As an avid movie watcher, and major sports fan,
television has always been my way of staying entertained. In recent
years, with the advent of Satellite TV for PC software, I've been
getting all of my favorite shows without cable or satellite bills.
Better yet, with these simple software programs, I don't need a cable
box, there is no complex equipment, all I need is my computer and an
Internet connection (my new 40" HD TV/PC monitor helps as well).
The reason most people haven't adopted this technology
yet is simply because they don't know about it, or because they haven't
found a software package worth the money. There are many of these
free-satellite-tv services out there, and sorting through them all can
be quite difficult.
With that, let's first cover what a good satellite for
PC service is and is not.
First, a satellite for PC service is
NOT a good solution if your main TV viewing includes pay per view
programs or expensive movie channels. Although you will find a huge
variety of movie channels, live sports broadcasts, and some of the most
popular channels, there is no pay per view with satellite streamed to
your PC.
Second, NOT everyone will need
satellite to PC software. If you don't have a decent computer (less
that 3-4 years old) and an Internet connection this software won't work
for you anyway.
Third, a satellite for PC program IS
the best way to get up to 4000 channels with $0 spent on monthly fees.
In fact, with the best services the only money you put out is a small
one-time $40-$50 fee to get TV streamed to your PC 24 hours a day, 365
Days a Year. Considering that the average cable bill costs as much as
$1200/year, that's $1150 you can keep in your pocket this year alone!
Fourth, if you don't take the
time to choose the right satellite for pc service you'll
likely just be wasting your money anyway. Worse than
that, with the poorest services, they really are
fly-by-night operations and your TV enjoyment might
end at any time.
To help, along with a group of friends, we went through
the process of testing the top satellite for PC services. To evaluate
each service we simply signed up for them and used them for a period of
3 months. We then shared our results and rated each service based on
the following criteria.
- Number of Channels - How many channels could
we receive at any given time. The best services had channel counts in
the thousands.
- Quality of Channels - Our TV viewing
requires more than just public broadcasts. Each service was rated based
upon the quality of channels we could receive.
- Consistency of Service - With some services
channels come and go. Higher ratings were given to those who had more
channels, more consistently.
- Quality of Broadcasts - When streaming
video through the Internet quality sometimes gets sacrificed. We gave
higher ratings to satellite for PC software that brought high quality
pictures.
- Support when Needed - Although these
services are fairly straightforward, it is important to have help when
you need it. We contacted the support teams for each of the services we
signed up with and rated them on their responses.
- Value/Cost - Based on the above criteria was
the service worth the money we spent. When compared to the monthly
costs of cable obviously they were, but when compared to each other -
did they provide decent value?
- Overall Rating - Finally we gave each
service an overall rating based on all of our findings.
Below you will find our ratings for the top three
satellite to PC programs that we could find. With each of our top three
we got decent quality broadcasts, a good number of channels, and
consistent quality and support. Our recommendations are clearly laid
out below, but if you do need help choosing the right service feel free
to contact me (info@mymoneybizwebsite.com).
To Never Paying a Cable Bill Again,
Simon Fallow
