Conclusions
SnugTV is a very interesting concept. If I could have the AverMedia tuner installed on my WHS, this might be even more interesting. No way do I need my workstation running 24/7 just to watch cable TV on my netbook in Timbuktu…
Regardless, I see potential with SnugTV. The reality is that it is not there yet.
No digital stations is a real bummer, particularly since I rarely watch analog TV anymore. Why no EPG? No EPG means no program recording. This is supposed to something that is more OTA friendly, but my experience in that arena was frustrating, also.
Watching live TV is not much of an option with the way it is configured. Why? Live TV quite often loses it buffering, which means still pictures, stuttering, or loss of picture and sound. Unfortunately, I see no option to change the way live TV is buffered. As recorded TV seems to make the most sense for such a service, no EPG makes it rather useless to me.
I will emphasize that this is current reality vs. potential. Trying to work with all the vastly opposing interests that have their fingers in the media feeding trough has got to be monumental in the US. It is amazing that anything works given the number of roadblocks that are put up by competing interests.
The consequence is 2-fold. First, what works in one country will not work in another country. Each country has it’s own set of roadblocks to overcome, which has got to be a nightmare for what SnugTV is trying to do. In addition, different Internet plans/speeds is not conducive to everyone having a good experience watching live TV on the Internet.
Second, this is a new concept. Not only are there the problems mentioned above, but the software needs some tweaking to make for a better user experience.
Moving on, some people may not be impressed by the 320×240 or 640×480 resolution options, but that would be quite acceptable for me when using my netbook. It just all depends upon what you feel would be acceptable.
Finally, although understandable, this service will only work with AverMedia tuner cards/USB sticks. Which brings us to:
Costs
At this time, I would not opt for anything other than the free service until the issues I noted above are resolved. Like I said earlier, I see potential with SnugTV. The reality is that it is not there yet.
More Info: SnugTV
