Bin the TV guide and watch what you want, when you want, online
With the rise of cable, satellite and Freeview TV, the massive choice of programmes now available is both a blessing and a curse. Freeview alone has around 100 TV channels plus a large number of digital radio stations, while satellite and cable subscribers have dozens more. Trying to keep up to date with all your favourite shows can become almost impossible.
In the old analogue days, a trusty video cassette recorder (VCR) was enough to record the odd programme for watching later. But VCRs are disappearing fast and the modern equivalents, hard disk recorders, are still fairly pricey. In this article we will show how you can stop recording TV altogether, using just a PC and a broadband internet connection.
We will explain how to watch TV shows from the most popular channels (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five and Sky) whenever you want, and even watch live TV from some of these – all completely legally and absolutely free.
No add-ons for your PC are needed, just a decent broadband connection and an up-to-date web browser: we recommend a recent version of Internet Explorer or Firefox, as Google Chrome, Opera and Safari may not be supported by all sites. And if you still want to record TV broadcasts, we will also look at what you will need in your PC to do that.
Finally, for movie aficionados, we will also explain how to rent or buy downloads of the latest blockbusters legally.
Ditch your VCR Although you could replace a VCR with a newer form of recording device, it’s now possible to stop recording entirely and stream television programmes whenever you want to watch them. This means there is no need to worry about setting timers, digging through television schedules or recording shows at all.
With a streaming service, programmes are stored by the television service on its servers, and you simply connect up to watch whenever you want. When you start watching, the server sends the programme via your broadband internet connection and as you don’t have to wait for the programme to download first it’s normally ready to play in just a second or two.
