News Viewers prefer file-sharing

I think the main reason TV torrents are so popular is that you can get 720p version of your favorite shows, and that is something no network is offering. No matter how convenient that in browser flash player is, unless they get to streaming 720p content the torrents will always win. Also, yeah, there's the pack rat mentality of of the torrents too, and I have to say I have fallen for the "I'll download it now and watch it later" thinking quite a bit.

 

The iPlayer holds a whole series now, not just 7 days...

 

they still block international viewers so it doesn't help much.

good news for australian though

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/BlogEntry/121784,bittorrent-users-are-being-watched.aspx

they only seem to be targetting distributors here in aus and not the users

 

I don't think it will be long before the TV Networks allow some of the 'more' popular programs to be distributed over P2P. Top Gear for instance is hugely popular, and yes, it will be repeated on DAve, but Dave add's sodding ads, and so you miss nealy 20mins of a 1 hour show.

Sam

 

Ya they even block Canadian viewers from their "official" sites. I don't think they should block any countries but Canada gets the same TV episodes as the US and there is zero reason they should not allow people from here to watch.

There are ways around it apparently, proxy type stuff, but no ones going to jump through hoops to watch their crappy flash stream.

 

I have bought the first three seasons and the mini series of BSG in NZ about 6 months ago, but they are only just airing season 3 now with season 4 almost finished in the US. Am I going to torrent it? Yes
Will I buy the dvd when it comes out? Yes

 

I never torrent shows. Mostly because it is such a huge kick to my Internet connection slowing me to a crawl. I can see whey people do it though. It's just so much easier. To download a torrent all you have to do is search a torrent site for show you want and download it.

To watch a show such as prison break legally you first have to think what network the stream will be on, you then have to trawl through the site to find their streams and finally to the show you want. On top of all that you also have to bear through adverts, slow downloads and poor quality.

 

The day that Canada gets a BBC-equivalent megacompany (specifically, their iPlayer) to deliver HD-only television programming on demand on my computer, I will stop downloading. Period.

 

tv shows have always been downloaded heavly in europe due to the 3-4month delay in there release here. Want to stop piracy of them

release them here at the same god dam time lol

 

ditto

 

I just can't be arsed to sit down at a specific time once a week to watch something I want to watch. I hate having my viewing schedule being dictated to me.

I much prefer to have either a legitimate DVD or some bit torrent downloaded rips which I can watch whilst in bed, or whenever really.

 

one of the main reasons i get Top Gear is cause if i watch it on tv they cut out heaps of it for ads. its approx. 1 hour when i download it, but its also 1 hour on tv, with about 20 minutes ads...

 

hum? Top Gear is on BBC2 runs for a full hour.

HD quality is also another reason to download rather than stream.

 

I rip what is hard to get, not what is popular...
frankly, the last television series i ripped was "Get Smart Season 1" from the sixties.

...a German broadcaster is planning to air "Allo Allo"...for the first time in Germany...talk about lag ;-)
We are usually not one, but two or three seasons behind. many series start, and then are dropped after 2 seasons. So yeah, people continue to watch them.

Oh! Don't tell me the end of "Battle Star Galactica" it's not been aired yet!

 

I generally use torrents as a PVR as it's more reliable than the useless box we've got under the TV. It also allows me to watch on any computer wherever I like rather than being stuck to the one TV. I only really bother if I miss something (or know I'm going to miss it) or if I want to record it. Most of the stuff I download won't come out on DVD/VHS either. I find the quality tends to be better than freeview too.

I would use iPlayer more but I've never successfully got the subtitles working so it's useless. I missed 3 Top Gear episodes during the summer, which I couldn't watch on iPlayer due to lack of subtitles. Torrents aren't much better though as it still takes weeks/months if ever before subtitles are available.

 

I live in Norway and I obviously torrent US shows, because they are either not airing here or the local broadcasters lag behind. Actually the channel TV3 which airs Prison Break here is not lagging behind that much, but I prefer High Definition quality. Norway has not got any High Defintion quality except some lame movie networks and sports. Yeah that's right SPORTS! Of course it's more important to show soccer in HD than some other show. Those channels are pay tv though.

As for the globalization that's not gonna happen because there is more money to be made selling shows to foreign networks/broadcasters. FOX, ABC, NBC can't distribute their shows to non-US viewers because that would upset the non-US broadcasters who see this as a threat and loss of profit. It's always gonna be about loss of profit. This is a business after all.

It's about time we suck it up and just continue our illegal thing and hope it wont ever be stopped. Legal tv shows in high quality and free for watching on the net is just not going to happen.

I would actually be more for paying for a service where I'm offered guaranteed bandwidth and access to all shows when I want in HD. We already have to pay a TV license here in Norway and most people pay for their cable/satellite subscription. I could easily afford a paid subscription to a TV internet service if I dropped the subscription on my regular TV.

 

i do this all the time
the 2 options in the UK are bbc's iplayer and channel 4's 4od

4od is ****ing terrible, it really is
the quality is dire, the speeds are absurdly slow and it uses that stupid konitiki p2p **** that i dont really want on my computer

iplayer is far and away superior, i dont need to install a client, i can just stream off the site, the quality is better but still poor but at least theres no speed issues so you dont have to wait 3 days for a 200mb episode to download

the thing is i can go on usenet and download a 720p x264 of the same thing which has vastly superior quality and no restrictions
only reason i use iplayer/4od is when i just cant find stuff elsewhere

 

Perhaps the reason BBC's offering is better is because they have more funding. Doesn't the british TV license fee go to BBC?

A private commercial TV-network will have to rely on ads to fund all of their internet services so you can do the math. You don't get that much money through ads these days. It has been pushed to it's limits.

I'm for paying for any service (like you guys are with iPlayer) if you really get what you pay for. And that way you don't get any ads as well.

Currently the ISPs are raking in the dough while everybody else is missing out on the action.

NEVAR FORGET: It's all about the money!

 

Yep, it's the one bill I don't mind paying.
As a slight tangent, I've got my HTPC playing the BBC iPlayer's new Higher quality streams.

It's pretty much spot-on broadcast quality, so IMO it's on-demand TV now, Hurrah!

 

I’ve been using the following soft that deletes any file www.pathtoolong.com. It is not free, but it is good.