The 5 Best Places to Watch TV and Movies Online

omg IPTV is here

People have been talking about TV over the internet for years (IPTV), and at long last it appears that it has actually happened (Now for Linux on the desktop...).  It isn't exactly how many envisioned, but it in some ways it might be even better. 

Many envisioned some sort of set top box that would stream TV shows or movies on demand from over the internet. Those sorts of devices do exist, such as the Roku which delivers Netflix content straight to your TV. But by far the most popular services are ones that do not require any new dedicated hardware, but instead just use your PC. With many of these services you do not even need to install a new application, it just uses your browser, like YouTube. So, in my list of the 5 best places to watch TV and movies online I will only talk about services that either:

A: Run in your web browser in conjunction with a plugin like Flash or Silverlight
B: Runs on your PC with a downloaded application of some sort

So chances are that if you are reading this you can use these services. Now for the list....

1. Hulu - Started by NBC and Fox, all content is watched from within the browser. Number 1 by virtue of the clean interface and a vast array of content.
2. Joost - A downloaded application, has some nice content. They have the Jericho series, which I love and I highly recommend you check out. 
3. TV Shack - If you can't find the show you want on the above two services, give TV Shack a try. They aren't actually a content provider, it is more like a Google specifically for TV shows.
4. Youtube - Just looking for a funny clip or two? Youtube is a great choice if Hulu fails you as users are constantly uploading new TV shows and clips. Of course, most of them will be DMCA'd within a day which is why Youtube falls to number 4.
5. The Pirate Bay - Pirate Bay is a torrent tracking site and if you can't find a show on the above services, it is definitely worth a shot. You will of course have to know how to use BitTorrent (protip: not that hard). Also, the MPAA might catch you and shoot you, so beware of that.    

  So there's my personal list, any sites I missed that you think are super friggen awesome? Let me know in the comments and I'll add them in a follow up post.