Watch London Olympics 2012 with Sopcast

Excited about upcoming olympic games on London? Don't have Comcast or U-Verse subscription to watch through NBC? Don't despair! There is a guy in China who can watch it all on his TV, well maybe even more than one guy. And what he does is he is streaming it to the web for all to see.

This is what's behind the technology called SOPCast. It is like bittorrent only for life streams. You can read on how to install it at sopcast.com. Once you install the program click search to find the right TV station. It looks like CCTV-1, CCTV-2 and Shanghai Sports to be offering live Olympics coverage.

How To Download Video Streams to Watch Later

There is a very good post on Lifehacker on how to download the stream to watch later. They talk about Youtube, Hulu and even Netflix. One solution they recommend specifically for Hulu is to use RTMPDumpHelper and RTMP Dump Toolkit.

All you need to do is download two zip files: http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/download/rtmpdump-20110925-git-6230845-win32.zip and http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/rtmpdumphelper.zip then unzip to the same folder somewhere on your computer (Windows only). After that you just run the Run the RTMPDumpHelper.exe and go to the page you want to stream. It will save the file to the folder on you disk, that's it!

Finding a Legal Movie to Stream Online

If you know a title that you are dying to watch but are too tired to scout the web for the right place to stream it, try http://www.gowatchit.com/ It's a free service that tells you if the movie is available on Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, iTunes. It also covers subscription services like Netflix and DVD rentals like RedBox. Even better, if you register a free account, it will notify you when the movie becomes available.

Accessing What is Left of TV Shows After Recent Events

Recent raids have closed down many file exchange websites, most notably megaupload.com Icefilms.info is still going as a strong choice for movies and tv shows and they seem to rely on rapidshare now as their primary storage. There is also letmewatchthis.name and watchfreemovies.ch. Of course if you are less pirate-bound there are now more than ever legal opportunities. Amazon offers a lot of movies for $3.99 a pop and some of them are free with their Prime membership. There is still Netflix, Hulu (free with commercials) and the networks/shows websites, like www.thedailyshow.com

Streaming netflix

Netflix has been developing into a really nice streaming solution over the last couple of years. It is not free per se, but after a measly 8 bucks/month you get access to literally tens of thousands of free movies and tv shows. None of the freshest movies are there to begin with, but it is awesome for catching up with those 1-2 year old gems you might have wanted to see but somehow didn't get to. It also comes with a nice recommendation engine, picking streams that you might like to watch next based on your viewing history and movie ratings.

Stream at netflix.com

And don't forget their 2 weeks free trial!

A Few New Streaming TV Shows in 2011

There are a few good new TV Series appearing lately. The Protector (2011) is a really good cop drama, the twist here is that both LAPD partners are female. Also Weeds is still kicking strong with its 7th season of HBO hilariousness.

You can watch The Protector on Hulu, for the rest head on icefilms.info (and there you can stream without commercials). Once again, it is your responsibility to make sure what you are streaming is legit in your country.

Another free online streaming site is getting traction, it's called letmewatchthis.com. Two advantages: easy to remember name and automatically connects you to the best stream based on the user votes.

StreamTransport Stopped Working

Apparently, Hulu and other restricted sites are getting smarter about blocking StreamTransport. I would start looking for alternative free streaming solutions. Have you checked icefilms.info? It has a great selection of movies and TV series and if you use it with the open source XMBC media center you can start watching right away = streaming your downloads!