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FreeZ Online TV Review | Downloadable Online Video Streaming Software

RobM — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:53:46 +0000

FreeZ Online TV is a downloadable program that allows you to watch a large variety of world-wide television programs on your computer.

How it Works

Following a quick install, the FreeZ software is basically a window with a video screen to the left, and off to the right is a large selection of channels within a number of different categories.

The FreeZ TV channel categories include:

Entertainment
Sports
News
Government
Weather
Shopping
Etc.

What does FreeZ Offer

A cursory scan of some of these channels shows that, although there are some fairly well known sources such as the BBC, FOX, NBC, etc, there are also an obscure body of program streams that I’ve never heard of (such as ‘IBA Channel 3′ and ‘Tros Sterren’?)

For the adventurous explorer, I suppose this could provide plenty of opportunity to learn something new about a different country or culture. The selection of different channels offered is impressive, if obscure.

My Demo of the FreeZ in Action

Reviews and Feedback of the FreeZ

CNET offered a somewhat-deservedly scathing review of the FreeZ software, noting some of it’s flaws and limitations. I agree with a lot of these observations, particularly the comment about how the software during install tries to sneak in a toolbar into your browser, so uncheck this unless you want that added in.

I personally had trouble getting FreeZ to work initially (it crashed a couple times with inconsistent errors: once it crashed for a missing .dll file, another time it just up and vanished with no apparent cause) but once up and running, it’s a handy program for checking out television from around the world.

And as aside, as a user of a fairly older computer, I’m reluctant to use any application that could potentially be pronounced “freeze”. But if you’re looking to peruse some new and unusual TV, FreeZ is worth checking out.

FreeZ Online TV

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History Channel Review | Watch Full Length Historic Documentaries & Videos Online

RobM — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:44:39 +0000

The History Channel website offers a variety of full-length episodes that can be viewed in entirety online.

What the History Channel Website Offers

The History Channel website offers a number of interesting full-episodes of programs to watch online, such as “Hero Ships” and “Cities of the Underworld”. In addition, the site offers a interesting variety of clips and videos from other programs from their lineup.

Whether the offerings of the history channel really go above and beyond “sensational” history is another story completely – the impression I get is that a large volume of the supposed historical episodes have to do with UFOs, Nostradamus, and the unexplained.

Navigation and Finding Full Episodes to Watch

From the main page of the History Channel website, simply clicking on the ‘Video’ tab routes you to a comprehensive listing of all of the channel’s current show. Conveniently, the shows that offer full episodes are marked with a red “Full Episodes Available”, a nice touch when other sites (like Disney, for instance) make navigation to full episodes of programs more of a difficult task.

In addition, this main video page also breaks down the collection of videos by category, allowing you to find programs of interest based on topic (although “Mysteries and the Unexplained” seem to take up an unnecessarily large section of the categories. Well, whatever.)

Viewing Episodes Online

I selected “UFO Hunters” (as that was always my favorite aspect of world history in public school…) and was routed to the page for this particular series. Following a brief commercial, the first things broadcast were a short succession of video clips from “UFO Hunters”. You need to click another tab for “Season 1 Full Episodes” in order to get to full-episode segments, broken into 10 minute playtimes.

The audio and video worked fine for the video, and offered features such as full-screen and email sharing options. It’s just the selection of subject matter that remains a little questionable, and makes me wonder: if this represents history according to the History channel, then why did I have to learn about Louis XIV in school and not aliens and Mayan 2012 predictions?

History Channel Sample Programming

Other Features of the History Channel Site

The History Channel site also offers a guide to current programming, a large number of games and multimedia applications, a store for purchasing various episodes, and info about their magazine.

The site is comprehensive, and above and beyond the full-length episodes there is a lot of interesting content to check out.

The History Channel

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ToonJet.com Review | Watch Full Streaming Looney Tune & Classic Cartoons Online

RobM — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:37:03 +0000

ToonJet offers a large selection of full-length classic cartoons that can be viewed online.

What is ToonJet?

ToonJet allows you to watch free online cartoons, with many full-length cartoons that can be viewed right within an internet brower.

An interesting feature of the site is the ToonJet Live feature, that basically allows you to watch the equivalent of a live cartoon channel as its streamed through the site. I was able to tune in and right away enjoy a Porky Pig cartoon already in progress, much like tuning into a live show.

Cartoons Offered

In addition to the live streaming cartoon, you can also select a tab to view cartoons for various categories such as:

Betty Boop
Felix the Cat
Looney Toons
Popeye
Superman
Tom & Jerry

You can also opt to receive content via RSS feed, so you can keep up with the new content being added.

Other ToonJet Features

You can create a user account with ToonJet, and use it to identify and save favorites, as well as befriend other ToonJet users.

ToonJet also offers a blog (with fairly outdated content as of this writing). I would have liked to see a little bit more, such as some image galleries or games, but as it stands, the video content of the site is plentiful and enough to keep me occupied enjoying classic toons.

Video Sample from ToonJet

A Repository of Classic Cartoons Online

As a big fan of the classic cartoons of long ago, ToonJet is a online treasure of toons such as Bugs Bunny, Superman and Tom & Jerry. The live streaming option is a nice touch, but it’s nice that there are categories of videos to select from if you aren’t in the mood for whatever the live channel is offering at the time.

ToonJet

Watch Indian Premier League Cricket Free On YouTube | Google Does Worldwide IPL Deal

Dave Parrack — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:48:02 +0000

Cricket is one of those sports you either love or hate. There’s very little middle ground. Those who love it are in for a treat over the next few months as the Indian Premier League tournament takes place. And all, for free, on YouTube.

YouTube Progresses

YouTube is becoming much more than it once seemed it would ever be. Already by far the most popular online video destination on the Web, serving one billion videos a day, it’s now turning its attentions to professional content as well as the bread and butter of UGC.

YouTube has already done deals with a number of media companies which have added movies and TV content to the site. Channel 4’s 4oD being a prime example. Sporting events are also now being added to the roster.

Indian Premier League Deal

Google has announced a deal with the IPL which will see all 60 matches in the 45-day Indian Premier League cricket tournament broadcast on YouTube.

This is a big deal, as the Indian Premier League is the largest cricket tournament in the world, expected to generate $1.6 billion over the next ten years.

The deal sees YouTube showing the whole tournament in every country around the world with the exception of the United States. This is explained because “re-broadcast options will be available,” in the U.S. I can’t see too many Americans being bother though as cricket isn’t exactly a big deal in the States.

Advertising Revenue

Google and the IPL will share advertising revenue. But Google India clearly has big plans for this event and the sponsors it will likely attract, saying:

“The advertising options on YouTube will be available only for a limited number of sponsors over the course of the season. Companies will have the opportunity to sponsor live streamed matches, match re-broadcasts, and ongoing viewership of clips and highlights. Advertisers will be able to advertise on the YouTube homepage, the live stream page, video ads during the match itself amongst several other innovative formats.”

This is the first live sporting event to be broadcast on YouTube, and I’m wondering how much money Google has paid to secure these almost-worldwide rights.

Conclusions

Although YouTube carried coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, it was only available to watch in countries not covered by television deals. And even in those countries, it was only highlight reels and daily wrap-ups.

This is something much bigger and much more telling for where Google wants to take YouTube in the future.

CBS AdLabs Beta Review | Ad-Watching Gimmick for Free CBS TV Episodes Online?

RobM — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:57:03 +0000

CBS has an interesting gimmick going on at their Ad Labs site, in which you can view advertisements in order to watch CBS full-length episodes online. Will this trend take off?

Watching Ads for Free TV

To get up and running, you need to register with CBS, and the registration process runs fairly quickly, prompting you for a username and password along with other information. You can also log in with a facebook account.

Once you create an account, the CBS AdLabs page presents you with basically two options: watch ads or watch TV shows. Your current credit balance is also displayed on the screen as well. You start off, obviously, at zero credits.

Selective Ad Watching

I started out watching a few ads to grab some credit. Selecting the “Earn Credits” link routed me to a page in which I could select which ads I wanted to view, each earning 1 credit.

This sort of gimmickery reminds me of some of the “make money online” sites, that pay you something like the 100th of a penny for every advertisement you view, but in the case of Ad Labs, you’re just building up a collection of credits for viewing CBS programming.

The ads are fairly standard ones: luxury cars, blackberry devices and credit cards, etc. Nothing overly exciting, but they pass quick, and you can always flip over to a different browser tab while they run.

Thoughts about the Ads…

One of the nice things about this system, though, is the fact that you can select which ads you want to watch. You aren’t at the mercy of CBS but rather you can scroll through a long list of adds and view these for credit.

Truth be told, this could be a neat system if CBS included a few movie trailers in the mix, but instead the selection of ads isn’t the most exciting.

At least CBS does offer a feedback form at the bottom of the page, so if enough folks write in to suggest that CBS ad some half-interesting movie trailers (namely anything without Owen Wilson) there might then be some improvement to the site.

Watching Shows with Earned Credit

The shows are currently limited in selection to programs like NCIS, Numb3rs, and some of the CSI programs. So I selected ‘CSI: Miami’ (if for no other reason than to catch a David Caruso philosophical-sunglasses zinger).

An episode of CSI:Miami required two credits, so I needed to sit through two ads prior to proceeding, but once the ads were done and the episode was started, it was refreshing to be able to watch the full episode, totally commerical free (even if the episode of CSI was completely contrived.)

Other Thoughts…

Its fascinating to me the level at which television has mutated over the years. Gone are the commercial breaks inbetween segments of the show, and now we can “earn” our way around these ads by simply watching a few selective ads at our own convenience and then get rewarded with our show.

Although I wonder…

What is it, though, that keeps the viewer from starting the ad and then jumping to another tab? Or reading a book? True, “traditional” TV ads are no different: you can always get up and walk away from those ads too, so is this basically the same paradigm?

I have to wonder if this sort of system will catch on, or if this will just be another gimmick that never quite takes off because the same programs can be found somewhere else without the cost of commercials? It will be interesting to see what happens.

CBS Adlabs Links

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Hoy! Telemundo.com Review | Watch Full-Length Spanish TV Episodes & Videos Online

RobM — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:57:33 +0000

Telemundo offers a number of full-length Spanish television programs that can be viewed in entirety online.

Telemundo – Spanish Television

Even for the mildly-Spanish literate, the Telemundo website offers a number of programs that can be viewed online, in addition to various video clips from numerous Telemundo television programs. While the site offers no direct English translation, the navigation is obvious enough that you can easily access the video page to watch full-length Spanish television episodes.

Getting Started

From the main Telemundo site, if you select the “Shows” tab, you are routed to a page featuring a number of programs that can be viewed online. Some of the content is a little questionable, with numerous images and articles featuring scantly-clad bodies interspersed throughout the site… enough that I wouldn’t recommend Telemundo as ideal viewing for all-ages. Anyhow, on the right of the page you can select the program name that you would like, and then you’re routed to a page for that show, with links to articles, images, and extras. Clicking ‘videos’ will route you to a section with “All the videos” and there you can view full episodes (broken into 3-part segments.)

Playing the Videos

The episodes all started without any problems and the video quality is fine, as is the audio (translational differences notwithstanding.) The video player features the standard controls for play, volume, etc. Programs with full-length episodes available include:

12 Corazones
Al Rojo Vivo
Casa Cerrado
Levántate
Nitido

Telemundo Video Links

StayTunedTV.net Review | Watch Full-Length Webisodes from Independent Filmmakers Online

RobM — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:14:49 +0000

Stay Tuned TV is a site were independent filmmakers can upload and promote their work. The site features original programming available in full-length episodes.

Overview of StayTunedTV

Stay Tuned TV offers a variety of full-length episodes created by independent film-makers. Videos include genres such as action, sci-fi, drama and comedy.

Even though most of these webisodes are clearly made by low-budget studios, the quality isn’t that bad and there’s enough interesting programming available to keep you interested with this site.

Getting Started With Stay Tuned TV

Stay Tuned TV allows you to create an account with them that allows you to upload your own films, comment on films, as well as enter periodic contests.

Navigation is easily broken down into three main categories for ‘Most Popular’, ‘Just Added’, and ‘Genre’, which allows you to browse webisodes based on criteria such as animation, comedy, documentary, etc. The site is very easy to navigate and straight-forward.

Playing the Webisodes

The videos all started fine, with a very brief advertisement at the beginning of each one. The webisodes all started fine for me on the Stay Tuned TV site, and technically speaking the site appeared refreshingly bug-free.

While most programs feature an initial rating about the video about to play, it should be noted that some of the titles fall into a PG-13+ rating category, so parental guidance is suggested for some of the video, although it should be noted that none of the titles I found were implicitly adult.

The Greatest American Hero

What caught my attention from my first visit, and what appears to be the ‘Most Popular’ webisode ranked on the site, is a low-budget yet faithful remake of the 1980’s program ‘The Greatest American Hero’. Now I loved this program as a little guy, so I can appreciate the effort put into this remake.

What’s fascinating to me is that, even though this in an independent remake, the writing and acting seems to carefully stay in tongue-in-cheek spirit with the original series, even down to similar titles and music, and even the same goofy 1980’s-prime-time-style television character dialog and banter.

This remake is a lot of fun, and if anything, it’s enough of a reason to check out Stay Tuned TV.

Episode from Stay Tuned TV

We’d have embedded the episode here but unfortunately it didn’t seem to work so well, but you can watch it on the site.

Other Features of Stay Tuned TV

Clearly Stay Tuned TV is still getting off the ground, because the forums appeared to be completely empty. The site also offers a merchandise page, but the only content as of this writing is a polo shirt.

It’s definitely a no-frills site at this point, but the video content is engaging enough to make this a site worth checking out.

Stay Tuned TV Links

Stay Tuned TV
Stay Tuned TV Help – requirements to sign up, system requirements and other details

Reeltime.com Review | Limited TV Channels & Video on Demand Movie Streaming

RobM — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:51:50 +0000

Reeltime.com is a site offering video-on-demand of diverse television programs and eventually movies. Its apparently pre-launch and content is still being added, but in fact the site has been around since 2004.

What’s Reeltime All About?

Reeltime.com (not to be confused with ‘reel-time.com’, an online resource for saltwater flyfishers) has a confusing home page at first glance and my initial reaction was, “What on earth does this site broadcast?”

Generic images flicker on the site, such as a family, some elephants, a sunset, a mountain? Initially I was wondering if this was a place for streaming video or was it just a generic clip-art site?

5 Years in Pre-Launch?

According to Wikipedia (and a citation is needed here) the site launched in 2004. Yet now in 2009 a ‘pre-launch’ notice is apparent on the ReelTime site.

According to a review on KillerStartups from 2007 it appeared that ReelTime was focusing on movie rental, including HD movies, but that focus seems to have changed since.

This makes me wonder if the site is ever going to officially launch. It’s typical for innovative start-ups to jump around with ideas and try different things, but after 5 years it still seems that ReelTime still has not found its footing, as the rest of this review will highlight.

Its also no surprise that the company has yet to turn a profit.

Navigation and Getting Started

The main page lists out a number of different “channels” with different topics, so to get started, I clicked on “1 ACTV”, which was arts and culture. This routed me to a list of interesting episode titles such as “ballroom dance healing”(?) and “Healing harp”(??).

Reeltime requires a registration before you can start viewing the videos, which I got through pretty quickly, and once you’ve completed this step and received your user confirmation email, you can begin viewing programs.

Channels Offered from Reeltime

I selected the option to view a program called “Trees Made of Glass” (if, for no other reason than the cool sounding title) and was routed to a page prompting for a Microsoft Silverlight plugin, which I installed fairly quickly through a link on Reeltime.

As far as browsers needed for Reeltime, I usually drive on Firefox, and this browser is supported, as well as IE and Safari. Windows and Mac 10 are also supported.

Some Technical Issues…

Once the Silverlight install completed, Reeltime told me:

Now, as an aside, I’m a software Quality Assurance Analyst full time, and nothing bothers me more than unearthing bugs on sites on which I don’t get paid to unearth them, especially if I’m NOT running a beta of a product, but an actual site.

However, clicking the, ahem, “1″ pop-up, cleared the message and I was on my way to learning about “glass trees”. The reeltime player worked fine, and offered a number of typical features like a full screen option, navigation buttons, and even a link for sharing the video clip.

Other Channel Offerings on Reeltime

My attention only being held so long, I decided to pop back to the main page to see what else Reeltime had to offer. Here are some samplings of what I found on the main channel map:

FTV – “Food Television”, with programs such as “Church Pie Ladies” and “Chinese Feast”
LTV – “Laugh Television”, featuring one program, “Speedy”(?)
RSFTV – “Reel Sci-Fi Television”, featuring one program, “The British UFO Files” (no Doctor Who?)
RLTV – “Reel Legal Television”, featuring “The Jaundiced Eye” (why have I never heard of some of these)

One of the channels, RTV-”Romance Television”, didn’t have any offerings, as well as some of the other channels, giving me the impression that this is a fairly new system and is still getting it’s footing.

Thoughts About the Programming

This looks and feels a lot like PBS broadcasts, or the type of programming you’d find on public television on any given day. Not overly thrilling material if you, like me, were weened on programs featuring cinematic space battles, evil aliens and robots.

Another thing that seemed strange to me was that the episodes I sampled capped off at about 2 1/2 minutes, with no continuation. Should there have been a ‘next’ button, or was that it, and shouldn’t the video have had a text message indicated something about the fact that I was only watching a trial? The few programs I caught, while not exciting, just ended after a couple minutes with no sense of completion. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on with this site.

Reeltime Store for Reeltime Items

Reeltime’s main page also links to a Reelstore where you can purchase things like hats, books, and health products, but much like the video selection, many of the departments are completely empty, such as the “Reel History Department”, which opens an empty folder stating “This department is currently empty. Please check back soon for new Products…” This site, and it’s store, could really benefit from a more robust inventory.

Premium Content with Reelclub

Reeltime also has a section for a reelclub that you can join. The offer includes discounts on merchandise from the stores, as well as a 10% discount on pay-per-view movies. What’s puzzling to me is that, all I can find on this site are television episodes. What movie’s is this talking about?

Apparently the site is in pre-launch, so it’s understandable if the site is missing some content or clarity, but it would have been appreciated if prior to putting this site online the folks at Reeltime had given a little more information about what this site is supposed to be about and when it will be offering full episodes of programs online.

Reeltime Links

BravoTV.com | Watch Full Bravo TV Episodes & Video Clips Online

RobM — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:11:41 +0000

The Bravo cable channel offers a number of full-length episodes that can be viewed online, including “Top Chef” and “The Real Housewives of Orange County.”

BravoTV Full-Length Episodes Online

Bravo is a cable channel offering a wide-variety of original programming. Their site, BravoTV.com, offers a number of full-length episodes, a large of video clips (over 7,000+) from a large number of their programs, in addition to other comments like image galleries, games and blogs.

Detailed Schedule of Bravo Programming

BravoTV also offers you a detailed viewing schedule of the day’s programming, with the ability to see two weeks worth in advanced. The schedule includes the name of the show, the broadcast time and a comprehensive description of the episode (enough of a description to let me know that I personally have no interest in viewing any of these programs in the first place.)

I know of the Bravo channel from watching “Inside the Actors Studio” with James Lipton from year ago, so it was interesting for me to research into Bravo online to see what else they are offering in addition to this. From the programming lineup, it appears the Bravo channel basically offers a large selection of original programming, some films, as well as repeats of older prime-time programs such as “West Wing”.

Full Episodes Available on BravoTV

Bravo offers some full-length programs on their site, and I checked out a few of these. Personally the sfull-show election seems a little limited, but all the same, it’s a fair sampling of some of Bravo’s original programming. Curiously, the first time I attempted to select a particular video I was routed to a blank screen and a “null: null” message, and as I’ve noted before, since my background is quality assurance, nothing irks me more than unearthing bugs that I don’t get paid to find (especially on high pagerank sites like BravoTV.com)

Regardless, I checked out an episode of “Top Chef”, and the episode loaded fine for me, with decent picture and sound. The episode starts, as you’d expect, with a quick advertiser message at the beginning, then a full episode plays with the standard navigation controls available on the site. Other than the initial “null” message, I was able to sample a couple videos, all of which ran fine but didn’t hold my attention for long.

BravoTv Clip of James Lipton Interviewing Hillary Swank

Other Features of BravoTV

In addition to online videos and episode guides, BravoTV also offers a number of, frankly, inane blogs. Unless someone is a serious fan of the programming and the actors from these shows, most all of these blogs are irrelevant and really didn’t hold my interest with any valuable content.

The Photos page of the BravoTV site offers a limited selection of images from Bravo programming (mostly dubious OC Housewife material), and the Games page of the site offers a selection of mostly IQ-style trivia games, again based on Bravo programming and that, if you don’t know the shows, the trivia is, well, trivial.

Final Thoughts…

In the quest to seek out new television programming viewable online, I have to say that personally, there is nothing whatsoever at all on Bravo that appeals to me personally, either in the programming or the site content.

Nevertheless, I’m sure that there are some people who will enjoy the full episodes offered online through Bravo. However, after browsing what Bravo has to offer I’m just left feeling that most of what they offer is shallow and superficial.

Bravo Video Links

How to Stream Video to an Xbox 360 | Full TV Episodes & Movies in UK & USA

Chris Tew — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:43:43 +0000

Adhering to a budget is the name of the game during tough economic times like these and many Americans are looking for ways to cut bills. One popular way has been eliminating ye olde cable bill from your life.

By pulling the plug on cable and satellite television, consumers may be saving more than $1,500 a year. There are many popular options out there such as plugging in your computer to the TV to watch Hulu, a Apple TV/Boxxee box or Roku, but for many, purchasing more equipment defeats the purpose of a budget.

Streaming television on a video game system is becoming a popular method for those looking to save some cash and since many Americans already have a gaming device, it’s really just a natural progression. Though it’s possible to use a Playstation 3 or Nintendo Wii for streaming TV, we’ll focus on Xbox 360 as there seems to be more content capabilities.

Xbox 360 Streaming in the UK

If you live in Great Britain, using Xbox 360 to stream content over a broadband internet connection will be pretty easy and best of all, it’s supported. Sky, one of England’s most popular channels for sitcoms, sports and movies offers Sky Player, a premium online service that can be used on your PC or Xbox 360. As Satellite TV Guru says

"a downer in this is that there is no current streaming of HD since English broadband speeds are not fast enough".

The non HD service will enable residents to watch their Manchester United or any show through Sky Player’s “on demand” features. Think Hulu only with dry humor. Sadly this capability is restricted to viewers inside the friendly confines of Great Britain so Yanks are out of luck.

Or are they?

U.S Viewers & Xbox 360 Streaming – PlayOn

PlayOn, a console application from MediaMall, can be loaded on your Xbox 360 and through the application, viewers can access streams from Hulu, YouTube, CBS, ESPN, CNN and Netflix to bring you some of the best internet video content.

Also if you live in or near a major city and have a standard local antenna, you can also have access to digital signals so visibility to local channels is also possible. Through Hulu, viewers can watch popular programming from ABC, NBC and select shows from Fox. The content provider, brought to you by said networks, has become a popular alternative to cable.

PlayOn is available for a free 14-day full-featured trial and after that it is a one-time $39.99 fee to purchase a license. Considering what viewers can potentially save from having cable, the savings is incredible.

Configuring PlayOn

Configuration isn’t a big deal. Enter in your Netflix and Hulu account information and PlayOn can access your account settings or stream information from those sites. You don’t need an account for Hulu but by signing up you can quickly gain access to saved content without having to skip through multiple pages.

PlayOn also features Amazon VOD, which offers rentals and some pre-theatrical releases along with television shows. While the service is paid, the content is not. Amazon makes purchasing content easy by using your existing Amazon account and credit card on file.

The Downsides?

Some things to consider if you’re using your Xbox360 is your internet connection and resolution on your TV. Streaming content does take a massive amount of bandwidth so if you don’t have a solid connection, viewers may run into never-ending buffering issues.

Also, if you have a HDTV, don’t expect HD content or the resolution to appear as it did with Cable or Satellite TV. Those are just aspects to consider if you’re planning on cutting the cord.

Also See

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