Internet tv

[Tommy L]

hello guys, its been a while.

Ive just moved house and was looking at the price of Comcast cable tv and thought....internet delivers everything nowadays, why not tv? So I had a look and did some reading, but the information is so congealed I cant make out what to do with it. Anyone here have any experience with internet tv in the states? How fast does your connection have to be? What channels can you get? Is it live broadcast or is it a case of downloading programs you want to see one by one?

Any info much appreciated,

Cheers,

Tom.

[a_w]

I sometimes watch international shows through http://wwitv.com/portal.htm. Just choose a country and it'll bring up live broadcasts from that country.

 

These are all on-demand downloads:

 

NBC: http://www.nbc.com/Video/

- Choose a show from the column on the left.

 

CBS: http://www.cbs.com/

- Just click on Full Episodes at the top.

 

ABC: http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing

 

JOOST: http://www.joost.com/

- A standalone app that you download. It runs a bit choppy on my 10mbps connection.

 

And then of course Netflix now delivers via download.

[AJLynn]

AFAIK there's no American service that gives you the same functionality as cable, only using video over IP. There are just too many contracts in place between cable companies and broadcasters, I don't think it can happen.

 

Basically, you've got cable and satellite, Verizon's TV service if you're in one of their early rollout areas, digital broadcast and non-live programming over network web sites, iTunes and Amazon's service, which will have NBC shows.

[Tommy L]

Thanks guys!

[Hazdaz]

interesting thread. i too find the price of cable to be absurd, so i just might have to check out some of these links when i get home.

[a_w]

Just found a few more:

 

Discovery Channel / TLC / Animal Planet

http://video.discovery.com/

 

ABC Family

http://abcfamily.go.com/watch.html

 

CW

http://video.cwtv.com/

 

TNT

http://www.tnt.tv/dramavision/

- click on Full Episodes near top right

 

ESPN 360 (only works with certain ISPs)

http://broadband.espn.go.com/espn360/

 

PBS Frontline

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/

[Ernest Burden III]

Verizon's TV service if you're in one of their early rollout areas

 

I've been using their FIOS fiber-optic for at least a year, but its internet-only so far, until they get some sort of local approval to be able to compete with the cable company that has the monopoly on my town. It's so stupid to have these exclusive provider contracts in place. So the system is in place, but no video yet.

 

I do get a darned fast internet connection in the meantime, I'm enjoying that.

 

My laptop has a TV tuner built in (never tried it out) but you still have to use an antenna or a coax cable as a source. I was flying home a few days ago from a trip and saw a device in the skymall rag that is a digital TV reciever as a tiny USB device. That might be a good alternative to cable for you, if you have a decent selection of digital over-air broadcasts in your area.