ABC's Streaming TV Is Here...and Pretty Neat
Posted by Harry McCracken | Monday, May 01, 2006 8:32 PM PT
Head to
dynamic.abc.go.com, and (assuming you're in the U.S.) you can now watch streamed versions of
Desperate Housewives,
Lost, Alias, and
Commander in Chief, posted the day after their broadcast premiere. These aren't going to replace network TV anytime soon (for one thing, you can't watch 'em in full-screen mode), but for what they are, they're nicely done.
As I reported
back when these were announced, the Webcasts have ads you can't skip. But in the episode of
Commander in Chief I checked out, the ads breaks were few in number and brief (15 to 30 seconds apiece), and you can see where they fall in the show from the moment you start to watch an episode. A countdown during the break even tells you how long you need to wait until the ad is over. All in all, as commericals go, they're relatively painless.
The shows themselves give you two size options (kind of small and somewhat larger), and the picture and sound quality are quite good. Strangely enough, on a Mac connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, I got a message warning me that might bandwidth might be too low for a good experience, but everything worked fine; on a Windows XP machine with a wired Net connection, I got a few picture hiccups, but I saw no warning message.
The user interface you use to find and watch shows is sleek and snappy, and everything's done with Macromedia (er, Adobe) Flash, so it's PC and Mac friendly and works with every popular browser. All of which sets this apart from AOL's fancier-but-more-complicated
In2TV.
So is ABC's experiment (which it's saying will last through the end of June) a big deal? Not in terms of its impact on TV watching right now, really. I can't imagine TV fans sitting down to focus their full attention on an hour-long show in this format; I'm guessing folks will be more likely to pop up a show and watch it somewhat intermittently while doing something else on the PC. (TiVo and other DVRs remain the gold standard when it comes to catching up on your favorite TV shows.)
It's nice to see ABC taking this leap, though. Between rights clearances, technology issues, and fear of annoying network affiliates, there were lots of reasons
not to try this right now. Bravo to the network for giving us one more way to watch its most popular programs.
The technology is interesting even if its current usage isn't too me. I don't watch any of the shows offered anyway but I am curious to see what more will be offered in the future.
In a perfect world I would like to be able to see any movie or tw show ever made by simply clicking on a link. While free is always good I wouldn't be opposed to a small one time fee per show or modest monthly subscriber fee that allowed unlimited viewing.
Kudos ABC. This is great! Leave it up to the networks to understand the customer. This is so cool because you don't notice the technology.
Well done.
I've said it once, i'll say it again. This is the future. This WILL eventually replace TV as we know it.
Much applause to ABC for bringing their primetime shows online for free. They're acting pro-actively to kill off BitTorrent by providing huge VOD value. That's much better than the way the music industry handled peer-to-peer.
And who needs ads that can't be skipped when there is a status bar that tells me when they are coming. Get up, refill my coffee and the show is waiting for me to start it when I return. It's easier than Tivo.
Welcome To the Future!
i live in the uk and i got it to work
BY USEING A PROXY SERVER
This sucks for the people who don't live in the United States... you know... like ME!
no it does not becouse i got it to work and i live in london
If you change your screen resolution to 800 (assuming it is not) and THEN go to ABC streaming and choose the larger size of download, you can watch the show VERY close to full-screen (navigation bar is still there and you need it). This is with a 1280 widescreen view. It is still VERY clear although not quite as clear as in the smaller view. I think they have also improved the "it seems like your download speed isn't great enough" problem as I haven't seen it of late.