watching tv on pc, without tv card

want2bmortgage3

i'm currently without a tv license, as i am cutting back as much as possible. i was thinking with broadband growing all the time, and things like bbc i player and c4od, is there any need for me to ever get one again?

i'm not that worried about watching tv live. only prob is atm i'm on 3 mbb with download limits. this month i bought the £15 for 3gb package. i guess watching tv on the net would use a fair amount of mb?

who else here has ditched the tv license to save money and is looking at alternatives? i'm so glad i'm not paying towards the rubbish tv and radio i hear the majority of the time i hear it!

Antispam

Well the iplayer bandwidth has increased in quality I hear to H.264 and AAC+ sound so streams could increase to 800Kbps bitrate

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a122109/bbc-iplayer-adds-high-quality-streams.html

Video can easily take a lot of bandwith and depending on usage could quite easily exceed 3gb per month

want2bmortgage3

its all good news though i think, moving away from traditional tv sets and licenses. even if it means paying a small fee per show or subscription at least you will be paying for what you get and not for a load of stuff you dont want.

the interesting thing will be whether the mobile broadband will keep up with the demand for streaming media, in terms of speed and download limits??

it seems to me that the only solution currently if you want to start using your pc is to get unlimited broadband (or extremely high limit) through a wired connection whether that be virgin or an adsl supplier + landline.

aqueoushumour01

i think download limits will be a problem. an ok quality small screen video lasting 40 mins minutes would be about 150mb i think so 3gb is only 30 vids of 40min length. it will depend onm the provider and format though

TorrestheGreat

https://www.zattoo.com
watch telly (almost) live on that

savemoney

I never understand tbh why people bother watching internet streams that are often poor quality, windowed, sound mono etc. Sure they are fine for the odd thing but not all time. I much rather have a license and a pvr and then you record what you want and when you want to watch it in much higher quality, interruppted and you can now even get HD free once you bough licence and equipment

TorrestheGreat

savemoney wrote: »

I never understand tbh why people bother watching internet streams that are often poor quality, windowed, sound mono etc. Sure they are fine for the odd thing but not all time. I much rather have a license and a pvr and then you record what you want and when you want to watch it in much higher quality, interruppted and you can now even get HD free once you bough licence and equipment

lol this 'advice' from a guy called 'savemoney' oh the irony

savemoney

Well I do save money when I can but somethings I just rather pay for as I would rather have quality than quantity. Hence I use a pvr to record stuff I want. I use my bandwidth to the full but not on poor video quality.

I have a good media system to play surround sound and branded LCD TV (HD), why watch it on a small screen?

I am just about to spend £800+ on a home built pc and its got some of the best stuff you can get £30 just for HSF heat Sink and Fan +£300 for a Samsung 24" screen to come later. I save money where I can and I can prosper on some good hardware. Watching poor tv clips isn't my idea of entertainment

TorrestheGreat wrote: »

lol this 'advice' from a guy called 'savemoney' oh the irony

ABH_3

Ask a friend to buy you a usb stick http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000F8RPQE , that would be a friend who already has a tv licence as retailers are under an obligation to forward your name and address of anyone who buys tv equipment likely to be used to watch tv to the licensing authority.

You watch tv on the laptop, then when finished. Remove the stick and put it in a draw, under a cushion or something

HTH

TorrestheGreat

savemoney wrote: »

Well I do save money when I can but somethings I just rather pay for as I would rather have quality than quantity. Hence I use a pvr to record stuff I want. I use my bandwidth to the full but not on poor video quality.

I have a good media system to play surround sound and branded LCD TV (HD), why watch it on a small screen?

I am just about to spend £800+ on a home built pc and its got some of the best stuff you can get £30 just for HSF heat Sink and Fan +£300 for a Samsung 24" screen to come later. I save money where I can and I can prosper on some good hardware. Watching poor tv clips isn't my idea of entertainment

so now you're boasting about spending over a grand on an entertainment systaem when the OP said hes trying to cut back? You are irony incarnate!

harveybobbles

ABH wrote: »

Ask a friend to buy you a usb stick http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000F8RPQE , that would be a friend who already has a tv licence as retailers are under an obligation to forward your name and address of anyone who buys tv equipment likely to be used to watch tv to the licensing authority.

You watch tv on the laptop, then when finished. Remove the stick and put it in a draw, under a cushion or something

HTH

I bought one of these for my Vaio laptop. At the till I got asked for my address for TV licencing purposes. Sure enough a few days later I had a letter asking why I didn't have a TV licence when I had bought TV stuff.

Told 'em it was a pressie!