TFCnow! or myGMA Internet TV?
November 26, 2008 under Hopia Encounters
Fed up of having to follow video updates of local (Philippines) TV shows in Youtube just to have a breath of Tagalog air, my wife and I decided to subscribe with one of the Online TV streaming services from the Philippines. We had two options – ABS-CBN’s TFCnow! and GMA7’s myGMA Internet TV. Below are the subscription options from the two TV stations:
- Premium Edition ($12.95/month) » The most complete channel with over 100 shows!
- Teleserye On Demand ($7.95/month) » Your all-teleserye package to satisfy your craving!
- Movie Channel ($7.95/month) » Enjoy over 200 of your best loved movies old and new!
- News On Demand ($4.95/month) » Keep up to date on all the news, current affairs and sports!
- Pay-per-view ($4.99/7 days) » StarCinema blockbusters on Pay-Per-View!
- Regional TV (FREE) » Latest news around the archipelago.
- Bongga Package ($12.99/month) » Watch your favorite currently-airing GMA and QTV shows including past Telenovela series. Drama, comedy, specials, news and latest events - we have them all here…
- Sulit Package ($7.99/month) » You favorites Kapuso stars in your favorite currently-airing GMA shows.
- Day Pass ($0.99/month) » Your favorite currently-airing GMA and QTV shows, including past Telenovela series — watch as many as you can in a day!
- Free Trial (FREE) » Watch your favorite Kapuso shows now! Enjoy 7 videos in 7 days - FOR FREE!
Since my wife is more accustomed to watching Kapamilya programs, we decided to register for a month’s subscription of TFCnow! But after the registrations, verifications and payments were done, my personal ‘techno’ nightmare began.
Unlike that of the Kapuso programs, live streaming of programs for TFCnow! is done via Window’s Media Player. Subscribers are required to installed at least Windows Media Player 9 along with the required Hotfixes from Microsoft to ensure proper video streaming. In addition, because TFCnow! is not designed or tested with any other web browser, subscribers have no options but use Internet Explorer. So required, so we did and we were able to play the test video. It had no sound but no one told me that it should so I didn’t care much.
However, my woes didn’t end there, I still have to download the authentication scripts so I could access the video streams. Unfortunately, for whatever plugins, quickfixes or scripts my computer lacks, the authentication process could not commence. TFCnow! website offers tons of FAQs and support documents but having read too much without the correct information, my system crashed and I had to re-install everything.
At this point, I am determined to cancel my subscription and have my $12.95 returned. But I have no time, I’m still configuring my computer.
Meanwhile, I am enjoying Kapuso programs on a seven-day trial with my dilapidated office notebook. So far, I wasn’t required to install or upgrade anything and to top it all, I could normally watch streaming programs with Firefox. Though I am not sure whether my wife would rather subscribe with MyGMA or nothing at all.
[...] This month of November is nearing its end but I haven’t made any post yet. The main reason is that I had no time to play and train even my newest warrior (which I will get to reveal in time). I can’t even login to the game even just for killing some nasty show-offs because I don’t have enough time. I’ve been pretty much pre-occupied with other stuffs and to make things worse, I had to reformat my computer after some attempts to have a TV subscription to work. [...]
[...] night, while were watching an old Bubble Gang episode from myGMA TV, a segment features a parody of Dora the Explorer with Michael V as Chikadora the Exploiter and [...]
[...] lang po mga Kapuso. Leche kaseng TFCnow! yan, ang bagal mag-load ng videos kaya tuloy plano na namin lumipat nalang ng subscription sa myGMA [...]