Internet TV | Electronically Obsessed: A tech addict's guide to using the Internet to streamline your life

13Jan/103

Internet TV headaches

Internet TV can be liberating when it works, but frustrating when it doesn't (iStockphoto)

Since February 2009, I've been running an experiment to see if I could go without a cable television. I've found that with a few exceptions, I haven't missed my cable subscription at all. Downloading my television content via the Internet has been quite a learning experience. When it works, it's great. When it doesn't, you want to want to just tear your hair out.

Here are a few Internet TV headaches:

1. Right now, it's still pretty complicated

Sometimes, you just want to turn on the TV and veg out. Watching Internet video in your living room involves hooking up a computer to your TV, downloading and properly configuring a media server program, and installing the required plugins (more on this later) to watch certain content.

2. The technology can be finicky

Many of these media server programs (like PlayOn, Tversity, and XBMC) are mostly very specialized, often finicky, web browsers. These web browsers connect (sometimes using plugins) to content sites like Hulu and Netflix to retrieve the video from the website. This sounds great, in theory. If the content site changes the way the video is presented, the media server program can't access it until someone releases a patch. The patch works until the content site changes again. Then, another patch is needed. This cycle is tiresome.

3. The hardware needed to run the media server programs can be expensive

If you have a spare computer lying around, you might be able to use it as a the center of your Internet TV media rig. However, some computers might not have enough processor power to decode the Internet TV streams. Others may not have the graphical capability to display the video on your television without dropped frames and out-of-sync sound.

However, this might change very soon. Boxee is releasing the Boxee Box, which is a self-contained piece of hardware that runs a copy of the Boxee media center software. The Boxee Box is supposed to cost about $200, much less than a new computer. I think I might have to get one when it comes out....

Good News: It's getting better

I truly believe that 2010 is the year that Internet TV catches on, provided a few things happen:

More low-priced, self-contained solutions like the Boxee Box hit the market.
Service providers don't drastically raise prices on broadband Internet service.

Action Item

Tell me about your Internet TV experiences! Comment in the comments section of this post or send me an e-mail!

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Tagged as: headaches, Internet TV 3 Comments

12Nov/090

Break free from (and cancel!) your cable or satellite subscriptions (Part II): PlayOn Media Server

TV on the Internet

While Internet TV can be used as a replacement for cable or satellite subscriptions, most people like to enjoy their television programming in their living rooms. For some, watching television on their computer screens is just not as satisfying. Enter Media Mall's PlayOn Digital Media Server!

Quick Take:

MediaMall's PlayOn Media Server streams web video to game consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and now, Wii) for display on televisions. Cautiously recommended due to impressive video quality (for web video) and easy setup (due to uPnP).

However, PlayOn suffers from inconsistent availability. Frequently, these outages are outside of Media Mall's control. Customer service (in addressing the outages), on the other hand, is stellar. Media Mall has a very active user forum. They are also known for addressing outages quickly. Cost: Initial 14 day free trial, with a one-time charge of $39.95 after the end of the trial period.

Detailed Review:

Hulu

I've been a huge fan of Hulu since the service became available to the public in March 2008. I had actually signed up for the private beta test by submitting my email address, but didn't receive an invite until after the service went public. Not only does Hulu allow me to catch up on previous episodes of some of my current favorite television shows like NBC's "The Office", "Chuck", and FOX's "Dollhouse," I've also been able to watch older shows that I missed during their original broadcast like FOX's "Arrested Development."

Slow Computer Blues

While I initially didn't mind watching Hulu on my Windows Vista HP laptop, I felt that it would be great to enjoy my favorite shows on the couch, in front of my HDTV. Until recently, my standard Hulu setup involved a direct connection between my laptop and the PC input of my television. Unfortunately, my laptop's integrated graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150) just couldn't handle the task of displaying full-screen video without jitter and distracting stutter. I tried everything: updating the drivers, downgrading to Windows XP, installing a clean install of Windows Vista Ultimate, adding a USB key in hopes of taking advantage of Vista's ReadyBoost memory feature. Nothing worked.

I was ready to give up until I read an Engadget post about MediaMall's PlayOn Media Server.

Media Mall's PlayOn

PlayOn is a Windows-only (XP or Vista) media server that downloads video from Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and other Internet video sites and streams that content to a Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii or any other DNLA (Digital Living Network Alliance)-compliant networked media device. When the service is operating, the results are absolutely stunning. The video is crisp and clear, with no detectable jitter or lag. To my eyes, the quality is somewhere between standard-definition TV and DVD. Setup was a breeze too, thanks to Universal Plug and Play (uPnP). All I did was download the program, install it on my PC, turn on my PS3, select the "PlayOn" icon under the "video" option in the PS3 menu, and seconds later, I was watching "Chuck" on my HDTV. Brilliant.

After the installation of PlayOn, my PC and PS3 share the responsibilities of providing the content to my television. The PC downloads and transcodes the content into a format that the PS3 can understand. Then, the PC streams the content to the PS3 over the home network. Both wired Ethernet and wireless (802.11b, g, and n) connections are supported, but my setup allows me to have both the PC and the PS3 connected directly to my wireless router.

Plug-ins for More Content

Upon installation, PlayOn enables streams of Hulu, CNN, ESPN, Netflix, CBS, YouTube, and Amazon Video-on-Demand. Downloadable unofficial plugins (which are not supported by MediaMall) from PlayOnPlugins bring even more content (Revision 3, The Food Network, GameTrailers, HGTV, NBA, etc.) to your television.

PlayOn has a 14-day trial period where you can truly test the software to see if it's a good fit. After the trial period ends, you have to pay a one-time charge of $39.95 to continue using the software.

Action Items:

Go to http://themediamall.com and download the free, full function trial software.
Interface your PC with your Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii (or any other DNLA-compliant media client)
Enjoy Internet video on your TV
Purchase PlayOn when your 14 day trial is up!

Note: This post is an edited version of a post originally featured on the original Electronically Obsessed site.

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