Streaming television in the dark alleys
July 9th, 2006
I’m one of the few people in the US that doesn’t own a TV. It’s been years since I’ve owned one, and, after the first few weeks, I haven’t really missed it that much. But, there are still some instances when certain media is best delivered through television. A friend of mine recently pointed me to TVU Networks, which provides streaming television through the web. All legalities aside, the service is actually bearable to watch when you’re desperate without a television.
Now, I must warn you that the service as it stands is a little on the shady side, as is their webpage. Based in Shanghai, TVU Networks aims to be the definitive Internet TV company:
TVU networks is a new global live TV service that enables TV Broadcasters and private individuals to broadcast TV channels to a global audiences over the Internet. TVU uses a new application-level multicasting technology (similar to peer-to-peer file sharing) that allows broadcast costs to be exponentially lower than those of today’s streaming technology.
The technology behind the content delivery is like BitTorrent, but with streaming content. Basically, the more peers that are watching the particular channel, the better your stream will be. Currently, they have about two dozen channels, ranging from ABC to HBO to Asian language channels. The player itself is no frills, allowing you to specify a channel, refresh a channel, or enter in some commands via a textbox (there doesn’t seem to be a manual for this, so you’re on your own).
Certainly, the legality of all this is questionable. HBO’s lawyers wouldn’t be very happy to know that someone is seeding a live stream of their content for free over the web. Nevertheless, the technology itself is impressive. On average, I saw about 12 to 15 peers, which gave a pretty consistent video quality.
I’m one of the few people in the US that doesn’t own a TV. It’s been years since I’ve owned one, and, after the first few weeks, I haven’t really missed it that much. But, there are still some instances when certain media is best delivered through television. A friend of mine recently pointed me to TVU Networks, which provides streaming television through the web. All legalities aside, the service is actually bearable to watch when you’re desperate without a television.
Now, I must warn you that the service as it stands is a little on the shady side, as is their webpage. Based in Shanghai, TVU Networks aims to be the definitive Internet TV company:
TVU networks is a new global live TV service that enables TV Broadcasters and private individuals to broadcast TV channels to a global audiences over the Internet. TVU uses a new application-level multicasting technology (similar to peer-to-peer file sharing) that allows broadcast costs to be exponentially lower than those of today’s streaming technology.
The technology behind the content delivery is like BitTorrent, but with streaming content. Basically, the more peers that are watching the particular channel, the better your stream will be. Currently, they have about two dozen channels, ranging from ABC to HBO to Asian language channels. The player itself is no frills, allowing you to specify a channel, refresh a channel, or enter in some commands via a textbox (there doesn’t seem to be a manual for this, so you’re on your own).
Certainly, the legality of all this is questionable. HBO’s lawyers wouldn’t be very happy to know that someone is seeding a live stream of their content for free over the web. Nevertheless, the technology itself is impressive. On average, I saw about 12 to 15 peers, which gave a pretty consistent video quality.
