[SOLVED] internet tv programming?

[Zeotronic]

My household (almost unanimously) decided yesterday, that we will be getting rid of our Dish Network satilite tv when we get our satilite internet. Our previous plan had been to get Dish Network satilite internet alongside the Dish Network tv, but finally my proposition to get rid of the satilite tv, to instead use the internet for tv-like viewing, was accepted... with the modification that we will do it through Wild Blue (for it was accepted because a general dislike of Dish Network). Just in case anyone would get the notion to point out that we could switch to Direct TV... we had Direct TV before we switched to Dish Network... so we know we don't like them either.

I have been aware... scratch that, I have been under the impression, that free TV-like viewing channels exist on the internet... I believe the Discovery Channel has such a channel, and I also believe that my all too beloved VLC Media Player is fully capable of viewing at least some of such channels. Obviously, I don't quite have a lot of information to go on, but I have been tasked to at least find a number of such channels by the end of the week. (the ultimate goal being to connect my father's computer to his TV and let him use my PC remote to browse channels in a traditional fashion... the nessisary step to gain my mother's approval... don't bother inputing on ways to accomplish this goal unless you have a bullet proof / tested plan... I have my own ideas.)

The bottom line: does anyone know of any free 'tv channels' on the internet... and if the Discovery Channel has such a channel, how do I access it? (I saw a viewer of some kind on their website, but 1. it only said PC and Mac... and 2. I don't want to have to use it.)

[forrestcupp]

The bottom line is that you're not going to find comparable replacements to real tv. There are Satellite-to-PC programs and companies out there, but they have all been shown to be scams.

There are internet channels you can watch, but it's not a good replacement for real tv. But you can sign up at places like hulu.com and watch a lot of individual shows on demand.

[Kevbert]

Free Internet TV can be used via Screenlets. Screenlet Manager can be found here http://screenlets.org/index.php/Download
The pluggin is here http://screenlets.org/index.php/Internet_TV
I don't believe you can get Discovery via this method.

[Kevbert]

But...you can get videos free here http://video.discovery.com/
I can't as it's not available in the UK!!!
You can also get Nat Geo videos free here
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/
Hope these are of some use.

[Zeotronic]

But...you can get videos free here http://video.discovery.com/
I had been under the impression that it was in a continuous 'broadcast'-like format, not individual videos.

Also from my reading on Wikipedia (Internet Television (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_television)) I was also influenced to believe there are such 'channels'.


The bottom line is that you're not going to find comparable replacements to real tv. There are Satellite-to-PC programs and companies out there, but they have all been shown to be scams.

I'm not surprised... everything is a scam these days...


There are internet channels you can watch, but it's not a good replacement for real tv. But you can sign up at places like hulu.com and watch a lot of individual shows on demand.

This may be true, but my mission is to prove it false... of course if I fail it will be pretty well unquestionable.


Free Internet TV can be used via Screenlets. Screenlet Manager can be found here http://screenlets.org/index.php/Download

Erm... I don't see what this has to do with anything? (admittedly, I didn't download it)

[Kevbert]

If you download screenlets and the iTV plug-in there are a number of TV stations available via the plug-in.

[Zeotronic]

If you download screenlets and the iTV plug-in there are a number of TV stations available via the plug-in.
Ok, I'll look into that...

[forrestcupp]

You can watch all of those same internet channels with VLC, just like you said in your OP. But IMO all of those channels suck. You're not going to find anything mainstream or recognizable. If you feel that is a suitable replacement for good quality mainstream television programming, then more power to ya.

But I really don't think you are going to find many streaming internet broadcast channels that aren't available through VLC.

[Zeotronic]

You can watch all of those same internet channels with VLC, just like you said in your OP.
I figured this much, but as I do not know the channels, I cannot watch them... I was thinking about actually downloading the iTV thing so that I could figure out what they are... after which I would delete it... but I just ran into Miro in the repositories, and it looks like it is good for viewing the more prevalent internet channels... the ones which are pretty much video archives... the ones that I admit, I wasn't looking for, but found a good deal of regardless.

Does anyone know of a good way I could setup a computer remote to operate Miro... or something? (Replacing my satellite tv, is dependant on my mother's ability to operate the new arrangement... needless to say that my mother does not know how to operate a computer in any capacity.)

[aeiah]

if your remote doesnt work with miro then get a wii remote or something. she can just point and click from the couch.

for what its worth me and my girlfriend dont have a tv license (which you have to have in the uk if you receive tv broadcasts), and my hdtv isnt set up to receive tv. i just have the pc connected to it and use bit torrent a lot, although if your parents are unwilling to learn, or dont have a decent internet connection, i can see this as being very inconvenient for them. i however have found it to be the most reliable and convenient way of getting tv shows in high quality - a lot being in HD

[Shiva88]

Zeotronic-
I too am very interested in this... can you post a summary of your findings at the end of the week?

[Zeotronic]

I too am very interested in this... can you post a summary of your findings at the end of the week?
Yes, I will post my findings... but for the best results I would like to wait untill Tuesday... or maybe Wednesday.

[scorp123]

I have been under the impression, that free TV-like viewing channels exist on the internet... www.zattoo.com

With their (free!) client I can watch TV on all my PC's here as though I'd be watching my ordinary TV ... I 100% get the same channels and the same content. Quality is OK.

Their client is available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

What I know about Zattoo is that due to licensing constraints they will select the TV channels based on the IP range of the country you are connecting from. So that's why I when I connect with my Swiss IP address I will get the selection of the TV channels I'd have here in Switzerland too. So I honestly didn't check and I don't know if Zattoo will work for Non-European users but it's worth to give it a try ... EDIT: Wikipedia says you can circumvent their restrictions by using open proxies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zattoo

The client definitely is uber-neat ... I mean they programmed a native Linux-client right from start without us users having to push them first ... I mean ... wow. I have TV on all my Linux systems incl. all my laptops and all it takes is a double-click on their *.deb package. I can't imagine it getting any sweeter than that. :)

http://zattoo.com/en/download/linux

[Zeotronic]

www.zattoo.com
I had heard of Zattoo... its a shame America doesn't have cool things like that. (I was so upset when I started hearing about all the cool things the Japanese had involving the internet and the SNES... we never get the cool things!) :( I will look into bypassing their restrictions, but I probably wouln't be using Zattoo.

if your remote doesnt work with miro then get a wii remote or something. she can just point and click from the couch.
I love how Linux has been available for the consoles, though I'll probably never make use of the fact directly... does anyone know anything about using the Wiimote with a PC? (I don't know anything about the Wii) And while its unrelated, if anyone knows anything about 360 controllers and the PC...? Specifically, the wired kind. (I never got into unnessisary wireless)

[scorp123]

I had heard of Zattoo... its a shame America doesn't have cool things like that. Quote from Wikipedia (emphasis added by me):
Developed by University of Michigan and Zattoo Inc.

It is developed by researchers and programmers based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with corporate offices in San Francisco and Zurich So their developers are at the University of Michigan, and one of their corporate offices happens to be in San Francisco ... And yet you can't get Zattoo in the USA? :-k

Now that's a bad sarcastic joke right here ... :shock:

[tikal26]

I assume that you live in America.
I use Hulu (hulu.com) it has all the nbc and fox shows plus things from
thesundace channel and other things.

Also,joost has things from CBS and Nickelondeon or Veoh TV.

As forABC they have their own player or if you are willing to spend some money use windows or Mac use itunes,but I like the hulu and joost convination.

[Zeotronic]

So their developers are at the University of Michigan, and one of their corporate offices happens to be in San Francisco ... And yet you can't get Zattoo in the USA?

Now that's a bad sarcastic joke right here ...
As I understand it, it will eventually be available in America... but then is not now... and now is the issue.

I assume that you live in America.
I use Hulu (hulu.com) it has all the nbc and fox shows plus things from
thesundace channel and other things.

Also,joost has things from CBS and Nickelondeon or Veoh TV.

As forABC they have their own player or if you are willing to spend some money use windows or Mac use itunes,but I like the hulu and joost convination.
Yea, I briefly looked at Hulu... it looked good. I haven't looked at Joost yet though.

[scorp123]

As I understand it, it will eventually be available in America... I can only recommend to keep an eye open on that. Zattoo is really great.

[Zeotronic]

I can only recommend to keep an eye open on that. Zattoo is really great.
Oh I will... untill I forget... and then I'll run into it again someday anyways so it really wouln't matter...

Or at least... I'll run into it again if it does become available in America. Sometimes things don't go how their expected to.

[Zeotronic]

@Shiva88
I took my time, trying to figure out what I liked and disliked, various channels I found, various video archives I've found... and of course Miro.

Unfortunately, even with Satellite Internet it seems my connection is too slow to make use of some of it... for instance viewing with Miro (or at least the channels I tried) doesn't seem possible for me... it takes far too long for the video to load, but the videos I tried to load didn't have their length listed, so they may well have been more than I bargained for.

The only actual channel I seem to have found was called Supreme Master TV, and I didn't get the time to watch it, and hence forth know nothing about it.

Several video archives are for channels on the internet, and of course South Park Studio is for South Park. Adult Swim his its own archive as well. Hulu also has a large number of videos but I couldn't seem to download them at reasonable speeds (thought in contrast, I could download the Adult Swim videos at acceptable speeds). As I have stated my connection is still limited. You Tube, of course, has many clips, but lets face it, most of them probably aren't worth watching... they do, however, load up at great speeds for me. My biggest problem, as far as I was concerned, was that I could not figure out how to watch these videos without being on the sites... I couldn't find a way to view them in VLC, or some other desktop application.

Quite simply, I think I am too new to a connection speed that you can do things like this on, to actually make a valuable assessment. You would probably do well to look at related Wikipedia articles... I intend to when I have time.