I will introduce you to some of the many web sites where you can legally download films and TV programs and help you to set up your computer to automatically download your favourite TV programs over-night.

I will test the various devices, pieces of hardware and download sites with all the various Internet service provider's connections and report on their performance and best download speeds.

I am going to introduce you to a relatively inexpensive method of obtaining high Internet download speeds so, that you can quickly download films, TV programs, music and/or, watch UK TV.

The industry is turning towards TV on-demand because, each of us may watch TV for just 2-3 hours per day and during this time, why shouldn't we watch exactly what we want to watch? If, like me, you regularly find yourself sat in front of the TV, waving the remote around, knuckles white, as you "bash the buttons" to try and find something decent to watch, the articles over the coming weeks will be of great interest to you so, don't forget!

Those of you who have so far, resisted the urge to give up half your garden to a £2,000 "Jodrell Bank" type dish or, not joined the legions of people who have blighted their homes by having, NOT one, or, two, but THREE satellite dishes installed on their roof, will be pleased to hear that, over the past 12 months, all the UK TV companies have been busying themselves making a lot of their programs available on the Internet but, wait a minute! Don't rush to your computer yet! You can only use these services and access the content if you are based in the UK......Why? we all unanimously shout! - It's because most of the programs that the UK TV companies air, are made by independent production companies who sell the TV rights for their programs all over the world. The UK TV companies only buy the right to air in the UK. OK - so, how do they police this? - Well, when we are on the Internet, we are all identified by a unique IP address and therefore, only official UK IP addresses are allowed to access the content. IP addresses outside the UK are all barred. Most, will be pleased to hear that there is a way round this (see next week's article for more details and instructions) but, what does it all mean!

Imagine, logging on to ITV's web site and watching yesterday's episode of Coronation Street or, logging on to the BBC's web site and watching Saturday's episode of Strictly come Dancing or, catching up on local events by logging on and watching the news. OK, it's on your computer in a small window but it doesn't have to be. You can just as easily watch the programs on your TV (see a later article in this series for more details and instructions.)

I know that this article will have raised more questions in reader's minds than it has answered but don't worry, this is only the second of a series of ten articles that I am going to write on this subject.

Readers will notice that I say "constant bandwidth" - this is because there is a difference between having a 1 Mbit Internet connection (1024 kbps or, 128kBps) and having an Internet connection that delivers "constant bandwidth" of 800 kbps (100 kBps)

It doesn't matter where you live in the world, there are a number of factors that come into play when judging the speed and quality of your Internet connection. Whilst doing a speed test using any one of the many speed test sites such as www.speedtest.net gives you an indication of what the maximum speed of your Internet connection is, it doesn't tell you what you need to know about the quality of your Internet connection.

The best way to judge what amount of "constant bandwidth" your Internet connection delivers is to download a sizeable file (10Mb) from an International site, such as (http://fuller.zen.co.uk/test) but, even doing this, may not tell you what you need to know?

Your Internet service provider is very likely running a local memory cache, but what does this mean? Well, let's say that "user Joe" goes to a web site and downloads a file at 6am in the morning and then "user john" (with the same service provider) goes to the same web site at 7am to download the same file. As "user Joe" downloads the file, he may get a "constant bandwidth" speed of 400 kbps (50 kBps.) What he may not realise is that, as he downloads the file, his Internet service provider keeps a copy of it in their local memory cache so that, if anyone else wants the file, such as "user John," it can be delivered from their local memory cache without the need to access the Internet. As a result, when "user John" downloads the same file but later, he may get a "constant bandwidth" speed of 2048kbps (256kBps) because he is downloading it from a local server as opposed to an International server.

Secondly, your Internet service provider will also have configured your Internet connection with bandwidth restrictions that directly affect the performance of your Internet connection. As you surf or, download from the Internet, your service provider governs you with settings in their server such as "burst speed," "fall-back speed," "bandwidth capping" and "packet filtering." Add to all this, the fact that the majority of Internet connections are shared with a contention ratio of anything up to 20:1, it should be no surprise that at busy times, we all receive less "constant bandwidth."

There are a number of companies that you can buy/rent a UK IP address from. You can then set up your operating system to divert your Internet traffic through this address (making the BBC think that you are in the UK.) To do this: first, buy/rent your UK IP address (Google "UK IP addresses") and then, to set up your operating system:-

In Internet Explorer: click "Tools" then, click "Internet Options" then, click "Connections" then, click "LAN Settings" then, put a tick in the box "Proxy Server" and enter your UK IP address into the "Address" box then, enter the relevant port number into the "Port" box then, click "OK"

Readers should note however, some downloaded files are copyright protected and can't be copied from one storage device to another and automatically self destruct after a certain amount of time. An example of this would be downloading files from the BBC or, ITV media servers in the UK again, this service is only available to UK residents.

We can connect our PC (over the Internet) to a media server in the UK which in turn is connected to a TV source. This enables us to watch live TV as it is transmitted in the UK or, in any other Country for that matter. We can change channels, record programs and even get Sky TV without a big dish. This method needs, (at least) a 1 Mbit download Internet connection here and 1 Mbit upload connection in the UK. This method does require an investment into hardware, quite a lot of organisation and above average IT expertise.

Next, the Slingbox media server must be configured with the IP address details that are supplied with the Internet connection and an account must be set up with a unique username and password. Once you have done this: download the software media player and configure it with the IP address, username and password. These details enable the software media player to find and connect to the Slingbox media server at the other side. The computer with the software media player must be connected to an Internet connection with at least 1 Mbit of download speed.

Once everything is configured and connected, the TV picture that is being received in the UK can be viewed on the computer at this side. You can even change channels! For more details and further instructions, visit www.slingmedia.com

With a good Internet connection, this system produces a good picture quality but the end result depends greatly on the speed of your computer and the quality of the graphics adapter. I know that a lot of readers would prefer to watch TV on their television and not their computer screens and next week, we continue with instructions on how you can do this.

Virtually all TVs have a scart socket and or, RCA composite video connectors. Usually, newer TVs also have, an S-video connector, RGB component connectors and a VGA connector. Flat screen LCD TVs may also have a HDMI connector (high-definition multimedia interface.)

If you have a desktop computer which is two or, more years old, it is likely to have a single VGA connector. Newer computers may also have an S-video connector and, media computers/high-end laptop computers may also, have an HDMI connector.

The simplest way to connect your computer to your TV is to use the standard VGA connector. If your TV has a VGA connector, the job is very simple. Use the existing cable between your computer and its monitor and plug it direct into the TV. Usually, this connector on the TV, is called "PC," "PC-in" or, "PC 1." Navigate through the "Source signal" menu on your TV, and select "PC" and then, navigate to "Display" in "Windows" and activate the second "optional display." There are various options to configure to get the best picture on your TV.

If you haven't got a VGA connector on your TV, the next thing to look for is whether there are S-video connectors on your computer and TV. If so, this is the next best option. You can connect using an S-video cable. If you have S-video on your computer but not on your TV, you can use a scart connector with an S-video adapter but sometimes, when you use S-video of this type, the resulting picture is only black and white. If you have S-video on your TV but not on your computer there are two options: either, install a TV-out, PCI card with an S-video connector into your computer or, obtain a set-top converter box to do the same job. Your TV and computer will need changes to their configuration to display the picture correctly.

RGB component connectors produce a better quality picture and there are cables and adapters to convert the VGA connector from your computer to the RGB component connectors on your TV. If both your computer and TV have HDMI connectors, this is the best option of all.

There are various problems associated with connecting your computer to your TV such as the location of each and the distance between the two. These problems can be overcome using long cables but, on longer cable runs, the resulting picture isn't quite so good. There are also, other options available, such as 2.4Ghz video senders.

Once we have succesfully connected the computer to the TV and configured both to display on the TV, we then need to send the audio signal which requires another cable with either, a 5mm jack-plug on both ends or, a 5mm jack-plug on one end and two RCA audio connectors on the other.

We can all quite easily test our hardware, operating system and Internet connection by visiting http://news.bbc.co.uk

At the top, click: "one minute world news" and wait for a moment whilst a check on your system determines which media player to use.

On the next screen, you can select the quality of your connection speed - high quality (256+ kbps) or, standard quality (below 256 kbps.)

On the right hand side, you will see which media player the system is going to use to play the media file. If you are unsure what to select, click on the link half way down the page - "test my connection speed" and the system will determine the best settings for you.

Now, click "OK" on the right hand side and you will be taken to the next page which should automatically play the one minute media file.

At the foot of the page, click "Full screen" and the video will be played on the whole of your computer's monitor. Your system and Internet connection is adequate if the video plays to the end without buffering (stopping and re-starting.)

A point about the quality of the play-back: a popular mis-conception about full screen video play-back on a computer monitor, is that it is pixelated or, low quality but, this is more to do with the distance that you sit from your computer's monitor, than the quality of the video play-back. Try viewing your TV from the same distance and the picture will look the same. It is difficult to stay focused on the whole TV screen and the picture will appear pixelated. The default setting on this page, is to play the video in a small window. This is because you normally sit quite close to your computer screen and when viewed from this distance, the video looks much "sharper" at this size. When you go to full screen play-back and view from the normal distance, the video pixelates but, try stepping back, away from the computer and the picture becomes much clearer.

a half hour episode of, 'Eastenders' - 145 MB = 39 minutes, a half hour episode of, 'Master Chef' - 200 MB = 54 minutes, a half hour episode of, 'Little Britain USA' - 123 MB = 33 minutes, a one hour episode of, 'Friday night with Jonathon Ross' - 318 MB = 85 minutes, a 45 minute episode of, 'Live at the Apollo' - 354 MB = 95 minutes, a one hour episode of, 'Hustle' - 298 MB = 80 minutes.

So, if we wanted to download this set of programs on a 512kbps connection, it would take us 10 and a half hours to download 4 and a quarter hours worth of programs. This sounds like a tedious task to complete, but believe me, it couldn't be easier. With the download manager, you simply add the programs that you want to download into a list and hey presto, they immediately begin to download. Leave the computer at 10pm in the evening and return at 8-30am the following morning and your programs are there, ready to watch when you want to watch them.

Connect your computer to your TV and you have 'up-to-date,' 'high quaity' episodes of your favourite programs playing (un-interrupted) on your TV. This isn't pie-in-the-sky, it is happening in homes across Northern Cyprus as you read this article! Plus, if you have one of the more up-to-date computers, you can download tomorrow's program list as you watch today's programs - simultaneously. On a 512kbps connection, it is possible to download and watch 9 hours worth of programs everyday - for those of you with 'square eyes.'

Move up to a 1 Megabit Internet connection and you can also watch ITV and BBC 'live' as it is transmitted in the UK and move up to a 2 Megabit Internet connection and you can sign up for Sky and receive your programs across the Internet without the big 4.2m dish.

Internet TV is a technology that is here to stay and in my honest opinion, will be the preferred method of transmission in the not too distant future. Next week we speed test all the local Internet service providers to find out which is supplying the most suitable and reliable Internet connections for TV over the Internet.