What's the Best Way to Watch the Conventions Live on the Web?

Kevin Maney writes: Last night, I couldn't get in front of a TV but wanted to catch Hillary's speech. I had my laptop and broadband connection. I figured there had to be tons of ways to watch the speech live via the Web.

But I was pretty disappointed. I first tried CNN.com, which offered live streaming but wanted me to download a "Turner Media Plug-in." I want to download yet another video plug-in like I want to push a power drill into my eye socket. So I moved on. I went to the network sites. CBS -- didn't see any live stream offering. ABC.com started playing video ads before I even could navigate to my first click. I bailed as fast as I could. NBC -- couldn't find a live stream.

I tried CSPAN.com. A-ha! A live stream. But in an old-school little tiny window. Sheesh. So I meandered to MSNBC.com and thought I hit the jackpot. Live stream in a nice big player! So, using my Firefox browser, I powered up the player -- only to find that the sound didn't work. Ohhhh! MSNBC is a Microsoft joint venture! I tried the same thing using Internet Explorer, and lo and behold the sound worked. Funny how that happens.

And then, right in the middle of Hill's speech, the video locked up and wouldn't re-start. So I was back at CSPAN -- with a magnifying glass.

There's a live offering on the Democratic National Convention Committee's site -- but it makes you download the Move Player. Right -- another drill bit through the eye. I realize that bloggers and users of Qik are streaming from the convention floor, but I wanted the professional TV type stream, not the perspective of some guy in a back row sitting behind a thousand people waving Hillary placards.

Any better ideas?