I took half a day leave today for my driving lesson in the late afternoon, as I left my office at 12pm I went to Sim Lim Square to purchase some network equipments for a new project site. As I was leaving Sim Lim Square, I remember Boon showed me a forum about a USB flash drive that can stream 1000+ of international channels that was on sale at Sim Lim Square.

But the bad thing is that I don’t know where in Sim Lim Square to find a retailer that is selling the USB flash drive. So I whipped out my HTC Hero and Google’d for Star IPTV, I managed to find the brochure that was scanned during the last COMEX show on a website. Immediately I called the number on the brochure to inquire about the USB flash drive, after getting hold of the unit number I went over to the unit and bought the flash drive.

So here’s the drive

The retail package

The lanyard, Star IPTV USB flash drive and a membership card

The USB flash drive in the box

The lanyard

The Star IPTV USB flash drive

When you plug in the USB flash drive into your PC/laptop USB port, a installer will run and install the streaming software to your PC.

When installation is completed the Star IPTV software client will load

Some channels and streaming available on Star IPTV

CSI:NY (streaming)

Discovery World (live)

HBO (live)

National Geographic (live)

TVB Drama (streaming)

Hong Kong TVB Jade (live)

For the price of SGD$178, you can get a comprehensive list of live and stored streaming video in one device with good video and sound, but the video quality cannot be compared with those from Starhub Cable Vision or Singtel MIO. Who cares as long as you can watch live TV programs from 1000+ international channels and with the recent price increase Starhub Cable Vision, this will be a better alternative. Psst… you can also stream live football matches

You SHOULD get this if you are lazy to install various streaming software just to watch live (TVAnts, PPLive) and stored stream videos (PPStream, QVODPlayer) which is a very good all-in-one streaming client software.

You SHOULD NOT get this if you are particular about video quality and want 5.1 surround sound and HD quality video.

Share on Facebook

What was I watching on PPStream for the past 1 week that I have to abandon this blog?

Yes, I was watching 巾幗梟雄.

巾幗梟雄 has finished it broadcast on Hong Kong’s TVB on 29 May 2009 and received good rating.

Here’s the synopsis from Wikipedia:

“During the mid 1820s, a natural disaster hit the city of Mo-sek. Running out of food supply for the citizens, governor Hong Chi-wing (Wong Wai Leung) used the city’s military food supply to feed the citizens. A few days after the disaster, an official from Beijing arrived to the city to check the military supply. Seeing an empty trailer, the Hong family were sentenced to death. Hong Po-yin (Sheren Tang) escaped from punishment and became a maid in the Prince’s mansion with the name Hong Po-kei.

Twenty years later, Po-kei meets the rich rice merchant Chiang Kiu (Elliot Ngok), whom she was betrothed to before the disaster, at his manor while the Prince was there for a visit. Chiang Kiu’s wife, Yan Fung-yee (Susan Tse) recognizes her and reveals her identity to the Prince. Chiang Kiu manages to convince the Prince to free her, and marries Po-kei as his fourth wife. He appreciates Po-kei’s wisdom and persistence, and decides to entrust his business to her, telling her to find a suitable successor for him before he dies.

Hungry for power and eager to keep tradition, Fung-yee finds every opportunity for her son, the eldest child Chiang Bit-man (Pierre Ngo) to be the only heir of the family business. She tries to strip Po-kei from power even when Chiang Kiu’s final will reads that Po-kei should be the full owner of the business.

Despite attacks from the family, Po-kei manages to keep the business in good shape. She is impressed with second son Chiang Bit-ching (Ron Ng) and guides him to become the successor, but her efforts are met with Chai Kau’s (Wayne Lai) challenges. Chai Kau seeks vengeance for being mistreated and wants a pay back from Bit-Man and the Chiang’s family uncle, Pang Hang (Lei Seng Cheung). After rounds of battle wits and fights, Po-kei and Chai Kau develop a deep friendship.

Chai Kau appreciates Po-kei’s work ethics and pledges his loyalty to her. With their excellent cooperation and quick thinking, the business manages to survive through the locusts disasters and the Taiping Rebellion. Meanwhile third wife, Lau Fong (Kara Hui) and Po-kei become good friends and sisters, to the point that Lau Fong even sacrifices her life to protect Po-kei.”

What I like about 巾幗梟雄 is that it 2 main casts, Sheren Tang (Hong Poh Kay) and Wayne Lai (Chai Kau).

To find out why this 2 main casts are popular, why not download a copy of PPStream and stream it on your PC

Share on Facebook

After Flashpoint, what’s next?

Share on Facebook

Are you a fan of Flashpoint series? Or just wanna watch some SWAT series? But can’t get it on your local cable/IPTV network or your local cable/IPTV provider charge an exuberant price for video-on-demand for Flashpoint series?

Fret not, you can catch Flashpoint season 1 and 2 on PPStream.

About Flashpoint:

From Wikipedia, Flashpoint is about an elite tactical unit, called the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), within a Canadian metropolitan police force (styled on the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force[3]). The SRU are tasked to resolve extreme situations that regular officers cannot handle including hostage-taking, bomb threats and heavily armed criminals. Even though they’re backed with high-tech equipment with an arsenal of explosives, tasers, submachine guns, assault and sniper rifles, the SRU operators use intuition and judgment to resolve the situation. The team members often talk to the subjects, avoiding having to use weapons.

Share on Facebook

For those Hong Kong TVB drama addicts, LOST addicts, House MD addicts, movie fans etc. As long as you like to watch dramas, serials, movies. Just head over to PPStream website, download the installer and run PPStream (Note: PPStream only works with Microsoft Windows XP and above; interface language is in Chinese language).

If you are not able to read the Chinese characters after installing PPStream, you can download Microsoft Applocale from here.

Share on Facebook