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Looking for a Better TV Service

PinkLucy said:
Jason, we're on Queen's Quay. They just switched us a week or two ago.

Nicmos, I think it's programmable video recorder or something like that ... commonly known as TiVO in the US. It automatically programs the shows I want so I don't miss an episode and I can watch what I want, when I want ... and skip through all the commercials :)
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Bell's website says that it's not available on my part of QQ (around QQ and Spadina). We're thinking of switching to Bell in the coming months just because my partner will soon be considered a Bell employee (so we're thinking discounts). Hopefully it'll be available here by then.
 
I love Rogers Tv, but hate their internet. I hate Bell TV but love their internet.
 
jn, I'm around QQ & Spadina ... maybe it depends on the building? They set us up with Bell Entertainment about a year and a half ago, so maybe the switch to Fibe was easier? I have no idea; all I know is we've made the swtich!
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
I've tested it, there's a thread on it from about 6-8 months ago under "General Discussions". I have an unobstructed, 24th floor view south and I'm about a mile from the CN tower, I got absolutely stunning HD reception on Toronto & Buffalo stations though on bad weather days I'm sure that wouldn't be the case. It's the PVR that I need so an antennae doesn't quite cut it.
I miss those years of "testing" DirecTV & Dishnet satellite TV with TIVO receivers :rolleyes:
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Thanks DT. Found it.

Good to know it works well downtown. I'm in a similar situation - 21st floor, facing south so it would be hanging in one of my windows right at the CN Tower.
 
rogers cable on demand

We have Rogers cable, and find that on demand services are frequently unavailable, especially for HD content. Rogers has been completely unable to fix the problem, which goes back at least a year. I'm curious to hear of anyone's experience of the switching process, e.g. being screwed by Rogers on cancellation fees, having Bell installers not show up or do a really poor job of laying cable, or finding that the Bell installation doesn't actually work. I'd switch to Bell if I had any faith that the actual conversion wouldn't be a nightmare.
 
I must say that the installation of our Bell Entertainment services was excellent. The technicians were on time, very professional, made sure everything worked and explained how it worked. The switch to Fibe was even easier -- no technicians were required, it was all done over the phone and was very seamless. However, we weren't converting from Rogers; we were converting from previous Bell Satellite so maybe that helped! They did have to change the wiring and do things in the basement of the building though.

On the other hand, we discontinued Bell services at a previous location and THAT was a nightmare, including getting the billing sorted out. Come to think of it, the billing switch from Satellite to Entertainment also took months to sort out. Hopefully, the switch to Fibe won't be as much of a hassle! I've never had any issues with Bell installation, just with their billing department.
 
Nope, kept the same PVRs, same modem, everything. 5 minutes on the phone and a quick reset and it was done.
 
Cancelled cable, Got Apple TV

I cancelled cable 3 years go and haven't looked back.

As the original poster alluded to, cable and broadcast has been flooded with reality TV and I hate it. I was paying nearly $100 per month to get channels with the shows that I liked and a premium to have them in HD.

I set up a 2 tiered system where I pay for only what I want to watch via iTunes on my AppleTV and get free HD over the air for live TV like the news and sporting events.

Here's how it works: You get an AppleTV ($99). Browse iTunes for the shows you like to watch. If it's a show you know you want to watch the full season of, then purchase a season's pass for that show. As the episodes are released, they're downloaded to your AppleTV and you can watch them as if you were watching it on your cable PVR. You can buy a la carte too, with each tv episode costing about $2. Movies are also available with an incredibly extensive library of brand new films and classics available for rent or purchase.

People sometimes cringe at the idea of paying $2 to watch an episode when it's "free" on your TV. Well, it's not free. How much of that $100 cable package do I have to watch to justify the price? 50 shows per month? That's 13 shows per week. I don't have that kind of time.

To keep myself within budget, I was buying iTunes cards. I started off getting a $100 card but that lasted me a few months. Then I went to $50 cards but I was still not using it all. So now I just have my iTunes account linked to my VISA and as I buy stuff on iTunes, it gets charged to the card. All I know is that I'm not paying anywhere near $100 per month for cable and I get to keep the shows that I do pay for. Once you build up a sizeable library, it's like having control over your own reruns. Isn't that what's on tv most of the time anyway?
 
Does AppleTV have any plans for showing live sports? That's one thing I'd really miss if I ditched cable. That and the music stations. If AppleTV offered Leafs or Argos games live in HD it would be a huge hit, especially since Rogers charges a fortune for TSN.
 
No, live TV (news, sports) is not available on AppleTV but that's something I solved by picking up HD over the air. If you have an HD tv, it will most likely have an HD digital receiver. Any UHF antenna will pick up free HD. I don't know which sports you watch but I get all the american channels so I pick up NFL games. I don't pay attention to sports but I have noticed Leafs and Raptors games for free in HD on my over the air channels.

I just bought an AppleTV 2 today. I now get all the tv shows and movies I can watch via Netflix for $7.99 per month. Wow...
 
MetroMan said:
I just bought an AppleTV 2 today. I now get all the tv shows and movies I can watch via Netflix for $7.99 per month. Wow...
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Be careful with the HD content! I got in trouble with Netflix & had to cancel it because I exceeded my 140GB cap less than halfway through my ISP's billing period.
 
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