Online video has been making leaps and bounds thanks to the advent of YouTube and the increased proliferation of broadband Internet - not to mention the ready supply of videos from any number of copyright-infringing sources on the Internet.

In a remarkable attempt to display adaptability, Channel Nine have launched a "Catch-Up TV" system that allows you to download entire episodes of some of their shows and watch them directly off your PC, using an ad-supported video system called Hiro. While there's only a couple shows available at the moment, it is a good start. Check out our overview for some more information on the system and some of the technical details.

What's available on Catch-Up TV?
Canal Road (M)
Sea Patrol II - The Coup (M)
McLeod's Daughters (PG)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

awesome idea... but why channel 9 lol. Gimmie some 10

haha nice selection

regardless, with the advent of PVRs with PC streaming and 360s\PS3 that can play most video formats, having to use their software to watch these shows on TV is retarded and won't catch on.

It's bad enough having to watch Mcleods Daughters let alone watching it on a little monitor parked in an office chair.

Is this like what the ABC already do and have been doing for awhile? Oh yeah, except for the ads.

Awesome step forward!
Lets hope the rest of them catch on.

Personally I'd rather watch it without ads though.

Thats quite refreshing, will be interesting to see if their ratings improve or drop and whether they can make the difference in the downloaded add revenue.

Obveously at this time they'll be limited to shows they create themselves but hopefully it works out and other stations(US) take it on

awesome idea... but why channel 9 lol. Gimmie some 10

Channel 10 actually have their own Catch-up TV but its just a Flash-based player so I didn't think it rated a mention.

Canal Road (M)
Sea Patrol II - The Coup (M)
McLeod's Daughters (PG)

Jesus, they're really scraping the barrel aren't they.

That is the extent of Nine's Australian productions... What else would you expect?

They pick these shows for a reason: Because they know they won't get used via the service, so they can later point to the figures and say "we tried that, there was no demand". This is exactly what they're trying to pull here, once again.

Edit: Also, from that article:

Safety: Very safe, backed by the reputation of Nine Risk of virus/adware/spyware

Who the f*** wrote this? Sounds like they've been paid off by the MAFIA trying to beat that dead horse. Anyone with half a clue knows what a load of BS that 'reason' for not going with *nova or TPB is.

last edited by Raven at 15:36:53 23/Jun/08

I wrote that. Maybe you didn't understand it. You don't know anyone that has gotten a virus/spyware by trying to download some warez or video they wanted?

" Canal Road (M)
Sea Patrol II - The Coup (M)
McLeod's Daughters (PG)

Jesus, they're really scraping the barrel aren't they."

OMG Funny as .... they have gone beyond the barrel and are now scraping Marianas Trench (the deepest part of the ocean)

Obveously at this time they'll be limited to shows they create themselves but hopefully it works out and other stations(US) take it on

Many US stations, if not all, already do have their TV shows available via the net. Many also have them region locked so you have to be in the US to view them.

Most of them are through web based viewers though that are only slightly better then YouTube, I think that is supposed to be what is unique here with Nines version. Although like I said earlier you can download ABC shows off their website too in MP4 or WMV format for portable compatibility.

I would rather watch the ads than those shows!

You don't know anyone that has gotten a virus/spyware by trying to download some warez or video they wanted?

Sure, i know of people getting nasties from pirate software and games, but the worse I've heard from pirate video and audio content _ever_ is that they've downloaded one thing and it's been a different video/song than it was labeled as.

The reality is that pretty much everywhere that shares infringing material has an attached community (even if only a comments system) that a glancing read of will tell you if there's anything wrong with any given download (or so I'm told). IMO, safety really doesn't rate as worth being concerned about when it comes to media piracy these days.

There are dodgy fake videos that when you play them say "you need "dodgy spyware" codec to play this, download it at blah.com". I guess its conceivable that some people could mistakenly download that fake, then stupidly download the "codec", after all if it didnt work why would they bother?

last edited by Bah at 16:19:19 23/Jun/08

IMO, safety really doesn't rate as worth being concerned about when it comes to media piracy these days.

as I said in the article, people have different values depending on their circumstances. I rate it highly, not for me, but for all my relatives and friends that want tech support when they f*** their PC up. There's definitely a bunch of stuff out there targeting newbs that aren't part of the various communities; things like this present a much safer option for them.

I couldn't find any codec at www.blah.com
Explain yourself bah!

I use ABCs video podcast streams on my XBMC every weekend. great to catch up on good game and gruen transfer, and summer heights high when it was on...

ten were doing this months ago.

close phooks, but way off

I know some Mid-late 40's ladies at work which will be very excited to hear this news.

ten were doing this months ago.

Uh...most of that just looks like interviews and other useless crap.

um, I've had full good news week episodes in my itunes from Ten in pretty good resolution for a while. Makes for good watching on the train

I know some Mid-late 40's ladies at work which will be very excited to hear this news.

i bet you know them you animal.

ten used to advertise that you could download supernatural. still can?

The question is, why would you want to?

Most of them are through web based viewers though that are only slightly better then YouTube, I think that is supposed to be what is unique here with Nines version.

Exactly what I was getting at... decent quality drm free(ish) shizzle. Not what is currently on offer here.

Tho I must say Channel Ten's flash player is extremely quick.
I caught a few Good News Week eps and it's suprisingly quick. Plays _as soon_ as you select an episode.
quality is a darn site better than youtube but no good full screen at 1920x1200 :P

close phooks, but way off

Uh...most of that just looks like interviews and other useless crap.

ten used to advertise that you could download supernatural. still can?

Scroll down the bottom you tards.

Scroll down the bottom you tards.

I think you'll find everyone did - show us where on that page that there's anything even remotely like what is discussed here. Note: you may need to read at least the news post first.

Scroll down the bottom you tards.

I don't want to scroll through endless s*** to find 1 or 2 shows.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/5985/newpicturepb6.png

So me talking about ten giving free episodes of catch-up TV over the net is completely unrelated to you talking about channel nine giving free and ad-supported catch up TV over the net? Even if nine is using hiro codec and making it shareware, my point is still valid.

last edited by Phooks at 12:09:04 24/Jun/08

Who cares, it is Australian TV and Australian TV is s***.

This can so eat my ass. If I want to watch TV on my PC I'll torrent it like everyone else thank you. And add free to boot.

So anyway one of the guys from the Xvid development team got back to me about this and confirmed that they're using Xvid code in a manner that is almost certainly license-infringing.

This promises to be interesting as Xvid's legal status is probably questionable in some areas due to patent issues, so we'll see where it ends up.

I really hope channel nine picks up big brother.

I really hope channel nine picks up big brother.

.....

Who is infringing the copyright - Nine or Hiro?

brave first post in these parts!

the bandwagon declares that we all hate bb and have to rubbish it

Who is infringing the copyright - Nine or Hiro?

Hiro is infringing on the license of xvid, by the sounds of things

the bandwagon declares that we all hate bb and have to rubbish it

just because its a bandwagon, doesn't mean its wrong