BitTorrent Live for Mac.. not bad, but a long way away

I don’t have the most current Apple TV.  So I am unable to watch the new BitTorrent Live on that hardware.  But thankfully BitTorrent came out with a Mac application.  So when I saw the email that they had it up and running, I got on there right away.  And here’s what I found.

Set up

The email I received gave me a link to download that Mac application. Once I did the download and the install stuff, the application popped up and gave me a link to go to for the signing up process.

Once you have that activation code it tells you to go to btaccounts.com/activate to register and do all that fun stuff.

Since I didn’t have a Sign-In yet I clicked on the “Need an account?” link and proceeded to create an account.

Once I put in my information and hit the Register button, I then was able to enter in my activation code.

Once your device has been activated, and you accept all the usual stuff, then it starts playing in the actual application that was opened earlier. But it makes me wonder, if it’s activating that specific device, if you have to go through the process of activating every device you want to watch it on.  For example, maybe you have a MacBook Air.  So does it give you a different activation code for that device?  I am assuming so, but I also haven’t tested that out either.

Watching it

I knew going into this, that there wouldn’t be a lot of content available.  In fact at this time of writing all I saw was 15 channels to view.  That wasn’t that surprising to me.  I’m actually happy to see that they had that many.  But, the experience of using this application is a little bit herky jerky. Here’s the list.

AWE: Formerly known as WealthTV, AWE is a 24/7 network devoted to taking viewers on a journey of how wealth is achieved, used and enjoyed.

Clubbing TV:  The official media partner of some of the planet’s biggest electro festivals, Clubbing TV offers exclusive, quality electronic music content from artists and labels all around the globe embracing the entire the Dance Music lifestyle.

FAST&FUN is a new Television Channel offering an action-packed, adrenaline-including medley of extreme sports, from car racing and motocross to snowboarding and skateboarding; a large variety of disciplines, shows and competitions from all over the world.

Fightbox: From MMA and boxing to arm wrestling and sumo, Fightbox is a compilation of the finest combat sports from around the globe all on one channel.

Filmbox Arthouse: Every month FilmBox Arthouse also airs special presentations devoted to a particular creative movement (German Expressionism, New Romanian Cinema) or individual filmmakers (The Surreal Art of Salvador Dali, Rossellini’s War Trilogy, etc.)

Heroes TV: Delivers what action, adventure fanatics want.  Heroes TV targets audiences with Multiple programming categories to offer the most comprehensive action, adventure line up on TV.

Newsmax: Newsmax TV provides the latest news, expert views and live programming from your favorite TV hosts and A-list guests. (conservative programming)

NUsicTV:  Delivers the finest new independent artists at the forefront of music in a linear broadcast, allowing viewers to discover the vanguard in music without having to search the internet.

OANN: Features political analysis programming and political talk shows, along with network special documentary-style reports; its news coverage attempts to maintain objectivity while its political shows illustrate a stronger conservative lean.

One World Sports: It features exclusive, live, world-class sporting events and premier matchups from around the world, with over 3,000 hours of unduplicated sports programming annually. Content focus is on live and same-day action of league, championship and qualification competitions in soccer, basketball, baseball, golf, table tennis, badminton, darts, and more.

OpenNews TV: OpenNews TV brings you live video talk shows from the best progressive talk radio personalities.

Pursuit Channel: Pursuit Channel is a television network that airs programming geared to hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation.

TWiT: The TWiT.tv Netcast Network with Leo Laporte features the #1 ranked technology podcast This Week in Tech, along with over 20 other top-ranked online shows.

It isn’t difficult to see the channels that are available.  You just move your mouse to the bottom of the application and the channels come up in an animation that moves from bottom to top of the application.  That’s all fine and dandy.  And it’s a nice touch that you can see a little of the video playing in the background.  So the channel list is slightly opaque.

I had a very hard time navigating through the channels with my mouse.  This is part of that herky jerky thing I spoke about earlier.  I would scroll down on my mouse and nothing would happen.  But, when I scrolled up, then it would go to the “second page” of the channel list.  Just ass backwards there.  It was so frustrating in fact, that I just used the keyboard arrows to do the navigating.

When you do click on a channel, you get the funky “loading” screen.  For lack of a better term.

I also want to point your eyeballs at the arrow in the bottom.  There are NO pause/play, next, forward, backwards buttons at all.  So if you come into a show, you can’t go back to the beginning to watch it from the inception.  That is just not right.  I sure hope that they fix that shortly.  Also, you will see on the lower left it says “On Now” so that is what you are currently watching.  On the lower right you see “Up Next”  for what is about to come.  BUT, you can’t click those either and watch those programs.

I am not sure if this is supposed to be designed this way, or if it just a glitch.  But damn, if I’m watching a recorded program, then why can’t i skip to the next one???

Plus, every time you take your mouse to the bottom of the application, it brings up the channel menu.  That is so frustrating.  You have to consciously move your youse to the left or right.  Otherwise you have to jack around with the channel menu.  I’m not really mad about that, it is just frustrating. But I think that for this application, having it like that actually works.  i know…talking out of both sides of my mouth.  But you’ll be fine.

Down at the very bottom of the application itself, in the lower bottom corner that is, is the setting button.  Click it and you get a wealth of choices.

Yeah, not really.   Nothing really to adjust.  Ether sign out, or get out of the setting menu.  That’s all you got.

Watching experience

Once you find what you want to watch, the experience of watching the application is good.  Seemed that the video was good.  Not sure of the actual quality(720p or 1080p).  But I didn’t have any blurry videos.  I did have an audio synching thing a few times, but for the most part, it was just like watching a video.  Nothing too fancy or exciting on that front.

Final thoughts

I’m torn between liking this, and thinking it is just a waste of time.  Do we really need another way to watch something?  Especially when it isn’t really making the wheel any rounder?  I like the idea.  I like what they have done and are working towards.  But to be honest, I can watch most of everything that is recorded here on YouTube.

Now, having said that, where this thing should shine is in the live stream.  By changing up how live tv is broadcast and reducing the latency (lag) you in theory will get a much better live experience.  This should prove interesting.  Especially when it comes to sports, or live shows at places like CES.

Plus, if it does what it should do, the more people you have watching the better the broadcast and the less latency you have.  I don’t think we can ever get it to truly right on time live.  But if we can get it to a 5 second latency, then that will be awesome.

Until more people, more channels come on board, I just don’t think it is worth my time to watch anything.  There is nothing there to grab my attention.  Not saying that others won’t see stuff they like.  But for a tech guy, TWiT.TV is about the only thing that I’ll watch.  And right now I’ll just watch it on YouTube or live off their website.

It’s a good start.  And I can’t wait to see where it goes and how it progresses.  But right now….Just okay.