Hi everyone. I just wanted to make a quick blog post here that might help some folks out with a tricky area of watching PC on your TV. I've had a number of emails (thanks guys!) from people asking questions relating to connection speeds and broadband.

Connection speeds and streaming video

PC TV uses streaming technology. Which is a complex way of saying that it involves a lot of transferring of information from the web to your computer. Videos are downloaded bit by bit and fed to your computer in a constant stream. The viewer never - or SHOULD never - notice the process and just enjoys the show.

What do you mean SHOULD never notice?

Well here's the thing. When everything's downloading and playing on your screen as it should be (streaming) then it's all good. Problems start when your computer isn't getting the video fast enough to show you.

That's when you get those frustrating 'Buffering' messages and breaks in the video playback. Your movie stops playing and it looks like someone pressed the pause button. This spoils the viewing experience.

It's all caused by our connection to the web and whether or not it's fast enough.

How fast is 'fast enough'?

Let's rule one thing out from the start: You can't use PC TV software with a dialup (56k) connection. You really need broadband. I know that some of the software products' home pages say that you can use a dialup connection, but it's asking for trouble.

The minimum connection speed you need

I'm in a good position to advise on this one because I'm in the UK - in an area where we generally have slow connection speeds. My area seems to always be the last to get upgrades to our web connections. I started out with a half meg connection and now I have a 1 meg speed. It seems like lightning to me!

Anyway, back on topic... I've tested PC TV software extensively on my 1 meg broadband connection and I've had no problems watching the channels. Very rarely I'll get a break in playback while the video 'buffers' but seriously - it works perfectly. Videos start quickly and it all looks great.

If you're lucky enough to be on a 2 meg connection or more (lucky you!) then you'll never see any buffering and you'll be in for an even better experience.

(As connections get faster, the video quality out there will also improve and this article will be pretty much obsolete).

Capped connections beware!

Another email I got asked if a 2 megabyte a month 'cap' would cause problems. Caps are a real pain in the butt. This is where your ISP says 'hey, you can only download so much each month'. And YES this is a huge problem if you want to watch TV on your PC. Because it involves a lot of downloading.

So to sum up:

• PC TV will not work well on a dialup connection.
• You need broadband
• At a minimum of 1 meg speed
• Although you'll have less waiting if you're on above that
• If your service is capped, you'll have problems

Happy viewing!