Internet TV

[Caravan Ray]

Just arrived in New Zealand yesterday - and the television here is truly awful. Because the country is so small - it doesn't make much of it's own television, and it seems that all they get here is the worst bits of US and English television.

They have seem to have 3 government run free-to-air stations, one commercial station and one Maori station. There is also pay television - but it doesn't seem to be any better (except for Fox Sport which seems to be pretty much 24 hour rugby). And they don't even show The Flight of the Conchords here!!!

Does anyone know about getting TV off the internet? I know that the ABC in Australia has a lot of its shows available for download - but downloading hour long videos, then burning a dvd sounds like a long and tedious process.

Does anyone have one of those Apple TV things? What does it do? Will one of those give me something decent to watch on telly? I see you can buy TV shows from iTunes. What format are they? Doesn't video take up a lot of space on my computer?

I'm so confused

[roymond]

1. Stop watching TV.
2. Is there a satellite option?

[Niveous]

hulu.com

[Caravan Ray]

hulu.com

that might be what I want - but it is only available in the USA.

What I want to know though is how does it actually work? I don't want to watch telly on my computer - I want it on my telly. Do I need some sort of extra hardware?

[Reist]

I'd like to think satellite would be a good option - are you living in New Zealand now? Or is it just for a trip?

[ken]

hulu.com is great. It is streaming video on the internet. Search for shows you want to watch and click to watch.

Also, try directly from network websites.

Ken

[fluffy]

Or there's always doing a Google search on "[favorite TV show] torrent" and seeing what comes up. Then you'll need some way of displaying the shows on your TV. I recommend a Playstation 3. (or one of these if you don't have US$400 just burning a hole in your product. actually the TakeTV is a lot easier to deal with anyway.)

I wouldn't recommend the AppleTV. For starters, you still wouldn't be able to legally get any TV shows on it (because of the distribution agreements that the content providers have in place with Apple, so they still restrict which shows can go to which countries), and secondly the hardware is actually pretty shitty and the software is very crash-prone and so on.

Basically, the legal Internet TV options are limited to just what you'd be able to get via legal broadcast or cable. Such is the way of the world.

[Caravan Ray]

I'd like to think satellite would be a good option - are you living in New Zealand now? Or is it just for a trip?

Yep - I'm a kiwi now (as of yesterday).

What do you mean by satellite? Is that pay TV? With that we are still limited to what is available here in NZ - which is not much.

Or there's always doing a Google search on "[favorite TV show] torrent" and seeing what comes up. Then you'll need some way of displaying the shows on your TV. I recommend a Playstation 3. (or one of these if you don't have US$400 just burning a hole in your product. actually the TakeTV is a lot easier to deal with anyway.)

I wouldn't recommend the AppleTV. For starters, you still wouldn't be able to legally get any TV shows on it (because of the distribution agreements that the content providers have in place with Apple, so they still restrict which shows can go to which countries), and secondly the hardware is actually pretty shitty and the software is very crash-prone and so on.

Basically, the legal Internet TV options are limited to just what you'd be able to get via legal broadcast or cable. Such is the way of the world.

That Sandisk thing looks good - that may be the answer I was looking for - I just didn't understand the question I was trying to ask. Thanks.

The Aust ABC has a lot of downloadable shows - but burning DVDs would be a hassle. That looks like a better option.

I'm not really interested in illegal downloads or anything. I'm happy to buy what I can - but you are right that there are issues with Apple TV and what we can buy down here. I think you still can't buy stuff off Apple in Aust. - so being able to do it in NZ will be years away


Anyway - to highlight my dilemmna - last nights televisual entertainment consisted of a choice between "Animal Rescue", where a boxer dog was rescued from a stormwater drain on NZTV1, and on NZTV2 was "You Swallowed What!" - a documentary exploring real-life cases of the contents of peoples stomachs. Now I know why beastiality is so popular here.

[fluffy]

Oh, one thing to look out for on the SanDisk thing is it only puts out an NTSC signal, so make sure your TV accepts NTSC. Australia and New Zealand use PAL for their broadcasts. My understanding is that most newer TVs will accept both BUT you'll want to make sure.

Also I don't know of anyone who sells legal unencrypted MPEG-4/DivX TV shows, so the SanDisk thing won't help you in keeping it legit, either. You can thank the entrenched global media oligarchy for making it impossible to keep it on the level without a lot of stupid hoops and expensive stuff (for example, if you want to watch Hulu shows on your TV you basically need a laptop and a TV with a VGA input, or a laptop which can output a video signal).

I'm really hoping that the new Netflix on-demand box shows content providers how things could be done better, although it still leaves a lot to be desired (since it's yet another stupid proprietary protocol encumbered by DRM and usage restrictions).

(I realize the irony of making such statements considering I work for the entrenched media oligarchy.)

[Caravan Ray]

(for example, if you want to watch Hulu shows on your TV you basically need a laptop and a TV with a VGA input, or a laptop which can output a video signal).)

and I also need to be in the USA. When I go to the site I get a big message saying basically..."Piss Off you non-American scum" - or words to that effect.

[fluffy]

Well, I was speaking in terms of people who have access to Hulu. The generic "you," not the Caravan Ray "you." All the other media streaming services I know of are like that as well (for example, BBC iPlayer, which only streams to people in the UK and only streams to computers rather than set-top boxes).

Hopefully someday someone will make a cheap set-top box which supports streaming Flash video fullscreen, since that's what most of these online services use anyway. Well, I guess the Wii, Playstation 3, and XBox360 all support that, sort of, but it's pretty gimpy on all of them.

[fluffy]

Ooh, actually, I should see if Hulu works on the Wii or PS3. That'd be pretty neat (for me, anyway).

[fluffy]

Nope, can't even login from either system, thanks to their wonderfully retarded use of a Javascript login form. Oh well. Even if I could, I get errors about it being too old a version of Flash (I think both of them run Flash 7 currently).

[roymond]

When I go to the site I get a big message saying basically..."Piss Off you non-American scum" - or words to that effect.

I thought that was standard on all sites viewed from "over there". Wasn't that one of John Ashcroft's legacies?

[roymond]

What do you mean by satellite? Is that pay TV? With that we are still limited to what is available here in NZ - which is not much.

I don't know how each country controls or regulates satellite TV, but often it offers an insanely broad variety of programming from all over the world. Look up SKYTV in NZ, I don't know who else offers it there.

Keep in mind, last night we had intense storms (and a tornado) in Washington DC. The satellite TV in my hotel was useless until it passed. Heavy clouds and rain interfere with the signal.

[jb]

Do you like your selection of tv shows available at home?

If so, get a Slingbox: http://www.slingmedia.com/

[fluffy]

jb, I'm pretty sure he wants to go the other way around.

[jb]

jb, I'm pretty sure he wants to go the other way around.

Oh, I thought he was in NZ for work, so he could use a Slingbox at home in AUS.

[fluffy]

And I thought my coworker's commute from San Jose to San Francisco was grueling!

[HeuristicsInc]

Heh, I thought he was selling the AUS house, so unless the new buyers want to provide him TV that's not a good option
-bill

[fluffy]

I wonder if there's a black-market trade in people setting up SlingBoxes for other peoples' use in other countries. And, on that note, do SlingBoxes have ATSC tuners yet, or are a whole bunch of geeks going to be pissed off next February?

[Caravan Ray]

jb, I'm pretty sure he wants to go the other way around.

Oh, I thought he was in NZ for work, so he could use a Slingbox at home in AUS.

No - we've moved here to NZ completely - no home in Aus. But that is exactly what I want. maybe I could hide one of those things in my mother-in-laws house in Sydney. She'd never know.