Debunking 101:



No, it beats Hulu, but not downloading. The "streaming" you receive from sidereel, youtube, and whatever, isn't streaming at all, it's progressive downloading. Your computer continuously downloads small chunks, which begin to immediately play. You see the progress bar grow as more of the movie is downloaded, and you can't skip past it. If you try, you have a few seconds of buffering while the server sends you the start of that segment of video. A true RSTP or MMS type stream matches sending and receiving bitrate, and requires no buffering. You can skip around, jump back and forward, etc, because you're downloading in true, real time. One example of where this sort of technology is used is video conferencing. You can't "buffer" a conversation, or it'd be like two people leaving each other voicemails. This is very different from watching a movie on sidereel.

The point of this? "Progressive downloading" sounds a lot like. . .well, downloading. And indeed it is. With the right client / protocol, you can start viewing your downloads as soon as you begin them with a more traditional download program. There is no availability speed advantage for one thing over another (with each, you can stat watching more or less instantly), but with real download services, your download will finish a lot faster, allowing you to more easily jump around in the video, and allowing you to start the next one faster. There's not a lot of difference but, if anything, the advantage lies with downloads.



Similar to Hulu, sure. Similar to downloads, no way. I can have an hour long tv show, full HD quality, in 6 minutes, start to finish. And as mentioned before, I can start watching immediately. I can watch it on my computer screen, or in perfect quality on the living room plasma. Downloads > streaming, by a long shot. On average, Hulu > streaming in the quality realm too. Not always the case, but on average it is, and another point for Hulu, if a small one.



As is Hulu, as are downloading services (for the most part).



Firstly, the viruses. I've run into far more phishing sites and virus laden scam sites than I've ever hit phony downloads. You're correct that they can be avoided if you know what to do, but the same can be said about downloads.

Secondly, the prime reason I came into this thread. Streaming video (at least, in the progressive downloading sense, which is what everything you watch is) is no more legal than downloading. You still download the content to your computer, the only difference is how long it stays there. When you stream, the content goes into a temp file somewhere, which is then deleted once you're finished playing. If you were to delete the video you downloaded from a traditional service once you were finished watching, you'd get the exact same effect, since most streaming sites keep the content around till you're done so that you can skip back in the video without re-buffering. So yeah, whether your download goes to your desktop or some firefox temp file, it's still essentially the same. Even if it wasn't, if you found a stream that didn't keep the earlier parts around once you'd watched them, you'd have still had them there for a little while, and there's no "time limit" clause on copywritten material. It's not like it's ok to download copywritten material and keep it on your hard drive for five minutes, but not twenty. Y'know? Progressive download streaming is for all legal purposes the same as the traditional downloading you're thinking of. One is no more legal than the other.

Let's move beyond legality, though, and into the realm of "safety." Will you get caught? Probably not, either way. I don't think anyone has been prosecuted for tv before, and only a few have for movies. The odds, such as they are, are with you. That said, streaming is at least as risky as traditional downloading. Why? Well, when you stream, you connect to a website. If you take no precautions, they can log your IP address (something which has been used to convict people in court with practically no other evidence) and link it to whatever you downloaded. Will they log it, though? Hard to say. Some do, some don't. A lot of websites do. Can the police / RIAA / MPAA get ahold of that data? Sure, with a simple subpoena. It's been done hundreds of times. Server logs aren't hard to get, and then you may or may not be screwed.

Isn't that the same with traditional downloading, you ask? To some extent, sure, but it depends on the protocol. With bittorrent for example, it's unlikely there will be any logs, because you're connecting to individual users with no interest in saving such information. However, it's easier for anyone to just jump into the stream and watch what you're downloading. This is how a lot of people have been caught. With a lot of other traditional download services though, you're connecting directly to one service for all your stuff (rather than a bunch of different streaming websites). You can find one with a staff and privacy policy that you trust not to save your information; a site that is thought highly of by the community. You can find one in a market segment that hasn't been targeted by the authorities, like streaming sites have been so heavily (example: tv links was a big streaming site that went down. The owner was arrested for facilitation of copywrite infringement, and I'm sure all his logs were examined). In short, when you pick one point of contact, you minimize your exposure, and thus your risk.

Summary / TLDR:

"Streaming video," as it relates to movies and tv, is the same as traditional downloading in a legal sense. It has no advantage save ease of use for people who don't know how to do the other stuff, and does have several DISadvantages, such as speed and quality.

So in essence, hulu is a slightly slower, slightly better quality, fully legal version of streaming. Most people don't mind two or three minutes of commercials in order to be legal. You can argue that streaming is better than hulu, but. . .well, you don't have much of a case. As to downloading, streaming has zero advantages, because it's the same thing. The only difference is that it's optimized for web delivery which is, in itself, not optimal.

If you want to be legal, watch hulu. If you want high quality HD video with no ads that you can watch immediately as fast as your connection speed will allow with minimized legal risk, explore a more traditional download service. In no circumstance is there a reason to watch third party streaming services.