I first heard of Zattoo via TechCrunch, but I did not try it before a couple months ago. With Zattoo, as with some other services I have tested, I believe in trying the application a little more in depth over time before I give a verdict.
There is something about watching TV, next to real time – and not needing a tv-box and traditional receiver. After being introduced to Zattoo the TV in the living-room is only turned on mainly for movies, TV is now watched infront of the computer.
NRK2 live on Zattoo.
Their interface is simple, and offers you Audio and Video P-2-P (Peer-to-peer). The quality varies. Though on the 1.8 mbit/s ADSL line, the picture is decent most of the time. (A couple of mpeg like jolts and pixelations every now and then). As far as content goes, I would be willing to pay for more channels, so I hope Zattoo will be working on a service in that direction.
Apparently since none of the stream/material is stored, they do not run into many of the restrictions that would apply. In addition Zattoo restricts channels geographically. That rises my question what happens if I wanted to access NRK while overseas?
As the activity on Zattoo’s forum demonstrates Zattoo is in high demand and countries around the globe are hoping to have their channels be the next addition. (Øyvind Solstad, working for Norwegian Broadcasting, NRK, met the guys behind Zattoo in Switzerland(?), who told him about expanding Zattoo to Norway to include NRK1 and NRK2. I was overjoyed.)