Hi Folks,

Some TV stations are now offering streaming video of some of their
programmes. These can be viewed on Real Player.

I note that using Real Player to watch streaming TV programmes, there
is no obvious option to "right click and save as". So I can't watch
streamed programmes off-line later.

I know I can watch on-line, but this also creates a problem in that, if
I view the streamed video with Real Player set up to display it with
highest resolution setting and the biggest picture size, the playback
stutters badly - probably because my PC isn't particularly powerful.
Unfortunately, at lower screen resolutions, although the playback is
fine,
the picture is simply too small to watch without squinting.

The ability to simply download a TV programme and play it back without
streaming would lessen the load on the PC and should cure the
stuttering. I understand that there are some fairly cheap utilities
that will record and save streamed video for later off-line playback.
But what is the best software?

Do these "recorders" record what appears on the screen in real time
like a standard video recorder, or do they download the original files?
I don't want to buy something that simply records what appears on the
screen and simply replays stuttering video. I would also prefer not to
have to wait the full length of the TV programme for the download to
complete.

Anyone got any useful advice?

Regards

WAL