Watching videos over the Internet use to be a drag years ago. If it wasn't the poor quality and overall performance that made you cringe, it was the limited content that led you back to your TV set. But on occasions, there were some good quality videos to watch to say the least. But that was then, and not quite the same now since Internet TV has made a dramatic turnaround.
Back then, most videos that came from Internet media providers such as YouTube suffered immensely--due to poor quality homemade and bootleg videos. Today, a new generation of high-quality premium, on-demand and HDTV channels including videos have taken fold and continues to hit the Net by storm.
From my own observation and hands-on experience, what makes Internet television such a worth while venture today is...
1. You can create a mobile TV using a Windows, Vista, or MAC laptop with a broadband card or wireless connection to watch favorite shows, episodes, movies, sports and other content online, whether at home or on the go
2. You can create a computer Internet TV system using a desktop/laptop computer using a DSL or High Speed Internet connection and connect it to your TV-set to watch any Worldwide sporting event, TV show/episode, movie, etc.
3. Lastly, and perhaps the best one yet, you can watch World TV Online 24/7--anytime and anyplace without paying any monthly costs with exception to paying your Internet broadband provider.
As for #2, this connection isn't as difficult as one may think. You just need a fast Internet broadband connection (DSL or High Speed at 500kbps or higher). The next step is identifying the type of video inputs your TV-set and computer provides. For instance, most modern computers especially laptops have an "S-video" output. Combine this with your computer's headphones (line out) or speakers (output) that might be all you need.
On the other hand, some desktop computers might need an internal (or external) video card that offers S-Video, HDMI (highest quality video) or composite videos. But everything really depends on your television inputs. But this setup is only needed if you prefer watching World TV Online on your television set.
I'm one of those guys who doesn't have a drop-your-jaw, large-screen HDTV at home. In fact, my computer Internet TV system-to-television system consist of a 2004 Toshiba Satellite laptop with an S-Video connected to a fairly cheap converter box. This in turn supplies the composite video and audio to my Sanyo 27" television set.
And I don't have to do anything different once the digital-to-analogue conversion takes effect June 12, 2009 in the US--since everything coming from the Internet to my TV screen is all digital. Any case, this type of setup with video coming from a high source works pretty well for me.
While there are all sorts of places to go such as Radio Shack to buy adapters and video/audio connector cables, shopping online saves me time and effort. Even though these items are fairly cheap, I can compare prices and find bargains online easily. You get to see what each connector looks like before buying and even get connectors in a set.
In addition to this, you will probably need to change some of your computer video settings to access video through the connection made to your TV set. Usually, this can be accomplished through a computer's properties/settings/advanced panel. But this can vary from computer to computer when trying to communicate with a PC--telling it that two displays will be used and one of them for a TV.
The next step is simply pointing and clicking to channel/video links to watch World TV Online. But if you wanted to make this process even easier, an all-in-one network makes finding 1000s of free sports, movies, TV shows and episodes, radio stations, music, and more, much easier.
The time and effort it takes a person to find popular and hard-to-find content are lowered considerably, as it streamlines and organizes the entire process. What is considered to be a newbie-helper, it also lowers the learning curve to setting up World TV Online computer system because the work is already completed.
Once more, free Internet content is forever changing and getting access to only a few Internet media websites, and not all of them, doesn't provide the best of World TV Online. There are 1000s of websites and even more television channels, radio stations, and videos out there.
As for me, I don't have plenty of time on my hands to look for everything that interest me. The problem for many newbies is knowing exactly where the best channels, stations, and videos are located on the Internet. This alone can take a considerable amount of time to find them all.
For instance, just try to find any particular sporting event with the date, time, and link to watch it. You will see what I mean. Even if you were lucky enough to find it, don't count on finding all the other live sport feeds such as a favorite or local team, football, baseball, soccer, basketball, racing, boxing, wrestling, golf, and tennis, to name a few, anytime soon.
Going through 100s, if not 1000s, of Internet TV websites while searching and reading anything to find a streaming live ballgame can be very time consuming and frustrating.
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Philip Sumpter is a tester/user of Internet TV products and has helped 1000s of people worldwide enjoy the best of computer Internet TV. Would you like to watch free TV shows, sports, and movies on your PC? To learn more and become part of a growing video industry, go to
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