monitorhead

After watching a few episodes of my favorite programs online, I thought it would be useful and fun to briefly review the offerings from the major broadcasters and at least one cable channel. This review is not exhaustive but points out a few important details for each site.

A few notes:
I prefer Firefox as my browser and I attempted using it first for each site. If successful, I assumed the site would play in Internet Explorer as well. Several sites failed with Firefox. In those cases, I was able to view video with IE7 and it is listed as the browser. I also pointed out the failure to play in Firefox. There really is no excuse for this since all players relied on Flash which is available for both browsers. I tested on a pc running Windows XP with service pack 2 and all the latest updates.

All the sites had a few common aspects:

• Flash plugin is required for your browser
• Forced ad viewing at normal commercial breaks
• Timeline navigation, and pause available
• Navigating past a commercial triggers the commercial to be viewed
• Once viewed, commercials disappear

CBS - www.cbs.com
Program viewed: Jericho
Browser: Firefox 2.0.0.12
Comments:
+All episodes available from current season
+navigation to video area was easy
-no full screen viewing option
+video quality is decent at the resolution available
+overall very pleasant experience

ABC - www.abc.com
Program viewed: Lost
Browser: Internet Explorer 7.0
Comments:
–would not run in Firefox
+Full episodes from all 4 seasons of Lost
+Standard resolution looks good at “normal” and “big” settings, “Fullscreen” shows pixels
-Significant delay at beginning of video while buffering
+time navigation bar is nice with cursor tracking your mouse and showing time in seconds
-annoying, required click to continue after ad completed
+HD streaming option at up to 1300×770 resolution
-requires 2mbps internet connection and fast computer (dual core, 128Mb video ram, 1Gb ram)
-not true fullscreen but large, bordered window

NBC - www.nbc.com
Program viewed: The Office
Browser: Firefox 2.0.0.12
Comments:
+All episodes available from last season
+Fullscreen option hides window border and desktop
-video doesn’t quite fill screen, but better than other options
+Limited number of shows available for download (Conan, Tonight Show)
+Vintage NBC shows available (A-Team, Battlestar Galactica, Miami Vice)
-navigation was odd and busy, first go to new webpage for show and then wade through options to find
video
+/-Some episodes available for download, but requires browser plugin for playback (not portable to device)

Fox - www.fox.com
Program viewed: Prison Break
Browser: Internet Explorer 7.0
Comments:
Fox on demand (FOD) is in beta
–completely crashed Firefox
+Nice interface devoted to full episode viewing
-limited shows available
-3 screen sizes, not true full screen, bordered window
-30 sec forced ads

Sci-Fi - www.scifi.com
Program viewed: Battlestar Galactica
Browser: Firefox 2.0.0.12
Comments:
-only 5 episodes available
+fullscreen option but video does not fill screen, 2 sizes
+same viewer as NBC since both are owned by Universal
+navigation to viewing episodes was quick

In summary, all of the options failed in one way — I never had the illusion of watching TV. It was video on my computer. The navigation options while functional, required use of a mouse. More importantly, only two options allowed a fullscreen-like experience with no browser window. Even those options were handicapped by the fact that the image did not fill the screen but included a graphical border. The addition of two features, keyboard shortcuts for navigation and true full screen playback, could allow me to simulate a living room experience via playback on my media pc. It is already connected to my big screen television and a properly programmed remote would allow me to pause and rewind from my couch. Of course, this is probably not what the networks are trying to achieve, but people expect to watch TV from their couch on a big screen with remote in hand. Until then, online viewing is a useful, but limited experience.

If you have been watching Battlestar Galactica, then you’ll appreciate this hilarious summary of seasons 1 through 3. If you have never seen an episode but you are interested, then this is 8 minutes well-spent to catch up.

A couple weekends ago, I discovered a fine piece of Japanese reality television called Ninja Warrior. It so happened that a Ninja Warrior marathon was showing on G4, a network which typically concentrates on video games and computer related programming. However, it seems lately the network is crossing into the space usually reserved for the Spike TV channel. I ran across the show title while perusing the program guide and sipping my morning cappuccino. Unable to disregard anything with the word “ninja” in it, the 13-year old boy in me tuned in to channel 354. Connor and I were glued to the set for the next 2 hours.

Ninja Warrior is a competition show in which 100 contestants try to traverse a onerous obstacle course exhibiting their athletic prowess and striving to prove the heart of a ninja beats within their chest. In Japan, the competition is call Sasuke and is shown as a 3 hour special while the normal run of shows are on hiatus. The obstacle course is set in 4 stages with participants eliminated at each round. The stages are tough and usually no more than 5 people pass the first stage. The final stage, a timed climb up a suspended rope, has only been completed twice in the 19 competitions that have been held.

To me, the best part about watching Ninja Warrior is the crazy Japanese contestants. Most of them apparently hope to accomplish little more than strutting their stuff on the platform prior to the first stage. If you have ever played one of those Japanese style fighting video games (like Tekken) then you have already seen the kind of things these people do. I always believed the antics in those games were just silly additions to spice up a basic fighting game mechanic, but it turns out Japanese people really do that kind of stuff. They do back flips or martial arts poses. One guy who worked in a fish market brought pots, pans and chop sticks and juggled things. Another guy idolizes Bruce Lee and so dressed and acted like Bruce before the clock began. Another guy dressed in a suit and eye glasses ripped off his clothes to reveal a Superman costume complete with cape. My favorite was a 60 year old who stripped down to his hot pink bikini briefs then quickly failed the first stage. By the way, most of these showmen fail the first stage. We just don’t have anything quite like this in States. The nearest thing I can think of is American Gladiators but I don’t think that has the same kind of following as Sasuke does in Japan.

If you like ninjas, you’ll like askaninja.com

Last weekend I watched the kids while Megan went to California to work with some friends at a scrapbooking convention. To help manage the time with my boys, I took them to Blockbuster to rent some videos. As usual, they chose Spiderman The Venom Saga cartoon and The Batman Superman Movie. This began a week-long Batman obsession for Connor. First, he watched the movie repeatedly. Next, he wanted to draw numerous pictures of Batman (with dad’s help). Megan fed the passion by buying a Lego Batman toy as a souvenir. The culmination however was the Batman costume we put together yesterday. I’ll post a picture the next time he dresses up.

This all reminded me of being a kid and wearing my Underoos and a pillow case around my neck, transforming myself into Superman. It doesn’t take much imagination to take on the persona of an unstoppable hero with special powers or abilities. It might seem silly to dress up like a fictional character, but the desire to emulate heroes doesn’t go away with age. It’s just that the heroes change. Just think of all those boys and men out there wearing the jersey of their favorite ball player. That is not too far removed from donning a brightly colored T-shirt with a big ‘S’ emblazoned on the chest. After all, everyone wants to be a Super Hero.

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