Is Equestria.tv useful?

[~Scootaloo 440]

What is the point of equestria.tv? All it appears to do is embed YouTube videos and allow on the fly comments and webcam usage. It has some flaws like not being able to adjust the video quality and things like that however it is "beta" atm.

 

Other than the live chat and that it streams MLP related videos only what is its purpose? on YouTube you can make and I think share your playlists with others, Live chat... well YouTube does now have an option where you can allow the comments to "Auto-Update" which usually turns into a spam fest...

[Fhaolan 4,483]

Honestly, I was completely unaware of Equestria.tv until your post. With a quick glance at it, I'm not really seeing much that would drive me to migrate my viewing habits towards it. I'm not really into live chat and the like.

 

However, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise if anyone has any good reasons for it.

[Freewave 1,145]

Wasnt aware of it at all tbh. i'm sure there are a lot of sites that off the beaten path that may exist and have some small audience but not really justify anything bigger.

 

[edit] Oh its a subforum on this site? Hadn't even noticed.

Edited March 16, 2013 by Freewave

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

Honestly, I was completely unaware of Equestria.tv until your post. With a quick glance at it, I'm not really seeing much that would drive me to migrate my viewing habits towards it. I'm not really into live chat and the like.

 

However, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise if anyone has any good reasons for it.

 

 

What is the point of equestria.tv? All it appears to do is embed YouTube videos and allow on the fly comments and webcam usage. It has some flaws like not being able to adjust the video quality and things like that however it is "beta" atm.

 

Other than the live chat and that it streams MLP related videos only what is its purpose? on YouTube you can make and I think share your playlists with others, Live chat... well YouTube does now have an option where you can allow the comments to "Auto-Update" which usually turns into a spam fest...

I'd like to inform all users new to Equestria.tv , it is the place where we host the Friday movie night stream, and when there is a new episode, we stream it there. When there is a new episode, the site easily exceeds one hundred viewers, and on the Friday movie night, it at least gets a few dozen viewers, including myself.

 

That is it's purpose.

Edited March 16, 2013 by ☣Harmonic Revelations☣

[~Scootaloo 440]

I guess it is fairly useful, but I am not totally convinced it needed its own website and all. Well I'm not paying the hosting fees for it so really I could care less.

[Apple Bloom 2,933]

Equestria.tv has been around since before MLP Forums' existence in some form or another. It started out on Synchtube as a place where bronies from 3DS Forums could watch YouTube videos together and chat, and then we started having "Synchtube Movie Nights". Eventually, sometime after MLP Forums launched we started streaming new episodes there and at one point had to create something like four rooms to accommodate everyone. (Synchtube has a viewer limit for each room) At that point, we partnered up with ItWasUnderE and created Equestria.tv so we would have our own site and wouldn't have to deal with the plethora of problems that Synchtube plagued us with.

 

Right now we're between seasons so traffic is a little low, but during seasons, we average somewhere over twenty viewers during movie night and well over one hundred during episode streams.

 

Equestria.tv may not be extremely popular or well known, but I'd say it's an invaluable resource for those interested. It provides a way for members to watch and enjoy movies together and when episodes are airing, it's posted to Equestria Daily's marathon/stream post and provides an additional resource for viewing live episode streams.

 

We're always open to suggestions, so if you have any ideas of how we can improve Equestria.tv, please let us know.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I guess it is useful in a way, it allows us to chat with each other, watch movies together, and watch some old episodes. I say, that we can all say that is a very interactive website. It has been on the internet, for a while.

[Betez 1,734]

I personally think it's a lot of fun. You can talk to members much more easily than you can on the forums, in my opinions, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. You can meet people on the forums that you didn't know as well before.

[Display Name 448]

Actually, it sounds pretty cool.

I might actually use it someday!

[Shift 4,272]

I can't get an avatar on, but AB said what I wnted to say. I liked Synchatube better; oh my gawsh wathing the opener was so fun. I'll try to get on Equestria.TV for opener like last year.

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

Well it started in synchtube, and while it streams videos and allows you to chat with others, we've been watching movies on fridays there and have been doing it for a pretty long time.

 

It's useful as a way of entertainment, this is our only way to communicate with others, outside of threads, in a way provided by the forums, especially now that the skype group is gone.

 

 

Also it gives meaning into NascarFan's Steward tittle C:

Edited March 18, 2013 by Pinkazoid!

[Tank the tortoise 262]

I have been on Equestria.tv for quite sometime now.  Personally it is the main draw for this site for me.  I joined the forums to be able to post in the Friday Movie Night recommendation thread.

 

It is a lot of fun and I would highly suggest sitting in during the next movie night if you are interested.  Even when bad movies are shown the chat is quite enjoyable.  Also, alien squid babies... nuff said HR I'm looking at you hehe.

 

All in all I would recommend logging on on Friday nights in general during the seasons and 4:00 PM EST for the first movie and 6:00 PM EST for the second.  The movie choices have always been varied and they are quite entertaining!

[~Scootaloo 440]

Equestria.tv has been around since before MLP Forums' existence in some form or another. It started out on Synchtube as a place where bronies from 3DS Forums could watch YouTube videos together and chat, and then we started having "Synchtube Movie Nights". Eventually, sometime after MLP Forums launched we started streaming new episodes there and at one point had to create something like four rooms to accommodate everyone. (Synchtube has a viewer limit for each room) At that point, we partnered up with ItWasUnderE and created Equestria.tv so we would have our own site and wouldn't have to deal with the plethora of problems that Synchtube plagued us with.

 

Right now we're between seasons so traffic is a little low, but during seasons, we average somewhere over twenty viewers during movie night and well over one hundred during episode streams.

 

Equestria.tv may not be extremely popular or well known, but I'd say it's an invaluable resource for those interested. It provides a way for members to watch and enjoy movies together and when episodes are airing, it's posted to Equestria Daily's marathon/stream post and provides an additional resource for viewing live episode streams.

 

We're always open to suggestions, so if you have any ideas of how we can improve Equestria.tv, please let us know.

I'm more curious about where about where the site leaders stand on the legal side of this. I mean:

 

-Is it legal to stream copyrighted content?

-I doubt Google would be happy that you are bypassing advertisements seeing that's how it stays around - any comments?

 

Then fro suggestions:

 

-Why does the site not have an option to change the video quality per video?

-Why cant we sign in with our forum accounts on to E.TV?

-Why does the "Change Theme" option not work?

 

I guess it could be good, but then again why do I want a hundred users talking while the show is going? anyway to the right person it could be fun to use however it just seems overboard.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

I'm more curious about where about where the site leaders stand on the legal side of this. I mean:

 

-Is it legal to stream copyrighted content?

-I doubt Google would be happy that you are bypassing advertisements seeing that's how it stays around - any comments?

 

Then fro suggestions:

 

-Why does the site not have an option to change the video quality per video?

-Why cant we sign in with our forum accounts on to E.TV?

-Why does the "Change Theme" option not work?

 

I guess it could be good, but then again why do I want a hundred users talking while the show is going? anyway to the right person it could be fun to use however it just seems overboard.

None of the videos in the playlist have ads, as only certain ones do. The ones in the stream do not.

 

Equestria.tv is not very far in development from what I've seen, it still has a lot of things that need to be fixed or changed but it serves the purpose it was intended to.

[Rainbow Dash Loyalty 1,275]

I only go there to watch the streams, it's always empty when no special event is going on. 

I would love to watch Friday Night movies with the rest of the forumers but sadly for me, it's around 2:00AM when there's a stream or a movie night so I barely get to see anythere, although I did stay up late and watch some of the season 3 episodes with a few of my friends on skype.

[~Scootaloo 440]

None of the videos in the playlist have ads, as only certain ones do. The ones in the stream do not.

 

Equestria.tv is not very far in development from what I've seen, it still has a lot of things that need to be fixed or changed but it serves the purpose it was intended to.

Wait what?

 

Non of the videos in the playlist have ads, as only certain ones do? 

 

Sorry maybe I read that wrong, but isn't that an oxymoron?

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

Wait what?

 

Non of the videos in the playlist have ads, as only certain ones do? 

 

Sorry maybe I read that wrong, but isn't that an oxymoron?

No I mean only certain videos on Youtube have ads, the ones we selected for the stream do not.

Edited March 17, 2013 by ☣Harmonic Revelations☣

[Apple Bloom 2,933]

-Is it legal to stream copyrighted content?

This has been asked before, so I'll quote Obsidian Winter, who gave a great answer.

 

For your education I present to you some copyright law.

 

Films are for personal use only and may not be used for financial gain of any kind. This site is free and no one is selling anything here. We fall under the "Fair Use" act. Now if we were to be streaming this stuff on Youtube where Youtube actually pays people for high amounts of subscribers, etc..it may be different. This is basically the same as having a huge group of friends over for a movie night.

 

-I doubt Google would be happy that you are bypassing advertisements seeing that's how it stays around - any comments?

It's not illegal to block ads and I'm pretty sure it's not against Google's terms. In fact, there are browser extensions made specifically for that purpose. I don't know if Equestria.tv intentionally blocks them or if it happens automatically due to the way the site works. Either way, it shouldn't be an issue.

 

-Why does the site not have an option to change the video quality per video?

-Why cant we sign in with our forum accounts on to E.TV?

-Why does the "Change Theme" option not work?

The site is still in beta so a lot of expected features are buggy or even missing entirely. We are aware of the issues and we're working on them.

Edited March 18, 2013 by Apple Bloom

[Betez 1,734]

 

The site is still in beta so a lot of expected features are buggy or even missing entirely. We are aware of the issues and we're working on them.

Are stewards and yourself allowed to work on the site? or are you guys just mods for it? I ask because if any of you guys have experience in whatever E.tv was programmed in, you might be able to fix the bugs yourself.

[SCS 7,537]

I'd say that Equestria.tv is, without a doubt, essential, especially during seasons. It's a great way for the community to come together to watch new MLP episodes. 

The Friday night movie nights also sound awesome, but I haven't come to any yet, because I usually watch movies with my parents. I'm sure I'll show up to one eventually.

 

Overall, I view Equestria.tv as a paramount aspect of the infrastructure this community operates on.

[Zygen 6,066]

Well its in the beta stage afterall, so its got some flaws yes, it needs a little bit of work, but it does work for what its used for, movie nights and episode streams, while being able to chat with others.

 

I actually hardly ever get a chance to get on it at all, since I'm normally busy on the days of the streams, but it does have its purpose.

[Zoop 8,384]

Are stewards and yourself allowed to work on the site? or are you guys just mods for it? I ask because if any of you guys have experience in whatever E.tv was programmed in, you might be able to fix the bugs yourself.

 

Unfortunately our development staff is stretched a bit thin between the forum, Equestria.TV, and a number of other projects that are being worked on in the background. Squashing Equestria.TV's bugs and furthering its development is something that requires very specific skill sets, which can be difficult to find at times.