Watch Me Now

One thing that I enjoy doing is watching T.V., but like many of you I don’t always have the time to indulge myself. Thankfully, we live in an era when even the couch potato doesn’t have to be tied down to the couch anymore. I often find myself practicing my multitasking skills by watching T.V. online while working on other things.
You have a multitude of options when seeking your digital boob tube fix. There are two or three methods that facilitate this medium. The first is called video on demand, vod, or vodcasting. Video on demand allows viewers to view video programs at their leisure by selecting the video file from a server. A way to conceptualize vod is to imagine that it is a glass of water in a refrigerator. The glass of water is the video file and the refrigerator is the server that stores the files. The emergence of larger and more efficient disk space has increased the popularity of video on demand.
I said that there are two to three methods to transmit video programs online because the last two methods are so closely related and it can be difficult to distinguish between the two. Live Webcasts sometimes called netcasts, and streaming video are the final two methods. Streaming video is a constant current of the data that comprises the video throughout the entire time that you are viewing the video. A good way to conceptualize streaming is thing of water flowing through a water hose. The water that flows within the hose is like the video data. Live Webcasting is using the Internet to stream video. Many times it is done live similar to network television programming. Webcasting is also used for radio broadcasts.
Those of you that have Tivo or some other form of a digital video recorder may fail to see the value of Internet broadcasts when you can view your favorite programs when you return home. Well, last year a company named Sling Media created a device call a Slingbox. This device is kind of cool. It will enable you to control and watch your Tivo recorded programs anywhere in the world, as long as you have a laptop and Internet access. If you don’t have Tivo or a digital video recorder, the Slingbox will also allow you to control and watch your cable and satellite stations worldwide via the Internet streaming.
It is no wonder that many television stations are nervous. Many have adopted the if you can’t beat them, then join them philosophy. There is not one major network that does not offer some type of video rebroadcasts from their websites. The low cost of the medium has empowered a horde of two person networks to pop up online. One thing is for sure, television programs will no longer only be confined to the tube. There are channels that have been designed specifically for cell phones and of course the much publicized downloadable programs for the new video iPods.
www.blinkx.com
http://video.msn.com