Watch the Olympics with TVTonic

It’s Olympic year and this time we’re heading to Beijing to watch the best athletes in the world battle it out for glory. If you’re lucky enough to actually be going to Beijing for the Olympics, then you’re sure to enjoy yourself. However, if you’re like me, you have to make do with trying to watch it online.

NBC holds the rights to the Games and they’ve gone the online way by tying up with software TVTonic.The tie-up offers users the chance to download videos of Olympic events for free. In addition, you can also watch each event online with TVTonic 12 hours after it finishes, which is fine when you’re halfway around the world and are sleeping during the live event.

There are some drawbacks though. TVTonic works only with WindowsMediaCenter. That means you need to be a Windows Vista or XP user with the MediaCenter installed. Plus, you need a broadband connection or you won’t get good playback on the videos. A third drawback is that online viewing is possible only with Internet Explorer.

Although TVTonic looks promising, I didn’t like all the restrictions it imposed. I’m pretty sure there are plenty of less restrictive ways to get your Olympics fix online. What did you think of TVTonic? Fancy trying it out? What are you doing to watch the Olympics online? Let me know in the comments.

Update: The TVtonic now resolves to a Wave Systems Corp website. I'm not sure how the site is related to the offering, only that it has nothing to offer in terms of streaming tv or sports. I suggest you check out this tv on PC overview for some suggestions when it comes to watching television on the PC.

Update: TVTonic is no longer available.  I suggest you try a TV over Internet service like Sopcast instead.

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