How to Watch 4,500+ Channels in HD With No Satellite Dish and No Cable Bill

If you’re on this page you’ve probably heard the hype surrounding satellite TV software and how it instantly transforms your PC or Mac into a “Super TV” letting you watch live NFL games, live news, movies, shows, and thousands of channels from all over the world… and how you can download the software for a small one-time fee and then never have to pay any recurring monthly charges… saving you big bucks on your entertainment bills…
Should you believe the hype? That’s exactly what we wanted to know, so we did the obvious best thing… our investigative team purchased and tested over a dozen popular TV softwares and evaluated each product based on a number of criteria such as overall quality, channels, ease of use, support, guarantee, bonuses, and affordability. Our results were mixed, but much better than expected. Some of these sites have developed quality products that provide a great deal of entertainment “bang for your buck”. The following page contains our detailed reviews and comparisons of the leading TV softwares on the market. Demo photos are included with each review.
If you have questions about any TV related website, feel free to contact us.
| StreamDirect.TV
|
60 Day Money Back Guarantee |
Live Demo Photo |
Visit Website | |
| SatelliteDirect.com
|
8 Week Money Back Guarantee |
Live Demo Photo |
Visit Website | |
| Satellite TV for PC 2010 Titanium |
60 Day Money Back Guarantee |
Live Demo Photo |
Visit Website |
Is this legal? Despite how it sounds these products are in fact legal because the channels are being broadcast 24/7 on the global FTA (free to air) satellite network, which has always been free. It used to require having a satellite dish and receiver, but thanks to the Internet you can stream everything over the web.
What can you watch? Depending on which software you download you can watch up to 4,500 channels of movies, local and international news, live sports (every sport), TV shows, music videos, world events, documentaries, special programming… it’s a lot more variety than what you’ll get from your local cable company. And much cheaper. There’s a small one-time fee of about $50 to download the software and that’s it. There are no monthly fees or subscriptions, and no special hardware needed, making it an attractive alternative to higher priced cable TV services.
The following section contains our detailed reviews of the leading TV softwares on the market. We’ve evaluated each product based on a number of criteria such as overall quality, ease of use, channels, support, affordability, etc.
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StreamDirect.TV
Review: StreamDirect.TV is our top choice for watching TV online and it continues to exceed our expectations in every way. It does what it promises, allowing you to watch over 4,500 channels in high resolution. The interface is well designed and it just feels a bit more refined than the competition. It also has a few unique features:
1) Provides a search tool that allows you to find specific content quickly and avoid endless channel surfing.
2) Performs automatic channel updates when channels change or go off the air.
3) When you move your cursor over a channel name it gives you a pop-up text description of the channel. This is a huge time saver because the channel names don’t always make it obvious what they’re about.
Another nice thing is the speed at which channels appear on screen. They appear almost instantly, whereas the other softwares all have a 5 to 10 second lag when changing channels, which feels like a long time if you’re looking for something to watch.
Channels: 199 sports channels, 258 news channels, 385 tv show/movie channels, 20 channels from the BBC… Then about 3,000 more in various categories like comedy, politics, music, kids, community, games, education, science, culture, lifestyle, shopping, cooking, business, travel, etc. You also get 82 live web-cams from famous places all over the world such as zoos, aquariums, beaches, clubs, museums, historical landmarks, etc.
Most importantly, the video and sound quality are excellent. The video feed is fast and most channels are in high resolution. Some are in full HD. Note: You need a high speed Internet connection such as DSL or cable in order to watch HD channels. Dial-up won’t work. The only small complaint we have with this software is the lack of documentation, or a manual. But the controls are easy enough to figure out, so you’ll probably become an expert within a few hours anyway.
At the time of this review (July 2010) StreamDirect.TV is on sale for $49.95 (one-time fee) which is 30% off. Highly recommended.
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SatelliteDirect
Review: SatelliteDirect is another good piece of software for streaming TV on the Internet and it’s quite popular due to heavy marketing and a good looking website. The interface is well designed and like our #1 pick it comes with automatic channel updates.
The only real disappointment for us is that out of 3,641 channels it only comes with 220 English/American channels. Our #1 choice comes with over 1,500 English/American channels, so there’s really no comparison as far as how much entertainment you’ll get out of it.
Other than that this product works well and it may be a good choice for you if you speak several languages, or if you really enjoy foreign programming. But if you’re like us and you primarily want to watch English/American content you’re going to have a limited selection. Hopefully in a future update they’ll include MUCH more content for English speaking users.
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Sat TV for PC 2010 Titanium
Review: Satellite TV for PC 2010 Titanium is another good product for watching live TV. The picture quality is great, the interface outperforms many of the softwares we tested, and it’s just as easy to use as our #1 and #2 choices. We just have a few complaints that prevent it from getting a higher rating:
1)It has a lot of “dead” channels in the menu, meaning that the channel list isn’t being updated when channels change or go off the air. This means it has significantly fewer channels than the 4,000 they’re claiming, and it can be a bit annoying if you’re channel surfing and you keep trying channels that don’t work.
2) Our other complaint is the $99 price tag. Yes, it’s still a better deal than paying for cable every month, but it doesn’t make any sense to pay $99 when StreamDirect is such a great product for 1/2 the price.
Final Summary:
If you want to watch TV online there are websites like hulu.com that will allow you to freely stream recent episodes of many popular tv shows, but that’s not watching live TV, it’s downloading old TV. If you want to watch actual live tv on your computer, such as live NFL games, other sporting events, live news, etc. you can download satellite TV software for a small one-time fee and you’ll have an excellent alternative to higher priced cable TV services. These solutions provide a large selection of channels from the FTA satellite network including content from over 80 countries. StreamDirect is our top choice because it looks great, works great, sets up in 2 minutes, and does it all for only $49.95… We still can’t believe how much entertainment it provides for less than one month of cable. It will be interesting to see what happens with the next generation of Internet TV solutions, which will probably include 100% high definition programming, optional premium channels, and a highly interactive TV/shopping experience.
NOTE: A lot of people have been asking us if they can set this software up to watch all these channels on their regular TV, instead of their computer. The answer is “yes” you just need the right cable to connect your computer to your TV. And the cable depends upon what video inputs you have on the back of your TV. If you do a little bit of research on this you can figure out what cable you need and find it on amazon.com for about $10.00






about 1 year ago
i used to work for a satellite dish company (direct tv) and we of course knew about this kind of software because it’s essentially a competitor. it’s true satelliteDirect.tv is the best way to watch all these channels without having to pay every month
about 1 year ago
Thank you, Dave! I can’t believe you can get all these channels without paying a subscription! Now I have even more cooking shows! Smiles, Tiff
about 1 year ago
I just downloaded satellite-direct, it rocks… totally worth $49.95… i’ll be using it everyday to watch my shows when my little brother hogs the big tv in the family room!
about 1 year ago
honest review, good software, extremely easy to download and set up… if you want to watch tv online this is the way to do it. – Michael
about 1 year ago
just downloaded isoftwaretv, it’s good, way better than some other tv software i tried a few months ago. with this the picture is clear enough to watch it full screen
about 1 year ago
yeah, the picture is definitely clear enough to watch full screen… the resolution varies from channel to channel, but they all look great!
about 1 year ago
*****GREAT PRODUCT***** i got stream direct cuz i’ve been looking for a good way to watch live news online… I’m happy because this comes with literally hundreds of live news stations from every city in the world, not to mention thousands of other stations with sports, shows, movies, etc. I would have paid a lot more than $49.95 for this… 10/10
about 1 year ago
whoever invented this software is a genius, i wish i started using it years ago, THANK YOU
about 1 year ago
I pay 234 dollars a month, home phone ,internet,cable,cell. I want to reduce this cost.To use the internet to watch tv would reduce my cost by 100 dollars. I hope this is really a true deal. I am going to give it a try .Will write a review on it after i try it.
about 1 year ago
well i think you guys are making evrything easy for us thank you thank you
about 1 year ago
What are the minimum requirements for running this software,my current computer is a dinosaur.
about 1 year ago
Answer for Melody: I’ve only tried the software on my laptop, which is fairly new (a few years). But as long as you have a high speed Internet connection and enough processing power to run basic applications (like your Internet browser) you will be fine. Give it a shot. If it doesn’t operate smoothly on your machine you can always get a refund. – Dave
about 1 year ago
ok great, is there CBS an NBC channels? and if yes are they good quality?
about 1 year ago
Sounds too good to be true. Can you still access local channels via the software or would I need to get one of those converters for access to local channels?
about 1 year ago
i love the sports channels
about 1 year ago
I have an desktop and 2 laptop (me/wife)… will I be able to download it to all 3 computer and paying only one price?
about 1 year ago
@ Tony – Yes, you can install it on unlimited computers
about 1 year ago
Dave,
I am in the military and stationed in Naples Italy. My question is that does this software come in CD so that you can download it to both PC and desktop, if so do they mail to FPO AE address?
I wish this software truly work because cables are not allowed on base.
about 12 months ago
I can’t believe how well this software works for only 49 bucks. LOTS of unique channels too ***THANK YOU***
about 12 months ago
What size is the screen for the broadcasts?
about 11 months ago
i am using an air card for internet access, and have a monthly MG limit on my air card. what kind of MG usage can I expect if I use this software? Just a round about figure will do.
about 11 months ago
We were thinking of downloading this and connecting it to our 42″ LCD. Do you think it would look ok?
about 11 months ago
where can i find a list of channels that u can get, i am only looking for some channels not all
about 11 months ago
I want Internet TV, but i want to pay it with the phone bill, is that possible? i would buy this right now but i have no credit card
about 11 months ago
I am wondering if I can get a copy of the software on disc after i buy the program?
about 11 months ago
Answer for Michelle: Yes, you can connect your computer to your 42″ TV and it will work fine. The resolution of the channels varies from 1024×768 all the way up to 1920×1080 (full HD). You just need the right cable… You can get ‘em on amazon for about $10
about 11 months ago
What are the “premium channels” can you get the hbo’s/ stars / showtimes etc with this package? My husband is the all time pay per view king.
about 11 months ago
sounds pretty good, i get paid friday and then i think i’ll try satellitedirect. do you really get HBO and showtime?
about 11 months ago
i only want to get 1 channel,harlan ky. live court t.v.
what do i need to do?. thank’s helen
about 11 months ago
Where can I see all the channel list
about 11 months ago
Ok I have read your review. I have read all the comments. I am ready to buy. I am tired of my husband being the “remote hog”. He never really watches anything but sports, the rest of the time he just flips. I will comment later on how I like it.
about 10 months ago
will i get ABC and NBC
channel soaps
about 10 months ago
this looks awesome
about 7 months ago
I am going to give this a try… more for my parents than me actually – they need to cut down on expenses and also need a way to watch tv while traveling starting next year for their retirement. Of course, we will appreciate the savings too – can’t wait to make the phone call to the cable company and tell them to shove their bill where the sun doesn’t shine!
about 3 months ago
My tv and computer are in different rooms. Im guessing the cable you mentioned wont come long enough, so can this work on a wireless to send it to the other room from my computer?