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neil mitchell
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internet tv

Post by neil mitchell »

Hi all.
You know what, I think I might just abandon the whole satellite/dish thing altogether, regardless of how it turns out.
I've been experimenting with online tv at home in uk. My internet speed here is less than in Vernet Les Bains and I've been using IPortal, my laptop, hdmi cable and a 32" tv so it will be exactly the same or better at home in Vernet.
Having grown up in the 60's and 70's in my mind TV always comes through an areial (or latterly a dish) but what a revelation internet tv is.
With Filmon, TVCatchup, and all the main channel demand websites setup you can pretty much watch anything you like anytime you like.
It's a huge departure from the "listings" and you can still watch live tv, I'm sold.
If you are already paying for internet the only extra cost is the VPN which is really cheap.
The only downside that I can think of is that internet may be slightly less reliable than satellite, if anyone can see any other disadvantages I'd be love to hear them.
Thanks guys, for dragging me screaming into the 21st century.
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Post by Smiley G »

Hi Neil,
What download speed do you enjoy in Vernet les Bains?
It's important because well South of Perpignan, Broadband runs at a snail's pace sometimes which would disrupt your viewing. I believe HD TV needs at least 4mbps constantly.
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Owens88
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Post by Owens88 »

I just put adsl into my Vernet apartment and got over 8mb reliably.

regards
John
www.Goodviews.co.uk

Vernet Les Bains and East Midlands
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

I'm old-fashioned enough (and have a sufficiently limited appetite for UK TV) that I simply want to watch the best of "what's on" from a small range of channels - usually the news - on the odd occasion when I want to watch something. And occasionally record the rest of the series. For that purpose, I want something as close to a "proper" TV as possible, with a programme guide, and controls for selection, which are not clogged up with stuff I will never watch. The Humax box, and eyetv tuner, that I have somewhere else (where UK reception is still good) are ideal for that. The Internet options I have looked at seem a bit like hard work for my purposes (even though I have all the kit, and the bandwidth, needed to get it onto my tv).

So I would be very interested in feedback on the "user-friendliness" of the different options.
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Post by Santiago »

I've given up on Satellite as the signal here is a bit ropey and goes down whenever there is bad weather.

I've been using internet TV over a VPN for about 2 years. What I find is that you just move away from the concept of timed listings. You decide what you want to watch and when. You end up watching less TV and perhaps miss out on some things but I prefer it that way.

I generally use BBC, 4OD and LoveFilm. The downside is that it usually takes 10 minutes to decide what to watch but I probably used to waste more than that channel surfing.

The picture quality is not HD but it's certainly better than pixellated satellite reception.
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Post by martyn94 »

As an afterthought , what is the easiest way of getting UK radio - just the BBC channels for me. There are lots of ways of doing it, but which involves the fewest "clicks"? Up North" in France it just comes with the satellite feed.
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Post by martyn94 »

Santiago wrote:I've given up on Satellite as the signal here is a bit ropey and goes down whenever there is bad weather.

I've been using internet TV over a VPN for about 2 years. What I find is that you just move away from the concept of timed listings. You decide what you want to watch and when. You end up watching less TV and perhaps miss out on some things but I prefer it that way.

I generally use BBC, 4OD and LoveFilm. The downside is that it usually takes 10 minutes to decide what to watch but I probably used to waste more than that channel surfing.

The picture quality is not HD but it's certainly better than pixellated satellite reception.
I understand the idea, but I cannot imagine investing that much time and thought over something I only do when the sun goes in, or it starts raining, or it's just that time of day. It's too laborious for me to plan ahead, or search through everything that might be available. I just want what's available now. In effect "Internet TV pour les Nuls/for Dummies" - but I guess that the market is so small that no-one will ever write the book.
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Post by neil mitchell »

I know, I'm the same, I don't really want to plan what to watch, just amuse myself for a short period with what's on. The TVCatch up site is good for that, it's just the same as flicking through your favourites on the sky control and no more complicated to put on and select your channel. Filmon does the same thing. It really is just as easy but slightly different. The only thing I need to make it more user friendly is a mini remote keyboard rather that have the laptop on the coffe table. It also means that you can use the internet on the tv screen without needing to elevate oneself from ones armchair. It's ok, it really work, even for lazy blighters like me!
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Post by Allan »

neil mitchell wrote: The TVCatch up site is good for that, it's just the same as flicking through your favourites on the sky control and no more complicated to put on and select your channel.
You will be very lucky to get TVCatchUp to work in France, they are one of the few providers that try to rigorously enforce a UK only policy.

There system detects multiple accesses from the same ip subnet so unless your VPN or Proxy provider is very small then they will almost certainly be blocked.
martyn94 wrote: I understand the idea, but I cannot imagine investing that much time and thought over something I only do when the sun goes in, or it starts raining, or it's just that time of day. It's too laborious for me to plan ahead, or search through everything that might be available. I just want what's available now. In effect "Internet TV pour les Nuls/for Dummies" - but I guess that the market is so small that no-one will ever write the book.
The market is far from small, it's huge! Around 10% of worldwide TV is watched on-line, there are loads of books published on the subject.
martyn94 wrote:As an afterthought , what is the easiest way of getting UK radio - just the BBC channels for me. There are lots of ways of doing it, but which involves the fewest "clicks"? Up North" in France it just comes with the satellite feed.
There are a zillion Internet radios on the market that are operated much like any other radio and there are some really clever apps for iphones/pads/pods.

The broadcasting restrictions that apply to TV content don't generally apply to radio. so it may well be that radio stations will still be available even when UK TV isn't.
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Post by Sue »

Dylan
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Santiago
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Post by Santiago »

martyn94 wrote:
Santiago wrote:I've given up on Satellite as the signal here is a bit ropey and goes down whenever there is bad weather.

I've been using internet TV over a VPN for about 2 years. What I find is that you just move away from the concept of timed listings. You decide what you want to watch and when. You end up watching less TV and perhaps miss out on some things but I prefer it that way.

I generally use BBC, 4OD and LoveFilm. The downside is that it usually takes 10 minutes to decide what to watch but I probably used to waste more than that channel surfing.

The picture quality is not HD but it's certainly better than pixellated satellite reception.
I understand the idea, but I cannot imagine investing that much time and thought over something I only do when the sun goes in, or it starts raining, or it's just that time of day. It's too laborious for me to plan ahead, or search through everything that might be available. I just want what's available now. In effect "Internet TV pour les Nuls/for Dummies" - but I guess that the market is so small that no-one will ever write the book.
Maybe I didn't make myself very clear. Watching TV on demand takes less spare time than looking at schedules and flicking channels and, most importantly, means you can watch the things you want when you want.

It's not complicated at all. You buy somethign like IPortal and then you just go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ or http://www.lovefilm.com/
on the spot and decide what you want to watch.

To me that's easier than deciding which TV/Satellite package to buy and then having to hunt through a list of programs to see if there is anything on at the moment.
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Post by blackduff »

Santiago wrote: It's not complicated at all. You buy somethign like IPortal and then you just go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ or http://www.lovefilm.com/
on the spot and decide what you want to watch.


To me that's easier than deciding which TV/Satellite package to buy and then having to hunt through a list of programs to see if there is anything on at the moment.
Jon
Can you give a bit more using iPortal. I'm watching filmon and it does let me watch a few programs. Many say iPortal is great but it's tough to find how this is used. Even their own site doesn't give you much information. They give you a "trial" for 24 hours but you have to sign-up and pay money before you get the "Trial".

I'm using Filmon from a laptop next to the TV. I use a VGA cable and small external speakers. Across the room I use a wi-fi keyboard and a wi-fi mouse. I want to determine if this will work with iPortal.

From what you just posted, my iPortal program will allow me to pass into the http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ or some similar. Can you give more information how this works.

Thanks Blackduff
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Post by Allan »

blackduff wrote: Can you give a bit more using iPortal. I'm watching filmon and it does let me watch a few programs. Many say iPortal is great but it's tough to find how this is used. Even their own site doesn't give you much information. They give you a "trial" for 24 hours but you have to sign-up and pay money before you get the "Trial"

Thanks Blackduff
Let. Me try to answer this one. If you go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ and try to watch a program then it will refuse to let you watch it with a message that BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK. Something similar would happen with ITVplayer and most other on-line services.

All iPortal does, is fool their systems into thinking that you are in the UK, thereby enabling you to use these services.

When you install iPortal, it puts an icon on your desktop to start iPortal, when you start it nothing appears to happen but afterwards you can use UK TV services.

Filmon does not have the same UK only restriction so you don't need iPortal to run it.

iPortal's website is a little confusing, after you sign up with them you have to wait for an email from them before you can set it up.
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Post by russell »

In simple terms iPortal and others just route your internet requests through a computer in the UK so the site thinks you're in the UK. Once set up you just use your computer as normal. I'm using SmartDNS from Overplay at present which is cheaper at USD 4.95/month and works fine here.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get Dave (for repeats of Have I got News for You and QI) or the Discovery channels on line? I haven't found them yet.

Russell.
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Post by Allan »

russell wrote:
Does anyone know if it's possible to get Dave (for repeats of Have I got News for You and QI) or the Discovery channels on line? I haven't found them yet.

Russell.
online.chris-tv.com claims to offer Dave, I haven't tried it.

Most TV repeats are available from 1channel.ch
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Post by Allan »

russell wrote:
Does anyone know if it's possible to get Dave (for repeats of Have I got News for You and QI) or the Discovery channels on line? I haven't found them yet.

Russell.
Just tried Chris-TV online, it worked fine for Dave - Discovery Channel was a poor picture. I'm running a trial version of Chris TV so it may need the premium version for long-term viewing.

I looked on 1Channel and there appears to be a full set of Have I Got News for You and QI
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Post by blackduff »

Good Posts sounds I need to join up with the iPortal. I get the reduction since I'm older than the rocks here.

iPortal said I'll have a rate of 40€ per year ~ that's not much.

I manage to get Filmon most times but a few days back, it insists that my computer is using Internet Explorer ver.7. Actually it's ver. 8 and Filmon has been digesting this for a month. The evening becomes a little hectic, trying to find what's available.

Since Filmon refused to use my IE, I loaded the Chrome and it seems to work fastier than the IE. Plus, the channel selection program works good too.

Thanks again for the posters.

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Post by russell »

Allan wrote:
Just tried Chris-TV online, it worked fine for Dave - Discovery Channel was a poor picture. I'm running a trial version of Chris TV so it may need the premium version for long-term viewing.

I looked on 1Channel and there appears to be a full set of Have I Got News for You and QI
Thanks Allan,

I haven't tried 1Channel yet but Chris-TV works with downloaded software which is a pain as there isn't a Linux version. If you want to run it on your Raspberry Pi you'll have to run a copy of Windows in Virtualbox. That works on my laptop but I don't know if the RPi will have enough oomph.

Russell.
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Allan wrote:
neil mitchell wrote:


There are a zillion Internet radios on the market that are operated much like any other radio and there are some really clever apps for iphones/pads/pods.

The broadcasting restrictions that apply to TV content don't generally apply to radio. so it may well be that radio stations will still be available even when UK TV isn't.
I had a wonderfully frustrating experience listening to Paul Jones' blues show a few years ago: it had all of his words, but only a few seconds of the music: maybe it's different now.
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Post by montgolfiere »

Dave is on Filmon....

I have it working quite well on PC and Android on a 2mb connection.
I am also trying unotelly (as well as iporta), which seems quite good too....

Having problems with ITV Player , 4 OD and C5 player on Android....
iplayer and BBC live streams working well on Android.
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Post by Allan »

montgolfiere wrote:Dave is on Filmon....

I have it working quite well on PC and Android on a 2mb connection.
I am also trying unotelly (as well as iporta), which seems quite good too....

Having problems with ITV Player , 4 OD and C5 player on Android....
iplayer and BBC live streams working well on Android.
Well spotted, Dave on Chris-TV is in fact the Filmon stream but you don't need their software to run it on Filmon.

The Android players for ITV, 4OD and C5 are not very good, likewise the Filmon one is pretty poor.

If your Android will run XBMC there are far better players available
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