More episodes, complete seasons, less ads, streaming quality and availability everywhere are what users want says the Wall Street Journal. This month we will take a look at the best and the worst. This top 5 is a sure winner and just what you need for passing the time on cold winter days!
#5
The streaming giant falls a bit short on our list due to lack of availabilty and incomplete season of shows. It makes the list because it looks great but there are things that could make it rate higher.
We give it an official “thumbs down” ratings for excessive commercials. Choose-your-own-advertisement options before shows begin. Interactive games during advertising breaks. The New York Times reports:
In the last year these online advertising innovations have been popularized by Hulu, the online video Web site that will celebrate its first anniversary on Wednesday. For all that has been written about Hulu’s easy-to-use, aesthetically pleasing interface, the advertising experience is equally important.
In the place of the long commercial pods that TV viewers have become accustomed to, only one ad is shown during each segment break on Hulu. Fewer ads make the ones on the site more memorable, Hulu executives say, allowing the site to charge higher prices for the ad units.
While Hulu was not the first site to serve up full-length television shows or create new advertising units, it now dominates the emerging market for ad-supported TV and movie streaming. It emerged in public beta form one year ago with 10 advertisers, made its official debut in March, and now counts more than 100 sponsors, from General Motors to Old Spice.
… The half-hour comedies that are so popular on Hulu — “Family Guy” from Fox and “The Office” from NBC — have an average of eight minutes of commercial time on TV. On Hulu, where the sitcoms are especially popular, each show averages about two minutes of ads.
… In a glimpse of the future of ad feedback, Hulu users are encouraged to click buttons indicating whether they like or dislike each ad they see.
#4
Joost, the much-hyped Internet video service, will relaunch as a Flash-based online video hub with free, ad-supported television shows and films - or, in other words, a clone of Hulu.com, the popular Web site jointly owned by NBC and Fox. New York Times Bits Blog reports.
“The new Flash-based site also abandons Joost’s original peer-to-peer method of distributing video, although Mr. Volpi said the company might still use the technology to broadcast live events. … In addition to new youth-oriented social networking features, which allow users to share their favorite programs with friends, the new Joost.com will feature full-length shows from CBS, Viacom and the Warner Bros. Television Group.
Downsides to Joost is limited availability and scattered episodes. Most of the material can be found elsewhere on the Web. To really compete with Hulu’s deep library and YouTube’s sheer volume of user-generated video, Joost will have to build its own trove of find-it-nowhere-else material.”
#3
The Wall Street Journal reports on Jaman.com, a Web site that gives users the chance to download independent and international movies from the Web directly to their computers.
“It also serves as a social networking forum where movie watchers can read one another’s reviews, write their own comments that run alongside the film, and join groups with people who have similar tastes in movies. Jaman (pronounced jah-mahn), has 1,800 titles. It charges $1.99 for rentals, which can be watched for up to seven days, and $4.99 to buy a movie outright.
Jaman isn’t alone in the online movie downloading business, and its competitors boast bigger selections. Just this year Netflix, known for popularizing DVD rentals through the mail, started offering its own movie downloads. But Jaman hopes its niche films and viewer-comments system will set it apart.” Negatives include, a fairly high cost for limited time to view and limited availability.
#2
AOL delivers solid streaming television episodes in a tight package. Good shows, limited amounts of content and availability.
Internet giant America Online has its own streaming television service. AOL Television’s growing offerings, which include free and full streaming of a myriad of current and classic TV series, daily video highlights of last night’s top television moments, celebrity interviews, photos and gossip, as well as interactive quizzes, user-polls and original editorial features. The stream quality is good, though sometimes a little slow, causing buffer problems but the overall content is broad ranging including most premium television programs. An interactive show review and discussion feature is nice but maybe unnecessary. The site is not ad heavy so little distraction there.
We would consider this a great site except two things: very limited geographic availability (USA only) and most shows only feature one or two episodes- not good when you want to sit down and watch a few episodes of 24 for example.
#1
This new kid on the block brings a true Tivo type experience to web tv watchers. No ads, available everywhere, and an unbeatable complete season show collection. “this is the service that people expect from internet television”.
This gem of a service stands out as this month’s number #1 streaming television site. The folks at 3click.TV wanted to make it easier than ever to enjoy all your favorite premium television shows. An in browser player that works flawlessly and a detailed show index catalogs more than 7000+ episodes (and growing daily) listed by season and episode with full description provided of each episode. 3click.TV plans to stay ahead of the pack by offering complete seasons of all shows featured. Crystal clear quality audio and video makes us smile and no geographical limitations on this service make everyone everywhere smile. Streaming all this great content to the iPhone 3G and the service is fully compatible with your Mac, which is also another first that is noteworthy.
3click claims to be expanding to more than 20,000 episodes spread out over 500 different programs in the coming months while simultaneous picking up daily picks of such talk shows as Jay Leno, Jon Stewart , Colbert Report and even assorted sports content. This “daily replay” programing is availbe for viewing up to seven days while all other content is can be viewed indefinitely. A low monthly subscription means 100% ad free. The best shows, ad free, high quality streaming and complete series makes this one tough to beat.
The worst of the worst.
Sites we won’t even think about recomending but for some odd reason, still shine atop the Google Searchs-
www.myeasytv.com Don’t bother wasting you time with this one, broken links and useless public access stations many from countries you have never heard of, full of ads and offers nothing worthwhile.
www.freetvonline.com This site actually looked like it may have some decent shows but a scary tool bar adware nightmare awaits you if you click the box and sign your life (you computers life) away! STAY AWAY from this site.
www.worldtvpc.com More rubbish full of broken links that bounce from page to page, you spend more time watching ads than the lame content they link to.
3click.TV - a new shining star in the streaming TV world. 
