TV Anywhere

Posted on 9 Jun 2009 at 16:15

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We no longer have to watch a TV show huddled around one box in one room of the home. David Ludlow explains how, thanks to the internet, you can watch TV wherever you like.

We've become spoilt when it comes to the way we watch television. With the advent of hard disk recorders, we've progressed quickly from having to manually select a single channel to record, to being able to record an entire TV series automatically and store weeks of programming. Certain personal video recorders (PVRs) can record up to three channels at once, which means we need never miss a show.

Rather than making us content with what we've got, this increased flexibility has opened our eyes to a world where television should be flexible - we want to decide where and when we watch the programmes we want. Thanks to the internet, this dream is largely possible. Here, we examine the different options. We've split television into two categories: live and on-demand. Live TV involves watching programmes as they're broadcast, as if you were sitting in front of your television, and requires a TV licence. On-demand services let you choose which shows you want to watch, and when you watch them.

Live TV

There are several ways to watch live TV away from your home. These range from free to pay-monthly subscription services. We'll look at all the options that involve a PC. We haven't covered mobile phone deals, as there's a limited choice of channels and a fraction of the content.

None of the streaming services provides broadcast-quality video. Generally speaking, the video resolution is lower than standard-definition TV, which is 720x576 pixels. Sky, for example, uses a resolution of 540x432 pixels. The bit rate of the video files is also quite low, degrading the quality further. Still, provided you don't sit directly in front of your computer or TV, the quality should be fine for most viewing purposes.

The easiest and cheapest way to view TV on a PC is to use the BBC's iPlayer (www.bbc.co.uk /iplayer) service. This is commonly used for the BBC's catch-up TV service, but it also has the option to display live TV. Go to the iPlayer website, select the channel you want to watch, make sure you have the current day's date selected in the menu on the left and then click on the On Now link at the top-right of the page. This starts streaming the live broadcast to your PC. Click the icon at the bottom-right, just under the screen area, to watch the current programme in full-screen mode. However, it's worth bearing in mind that not all programmes are made available for live view due to copyright and licensing issues, and you must be in the UK to access the programmes.

The BBC is the only terrestrial broadcaster to offer a live view service for its TV channels. ITV, Channel 4 and Five have only on-demand services. The only other way to watch TV over the internet without buying any hardware is to use Sky's Sky Player (http://skyplayer.sky.com). This service lets you watch several channels live, including G.O.L.D, Sky News, MTV One, Sky Sports 1 and 2, and Sky Movies Screen 1 and Screen 2. Unlike the BBC's service, Sky charges for this privilege, unless you have a multi-room TV subscription package, in which case it's free. Multi-room costs £9.75 a month and gets you a second set-top box in your home. Non-Sky customers wanting to subscribe to the Sky Player service must pay £15 per month for the Entertainment channels, £34 per month for Entertainment and Sports, £29 per month for Entertainment and Movies, and £38 per month for the whole lot.