Miss a TV show? Catch it online
— -- A television revolution is underway. The concept of prime time is dying as many networks are putting full-length programs online, allowing you to catch popular shows and old favorites for free over the Internet on your own schedule.
Like regular television, online TV generates revenue from ads, but don't expect to fast-forward through commercials on the Web as you would with a digital video recorder. At least for now, however, there are fewer commercial interruptions online. You see a couple of minutes of advertising for each half-hour show. Some sites also use annoying pop-up ads, though.
What you need
All you need to watch shows online is an Internet-connected computer. However, if you want to use your TV's bigger screen rather than your computer's monitor, you must connect your TV to your computer.
Your computer needn't be terribly powerful to watch regular TV shows streamed over the Web. Your broadband Internet connection speed is more important because video eats up bandwidth. Video sites usually adjust the video quality to suit your connection speed.
You'll need a more capable computer to watch the relatively few shows available in high-definition. A dual-core processor, 128 megabytes or more of graphics memory and 1 gigabyte or more of RAM are recommended. Your broadband speed should be 2 megabits per second or faster.
Most sites play shows directly in your Web browser. You may need to install a browser plug-in. Others require that you download a special player.
Watch out for broadband caps
Your service provider may impose a broadband usage cap. You could quickly hit this cap if you watch a lot of shows. An hour of standard-definition video can be more than 200MB of data.
Also, some players use peer-to-peer technology, which uses your computer to help distribute shows to other viewers. This will add to your bandwidth usage.
Start at a network's site
If a show is available online, it should be on the network's site. Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC each host their programs on their sites.
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