I wanted to watch NBA very badly today because LA Lakers can knock out last year’s champion San Antonio Spurs and advance to the finals! Moreover, this game 5 is played in Los Angeles which gives Lakers home court advantage. Problem is today I was at an office which all the computers there has been configured to deny any third software installation. Even if I could install third party software, the people there told me that they could only browse the web. Nothing else works. Being at home doesn’t help either because the stupid ASTRO, Malaysia’s only pay per view satellite television network station will not be broadcasting this match at all!

There are quite a few software such as SopCast, TVU Player, TV Ants, JLC Internet TV and etc that can watch TV from computer for free but it’d be useless because I couldn’t install third party software and only port 80 which is used for web browsing is allowed. I could get my friend to record it for me but it wouldn’t be as exciting as watching it LIVE.

Luckily I manage to find a way to watch NBA conference finals for FREE by without installing any software. Other than sports, there are other TV categories.

Justin.tv is a place to broadcast and watch live video online while chatting with friends. To use Justin.tv you need a PC or a MAC an up-to-date browser like Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari with the latest version of Adobe Flash Player installed. Justin.tv tears down the walls of traditional video and social networking sites by enabling viewers and broadcasters to interact and exchange ideas in real time through chat and live video. In the past, live broadcasting was only available to large media corporations who were willing to spend millions of dollars. Today, Justin.tv has democratized live video by shrinking all of the functionality of an expensive TV satellite trunk into a simple laptop or desktop computer.

Justin.tv doesn’t work like TVU Networks or SopCast that provides a huge list of channels such as CNN, Cartoon Network, MTV, ESPN and etc. Justin.tv depends on what the broadcaster is broadcasting using webcam, camcorder, game consoles, TV set, or other RCA video components. Rest assured that most of the popular sports such as NBA, MLB, soccer, football will be broadcasted live.

It’s way too easy to watch online TV from justin.tv website. If you’re able to browse the Internet, Justin.tv should work fine because it uses only port 80. Just go to the website and select the channels that you’d like to watch. Wait for a few seconds or sometimes a few minutes and it’ll start streaming. The best part is you get to chat with other viewers which adds the excitement! Sometimes you’d get the message “Not Broadcasting”. You can always try to reconnect by clicking the reconnect button at the bottom right of the video screen.

While writing about Justin.TV, I found another similar site which is Ustream.tv that does the same thing. No software required. You can easily watch online TV using your favorite web browser with Adobe Flash installed.

Another one that I got to know is TNT.TV. This site is pretty cool because it has 4 cams being showed simultaneously. However, there is no commentary and no scoreboard.

Now you know how to watch online TV from any computer that has internet connection without using any software. If you’re going to watch TV during working hours, do not put the blame on me if your boss discovered you doing that Well Lakers won 4-1 against Spurs and they are going to the finals! Which team would you prefer to win this year?

[ Visit Justin.TV | Ustream.TV | TNT.TV ]

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