Four New Channels on KyLinTV

Four More additions to the KyLinTV lineup! This is great, if they keep it up TV in North America will have as many options as in China!

• ETTV Global - ETTV GLOBAL is a variety channel delivering top rated shows each new season. Programs include drama series, talk shows and miniseries from Taiwan and China. Talk shows and entertainment programs already receive great responses from the subscribers satisfying the interests of Chinese speakers in the United States. ETTV GLOBAL provides breaking news updates including domestic and international coverage. Most importantly, ETTV GLOBAL now broadcasts programs produced from the ETTV America Headquarters located in Los Angeles.

• ETTV News - ETTV NEWS is a 24-hour news channel, dedicated to providing objective, fair and extensive news coverage. The regional news team provides complete coverage of local and community news. ETTV travels nationwide transmitting news - live via satellite. Taiwan's top anchors bring the latest news and current events directly from Taiwan to keep subscribers informed with up-to-the-minute news. ETTV has established cooperative ties with over 20 international media organizations in the US, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore to facilitate news worldwide with affiliate networks such as CNN, Phoenix TV, BBC, Reuters and ABC.

• ETTV YOYO - ETTV YOYO is a channel dedicated to serve the youngest audience featuring exclusive programs for children up to 7 years old. Unlike other children's channels, ETTV YOYO takes a holistic approach to programming by encouraging parents and adult caretakers to watch the programs alongside their youngsters on a daily basis. ETTV YOYO features DIY educational items and internationally popular cartoons designed for children from all cultural backgrounds. ETTV YOYO has become widely popular and statistics show its ratings have surpassed Disney-Taiwan.

• Sino Vision - SinoVision was launched in 1990 as a Chinese language television program provider serving the Chinese community with locally produced news, and a variety of entertainment programs in Mandarin.
  
  Market Coverage
  · Five Boroughs of New York City
  · New Jersey, Connecticut, and sections of Pennsylvania
  · Long Island, including Nassau County and part of Suffolk County
  · Upstate New York including Westchester

What is a KyLin Anway?

A little off-topic but interesting nonetheless. Want to know where KyLinTV got their name? Well it is also part of their logo which you may or may not have noticed.

Anyway, click here for details on the Kylin or Qilin.

Picture taken late September 2002 by Leonard G.

Video Quality Improving!

Okay, I am not sure what KyLinTV has done recently to improve their video quality, particularly for the live TV programming, but it is much better than in the past. I must compliment KyLinTV for their efforts as this was a major issue and I have made many complaints regarding this problem. Still not perfect, but getting much closer :)

High Motion Video - KyLinTV Still Having Problems

I must say that while I am impressed with many features and services of KyLinTV, I am also frustrated by their inability to improve the performance of their video. Nearly any video including a lot of motion or activity will drop many many many frames and jitter, jump and skip A LOT!
Watching for instance, a dancing with stars show, action movies or sports becomes quite annoying. It is almost a strobe effect it is so bad. I am not sure if it is on the encoding or decoding side but KyLinTV really needs to work this out. I would rather have "blockiness" (is that a word) than dropping frames and jumping around. Many shows just lose their effect when the smoothness is gone.

Video-On-Demand Review

Well, I have been viewing a lot of Video On Demand (VOD) with KyLinTV the past couple of days and it really looks great. I must admit that it seems worth the value ($.10-$1.50 US).

Resume Feature

I also really like the convenience of the "Resume" feature. I wish the TV Shows had that same feature. It is a real pain when you are watching a movie on one of the live TV channels and then suddenly either because of Internet issues, power outages or you need to leave and return later that you must restart the show from the beginning. That is where the VOD is really nice, you can stop and resume within 30 days!

Quality

If you have watched the "Live TV Shows," on KyLinTV, there is a noticeable difference in quality. The VOD is much higher quality! Smoother, better video/audio sync and less artifacts than appear in the "TV Programs".

Price

The price is very reasonable. This is especially true when compared to "Pay-Per-View" found on other networks. The prices range from $.10-$1.50 US Dollars per VOD. $.10 is for a special lasting less than 10 minutes, $.50-$.60 for a TV show and $1.00-$1.50 for movies and special shows lasting 60+ minutes. KyLinTV also offers a package which allows unlimited VOD viewing $420.00 US. If you interested in a TV Drama series you can view the first episode of most for free! While this is a great way to hook you into watching that series, it is also a great way to find new shows you are interested in watching. I think allowing you to watch that first episode for free is a great move on the part of KyLinTV.

Programming Selection

WOW! That best describes the selection. There are A LOT of choices, sports, movies, TVshows, specials, etc. The TV shows (drama) are really great! You can find the show you like by browsing KyLinTV's large library of Chinese language programming and then you can choose which episode from the entire series you want to watch. This is a great way to catch-up on missed episodes or just start back at the beginning and watch the progression of the show.
As mentioned earlier, the first episode in each series is usually free so you have nothing to lose by watching just to sample VOD or to see if the show actually sucks or not ;)

Conclusion

I would certainly recommend this feature if you are interested in catching up on your favorite dramas or just watching movies without going to the store or ordering DVDs from overseas.
I will actually be upgrading my subscription soon to the unlimited package.

Subtitle Info

We watch movies in a multi-lingual environment and it would be great to know if the shows and movies (especially on-demand) had subtitles and in what language before watching. Maybe the folks over at KyLinTV will add that sometime soon :) Just a little request...

Low Bandwidth Testing?

A new channel appeared recently, Testing. It appears to be a "test channel for lower bandwidth." I wonder what this is all about? What does KyLinTV qualify as "lower bandwidth?" I would like to see them perfect the higher bandwidth first ;)

Interesting New Web Site Introduction

 In case nobody else noticed KyLinTV just launched a new frontpage to their website describing their new holiday lineup.
http://kylintv.com