD lately

  10. Avatar for leeto leeto says:

    TV is still an essential appliance in a house. it looks that a house is naked if there is no tv around.

  11. Avatar for Iyan Sommerset Iyan Sommerset says:

    In my house, not really since my dad can’t even work the camera on a cellphone. Hell, he still listens to AM radio.My momon te other hand prefers to.watch movies using her laptop either on an external monitor or an lcd tv. She’s gone spoiled to the point that she needs her monitors to have HDMI ports to plug.her.laptop in. Me? Haven’t watched fiction on TV in years. Everything in digital data form for me.

  12. Avatar for daniel daniel says:

    there’s no better way to watch Tv than on the TV itself… haha minsan nanonood ako Mara Clara sa desktop pagka tinatamad ako pumasok ng bahay… pero minsan tumigil at nag-logout ung owner ng livestream kaya tumigil ung mara clara ko… haha kaya TV pa din di pde mawala.

  13. Avatar for florencia florencia says:

    I don’t have time watching tv anymore but I still want it. For me, there’s still a difference.

  14. Avatar for AdRiaN AdRiaN says:

    im not always watching tv when im at home, cuz im always at my room.. downloading/working/playing/streamings/ect.. and i enjoy all the movies i downloaded with a full screen on my LCD.. but sometimes playing downloaded movie at our LCD TV is good but some movie is not playing fullscreen. i also play ps3 at my LCD pc, and it almost the same as playing with LCD tv.. so basically for my i love my PC at my room.. :D

  15. Avatar for Otoy Otoy says:

    TV becomes obsolete everytime Pacquiao fights..internet streaming has improve a lot :)

  16. Avatar for justin justin says:

    why dont they make a tv that has internal storage hmm lets say 1TB or 2 should do and add wireless file transferring, that would surely make televisions more interesting and useful

  17. Avatar for Roy Roy says:

    TV for local shows/news. It’s also easier to switch channels to look for something interesting to watch versus going through links for TV episodes, buffering the video. Come to think of it, I think the term “Channel Surfing” came about even before “Internet Surfing” came to be.

    For the PC, I use it to watch movies/tv episodes that I anticipate; e.g. latest episode of US shows or movies that have been released outside of the PH.

  18. Avatar for adam adam says:

    I watch on TV I think for 4 hours a day then 10 hours sa laptop na other 10 hours para matulog.

  19. Avatar for rhk111 rhk111 says:

    The internet will not replace my TV … Not within the next decade, at least.

    Then again, I could be wrong. If within the next five years internet speeds increase while price for the subscription and the hardware becomes more affordable, we could all switch to video-on-demand from the internet …

  20. Avatar for Jeremy Jeremy says:

    I think my family uses the TV a lot for sports shows and news [specially pag documentaries ng Al Jazeera. Or pag desperado, FOXNews bleargh].

    I stay more time in front of the computer to monitor the downloads of korean dramas and music that my mom wants. My mom usually uses the LCD with the media player loaded up with terabytes worth of korean and american dramas.

    Ang resulta, may kanya kanyang tv ang magulang ko at ako wala hahaha. Sapilitan sa pc nanonood.

  21. Avatar for wh@ wh@ says:

    tv is still the king of entertainment in our home next pc, then the netbook, smartphone, then the china clone tablet.

  22. Avatar for Name: Name: says:

    yes, I still have a flat tv but i never use it that often, mainly for watching movies. I catch up with tv episodes that are shown thru the internet :-)

  23. Avatar for Jhay Jhay says:

    Even though we have two PCs at home, the TV still has its place in it. Until we have a decent connection good enough for Internet TV services then this could be a possibility.

    As long as HBO, Discovery, Star World, Nat Geo and ESPN are on cable TV then my PCs and the TVs have to coexist peacefully at home.

  24. Avatar for Lawrence M. Lawrence M. says:

    PC will never replace TV.. Ever..

  25. Avatar for Alwin Alwin says:

    I still have my TV, but most of the time I have my laptop on while watching free TV. Never bothered subscribing to cable. But no, I don’t think TV will replace PC.

  26. Avatar for dirtyboy66 dirtyboy66 says:

    for me, my pc is my tv too. i recently bought a tv tuner in cd-r king (which is very dirt cheap). i’m so happy that i can record shows with it. i’m now using my lcd tv as a monitor for my pc so that i can save up energy and money from buying separate electronics.

  27. Avatar for Glenn Ong Glenn Ong says:

    I haven’t been able to watch TV, since I have the Internet + computer/tablet to keep me busy all the time.

    I actually wrote an article in Manila Bulletin — Is TV Obsolete? http://www.glennong.com/2011/03/is-tv-obsolete.html

  28. Avatar for Name: IC DeaDPiPoL Name: IC DeaDPiPoL says:

    pretty much dependent on my pc for keeping me entertained. Only way tv would become part of it If i can get a good 32″ tv and hook it up to my pc and run XBMC for watching videos and switching to cable tv for recording shows

  29. Avatar for luther luther says:

    i only have one laptop but i love to collect lcd tv’s and home theaters. may 5 sets na ako pero di ko maxadong nagagamit. naka online lang ako parati,pinaputol ko na din cable kasi dagdag gastos at minsan lang ako manuod. gusto ko lang cla tingnan,its like a piece of art for me.

  30. Avatar for deuts deuts says:

    Nothing still beats watching movies in a 32-inch (at least that’s my case) LCD TV.

  31. Avatar for D D says:

    my PC is my TV

  32. Avatar for Benchmark Benchmark says:

    For me, TV is still TV…watch news, movies, etc.

    We usually connect my laptop to the LCD for everybody to see the movie (when the file format is not compatible with the built-in player of the LCD) or when we are making video calls to our relatives in abroad.

    Probably a PC can be a personal entertainment…but to make the whole family happy and entertained, you still need large TV right? Am I on the right track????

  33. Avatar for orgl orgl says:

    gamit ko pc na meron tv tuner, ok lang sabay puwede window mode or dual monitor. kaka miss din tv na experience ko na halos isuka ko na rin ang pc kasi hindi na ako nakakapanood ng tv ng sabay, kaya naisipan ko yung tv tuner kaya balance na ang buhay ko ngayon ika nga with a little bit of this and a little bit of that hahaha at take note tipid pa sa koryente kaysa meron ka pang dedicated na tv. tsaka hindi rin maganda ang experience ko sa tv money wise bibilin mo ng mahal sa una sandaling panahon lang tipong pang karaoke machine nalang yung ibunuhos mong pera doon sa pangarap mong tv tapos bukas singko isa nalang sana nilagay ko nalang sa banko yung pera ko laki talaga pag-sisi ko sa wega na yun.

  34. Avatar for marvin marvin says:

    Almost… I personally seldom watch on TV. Some channels (CNN, History, NatGeo, etc) are available on PLDTWATCHPAD… news on the internet is more updated than on the TV…

  35. Avatar for manaka_junpei manaka_junpei says:

    kaya lang, medyo walang storage ang Internet TV, dahil walang HDD ito, not as good as PC itself, hindi mo magagawa ang gawi mo sa PC, puwera na lang kung ini-attach mo yung VGA cable na nasa LCD/LED TV sa Laptop/Desktop PC mo, medyo magandang idea ang Internet TV, pero wala pa ring tatalo sa PC

  36. Avatar for Gian Gian says:

    As opposite to Atma, I used my PC for watching downloaded movies at night and TV for watching TV shows.

  37. Avatar for slabster slabster says:

    when my tv wasn’t lcd yet, YES, my laptop replaced my use of tv at home
    but since LG 32LD460 could read my 320GB HDD, i watch downloaded series, movies and anime episodes there while do regular computing stuff with my laptop

    i think my mom still spends more time in front of tv watching drama compared to her time playing farmville, but that’s because her internet is on prepaid…but if not, it’s a highly possible YES
    our playstation 1 did not upgrade anymore so she doesn’t have much use for tv aside from local dramas

  38. Avatar for sylv3rblade sylv3rblade says:

    I use my TV for watching movies from the HTPC or as a big display when playing games.

  39. Avatar for Gizmodose Gizmodose says:

    Well, the latest TVs with internet are quite expensive to begin with. I know a lot of people who still stick with CRT. I personally have a CRT at home and at this moment I’m not looking to replace it just yet

  40. Avatar for Clarriscent Clarriscent says:

    Thanks to my laptop and Internet, I never have to look at the time in anticipation of a program nor try to be patient with commercials. Every TV show that I watch, I stream online. Although I wouldn’t use the word “replaced”, my laptop has definitely diminished immensely the importance of our tv at home.

  41. Avatar for raul barrios raul barrios says:

    I only live in a boarding house so TV is not an option. However, the PC is the one that is entertaining me. But sometimes I also miss watching TV…

  42. Avatar for Ronskie Ronskie says:

    For me, yes, I don’t have the time to watch tv anymore coz’ of my work, so I usually depend on the torrents and streammings… or should i say net… but my TV doesn’t mean it’s useless anymore coz im using my TV(Sharp Aquos) as my display monitor… ^_^

    • Avatar for Ronskie Ronskie says:

      and by the way on this comming july analog frequency here will be history, so goodbye to all the CRT TV’s…

  43. Avatar for jun jun says:

    .. still has 3 tv at home…. 2 laptop and 2 desktop at home :) but if the internet upgrades and internet tv is available locally maybe..

    • Avatar for Joel Olave Joel Olave says:

      I have both a PC and a TV at home. I do not think a PC will ever replace a TV unless everyone is willing to give up the ability to use both at the same time. This just won’t happen at all no matter what we try to do.

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