10.05.06
Review: TVU networks — TV on your PC
Internet on your PC? Why not! Something that’s been kicked around since the advent of Internet video is the idea of an Internet-only television network. If you can stream video, why not stream video channels? You wouldn’t have to worry about building out the network infrastructure, because you’d be running it on top of the Internet. TVU networks is one such company aiming to do just that.
There’s no clear timeline on when the service will actually roll out; according to their site, they anticipate a rollout later this year. Until that point, however, they are offering their software and service for free for beta testing. While it would appear that there is a web browser video player available, I was unable to get it to function in either Firefox 2.0 or Internet Explorer 7, so this review focuses on the downloadable software player (08/04/2006 16:02:10.72 build).
Requirements
- Windows 2000 or XP
- Broadband Internet, such as DSL or cable modem
Installation
Installation is very straightforward. Download the setup file, and run. That’s pretty much it. When you run it, a little spinning green globe will appear in your taskbar. This is no doubt handling part of their distribution — my thoughts on this are that TVU networks is leveraging something similar to Bit Torrent for content distribution, to keep bandwidth costs down. That way, if their subscriber base explodes, they could scale to meet demand without effort — clever.
Usability
The channel viewer is fairly straightforward — channels on the left, viewer on the right. For this beta, there are a lot of channels you might already be familiar with — FOX, NBC, Cartoon Network, ABC, CBS, ESPN (and ESPN2), TV land, CNN, Al Jazeera, and Animal Planet are among them. There are additionally some lower bandwidth channels, as well as some international channels.
As of this writing, there were forty-five channels, including ones from China, Korea, and Italy. To change channels, just click on another one, but be warned — changing channels is painful. You’ll spend several seconds waiting for the video to buffer in, so don’t expect to be channel surfing with this setup. In Full View mode, an on screen display with a volume control appears when you mouse over the display. I found that if you focused on the window, waited until the OSD disappeared, then clicked into another window that the OSD would stay hidden — convenient for multitasking dual monitor users like myself. No program guide was available for channels.
Overall, the interface is quite intuitive, and leaves little room for improvement. I would add some keyboard navigation or other accessibility features, as this could serve as a plug-in for a HTPC setup. I would have also added some quick program guide data in the channel viewer mode. Enabling the scroll wheel on the mouse for the channel listing would also be a plus.
Video Quality
In the picture above, you see the window for the TV. This is essentially a preview viewer, showing a 360×254 size image. In the lower right is a button marked “Full View”, which expands to fill the window, at 800×600. This window is freely resizable. Additionally, if from Full View you then maximize the window, it goes full screen. However, though the image gets bigger in each case, I believe the resolution remains the same, which makes the image pixelated at 800×600, and heavily so at full screen. I would put picture quality at comparable to Standard Definition at this point, and the channels seem to be mostly in 4:3 aspect ratio. (CNN is actually in 16:9 format, using letterbox black bars.) Due to the dearth of information regarding their upgrade plans, I have no idea if TVU networks is planning on improving this. According to their site: “The video quality will be equal to or better than typical digital cable channels and you will be able to switch between multiple TV channels just like on a TV.” That may be the case in the future, but they’re not there yet. I wouldn’t even say it actually competes with Standard Definition at this point, but it is reasonably close. Some channels are better than others.
The video is quite watchable as is, however, artifacting can be seen even in non-fast motion frames. (Pardon me for the lack of video examples; due to the nature of video display, the picture couldn’t be captured via screenshot.) I would not recommend viewing it full screen, as the artifacting becomes extreme. Viewing this on an HDTV’s full resolution may be a little painful.
Conclusion
As far as this technology goes, it’s pretty good. As advertised, you get TV channels on your PC. Maybe not all the channels you currently get, but they have a decent selection, and if you don’t have a TV, this can foot the bill.
Internet TV is an interesting idea, but is unlikely to replace traditional television networks. As a way to get television in an environment where televisions aren’t available, it’s a quite usable solution. Additionally, getting access to additional stations from around the world is a bonus. However, the picture quality offered is not substantially better, and definitely not a competitor to HD broadcasts (yet). There’s also a shortage of channels; though forty-five channels are available, people getting basic cable would be looking for more variety in the offerings — one hopes that with time, they’ll be able to diversify their listings.
Plus, people tend to already have their solutions for network television, be it cable, satellite, or over the air. They’re more likely to be interested in getting access to those channels, rather than access to this separate network, making offerings like Slingbox (which can broadcast your cable to your PC or even your cell phone) much more attractive. They’re certainly not likely to buy both subscriptions, and given that most people watch television in their houses, this is unlikely to be the solution of choice, especially with the lack of high definition content. At least in the US, areas that have broadband connections tend to also be the ones with other cable providers. What might be interesting is the provision of these channels worldwide to areas that set up Internet access, but do not have the wide availability of these channels. What’s interesting about TVU networks is that they’re trying to reverse the shift that television networks are undergoing now: rather than getting news and entertainment from television alone, people are now turning towards the Internet. Turning the Internet into TV is not exactly something that people are clamoring for. People want to watch television on their televisions.
TVU networks is missing one big feature: where’s the DVR-style functionality? The lack of pause, rewind, fast-forward, and slow-motion capabilities is sorely lacking. I’m surprised that they would overlook this functionality.
There’s also a lack of transparency about how the technology actually works. Does this company “torrent” the broadcasts? If so, then many companies specifically wouldn’t allow its use. What about the company? Many of the pages leave a bland “Under Construction” notice, rather than providing any useful information. What are their plans for expansion, and how soon are they releasing their full service? How much would it cost? Will the web player work again? There are a lot of questions left unanswered, leaving me feeling a bit leery about using it.
It’s fun to download and try out, but doesn’t quite get itself out of the novelty category. The technology here is very interesting stuff, and if you’re jonesing for TV where you have an Internet connection but no TV, then this patches in quite well. However, it will not replace your television. (If you don’t have a television, then this may be a good choice.) It will be interesting to see how they improve the service and how they target their markets.