Guide to watching TV on your computer
Posted on mandag, februar 23, 2009 @ kl. 19.55 by david
This is a guide to how to watch TV online through your computer. Mostly from my own experiences.
NOTE: Redistribution of television over the internet without written permission by the author or source is illegal. Watching it is ok, but this is not a healthy buisness model.
Web cam and a TV set
A few websites I have found offer the ability to watch TV from someone elses TV set. How? They set up a web camera in front of their TV and broadcast it though the internet.
One of the best sites I have found for Live Sports, is at Justin.tv
No Proxy needed. So no extra software, just Flash installed.
NOTE: Since this is illegal, sometimes the channels at Justin.tv get shut down. But luckily there are plenty of others to choose from. This is how I watched the 2009 SuperBowl live here from Norway.
Live Sports
Another favorite site of mine is MyP2P.eu. This site is really just a bunch of "links" to where the Live Sporting event will be shown. Sometimes it links to a channel at Justin.tv and sometimes it requires you to download a program before you can watch it. SopCast is an example of one of these programs. It doesnt seem to infect anything, so go ahead and use it.
NOTE: This is also illegal to distribute, so sometimes the channel may be shut down.
TV from all over the World
Like I mentioned with the program SopCast, there are other sites that list thousands of channels from all over the world. Comfm.com for example, and wwiTV.com, invision.tv and other clips and video sites like YouTube.com, ffwd.com and many more.
Hulu.com
Back in September of 2008, my dreams came true when I found out about Hulu.com. All the shows from Fox, Comedy Central, NBC, and lots of other clips and FULL LENGTH MOVIES!! WHAT? Yes full length movies and tv shows.
I have been enjoying this here in Norway by using a Proxy/VPN software called HotSpot Shield.
HotSpot Shield
Since I am here in Norway, I am not allowed to watch Hulu abroad, so they say.
I downloaded HotSpot Shield in September of 2008 and have been watching Hulu from the hulu.com website ever since.
HotSpot Shield is a Proxy VPN tool that is very handy if you are using a wireless connection in a public place. Its also very handy for hiding your physical location, which is why I can watch Hulu from Norway.
Recently something has happened that I cannot use HotSpot Shield with Hulu.com anymore. I read online about another site/software called AlwaysVPN, but it looks like its not free.
Boxee for Mac and SecondRun.tv for Windows
Since December 2008, I have been enjoying Boxee on my Mac mini, but now since Hulu was cut off, I am looking at alternative solutions to watching TV through the Internet on a computer. I read about SecondRun.tv recently and am going to give it a try on my Windows 7 Beta that I've been playing with.
Updated Feb. 23, 2009
Since I was looking to update Internet Explorer 8 to RC1 anyways, I decided to take a look at SecondRun on Windows 7 beta.
I launched IE8 and went into secondrun.tv to download the "extra" for Windows Media Center. After filling out a form, which had Windows 7 as an option (cool), the thank you page offered a link for downloading the file.
After installation I thought I would give it a try so I fired up Media Center and looked for SecondRun... and found it under Extras eventually.
Running Windows Media Center from Windows 7 Beta (on VMWare through my MacBook Pro)
Under "Extras" is the SecondRun program I just installed.
A list of some of the Networks that SecondRun covers.
Now let's try to watch Jon Stewart from Comedy Central.
DO NOT HIT THE FULL SCREEN BUTTON WHEN IT BEGINS TO PLAY!!
Locks up Media Center and you will see a white screen until an error message to shut down the program and return to the Media Center... That was a nice touch.
So here it is, working ok, but what's the deal with the Full Screen mode?
I'm not sure, but I am sending an email to the creator of SecondRun to find out :)
