McMahonWeb

I am a big fan of video podcasts. I watch them whenever and wherever I have a chance. Sometimes this is on my computer, sometimes on my iPod, and more recently, on my iPhone. The one thing I noticed about watching video in these places, is that I really do not like to watch for long periods of time. Unfortunately, some of my podcasts are almost an hour. Bad combination.

At my computer, I have a 20″ screen that I am only 1-2 feet from, and sitting upright in an office chair (not great TV viewing). On my iPhone, it is smaller, and I have to hold it the whole time.

Being a Tivo user, I found out that they have a “TivoCast” service for getting podcasts to my TV. I subscribe to them, and wait for them to download. Once there, I can place them on a big screen, while kicking back on my couch.

I am also an Apple TV user, mainly because it provided a nice way for me to take all my DVD movies, rip them to an iTunes library, and play them anywhere (no more discs). Being linked to an iTunes library, this also allows me to watch podcasts on my TV.

I decided to test both scenarios to see what would be most preferable. I spent roughly two months using both, to get a feel for which is better. Here is how to two options compared:

Tivo:

Good: Podcasts show up in the same place as recorded TV shows. This is nice because it’s all in one interface.

Bad: Very limited selection. I hope they grow this service to have greater selection.

Bad: Podcast downloading was not consistent. Sometimes it worked correctly, other times, I would not get a daily podcast for a couple days, and then it would download several days at once. Annoying.

Bad: I do not have a choice of video quality. I get what they deliver.

Apple TV:

Bad: Have to switch between Tivo and Apple TV when I go from watching live TV to watching a podcast.

Good: Unlimited selection, all my podcasts are here.

Good: I get to choose my podcast version when different options are available. (Diggnation is in HD)

Good: The downloads are consistent.

Good: The episodes auto-delete after viewing (feature of iTunes).

Good: The Apple TV interface is much faster and nicer than Tivo.

In the end, the Apple TV won, by a large margin. If you have an Apple TV, and have not used it for watching your video podcasts, try it. You will be addicted. It works really well. However, if you are a Tivo user, TivoCasts are still worth checking out. If you like the service, let them know, and let them know to improve the selection.