Sopcast
Sopcast in probably the most famous and most popular p2p streaming TV client on the planet today.
It is one of the oldest TV programs and thus has several years of development under its belt making it technically one of the most capable, its even capable of streaming (in beta) some channels in high definition if you have a fast enough connection.
Another reason Sopcast has been so successful is it allows users to create their own TV channels, so its no surprise that you will find almost any live sporting event available to watch.
Running your own channel is free and easy to setup, all you need is a TV tuner card in your PC. PC Tuner cards come in 3 types, Satellite TV (DVB-S), Cable TV (DVB-C) and terrestrial TV (DVB-T), and all are able to be re-transmit using Sopcast.
Like other p2p programs reviewed on this site, when you first run the program, you will be asked to choose a language and also whether to allow Sopcast to open ports in your firewall. Always say yes as the open ports allow for a much faster and smoother viewing experience.
You can also make a Sopcast account if you want, but I normally just login “as anonymous”.
The latest version of Sopcast is a great improvement over earlier releases as channels load and buffer much quicker than before. I have a 10mb broadband connection at home and channels only take 5-10 seconds to get going. The channel list is automatically updated each time you load the program.
Channels
With Sopcast you can watch several sports channels including 3TV1, ESPN,CCTV5, Guandong, SHTV and StarSports.
As mentioned before, Sopcast lets anyone broadcast test channels so its worth waiting until just before a game starts to see if a test channels pops up. People will normally name their channels things like “Manchester United Vs Liverpool” or “New York Giants Vs Washington Redskins”.
If you have found a test channel address on a forum, you can copy and past it into the address bar at the top of the program and press the blue arrow to start the stream.
