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Television Media

TechTV.com RIP 261

Posted by timothy from the we-hardly-knew-ye dept.
SlashdotOgre writes "It has finally happened, www.techtv.com is no more. This was somewhat expected after Comcast decided to give the ax. This is a bit of a shame; as many users know, the site was an excellent resource for both product reviews and software. Most noteably, the Call for Help section has disappeared and The Screen Savers only has recent episodes in the Episode History section. If Comcast does own the rights to older material, I do hope they decide to post some of it (but I doubt that will be enough to ge me to watch their "new" network)."
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TechTV.com RIP More

TechTV.com RIP

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  • TechTV isn't gone. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Judg3 ( 88435 ) <jeremy&pavleck,com> on Monday May 31, 2004 @12:49AM (#9294437) Homepage Journal
    It's merged with the G4 network and is now G4TechTV [g4techtv.com].

    Just as well to, as I get G4 on my current digital package, but TechTV was up on a higher tier. To get it, I'd have to get out of my current promotion and reassemble into a new package with the techtv tier - taking a normally $6.95/mo tier up to almost 40$ - since I'd lose the savings I was currently getting!
    • yeah but instead of Call for Help and some of the other computer shows, we'll get to see "Invent This!" quite possibly the most shitty show ever. this show doesnt even relate to real technology and has such useful inventions as the show with a wheel on the back so it can be used like a roller skate and a very inventive dogpack that can also be used as a poncho for your puppy. it amazes me that the merged network has failed to cancel this worthless waste of valuable TV time!
      • "Invent This" has nothing to do with the G4 merge (though I agree it sucks). If you want to discuss TechTV shows being overrun with crappy G4 shows, let's talk "Players". A bunch of celebrities who might (I think?) know how to press a button in a favorite video game that stars (surprise!) them. Ugh.

        Bring back Tech Live please (or move it back to its old time slot, if it's still there.)

        • While TechTV wasn't all roses, I have to agree; I have yet to see any post-merger G4 show that wasn't either dull or annoying or both. While I do game, I guess I'm just not hardcore enough to watch other people play with smug and "clever" commentary from the hosts...

          I seem to recall (from a previous /. article) that the TechTV crew has another month or so before they either move to LA or get sacked. Any updates on that?

      • has such useful inventions as the show with a wheel on the back so it can be used like a roller skate

        Like you, I mocked these shoes when I first saw them, but I was out walking the other night and witnessed someone who had developed a pretty impressive hybrid running / gliding style using them. So... uh, that's about it. They're not quite as dumb as they initially seem. I agree about the dog poncho however.

    • Re:TechTV isn't gone. (Score:5, Funny)

      by MagicDude ( 727944 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:10AM (#9294521)
      Tuning into tech TV these days is met with a blue screen with white text reading "An error has occured on channel 87. If this error continues to occur, please contact your local comcast representative. Change the channel to continue." Turning the TV on and off seems to have no effect on the problem.
    • The original posting wasn't in regards to the actual TechTV channel, but of the website.

      While there is a G4TechTV website, it's missing a good deal of content that used to be contained on the TechTV site, as is mentioned in the original posting, much of which came in very useful to search through, particularly older Screensaver episodes and any of the Call For Help series.

  • Archive.org (Score:5, Informative)

    by BodyCount07 ( 260070 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @12:50AM (#9294446) Homepage
    Archive.org has some archives of the old site. Much of the old data can be found there. [archive.org]
    • I tried to get http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/howto/story/0,2 4330,3433785,00.html but it seems like Archive.org missed it. :( However, Google's cache has it and who knows how long it will hold on to it. :(

    • Re:Archive.org (Score:4, Interesting)

      by zoeblade ( 600058 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @02:22AM (#9294773) Homepage

      Archive.org also has episodes of another computer show, Computer Chronicles [archive.org]. It's much older (mainly eighties episodes), but they don't do things by halves: for the online database episode they interview people from Q-Link (later renamed AOL) and Compuserve, and in their music episode they interview John Chowning, who invented FM synthesis.

  • I'm trying to... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ericdano ( 113424 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @12:53AM (#9294456) Homepage
    I'm trying to shed a tear but.........I can't. I thought their reviews to be lack luster, and the "reporting" to be subpar. They were, at their best, like Slashdot on a very bad day.

    • Re:I'm trying to... (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      They were, at their best, like Slashdot on a very bad day./i

      I never head Leo Laporte say "Propz to GNAA!"

    • Re:I'm trying to... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by MightyPez ( 734706 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:13AM (#9294542)
      The reporting got me the most. Ugh, it was shameful.

      I recall when the nVidia clip planes in 3dmark03 were discovered, it hit most of the major news sites. When TechTV (via The Screen Savers) read the Inquirer article about it, they showed the clip planes and said it was ATI cheating.

    • Re:I'm trying to... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by bwcbwc ( 601780 )
      This is true. Tech TV is like the Tonight Show of the computer industry. Vendors get on the shows to display their latest stuff like the actors that bring Leno their latest movie clip.

      Give them credit though. Television is not a medium designed for in-depth reviews. The best you can hope for is a quick overview of a product and a thumbs up or down as a recommendation. Like PC Magazine in its time, they always find something good to say about a product because they are dependent on the vendors' largesse. T

  • I told you so (Score:4, Interesting)

    by LinuxWhore ( 90833 ) * on Monday May 31, 2004 @12:53AM (#9294457) Homepage Journal
    I saw this coming [slashdot.org]. I real shame too. I really liked TechTV. Now that I've moved, I can't get TechTV OR G4. The cable company didn't carry either network.

  • Archive will be up soon? (Score:4, Informative)

    by davidj0228 ( 543196 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @12:53AM (#9294460)
    "Where's the Archive? The past three months are available now. The entire archive is coming soon! " on the site... guess all that good info will be back soon?

  • ZDTV (Score:3, Interesting)

    by simontek2 ( 523795 ) <SimonTek AT gmail DOT com> on Monday May 31, 2004 @12:59AM (#9294480) Homepage Journal
    Yes ZDTV/TechTV will be missed. It was nice having a geek network. So Who wants to start a new network?
    • anyone that liked ZDTV needs to have their heads examined... and G4Techtv exitst in full swing.

      shows like Call for help sucked... it was a last ditch to try and keep it from completely dying by putting leo in it's lead position instead of that horribly annoying ADHD guy who had too much coffee..

      It is a very low ratings, low viewership channel that could not survive on it's own... they knew it when they sold to Comcast. Comcast is currently in a Content Buying binge and they know that there is some viewers

      • shows like Call for help sucked... it was a last ditch to try and keep it from completely dying by putting leo in it's lead position instead of that horribly annoying ADHD guy who had too much coffee..

        If you knew anything about the network, you would know that Leo hosted CFH from the beginning of ZDTV, until Chris Pirillo took over after Paul Allen/VV bought it. Leo was only reinstituted to CFH a few months ago due to major fan outcry.

      • Re:ZDTV (Score:5, Insightful)

        by mrtrumbe ( 412155 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @09:20AM (#9296095) Homepage
        It is a very low ratings, low viewership channel that could not survive on it's own... they knew it when they sold to Comcast.

        Bullroar. Absolute nonsense.

        When did ZDTV come out? Let's see, it was probably 1998-1999, if I remember correctly. That's about 6 years on the air. During that time, they went from having very few advertisers, to having many (as some other posts here have actually lamented). They went from a few original programs to more than a few.

        Basically, they could survive on their own. Sure, not the same way Comedy Central or TNT survives, but they had been around for quite some time and had been steadily improving the whole time. No telethons our pleading for cash necessary. They WERE surviving before this move, they just weren't a cash cow.

        And why would ANYONE rejoice in Comcast picking this channel up to make it another cookie-cutter crappy cable TV network? Sure, it might become marginally more profitable, but we already have 150+ cable channels offering the same crap. YOU might not have liked TechTV, but it was unique. It was geeky, too, and that helped make it fun. What can we expect now instead of that "by geeks (even if you didn't like them), for geeks" feeling? Maybe all weekend movie marathons? Infomercials during non-peak hours? Stupid shitty gameshows? Maybe they can find a way to incorporate reality TV with a geek channel?

        I had Comcast cable for over a year. They like to split channels. You know, Court TV from 3:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Comedy Central from 5:00 PM to 3:00 AM eveyday of the week. They show no signs of changing this fucking insanely stupid policy, even in the face of Direct TV which, *gasp*, allows you to get FULL TV channels 24 hours a day.

        Somehow I don't hold high hopes of Comcast making this a channel I'd like to watch. Call me cynical, I guess...Or maybe I just learn from my bad choices in corporate content providers.

        Taft

  • I've Been watching... (Score:5, Informative)

    by drayzel ( 626716 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:03AM (#9294496)
    The new G4TechTv on Dish. So far everything I have seen that has come over from G4 is really lame. I'm not saying that everything on TechTv was awesome, but the quality of the shows I've seen from G4 is not very good. Has anyone seen PLayers? Yikes, I really do NOT want to watch uninsteresting people play video games. Am I missing any G4 shows that are worth my time to watch at all? As it is I'd rather watch and laugh at 'The Big JOe Polka Fest' on one of the crazy community access channels... it's like a bad accident-- nobody wants to see it, but everybody looks.

    ~Z
    • Not a fan of the G4TV as well. Arena I think burns my ass the most. LAN parties are enough of a social nightmare to go to in the first place, but when these people are put on TV and shown to play games while bantering back and forth about "ownage", it's a case to make for complete FCC dominance of the cable networks.

      One more thing that irked me a bit. On an E3 preview show, the hosts were talking about Knights of the Old Republic 2. But instead of saying, "Knights of the Old Republic 2" they would sound
    • "Icons" is a pretty cool show (if they still have it on). It's a series on the major people in the videogaming industry (Sid Meier, Will Wright, etc). If you're into games, this is a great show.

      "Starcade" is alright. It's the reruns of the old gameshow from the mid-80's. I used to watch it while eating breakfast and checking email in the morning.

      "Pulse" is actually a decent gaming news show. Could give XPlay a run for it's money if both of those are still on.
    • Icons and Pulse are probably the best. Judgement Day is OK, if inferior to X-Play.

      Arena is a guilty pleasure - a tournament show of 4-man teams playing a set of 3 games. It's lame, I understand why people don't care for it, but I like it. Like I said, pure guilty pleasure.

      Pulse and Icons are the ones that I bothered to put on the TiVo, along with Arena.

    • Re:I've Been watching... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ne0nex ( 612727 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:34AM (#9294624)
      I don't think it's that bad actually.

      I've been watching TechTV for years on Dish network now, and I don't think that the G4 merger is that bad for several reasons:

      • The Screensavers was not the same without Leo hosting it, and I also enjoyed with Megan, Morgan, and Jessica were all on TSS. For me, the show hasn't been the same since then.

      • Call for help hasn't been the same post-chris perillo.

      • TechTV was still on a relatively short programming loop. I recall watching a rerun episode of TSS and seeing it again that same day before the new one aired! It would always work the same way: TSS, TechLive, Freshgear X-Play, rinse, repeat. That and did anyone else notice the ultra-long blocks of Robot Wars? Frequently would I turn to Channel 191 (dish) only to go "oh look.. robot wars again... oh, look, already saw this one..."

      • Not all of the G4 shows are crap, I for one like ICONS and ARENA, did anyone else dig the ICONS show on Final Fantasy? They actually talked about FF3 (FF6 US)! I also really like all of their E3 Coverage.

      That's not to say that everything that G4 has brought to the table is pure gold. I for one don't like the people on the show: G4TV.com and believe that it's the show that inspired this [penny-arcade.com].

      For all it's worth, I think that the merger has expanded the tediously short programming schedule. I for one enjoy watching less repeat episodes of Robot Wars.

      Just my 2.18997 Japanese Yen

    • Agreed... the new G4 is really, really low. You just don't get the kind of genuine spontaneity with the G4 shows as you did with TechTV. They were a real community, a small nitch of people who you got to know, it was really a lot of fun.

      The dialogue and narration on G4 feels so rehersed and forced, typicle of a giant beaurocracy. And with Leo now not holding any important role other than 1 minute pre-taped segments aired on the new, alienated screen savers... really miss that guy.

      The new screen savers is
    • Talk about lame hosts .. These guys dont even play games, they just go on and bash everything left and right. Tonight they bashed an RPG because it had too much text to read. I mean jesus, G4TechTV should at least hire some people who aren't poster boys for A.D.D.

      I'm glad they kept X-Play though, great solid reviews, whacky hijinx, and a great looking girl to seal the package. Keep on truckin' Adam!

  • Old episodes... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by antdude ( 79039 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:04AM (#9294499) Homepage Journal
    Does anyone know if TechTV will still be letting users watch old episodes online or by request (e.g., copy of the episode). I am particular looking for video segment on The Ant Farm case mod (invalid link now) [techtv.com] online or on tape/whatever media. I did e-mail TechTV staff a few months ago after this mod story was posted on /. [slashdot.org], but never received a response. I doubt I will get one after sending another request today. Anyone got this segment in their TechTV collection? ;)

    I managed to savage the Web pages and thumbnails from Google Caches [66.102.11.104]. Archive.org didn't have this Web story when I tried the original URL. :(

  • The entire archive is "coming soon" (Score:5, Informative)

    by kavachameleon ( 637997 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:07AM (#9294511)
    If the poster had bothered to read the new site, they would have seen under the "what the tech?" box the following: "The past three months are available now. The entire archive is coming soon!".

    This seems fairly self-explanatory to me...

  • What I don't understand... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Vthornheart ( 745224 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:11AM (#9294532)
    Why did they keep mostly G4? Am I the only one who believes that TechTV was several orders of magnitude in higher quality than G4? I mean, to me it wasn't even a contest! G4 looked like it was being run out of some 70's revivalist's basement!

    It had the ugliest sets, hosts that were more or less inept, and the same boring content played over and over. TechTV always had new content, their sets were professional and made you actually want to watch (as opposed to giving you the feeling that you should be going to a Disco), and their hosts were competent technical experts.

    Which brings us to the final question. What sort of drugs were they ON?!?

    • TechTV always had new content,

      I'm gonna have to sort of....disagree with you on that one.

      I can't compare to G4 as I never saw G4 before the merge, but TechTV definitely had a lot of reruns. I know I saw the same episode of Wired for Sex a good six times....

      A very good six times... ;)

      their hosts were competent technical experts.
      Sure, once they got rid of Chris Perillelilllo.
      • As someone who did see (unfortunately) the prior G4, I can decisively say that TechTV had more new content. They had a few shows that played over and over, but almost all of G4's content was cycled over and over in an endless tedium of the same thing. It was painful to see, actually. Now I may be mistaken, and perhaps a couple of the shows had new episodes every once in a while... but if they did, I couldn't tell the difference (as most of their shows are just a cycle between showing commentary-devoid cl

    • Re:What I don't understand... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by realinvalidname ( 529939 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @05:37AM (#9295252) Homepage

      Why did they keep mostly G4? Am I the only one who believes that TechTV was several orders of magnitude in higher quality than G4? I mean, to me it wasn't even a contest! G4 looked like it was being run out of some 70's revivalist's basement!

      It may have been several orders of magnitude "better", but the Comcast-backed G4 seems to have had several orders of magnitude "more money". Surely many noticed TechTV's bi-monthly appearances on FC [f---edcompany.com]. And since it was G4 that acquired TechTV, they win, which is why you see all production moving to Los Angeles (yeah, that hotbed of technology), TechTV shows and personalities (and surely staffers, if any were kept) getting demoted, etc. (life-lesson I've learned twice: when your company is bought out, always leave immediately)

      Are they too vain to understand that their shows suck? Doesn't matter, as long as they have money and are willing to cut more checks.

      Prediction: the awkward "G4TechTV" name is only a short-term ploy to try to lure the few TechTV viewers. In a year, it'll just be "G4" again, with few if any of the TechTV shows (e.g., they might keep "Anime Unleashed" only so long as they have broadcast rights to the various shows... I'd be very surprised if they renewed them, unless they did the really stupid thing and got the rights to anime based on video games, most of which are awful).

      Understanding the fact that any remotely intelligent video game player would rather play games than watch bad shows about games is left to the reader.

      --realinvalidname

    • Frankly, the same thing happens on all the discovery channels... The Prime Time programming is a 3-4 hour block played twice sure, a lot of the shows were reruns, and furthermore, the original techtv content would often be seen in multiple programs, (Fresh Gear and Tech Live) Frankly, I think that they should've dropped "Unscrewed" and kept "Tech Live" because 85% of Tech Live was new content every day I got my replay TV set up to record "Unscrewed" and after about two weeks of noticing ads for a particu

  • They really messed up. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:11AM (#9294533) Journal
    I really hate that G4 merged with TechTV. I tivo ScreenSavers, TechLive(g4 canceled) and Martin unscrewed. Xlive is fun to watch if its a game I want to buy. Great channel for geek news.

    The website tv ep history is gone, its an ugly POS. Shame.

    Wonder what g4techtv will become, because if it goes mainstream its going to suck.

  • Advertisers took over (Score:5, Informative)

    by Urgo ( 28400 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:12AM (#9294537) Homepage
    It is really sad to see this day finally come. I haven't watched techtv much recently but I was a loyal fan of ZDTV back in the day when the network first launched.

    In addition to the computer related programming, I really liked having one channel where you didn't see the same old crap being advertised. They had mostly technology commercials and weird little artsy zdtv "amaze yourself" ones. Then they actually let users make their own little "we'll be back after the break" clips via webcam..... Its been mostly downhill since the big advertisers stepped in and redirected the network.... too bad.

    I've only tuned into the channel once since the takeover occurred and was annoyed how their logo G4TechTV was now at the top of the screen, large, colorful, and covering up the computer screens that they were displaying.

    Oh well. I still have my "ZDTV Dot Coms not Sit Coms" bumper sticker.. Good luck fired techtv employees.
    • Having done about a dozen of the webcam promos with a cohort of mine, I have to agree. Seeing some of the bizarre (and frequently hysterical) things people would come up with for a "well be right back" blip gave you a sense that it was a network run BY geeks and FOR geeks.

      Yes, there was plenty of lame programming, but it had the feel of a whole bunch of computer folks getting together and talking to each other, while allowing the general public to tune in if they cared to.

      Oh well...

      Tim
    • Oh well. I still have my "ZDTV Dot Coms not Sit Coms" bumper sticker.. Good luck fired techtv employees.

      I've still got my ZDTV foam squishy cube

  • Open Source Developers....Network (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Niscenus ( 267969 ) <ericzen&ez-net,com> on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:18AM (#9294560) Homepage Journal
    Think about it for a second...it's just begging for a change in meaning.

    Programming would almost certainly be sparse for a while:

    SlashDot
    - On the Hour and Twice a Day,
    - News for the nerdy crowd
    ThinkGeek
    - Half an Hour of the Coolest Shopping,
    - And whatever else they scrape up.
    Forge & Savannah
    - What released this very day??
    - What might be the coolest thing today?
    Open Magazine
    - Let's bring it back with full force.
    - Or combine with the half-dozen LinMags
    Open Testing
    - True Benchmarks
    - Performed Live!
    Security Watch
    - The most important show
    - Most likely to expand into a spinoff
    Gamer's Dungeon
    - And for the less geeky...
    - Or is the extremely geeky?
    FX Designs of...
    - Most /. users would watch this.
    - Most people would watch this!
    UberGeek Interview
    - If you stretch the meaning...
    - You could get 100 different people!
    DevTraffick
    - What's new in Gnome? Kde?
    - How about non-nix projects?
    Hardware Hackers
    - Now, finally, a COOL show
    - Yup...finally....
    DistroWatch
    - So many distros
    - Too much time....
    TrendWare
    - What colour blackberry is hot?
    - How out of date is your new system?

    And finally...Dilbert, Futurama, Lexx, Farscape, Stargate, Star Trek, and whatever else geeks would watch....

    • Your name is already taken [osdn.com]
    • Afterhours, of course.
    • That can be a really nice channel... Create a channel like that !! (you can start streaming on the web and then sell it to a network!!)
      • Bring me Space, Bandwidth and Volunteers, and you, me and this Nigerian guy (who only wants $400,000) will be happy to assist in the ultimate dream.

        PS: Beautiful women preferred ;o)
    • Hell Yeah! People at OSDN -- If you had any brains at all, you would at the very least explore this idea!
    • Do a live internet streaming as a test run .

      If it get a large following online via streaming video then
      that will prove it will have a viable future on non-net TV .

      Good Luck !!!
      Ex-MislTech

  • G4 and Comcast screwed the TTV Cast - hard (Score:5, Interesting)

    by binaryspiral ( 784263 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:19AM (#9294564)
    They fired the entire S.F. studio - and gave only a select few the option of moving to the G4TV studios in L.A. Also the firestorm of hatemail, online petitions, and angery forum posts for Leo Laporte and Call for Help's demise I think really got G4 thinking "WTF do we do now?" So they negotiated a few 90 second clips with Leo to be aired durring The Screen Savers. His face is on their homepage, twice. And they're looking at selling his show to another network. Damn you Comcast and G4... now I have to answer even MORE noobish questions.
    • I still don't get the uproar about Leo. What's everyone see in him? The things he says are wrong just about as often as they are correct, he can't interview for shit, and nothing he says/writes is from his own knowledge/experience: it's all scammed/borrowed from other sources.
      Leo's "book" is a great example of this, it's a regurgitation of tips/answers from the shows he's on, but researchers or other hosts came up with the answers/tips. Then he consolidates them and looks like a hero.
      Other than charisma (r
      • I still don't get the uproar about Leo. What's everyone see in him? The things he says are wrong just about as often as they are correct, he can't interview for shit, and nothing he says/writes is from his own knowledge/experience: it's all scammed/borrowed from other sources.

        What isn't borrowed from other sources, anymore?

        Anyway, the reason most people like Leo is he can be talking about *nix one second, and the next be talking about burning a CD from some MP3s you downloaded in simple terms that Grandm

  • Also affecting TechTV Canada (Score:4, Informative)

    by Viking5150 ( 97471 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:22AM (#9294576)
    This will also affect TechTV Canada, as stated on their website:

    Toronto, On (May 13, 2004) - Recently TechTV in the United States changed names to G4techTV. This was as a result of the Comcast Corporation becoming the new owner of the channel thru G4 Media inc.

    G4techTV will be the new name for the Canadian digital channel TechTV Canada. It will combine popular programming from both technology lifestyle channels, G4 and TechTV. As part of the deal, G4 Media inc. assumes one third ownership of TechTV in Canada.

    Rogers Media, based in Toronto, will continue to operate the channel as managing partner and G4techTV will continue to be available on digital cable and satellite in Canada

    The full press release can be seen here [g4techtv.ca], and the FAQ for the Canadian merger can be found here [g4techtv.ca].
    • having spent quite a bit of the past week watching the slow deterioration of a channel i actually liked (well, substantially more than the rest of the crap we get) i've come to the conclusion that comcast wants to get rid of g4 and techtv both, and they're doing it by cutting off any pieces of techtv worth salvaging and then poisoning what's left with g4.
    • It will be interesting if the other Canadian specialty channels complain if their new format does not fit the orignial license TechTv Canada had. TNN is running into this when it became SPIKE TV.

      The CRTC can pull them.

  • stupid comcast (Score:3, Informative)

    by challahc ( 745267 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:25AM (#9294590)
    Last I heard, comcast in my area doesn't show techtv. Not even on digital cable. I've been watching it on cband satellite for a long time, since it was zdtv. Anyways, I don't think comcast likes to do what the customers want. So for those of you hoping for archives of the old techtv.com, good luck.
    • "I don't think comcast likes to do what the customers want." So much for capitalism ;)
      • Well,
        In the area of television since Comcast has a basic monopoly (ok maybe a duopoly, but really I don't think comcast competes with satelite) They don't have to do what the customer wants, just what the shareholders want.

        • In my neighborhood it's a quadopoly.

          Comcast
          WideOpenWest, (Formerly Americast)
          plus the two nationwide satellite carriers:
          DirectTV
          Dish Network

  • This rsponse... (Score:5, Funny)

    by zeruch ( 547271 ) <zeruch@devian t a rt.com> on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:30AM (#9294613) Homepage
    ...has little to do with being rational.

    I hope Satan uses the skulls of the entire Concast e-staff as commodes.

  • The new network. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Raven42rac ( 448205 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:33AM (#9294622)
    I have had the opportunity to watch the new network, and I am not sure if I like it. Many of the shows show potential, but are just plain boring in practice. I don't want to watch a bunch of geeks deathmatch on Arena. I did like the E3 coverage with Dane Cook, he is just a really funny comic though, I am not sure anyone else could have carried that segment. I am miffed that they kept Thunderbirds from TechTV, I don't know about any of you guys, but I think that show sucks bigtime. I do hope they keep Wil Wheaton, I was getting into his subtle ribbing of the callers on Call For Help. Comcast is making a huge mistake, IMHO, why fix something that is not broken? If they can get rid of all of the "robots battling each other" shows, I will be at least slightly happy. I will give the network a chance though, granted they keep Leo.
    • I do hope Wil Wheaton refuses to do the new show. No one of character would support the destruction of something beloved. I'm wondering when Wil is going to comment on recent events in his blog.

  • Favorite tech tv memory (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Sinful_Shirts ( 784047 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:38AM (#9294638) Homepage
    My favorite tech tv memory was that guy who fumbled and broke that priceless phonograph recording thing. That was great. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/techtvblooper.html
    • That's so sad, and so funny on so many levels.

      It's sad that the guy busted the one of a kind thing, It's funny how ignorant the host was of just how unique that item was.
      • Blue Amberol cylinder records tend to do that - the inner core is clay, and slowly expands over time, until suddenly the whole thing shatters. The heat from the lights probably pushed it over the edge, but that one would have probably gone on it's own at any time.

        They aren't that uncommon - I know people who have hundreds of them, and working wind up players as well. I've been planning on making recordings of the pre-1923 ones and posting them online - I just need to find the time to do it.
    • Thanks for that link. I haven't laughed quite like that in a long time.
    • Yup that was really great. Thanks for the laugh.
  • I have never liked Tech TV or G4. Their reviews were severely lacking any real substance, their reporting sucks, etc. This is not a geek network at all. Unless, of course, you are a yuppie wanna-be geek who blows all their money on the latest r0x0r windows and microsoft office suites...

    Just my $0.02

  • Leo Laporte (Score:5, Interesting)

    by OneFix ( 18661 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @01:50AM (#9294674)
    Leo was probably one of the most tech savy folks on TechTV. He also seems to be the only regular that really embraced Linux...

    For those that don't know, there's been a lot of discussion about the cancelation of CFH on Leo Laporte's forums. Here's the link to Leo's Comments [leovilletownsquare.com].

    Basically, Leo is still doing his 90 second segments on TSS, but he is working on some new projects...one of these will be Leoville.TV...he says that he is going to be getting some of the old TechTV folks to work with him. He also says that there are offers coming in from other channels, but he probably won't be back on TV on a regular basis until some time in the Fall.

    Until then, there's always his radio show [typepad.com] on KFI...
  • I think this makes perfect sense from Comcast's point of view. We may not like it, but we are a minority. This is what is going on: Money is in video games. Video games = cash. People in the mainstream are into video games. Comcast owned the G4 network, a 24/7 network for games. It stinks. Turns out anyone who likes video games, including their key demographic (males age 12-34), and tuning into TechTV. Why???? Because TechTV has enough stuff on video games: X-Play is better than G4 game review shows, and

  • The problem with G4... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by OneFix ( 18661 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @02:11AM (#9294734)
    The problem with an all games network is that there's just not enough that happens in a given day to fill up 6 or 7 full time shows.

    What you get are about 5 "review" shows with pretty much the same content...a couple "lets watch people play games" shows and some "filler" (Anime Unleashed and Thunderbirds...while I don't mind either, neither has a place on a tech oriented channel..I know these came from TechTV, but noone's perfect)...

    X-Play was ok, but it seems that ComCast is just sucking the soul out of what was TechTV...

    Most of the shows on the new channel just feel like a badly done public access show. These people obviously don't know anything about the technology and I've caught more than a few of them with the "deer in headlights" look...Don't get me wrong, TechTV had its share of "Pretty Boys", but there seemed to be an attempt at putting someone who was "dumb" with someone that knew their stuff (Leo and Cat on CFH for instance)...

    Of course I think Comcast would be best to look at why Leo Laporte was such a good host...he had radio experience and knew when guests were getting "boring" and would change the direction toward a more interesting subject...
  • Where's Morgan Webb? :P

  • Bittorrent (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TheLoneCabbage ( 323135 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @02:38AM (#9294809) Homepage
    Wouldn't something like this do MUCH better on a pay-for download basis? Shows like this are NOT expensive to produce, and using bittorrent as a distribution model (those who leach pay more) would make it more efficient to distribute.

    Especialy since it's a tech oriented show.
    • "Wouldn't something like this do MUCH better on a pay-for download basis?"
      • Possibly ... But while the range of their audience may be diverse ... their TARGET audience is typically the younger type ... the type that doesn't have a credit card. Makes pay-for-content situations a little more difficult. They may be able to convince mom or dad to let them do it once, but it may not be sustainable.


      • In a sane world I'd agree. But most "Kids" these days have a credit card. Welcome to the wonderfull wide world of consumerism, and obsene wealth.

        http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandF a mi ly/Raisekids/P40989.asp
        http://www.fool.com/news/ commentary/2004/commentar y040406dy.htm

        On a side note, I think most of our favorite shows [savefirefly.com] could thrive this way. But it's risky, and big media is adicted to proven methods of easy money [musicmoz.org], and mo easy money. [google.com]

  • So what? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by blair1q ( 305137 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @02:49AM (#9294839) Journal
    I saw TechTV about 10 times in the past N years.

    Not once did I see something that made me want to watch it for more than maybe 30 minutes, and nothing made me want to see it again the next day or week.

    And it's not gone anyway, just monopoly-restructured into its competitor.

  • Goodbye who? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Teahouse ( 267087 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @04:01AM (#9295037)
    I wonder why the current format wasn't setting the world on fire...hmmmmmm..lets look at it.

    Screen-Savers 8 hours a day.

    The LAME Robot Wars 2 hours a day.

    Other non-original progamming that had very little to do with real "tech".

    These guys coasted for a year on nothing interesting. I switched on the channel twice in the last 6 months. Once, they were building a mod case out of an Army ammo can (uh...couldn't afford a REAL case?) The other time, they were reviewing music players (for the 13th time).
    Hopefully, Comcast will actually keep it as "Tech"TV and then actually develop a few good series out of that instead of just rehashing the same 8 topics and the same 4 programs for the next 2 years. I liked the CONCEPT of TechTV, but I hated the REALITY of TechTV. Buh0Bye. Perhaps something good will come out of this (like a series where geek contestants test their knowledge of C++ for fabulous prizes, or they do a real, cooperative Gillagan's Island. They strand 7 geeks, and tell them there are hidden resources on the island they can use together to make things (radios, solar cells, etc) Anything would be better than watching those two middle-aged dorks cruise t the set in their mustang anymore. I was embarasesed for them.

    • You have to be kidding me. The screensavers had tons of content that was good and if anything the only thing they had on techtv that did not belong was thunderbirds. I know there are people out there who love the show but did it belong on techtv?

      In any event to even suggest that watching people code would somehow be more entertaining than the screensavers puts you in contention for the most boring person in the world. Was it your call to cancel techtv? I would bet you probably don't watch much tv to beg

  • awwww fuck (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bl8n8r ( 649187 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @05:16AM (#9295203)
    No more Leo...That's too bad. It was a good show - had something for everyone if you waited long enough. They didn't leave out the Mac or Linux crowd (even think I remember them talking *BSD a few times) and weren't just a bunch of Windows Power Users filling a time slot. All good things come to and end I guess.
    • From jones computer network on these people won't die that easily. I think it is very naive of comcast and shows how little their execs know. I have already put in my sell order and I am canceling my cable the day after the sopranos finale. Vote with your wallets folks its then you can sit back and watch them flounder as they try and fire everyone from New York to California in a vain attempt to appease their investors and figure out why they are suddenly bleeding money.
  • from a country that is outsourcing all it's technology to other countries? I bet if you go to the comcast website in India, you will find 100 openings for a new TV show there.
  • But they had Lisa Ling doing a fairly in-depth report on flat screen LCD's. Hot asian woman, nice technology, too bad we can't get a network to combine those two things 24/7. I'd never leave the house.
  • They claim it's coming back
    http://www.g4tv.com/feature.aspx?article_key =729

  • G4TechTV (Score:3, Interesting)

    by GE32 ( 736258 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @09:42AM (#9296211)
    I have been watching G4TechTV over the weekend, (while working on exams) and thus far I have seen just about every show on G4TechTV, (or part of it) One word...Crap..Crap (all right two) the sets all seem to be from the seventies and are all brightely colored...(Filter I'm thinking of you) They need to have a disclamer before the show.."Sets best viewed stoned" (not that I support that kind of thing) also every single G4 show seems to have stayed (not sure if they cut any) I mean atleast cut the crap..like Pulse (hour long weekely game show where they jump from topic to topic sometimes in under 15 seconds) The only good thing I've seen was that behind the scenes of the new Riddick game, which has me looking into it and I might buy it (once I get an X-Play review :D)

    All the reporters on G4 are all in there 20s and have almost no experience..they talk WAY too fast, I can talk fast, but I have a hard time understanding them sometimes...

    Notice how it is G4TechTV...and not TechTVG4...they merged TechTV into G4 and what they should have done..was merged G4 into TechTV..(drop Thunderbirds, robot wars...) except I do not see any content that G4 has that should even have anything to deal with TechTV.
  • I'm a sys-admin at TTV and my claim to fame is that I made the DNS change on the TechTV end that redirected all traffic to g4tv.com
    AFAIK, TechTV is no more. I know it is called a merger but I think a more appropriate term here is a scavenge. Comcast bought us and G4 picked the best parts of the carcass. It definitely isn't a meeting of minds to take the best of each channel.
  • It says right on the front page:

    "Where's the Archive? The past three months are available now. The entire archive is coming soon!"

    So hopefully, yes, the entire archive of TechTV show content will be back online.

  • G4 is the worst (Score:2, Interesting)

    by sfr79 ( 696875 )
    The two dweebs G4 has reviewing games are horrible. X-Play wasn't great by any means, but at least it was fun to watch. Let alone the fact that TechTV didn't have every show sponsored by Pringles or something else. The only good show that G4 has is the ICONS show. Their awards show was painful to watch, let alone the 2 hour roundtable they showed 6 times a day for the two months leading up to it. TechTV had some bad programming as well, but to think for a second that G4 brought more to the table is a comp

  • In-fighting on set (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Himring ( 646324 ) on Monday May 31, 2004 @10:29AM (#9296505) Homepage Journal
    I once watched Leo Laporte explain Quake internet/multiplayer play as if it were Doom multiplayer. He said, "the entire server can only run as fast as the player with the slowest connection." And went on in an elaborate description of all online, internet games as if they were built on Doom multiplayer. I changed the channel.

    For the most part though, I did enjoy the reviews and tech tips, and picked up lots of info on technology from TSS.

    More than anything, I enjoyed watching the blaring interpersonal battles that the hosts shamelessly let slip on to camera day after day. Sometimes, the hosts obviously battled with producers as they were being reprimanded via their ear pieces, and Leo one time even bucked that (cuz I guess he was high and mighty). Watching Dvorack and Laporte go at it was fun too until Dvorack got axed.

    It's too bad we can't watch the /. crew hate each other....
  • [url=http://www.techtvcanada.ca/]Canadian TechTV[/url] is still up and running....

    Jouster
  • Software Etc in the 90s had a generally good selection of software, lots of different categories (a whole shelf of word processing/spreadsheet programs, etc.) then it was bought out and merges with a bunch of other video game stores and turned into just another games store (along with the other names like Babbages, etc), you are truly lucky if they even stock just MS Office besides the tons of games now.

    I think Tech/TV G4 is going in the same direction, you will be lucky if you see a review for something t

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