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30 April 2010TV on your PS3
This is another portal for the popular online streaming video site that TVNZ set up in March 2007. The main difference is that instead of having to watch the shows on your computer screen (even though some computer screens are very nice to watch these days) you can watch them on your TV.
TVNZ says it will have 150 series, and 1000 episodes as well as "video extras" offering behind-the-scenes looks at certain shows. The layout of the PS3 version is similar to the online version but with a PS3-menu look and feel to it. Also, as this is part of the PlayStation Network (PSN), the site doesn't load in a browser, making a better experience for users.
The video quality is what you would expect from a non-HD broadcast and the show I watched (an episode of Lost I needed to catch up on) looked good, and didn't have much in the way of perceptible lag. While the shows are broken into chunks separated by ads (as they are on normal television) there is only one ad to sit through before the show continues. However, there were brief pauses before each ad break. This may be due to the programme finding and loading a randomised ad.
Quick techie note: I was using a TelstraClear ADSL connection at peak time over a Wi-Fi connection.
Definitely something to try if you own a PlayStation and use the PSN. If you are an Orcon or Snap broadband customer, any shows you watch will not count towards your monthly data cap.
Hadyn Green, Technical Writer
Comments
I'm reasonably impressed with this new service. Well, it met my expectations anyway. My only concern is that the navigation bar doesn't seem to auto-fade after the ad breaks, so although you can dismiss it with O, after an ad it stays onscreen until you intervene.
The quality is what I'd expected, and the service navigation is OK.
A nice complement to my PlayTV.
Also happy with this new offering... Quality is only ok (there are 2 quality levels to choose from, i use the high quality one), but i think a good compromise between bandwidth and quality.
I also would like them to 'fix' the navigation bar not fading away by itself.
Occassionally seems to stop playing and have to restart it, which means navigating to the most recent chapter point in the show and being forced to watch 1 ad again.
Some of the ads (burgerfuel especially) are way too loud, not the same volume as the program.
Some shows not on there or seem limited? maybe more to be loaded on still...
would love to see a data agreement with Vodafone added to it.
Well done TVNZ.
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