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FREE TV on Computer P2P Streaming

Posted on June 17, 2006, 2:21 pm EST

TVU Player or SopCast

A Chinese product which allows you to stream TV from the Internet for free on the computer. They have 50 channels now including HBO, CNN, ABC, Comedy Central, Disney, and many more.

While visiting the players website http://www.tvunetworks.com , the player uses multicasting broadcasting technology that is similar to todays peer to peer. When I am watching, I am uploading at 100kb/s. Streaming is pretty good as well... It is not slow nor it disconnects. I watched the World Cup 2006 while programming at home. Very convenient indeed.

TV companies now Streaming

Companies like FOX, NBC, and others are streaming shows only within USA for free on their website.

The BAD

On the negative side, I believe the user interface of TVU Player is still weak. There are no settings or help.

Another bad thing is that the tv shows are user streamed. So no guarantee that it is consistent.

The GOOD

On the positive side, this player does its job! I prefer SopCast since its interface is elegant and more users seem to use it. It seems that I am uploading more than I am downloading. So far, today I watched just 45minutes of the Ghana and Czech match, and I already downloaded 450MB and uploaded 700MB. To me, that seems a bit too much for 45minutes of streaming. But I am getting free TV so that wont matter:) But it was crystal clear, didn't chop, nothing! Its P2P streaming, the more the people, the merrier.

Screen shots

Version 2.2 of the Player, looks kinda weak but works perfectly.

SopCast V1 of the Player, looks nice.

My Views

I personally think this technology is very nice. P2P TV is amazing. Just sit back at work or at your home watching TV while doing something else :) It is really convenient and has amazing quality. I highly recommend anyone who needs a free solution to watch TV on their PC's. I prefer SopCast since its community is larger than TVU

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