Curious about people who stream internet video to tv

[Cornholio77]

I was reading a couple forums tonite and just wanted to see if i was missing something or misunderstood. I understand that nowadays many people stream video to their tvs but what about streaming live tv or videos to tv from video websites. I ont mean like subscription things like netflix etc. either

So to clarify, lets say a certain tv sitcom has free episodes of a series on their website for viewing a complete episode on your computer. i will give an example. On CBS website, you can watch full videos of the series 48 hours mystery. Now i heard about some people streaming these episodes to their tv via a stand alone media player insted of watching it in on their pc. Is the quality still good to a tv??

So does anyone have experience streaming certain shows from websites to their tv and if the quality is good? I will give another example. I have satellite tv in my home. Now there are certain channels i dont subscribe to. Bu lets say i found a website that maybe streams live episodes of a program on that channel for internet viewing. If i used a certain media player, could i watch those live programs on my tv without poor quality? I am just curious about this and was hoping for some feedback from people who do this on a regular basis. PM me or post here and thank

P.S. - i have an xbox 360 and i use vuze so could i stream live content on my pc from a website through vuze to my tv??

[Baldrick]

Isn't vuze just a torrent downloader? No live streaming...

But you can use a streaming software like playon on your computer to stream from free tv sites directly to your xbox 360.


I use netflix on my panasonic viera tv and it works pretty good. I guess you can use netflix on the xbox 360 directly...but it's not free then...

[Cornholio77]

nope vuze is an awesome streamer (google a few articles if you like its actually very very good), i dont use it at all for downloading but some do. I dl'ed it for the sole purpose of using as a streamer since i read an article on it a few months ago. It is one of the best current video streamers in my opinion. It is simple and extremely fast for streaming and great quality with little to no lag and i am using wireless to my xbox !! I drag any video from my pc onto vuze and it detects my xbox instantly, and boom i am streaming in an instant. Works a lot better than windows media player imo.

and yah i considered getting netflix but when i am looking for specific programming such as news programs like msnbc special reports or breaking news etc. i dont think netflix has anything like that whereas i could jump to cnn etc. on my pc and watch news but would like to instantly stream it to my tv in good quality.

I am also trying to find some legal free sites online that stream news etc. from different stations like msnbc, hln news etc. too but not sure where to find one. I am in canada and would like to find some if there are any. Who knows though.

[mh2360]

The next Xbox 360 update makes Internet Explorer available from the dashboard.

I'm not sure that it will come with Flash support, but sites that don't use it should work OK.

[lordsmurf]

Serviio is better than Vuze, if you want an easy DLNA compatible streaming service, for playing local files to TV. I've been doing this since December, to a DLNA-enabled Samsung Blu-ray player.

Most streaming video (streamed live), like Netflix, is "good" like a VHS tape or VCD.
Not good like DVD or Blu-ray.

I watch a lot of MLB.tv, and the biggest issue is losing the signal on the HD feeds. Most of the MLB device apps force HD, instead of letting you pick SD. So I mostly watched SD games on a computer, or TV hooked into a computer. Even the iPad app would sometimes be more stable.

There is obvious compression in Hulu, Vudu, Dish Online, MLB.tv, and Netflix.

[Cornholio77]

hmm servio does look good, i see it supports mkv, but does it need to convert it first for xbox 360 as mkv files normally dont work on xbox unless converted first.

P.S. - if anyone knows of a good website that streams good quality hd video of live tv please pm me and thanks. I have cable but am tired of being ripped off by paying (being forced to pay) for channel packages where one channel is the channel i want and the other 8 channels are all garbage lol.

[Cornholio77]

Need more info guys. Ok so right now i am on a website that for example is streaming cnn news. So how exactly do i get it to stream through the xbox ? For example if i download servio as you suggested, do i direct servio to that website to stream it?

I use vuze for streaming video files but i want to stream live video from a website to my tv and have xbox be the dlna service, will servio do this in decent quality?

[jagabo]

PlayOn is another DLNA server that supports a lot of streaming web sites.

[Cornholio77]

Ok but does it support only specific websites? Like for example lets say i find a random website online that streams cnn, will it pick it up and let me stream?

For example, i am in canada so i dont think i can use cnn.com to watch live streaming, i think that is accessible for people who use certain cable providers in the US. So if i want to access certain live streaming channels that are not from the direct site of the broadcast station with playon etc. will they allow that?

[jagabo]

Ok but does it support only specific websites? Like for example lets say i find a random website online that streams cnn, will it pick it up and let me stream?

Not any random site. Only supported sites. It does have some plugin capability that lets you add other sites. But you have to know what you're doing. And even then it will not work with every site.

[Cornholio77]

Yah see thats my main problem. I downloaded the free trial of playon but many channels and live new streams ( for example cnn )are only available in US for some stupid reason. So i was trying to find something that will stream live video through my xbox. Although this free trial of playon is pretty good for now too !

Also does mlbtv stream live games to? I noticed i already have it available on my xbox without playon so is it a free channel forever or a trial thing? Playon asks for a login.....

Or do i have a better option of ditching cable yet in canada? i know in the states they have new stuff coming out like boxee but what about canada? See, its not the shows and movies i want like netflix offers, its the news channels etc. i want access to, like hln tv, cnn live etc.

Netflix etc. are fine if you want to watch tv shows but i want something for live news etc.

Also i was wondering if there is way to get a free trial of mlb tv? Like can i sign up for it first and try it out?

[jagabo]

Yah see thats my main problem. I downloaded the free trial of playon but many channels and live new streams ( for example cnn )are only available in US for some stupid reason.

You can use a proxy server. But it will cost you.

Unfortunately, live sports and news are the least likely channels to find via legal streams. That's where the networks' and cable companies' big money are. They aren't going to let anyone in on it.

[handyguy]

Connect your computer to your tv. Easy.

[happydog500]

Not only do I do that, but I started almost 10 years a go. Nobody was doing it then, even geeks where amazed.
Here is a video I made a few years a go. I've got much better equipment now, large flat screen etc...
Watching video from websites is towards the end. If you look hard enough, you can get almost anything now. I had stuff I stumbled onto that didn't come up in search.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hmkstMD84Y&list=UURa6chcVKgvE86pyJRRYZ_g&index=22&feature=plcp

[jagabo]

By the way, the networks don't want you watching streamed video on TV. They're afraid you will drop your cable or Satellite subscription, the main source of their income. That's why they try to limit your viewing to the computer.