Sunday, September 21, 2008

British Telly



I don’t watch much TV here as we don’t have cable, and on the two channels we can pick up choices of programming are very limited. I usually tell people that we are too tight to pay for cable, but the truth is, we coughed up the cash for cable for years when we lived in California, and still hardly ever found anything worth watching. When we moved to Oklahoma, we decided we wouldn’t bother with cable, and I must say, I haven’t missed it one bit.

Now with this digital TV thingy coming into play next year, we got one of those converter boxes and discovered we couldn’t get any channels at all. So that idea has been cast aside like a squeezed lemon.

Anyway, as luck would have it, Mick made a great discovery on an ex-pats forum. He found out about a couple of sites where you can download British telly programs for free. From what I can gather, it works a bit like shareware. People in the UK upload progs to the site, and when you download a program onto your computer, you leave it there for a while to "seed," meaning other people can access it and download it from you. Seeding scores you points, and the more points you have the more programs you can download.

I know it all sounds a bit complicated, and I confess I’m not totally au fait with how it works, but Mick assures me that if a technosaurus like him can do it, anybody can. Full instructions are available at both sites. You can find them at:

www.thebox.bz this is the better of the two sites as they have far more choice of programs.

There are literally thousands of programs to choose from, dramas, comedies, soaps, sports, documentaries, wildlife/nature, all sorts of stuff. Mick says that ex-pats from all over the world are using this system.

And, after you’ve downloaded a prog, you can transfer it onto a video memory stick, plug it into the front of your DVD player and watch it on your telly. So I’ve been watching British telly this week, and it’s been lovely. Jo at: http://lifeinwindermere.blogspot.com/ was talking about a new series "Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and I said I couldn’t comment as although I’d read the book I couldn’t get the series. Well now I can. How kewl is that?

9 comments:

Pam said...

Oh wow! Gonna have to give this a try. Thanks for sharing this link! I must admit, I love my cable TV/Internet/Phone combo and the DVR box is the best thing in our house.

Lakeland Jo said...

Folks
Look out for Cranford, and anything by BBC serialising Jane Austen's stuff. Usually fab,.
Rome was also pretty good but very gory and explicit, so keep the youngsters tucked up.
My son is thirteen and I wouldn't let him watch it and I am usually quite relaxed.

Raquel said...

I love the Jane Austen BBC movies! I am so glad that you found your shows!! We do not have TV either, I am just too busy! Much love, Raquel XO

DeniseinVA said...

Hi Janet, this is a great post. I have passed the information on to other Ex-Pat Brit friends. Thanks for stopping by and leaving all the lovely comments.

Unknown said...

I also signed up.

You're a winner at mine!

Janet said...

Pam, there are so many good things on there you'll never watch American TV again.

Jo, thanks for the recommendations. We started watching Cranford last night, absolutely fabulous! I can't find Rome though.

Raquel, I love the Jane Austin serialisations too, but then the BBC are superb at period dramas.

Denise, you're very welcome.

Sarah, I'm sure you'll love it. And thanks so much for the award.

Expat mum said...

Is it legal or are we all going to get gagged, bound and deported?

Janet said...

Toni, if it was illegal I wouldn't be blogging about it. :-)

Almost American said...

Hmm - it's a P2P site. I can't imagine how it would be legal given the nature of the video they're offering for download.