Archive for » March, 2010 «

TV Online Weekly, Mar 28-Apr 3

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Spreety TV Online
TV Online Weekly
March 28 – April 3, 2010
WB TV Online
 
Warner Bros. has an intriguing combination of old and new:
  • Classic shows: Wonder Woman, The Jetsons, Firefly, Buffy, Angel, etc.
  • Webisodes: Rockville, Pushed, Children’s Hospital, etc.
  • Motion comics: Watchmen, Batman, and Charlie Brown.
Check out the latest video, WB TV Online.
Spreety
Premieres
 
These shows have recently premiered (season/series) online:
Breaking BadDancing with the StarsFood RevolutionGene Simmons Family JewelsJustifiedNurse JackieTough as NailsUnited States of Tara

 
For NBC’s upgraded player, our Spreety Labs recommendation is the “Better” option.
Previews
 
The following are previews of new shows:

100 QuestionsBreakoutDay OneFly GirlsMiami MedicalVictorious

 
The following are previews of returning favorites:

In Plain SightLaw & Order: CISaving GraceSonny With A ChanceV

 
March Madness games are live online. Law and Order: CI moves from NBC to the USA Network.
Trivia
 
Each week, Spreety adds a new TV Trivia challenge with links to watch.
 
 
Next up… Arrested Development
The Winner Is…
 
Every week, a subscriber to this newsletter is awarded a $15 iTunes Certificate.
 
The most recent winner is cc********@verizon.net
 
Tell your friends to sign up. For details, see the Spreety Giveaway page.
 

Links
Spreety TV Online
Spreety Blog
Spreety Twitter
Spreety Facebook
Picagon Fun & Funny Pics
Blog Posts

26-Mar-2010 – WB TV Online

23-Mar-2010 – NBC Online TV Upgrade, March 2010

19-Mar-2010 – Closed Captioning for Online TV

Spreety, Inc. P.O. Box 4043, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359

WB TV Online

The latest video in the Spreety series of watching TV online is about Warner Bros. TV shows online.

NBC Online TV Upgrade, March 2010

NBC has updated their online TV player with some options to consider. We at Spreety Labs decided to put the options to the test. Our recommendation: pick “Better”.

The “Best” option did not work on a key lab machine. After a lengthy install, multiple choices, a firewall message, a registration, the registration verification from the email inbox, a restart, and a run, bottom line, it did not work. While we do believe the excellent technical talent at NBC will address, at this time, we cannot recommend an option that fails to work on a key test machine. Thankfully, the uninstall worked as expected.

The “Better” option worked on multiple machines. The plug-in install was fast, and there was a firewall message which we accepted. After the install, the browser window hung, so we refreshed the window, and wow, the picture quality looks great.

We chose to not test the “Good” option, because it is only standard definition. If your machine is older than 3 years, does not have a multi-core processor, or has a WinScore less than 3.0, “Good” may be the right choice.

TV Online Weekly, March 21-27

Spreety TV Online
TV Online Weekly
March 21 – 27, 2010
Online TV Closed Captions
 
Spreety has added CC tracking. The highlights:
  • ABC, FOX, NBC, PBS, and PBS Kids support CC online.
  • Hulu has a caption search with links to relevant clips.
  • YouTube’s speech to text can be funny, as “Spreety.com” renders as “breeding duck on”.
Check out the latest video, Closed Captions for Online TV.
Spreety
Premieres
 
These shows have recently premiered (season/series) online:

The ApprenticeHigh SocietyHolmes on HomesJessica SimpsonMarch MadnessTRANSform MeZeke and Luther

 
Twitter lovers, there is a new music video just for you.
Previews
 
The following are previews of new shows:

100 QuestionsDay OneFly GirlsFood RevolutionKirstie AlleyVictorious

 
The following are previews of returning favorites:

Breaking BadDancing with the StarsGene Simmons Family JewelsIn Plain SightKimora: Life in the Fab LaneNurse JackieSonny With A ChanceUnited States of Tara

 
March Madness games are live online in HD. For NIT and Women’s NCAA tourneys, ESPN will host most of the games live online.
Trivia
 
Each week, Spreety adds a new TV Trivia challenge with links to watch.
 
 
Next up… to be announced
The Winner Is…
 
Every week, a subscriber to this newsletter is awarded a $15 iTunes Certificate.
 
The most recent winner is mo*****_******@yahoo.com
 
Tell your friends to sign up. For details, see the Spreety Giveaway page.
 

Links
Spreety TV Online
Spreety Blog
Spreety Twitter
Spreety Facebook
Picagon Fun & Funny Pics
Blog Posts

19-Mar-2010 – Closed Captioning for Online TV

12-Mar-2010 – Nickelodeon TV Online 2010

5-Mar-2010 – ABC TV Online 2010

Spreety, Inc. P.O. Box 4043, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359

Closed Captioning for Online TV

The entertainment world is moving to the next generation of closed captioning technology with online TV, as a new Spreety.com video demonstrates.

For example, ABC.com has the ability to customize white on black vs. black on white text. FOX.com does a good job of moving captions to the top or the bottom of the screen, based on the most appropriate place for the text to be displayed.

PBS and PBS Kids have most of their shows online with closed caption support.

NBC.com leaves something to be desired, as the support is spotty per episode, and the text is sometimes out of synch with the video. Thankfully, the NBC shows can also be watched on Hulu with closed captions, sometimes in languages other than English. Hulu further innovates with a caption search feature that hot links to the matching video clip.

The lines between closed captions and subtitles are further blurred by YouTube. With any YouTube video, Speech to Text technology can be used to generate same language captions. Then, through translation software, the captions can be rendered in many languages.

So, Spreety TV Online tried it out YouTube’s new features with the recent “Nickelodeon TV Online 2010″ video, and realized a few glitches. The spoken words of “Spreety.com” were transcribed as “breeding duck on”. “Avatar the Last Airbender” came out as “Avatar the last year vendor”. Not to be obvious, but “Degrassi” was just “grassy”. Thankfully, the generated speech to text captions can be easily loaded in to a word processor, such as Microsoft’s Word, edited, and then reloaded in a matter of minutes.

“If people just knew how much TV is online, there would be mass abandonment of the old TV”, according to Spreety co-founder Ron Laughton. “We created Spreety to educate people about the legal places to watch free TV online.”

The Spreety video is on YouTube titled “Closed Captioning for Online TV”. Spreety TV Online : Watch TV Shows Online Free is a free television guide for the Internet, located at http://Spreety.com .

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TV Online Weekly, March 14-20

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Spreety TV Online
TV Online Weekly
March 14 – 20, 2010
Nickelodeon TV Online, 2010
 
The Spreety Nickelodeon video has been updated with a 2010 version. The Nickelodeon sites covered are:
 

Nick at NiteNick Jr.NickelodeonTeenNick

 
Check out the latest video, Nickelodeon TV Online, 2010.
Spreety
Premieres
 
These shows have recently premiered (season/series) online:

AmericaFirst Love, Second ChanceGhost HuntersTRANSform Me

 
Previews
 
The following are previews of new shows:

100 QuestionsThe Antonio TreatmentDay OneJustifiedKirstie AlleyMinute to Win ItThe PacificSons of TucsonUgly Americans

 
The following are previews of returning favorites:

The ApprenticeHolmes on HomesKendraMarch MadnessUltimate Recipe ShowdownZeke and Luther

 
March Madness games are live online in HD. For NIT and Women’s NCAA torneys, ESPN will host most of the games live online.
Trivia
 
Each week, Spreety adds a new TV Trivia challenge with links to watch.
 
 
Next up… Star Trek
The Winner Is…
 
Every week, a subscriber to this newsletter is awarded a $15 iTunes Certificate.
 
The most recent winner is ge**********@yahoo.com
 
Tell your friends to sign up. For details, see the Spreety Giveaway page.
 

Links
Spreety TV Online
Spreety Blog
Spreety Twitter
Spreety Facebook
Picagon Fun & Funny Pics
Blog Posts

12-Mar-2010 – Nickelodeon TV Online 2010

5-Mar-2010 – ABC TV Online 2010

26-Feb-2010 – PBS Kids TV Online

Spreety, Inc. P.O. Box 4043, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359

Nickelodeon TV Online 2010

In 2009, Spreety TV Online produced a video of tips and tricks for watching Nickelodeon TV shows online. Given the rapid advances in online TV, it was time to update the video with a 2010 version.

Nickelodeon TV shows are split across four different sites: Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nick at Nite, and Teen Nick. The Nick at Nite is mostly clips, so the video focuses on the other three.

The main Nickelodeon site offers full episodes of the following shows: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Back at the Barnyard, Danny Phantom, The Fairly OddParents, Fantastic Four, H2O: Just Add Water, iCarly, Iron Man, Making Fiends, The Mighty B!, My Life as a Teenage Robot, The Naked Brothers Band, Rocket Power, Speed Racer: The Next Generation, SpongeBob SquarePants, Tak & the Power of Juju, True Jackson, VP, Wolverine and the X-Men, and Zoey 101.

The Nick Jr. site also has a lot of full episodes for kids, including Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, The Fresh Beat Band, Go, Diego, Go!, Little Bear, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Max & Ruby, Miss Spider, Ni Hao, Kai-lan, Olivia, Oobi, Oswald, Pinky Dinky Doo, Team Umizoomi, Toot & Puddle, The Upside Down Show, The Wonder Pets!, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy, and Yo Gabba Gabba!

Lastly, Teen Nick, formally known as “The N”, has full episodes of The Assistants, The Best Years, Beyond the Break, Degrassi: The Next Generation, O’Grady, and South of Nowhere.

“If people just knew how much TV is online, there would be mass abandonment of the old TV”, according to Spreety co-founder Ron Laughton. “We created Spreety to educate people about the legal places to watch free TV online.”

The Spreety video is on YouTube titled “Nickelodeon TV Online 2010″. Spreety TV Online : Watch TV Shows Online Free is a free television guide for the Internet, located at http://Spreety.com .

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TV Online Weekly, March 7-13

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Spreety TV Online
TV Online Weekly
March 7 – 13, 2010
ABC TV Online, 2010
 
The Spreety ABC video has been updated with a 2010 version. The highlights:
  • The ABC shows span four sites: ABC, ABC News, ESPN, and Disney.
  • Podcasts, webisodes, and enhanced episodes are available exclusively online.
For more info, check out the latest video, ABC TV Online, 2010.
Spreety
Premieres
 
These shows have recently premiered (season/series) online:

The Marriage RefParenthoodThe Real Housewives of New York CityRevolution 618Rules of EngagementThe Tonight ShowWho Do You Think You Are?

Previews
 
The following are previews of new shows:

100 QuestionsDay OneFirst Love, Second ChanceFood WarsMinute to Win ItThe PacificSons of Tucson

 
The following are previews of returning favorites:

AmericaThe ApprenticeThe BachelorGhost Hunters

 
The Bachelor preview is of Jason and Molly’s wedding. The Oscars has live Red Carpet coverage online, but not the main event.
Picagon Update
 
Spreety, Inc.’s brand new website, Picagon Fun and Funny Pictures, sent the first “Pic of the Week” newsletter on March 5. If you missed it, please let us know, and we will help you get signed up.
Trivia
 
Each week, Spreety adds a new TV Trivia challenge with links to watch.
 
 
Next up… I Dream of Jeannie
The Winner Is…
 
Every week, a subscriber to this newsletter is awarded a $15 iTunes Certificate.
 
The most recent winner is do**********@yahoo.com
 
Tell your friends to sign up. For details, see the Spreety Giveaway page.
 

Links
Spreety TV Online
Spreety Blog
Spreety Twitter
Spreety Facebook
Picagon Fun & Funny Pics
Blog Posts

3-Marc-2010 – ABC TV Online 2010

26-Feb-2010 – PBS Kids TV Online

24-Feb-2010 – Introducing Picagon

Spreety, Inc. P.O. Box 4043, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359

ABC TV Online 2010

In 2009, Spreety TV Online produced a video of tips and tricks for watching ABC TV shows online. Given all the rapid advances in online TV, it was time to update the video with a 2010 version.

ABC TV shows are split across four different sites: ABC, ABC News, ESPN, and Disney. For the latter two, see the other Spreety videos covering those. As for ABC and ABC News, most of the shows are online within a day of air date.

Arguably, the online TV experience for ABC TV shows is more complete than what is available on the old TV. An interesting example is the show Lost, where additional podcasts, webisodes, decoding the mysteries, previews, and enhanced episodes are available online. Much of that content is rarely available on ABC TV stations.

Possibly a negative for ABC TV online is that after every ad, one must click an extra button to re-maximize the screen. As a positive, one of the ads in particular allows you to skip it.

Among the ABC TV shows online are 20/20, ABC World News, The Bachelor, Better Off Ted, Brothers & Sisters, Castle, Cougar Town, Dancing with the Stars, The Deep End, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Find My Family, FlashForward, The Forgotten, General Hospital, Good Morning America, Grey’s Anatomy, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Lost, The Middle, Modern Family, Nightline, Primetime, Private Practice, Scrubs, Shark Tank, Supernanny, This Week, Ugly Betty, V, and The View.

There are also clips from many more shows.

“If people just knew how much TV is online, there would be mass abandonment of the old TV”, according to Spreety co-founder Ron Laughton. “We created Spreety to educate people about the legal places to watch free TV online.”

The Spreety video is on YouTube titled “ABC TV Online 2010″. Spreety TV Online : Watch TV Shows Online Free was released in 2008, and has had over 3 million visitors since.

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