Firefox has announced that it will release the new Beta 3 version of Firefox 3 this coming Monday. Apparently there are two new features that will be included in this release. The first feature is a new windows theme for Firefox that has been under development for quite some time now. Vista users however will not be seeing any new Vista theme because the work hasn’t been completed yet on a Vista-specific theme. For the time being, Vista users will be using the same XP theme for their Firefox. The second feature is really worth talking about though. It is an addition to the Add-ons Manager window. Users will now be able to search for add-ons and download and install them through the add-ons manager. This will surely make it easier and faster to download add-ons when you need them. This newly added feature will also direct the new users of Firefox towards using add-ons. You can see the actual screenshot of these new features below. Screenshot taken from Cybernet.

There must have been one time or another, when you have moved to a faraway city or to a different country all together and you are deprived of your favorite TV channels and your favorite TV shows. Or if you travel a lot, then again you will be missing your favorite TV channels like Star Sports, ESPN, CCTV5, SHTV, Fox, ABC, CBS, GolTV, NBA TV and many more. Luckily, there are several nice P2P(peer-to-peer) software that let you watch live TV on your pc for free!

I am compiling a list of the 5 best applications that let you watch free live TV on your pc. I will be posting the distinctive features of each player as well, so that will help you to decide which one best fits your needs. If you need any help then contact me by commenting here or by using the contact page(link at top).

1. TVU Player

TVU Player is my favorite out of all the applications because it is a no-hassle program which is backed up with great channels that you can enjoy at rather good quality. The player uses p2p to broadcast the channels so if more users are watching a certain channel then it will work very nicely. Even I had no problems with the buffering, and I have a slow internet connection(384k). Some of the more notable channels are Star Gamers TV, Sci fi Channel, CBS, Bloomberg, NASA TV, Fox News, Spike TV, ABC7 News, Fox News, CCTV5, SHTV, Star Sports, GolTV and many more! You will surely find something that you like there. From their site: “In the first year of service, the TVUPlayer has already been downloaded over 7 million times.” I highly recommend this to all users who wish to watch tv on their pc.

2. Sopcast

My second most favorite player, and sometimes even my first choice due to the great list of channels that it has. It also uses peer-to-peer technology to broadcast. So just like TVU, you will get awesome quality if more users are connected to a given channel. One of its main advantage is that it has a very fast buffering system(unlike TVU). Also, it has a very nice list of tv channels from all the different categories like sports, news, comedy, cartoons, movies, etc. Another great distinctive feature to the sopcast player is the VOD(Video on Demand) function, meaning you can select from a range of different movies and shows and it will play them from the very first minute!

3. JLC Internet TV

JLC Internet TV has a huge database of channels(2000+) but as you would expect, not all these channels work. But to counter that, the program has a built in rating system. Users are able to submit, rate and flag channels. And with this new flagging and rating system you’ll easily be able to see which channels work and which don’t. Raymond from Raymond.cc has written a good article on JLC Internet TV.

4. TVAnts

Although I don’t use it often myself, TVAnts is a good option to watch tv. It mainly consists of asian channels though. Some of the channels that you will find on TVAnts include: BBC world, Espn, Al-jazeera, Star sports, Discovery channel, National Geographic channel, Truesports, Guandong, SHTV, CCTV5, Eurosport, Eurosport 2, CableSoccer, CableSports and more. For a basic user guide for TVAnts, click here. The TVAnts website is not in english so to download the program, click here. The program however is 100% in english.
5. TVKoo

TVKoo contains a lot of nice channels. NBA TV is one of them. I primarily use it for that but there are also many other chanels as well for movies, cartoons, tv series, and sports. The loading is fast, the streaming is very nice as well.

Although there are many more programs that let you watch tv on your pc like CoolStreaming, PPStream, AnyTV, PPLive and more but they are sometimes not in english and for the most part, will have the same content as the above mentioned programs.

Also, if you enjoy sports then I will also suggest MyP2P to you. It is a site that has a very nice schedule for sports related streams and links to streams. It also has a very active community that you can be a part of.

Comment posted by Weasle
at 1/26/2008 6:44:43 PM

It seems to me that every time I download one of these programs that advertise all these great channels they turn out to be 12 American channels and 1000 channels with worthless programs and languages i don’t know

Comment posted by Mathias
at 1/26/2008 6:40:06 PM

Nice list of programs to watch TV. I didn’t know there were that many. Installing a couple at the moment

Comment posted by Jacob Share
at 2/3/2008 1:12:41 PM

I’m surprised that you didn’t mention Miro

Comment posted by Wanna watch free tv on your PC? Here you go!
at 2/6/2008 12:03:31 PM

[…] days ago, one of my friends posted an excellent list of applications for watching free TV over the internet and got huge amount of traffic on that post. […]

Comment posted by Freaksword
at 1/31/2008 12:32:15 PM

Nice List, I’ll be downloading a few of these to try out myself now.

@Weasle, So that would be 1012 channel’s of worthless program’s then ^_^

Comment posted by avinash2585337
at 1/31/2008 7:44:15 PM

Great, Best application I have seen. I give it a try.

Comment posted by Vide brander
at 1/31/2008 7:48:12 PM

I like second one, great applicatioin. Must try for everyone

Comment posted by hjays » Blog Archive » links for 2008-01-27
at 1/27/2008 4:08:42 PM

[…] 5 Best Applications to Watch Free Live TV on Your PC Top 5 applications for watching live TV on your PC. (tags: cool tv application television internet technology) […]

Comment posted by hjays » Blog Archive » Cuz AFB don’t want to be below the Links
at 1/28/2008 7:06:16 AM

[…] 5 Best Applications to Watch Free Live TV on Your PC Top 5 applications for watching live TV on your PC. (tags: cool tv application television internet technology) […]

Comment posted by Chris Nystrom
at 2/7/2008 8:16:24 AM

What operating system do these programs work on? Do the work on linux?

How about non-live TV? Say I want to watch Hogan’s Heroes?

Comment posted by Fahad
at 2/7/2008 1:39:58 PM

@Chris
Sopcast has a version for linux so you can try that out. I didn’t see a linux version for TVU or JLC though.

Also, if you want to watch a certain show, then you will need to find the channel its on and at what time. It is not available on demand, as you are asking.

@Jacob
I have never heard about Miro before. I am only hearing it from you right now. I will give it a try to see if its good. Thanks for recommending.

Today, I will be posting on a nice little utility program that will more then likely interest most of you. The ability to hide or password protect a file or folder is something not found in the windows default features. But it is one of the more useful feature which many people will want to have. This is a proper application that hides the folders, not just have a blank file name(using ALT+0160 trick) with no icon and making it invisible but accessible :). That trick is easily foiled if you refresh the folder, that hidden file or folder will become visible for a millisecond or two and will be noticed by the user. But with this piece of software you wont need to use that trick anymore!

Hide Files and Folders is a great easy-to-use password-protected security utility working at Windows kernel level that you can use to password-protect certain files and folders, or to hide them securely from viewing and searching just with a click of mouse. Upon accessing any protected file or folder, a dialog box querying password appears on the screen. If a valid password is entered, the user gets access to the file or folder, otherwise an error message appears. Hide Files and Folders does not modify your media: in protecting your files or folders, it just uses a high-reliability VXD driver working at Windows kernel level. This guarantees that Hide Files and Folders will never lose your data, as may happen if you use other file and folder protecting software. Due to unique technology, the program also lets you protect system files and folders such as the Windows System, Registry and Swap files. Go ahead! Download the program right now! You will find it very easy to use.

(Click the Picture for the full-sized user interface screenshot)

This program is not only able to hide any specified file, but it is also able to password-protect it, or make it read-only so that it is not editable. So you can select whichever method of protection you desire of. So download this program now. You can download this program by clicking here! Enjoy the application, and post here if you have any questions or comments.

Comment posted by Fahad
at 12/18/2007 11:07:50 AM

@rodeo
I am not sure about that. Sorry.

Comment posted by r0de0
at 12/18/2007 8:45:50 AM

Does it work over a peer to peer Microsoft network?
Cheers.

Comment posted by Haris
at 11/24/2007 7:40:37 AM

I knew the ALT+0160 trick, but never tried the application. Thanks for sharing it!

Comment posted by Fahad
at 11/23/2007 10:41:12 AM

Yes, its a very handy program.

Comment posted by Alfred
at 11/23/2007 8:23:53 AM

I have been using this for many years, very useful program