Chris Gilmer , Friday, January 4th, 2008

TV is a has been. Sure its great to sit and veg out every once a while, but why cant you do it via the comforts of your computer? LCD’s have come down so much in price over the past year, and there are many options out there to send a signal across the room to a comfortable seating location. (if you arent one of the lucky ones to have a Aeron chair).

Lets take a look at some of the video options that don’t cost $60/month, plus PVR rental, with content that can be watched on your time instead of the networks time.

YouTube. Tons of free content, and available when you need it. Google’s video masterpiece has everything from home videos to full length feature films. You can most likely forget about your favorite television shows though, thanks to cease and desist orders from big cable companies.

Google Video. Use this to search for what you want. Like YouTube, you can find everything here from home videos to full length movies that are both served on Google Video and from outside sources.

Hulu. The brainchild of the giant cable networks, this is the place to go if you live in the US for all your favorite prime time television shows like Prison Break, House, the Simpsons and Family Guy. But only if you are in the US. You do need an invite for this as its in a private beta.

Sidereel. Social networking comes to the screen. All of your favorite television shows are linked out from here to iTunes and network websites. From CSI, Heroes, scrubs and Desperate Housewives. Some shows might not be accessible from outside the US. Users can also chime in with other users to talk about episodes and write reviews.

AllUC. A giant collection of content, some with asian subtitles and linked out to asian websites. Nonetheless, this is a great option if you are outside of the US where content is sometimes restricted. The site provides links to such content as the Gilmore Girls, America’s Next top Model, and movies like Oceans 13 and Saving Private Ryan.

OVGuide. A massive collection of online video channels for everything video related. If you cant find it here, its most likely not online yet.

These few online video sites provide a good look at what users are demanding from the online video space. Our hopes are that one day all video content will be open to everyone no matter where they are located, minus the distracting ads.

Warning, some of these sites might be serving content illegally.