Game Of Thrones Tops The Hittorrent Charts Again

Game of Thrones is Most Pirated TV Show For Second Year - The Escapist

Well, in a big surprise to next to no-one Game Of Thrones is the most downloaded show via Bittorrent for the second year running, and the response from the head of HBO was somewhat surprising.

Jeff Hawkes was quoted as saying this level of piracy was "better than an emmy" due to it leading to more subscriptions and of course DVD/Blu-ray sales further down the track.

Despite being one of the world's most popular show GoT remains severely limited when it comes to options to watch it as it screens.  A HBO exclusive in the US (and therefore only available on more expensive premium cable packages) and only available for streaming on HBO Go (which still requires a HBO subscription) with even more limitations in Australia, despite QuickFlix and Apple trying to offer same day streaming.  HBO even refused every offer made by Netflix (Torrent Freak) to stream the earlier seasons to a wider audience.

Over and over, year after year, the most popular shows top the download charts.  These aren't shows that are suffering for legitimate viewers, they simply do not have a delivery method that meets the full demand.

For a list of the full top 10 hittorrent shows of the year head over to the Torrent Freak version of this story.

What Can You Watch On Your PS4 In Australia?

PS4 First Impressions: The Future Is Finally Here - Gizmodo Australia

With the imminent release into the wild of the PS4 I have been trying to track down a list of media options since seeing the Xbox One's offerings the other day.  Luckily, in amongst the huge number of first impression/overview/summary stories on offer I found a little paragraph tucked away in Gizmodo Australia's run down of features.

So what does the PS4 offer?

- Crackle (I thought this was US only, turns out it is available in Australia with a lot less content of course)
- Machinima (wooo, direct access to a YouTube channel)
- MUZU TV (a music video service)
- Network 10's Tenplay (Catch up service for the 10 network - has a lot of stuff in it's list, some of which have actual episodes you can watch)
- Quickflix (Like Netflix but double the cost for a tiny fraction of the content)
- SBS On Demand (SBS Catch up, has good stuff occasionally but not much content)
- TED (see Machinima)
- Twitch (good if you like watching other people play games)

I know the above looks very much like a copy/paste job from the above linked Xbox One article and that's because it is.  Both systems are offering the exact same limited services in Australia.  No surprise really.  The only advantage for the PS4 is that none of the above items require a Playstation Plus subscription whereas most will require Xbox Live on Microsoft's console.

Some notable items missing from what is on offer are VidZone, ABC iView and PlayTV.  Sony also released a FAQ which stated that DLNA would not be supported (this enables streaming of media from other devices to the machine).  After much outcry Sony has announced they are looking at providing DLNA on their new box.

If you want an idea of the sort of things you can access overseas then revisit this wonderful summary of Sony's E3 presentation.  TV stuff starts around 1:10.

What Can You Watch On Your Xbox One In Australia?

Xbox One Isn't About To Revolutionise TV In Australia - Gizmodo Australia

Ahh, remember the heady days of May 2013 when Xbox One was announced and the focus was rather strong.  If not, here is a quick reminder.

So, how about that TV functionality then.  Well with the imminent arrival of these shiny new black boxed Microsoft has revealed what each region can expect.  So what is in it for us Australians I hear you ask.  Well, hold on to your hats people and get ready...

Not much really.  We get the following:
- Crackle (I thought this was US only, turns out it is available in Australia with a lot less content of course)
- Machinima (wooo, direct access to a YouTube channel)
- MUZU TV (a music video service to compete with Sony's Vidzone)
- Network 10's Tenplay (Catch up service for the 10 network - has a lot of stuff in it's list, some of which have actual episodes you can watch)
- Quickflix (Like Netflix but double the cost for a tiny fraction of the content)
- SBS On Demand (SBS Catch up, has good stuff occasionally but not much content)
- TED (see Machinima)
- Twitch (good if you like watching other people play games)

And that is it.  There has already been quite a stink due to the ABC iView app not making the transition from 360 to the new beast which is quite a shame since that is the best streaming service available in Australia.  The Foxtel service for 360 is also a notable omission, but it's Foxtel so who cares.

Of course North America gets over double the content (and probably even more in the near future) mainly because every service is already available there in other formats.

I am sure setting up a VPN and telling Microsoft you live in the US will unlock more content for you, but you'll still be missing out on iView.

Hopefully we'll get details of the PS4 services available at launch pretty soon.  As soon as it is available I will do a full comparison.

Could We Be Seeing An Aussie Netflix Rival? Probably Not

Aussie TV Networks Reportedly Working On A Netflix Rival - Gizmodo Australia

A new report has come out stating that Australia's Channel 7 and Channel 9 are working on a joint online TV service to allow them to lock their premium Australian content (I almost kept a straight face there) so that should interlopers like Netflix or Hulu actually launch here they won't be able to pick up the content that us Aussie's love so much without paying a significant price.

The only show confirmed so far is Channel 7's most popular choice with it's own catch up service... Home and Away... I'm speechless.

Incidentally I have checked the Plus7 service and out of approximately 50 shows that are available, about 6 of them are Australian and Home and Away is the only one that is not a lifestyle show or a local version of a US reality show.

No news yet on whether this will be a full on subscription service with full seasons, or just a snazzier version of the current catch up services already available.  There is no doubt that Australian online viewing options need to be drastically improved, but to compare this to Netflix is simply ludicrous.

I'll keep an eye out for any updates to this story, but in the meantime... does anyone want me to write up a guide on accessing Netflix and Hulu in Australia?