First we had TV and a handful of stations. Then we had the independent TV channels gave us a little more variety. Along came Video recorders so we could watch one show while recording another. Now, you would think that would give us enough viewing pleasure to last a life time but oh no. The couch potato hasn’t quite evolved just yet! Next come the satellite and cable companies which brought countless channels and viewing packages into the box. Oh, and lets not forget the convenience of the DVD players too.
Phew! With all this recreational inactivity focused around the television, there’s little time left over to pursue other, more active leisure pursuits, but hang on, I haven’t finished yet!! Now we have the ability to download TV shows from the internet. I hate to admit it but I’m hooked. I need help, but I don’t want helping because I’m addicted to all things television.
Now for those of you that are as obsessed as I am, read on and I’ll explain how it all works. Firstly, you need a few bits and bobs to download TV shows. It’s a process that’s commonly known as P2P communications exchange, which is a peer to peer computer network which is used to share content such as music, video, or digital data. You will need a high speed internet connection and you’ll also need a utility that will unzip (or expand) the software that you have downloaded to your computer. Zip files are simply compressed file and therefore reduced from their normal size. Obviously, the smaller the file size, the quicker the downloads. Once you have unzipped your file(s) they are expanded back to normal size. Finally you will also need a CD Burner. Most modern PC’s and laptops come with a CD burner as standard.
Apple computer are famous for the iPod. Basically, the iPod allows you to download MP3’s, which is music, and store them for your listening pleasure. Apple has recently added a video screen to the iPod so you can now download TV shows and movies. How kewl is that? Of course, you can also use your PC or DVD player for viewing once you’ve downloading with the P2P.
But it doesn’t stop there. P2P is not the only technology available for downloading movies as there’s something called BitTorrent. Now once you have the BitTorrent (or BT) file, then you will need a BitTorrent client to enable you to access the program file. For more information on this procedure and software, I suggest you do a search for BitTorrent and you will get all the info you need to get started.
WARNING: Just as the file sharing and downloading of music has been controversial in recent years, so is the case with movies and TV shows. The reasons for this is chiefly because the material you download is copyrighted (well most of it anyway), and if you freely take it from the web, there are no proceeds or profits reaching the artists, the producers, or the companies responsible for the original broadcasts. It’s therefore right and moral to pay or subscribe to such services.
ANOTHER WARNING: when downloading this type of content from the net, some of it may be infected with malware, spyware, or viruses, and for that reason, it’s important to make sure you PC is protected and that you have an up-to-date antivirus checker so that you can scan your files before opening them.
Good luck and welcome to the world of TV downloads.
Andy Maingam is a proficient writer and webmaster of TVForcast dot com where he has articles on New Improved TV flat screens and The World of Digital TV. He also has other ‘TV’ related to pieces on the site.
Source: www.articlecity.com