Watch TV Stations on the Internet

Given the fact that Internet has increased its role in our lives, some of us have decided to replace some of our home electronics like TV or radio with a computer, either because we need the space or maybe just because we spend more time in front of the computer, so it's easier this way.

If you want to replace your TV or radio, there are numerous applications ready to assist you, such as Easy TV Radio, which can be downloaded and used on a 15-day trial base after which you will be asked to purchase the software as a one-off payment of $25.00. The program comes with the following recommended requirements: 400MHz or higher CPU, 256 MB or more RAM, 45 MB disk space, Windows Media Player 11, .Net Framework 3.5, Real Player 11 (Optional), Flash Player 10 (Optional) and a 512 Kbps Internet connection.

Easy TV Radio is an easy to use piece of software that offers you more than 1,500 free TV channels and over 2,000 free Radio channels according to the developer. The interface is simple and easy to access, thus handy for the less advanced users as well. The program comes with a built-in database to give you a start but you also have the possibility to add new channels that you want to watch. This feature makes it possible for you to have virtually a no-limit channel database.

Easy TV Radio is more than just an Internet stream player. It can be used like an ordinary media player also. In the "File" menu you will find the "Open file" option, which, as the name suggests, will enable you to open a media file. The downside of this feature is that you don’t have a navigation through files option, so a fast forward is out of the question. The "File" menu is also the one that allows you to open a URL. You just enter the URL that you want to view and press the OK button. Unfortunately, when we tried to use this feature the application failed to play the streams. You can also select the media type in this window. The application offers you an auto-detect feature, but you can also select between Windows Media, Real Media or Flash media file types.

The "Channels" menu will help you manage the channels in your list. Thus you can of course use the Play/Pause or Stop buttons. What stands out when pressing the Pause button is that the application does not make a buffering to the whole stream (it would require huge amounts of disk space, if it did). The channels are played live but we have to mention that because the channels that appear in the list are not the best you can find, some of them are running recordings of their programs. You can add a certain channel to your "Favorites" list for easy access, or you can add your own channel – just enter the name and URL and hope for the best.

The program does not have an option to help you adjust the image quality so this aspect is totally dependant on the stream quality. The image quality will be of course better in window mode than in full screen mode, which is ok for those who are not that concerned about this feature, but for a more demanding user this might be a serious problem. To provide a continuous improvement of the built-in database, Easy TV Radio also has a “Report bad link” option so that you will have an up-to-date database once every seven days.

The "Channels" menu also gives you the possibility to see complete information concerning a channel that interests you such as the stream’s link or the category in which that channel has been included. You can navigate through the video, radio or favorite channel list either by using the sidebar that the program has or by accessing the "View" menu, which also gives you the possibility to set the application to Full screen mode or to select to hide the channel list if it fits your desires.

And so we get to the "Skins" menu, which offers a certain level of customization for those who value the way their application looks like. You can select from a Mac OS style to an XP one.

The developer of Easy TV Radio also thought about those users that might not have all the basic players that are generally needed to play the live streams. So, the "Tools" menu comes to help you download Flash Player, Real Player or Windows Media Player so that you can have the tools needed to view the most common media formats out there. This menu actually offers a list of direct links to the developer’s page so you can download and install the software. Easy TV Radio will need to be restarted after you have installed the player you’ve selected.

To satisfy those users who want to have a program that is customized to meet their exact needs, Easy TV Radio has the "Options" window, which can be used to select the starting screen that you want to have. You can select to view television, radio, favorites or just to remember the last window you have opened. You can also customize the player window size to be kept at the original size or fit to window or even remember the volume level that you selected when you last used the application.

A useful option that you can enable is to automatically check for a database update. This will help you to always be up to date with the latest channels or to remove the channels that are no longer available. For those who like diversity and are searching for a new look Easy TV Radio offers you the possibility to enable it to load a random skin at startup.

In order to provide an easy access to the program you can have it sent to your system tray when you press the "Minimize" button. This will help you keep your taskbar clean especially when you have a lot of applications running. All in all, this piece of software is easy to use but has some flaws that might be considered annoying at the very least by some users. It has a large database but filled with not so popular channels and the URL player is basically unusable.

The Good Easy TV Radio is a simple program that gets the job done when it comes to helping you view your favorite Internet TV or radio channels without much fuss. The fact that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to use it is a big plus.

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