Watching Online Streaming Television From The U.S. And/Or U.K.

sammycic · August 8, 2010

jf just to let you know ustvnow working fine for me this morning. the stream is good and thanks for the info you have supplied.

jfchandler · August 8, 2010

Glad to hear it...

Just fyi, yesterday, I got an email back from one of the execs at USTVNow, whom I had written an email to previously about their new service...

In response to one of my questions to him, he replied that they hope to keep operating the free six networks plan "indefinitely". So that's a good sign that they're not just doing this as some kind of "grand opening" special, but rather, that it's part of their ongoing business plan.

sammycic · August 9, 2010

I have just been watching USTV now fullscreen on my 40" TV and the picture is quite good and the sound fine. I hope they don't stop their free service.

the stream is very quick to load and it seems to automatically sort out the best res.

good stuff so far.

jfchandler · August 9, 2010

This morning, I watched the NFL preseason kickoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Cincinnati Bengals via the NBC network broadcast on USTV Now...

I could have watched the game on TrueVisions on ASN, but I wanted to see how it fared on USTV Now. Online broadcast came thru perfectly fine, although the times of quick, continuing movement on screen seemed slightly jerky...as you'd expect from an online stream. But the picture quality likewise was very good...and the sound was indistinguishable from if I was watching on regular TV in the U.S.A.

genobkk · August 9, 2010

I have used this servic, hard to get good speeds and it cost a lot!!! for an example if you want to watch discovery channel during are time zone it is all endless advertiseing for hours at a time. If ou want the DVER you willpay $159 and up. Unless you are really into sports I would suggest you just download the shows and use popcorn hour to watch on your tv. that is my set up now and I save a bunch of money. it is not worth it, $159 or more for USTV, plus 2,500 THB for a good internet connection to get the speeds you need to do it. checkout popcornhour.com I have the c-200 If you had a friend in the USA or family it would be better, but still most ISPs are only limited to 1 MB upload in the sates unless you are in an area with FIOS.

If you are into sports and have the money to spend it might be worth it. I use 3bb 4 MB and I can download HD shows, movies, etc with out issues then watch on my LCD HD TV ...

So, let's talk about one available option, for those who are willing to spend a little bit of money...

(And for the record, I have absolutely no connection or interest whatsoever with this service or any of the other ones I'll be mentioning subsequently in this thread).

Perhaps you're already spending close to 2,500 baht per month or so for a True UBC Platinum package, which includes 90 channels, many of which probably aren't of great interest to Westerners...or are versions of channels replete with boring and seemingly endless repeats.

What if you were willing to pay a bit more, say about 3200 baht per month (or $99 U.S. in this instance)?

Right now at home, I'm watching a full 180-channel cable television set-up from Los Angeles on the screen of my Bangkok PC, using a service called a2btv (http://www.a2btv.com/), which bills itself as "Real American TV Wordwide". It's not cheap, but in testing it, it's pretty cool and seems to work well for my set-up. They do offer a free short-term trial (which I'm using now) via their web site (no credit card required) where you can download and install their software on your PC that allows you to log-on to their system and receive the TV content online, sample all the channels, etc etc. Here's the full list of their channel line-up.

In essence, they're setting up a cable TV account for you in Los Angeles where they are located (there's also a $99 one-time set charge for the basic package), and then they are using Slingbox player software to steam the TV content via your Internet connection. They have three packages for American TV content, including $99 per month for the 180 channel cable service, $139 per month for the same cable package plus an online DVR recorder, or $169 per month for the cable plus a high def video recorder set-up.

The software includes lots of controls for being able to customize and tweak both your streaming protocols, video display formats and on-screen display, which includes an included online channel guide much like the one True and other cable systems use, and even an on-screen remote control device, where you can use your mouse to click the control buttons just like you would on a physical remote control device.

I don't watch that much TV at home, and I don't subscribe or feel the need for a True Gold or Platinum TV package. So this package, as much as I'm liking it, is a bit of an overkill for me, and I'm personally not anxious to spend 3200-3300 baht a month on my television viewing. But that's me. Just recently, another TV member posted about wanting to know where/how he could find all these kinds of American TV channels online...and the price didn't much matter to him. So, to each his own.

Meanwhile, the same company also offers a trio of 136 to 138 channels of British television and radio channels for monthly prices ranging from 79 to 99 pounds per month. The full details of those packages are located here.

From talking to their customer service, I learned their packages, once you subscribe to a paying package, require a 12-month commitment with early cancellation penalties if you quit early. For some reason, their CSR also told me, they have a one-time deposit of $199 for customers without a U.S. Social Security number, which is credited back to the customer in the 12th month of service. Also, the high definition package apparently has a significantly higher one-time installation fee.

One nice thing about this service is that you can access all their content without having to worry about (or pay for) a proxy service to get around the government's censorship activities aimed at blocking other kinds of video sites. For me, at my home, the video quality was perfectly adequate for viewing on my 19 in. PC monitor and my 24 in. tabletop TV. But I didn't test it, nor do I have, any kind of big screen TV setup, so I can't speak to that.

jfchandler · August 9, 2010

Geno, you're commenting on earlier, and yes, much more expensive, versions of the plans offered by a company called NationPhone&TV thru its service called USATVAbroad.

Of the three plans listed on USATVAbroad's web site, they're very definitely NOT offering the $25 a month Essential Plan any more. I'm not absolutely sure if they're still offering the $99/65 channels and $199/200 channels a month plans. They're still listed on the web site for the service, and it appears people can still sign up for them...

But meanwhile, the same company has begun offering a new service to replace the former Essential Plan under a new name and new web site...the one we've been talking about just above in this thread, which the company now calls USTVNow. They have three different plans under that name:

--Free, which gives you access to the six major over the air U.S. TV networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW and PBS.

--a $39 a month plan that gives you those six networks plus 15 cable networks, which for sports includes U.S. ESPN.

and --a $49 a month plan that gives you those same 21 channels above with DVR service.

Re your comments, their $99 and $199 plans under USATVAbroad used Slingbox technology that, when I tested it at my home, really struggled to give a good quality picture even with my True 8 mb premium connection costing about 1,100 baht per month. Not only were those plans pretty expensive, but the video quality just wasn't worth it. But you were getting either 65 channels under the $99 plan or 200 channels under the $199 plan. Those weren't for me...

However, the same company's new service under the USTVNow name is using a different Flash-based video technology (not Slingbox) that seems to stream and show quite well. And for $39 or $49 a month, I consider it to be quite a good deal, one I'll consider signing up for... something I never would have done for their $99 and $199 a month plans.

That said, for people who are solely sports enthusiasts, their 21 channel plan really only gives you the over the air networks plus ESPN. The other included channels don't really do much in the way of sports...

ABC

CBS

CW

FOX

NBC

PBS

Animal Planet

Bravo

Cartoon Network

CNBC

CNN

Comedy Central

Discover Channel

ESPN

Food Network

FX

History

Syfy

TBS

TNT

USA

I have used this servic, hard to get good speeds and it cost a lot!!! for an example if you want to watch discovery channel during are time zone it is all endless advertiseing for hours at a time. If ou want the DVER you willpay $159 and up. Unless you are really into sports I would suggest you just download the shows and use popcorn hour to watch on your tv. that is my set up now and I save a bunch of money. it is not worth it, $159 or more for USTV, plus 2,500 THB for a good internet connection to get the speeds you need to do it. checkout popcornhour.com I have the c-200 If you had a friend in the USA or family it would be better, but still most ISPs are only limited to 1 MB upload in the sates unless you are in an area with FIOS.

If you are into sports and have the money to spend it might be worth it. I use 3bb 4 MB and I can download HD shows, movies, etc with out issues then watch on my LCD HD TV ...

jfchandler · August 9, 2010