InternetTv-related stories
Posted May 23rd 2009 2:38PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free
Researchers think this whole "Internet as a television" concept may be slightly overblown. In a survey,
only 8% of teens aged 12 to 17 say they use the Internet to watch television.
Well, duh. You know why that is? Because computer monitor screens are still relatively small ones that go on a desk while television screens tend to be much larger and better for overall television watching.
There's also the factor that most of the time programs are initially shown on television and then move to the Internet. For those who are eagerly awaiting the new episode of
Dollhouse, they will likely go to Fox on Friday nights rather than Hulu.
Let's not discount that online television is a relatively new phenomenon.
I predict that eventually the Internet will be streamed directly into one's television via your cable or television provider (and I won't discount satellite at this stage) and then online television viewership will go up. Until then, we're still mostly stuck with the traditional model.
Posted Oct 10th 2007 2:29PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, PVR Wire, Video
This article on Lifehacker.com lists a bunch of different ways to catch various TV episodes online for free. Since the name of the site involves the word "hacker", one can assume that some of these methods may not be entirely legal. Repeat at your own risk.
As someone who doesn't own any kind of recording device for the TV but has a great computer monitor, I tend to go to the network websites to catch episodes of certain shows. I'd hate to miss a week of Heroes or Bionic Woman and I'm glad the networks offer a chance to watch missed episodes online at one's leisure with minimal commercial interruption.
Continue reading Six ways to catch TV shows online
Posted Sep 8th 2007 2:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Software
It's been a while since Microsoft added any content to the Online Media showcase for Windows Media Center. But it looks like the company is getting ready to make up for that with the launch of an internet TV platform for Windows Media Center.
Engadget managed to get a few details about the upcoming service, but it looks like we'll have more to tell you on September 27th when Microsoft launches the service at
Digital Life.
Here's what we know so far. The platform will feature on-demand advertising supported content in categories including Sports, Entertainment, News, Top Picks, Music, and Movies. The video will not be HD quality, but it should be better than standard definition, which means it should look great on an old fashioned TV and hopefully passable on your HDTV.
With Microsoft building Media Center capabilities into Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate, ad-supported online video seems like a great way for the software company to make a few extra bucks. Depending on the content available, it might also be a way for consumers to save a few bucks on their cable bills.
But while we can hardly wait to see this feature for ourselves, we remain a bit skeptical. For example, just because one of the categories is titled "Movies" doesn't mean you'll be able to watch ad-supported new releases, or even hits from yesteryear. It could just be a library of movie trailers.
Posted Jun 18th 2007 8:34AM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Software
Microsoft has given its awkwardly named TV IPTV Edition a slicker name:
Mediaroom. This isn't something you can download and install on your home computer. Rather, it's a platform for television service companies that want to provide internet-based television services.
Along with the name change, Microsoft has introduced a series of new features including:
- Enhanced picture in picture support allows you to view multiple channels or different camera angles, with support for up to 16 separate picture windows on one TV screen.
- View pictures or listen to music stored on a PC connected to the home network
- Microsoft has opened up the platform for development of 3rd party applications with a new HTML-based Multimedia Application Environment
Ten service companies around the world, including AT&T, BT, and Deutsche Telekom are using Microsoft's current IPTV platform.
Posted May 4th 2007 1:10PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Web
It's the age old story, company launches nifty new product, everything works great. Company upgrades said project, it breaks.
A few days ago Joost moved from a closed private beta to an almost-public beta by
giving every current and new user 999 invitations to give away. Apparently the servers couldn't handle that much traffic and Joost CEO Fredrik de Wahl
writes on the Joost blog that the company is working on a fix.
For a company that's signing advertising and content deals left and right in the hopes of being the next big thing on the Internet, this is a rather unfortunate setback. But it's better to have these kind of errors during beta testing than after the product is officially launched.
Posted May 1st 2007 12:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Software
Internet video platform
Joost is inching closer to a public launch. Last week the Joost announced
partnerships with 32 advertisers. Today the company announced that it is allowing current users to send an
unlimited number of Joost invitations to their friends.
This is sort of the Gmail version of a public beta. You can't just sign up through the Joost homepage yet, but it shouldn't be too hard to track down an invitation if you want one. Up until now, each user got a limited number of invites to distribute.
You'll need to download the latest version of Joost, which is 0.9.4. As of about noon, unlimited invites still don't seem to be available, but expect an update later today.
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